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This paper presents an assessment of competing algorithms for normalizing volume levels between tracks and/or sources in an automotive infotainment system. Portable media players such as smartphones and iPod® devices are extremely popular for listening to music collections or streaming content from the Internet. The lack of normalization is a source of dissatisfaction if the user experiences significant changes in audio level between tracks. Several commercially available algorithms exist to solve this problem. This research includes a double-blind listening test comparing an audio sample processed with the different leveling algorithms to an unprocessed reference. The listener preference rating is recorded and results indicate which algorithm is preferred.

Accurate evaluation of vehicles' transient total power requirement helps achieving further improvements in vehicle fuel efficiency. When operated, the air-conditioning (A/C) system is the largest auxiliary load on a vehicle, therefore accurate evaluation of the load it places on the vehicle's engine and/or energy storage system is especially important. Vehicle simulation models, such as "Autonomie," have been used by OEMs to evaluate vehicles' energy performance. However, the load from the A/C system on the engine or on the energy storage system has not always been modeled in sufficient detail. A transient A/C simulation tool incorporated into vehicle simulation models would also provide a tool for developing more efficient A/C systems through a thorough consideration of the transient A/C system performance. The dynamic system simulation software MATLAB/Simulink® is frequently used by vehicle controls engineers to develop new and more efficient vehicle energy system controls.

In this paper, an analytical procedure for prediction of shell radiated noise of air induction systems (AIS) due to engine acoustic excitation, without a prototype and physical measurement, is presented. A set of modeling and simulation techniques are introduced to address the challenges to the analytical radiated noise prediction of AIS products. A filter seal model is developed to simulate the unique nonlinear stiffness and damping properties of air cleaner boxes. A finite element model (FEM) of the AIS assembly is established by incorporating the AIS structure, the proposed filter seal model and its acoustic cavity model. The coupled acoustic-structural FEM of the AIS assembly is then employed to compute the velocity frequency response of the AIS structure with respect to the air-borne acoustic excitations.

First LED headlamps will be released into the market in 2007. Special permissions allow this introduction although the official regulation is still under discussion in ECE. The LED technology for front lighting has entered into a new phase from theoretical, prototype status to real and practical applications. Additionally in Europe the legislation, which is under preparation, defines LED modules with one or more LED chips in a row which should be replaceable. With this boundary conditions headlamp suppliers needs to balance between an attractive and innovative styling, demanded by car manufacturers and the light performance to gurantee good visibility at night. The paper describes the methods how to design an LED headlamp with high efficiency by keeping in mind the parameters: packaging, weight, styling and light perfromance. Results with specific design proposals are shown.

Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) are fast becoming the preferred light sources for automotive lighting applications. They emit light at cone angles equal (hemispherical) or less (conical) than 2Π radians. One way for efficiently collecting and collimating light from LED light sources is to use Near Field Lenses (NFLs). NFLs are collimators using refraction and total internal reflection (TIR) to efficiently collect and direct light. They tend to have thick sections and therefore require challenging molding techniques, and they may have the LED source optically coupled directly into them. Beside these functional aspects, NFLs offer unique styling for different lighting functions such as those in rear combination lamps (RCLs), front turn signal lamps, daytime running lamps (DRLs) and headlamps.

This paper describes a front road wheel steer-by-wire system with two actuator motors on the rack and pinion assembly to move the road wheels. Dual actuators are used to provide actuator redundancy and to enhance the fault tolerance capability. When one actuator faults or fails, the other actuator is designed to work independently and maintain full system performance. The paper emphasizes control method to implement the motion control for the front road wheel steer-by-wire system with two actuators on the common load. The proposed dual servo synchronization motion control implements the angle tracking for the road wheel reference input by controlling two actuators synchronously and cooperatively. It includes two servo feedback control loops to track the common reference input. The angular position error between two feedback loops is compensated using a synchronized compensator.

During last 10-15 years we could have seen quite big changes in automotive lighting. The most important changes are: a) plastic materials mostly removed metal and glass material from lighting products raised heat issue of plastics materials b) escalation of competition between lighting suppliers (globalization, merging, …) decrease of time and cost for development of the new product as much as possible

Electro-pneumatic valve actuators are used to eliminate the cam shaft of a traditional internal combustion engine. They are used to control the opening timing, duration, and lift of both intake and exhaust valves. A physics based nonlinear mathematical model called the level one model was built using Newton's law, mass conservation and thermodynamic principles. A control oriented model, the level two model, was created by partially linearizing the level one model for model reference parameter identification. This model reduces computational throughput and enables real-time implementation. A model reference adaptive control system was used to identify the nonlinear parameters that were needed for generating a feedforward control signal. The closed-loop valve lift tracking, valve opening and closing timing control strategies were proposed.

The traditional method of engine knock detection is to compare the knock intensity with a predetermined threshold. The calibration of this threshold is complex and difficult. A statistical knock detection method is proposed in this paper to reduce the effort of calibration. This method dynamically calculates the knock threshold to determine the knock event. Theoretically, this method will not only adapt to different fuels but also cope with engine aging and engine-to-engine variation without re-calibration. This method is demonstrated by modeling and evaluation using real-time engine dynamometer test data.

A practical and low cost Blind Spot Monitoring system is proposed. By using a single camera, the range and azimuth position of a vehicle in a blind spot are measured. The algorithm is based on the proposed RWA (Range Window Algorithm). The camera is installed on the door mirror and monitoring the side and rear of the host vehicle. The algorithm processes the image and identifies range and azimuth angle of the vehicle in the adjacent lane. This algorithm is applied to real situations. The 388 images including several kinds of vehicles are analyzed. The detection rate is 86% and the range accuracy is 1.6[m]. The maximum detection range is about 30[m].

This paper focuses on the numerical investigation of the mixing and combustion of ethanol and gasoline in a single-cylinder 3-valve direct-injection spark-ignition engine. The numerical simulations are conducted with the KIVA code with global reaction models. However, an ignition delay model mitigates some of the deficiencies of the global one-step reaction model and is implemented via a two-dimensional look-up table, which was created using available detailed kinetics models. Simulations demonstrate the problems faced by ethanol operated engines and indicate that some of the strategies used for emission control and downsizing of gasoline engines can be employed for enhancing the combustion efficiency of ethanol operated engines.

This paper presents the results of a human factors flight test evaluation of a display of Enhanced Traffic Situational Awareness on the Airport Surface with Indications and Alerts (SURF IA). The study is an element of the FAA-sponsored Surface Conflict Detection and Alerting with Consideration of Arrival Applications program. The objective of the flight test was to conduct a comparative evaluation of two candidate SURF IA displays: a detailed Airport Surface Situation Awareness (ASSA) display and a runways-only Final Approach Runway Occupancy Awareness (FAROA) display. Six pilots with a current Air Transport Pilot Certificate each completed 18 scenarios. A Beechcraft King Air C-90 and a Cessna Citation Sovereign aircraft were deployed for the flight tests. The scenarios were conducted at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and at Snohomish County Paine Field Airport, with each aircraft acting as ‘traffic’ for the other aircraft.

This paper presents new concepts for improving management of the electrical load power regeneration of an aircraft. A novel electrical system that allows for load regeneration back to the distribution bus is described. This approach offers the benefits of reduced weight, volume, and cost, as well as improved reliability. Also described is an electrical machine control mechanism that creates motor power to run the prime mover (i.e., the main engine to dissipate the regenerated power). Instead of main engine generation, this approach can be applied to an auxiliary power unit (APU) or power and thermal management system (PTMS). Background information regarding the regeneration concept is presented. The concept definition and the various modes of operation of the improved system are analyzed and described in detail. Results from the dynamic simulation of the system model are included.

Traditionally fog lamps use halogen filament light sources. With the emergence of high brightness white LEDs, it is now possible to develop automotive forward lighting systems with LED light sources. Six LEDs are shown to be sufficient for the implementation of a European fog lamp using a faceted reflector optical approach. Each reflector together with the LED light source forms a modular element. The optical parameters of two different lamp designs are compared and correlation between the simulation and prototype measurements is shown. Further, additional forward lighting functions can be implemented through the use of additional elements.

A twenty-five kilowatt (peak power for one minute), permanent magnet electric machine for a hybrid electric vehicle application was designed and tested. The electric machine is located in the clutch housing of an automatically shifted manual transmission and is subjected to 120 °C continuous ambient temperatures. The package constraints and duty cycle requirements resulted in an extremely challenging thermal design for an electric machine. The losses in the machine were predicted using models based on first principles and the heat transfer in the machine was modeled using computational fluid dynamics. The simulations were compared to test results over a variety of operating conditions and the results were used to validate the models. Parametric studies were conducted to evaluate the performance of potting materials and cooling topologies.

In Brazil the market for plastic parts molds, in last few years had become very competitive, with several Vehicle Operations and a big number of a different models, and with today total market volume it means low volumes productions for each model. This market demands for good toolshops and at the same time a big pressure to reduce investments, one of the most important. Plastic components usage in the car, is increasing overtime, with new applications for Exterior, interior and powertrain, requiring new technologies for Injection molding processing and making molds to be more complex. The development of plastic parts in Brazil has its own characteristics, strengths and weaknesses. In fact a big and heterogeneous market. This paper intends to present an analysis of development of plastic parts in Brazil, considering the development of mold tooling locally, focusing the automotive market.

The fundamentals of multi-leaf spring design as determined through beam theory offers a general perspective on how finite element analysis works. Additionally, the fundamentals of combining dissimilar materials require a basic knowledge of how the combined equivalent modulus affects the overall stiffness characteristics of multi-leaf design. By capturing these basic fundamentals into finite element modeling, an analysis of a steel-composite multi-leaf contact model relative to an idealized steel-composite multi-leaf model shows the importance of contact modeling. The results demonstrate the important differences between an idealized non-contact model relative to a complete contact model.

This paper discusses our experiences on the implementation and benefits of using the Hardware-In-the-Loop (HIL) systems for Powertrain control system software verification and validation. The Visteon HIL system integrated with several off-the-shelf diagnostics and calibration tools is briefly explained. Further, discussions on test automation sequence control and failure insertion are outlined The capabilities and advantages of using HIL for unit level software testing, open loop and closed-loop system testing, fault insertion and test automation are described. HIL also facilitates Software and Hardware Interface validation testing with low-level driver and platform software. This paper attempts to show the experiences with and capabilities of these HIL systems.

There are many opportunities in a current automotive HVAC case for improved performance, and cost savings. Based on these opportunities, a new HVAC case design has been developed. This new design is smaller and lighter than current cases while meeting many of the performance requirements. The case also features a unique plenum design for air distribution to the three modes, panel, floor, and defrost. The results of simulation and laboratory testing confirmed the concept of the new HVAC design.

Stabilizer bars in a suspension system are supported with bushings by a frame structure. To prevent the axial movement of the stabilizer bar within the bushing, several new stabilizer bar-bushing systems have been developed. The new systems introduce permanent compressive force between the bar and the bushing thereby preventing the relative movement of the bar within the bushing. This mechanical bond between the bar and the bushing can eliminate features such as grippy flats, collars etc. In addition, by controlling the compression parameters, the properties of the bushing such as bushing rates can be tuned and hence can be used to improve the ride and handling performance of the vehicle. In this paper, nonlinear CAE tools are used to evaluate one such compressively loaded bushing system. Computational difficulties associated with modeling such a system are discussed.