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Ride is considered to be one of the crucial criterion for evaluating the performance of a vehicle. Automobile industry is striving for improvement in designs to provide superior passenger comfort in Commercial vehicles segment. In Industry, Quarter-car model has been used for years to study the vehicle’s ride dynamics. But due to lower DOF involved in quarter car, the output accuracy is somewhat compromised. This paper aims in development of a 7 DOF full-car Model to perform the ride- comfort analysis for Light Duty 4*2 Commercial Bus using MATLAB Simulink which can be used to tune the suspension design to meet the required ride-comfort criteria. Firstly, experimental data and Physical Parameters are collected by performing Practical Test on commercial Bus on different road profiles. Secondly, a Full Car Mathematical Model with 7 DOF has been developed for a bus using MATLAB Simulink R2018a.

To enhance the crashworthiness of electric vehicles, designing the optimized and safer battery pack is very essential. The deformed battery cell can result in catastrophic events like thermal runaway and thus it becomes crucial to study the mechanical response of battery cell. The goal of the research is to experimentally investigate the effect of mechanical deformation on Lithium-ion battery cell. The paper thoroughly studies the phenomenon of short circuiting at the time of failure. Various experiments are carried on 18650 cylindrical cells (NCA chemistry) under custom designed fume hood. The setup captures the failure modes of battery cell. The loading conditions have been designed considering the very possible physical conditions during crash event. The study has been done for radial compression, semicircular indentation, hemispherical indentation, flat circular indentation and case of three-point bending.

The Electric Vehicles (EV) or Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) has a bunch of electrical/electronic components and its operation give rise to complicated EMI/EMC issues. The Power Electronics Module (PEM), comprising of DC-DC convertor/invertor and Battery Management Unit (BMU), is driving the motor to propel the vehicle. “Battery Pack Module” powers these units through cables. The fast switching of these circuit elements present in the system leads to noise propagation through the cables. These noise signals give rise to various Electromagnetic (EM) related issues in the cable harness of vehicle. It is essential that these cables should not interfere with other electronic components and also does not get effected by external EM disturbances.

Major cause of air pollution in the world is due to burning of fossil fuels for transport application; around 23% GHG emissions are produced due to transport sector. Likewise, the major cause of air pollution in Indian cities is also due to transport sector. Marginal improvement in the fuel economy provide profound impact on surrounding air quality and lightweighting of vehicle mass is the key factor in improving fuel economy. The paper describes robust and integrated approach used for design and development of lightweight bus structures for Indian city bus applications. An attempt is made to demonstrate the use of environment friendly material like aluminium in development of lightweight superstrutured city buses for India. Exercise involved design, development and prototype manufacturing of 12m Low Entry and 12m Semi Low Floor (SLF) bus models.

Passive safety regulations specify minimum safety performance requirements of vehicle in terms of protecting its occupants and other road users in accident scenarios. Currently for majority cases, the compliance of vehicle design to passive safety regulations is assessed through physical testing. With increased number of products and more comprehensive passive safety requirements, the complexity of certification is getting challenged due to high cost involved in prototype parts and the market pressures for early product introduction through reduced product development timelines. One of the ways for addressing this challenge is to promote CAE based certification of vehicle designs for regulatory compliance. Since accuracy of CAE predictions have improved over a period of time, such an approach is accepted for few regulations like ECE-R 66/01, AIS069 etc which involves only loadings of the structures.

This work is a part of program on “Development of High Power Density DI, Diesel Engine to Meet US EPA - Tier III Emission norms for off highway and Genset application purpose. This is a 4 Cylinder, TCIC engine delivering 165 Hp @ 2500 rpm. BMEP at max torque comes to be 18 bar giving max cylinder firing pressure of 160 bar. Engine block is a most vital component which has to serve various functions all together. Also design of block for such a high BMEP levels, demands to give a different design strategy required for development of High Performance Engines. In order to reduce overall production cost, several constraints are imposed on design of new block. Design of block is carried out within several design, assembly and manufacturing constraints such as maintain a specific cylinder centre distance, integral oil cooler in the engine block, re-location of camshaft and FIE positions, incorporation of various accessories viz. steering pump, Air Compressor etc.

Sound Quality (SQ) of brake and clutch pedal assembly plays an important role in contributing to vehicle interior noise and perception of sound. Quiet operation of brake and clutch units also reflects the vehicle built and material quality. Noise emitted from these sub-assemblies has to meet certain acceptance criteria as per different OEM requirements. Not much work has been carried on this over the years to characterize and quantify the same. An attempt has been made in this paper to study the sound quality of brake and clutch pedal assemblies at component level and validate the same by identifying the parameters affecting SQ. Effect on noise at different environmental conditions was studied with typical operating cycles in a hemi-anechoic chamber. The effect of sensor switches integrated within the clutch and brake pedal on sound quality is analyzed. It is found that the operating characteristics of switches drives the noise and SQ.

Automotive clutches form the most important component in the drive line which acts both as torque transmitter and as a fuse. Testing clutches, in the vehicle assembly, poses certain limitations. In this context the automotive clutch, as a component, needs to be evaluated to determine various performance parameters like wear, load loss, slipping torque, slipping time etc. to meet desired design, performance and durability requirements. It is very important to simulate engine and vehicle conditions in terms of operating environment, speed and load accurately while evaluating above parameters. This creates lot of challenges to design and develop a test rig capable of evaluating complete clutch performance. Very limited options are available for such test rigs worldwide. In India, no manufacturer provides such indigenous test rigs. Developing an indigenous, cost effective clutch test rig was the need of the hour.

A methodology for design and development of radiator cooling fan is developed with an objective to improve underhood thermal management. For this purpose an Axial Fan Design Software has been developed which is based on Arbitrary Vortex Flow theory. The software is useful for obtaining initial blade design for the given basic functional requirements in terms of Airflow, Pressure Rise and Speed which defines the operating point of the fan. CFD analysis of the initial fan design is then carried out to predict the fan performance curve. Computation model resembles a fan set up in a wind tunnel. Further, Parametric Optimization is carried out using CFD to meet the functional requirements. A Rapid Prototype sample of the optimized fan design is manufactured and tested in a fan test rig made as per AMCA 210-99 standard to evaluate the fan performance curve and the power consumption.

Automotive electronics is increasingly playing a vital role in all vehicle subsystems. Since an electronic control system needs to be interfaced with the outside world, an electronic smart switch forms a key output interface with various loads such as solenoids, lamps, motors, relays, fans etc. Although integrated circuit based smart-switch semiconductor solutions are provided by all global semiconductor vendors, they prove more often than not to be overdesigned for majority of situations relevant to low end vehicles. They are also generously loaded with standard high-end features like thermal and overload protection which may not always be required. In addition, external transient protection and on-chip diagnostic features lend further complexity to the entire solution.

In order to travel in a chaotic and dynamic environment, an autonomous vehicle requires a motion plan. This motion plan ensures collision free, optimum travel without violating any traffic rules. The optimum solution for path planning problem exists in higher dimensions, however, with the help of useful heuristics the problem can be solved in real time, which is required for real time operation of an autonomous vehicle. There are different well established techniques available to plan a collision free kinematically traversable path. One of such techniques is called conformal Lattice planner. However, the legacy version of conformal lattice planner is not optimized and also is prone to fail under specific dynamic environment conditions. Moreover, the legacy version of conformal lattice planner is also not road aware. Due to this reason it is a semi optimized way to solve the motion planning problem.

This paper introduces xEV Simulator- A MATLAB based simulator platform capable of analyzing EV/HEV powertrain system in both backward and forward modelling. xEV Simulator employs Forward Simulation for drive-cycle performance evaluations and Backward simulation for powertrain component sizing and support xEV powertrain design. The powertrain subsystems are modelled in Simulink. This enables the model based system simulation and further controller prototyping and HiL testing. xEV Offline Simulator GUI enables user to simulate standard EV/HEV configurations with standard drive-cycles. The model parameters of different component subsystems can be configured. The Backward modelling and simulation support the estimation of subsystem values like Propulsion motor, Energy storage, etc., to perform as per the drive-cycle requirement.

The design and development of complete vehicle, understanding of chassis system development process is an important task. Chassis frame of a vehicle is supporting member, both structurally and functionally, to all other chassis aggregate systems viz. suspension, steering, braking system etc. In this paper, a methodology for chassis frame model construction and validation is explained. In present work, chassis frame model is validated in terms of modal parameters and also against static loading conditions. Existing chassis 3D Computer Aided Design (CAD) data was generated using scanning and cloud point data conversion technique. FE model was generated and validated through experimental measurements viz. modal testing, vertical bending, lateral bending, and torsional bending test. Loading and boundary conditions were replicated on the complete FE model in CAE domain and test validation was carried out using appropriate mesh biasing and weld modeling techniques.

Front windscreen wiping test is legal requirement for all motor vehicles as per standards like IS15802:2008 [1], IS15804:2008 [2] in India. This test requires windscreen mock-up/actual vehicle to be tested along with all wiping mechanisms such that minimum percentage areas to be wiped should meet the requirements specified in the IS standard. From manufacturer’s perspective this involves investment of lot of time and cost to arrive at the final design solution in order to meet the wiping requirements. The work scope in this paper is limited to bus category of vehicles. The methodology presented in this paper would enable quick design solutions for bus body builders or manufacturers to meet the wiping requirements specified in IS standard. The methodology presented in this paper was developed to carry out windscreen wiping test through commercially available simulation software.

Occupant motion in a vehicle rollover accident is a function of many factors. Some important ones are vehicle kinematics, position of the occupant in the vehicle, occupant size, ground topology and restraint usage. The far side belted occupants are more vulnerable than the near side occupants in a rollover accident as they have more energy as a result of their trailing and higher side of the vehicle. This outcome is attributable to the inadequate safety performance of the conventional single loop; B-pillar mounted D-ring restraints. Roof crush tends to displace the vehicle's B-pillar, resulting in D-Ring displacement which causes slack in the lap portion of the restraint. This slack enables centrifugal loads to move the far side occupant further away from the vehicle's instantaneous point of rotation. In this scenario, the presence of any ejection portal can result in an occupant becoming partially or fully ejected.

Biodiesel is an alternate fuel for diesel consisting of the alkyl monoester of fatty acids derived from vegetable oils. The most usual method to transform oil into biodiesel is transesterification which can be carried out using different catalyst. Jatropha is second generation oil which is non edible and can be use for producing biodiesel. The first part is to expel oil from jatropha seeds. There are different types of expelling methods such as mechanical extraction, solvent extraction and enzymatic extraction. The study was conducted with hand driven mechanical expeller which is most conventional way of extracting oil from seeds with mechanical efficiency of 60-80% for single pass. The study includes various combinations of parameters like seed treatment, sun drying, pre-heating, soaking at different temperatures and different de-hulling compositions.

The technology development in automobiles is progressing towards providing smarter vehicles with increased efficiency and reduced emission. To cater this need, Electric Vehicles (EV) and Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV) are slowly thriving in Indian roads. Conversion of existing IC engine powered vehicle to HEV reduces complication in new vehicle development and also results in vehicles with increased efficiency and reduced emission. In order to convert the Conventional Vehicle to Hybrid Electric Vehicle, drive from electric motor was coupled with existing driveline by modifying mechanical systems suitably. Hybrid vehicle includes systems such as electric motors, inverters, high-voltage batteries and electronic control units, which are mounted in chassis members. Being a major load carrying member, any modifications in chassis system may affect the performance of vehicle, therefore it is necessary to evaluate the modified design of chassis members.

Ride Comfort forms a core design aspect for suspension and is to be considered as primary requirement for vehicle performance in terms of drivability and uptime of passenger. Maintaining a balance between ride comfort and handling poses a major challenge to finalize the suspension specifications. The objective of this project it to perform ride- comfort analysis for a commercial truck using MATLAB Simulink. First, benchmarking was carried out on a 4x2 commercial truck and the physical parameters were obtained. Further, a mathematical model is developed using MATLAB Simulink R2015a and acceleration- time data is collected. An experimentation was carried out on the truck at speeds of 20 kmph, 30 kmph, 40 kmph and 50 kmph over a single hump to obtain actual acceleration time domain data. The model is then correlated with actual test over a single hump. This is followed by running the vehicle on Class A, B & C road profiles to account for random vibrations.

Designers and analysts need to compare and conduct synthesis for selection of materials based on their properties involving simulation, optimization and correlation with test data. An example is that of acoustic material properties such as random and normal incidence sound absorption coefficient and sound transmission loss. The international test standards necessitate having standard operating procedures for characterization of these materials. This procedure is quite involved and addresses steps including test data acquisition, post processing, calculations, classification, report generation and most importantly, storage of such innumerable material properties in a structured manner to facilitate ease of retrieval and updating of properties. It is also highly desirable to have a synergy of the databank directly with simulation tools. Further, all of these steps need to be accurate, non-speculative and quick.

This paper presents a methodology for predicting thermal comfort inside Midibus cabin with an objective to modify the Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) duct design and parametric optimization in order to have improved thermal comfort of occupant. For this purpose the bus cavity is extracted from baseline CAD model including fully seated manikins with various seating positions. Solar Load has been considered in the computational model and passenger heat load is considered as per BSR/ASHRAE 55-1992R standard. CFD simulation predicted the air temperature and velocity distribution inside passenger cabin of the baseline model. The experimental measurements have been carried out as per the guidelines set in APTA-BT-RP-003-07 standard. The results obtained from CFD and Experimental test were analysed as per EVS EN ISO7730 standard and calculated occupant comfort in terms of thermal comfort parameters like Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) and Predicted Percentage Dissatisfied (PPD).