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To provide a feasible transitional solution from all-by-human driving style to fully autonomous driving style, this paper proposed concept and its control algorithm of a robust lane-keeping ‘co-pilot’ system. In this a semi-autonomous system, Learning based Model Predictive Control (LBMPC) theory is employed to improve system's performance in target state tracking accuracy and controller's robustness. Firstly, an approximate LTI model which describes driver-vehicle-road closed-loop system is set up and real system's deviations from the LTI system resulted by uncertainties in the model are regarded as bounded disturbance. The LTI model and bounded disturbances make up a nominal model. Secondly, a time-varying model which is composed of LTI model and an ‘oracle’ component is designed to observe the possible disturbances numerically and it is online updated using Extended Kalman Filter (EKF).

Brake squeal is a complex dynamics instability issue for automobile industry. Closed-loop coupling model deals with brake squeal from a perspective of structural instability. Friction characteristics between pads and disc rotor play important roles. In this paper, a closed-loop coupling model which incorporates negative friction-velocity slope is presented. Different from other existing models where the interface nodes are coupled through assumed springs, they are connected directly in the presented model. Negative friction slope is taken into account. Relationship between nodes’ frictional forces, relative speeds and brake pressure under equilibrant sliding and vibrating states is analysed. Then repeated nodal coordinate elimination and substructures’ modal coordinate space transformation of system dynamic equation are performed. It shows that the negative friction slope leads to negative damping items in dynamic equation of system.

The dynamic properties of disc rotor play important role in the NVH performance of a disc brake system. Disc rotor in general is a centrosymmetric structure. It has many repeated-root modes within the interested frequency range and they may have significant influence on squeal occurrence. A pair of repeated-root modes is in nature one vibration mode. However, in current complex eigenvalue analysis model and relevant analysis methods, repeated-root modes are processed separately. This may lead to contradictory result. This paper presents methods to deal with repeated-root modes in substructure modal composition (SMC) analysis to avoid the contradiction. Through curve-fitting technique, the modal shape coefficients of repeated-root modes are expressed in an identical formula. This formula is used in SMC analysis to obtain an integrated SMC value to represent the total influence of two repeated-root modes.

This paper studies a control algorithm for fuel cell/battery city buses. The output power of the fuel cell is controlled by a D.C. converter, and the output ports of the converter and the battery are connected in parallel to supply power for the electric motor. One way to prolong service life is to have the fuel cell system to deliver a steady-state power. However, because of fluctuations in the bus voltage and uncertainness in the D.C. converter, the output power of the fuel cell system changes drastically. A closed-loop control algorithm is necessary to eliminate the errors between the output and target power of the fuel cell system. The algorithm is composed of two parts, the feed forward one and the feedback one. Influences of the bus voltage and D.C. efficiency are compensated automatically in the feedback algorithm by using a PI algorithm. The stability and robustness of the algorithm is analyzed.

HCNG is short for hydrogen enriched natural gas. Compared to traditional gasoline, diesel or even natural gas engines HCNG fuelled engines have several advantages on environment protection and energy security and in order to make full extent of the new fuel, several modifications have to be made in the corresponding engine and the control strategy. So there is a need to develop a predictive model to simulate the engine's performance without really running the engine, which could speed up the development of HCNG engines. This paper dose such a job. At first the paper presents the fundamentals of the quasi-dimensional model. The equations of the two-zone thermodynamic model and turbulent entrainment combustion model are both introduced. The methods of calculating the related parameters such as theoretical adiabatic flame temperature, laminar burning velocity of HCNG mixture under various hydrogen blending ratios are also given.

Hydrogen enriched compressed natural gas (HCNG) is thought to be a potential alternative to common hydrocarbon fuels for SI engine applications. Experimental researches focusing on how to use this kind of fuel to its full extent have been conducted for over ten years and are still on their way. From a review of these researches it is found that one of the biggest obstacles of efficiently and economically conducting such experiments is how to mix desired amount of hydrogen with natural gas. Most of the previous experiments use pre-bottled hydrogen/ NG mixtures (by mixing and storing desired amount of hydrogen and NG in high pressure steel cylinders before the tests) which are quite costly and unsafe, due to high pressure operation. More importantly, the blending ratio cannot be varied by that approach. By comparison, this paper presents an on-line hydrogen-natural gas mixing system through which the hydrogen/ NG blending ratio can be easily varied during the tests.

A life-cycle assessment (LCA) has been developed to help compare the economic, environmental and energy (EEE) impacts of converting coal to automotive fuels in China. This model was used to evaluate the total economic cost to the customer, the effect on the local and global environments, and the energy efficiencies for each fuel option. It provides a total accounting for each step in the life cycle process including the mining and transportation of coal, the conversion of coal to fuel, fuel distribution, all materials and manufacturing processes used to produce a vehicle, and vehicle operation over the life of the vehicle. The seven fuel scenarios evaluated in this study include methanol from coal, byproduct methanol from coal, methanol from methane, methanol from coke oven gas, gasoline from coal, electricity from coal, and petroleum to gasoline and diesel. The LCA results for all fuels were compared to gasoline as a baseline case.

Brake squeal noise is studied in this paper by feed-in energy analysis. Based on the closed-loop coupling brake model, the computation method of feed-in energy is derived for the system squeal mode. The amount of feed-in energy can indicate the degree of squeal tendency of the brake system. Feed-in energy analysis can clearly reveal the influence of some structural parameters on brake noise, such as coefficient of friction, the geometric shape and stiffness of pads, and key substructure modal shape. It also can help to analyze the structure modification to eliminate brake squeal.

In this paper, analysis methods for brake squeal including substructure modal composition analysis and substructure modal parameters sensitivity analysis are presented. These methods are based on a new closed-loop coupling disc brake model, where the coupled nodal pairs in each coupling interface are connected tightly. This assumption is different from other existing models in literatures, where the interface nodes are coupled through assumed springs. Based on this new model, two analysis methods are derived: Substructure modal composition analysis indicates the contribution of modes of each substructure to the noise mode; Substructure modal parameters sensitivity analysis indicates the sensitivity of the real part of system’s eigenvalue to component’s modal frequency and shape. Finally, the presented analysis methods are applied to analyse a high frequency squeal problem of a squealing disc brake.

As a typical parameter of the road-vehicle interface, the road friction potential acts an important factor that governs the vehicle motion states under certain maneuvering input, which makes the prior knowledge of maximum road friction capacity crucial to the vehicle stability control systems. Since the direct measure of the road friction potential is expensive for vehicle active safety system, the evaluation of this variable by cost effective method is becoming a hot issue all these years. A ‘wheel slip based’ maximum road friction coefficient estimation method based on a modified Dugoff tire model for distributed drive electric vehicles is proposed in this paper. It aims to evaluate the road friction potential with vehicle and wheel dynamics analyzing by using standard sensors equipped on production vehicle, and fully take the advantage of distributed EV that the wheel drive torque and rolling speed can be obtained accurately.

Particle Number (PN) have already been a big issue for developing high efficiency internal combustion engines (ICEs). In this study, controlled spark-assisted stratified compression ignition (SSCI) with moderate end-gas auto-ignition was used for reducing PN in a high compression ratio gasoline direct injection (GDI) engine. Under wide open throttle (WOT) and Maximum Brake Torque timing (MBT) condition, high external cooled exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) was filled in the cylinder, while two-stage direct injection was used to form desired stoichiometric but stratified mixture. SSCI combustion mode exhibits two-stage heat release, where the first stage is associated with flame propagation induced by spark ignition and the second stage is the result of moderate end-gas auto-ignition without pressure oscillation at the middle or late stage of the combustion process.

Coke oven gas (COG) is a byproduct of coking plants in steel mills which can be methanized resulting in a hydrogen-methane mixture with a volumetric fraction of roughly 55% hydrogen (roughly 13.25% by mass) and 45% methane (roughly 86.75% by mass). In order to simulate the use of coke oven gas as a fuel for engines, this study focuses on hydrogen enriched compressed natural gas (HCNG) at a hydrogen volumetric fraction of 55%, which is the same content as the methanized COG. The power, efficiency and emissions characteristics are outlined at different load conditions which will be provided for the next step electronic control, performance optimization and product development research. This potential alternative fuel has the potential not only to reduce engine emissions, but will also help reduce the waste COG produced in large quantities by factories across the world.

Prototype of a brake-by-wire (BBW) system named Distributed Electro-hydraulic Braking System (DEHB) has been developed. As a BBW system, DEHB is suitable to be used in electric vehicles (EV) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEV). Comparing to the ‘dry’ type distributed BBW systems such as Electro-mechanical Braking System (EMB) or Electric Wedge Brake (EWB), the ‘wet’ feature of DEHB brings benefits to system cost, installation, performance and reliability. In this paper, prototype of the DEHB was described. Based on its ‘wet’ feature, a new fail-safe control for DEHB was proposed. Two types of DEHB architectures that can perform the proposed fail-safe control were described. Superiority of the proposed fail-safe control and architectures for DEHB were examined and verified through simulations and HIL experiments, which helps DEHB to reach a high level of safety and reliability with reduced cost on electro/electronic redundancy.

The paper presents a new electromechanical brake system for vehicles using magnetorheological fluid. The brake system designed for the electric vehicle has some advantages over the conventional brake system. The brake system is made up of a brake disk, shells, magnetorheological fluid (MRF) and the electromagnets. The brake disk is immersed in the MRF whose yield stress changes as the applied magnetic field. The braking torque of this system can be linearly adjusted by the current in just a few milliseconds without the conventional vacuum booster. This system has a quick response and precise control performance with a low hysteresis. Besides, the system has adopted the original complicated structure to save space and cost. In this paper, the configuration of MRF brake types is described. The braking torques of the MRF brakes is derived based on the MRF theoretical model which is firstly raised. Some braking simulation based on the theoretical model is also shown.

The reference path played a very important role in the parking schemes. In this paper, an arc tangent liked polynomial trajectory model is proposed, and an optimal trajectory is obtained for automatic parallel parking based on genetic algorithm, which ensures that the vehicle does not collide with obstacles or other vehicles during parking. The proposed algorithm has strong robustness because of that all the parameters of the vehicle and the parallel parking spaces are parameterized. Using the trajectory model with the vehicle and parking space parameters, a cost function with multi-constraints, were established for path planning. The start and end points of the planning trajectory are the actual starting point and the desired final parking point of the vehicle by choosing three parameters of the trajectory model appropriately. Simulation results illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

Although autonomous driving technology has become an emerging research focus, safety is still the most crucial concern when autonomous vehicles leave research laboratory and enter public traffic. Direct yaw moment control (DYC), which differentially brakes the wheels to produce a yaw moment, is an important system to ensure the driving stability of vehicle under extreme conditions. Traditional DYC system must need to take into account driver’s intention and vehicle dynamics. However, for autonomous vehicle, no human is involved in driving process, and enforcing traditional DYC system may conflict with the demands of the desired path. Therefore, in this paper, a novel DYC system for autonomous vehicle is proposed to simultaneously suppress lateral path tracking deviation while maintaining autonomous vehicle stability at or close to the driving limits. In the hardware aspect, an integrated-electro-hydraulic brake (IEHB) actuator scheme is adopted.

n-butanol has been recognized as a promising alternative fuel for gasoline and may potentially overcome the drawbacks of methanol and ethanol, e.g. higher energy density. In this paper, the spray characteristics of gasoline and n-butanol have been investigated using a high pressure direct injection injector. High speed imaging and Phase Doppler Particle Analyzer (PDPA) techniques were used to study the spray penetration and the droplet atomization process. The tests were carried out in a high pressure constant volume vessel over a range of injection pressure from 60 to 150 bar and ambient pressure from 1 to 5 bar. The results show that gasoline has a longer penetration length than that of n-butanol in most test conditions due to the relatively small density and viscosity of gasoline; n-butanol has larger SMD due to its higher viscosity. The increase in ambient pressure leads to the reduction in SMD by 42% for gasoline and by 37% for n-butanol.

With the advantages of free from engine vacuum, wheel cylinder pressure decoupled from the brake pedal and can be regulated individually and precisely, the brake-by-wire system has a huge application potential in vehicles, especially in electric vehicles (EV) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEV). Electro-hydraulic Brake system is the first approach towards brake-by-wire technology. This paper proposed a new compact EHB, aiming at decreasing the size, volume and cost without compromise of performance. The main components of the proposed EHB are pedal simulator, motor pump, accumulator and eight solenoid valves. An authentic model of the EHB and other key components of the brake system were established based on the test data from the test bench. A control algorithm using Round-Robin scheduling was presented to regulate the fluid pressure. Some parameters of the components were discussed to research their effects on system performance.

The paper is focused on the research of the automotive magneto-rheological brake system whose braking force comes from the shear stress of magneto-rheological fluid under the condition of magnetic field. The MRF brake is designed for an electric passenger car to replace a conventional hydraulic disc-type brake. The braking torque of this system can be linearly adjusted by the current in just a few milliseconds with proper materials. Therefore this system has a quick response and precise control performance with a low hysteresis. Nowadays, most of the related research of MRF is about the construction of the prototype and the realization of the brake force. Main limitation of MRF brake lies in the braking torque cannot meet the actual needs and the power consumption may be too much if it is not well designed. The prototype introduced in the SAE Brake Colloquium-31nd Annual has been manufactured and assembled critically.

Using EGR instead of throttle to control the load of a stoichiometric dual-fuel dieseline (diesel and gasoline) compression ignition (SDCI) engine with three-way catalyst (TWC) aftertreatment is considered a promising technology to address the challenges of fuel consumption and emissions in future internal combustion engines. High-speed imaging is used to record the flame signal in a single-cylinder optical engine with a PFI+DI dual injection system. The premixed blue flame is identified and separated using green and blue channels in RGB images. The effects of injection timing on SDCI combustion are studied. An earlier injection strategy is found to be ideal for soot reduction; however, the ignition-injection decoupling problem results in difficulties in combustion control. It is also found that a split injection strategy has advantages in soot reduction and thermal efficiency.