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Most of the energy consumed in today's mobility industry is derived from fossil fuels. The demand for clean, renewable and affordable alternative energy is forcing the automotive industry to look beyond the conventional fossil fuels. Fuels options like liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), compressed natural gas (CNG) and ethanol blends are quickly finding widespread acceptance as alternative sources. This paper presents the results of experimental studies conducted on a 1.2-liter MPI engine with three different alternate fuels. The fuels considered for the evaluation (apart from base gasoline) are 10% ethanol-blended fuel (E10), LPG (gaseous propane: butane mix) and CNG (gaseous methane). Experiments were conducted to compare their effect on engine performance and emissions. The test results show that E10 has the lowest power drop whereas CNG has the highest power drop (12%) as compared to gasoline. The maximum power drop in LPG is 4%, which is close to the theoretical predictions.

With the current state of ever rising fuel prices and unavailability of affordable alternate technologies, significant research and development efforts have been invested in recent times towards improving fuel efficiency of vehicles powered with conventional internal combustion engines. To achieve this, a varied approach has been adopted by researchers to cover the entire energy chain including fuel quality, combustion quality, power generation efficiency, down-sizing, power consumption efficiency, etc. Apart from energy generation, distribution and consumption, another domain that has been subjected to significant scrutiny is energy recuperation or recovery. A moving vehicle and a running engine provide a number of opportunities for useful back-recovery and storage of energy. The most significant sources for recuperation are the kinetic energy of the moving vehicle or running engine and to a lesser extent the thermal energy from medium such as exhaust gas.

Reduction of NOx (Oxides of Nitrogen) and particulates from engine exhaust is one of the prime considerations in current research and development in automotive industry. The present paper describes the combustion optimization done on a four cylinder, 4 liter DI diesel engine to meet stringent Euro-III emission norms. The engine FIE (Fuel Injection Equipment) and injector geometry was optimized for performance and emission. Smoke measurements were considered as indicative of soot, to predict particulate emissions. This was done to simplify the overall process and save development time. It was concluded that by combining the flexibility of electronically controlled fuel injection begin, with improved nozzle technologies, with higher spray velocities and spray penetration, a considerable reduction in NOx and particulate emissions can be achieved. This can serve as a low cost solution, without any exhaust after-treatment systems.

Optimization of vehicle engine cooling package with requisite heat rejection capacity plays a key role in achieving most fuel economy and also in meeting the stringent noise norms. A set of design and operating features from existing vehicle engine cooling systems is reviewed and evaluated for their potential to provide optimized engine cooling. The features reviewed states significant potential in engine performance but these are balanced by satisfying required engine cooling requirement. Sets of trials are carried out on said vehicle with dissimilar features of cooling packages and the results are evaluated. Fuel economy trials in performance mode are carried out on vehicle with well thought-out cooling package for healthier comparison.

For an automotive exhaust system, noise level and back pressure are the most important parameters for passenger comfort and engine performance respectively. The sound quality perception of the existing silencer design was unacceptable, although the back pressure measured was below the target limit. To improve the existing design, few concepts were prepared by changing the internal elements of silencer only. The design constraints were the silencer shell dimensions, volume of silencer, inlet pipe and outlet tailpipe positions, which had to be kept same as that of the existing base design. The sound quality signal replaying and synthesizing was performed to define the desired sound quality. The numerical simulation involves 3D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) with appropriate boundary condition having less numerical diffusions to predict the back pressure. The various silencer concepts developed with this preliminary analysis, was then experimentally verified with the numerical data.

Important vehicle performance parameters such as, fuel economy and high speed stability are directly influenced by its aerodynamic drag and lift. Wind tunnel testing to asses these parameters requires heavy investment especially when test wind tunnel is not available in the country where vehicle development center is present. Hence to save cost and to compress development time, it is essential to asses and optimize parameters of a vehicle in very early stages of development. Using numerical flow simulations optimization runs can be carried out digitally. Industry demands prediction of aerodynamic drag and lift coefficients (CD,CL) within an accuracy of a few counts, consuming minimal HPC resources and in a short turnaround time. Different OEMs deploy different testing methods and different softwares for numerical simulations.

Diesel engines tend to operate on lower exhaust temperatures, compared to their gasoline counterparts. Exhaust emission control becomes a significant issue at these lower temperatures, as any catalytic converter needs certain light off temperature to commence functioning. The trend so far has been to move the catalytic converters closer to the exhaust manifold, in order to get the benefit of higher temperatures - but most of the applications are limited to the location available after the turbo chargers. This is due the fact that very minute and efficient catalyst is required, if it has to be placed before the turbo charger. This catalyst also needs to be extremely durable to take care of high exotherms which occur within the catalysts and also to prevent any possible damage to the turbo chargers.

Regenerative braking has become one of the major features for a hybrid vehicle as it converts brake energy into electrical energy storable into battery and leads to an increase in overall fuel efficiency of the vehicle. Traditional regenerative braking systems are designed such that the mechanical braking force from the friction brakes is varied in order to get maximum electric braking. This is the optimum method; however, such a system calls from electronics (Anti-lock Braking System) for regulation of mechanical braking leading to an increased cost. In this paper, the authors present a new strategy for implementing a regenerative brake strategy without changing the mechanical brake system of a conventional vehicle converted to a hybrid vehicle. The electric motor that serves as the traction motor or the Integrated Starter Generator (ISG) system, is used for regenerative braking also. There is no change in the other vehicle specifications as compared to the conventional vehicle.

1 With increasing fuel price, the power train size is on a downward trend. For Fuel Economy maximization, the engine capacity and reduction ratios are getting reduced. So gradability of a vehicle is becoming a trade off factor for the power train size finalization in a car. At the same time OEMs are working hard to maintain profitability by reducing development and operational cost and time. In this complexly competitive scenario in automobile manufacturing, simulation is gaining an upper hand over actual testing as simulation consumes lesser time and resource as compared to actual testing. This paper is aimed at developing a simulation technique for restart or stop and start gradability which is a very critical parameter for finalization of engine torque characteristics and power train configuration. The simulation is done on AVL-CRUISE software.

Micro Hybrid Systems are a premier approach for improving fuel efficiency and reducing emissions, by improving the efficiency of electrical energy generation, storage, distribution and consumption, yet with lower costs associated with development and implementation. However, significant efforts are required while implementing micro hybrid systems, arising out of components like Intelligent Battery Sensor (IBS). IBS provides battery measurements and battery status, and in addition mission critical diagnostic data on a communication line to micro hybrid controller. However, this set of data from IBS is not available instantly after its initialization, as it enters into a lengthy learning phase, where it learns the battery parameters, before it gives the required data on the communication line. This learning period spans from 3 to 8 hours, until the IBS is fully functional and is capable of supporting the system functionalities.

Engine Stop/Start System (ESS) promises to reduce greenhouse emissions and improve fuel economy of vehicles. Previous work of the Authors was concentrated on bridging the gap of improvement in fuel economy promised by ESS under standard laboratory conditions and actual driving conditions. Findings from the practical studies lead to a conclusion that ESS is not so popular among the customers, due to the complexities of the system operation and poor integration of the system design with the driver behavior. In addition, due to various functional safety requirements, and traffic conditions, actual benefits of ESS are reduced. A modified control algorithm was proposed and proven for the local driving conditions in India. The ways in which a given driver behaves on the controls of the vehicles like Clutch and Brake Pedals, Gear Shift Lever were not uniform across the demography of study and varied significantly.

The paper describes a first-of-its-kind attempt of authors to develop an intake manifold - combined with - rocker cover (IMCRC) in sheet molding compound (SMC) for 3 L and 4 L direct injection diesel engines with power ratings 75 kW and 92 kW respectively. The objective was to reduce overall engine weight, noise and cost. The intake manifold is designed to withstand absolute boost pressures of more than 2 bar, temperature in the range of 160 °C. and capable of carrying load of directly attached components such as an air intake pipe. It is worth to note that the designed SMC component always remains in the vicinity of the exhaust manifold by virtue of base engine layout constraint. The development if successful can expand the horizon of SMC in diesel engine application.

Gasoline engines with Multi point fuel injection (MPFI) technology are being developed with naturally aspirated and/or turbocharged engines. Wherein a MPFI and turbo charged combination engines have certain challenges during development stages. One of the important challenge is design of air intake and exhaust system. With MPFI turbocharged engine combination, the under bonnet heat management is crucial task for drivability. The heat management of air intake plays a vital role in drivability part therefore a design layout of air intake path is an important aspect. Drivability can be categorized as low end, mid-range and top end drivability. Turbocharged MPFI engines have a typical phenomenon of ‘Lag in response’ in the low-end region. This ‘Lag in response’ phenomenon at low-end drivability region can be overcome through optimization of air intake system and optimization of exhaust back pressure.

Authors were challenged with a task of developing a full vehicle simulation model, with a target to simulate the electrical system performance and perform digital tests like Battery Charge Balance, in addition to the fuel efficiency estimation. A vehicle is a complicated problem or domain to model, due to the complexities of subsystems. Even more difficult task is to have a control algorithm which controls the vehicle model with the required control signals to follow the test specification. Particularly, simulating the control of a vehicle with a manual transmission is complicated due to many associated control signals (Throttle, Brake and Clutch) and interruptions like gear changes. In this paper, the development of a full vehicle model aimed at the assessment of electrical system performance of the vehicle is discussed in brief.

A hybrid electric powertrain being a complex system requires analysis of all its subsystems to optimally utilize, size components for performance evaluation and control strategy development. An integrated high fidelity model of these can lower development costs, time and achieve the targeted performance while allowing for early redefinition of the system. A high fidelity model of a sedan car featuring chassis with longitudinal and lateral dynamics, suspension with joints, tires calculating longitudinal & lateral forces during vehicle motion, Engine model with combustion & dynamics of reciprocating and rotating components, Electric motors, Battery system, and gearbox with synchronizers and friction components was developed. Powertrain components were interconnected using 3D rotational flanges. Weight distribution was accomplished by appropriately locating various powertrain components using 3D supporting mounts, which help to study the mount forces as well.

Better ride and comfort, enhanced safety, reliability and durability, lower running cost as well as cost of ownership continue to be challenges for automotive OEMs. Higher fuel efficiency is considered as USP not only for lower running cost but also is hygiene factor from sustainability point of view. This has necessitated the need for Augmenting Light weighting horizon in automotive OEMs. Augmenting this leads to invention of innovative materials and processes for emerging cost competitive market. This paper focuses on technology efforts towards augmenting light weighting Horizon in Automotive. Light weighting concepts being explored by OEMs with the help of automotive component manufacturers from Powertrain - Engines & Transmission, Chassis and Suspension are discussed.

Depletion of fossil fuel reserves, the unsteadiness of their prices and the increasingly stricter exhaust emission legislation put forward attention of world towards use of alternate fuels. The ever increasing demand for ecologically friendly vehicles can be met by use of clean fuels like Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Hydrogen (H2). Lower carbon to hydrogen ratio of CNG makes it a cleaner fuel, due to this CNG is gaining popularity as an internal combustion (IC) engine fuel in transport sector. Hydrogen fuel for IC engines is also being considered as a future fuel due to its simple carbon less structure. However, several obstacles have to be overcome before widespread utilization of hydrogen as an IC engine fuel can occur in the transport sector. The 18 percent hydrogen enriched CNG fuel referred to as HCNG has the potential to lower emissions and could be considered a first step towards promotion of a Hydrogen economy.

In a heavy commercial vehicle, the engine cooling package is designed by considering peak heat load on the vehicle cooling system from an engine end. In cooling systems, the major unit that consumes most power from the engine is the engine cooling fan. It was seen from the vehicle measured duty cycle data, for most of the time engine operates at part load condition. Regardless of demand from the engine cooling system, engine fan was operating continuously at equivalent speed of the engine. This results in continuous consumption of productive engine power from the fan end ultimately affecting vehicle fuel economy. The present study shows that low idle speed viscous fan has the potential to meet stringent engine cooling performance requirements and consumes less engine power throughout an actual vehicle duty cycle. Experiments were conducted on test vehicle with different fan speeds.

This research paper is dealing with development of a Hybrid Exhaust muffler with four different shell configurations (Internal design unaltered) and investigated the impact on noise performance and quality (perceived). Noise performance has been evaluated by measurement of Pass by Noise and near exhaust noise Level on a typical 16T -6-speeds transmission Truck. The experimental activity conducted based on DOE approach. From this study, it observed single shell with lower thickness have the poor NVH performance and perceived quality as well. Shell or booming noise is also observed with this configuration. Double shell with Ceramic blanket (throughout the length) sandwich configuration exhibited the best performance though this design is most expensive among the four mufflers.

Now a day’s automated manual transmissions (AMT) are getting popular because of hassle-free gear shifting and improved fuel economy. OEMs are converting their existing manual gearbox to AMT gearbox with solution like hydraulic or electric AMT kit that replaces the manual shift mechanism to automated actuators. Generally, in manual gearbox, the operational principal of reverse gear is sliding mesh. Due to sliding mesh gear arrangement, it can create interruption for gearshift while controlling shift actuators. In this paper, reverse gear shift arrangement and its operational dynamics at different operating condition has been studied and analyzed in detail. Based on status of vehicle, to ease the gearshift, engagement flow process proposed. The control methods that increases probability of smooth and easier shifting in all operating condition discussed in detail. The developed control algorithm discussed along with its implementation on real vehicle and results.