Search Results

The system spring/damper/anti roll bar/jounce bumper must isolate the vehicle from the road inputs and keep the body in correct attitude when submitted to lateral acceleration. The calibration is performed changing one component, but the influence from the other components can result in inappropriate conclusions. This method can be divided in two main parts: stiffness calibration (without damping) and damping calibration (with the previously defined stiffness). The first part consists in calibrate the stiffness at the following order spring, jounce bumper and anti roll bar, aiming the minimum body displacements and acceleration. This paper focus in the stiffness calibration and the parameters to select springs, jounce bumper and anti roll bars.

This work aims to summarize in a single form all legal requirements that dictates the minimum safety compliance required by government edicts to any wheel manufacture to have their products available for passenger or light truck vehicle in any country around the world in the year of 2016. It is not intention of this paper compare or discuss the different requirement among the countries but indicate to the manufactures of wheels what legal edicts they need to meet in case they are willing to go overseas to explore the wheel market of other country. Before start designing wheels for passenger or light truck application, any manufacture should be sure about what the government of the new market demands for wheels when installed on vehicle axis or just available as temporary spare. Another objective of this paper is to be a short reference for new automakers to know what to demand from their suppliers of wheels before starting business with them or shipping vehicles to any new market.

This paper will focus whining noise on rear axles applied in mid-size trucks. Vehicle integration changes during development affect directly the gear noise perception, in which it may be intensified. Also, gear material and heat treatment choices for the rear axle need to be done carefully, taking into consideration the integration changes and also the driver usage. A lessons learned collection over the diverse aspects of a rear axle whining noise will be the basis of this paper.

The automotive industry demands for quality and technological innovations that enhance the performance of their products. Visual quality and corrosion resistance are also very important, even for fasteners exposed to the weathering throughout its life cycle that shall meet the performance requirements specified by the automotive industry. This paper shows how the search for new technologies leads to innovations in the already established surface treatment with a new generation of sealers for the automotive industry. This brand new technology of organic/polymeric sealer applies in water basis a single and uniform layer with low molecular weight (1000 to 10000 Dalton) in order to enhance specific properties such as high corrosion resistance, low coefficient of friction attributing characteristics of self-lubricating surface and increase in the wear resistance of the coating.

The fuel indicator float inside the fuel tank, also called just float or erroneously, fuel indicator, is in reality a fuel level sender. It is apparently a really simple part, but it consists of a small system constituted of the float itself; the float arm articulated to an axle carrying a moving contact over a resistor; and the resistor inside a housing/flange. Its function is to convert the fuel level measurements inside the tank in suitable information to the instruments in the vehicle instrument panel. Since a few years ago, it has suffered successive changes toward the objective of improving quality, durability, reliability and performance, or even motivated by innovations in the installation environment and correlated systems, such as, emission controls, affecting the tank internal space, and highly corrosive type fuels.

General Motors Corporation has always made every effort so that our end products and processes and configuration of components could help preserve the environment. Along those lines, General Motors do Brasil started to develop a protective coating that is corrosion resistant and environment friendly. At first, this will be used for fasteners. This effort involves dramatic changes in attitude, such as our need to admit that we are responsible for managing resources and keeping our world habitable and healthy for the future generations. This study describes metallic and organometallic coatings with an increased resistance to corrosion associated to temperature, free of such harmful metals as cadmium, nickel, lead, chromium, etc. Also demonstrated here is the significance of the total friction coefficient and its composition, considering the friction coefficients inherent to the fastener threads/heads.

Basic driveline configurations offered in mid-size trucks have a standard “open” differential. Open differentials allow smooth cornering, as the outside tire must spin faster on corners as it travels a larger arc, when compared to the inner tire. This system has a main problem when traction is lost, due to slippery roads, different friction coefficients between pavements or even when the axle is submitted to a twist ditch. All of the power goes to the wheel with the least traction and the pickup is stuck. In order to improve traction on these situations, limited slip differentials were developed. A limited-slip differential will prevent excessive power from being allocated just to one wheel, and thereby keeping both wheels in powered rotation. There are several solutions offered in the market, each one presenting different torque transfer capabilities.

Changes in the macro economic scenario of Brazil during the latest 10 years resulted on several changes in the auto industry market. One, which affected important requirements of the light duty trucks, regards the migration of customers from passenger car segments to light duty pickups. A considerable portion of these new pick-up customers expects an overall level of comfort, handling, noise and vibration similar to the levels found in passenger cars. One possible conclusion of this trend is that an optimized vehicle system integration is vital to prevent potential issues and to assure the achievement of customer satisfaction. Among several vehicle systems, the Drivetrain integration deserves the major attention. This paper shares lessons learned on the integration of the manual Transmission, external shifter, mountings, propeller shaft, rear axle and suspension with the rest of the vehicle.

The automotive industry is continuously striving to reduce vehicle mass by reducing the mass of components including wheel bearings. A typical wheel bearing assembly is mostly steel, including both the wheel and knuckle mounting flanges. Mass optimization of the wheel hub has traditionally been accomplished by reducing the cross-sectional thickness of these components. Recently bearing suppliers have also investigated the use of alternative materials. While bearing component performance is verified through analysis and testing by the supplier, additional effects from system integration and performance over time also need to be comprehended. In a recent new vehicle architecture, the wheel bearing hub flange was reduced to optimize it for low mass. In addition, holes were added for further mass reduction. The design met all the supplier and OEM component level specifications.