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Noise concerns regarding snowmobiles have increased in the recent past. Current standards, such as SAE J192 are used as guidelines for government agencies and manufacturers to regulate noise emissions for all manufactured snowmobiles. Unfortunately, the test standards available today produce results with variability that is much higher than desired. The most significant contributor to the variation in noise measurements is the test surface. The test surfaces can either be snow or grass and affects the measurement in two very distinct ways: sound propagation from the source to the receiver and the operational behavior of the snowmobile. Data is presented for a known sound pressure speaker source and different snowmobiles on various test days and test surfaces. Relationships are shown between the behavior of the sound propagation and track interaction to the ground with the pass-by noise measurements.

Hydrogen is widely considered a promising fuel for future transportation applications for both, internal combustion engines and fuel cells. Due to their advanced stage of development and immediate availability hydrogen combustion engines could act as a bridging technology towards a wide-spread hydrogen infrastructure. Although fuel cell vehicles are expected to surpass hydrogen combustion engine vehicles in terms of efficiency, the difference in efficiency might not be as significant as widely anticipated [1]. Hydrogen combustion engines have been shown capable of achieving efficiencies of up to 45 % [2]. One of the remaining challenges is the reduction of nitric oxide emissions while achieving peak engine efficiencies. This paper summarizes research work performed on a single-cylinder hydrogen direct injection engine at Argonne National Laboratory.

High pressure diesel sprays were visualized under vaporizing and combusting conditions in a constant-volume combustion vessel. Near-simultaneous visualization of vapor and liquid phase fuel distribution were acquired using a hybrid shadowgraph/Mie-scattering imaging setup. This imaging technique used two pulsed LED's operating in an alternative manner to provide proper light sources for both shadowgraph and Mie scattering. In addition, combustion cases under the same ambient conditions were visualized through high-speed combustion luminosity measurement. Two single-hole diesel injectors with same nozzle diameters (100μm) but different k-factors (k0 and k1.5) were tested in this study. Detailed analysis based on spray penetration rate curves, rate of injection measurements, combustion indicators and 1D model comparison have been performed.

With the increasingly serious global environmental and energy problems, as well as the increasing number of vehicles, pure electric vehicles with its advantages of environmental protection, low noise and renewable energy, become an effective way to alleviate environmental pollution and energy crisis. Due to the current pure electric vehicle power battery technology is not perfect, the range of pure electric vehicle has a great limit. Through the braking energy recovery, the energy can be reused, the energy utilization rate can be improved, and the battery life of pure electric vehicles can be improved. In this paper, a pure electric vehicle is taken as the analysis object, and the whole vehicle analysis model is built. Through the comparative analysis, based on the driver's braking intention and vehicle running state, the braking energy recovery control strategy of double fuzzy control is proposed.

Recreational vehicles have a lot of potential consumers in China, especially the type C recreational vehicle is popular among consumers due to its advantages, prompting an increase in the production and sales volumes. The type C vehicle usually has a higher air drag than the common commercial vehicles due to its unique appearance. It can be reduced by optimizing the structural parameters, thus the energy consumed by the vehicle can be decreased. The external flow field of a recreational vehicle is analyzed by establishing its computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model. The characteristic of the RV’s external flow field is identified based on the simulation result. The approximation models of the vehicle roof parameters and air drag and vehicle volume are established by the response surface method (RSM). The vehicle roof parameters are optimized by multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MO-PSO).

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.

Battery temperature variations have a strong effect on both battery aging and battery performance. Significant temperature variations will lead to different battery behaviors. This influences the performance of the Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) energy management strategies. This paper investigates how variations in battery temperature will affect Lithium-ion battery aging and fuel economy of a HEV. The investigated energy management strategy used in this paper is the Equivalent Consumption Minimization Strategy (ECMS) which is a well-known energy management strategy for HEVs. The studied vehicle is a Honda Civic Hybrid and the studied battery, a BLS LiFePO4 3.2Volts 100Ah Electric Vehicle battery cell. Vehicle simulations were done with a validated vehicle model using multiple combinations of highway and city drive cycles. The battery temperature variation is studied with regards to outside air temperature.

With the shortage of energy and the continuous development of automotive technology, electric vehicles are gradually gaining popularity. The energy of electric vehicles mainly comes from the power grid, and its large-scale use is inseparable from the support of the power system. However, electric vehicles consume power quickly, have short driving ranges, and frequently charge, and there are plenty of problems such as disorder and randomness in charging, which is not conducive to rational planning of the power grid. Optimizing the charging problem of electric vehicles can not only save power resources but also bring huge economic benefits to operators of charging stations. In this paper, the CAN bus communication protocol, combined with GPS positioning, LabVIEW monitoring, GPRS transmitting and other technical means, can realize the information exchange of the "vehicle-charging device-distribution network".

In the field of active safety, the active four-wheel-steering (4WS) system seems to be an attractive alternative and an effective tool to improve the vehicles' handling stability in lane-keeping control performance. Under normal using condition, the vehicle's lateral acceleration is comparatively small, and the mathematic relationship between the small side force excitation and the small slip angle of the tire is in the linear region. Furthermore, the effects of roll, heave, and pitch motions are neglected as well as the dynamic characteristics of the tires and suspension system in this work. Therefore, the linear quadratic control (LQC) theory is used to ensure that the output of the 4WS control system can keep track of the desired yaw rate and zero-sideslip-angle response can also be realized at the same time.

This paper considers optimal power management during the establishment of an expeditionary outpost using battery and vehicle assets for electrical generation. The first step in creating a new outpost is implementing the physical protection and barrier system. Afterwards, facilities that provide communications, fires, meals, and moral boosts are implemented that steadily increase the electrical load while dynamic events, such as patrols, can cause abrupt changes in the electrical load profile. Being able to create a fully functioning outpost within 72 hours is a typical objective where the electrical power generation starts with batteries, transitions to gasoline generators and is eventually replaced by diesel generators as the outpost matures. Vehicles with power export capability are an attractive supplement to this electrical power evolution since they are usually on site, would reduce the amount of material for outpost creation, and provide a modular approach to outpost build-up.

In the field of Electric Vehicle (EV), what the driver is most concerned with is that whether the value of the battery's capacity is less than the failure threshold because of the degradation. And the failure threshold means instability of the battery, which is of great danger for drives and passengers. So the capacity is an important indicator to monitor the state of health (SOH) of the battery. In laboratory environment, standard performance tests can be carried out to collect a number of related data, which are available for regression prediction in practical application, such as the on-board battery pack. Firstly, we make use of the NASA battery data set to form the observed data sequence for regression prediction. And a practical method is proposed to determine the minimum embedding dimension and get the recurrence formula, with which a capacity model is built.

In this paper, residual stress distributions in rectangular bars due to rolling or burnishing at very high rolling or burnishing loads are investigated by roll burnishing experiments and three-dimensional finite element analyses using ABAQUS. First, roll burnishing experiments on rectangular bars at two roller burnishing loads are presented. The results indicate the higher burnishing load induces lower residual stresses and the higher burnishing load does not improve fatigue lives. Next, in the corresponding finite element analyses, the roller is modeled as rigid and the roller rolls on the flat surface of the bar with a low coefficient of friction. The bar material is modeled as an elastic-plastic strain hardening material with a nonlinear kinematic hardening rule for loading and unloading.

Low Temperature Combustion (LTC) engines are promising to improve powertrain fuel economy and reduce NOx and soot emissions by improving the in-cylinder combustion process. However, the narrow operating range of LTC engines limits the use of these engines in conventional powertrains. The engine’s limited operating range can be improved by taking advantage of electrification in the powertrain. In this study, a multi-mode LTC-SI engine is integrated with a parallel hybrid electric configuration, where the engine operation modes include Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI), Reactivity Controlled Compression Ignition (RCCI), and conventional Spark Ignition (SI). The powertrain controller is designed to enable switching among different modes, with minimum fuel penalty for transient engine operations.

This paper investigates an optimal design of a diesel engine and after-treatment systems for a series hybrid electric forklift application. A holistic modeling approach is developed in GT-Suite® to establish a model-based hardware definition for a diesel engine and an after-treatment system to accurately predict engine performance and emissions. The used engine model is validated with the experimental data. The engine design parameters including compression ratio, boost level, air-fuel ratio (AFR), injection timing, and injection pressure are optimized at a single operating point for the series hybrid electric vehicle, together with the performance of the after-treatment components. The engine and after-treatment models are then coupled with a series hybrid electric powertrain to evaluate the performance of the forklift in the standard VDI 2198 drive cycle.

At present, many electric vehicles are often equipped with only a single-stage final drive. Although the single-stage speed ratio can meet the general driving requirements of electric vehicles, if the requirements of the maximum speed and the requirements for starting acceleration or climbing are met at the same time, the power demand of the drive motor is relatively large, and the efficient area of the drive motor may be far away from the operating area corresponding to daily driving. If the two-speed automatic transmission is adopted, the vehicle can meet the requirements of maximum speed, starting acceleration and climbing at the same time, reduce the power demand of the driving motor, and improve the economy under certain power performance. This is especially important for medium and large vehicles.

Improving vehicle response through advanced knowledge of traffic behavior can lead to large improvements in energy consumption for the single isolated vehicle. This energy savings across multiple vehicles can even be larger if they travel together as a cohort in harmonization. Additionally, if the vehicles have enough information about their immediate path of travel, and other vehicles’ in that path (and their respective critical forward-looking information), they can safely drive close enough to each other to share aerodynamic load. These energy savings can be upwards of multiple percentage points, and are dependent on several criteria. This analysis looks at criteria that contributes to energy savings for a cohort of vehicles in synchronous motion, as well as describes a study that allows for better understanding of the potential benefits of different types of cohorted vehicles in different platoon arrangements.

In the intelligent speed planning system, real-time estimation of road slope is the key to calculate slope resistance and realize the vehicles’ active safety control. However, if the road slope is measured by the sensor while the commercial vehicle is driving, the vibration of the vehicle body will affect its measurement accuracy. Therefore, the relevant algorithm is used to estimate the real-time slope of the road when the commercial vehicle is driving. At present, many domestic and foreign scholars have analyzed and tested the estimation of road slope by the least square method or Kalman filter algorithm. Although the two methods both can achieve the estimation, the real-time performance and accuracy still need to be improved. In this paper, for traditional fuel commercial vehicle, the Kalman filter algorithm based on the kinematics and the extended Kalman filter algorithm based on the longitudinal dynamics are respectively used to estimate the road slope.

The thermal management system is essential for the safe and long-term operation of the power battery. The temperature difference between the individual cells exceeds the acceleration of the battery performance, which leads to battery out of use and affects the performance of the vehicle. Compared with the low heat transfer coefficient of the air-cooling system, the complex structure of the liquid-cooling system and the large quality of phase change material system, the heat pipe has high thermal conductivity, strong isothermal performance and light weight, it’s an efficient cooling element that can be used for thermal management. In this study, the flat plate heat pipe(FPHP) is used to manage the temperature of the battery, through experiments, the optimized placement of the flat heat pipe is obtained.

How to improve the measurement accuracy of road gradient is the key content of the research on the speed warning of commercial vehicles in mountainous roads. The large error of the measurement causes a significant effect of the vehicle speed threshold, which causes a risk to the vehicle's safety. Conventional measuring instruments such as accelerometers and gyroscopes generally have noise fluctuation interference or time accumulation error, resulting in large measurement errors. To solve this problem, the Kalman filter method is used to reduce the interference of unwanted signals, thereby improving the accuracy of the slope measurement. However, the Kalman filtering method is limited by the estimation error of various parameters, and the filtering effect is difficult to meet the project research requirements.

To prevent braking recession, heavy commercial vehicles are often equipped with fluid auxiliary braking devices, such as hydraulic retarder. Hydraulic retarder can convert the vehicle’s kinetic energy to the fluid heat energy, which can enormously alleviate the main brake’s workload. The traditional hydraulic retarder can provide enough braking torque but has a delay during the braking. In this paper, a new type of magnetorheological fluid (MR fluid) hydraulic retarder is introduced by replacing the traditional fluid with magnetorheological fluid because of its linear braking torque and quick response. By changing the magnetic field intensity, it is easier to control the braking torque than the traditional hydraulic retarder. The rise of magnetorheological fluid temperature during the braking period will reduce the hydraulic retarder’s performance.