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Discussions about the optimal technology of propulsion systems for future ground vehicles have been raising over the last few years. Several options include different types of technologies. However, those who are advocating conventional internal combustion engines are faced with the fact that fossil fuels are limited. Others favor hydrogen fuel as the solution for the future, either in combination with combustion engines or as an energy carrier for fuel cells. In any case, the production and storage of hydrogen is an ongoing challenge of numerous research works. Finally, there are battery-electric or hybrid propulsion systems in use, gaining more and more popularity worldwide. Ongoing advances in power electronics help to improve control systems within automotive applications. New developed or designed components enable more efficient system architectures and control.

This study deals with the experimental investigation of the mechanical properties of a lithium-ion pouch cell and its modelling in an explicit finite element simulation code. One can distinguish between ‘macroscopic’ and ‘microscopic’ modelling approaches. In the ‘macroscopic’ approach, one material model approximates the behaviour of multiple inner cell layers. In the ‘microscopic’ approach, which is used in the present study, all layers and their interactions are modelled separately. The cell under study is a pouch-type lithium-ion cell with a liquid electrolyte. With its cell chemistry, design, size and capacity it is usable for automotive applications and can be assembled into traction batteries. One cell sample was fully discharged and disassembled, and its components (anode, cathode, separator and pouch) were examined and measured by electron microscopy. Components were also tensile tested.

This publication covers investigations on different 3D CFD models for the description of the spray wall and droplet-fluid interaction and the influence of these models on the mixture formation calculation results. Basic experimental investigations in a spray chamber and a flow tunnel as well as the corresponding 3D CFD simulation were conducted in order to clarify the prediction quality of the physical phenomena of spray-wall and spray-fluid interaction by the simulation. Influencing parameters such as the piston top temperature, piston bowl geometry, soot deposits on the piston top as well as flow velocity are investigated. This paper provides a direct link between the underlying simulation models of the mixture formation and actual real world combustion system development processes - underlining the importance of a close interaction of the model calibration and the development process.

The development process of 2-stroke engines is characterized by limited CFD investigations in combination with long-term development phases on the test bench with high prototype costs. To reduce the costs and to realize shorter development time together with a higher prediction quality of the engine potential, a higher implementation level of 1D and 3D simulation tools into the development process is necessary. This publication outlines the 1D simulation methods in the layout phase of GDI combustion processes of 2-stroke engine categories. By means of conceptual investigations, the demands, the potential and the limits of 1D CFD simulation methodology are defined. Using a comparison between 1D and 3D or 1D/3D coupled simulation methods the limits of solely 1D simulation are shown. For advanced simulation tasks with a higher demand for prediction quality, the entire engine is simulated in 1D, whereas special parts of the engine design are simulated in a 3D model.

In the near future the effort on the development of exhaust gas treatment systems must be increased to meet the stringent emission requirements. If the relevant physical and chemical models are available, the numerical simulation is an important tool for the design of these systems. This work presents a CFD model that allows to cover the full range of applications in this area. After a detailed presentation of the theoretical background and the modeling strategies results for the simulation of a close-coupled catalyst are shown. The presented model is also applied to the oxidation of nitrogen oxides, to a diesel particle filter and a fuel-cell reformer catalyst.

Local air pollution, noise emissions as well as global CO2 reduction and public pressure drive the need for zero emission transport solutions in urban areas. OEMs are currently developing battery electric vehicles with the focus to provide emission free urban transportation combined with lowest total cost of ownership and consequently a positive business case for the end customers. Thereby the main challenges are electric range, product cost, system weight, vehicle packaging and durability. Hence they are the main drivers in current developments. In this paper AVL describes two of its truck and bus solutions - a modular battery concept as well as a concept for an integrated electric axle. Based on the vehicle requirements concept designs for both systems are presented.

The present technical article deals with the modeling of dynamic tire forces, which are relevant during interactions of safety relevant Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). Special attention has been paid on simple but effective tire modeling of semi-physical type. In previous investigations, experimental validation showed that the well-known first-order Kelvin-Voigt model, described by a spring and damper element, describes good suitability around fixed operation points, but is limited for a wide working range. When aiming to run vehicle dynamics models within a frequency band of excitation up to 8 Hz, these models deliver remarkable deviations from measured tire characteristics. To overcome this limitation, a nonlinear Maxwell spring-damper element was introduced which is qualified to model the dynamic hardening of the elastomer materials of the tire.

For a broad acceptance of electric vehicles, the trade-off between all electric range and battery cost respectively weight represents the most important challenge. The all electric range obtained under real world conditions most often deviates significantly from the nominal value which is measured under idealized conditions. Under extreme conditions - slow traffic and demanding requirements for cabin heating or cooling - the electrical range might become less a question of spatial distance but even more of total operation time. Whereas with conventional powertrain, high flexibility of the total driving range can be obtained without sacrificing cost, with a pure battery vehicle this results in extreme high cost and weight of the energy storage. Therefore the difference between the typical daily driving range (e.g. in Germany 80-90% is below 50 km) and the minimum total range requested by most customers for acceptance of battery vehicles (200- 250 km), becomes essential.

The paper focuses on an optimization methodology, which uses Design of Experiments (DoE) methods to define component parameters of parallel hybrid powertrains such as number of gears, transmission spread, gear ratios, progression factor, electric motor power, electric motor nominal speed, battery voltage and cell capacity. Target is to find the optimal configuration based on specific customer targets (e.g. fuel consumption, performance targets). In the method developed here, the hybrid drive train configuration and the combustion engine are considered as fixed components. The introduced methodology is able to reduce development time and to increase output quality of the early system definition phase. The output parameters are used as a first hint for subsequently performed detailed component development. The methodology integrates existing software tools like AVL CRUISE [5] and AVL CAMEO [1].

Currently lithium-batteries are the most promising electrical-energy storage technology in fully-electric and hybrid vehicles. A crashworthy battery-design is among the numerous challenges development of electric-vehicles has to face. Besides of safe normal operation, the battery-design shall provide marginal threat to human health and environment in case of mechanical damage. Numerous mechanical abuse-tests were performed to identify load limits and the battery's response to damage. Cost-efficient testing is provided by taking into account that the battery-system's response to abuse might already be observed at a lower integration-level, not requiring testing of the entire pack. The most feasible tests and configurations were compiled and discussed. Adaptions of and additions to existing requirements and test-procedures as defined in standards are pointed out. Critical conditions that can occur during and after testing set new requirements to labs and test-rigs.

The safety of BEVs in driving, charging and parking condition is essential for the success of electrification in automotive industry as well as key driver of any future development of Li-Ion HV battery. AVL has developed a unique simulation approach in which the multi-physical behavior of the single cell in thermal runaway is modelled and applied to module, pack or vehicle level. In addition and beside this cell behavior, various more physical phenomena during thermal propagation on pack level are considered and predicted by the simulation method: component melting, ignition and flammibilty of venting gas and HV failures.

Accurate simulation tools are needed for rapid and cost effective engine development in order to meet ever tighter pollutant regulations for future internal combustion engines. The formation of pollutants such as soot and NOx in Diesel engines is strongly influenced by local concentration of the reactants and local temperature in the combustion chamber. Therefore it is of great importance to model accurately the physics of the injection process, combustion and emission formation. It is common practice to approximate Diesel fuel as a single compound fuel for the simulation of the injection and combustion process. This is in many cases sufficient to predict the evolution of the in-cylinder pressure and heat release in the combustion chamber. The prediction of soot and NOx formation depends however on locally component resolved quantities related to the fuel liquid and gas phase as well as local temperature.

Friction losses as well as lube oil consumption at the piston group are key factors for future engine downsizing concepts regarding to emissions and consumption. This means an early identification of friction losses and wear is essential within development. The main problem is that the wear assessment is based on long durability tests which are typically performed in a later phase. This may lead to the fact that an early optimized configuration with respect to friction can cause a potential wear problem later in the durability test program. Still ongoing trends in combustion engine engineering lead to both the minimized oil supply in the tribocontact piston bore interface and improved wear resistance. One is forced to the conclusion that understanding and quantifying wear will be a key driver for the future engine development process. The aim is a holistic concept that combines different methods to investigate wear and furthermore its combination with friction loss studies.

Following the recent trend in the automotive industry, hybrid and pure electric powertrain systems are more and more preferred over conventional combustion powertrain systems due to their significant potential to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. Although electric powertrains do not produce direct emissions during their operational time, the indirect emissions over their whole life cycle have to be taken into consideration. In this direction, the carbon footprint due to the electrification of the hand-held power tool industry needs to be examined in the preliminary design phase. In this paper, after defining the carbon footprint calculation framework, assumptions and simplifications used for the calculations, a direct comparison of the total carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2eq) emissions of three equivalent power and range powertrain systems - a combustion-driven, a hybrid-driven, and a cordless electric-driven - is presented.

On the basis of small hybrid powertrain investigations in hand-held power tools for fuel consumption and emissions reduction, the prototype hybrid configuration of a small single-cylinder four-stroke internal combustion engine together with a brushless DC electric motor is built and measured on the testbench in terms of efficiency and emissions but also torque and power capabilities. The onboard energy storage system allows the combustion engine electrification for controlling the fuel amount and the combustion behavior while the electric motor placement instead of the pull-start and flywheel allows for start-stop of the system and load point shifting strategy for lower fuel consumption. The transient start-up results as well as the steady-state characterization maps of the system can set the limits on the fuel consumption reduction for such a hybrid tool compared with the baseline combustion-driven tool for given load cycle characteristics.

Results from numerical computations performed to represent the transient behavior of vaporizing sprays injected into a constant volume chamber and into a High Speed Direct Injection combustion chamber are presented. In order to describe the liquid phase, a new model has been developed from ideas brought forward by recent experimental results (Siebers, 1999) and numerical considerations (Abraham, 1999). The liquid penetration length is given by a 1D model which has been validated on a large number of experiments. In the 3D calculation, break-up, vaporization, drag, collision and coalescence are not modeled. The mass, momentum and energy transfers from the liquid to the gas phase are imposed from the nozzle exit surface to the liquid penetration length. This model enables us to reach time step and grid-independent results. The gas penetrations obtained with the model are checked against experimental results in a constant volume chamber (Verhoeven et al., 1998).

During recent years the accident simulation program PC-Crash was developed. This software simulates vehicle movement before, during and after the impact, using 3D vehicle and scene models. When reconstructing car accidents, quite often questions arise regarding occupant movement and loading. Especially important is the influence of different types of restraint systems on the occupant. MADYMO® is a software tool which was developed by TNO in the Netherlands and which is well known in the automotive industry for the simulation of occupant movement. It allows the simulation of all kinds of modern restraint systems such as airbags and seatbelts with and without pretensioners. As the software is used in the automotive industry quite extensively, a huge validated database of dummy and human models is available. Since MADYMO® demands the setup of quite complicated input files, its use normally requires a high level of expertise.

Electrification globally shows promise in reducing greenhouse and noxious emissions. Although there is immense potential in such technologies penetrating across vehicle segments in the Indian market, the key lies in offering scalable, cost effective battery solutions suiting the diverse product and customer needs. This paper describes the development and possible applications of a low voltage battery system that fulfills the current needs on the Indian market. Based on real-world driving profiles the energy and power output required for the target platform are determined. Keeping in mind the Indian operating conditions, safety requirements, driving behavior, charging infrastructure, operational costs, supplier network and serviceability, technical requirements for such systems are described. Also, benchmarking data of current battery systems help to optimize the mechanical, thermal, and electrical layouts.

These days a new generation of hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) are penetrating the global vehicle market - the plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). Compared to conventional HEVs, PHEVs have additional significant potential. They are able to improve fuel efficiency and reduce local emissions due to higher battery capacities, and they can be recharged from external outlets. Energy management has a major impact on the PHEVs performance. In this publication, an innovative operation strategy for PHEVs is presented. This is due to the fact that both increasing fuel efficiency and enhancing the vehicle's longitudinal performance requires a fine balance between the consumption of fossil and electric energy. The new operation strategy combines advanced predictive and adaptive algorithms. In contrast to the charge-sustaining strategy of HEVs, the charge-depleting mode for PHEVs is more appropriate.

Nowadays, politicians are forced by air pollution prevention to demand zero emission vehicles (ZEV) in the form of pure electric vehicles. The poor capacity to weight factor of actual batteries compared to any kind of liquid or gaseous hydro-carbon fuel is the main reason for the retarded implementation of ZEV. Solutions offered by automobile manufacturers are mild to full hybrid powertrains based on the well established ICE platform. The difficulty of those approaches of electrification is to compete with the performance and benefit costumers expect from standard automobiles. Pure electric vehicles are rare and often disappointing regarding range and/or performance. Additionally the costs for such vehicles, which are mainly driven by the battery prices, are comparatively high, impeding their market entrance and acceptance. Low price electric city scooters are actually offered as pure electric vehicles in a wide variety of different models.