Search Results

Given the fast changing market demands, the growing complexity of features, the shorter time to market, and the design/development constraints, the need for efficient and effective verification and validation methods are becoming critical for vehicle manufacturers and suppliers. One such example is fault-tree analysis. While fault-tree analysis is an important hazard analysis/verification activity, the current process of translating design details (e.g., system level and software level) is manual. Current experience indicates that fault tree analysis involves both creative deductive thinking and more mechanical steps, which typically involve instantiating gates and events in fault trees following fixed patterns. Specifically for software fault tree analysis, a number of the development steps typically involve instantiating fixed patterns of gates and events based upon the structure of the code. In this work, we investigate a methodology to translate software programs to fault trees.

With the introduction of advanced digital road maps, which include information on the slope and curve radius of the highways, predictive control for standard and hybrid commercial vehicles, based on these maps, is about to be released by the vehicle manufacturers. For example, intelligent predictive cruise control has been announced for introduction in 2012 by Scania and Daimler. In addition, hybrid commercial city buses like MAN's Lion's City Hybrid have already been implemented. But the question remains about the type of vehicle suitable for the implementation of predictive intelligent concepts, due to the high investment cost compared to the sometimes relatively low operating cost savings.

India contributed to 11% of the global road accidents and was ranked 1st among road deaths according to the latest World Health Organization (WHO) report 2018. Indian National Highways (NH) is a meagre 5% of the country’s road network but accounts for 55% of the road accidents and 61% of the road deaths. Majority of the freight traffic is ferried by Commercial Vehicles (CV) or trucks along these highways and this in turn increases the probability of them being involved in a road accident. The country’s economy is forecasted to thrive in the coming years and hence the requirement of CVs is aligned to international categorisation in the supply chain and shall play a pivotal role. In the year 2019, 13,532 road deaths were associated with CV occupants. The trucking industry is an unorganized sector wherein the illegal overloading of vehicles and over-the-limit driving hours pose a serious threat to road users.

For decades, the medium- and heavy-duty (“MD/HD”) commercial vehicle industry has focused on improving freight efficiency in order to lower customers' total operating costs. To optimize fuel efficiency, most manufacturers no longer focus on discreet components but instead look at the complete vehicle and operations. The path to future efficiency gains is not sufficiently clear when looking towards 2030; what is clear is that one solution will not work for all manufacturers or vehicle applications. Therefore, fuel efficiency regulations must be sufficiently adaptive to allow a variety of technical approaches to ensure the needs of the commercial truck market are met. This paper explores further the ideas presented in other papers that focus on regulation of engine-only emissions as an approach for HD vehicles.

AUTOSAR is finding its way into the automotive industry. European automotive manufacturing companies were the early adopters defining and promoting AUTOSAR standard. One of the main AUTOSAR goals is to improve containment of product and process complexity and risk. Increased scalability and flexibility to integrate and transfer functions is another important goal of AUTOSAR. Working with different suppliers and vendors and respect their confidentiality makes the process of application software development even more complex. Presented in this paper is a creative way of utilizing AUTOSAR to overcome the integration challenges in a multi-party object code based software integration. The run time environment (RTE) files for the application software are generated through a set of scripts to automate the process for consecutive releases. The low level device drivers are configured by one supplier and are being used by another supplier through a set of AUTOSAR client-server operation calls.

Annual fuel use for sleeper cab truck rest period idling is estimated at 667 million gallons in the United States, or 6.8% of long-haul truck fuel use. Truck idling during a rest period represents zero freight efficiency and is largely done to supply accessory power for climate conditioning of the cab. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s CoolCab project aims to reduce heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) loads and resulting fuel use from rest period idling by working closely with industry to design efficient long-haul truck thermal management systems while maintaining occupant comfort. Enhancing the thermal performance of cab/sleepers will enable smaller, lighter, and more cost-effective idle reduction solutions. In addition, if the fuel savings provide a one- to three-year payback period, fleet owners will be economically motivated to incorporate them.

1 One issue raised by the use of austenitic stainless steels in commercial vehicles is the increase in material costs. To reduce those material costs, a nitric acid electropolishing treatment was applied to SUS436L (18 Cr - 1.5 Mo - 0.4 Nb) and corrosion tests were conducted to compare its corrosion resistance to that of SUS316L(16 Cr - 12 Ni - 2 Mo). Compared to SUS316L, SUS436L subjected to nitric acid electropolishing indicated superior corrosion resistance. In addition, XPS and TEM analyses showed that while the SUS436L passivation film layer contained approximately twice as much chromium, its thickness was also generally reduced by approximately half, to 2 nm. These results suggest that electropolishing with nitric acid, which is highly oxidative, formed a fine passivation film.

The regulatory requirement in Economic Commission for Europe (ECE R58) regulation applies to the Rear underrun protection devices which are intended to be fitted to commercial vehicles of N categories. The purpose of this regulation is to offer effective protection against underrunning of vehicles. This paper describes Computer aided engineering (CAE) methodology for testing rear underrun protection devices with loading sequences to be decided by Original equipment manufacturer. A sample model is prepared and analyzed to represent actual test conditions. Constraints and boundary conditions are applied as per test of vehicle. Finite element simulation is carried out using LS DYNA solver. Structural strength and integrity of Rear under protection device assembly is observed for different regulatory load requirement.

The lifting and excavating industry are not as advanced as automotive in the use of modern CAE tools in the early stages of design and development of heavy machinery. There is still a lack of confidence in the integrity of the results from FE simulations and optimisation and this becomes a barrier to the adoption of virtual prototyping for vehicle verification. R&D of Tata Steel has performed tests on two forklift truck overhead guards supplied by a major manufacturer. Based on the international standard for Falling Object Protective Structures (FOPS) as an initial input to the method of testing, the main aim of this study was to generate as much test data as possible to correlate the Finite Element (FE) simulations of two tests - a static and a dynamic test. The static test was developed to deform the overhead guard plastically in a slow controlled manner, so it would be easier to correlate the measured data to FE simulation.

Research activities in the development of reliable computational models for aftertreatment systems are constantly increasing in the automotive field. These investigations are essential in order to get a complete understanding of the main catalytic processes which clearly have a great impact on tailpipe emissions. In this work, a 1D chemical reaction model to simulate the catalytic activity of a Pd/Rh Three-Way Catalyst (TWC) for a Natural Gas heavy-duty engine is presented. An extensive database of tests carried out with the use of a Synthetic Gas Bench (SGB) has been collected to investigate the methane abatement pathways, linked to the lambda variation and oxide formation on palladium surface. Specific steady-state tests have shown a dynamics of the methane conversion even at fixed λ and temperature conditions, essentially due to the Pd/PdO ratio.

This SAE Standard applies to the usage of tires of the same nominal size and tread type, but with different outside diameter for articulated front-end loaders. Articulated four-wheel-drive front-end loader performance and component life can be affected by excessive differences in the tire outside circumference and/or diameter. The purpose is to provide specific guidelines for the usage of tires with different outside circumference and/or diameter on articulated front-end loaders.

This SAE Standard applies to the usage of tires of the same nominal size and tread type, but with different outside diameter for articulated front-end loaders. Articulated four-wheel-drive front-end loader performance and component life can be affected by excessive differences in the tire outside circumference and/or diameter. The purpose is to provide specific guidelines for the usage of tires with different outside circumference and/or diameter on articulated front-end loaders.

This SAE Standard provides a comprehensive list of requirements for the selection, identification, and control of metric and inch sized fasteners for use in shipboard applications for both shipbuilder installed joints and for use in shipboard components. The fastener selection requirements include the following: a Materials b Thread selection c Plating, coatings, and surface treatments d Locking devices and elements e Screw thread fastener inserts f Fastener part or identifying numbers g Identification markings

This Hydrospace Information Report (HIR) identifies the general environmental considerations for the design, development, evaluation, and testing of advanced surface craft, submersible vehicles, and other marine craft. This HIR provides criteria on the environmental limits within which marine vehicles, related components, and associated equipment should operate satisfactorily and reliably. This HIR is intended for use as a guide for the development of specific environmental requirements to be included in detailed specifications for marine vehicles and associated equipment. Specific requirements are in a state of continual change as our knowledge of the ocean environment increases. The ocean environment varies with location and time. Changes in the ocean environment can occur not only on a seasonal basis but also monthly, weekly, daily, and in some cases even hourly.

This Hydrospace Information Report (HIR) identifies the general environmental considerations for the design, development, evaluation, and testing of advanced surface craft, submersible vehicles, and other marine craft. This HIR provides criteria on the environmental limits within which marine vehicles, related components, and associated equipment should operate satisfactorily and reliably.

For some years, OEMs and suppliers have been using CAD tools to improve efficiencies in both mechanical design and electrical design. Modern CAD tools have evolved from simple drafting and documentation towards specialized tools for each task – mechanical layout, mechanical styling, electrical design, manufacturing design, and so on. There is often a significant overlap between the data-scope of each of these tools, but, without good integration facilities, engineers must re-key the same information in each of the different tools: this is both time-consuming and error-prone. This paper examines, and illustrates, the issues, technologies and processes that are available to improve the integration between mechanical and electrical CAD tools, and between OEMs and their suppliers.

A number of oxidation catalysts have been prepared using different types of advanced support materials such as ceria-zirconia, silica-titania, spinels and perovskites. Active metals such as Pd and Au-Pd were loaded by conventional impregnation techniques and/or deposition-precipitation methods. A liquid hydrocarbon delivery system was designed and implemented for the catalyst test benches in order to simulate the diesel engine exhaust environment. The activity of fresh (no degreening) catalysts was evaluated with traditional CO and light hydrocarbons (C2H4, C3H6) as well as with heavy hydrocarbons such as C10 H22.

Provision of service information in various languages has been a must in the automotive industry. However, in the commercial vehicle industry, it is unclear how manufacturers are managing this daunting task. California Air Resource Board (CARB) 2010 regulations are awakening the commercial vehicle service information managers who are responsible for providing this information according to SAE J2403 terminology. Now is the time to mimic the automotive industry by collaborating on terminology, and in the meantime, begin discussion on how we all manage multiple languages.

Commercial vehicle manufacturers face unique challenges for the development of vehicle electronics systems. For one, customers typically have unique requirements coupled with an expectation of high reliability. Vehicle electronics is often the enabler for customized features. Ensuring that the vehicle will perform as demanded and promised adds a degree of burden on the vehicle manufacturers. Furthermore, the verification and testing of a large number of unique electronic system configurations is very expensive and time-consuming. This paper will explore how Model-Based Design can be used to meet these challenges and provide a high degree of confidence for both the manufacturer and the customer that requirements have been met. It will discuss factors to consider to support configurability, approaches for defining a system architecture that facilitates reuse, and capabilities for modeling state-based systems.

Durability and reliability performance is one of the most important concerns of a recently developed Thermal Regeneration Unit for Exhaust (T.R.U.E-Clean®) for exhaust emission control. Like other ground vehicle systems, the T.R.U.E-Clean® system experiences cyclic loadings due to road vibrations leading to fatigue failure over time. Creep and oxidation cause damage at high temperature conditions which further shortens the life of the system and makes fatigue life assessment even more complex. Great efforts have been made to develop the ability to accurately and quickly assess the durability/reliability of the system in the early development stage. However, reliable and validated simplified engineering methods with rigorous mathematical and physical bases are still urgently needed to accurately manage the margin of safety and decrease the cost, whereas iterative testing is expensive and time consuming.