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This paper describes a method for optimization of engine settings in view of best total cost of operation fluids. Under specific legal NOX tailpipe emissions requirements the engine out NOX can be matched to the current achievable SCR NOX conversion efficiency. In view of a heavy duty long haul truck application various specific engine operation modes are defined. A heavy duty diesel engine was calibrated for all operation modes in an engine test cell. The characteristics of engine operation are demonstrated in different transient test cycles. Optimum engine operation mode (EOM) selection strategies between individual engine operation modes are discussed in view of legal test cycles and real world driving cycles which have been derived from on-road tests.

Recently, a particle number (PN) limit was introduced in the European light-duty vehicles legislation. The legislation requires measurement of PN, and particulate mass (PM), from the full dilution tunnel with constant volume sampling (CVS). Furthermore, PN measurements will be introduced in the next stage of the European Heavy-Duty regulation. Heavy-duty engine certification can be done either from the CVS or from a partial flow dilution system (PFDS). For research and development purposes, though, measurements are often conducted from the raw exhaust, thereby avoiding the high installation costs of CVS and PFDS. Although for legislative measurements requirements exist regarding sampling and transport of the aerosol sample, such requirements do not necessarily apply for raw exhaust measurements. Thus, measurement differences are often observed depending on where in the experimental set up sampling occurs.

The OBD II and EOBD legislation have significantly increased the number of system components that have to be monitored in order to avoid emissions degradation. Consequently, the algorithm design and the related calibration effort is becoming more and more challenging. Because of decreasing OBD thresholds, the monitoring strategy accuracy, which is tightly related with the components tolerances and the calibration quality, has to be improved. A model-based offline simulation of the monitoring strategies allows consideration of component and sensor tolerances as well as a first calibration optimization in the early development phase. AVL applied and improved a methodology that takes into account this information, which would require a big effort using testbed or vehicle measurements. In many cases a component influence analysis is possible before hardware is available for testbed measurements.

Vehicle driveability evolves more and more as a key decisive factor for marketability and competitiveness of passenger cars, since the final decision of customers to buy a car is usually taken after a more or less intensive test drive. Car manufacturers currently evaluate vehicle driveability with subjective assessments and by having their experienced test drivers fill out form sheets. These assessments are time and cost intensive, limited in repeatability and not objective. The real customer requirements cannot be recognized in detail with this method. This paper describes a completely new approach for an objective and real time evaluation of relevant driveability criteria, for use in a vehicle and on a high dynamic test bed. The vehicle application enables an objective comparison between vehicles and an application as a development tool in many development and calibration phases, where ever fast and objective driveability results are required.

The conventional measurements to describe the photometric quality of headlamps usually only comprise the luminous flux and the illuminance (resp. the luminous intensity) in several measuring points given by Type Approval Legislation. Practically, these photometric measurements do not describe the visual impression of a headlamp light distribution sufficiently, neither in lab nor in real street geometry. With the clear outer lens headlamps introduced recently, filament images are projected directly onto the screens or streets, thus giving new impulses to research. Starting from the established photometric practice, other types of measurements and physiological fundamentals will be discussed. The basic tools to make physical measurement and physiological impression comparable, e.g. in terms of homogeneity, are shown.

Worldwide OBD legislation has and will be tightened drastically. In the US, OBD II for PC and the introduction of HD OBD for HD vehicles in 2010 will be the next steps. Further challenges have come up with the introduction of active exhaust gas aftertreatment components to meet the lower future emission standards, especially with the implementation of combined DPF-De-NOx-systems for PC and HD engines. Following such an increase in complexity, more comprehensive algorithms and software have to be developed to cope with the legislative requirements for exhaust gas aftertreatment devices. The calibration has to assure the proper functionality of OBD under all driving situations and ambient conditions. The increased complexity can only be mastered when new and efficient tools and methodologies are applied for both algorithm design and calibration. Consequently, OBD requirements have to be taken into account right from the start of engine development.

At the moment the documentation of failure inhibition matrices and the fault path management for different controller types and different vehicle projects are mainly maintained manually in individual Excel tables. This is not only time consuming but also gives a high potential for fault liability. In addition there is also no guarantee that the calibration of these failure inhibition matrices and its fault path really works. Conflicting aims between costs, time and fault liability require a new approach for the calibration, documentation and testing of failure inhibition matrices and the complete Diagnostic System Management (DSM) calibration. The standardization and harmonization of the Diagnostic System Management calibration for different calibration projects and derivates is the first step to reduce time and costs. Creating a master calibration for the conjoint fault paths and labels provides a significant reduction of efforts.

The DEXA Cluster consisted of three closely interlinked projects. In 2003 the DEXA Cluster concluded by demonstrating the successful development of critical technologies for Diesel exhaust particulate after-treatment, without adverse effects on NOx emissions and maintaining the fuel economy advantages of the Diesel engine well beyond the EURO IV (2000) emission standards horizon. In the present paper the most important results of the DEXA Cluster projects in the demonstration of advanced particulate control technologies, the development of a simulation toolkit for the design of diesel exhaust after-treatment systems and the development of novel particulate characterization methodologies, are presented. The motivation for the DEXA Cluster research was to increase the market competitiveness of diesel engine powertrains for passenger cars worldwide, and to accelerate the adoption of particulate control technology.

Pedestrian protection is an upcoming field for research and development. Active pedestrian protection is described from a system perspective. In this view, the development of an active pedestrian protection system is shown. First an overview on statistics and legal requirements is given and the system requirements are discussed. Sensor concepts and realizations are shown, also different test methods and results are explained. FE-simulations to complete and later replace additional tests are developed, after cross check with the experimental results. In combination with the shown actuator concept this leads to a full functioning active pedestrian protection system.

Time Triggered CAN (TTCAN) is an extension of the well-known CAN protocol, introducing to CAN networks time triggered communication and a system wide global network time with high precision. Time Triggered CAN has been accepted as international standard ISOCD11898-4. The time triggered communication is built upon the unchanged standard CAN protocol. This allows a software implementation of the time triggered function of TTCAN, based on existing CAN ICs. The high precision global time however requires a hardware implementation. A hardware implementation also offers additional functions like time mark interrupts, a stopwatch, and a synchronization to external events, all independent of software latency times. The TTCAN testchip (TTCAN_TC) is a standalone TTCAN controller and has been produced as a solution to the hen/egg problem of hardware availability versus tool support and research.

Due to its high number of free parameters, the new generation of gasoline engines with direct injection require an efficient calibration process to handle the system complexity and to avoid a dramatic increase in calibration costs. This paper presents a concept of specific toolboxes within a standardized and automated calibration environment, supporting the complexity of GDI engines and establishing standard procedures for distributed development. The basic idea is the combination of a new and more efficient online DoE approach with the automatic and adaptive identification of the region of interest in the high dimensional parameter space. This guarantees efficient experimental designs even for highly non-linear systems with often irregularly shaped valid regions. As the main advantage for the calibration engineer, the new approach requires almost no pre-investigations and no specific statistical knowledge.

Many software functions currently available in the engine control units have been developed for several years (decades in some cases), reengineered or adapted due to new requirements, what may add to their inherent complexity an unnecessary complication. This paper deals with the study and implementation of a software reengineering strategy for the embedded domain, which is in transfer from research department to product development, here applied to improve maintainability of flex fuel functions. The strategy uses the SCODE “Essential Analysis”, an approach for the embedded system domain. The method allows to reduce the system complexity to the unavoidable inherent problem complexity, by decomposing the system into smaller sub problems based on its essential physics. A case study was carried out to redesign a function of fuel adaptation. The analysis was performed with the support of a tool, which covers all the phases of the method.

The official Indian accident statistics show that the number of road accidents and fatalities are one of the highest worldwide. These official statistics provide important facts about the current accident situation. It is suspected that for various reasons not all accidents are reported to the official statistic. This study estimates the degree of underreporting of traffic accidents with casualties in India. In order to get a national overview of the traffic accident situation it is necessary to improve the knowledge about underreported accidents. Therefore, the in-depth accident database of “Road Accident Sampling System India” (RASSI) was analyzed [1]. This project is organized by a consortium that has collected traffic accidents scientifically in four different regions since 2011 on the spot which have been reported either by police or by local hospitals and own patrol by RASSI engineers.

On the way to automated driving, the installation rate of surround sensing systems will rapidly increase in the upcoming years. The respective technical progress in the areas of driver assistance and active safety leads to a numerous and valuable information and signals to be used prior to, during and even after an accident. Car makers and suppliers can make use of this new situation and develop integrated safety functions to further reduce the number of injured and even deaths in car accidents. Nevertheless, the base occupant safety remains the core of this integrated safety system in order to ensure at least a state-of-the-art protection even in vehicles including partial, high or full automation. Current networked safety systems comprehend a point-to-point connection between single components of active and safety systems. The optimal integration requires a much deeper and holistic approach.

The limitation of global warming to less than 2 °C till the end of the century is regarded as the main challenge of our time. In order to meet COP21 objectives, a clear transition from carbon-based energy sources towards renewable and carbon-free energy carriers is mandatory. Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) allow an energy-efficient, resource-efficient and emission-free conversion of regenerative produced hydrogen. For these reasons fuel cell technologies emerge in stationary, mobile and logistic applications with acceptable cruising ranges as well as short refueling times. In order to perform applied research in the area of PEMFC systems, a highly integrated fuel cell analysis infrastructure for systems up to 150 kW electric power was developed and established within a cooperative research project by HyCentA Research GmbH and AVL List GmbH in Graz, Austria. A novel open testing facility with hardware in the loop (HiL) capability is presented.

A calibration and validation workflow will be presented in this paper, which utilizes common static global models for fuel consumption, NOx and soot. Due to the applicability for warm-up tests, e.g. New European Driving Cycle (NEDC), the models need to predict the temperature influence and will be fitted with measuring data from a conditioned engine test bed. The applied model structure consisting of a number of global data-based sub-models is configured especially for the requirements of multi-injection strategies of common rail systems. Additionally common global models for several constant coolant water temperature levels are generated and the workflow tool supports the combination and segmentation of global nominal map with temperature correction maps for seamless and direct ECU setting.

This paper presents the results of an investigation on the influence of a duct’s geometry and shape on its acoustic length, which differs from its physical length by a factor referred to as end-correction. In addition to traditional parameters such as length and diameter, the author has investigated the effect of additional geometry features which are less commonly addressed in the technical literature, such as a diameter contraction or a bent section along the duct. The relative microphone position with respect to the pipe orifice and to the ground surface of the measurement environment has been investigated, showing negligible impact on the measurement results. The sound wave propagation within a pipe featuring a diameter contraction has then been analysed, showing the relationship between the pipe contraction shape and location and the pipe acoustic length.

Current exhaust gas emission regulations can only be well adhered to through optimal interplay of combustion engine and exhaust gas after-treatment systems. Combining a modern diesel engine with several exhaust gas after-treatment components (DPF, catalytic converters) leads to extremely complex drive systems, with very complex and technically demanding control systems. Current engine ECUs (Electronic Control Unit) have hundreds of functions with thousands of parameters that can be adapted to keep the exhaust gas emissions within the given limits. Each of these functions has to be calibrated and tested in accordance with the rest of the ECU software. To date this task has been performed mostly on engine test benches or in Hardware-in-the-Loop (HiL) setups. In this paper, a Software-in-the-Loop (SiL) approach, consisting of an engine model and an exhaust gas treatment (EGT) model, coupled with software from a real diesel engine ECU, will be described in detail.

This paper presents a system concept for detecting combustion misfire. The relevant research grew out of the more stringent requirements for On-Board Diagnostic systems (OBDII) mandated by the California Air Resources Board (CARB), effective as of model year 1997 onward. The system concept is based on evaluation of variations in crankshaft speed. Processes using engine roughness are applied in non-critical operating areas and/or on engines with a small number of cylinders. The modulation process is used in more critical areas. Research was done using a 12-cylinder engine and indicated the potential to comply with the California Air Resources Board's regulations for the model year (MY) 1997 and later.

The rapidly growing complexity and the growing cross linking of powertrain components leads to longer development times, especially in the vehicle calibration process. The number of systems which need to be fitted to each other and the number of parameters to be calibrated in the particular systems are increasing tremendously. The extensive use of simulation promises to reduce the calibration effort by providing pre-optimized parameter sets. This paper describes a new simulation methodology by the interlinking of advanced vehicle simulation and evaluation tools, in particular the AVL-tools CRUISE, VSM and DRIVE. This methodology allows to semi automatically pre-optimize powertrain and vehicle parameters before hardware is involved. So far the pre-calibration of vehicle and powertrain parameters by simulation was not satisfying because of the missing of a reliable evaluation tool for the produced simulation results.