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A passive thermal management system (TMS) using composite phase change material (PCM) for large-capacity, rectangular lithium-ion batteries is designed. A battery module consisting of six Li-ion cells connected in series was investigated as a basic unit. The passive TMS for the module has three configurations according to the contact area between cells and the composite PCM, i.e., surrounding, front-contacted and side-contacted schemes. Firstly, heat generation rate of the battery cell was calculated using the Bernardi equation based on experimentally measured heat source terms (i.e. the internal resistance and the entropy coefficient). Physical and thermal properties such as density, phase change temperature, latent heat and thermal conductivity of the composite PCM were also obtained by experimental methods. Thereafter, thermal response of the battery modules with the three TMS configurations was simulated using 3D finite element analysis (FEA) modeling in ANSYS Fluent.

The noise and vibration of electric vacuum pump (EVP) become a major problem for electric vehicles when the vehicle is stationary. This paper aims at the EVP’s abnormal noise of an electric vehicle when stationary. Driver’s right ear (DRE) noise was tested and spectrogram analysis was carried out to identify the noise sources. In order to attenuate this kind of abnormal noise, a new EVP rubber mount with a segmented structure was introduced, which optimized the transfer path of vibration. Then dynamic stiffness and fatigue life of the EVP mount with different rubber hardness were calculated through finite element analysis (FEA) approach. Bench tests of fatigue life and DRE noise were performed to validate the FEA results. Test data of the sample mount shows that sound pressure level of DRE was dramatically attenuated and thus passengers’ ride comfort was enhanced.

Crashworthiness is one of the most important performances of vehicles, and the front rails are the main crash energy absorption parts during the frontal crashing process. In this paper, the front rail was simplified to a thin-walled beam with a cross section of single-hat which was made of steel and aluminum. And the two boards of it were connected by riveting without rivets. In order to optimize its crashworthiness, the thickness (t), radius (R) and the rivet spacing (d) were selected as three design variables, and its specific energy absorption was the objective while the average impact force was the constraint. Considering the error of manufacturing and measurements, the parameters σs and Et of the steel were selected as the uncertainty variables to improve the design reliability. The algorithm IP-GA and the approximate model-RBF (Radial Basis Function) were applied in this nonlinear uncertainty optimization.

The work-hardening response of TRIP780 steel subjected to strain-path changes was investigated using two-stage tension experiments. Large specimens were prestrained and then sub-sized samples were subjected to tension along various directions. The influence of strain-path changes on flow stress and work hardening performance was discussed in detail. The specific plastic work was calculated to compare the kinematic hardening behaviour after strain-path changes. The results showed that transient hardening was observed for TRIP780 sheets subjected to orthogonal strain-path change. The strain-hardening exponent (n-value) was influenced by prestraining levels and the strain path. The n-value exhibited a greater decrease under an orthogonal strain-path change. Prestraining can delay the onset of high work hardenability of TRIP steels. It is meaningful for the safety design of vehicles.

With the rapidly developing automotive industry and stricter environmental protection laws and regulations, lightweight materials, advanced manufacturing processes and structural optimization methods are widely used in body design. Therefore, in order to evaluate and improve the pedestrian protection during a collision, this paper presents an impact simulation modeling and structural optimization method for a sport utility vehicle engine hood made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP). Head injury criterion (HIC) was used to evaluate the performance of the hood in this regard. The inner panel and the outer panel of CFRP hood were discretized by shell elements in LS_DYNA. The Mat54-55 card was used to define the mechanical properties of the CFRP hood. In order to reduce the computational costs, just the parts contacted with the hood were modeled. The simulations were done in the prescribed 30 impact points.

In this study, the vibroacoustic characteristics and torque fluctuation of switched reluctance motors (SRMs) with different phases and poles have been analyzed in detail. Also, the common four SRMs, i.e., three-phase 6/4 SRM, four-phase 8/6 SRM, five-phase 10/8 SRM, and six-phase 12/10 SRM, have been selected. First, the spatial-temporal distribution characteristics of radial force in SRMs were revealed by virtue of the analytical derivation, which was validated by the 2D Fourier decomposition based on the finite-element results of radial force. Second, a multiphysics model, which was composed of an electromagnetic field, a mechanical field, and an acoustic field, was established to predict the noise behaviors of SRMs with different phases and poles. Third, the relationship between the torque fluctuation and the phases / poles of SRMs, and the relationship between the noise and the radial force / phases / poles are all analyzed.

Hot forming process of ultrahigh strength boron steel 22MnB5 is widely applied in vehicle industry. It is one of the most effective approaches for vehicle light weighting. Dynamic recovery is the major softening mechanism of the boron steel under austenite state at elevated temperatures. Deformation mechanism of the boron steel can be revealed by investigation on the behavior of dynamic recovery, which could also improve the accuracy of forming simulations for hot stamping. Uniaxial tensile experiments of the boron steel are carried out on the thermo-mechanical simulator Gleeble3800 at elevated temperatures. The true stress-strain curves and the relations between the work hardening rate and flow stress are obtained in different deformation conditions. The work hardening rate decreases linearly with increasing the flow stress.

The action of load on the component is crucial to evaluate the performance of durability. Another factor that affects fatigue life is the boundary conditions of the test specimen being tested by introducing unrealistic loads on the component of interest. The physical test is widely conducted in the laboratory. The fixture provides additional constraints on the test specimen as well as reaction forces to balance the test system [1]. The characteristics of the fixture involved in the test is important to analyze and assess the test results [2]. The impact of the reaction force of the fixture on the spindle-coupled axle road simulation test is presented in this article. A simplified 7-DoF (degrees of freedom) model is introduced to demonstrate the dynamic behavior of the vehicle. The influence on the internal load by the fixture has been analyzed. Followed by a more detailed MBS (multibodysystem) model to give a thorough understanding of the phenomenon.

For an electric vehicle driven by four in-wheel motors, the torque of each wheel can be controlled precisely and independently. A closed-loop control method of differential drive assisted steering (DDAS) has been proposed to improve vehicle steering properties based on those advantages. With consideration of acceleration requirement, a three dimensional characteristic curve that indicates the relation between torque and angle of the steering wheel at different vehicle speeds was designed as a basis of the control system. In order to deal with the saturation of motor's output torque under certain conditions, an anti-windup PI control algorithm was designed. Simulations and vehicle tests, including pivot steering test, lemniscate test and central steering test were carried out to verify the performance of the DDAS in steering portability and road feeling.

A Controllable Active Thermo-Atmosphere (CATA) Combustor enables the investigation of stabilization mechanisms in an environment that decouples the turbulent chemical kinetics from the complex recirculating flow. Previous studies on combustion of the low-pressure fuel jets in the Controllable Active Thermo-Atmosphere (CATA) showed non-linear effect of coflow temperature on autoignition delay and the randomness of autoignition sites. In this work, a diesel spray is injected into the CATA with the injection pressure at 20MPa from a single-hole injector and the autoignition and combustion process of the spray is recorded by a high-speed camera video. The multipoint autoignition of diesel spray is observed in the CATA and the subsequent combustion process is analyzed. The results show that autoignition phenomenon plays an important role in the stabilization of the lifted flames of diesel spray under low coflow temperature.

It is very important to investigate how road irregularity excitation will affect the durability, reliability, and performance degradation of fuel cell vehicle powertrain and its key components, including the electric motor, power control unit, power battery package and fuel cell engine system. There are very few published literatures in this research area. In this paper, an elementary but integrated experimental work is described, including the real road load sample on proving ground, road load reproduction on vibration test rig, total vehicle road simulation test and key components vibration tests. Remote parameter control technology is adopted to reproduce the real road load on road simulator and six-degree-of-freedom vibration table, which is used respectively for total vehicle and components vibration tests.

A computational study was conducted in order to characterize the heat transfers in a sedan vehicle underbody and the exhaust system. A steady-state analysis with consideration for both the radiation and conjugate heat transfers was undertaken using the High-Reynolds formulation of the k-epsilon turbulence model with standard wall function and the DO model for the radiation heat transfer. All three mechanisms of heat transfer, i.e., convection, conduction, and radiation, were included in the analysis. The convective heat transfer due to turbulent fluid motion was modeled with the assumption of constant turbulent Prandtl number; and heat conduction was solved directly for both fluid and solid.

The price of fossil fuels and the increasing inexorable energy crisis have become vital issues for everyone. Tongji University EconoPower Racing Team was established to participate in the “Honda EconoPower Cup” annually. Every contestant in the competition must finish a certain distance in the fixed time, with the gasoline supplied by the committee. After that the committee will measure the fuel consumption of every team and calculate the distance per liter fuel (the farther the better) to determine the champion. In order to enhance the EP vehicle's achievement we've made some improvements, such as framework, body, engine's optimization and so on. In this passage we mainly state some details of our research approaches in framework, steering, transmission, shape and driving strategy. The main technologies were: friction reduction, lightweight, enhancement of power train efficiency, tire selection and driving strategy.

Real-time interaction between a driver and the simulator is problematic. In this study, the racing car driving simulator has been established, which is composed of the following functional components: Motion Controller, Simview, Scenario Editor, Application Programmer Interface (APIs) and Crash Simulation. With TCP/IP protocol, the Motion Controller receives driver's manipulation, road unevenness and crash situation of Simview, then generates motion streams that reflecting the current conditions, and sends them to Simview and to the hydraulic platform. Furthermore, by detecting and analyzing general vehicle two-dimensional impact, a kind of complete and applicable calculation method has been established, and complicated vehicle impacts can be analyzed accurately. This racecar driving simulator places a racing driver in a interactive environment, and provides the driver with high-fidelity motion, visual, auditory, and force feedback cues.

The effects of biodiesel on the swelling of the elastomers and plastics and the corrosion of metals are studied by the immersion tests. The results indicate that biodiesels make little corrosion effect on aluminum, steel and little swelling impact on plastics, but a significant corrosion may be taken place on cooper and brass for some sourced biodiesels. For nitrile-butadiene rubber, the variation of swelling properties in biodiesels is slightly higher than that in diesel. For the non-diesel-resistant elatomers, the variation of swelling properties is lower than those in diesel. The production process and biodiesel source have an influence on the result of elastomer swelling and corrosion. The relationship between the impact of biodiesel on materials and biodiesels properties are also discussed.

Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) tube is an important material for the lightweight design of automotive structures. Simulation method of CFRP thin-walled tubes subjected to axial compression using MAT54 in LS-DYNA was investigated. Based on the two-layer shell model combined with MAT54, failure strategy and the parameters sensitivity of the model were discussed in detail. Then the simulation model was verified by using duplicate specimens comprised of carbon fiber/epoxy unidirectional prepreg tape. Furthermore, the modeling methods of crush trigger and different types of loading speed were analyzed. In addition, based on the method of equal energy absorption, energy absorption performance of thin-walled circular and square tubes made from four materials including mild steel, high strength steel, aluminum alloy and CFRP were also compared.

With the development of automotive HMI and mobile internet, many interactive modes are available for drivers to fulfill the in-vehicle secondary tasks, e.g. dialing, volume adjustment, music playing. For driving safety and drivers’ high expectation for HMI, it is urgent to effectively evaluate interactive mode with good efficiency, safety and good user experience for each secondary tasks, e.g. steering wheel buttons, voice control. This study uses a static driving simulation cockpit to provide driving environment, and sets up a high-fidelity driving cockpit based on OKTAL SacnerStudio and three-dimensional modeling technology. The secondary tasks supported by HMI platform are designed by customer demands research. The secondary task test is carried out based on usability test theory, and the influence on driving safety by different interactive modes is analyzed.

Generally, the gear rattle noise prediction models are composed of the mass and stiffness elements. The proposals are about the gear inertia or backlash and the shaft inertia or stiffness, but there are many detailed designs in the same inertia, stiffness or backlash conditions. Therefore, these proposals can’t guide detailed designs. These models only investigate the rattle in the rotating degree, and ignore rattle contribution in the radical and axial directions. Those prediction models only consider one or several factors which affect the rattle noise performance. It is difficult to predict the influence of individual factor and multi-factors coupling on the gear rattle noise in a rattle simulation model.

Sealing system is an important subsystem of modern high-performance engine. Sealing system reliability directly affects the engine operating conditions. Cylinder head gaskets(CHG) sealing system is of the most importance to the engine sealing system, which is not only responsible for sealing chamber, the cooling fluid and lubricating oil passage, for preventing gas leakage, water leakage and oil leakage, but also responsible for force transferring between cylinder head and cylinder body. Basing on nonlinear solution method, the sealing performance of multi-layer-steel cylinder head gaskets to a gasoline engine is studied with the finite element software ABAQUS. The deformations of the cylinder liners and engine block are also considered.

The vehicular fuel cell stack is unavoidably impacted by the vibration in the real-world usage due to the road unevenness. However, effects of vibration on stacks have yet to be completely understood. In this work, the mechanical integrity and gas-tightness of the stack were investigated through a strengthen road vibration test with a duration of 200 h. The excitation signals applied in the vibration test were simulated by the acceleration of the stack, which were previously measured in a vehicle vibration test. The load signals of the vehicle vibration test were iterated through a road simulator from vehicle acceleration signals which were originally sampled in the proving ground. Frequency sweep test was conducted before and after the vibration test. During the vibration test, mechanical structure inspection and pressure maintaining test of the stack were conducted at regular intervals.