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 Automotive lighting is critical to passenger safety, comfort, and vehicle styling. The technology used in automotive lighting has rapidly expanded to make the lighting safer and more pleasing to customers. This course provides broad information about automotive lighting systems with emphasis on lighting functions, effectiveness, and technologies. The intent is to assist participants in gaining sufficient knowledge about automotive lighting and its importance in overall vehicle design and development.

The manner in which a motor vehicle fire is initiated and subsequently spreads is dependent on a number of complex, interdependent, phenomena including combustion kinetics, heat transfer and fluid dynamics. Because the damage caused by a fire is coupled to these phenomena, damage patterns can sometimes be used to understand certain characteristics about the fire. In many cases, the goal is to determine the cause and origin of the fire.

This SAE Standard provides performance and general design requirements and related test procedures for a combination tail and floodlamp for use on industrial wheeled equipment that may be operated on public roads.

This paper presents an extension of our earlier work on Cummins Vehicle Mission Simulation (VMS) software. Previously, we presented VMS as a Windows based analysis tool to simulate vehicle missions quickly and to gauge, communicate, and improve the value proposition of Cummins engines to customers. Presenter Nagesh Belludi, Cummins Inc.

Can you become a visionary or are you born one? How does a visionary capture an opportunity and makes it a successful business? Are engineers more qualified to solve technical problems or run companies? SAE's "The Visionary's Take" addresses these and many other questions, by talking directly with those who have dared to tackle difficult engineering problems, and create real-life products out of their experience. In these short episodes, Sanjiv Singh and Lyle Chamberlain, respectively CEO and Chief Engineer from Near Earth Autonomy, talk about their experience in creating a brand-new company in the UAV world. Founded in 2011, Near Earth Autonomy brought together a group of engineers and roboticists, looking for unconventional solutions to very hard logistics problems, presenting danger to human life. The answers were developed by pushing technology to a higher level, testing quickly and often, and keeping an open mind to alternative ways of framing engineering challenges.

Alyson Lyon, Executive Leadership Coach, explains what stress is, and how to handle personally and professionally. SAE Members can view the full version by logging into the Member Connection. Not a Member? Join us today at sae.org/join.

Can you become a visionary or are you born one? How does a visionary capture an opportunity and makes it a successful business? Are engineers more qualified to solve technical problems or run companies? SAE's "The Visionary's Take" addresses these and many other questions, by talking directly with those who have dared to tackle difficult engineering problems, and create real-life products out of their experience. In these short episodes, Sanjiv Singh and Lyle Chamberlain, respectively CEO and Chief Engineer from Near Earth Autonomy, talk about their experience in creating a brand-new company in the UAV world. Founded in 2011, Near Earth Autonomy brought together a group of engineers and roboticists, looking for unconventional solutions to very hard logistics problems, presenting danger to human life. The answers were developed by pushing technology to a higher level, testing quickly and often, and keeping an open mind to alternative ways of framing engineering challenges.

Abstract In recent years, several buses have ignited in some cities in China, causing numerous deaths and significant property damage. However, few research studies have been conducted to deal with such accidents. Therefore, in this work, a linear-shaped charge jet with rectangular cross sections was used to hew out evacuation routes for burning buses, and the parameter design for the shaped charge jet was improved according to asymmetry limitations and human tolerance. A numerical finite element simulation model of the behavior of a jet penetrating the jambs was established using ANSYS/LS-DYNA software. The asymmetrical characteristics of an arc segment in the structure of a rectangular-shaped charge were analyzed, in addition to the influence on the deviations of the jet penetration capacity and blast injuries to occupants caused by the side effects of detonation.

Abstract Improving the aerodynamics of heavy trucks is an important consideration in the strive for more energy-efficient vehicles. Cooling drag is one part of the total aerodynamic resistance acting on a vehicle, which arises as a consequence of air flowing through the grille area, the heat exchangers, and the irregular under-hood area. Today cooling packages of heavy trucks are dimensioned for a critical cooling case, typically when the vehicle is driving fully laden, at low speed up a steep hill. However, for long-haul trucks, mostly operating at highway speeds on mostly level roads, it may not be necessary to have all the cooling airflow from an open-grille configuration. It can therefore be desirable for fuel consumption purposes, to shut off the entire cooling airflow, or a portion of it, under certain driving conditions dictated by the cooling demands. In Europe, most trucks operating on the roads are of cab-over-engine type, as a consequence of the length legislations present.

Abstract Windshield deicing performance is a key metric for HVAC system development and optimization within the sphere of commercial vehicle design. The primary physical parameters that drive this metric are pressure drops in the HVAC ducting, flow rate of the air through the system, and the transient vent temperature rise affected by engine coolant warm-up. However, many design engineers also have to take underhood and instrument panel (IP) space constraints into consideration while trying to optimize a new HVAC system design. This study leverages historical deicing simulation methodologies in conjunction with modern computational horsepower so as to optimize the HVAC ductwork in the studied commercial truck at the beginning of the design phase. By iterating on a design in the computational domain under steady-state and transient flow and thermal conditions, a robust HVAC system design can be created even prior to the prototyping stage of development.

Abstract The paper presents a complete description of the design and manufacturing of a Carbon Fiber/epoxy mold with an embedded Carbon Fiber resistor heater, and the mold performances in terms of its surface temperature distribution and thermal deformations resulting from the heating. The mold was designed for manufacturing aileron skins from Vacuum Bag Only prepreg cured at 135°C. The glass transition temperature of the used resin-hardener system was about 175°C. To ensure homogenous temperature of the mold working surface in the course of curing, the Carbon Fiber heater was embedded in a layer of a highly heat-conductive cristobalite/epoxy composite, forming the core of the mold shell. Because the cristobalite/epoxy composite displayed much higher thermal expansion than CF/epoxy did, thermal stresses could arise due to this discrepancy in the course of heating.

Patents granted recently to Mr. Rode have changed the industry capability to adjust and verify wheel-end bearings on trucks. Until now it was believed1 that there was nothing available to confirm or verify the most desirable settings of preload on these bearings. The new, breakthrough invention is a tool and spindle-locking nut that permit quick and accurate wheel bearing adjustment by utilizing direct reading force measurement. Bearings can be set to either SAE recommended preloads or specific endplay settings. The author has been working on bearing adjustment methods for industrial applications for over forty years, and considers these inventions to be his most important breakthrough for solving this elusive bearing adjustment problem. Consistent wheel bearing preload adjustment was not possible before, even though it was widely known to achieve the best wheel performance as noted in SAE specification J2535 and re-affirmed in 2006 by the SAE Truck and Bus Wheel Subcommittee.

This paper describes the development and testing of a Dynamic Vibration Absorber to reduce frame beaming vibration in a highway tractor. Frame beaming occurs when the first vertical bending mode of the frame is excited by road or wheel-end inputs. It is primarily a problem for driver comfort. Up until now, few options were available to resolve this problem. The paper will review the phenomenon, design factors affecting a vehicle's sensitivity to frame beaming, and the principles of Dynamic Vibration Absorbers (AKA Tuned Mass Dampers). Finally, the paper will describe simulation and testing that led to the development of an effective vibration absorber as a field fix.

Transport Canada, through its ecoTECHNOLOGY for Vehicles program, retained the services of the National Research Council Canada to undertake a test program to examine the operational and human factors considerations concerning the removal of the side mirrors on a Class 8 tractor equipped with a 53 foot dry van semi-trailer. Full scale aerodynamic testing was performed in a 2 m by 3 m wind tunnel on a system component basis to quantify the possible fuel savings associated with the removal of the side mirrors. The mirrors on a Volvo VN780 tractor were removed and replaced with a prototype camera-based indirect vision system consisting of four cameras mounted in the front fender location; two cameras on either side of the vehicle. Four monitors mounted in the vehicle - two mounted on the right A-pillar and two mounted on the left A-pillar - provided indirect vision information to the vehicle operator.

Compared to the vehicles with conventional steering, the articulated frame steer vehicles (ASV) are known to exhibit lower directional and roll stability limits. Furthermore, the tire interactions with relatively rough terrains could adversely affect the directional and roll stability limits of an ASV due to terrain-induced variations in the vertical and lateral tire forces. It may thus be desirable to assess the dynamic safety of ASVs in terms of their directional control and stability limits while operating on different terrains. The effects of terrain roughness on the directional stability limits of an ASV are investigated through simulations of a comprehensive three-dimensional model of the vehicle with and without a rear axle suspension. The model incorporates a torsio-elastic rear axle suspension, a kineto-dynamic model of the frame steering struts and equivalent random profiles of different undeformable terrains together with coherence between the two tracks profiles.

The lightweight design of a vehicle can save manufacturing costs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. For the off-road vehicle and truck, the chassis frame is the most important load-bearing assembly of the separate frame construction vehicle. The frame is one of the most assemblies with great potential to be lightweight optimized. However, most of the vehicle components are mounted on the frame, such as the engine, transmission, suspension, steering system, radiator, and vehicle body. Therefore, boundaries and constraints should be taken into consideration during the optimal process. The finite element (FE) model is widely used to simulate and assess the frame performance. The performance of the frame is determined by the design parameters. As one of the largest components of the vehicle, it has a lot of parameters. To improve the optimum efficiency, sensitivity analysis is used to narrow the range of the variables.

Due to recent infrastructural development and emerging competitive automotive markets, there is seen a huge shift in customer’s demand and vehicle drivability pattern in commercial vehicle industry. Now apart from ensuring better vehicle durability and best in class tyre life and fuel mileage, a vehicle manufacturer also has to focus on other key attributes like driver’s safety and ride comfort. Thus, for ensuring enhanced drivability, key parameters for ensuring better vehicle handling includes optimization of bump steer and brake steer. Both bump steer and brake steer are vehicle’s undesirable phenomenon where a driver is forced to constantly make steering wheel correction in order to safely maneuver the vehicle in the desired path.

According to research studies, epidemics such as SARS, COVID-19 spread have caused huge negative impacts on population, health and the economy around the globe. The outbreak places a huge burden on international health systems that were already straining to address AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and a host of other conditions. Research has proven that incase infected person is not traced timely then the spread of infection in society will take the shape of large-scale community transmission. Most of the infections spread because they got unnoticed by the infected person. One part of the access checker scans is a person’s body temperature by measuring infrared radiation emitted by their skin. Fever screening by infrared thermal imaging has become more widespread following the SARS infection, and particularly during the pandemic H1N1 and COVID-19 outbreak. Skin temperature is measured without contact by monitoring the emitted infrared radiation.

As the FTP-75 drive cycle does not have a prescribed gear shift pattern, automotive OEMs have the flexibility to design. Conventionally, gear shift pattern was formulated based on trial and error method, typically with 10 to 12 iterations on chassis dynamometer. It was a time consuming (i.e. ~ 3 to 4 months) and expensive process. This approach led to declaring poor fuel economy (FE). A simulation procedure was required to generate a gear shift pattern that gives optimal trade-off amongst conflicting objectives (FE, performance and emissions). As a result, a simulation tool was developed in MATLAB to generate an optimum gear shift pattern. Three different SUV/UV models were used as test vehicles in this study. Chassis dyno testing was conducted, and data was collected using the base and optimized gear shift patterns. Dyno test results with optimized gear shift pattern showed FE improvement of ~ 4 to 5% while retaining the NOx margin well above engineering targets.