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The recent adoption of the ISO26262 Functional Safety Standard has lead to the need for a greater degree of rigor in the technical, organizational and process aspects of electronic ECU engineering. One new facet of this standard also covers (in part 9.7) the analysis of dependent failures at manufacturing time, not only the microcontroller, but also for the plethora of connected system ASICs, input circuits, output drivers and communication devices in the PCB of the ECU. This paper will describe the CAN based end of line ECU self test system that was implemented at a major tier 1 supplier to address the issues of efficiently gaining a high degree of diagnostic coverage of single point faults and latent faults in highly integrated automotive ECUs.

An investigation has been performed to study the response of the front bumper beam of automobiles subjected to an external impact load. In the investigation, an aluminum shell structure is modeled as a beam, and the energy absorber of polyurethane is also modeled as statically equivalent springs attached to the beam. Castigliano's second theorem and principles of energy and momentum are then used to calculate the reaction forces and maximum deflection. Stress distribution is then calculated using the beam theory. The primary concern of the investigation is to present a procedure of how to design optimally the cross-sectional shape of the front bumper of automobiles.

The series-parallel hybrid electric vehicle(HEV), which employs a planetary gear set to combine one internal combustion engine(ICE) and two electric motors(EMs), can take advantages of both series and parallel hybrid system. The efficient powertrain operating point of the system can be obtained by the instantaneous optimization of equivalent fuel consumption. However, heavy computational requirements and variable constraints of the optimization process make it difficult to build real-time control strategy. To overcome the difficulty, this study suggests the control strategy which divides the optimization process into 2 stages. In the first stage, a target of charge/discharge power is determined based on equivalent fuel consumption, then in the second stage, an engine operating point is determined taking power transfer efficiency into account.

Mathematical modeling of three-way catalytic converter (3WCC) operation is used increasingly in the optimization of automobile converter systems. But almost all of previous computational models were based on "adiabatic one- channel" approach with the reaction kinetics computations, which is useful and efficient in predicting real-world performance of the catalyst. However, as long as flow maldistribution is not accounted for in the models, simulation results will not be reliable. In this work, two-dimensional performance prediction of catalyst coupled with turbulent reacting flow simulation has been performed and the results were compared with experimental data and one-channel simulation in the literature. The computational results from this study show the better prediction accuracy in terms of CO, HC and NO conversion efficiencies compared to those of 1-D adiabatic model. Varying cell density and hot spot moving pattern within the monolith during warm-up period are also considered.

The purpose of this study was to develop a new element removal method for ESO (Evolutionary Structural Optimization), which is one of the topology optimization methods. ESO starts with the maximum allowable design space and the optimal topology emerges by a process of removal of lowly stressed elements. The element removal ratio of ESO is fixed throughout topology optimization at 1 or 2%. BESO (bidirectional ESO) starts with either the least number of elements connecting the loads to the supports, or an initial design domain that fits within the maximum allowable domain, and the optimal topology evolves by adding or subtracting elements. But the convergence rate of BESO is also very slow. In this paper, a new element removal method for ESO was developed for improvement of the convergence rate. Then it was applied to the same problems as those in papers published previously.

Vehicle collisions frequently happen at a low-speed. Insurance companies and the RCAR (Research Council for Automobile Repairs) require reducing repair costs and improving occupant safety in a low-speed crash. In order to reduce repair costs in the RCAR test conditions, an energy absorbing device such as the crash box (C/Box) is usually installed. The C/Box is a thin-walled structure attached between the vehicle bumper structure and the side rail. The determination of the C/Box geometry is quite important to absorb the impact energy since the installation space of the C/Box is not very large. In this research, the determination process for the cross-sectional dimensions is proposed to improve the energy absorption efficiency of the C/Box. The proposed process has two steps. First, the cross-sectional dimensions are determined by two ways. One is a parameter study using an orthogonal array and the other is topology optimization.

An optimization program for the design of wiper linkages is developed to minimize jerky motion while satisfying design constraints on kinematic and torque performances, mobility condition, and packaging. The lengths/orientations of links and the position of a driving motor are selected as design variables. In our optimum design program for wiper linkages, an optimization module interacts with an analysis module which calculates kinematic and force/torque properties, until convergence. The optimization results of a particular wiper linkage are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the program developed.

HC and CO emissions during the cold start contribute the majority of the total emissions in the legislated driving cycles. Therefore, in order to minimize the cold-start emissions, the fast light-off techniques have been developed and presented in the literature. One of the most encouraging strategies for reducing start-up emissions is to place the warm-up catalyst, in addition to the main under-body catalyst, near the engine exhaust manifold. This study numerically considers three-dimensional, unsteady compressible reacting flow in the warm-up and main catalysts to examine the impact of a warm-up catalyst on thermal response of the main catalyst and tail pipe emission. The effects of flow distribution and loading condition on the temperature distribution and emission performance have also been investigated.

The electrical power system is the vital lifeline to most of the control systems on modern vehicles. The demands on the system are highly complex, and a detailed understanding of the system behavior is necessary both to the process of systems integration and to the economic design of a specific control system or actuator. The vehicle electric power system, which consists of two major components: a generator and a battery, has to provide numerous electrical and electronic systems with enough electrical energy. A detailed understanding of the characteristics of the electric power system, electrical load demands, and the driving environment such as road, season, and vehicle weight are required when the capacities of the generator and the battery are to be determined for a vehicle. An easy-to-use and inexpensive simulation program may be needed to avoid the over/under design problem of the electric power system. A vehicle electric power simulator is developed in this study.

In order to evaluate vehicle powertrain performances and driver behaviors, a computer aided in-vehicle data acquisition system named MOde Survey System (MOSS) is newly developed in conjunction with a motor manufacturer. MOSS is designed to be used by personnel related to vehicle emissions and energy with the aim of being cost-effective and easy-to-use. Since driving behaviors and patterns influence powertrain performance in terms of fuel economy and emissions, engineers can utilize the system for understanding the driving pattern and traffic situation quantitatively. MOSS mainly consists of an MCU-based hardware and PC-based software. MOSS logs and analyzes various data related to vehicle driving. Compared to currently-existing Test and Measurement Systems, MOSS is designed and developed for a specific goal with several unique features.