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Compact, high efficiency and high reliability are required for an xEV motor generator. IPM rotors with neodymium magnets are widely applied for xEV motors to achieve these requirements. However, neodymium magnet material has a big impact on motor cost and there is supply chain risk due to increased usage of these rare earth materials for future automotive xEV’s. On the other hand, a wound-field rotor does not need magnets and can achieve equivalent performance to an IPM rotor. However, brushes are required in order to supply current to the winding coil of the rotor. This may cause insulation issues on xEV motors which utilize high voltage and high currents. Therefore, it is suggested to develop a system which supplies electric energy to the rotor field winding coil from the stator without brushes by applying a transformer between stator coil and rotor field winding. Specifically, add auxiliary magnetic poles between each field winding pole and wind sub-coils to these poles.

A hydraulic excavator cab is mounted on a viscous mount. When the weight of the cab is heavy, the neutral position is depressed. Besides, at a large load, the cab receives compressive repulsion power of oil thereby restricting its damping ability. In addition, it is difficult to obtain an arbitrary damping performance separately. To overcome these problems, which combines the shear force due to viscous fluid with elastic force due to air-spring a mount, was invented. The neutral position of composite mount is adjustable by air-spring according to the weight. And viscous oil is not sealed up. So, viscous oil can flow at a large load. Therefore, it may not experience the repulsion force of oil in spite of a large load. Moreover, the generated elastic force is adjustable according to change of pressure in the air spring, and the generated damping force is adjustable according to change of viscous fluid's viscosity or volume.

Three-dimensional large eddy simulation (LES) has been conducted for a diesel spray flame using KIVALES which is LES version of KIVA code. Modified TAB model, velocity interpolation model and rigid sphere model are used to improve the prediction of the fuel-mixture process in the diesel spray. Combustion is simulated using the Eddy-Dissipation model. CIP method was incorporated into the KIVALES in order to suppress the numerical instability on the combustible flow. The formation of soot and NO was simulated using Hiroyasu model and KIVA original model. Three different grid resolutions were used to examine the grid dependency. The result shows that the LES approach with 0.5 mm grid size is able to resolve the instantaneous spray with the intermittency in the spray periphery, the axi-symmetric shape and meandering flow after the end of injection as shown in the experimental results.

In recent years, the powertrain system is becoming bigger and more sophisticated than ever, and it is very important that new powertrain systems shall be timely developed just when the market required. In this kind of new system, the quality in particular will be an important factor on the vehicle evaluation issue. With this objective in mind, DENSO has been working on the following challenges, such as the development of key technology, the improvement of quality assurance system, and engineer education to realize them. This reports a general idea on these quality management activities.

Tiny (hair-like) cracks initiated around small holes in the flange of one-piece brake discs were observed at an overloading condition. Thermally induced cyclic stress strongly affects the crack initiation in the brake discs. In order to show the crack initiation mechanism, the temperature distribution at the flange was firstly measured. The temperature distribution under overloading was analyzed by using the finite element method. Based on the experimental and calculated results, the crack initiation mechanism for one-piece brake discs at the very severe braking condition was explained. In addition, the effective methods are suggested for reducing the initiation of tiny cracks around the holes.

Reducing the loss of the power control unit (PCU) in a hybrid vehicle (HV) is an important part of improving HV fuel efficiency. Furthermore the loss of power devices (insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) and diodes) used in the PCU must be reduced since this amounts to approximately 20% of the total electrical loss in an HV. One of the issues for reducing loss is the trade-off relationship with reducing voltage surge. To restrict voltage surge, it is necessary to slow down the switching speed of the IGBT. In contrast, the loss reduction requires the high speed switching. One widely known method to improve this trade-off relationship is to increase the gate voltage in two stages. However, accurate and high-speed operation of the IGBT gate control circuit is difficult to accomplish. This research clarifies a better condition of the two-stage control and designed a circuit that improves this trade-off relationship by increasing the speed of feedback control.

In order to comply with emission regulation, reach their profitability targets and minimise the in-use cost of their vehicles, OEMs are seeking solutions to optimise their aftertreatment systems. For Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) system engineers, one of the most important challenges is to reduce the system's cost, while keeping its high level of NOx emission reduction performance. Ways to achieve this cost reduction include 1. using an engine out NOx estimation model instead of a NOx sensor upstream of the SDPF (DPF coated with SCR) catalyst and 2. eliminating the Ammonia Slip Catalyst (ASC) downstream of the SDPF catalyst. Achieving these challenging targets requires actions on the complete SCR system, from the optimisation of mixing and uniformity in the SDPF catalyst to the development of robust controls. To face these challenges, a novel exhaust reverse flow concept with a blade mixer was developed.

In-vehicle network communication is evolving faster speeds and higher performance capabilities, connecting the information possessed by ECU and sensors with the in-vehicle electronic systems which are continuing to develop. With the evolution of the complicated networks, it is becoming difficult to develop them without many verification of actual machine. On the other hand, as for the verification means required at the logic level or physical level for a network verification through ECU design, virtual verification in the whole vehicle is difficult due to speed increases and the sheer size of the system. Therefore, it is only applicable for systems which are limited to a domain or an area, and flexible and timely utilization would be difficult due to the changes in specifications.

In order to reduce CO₂, Electric Vehicles (EV) and Hybrid Vehicles (HV) are effective. Those types of vehicles have powertrains from conventional vehicles. Those new powertrains drastically improve their efficiency from conventional vehicles keeping the same or superior power performance. On the other hand, those vehicles have an issue for thermal energy shortage during warming up process. The thermal energy is very large, and seriously affects the fuel economy for HV and the mileage for EV. In this paper, we propose VHDL-AMS multi-domain simulation technique for the estimation of the vehicle performance at the concept planning stage. The VHDL-AMS is IEEE and IEC standardized language, which supports not only multi-domain (physics) but also encryption. The common modeling language and encryption standard is indispensable for full-vehicle simulation.

An advanced numerical model is proposed to analyze the power transmitting mechanisms of a CVT using a metal V-belt. By using the present model, forces acting on the belt are well estimated not only at steady states but also during transitional states where the speed ratio is changing. The numerical results show that blocks are in compression in both strands when the speed ratio is rapidly shifted. A complementary model is also developed to analyze the load distribution among bands which form the ring. The load distribution in the ring is governed by the difference in coefficients of friction among elements.

For current passenger vehicles, multi-point injection (MPI) systems are extensively employed for gasoline engines due to ease of control and rapid response. In these systems, the pressure within the intake manifold to which the injectors are installed can fall below the saturated vapor pressure of some hydrocarbon components present in the fuel. Such a condition leads to an atomization process in which flash boiling occurs. In the present work, the atomization process under flash boiling conditions has been characterized both experimentally and theoretically. The experimental investigation has been carried out with a spray test facility consisting of a variable pressure chamber equipped with a pintle type fuel nozzle. Infrared Extinction/Scattering (IRES) is utilized to provide temporal and spatially resolved distribution of the fuel vapor concentration within the spray.

The purposes of this study are to clarify the atomization mechanism, the change over time in droplet size distribution, and the change in spray characteristics dependent on back pressure on diesel fuel spray. Diesel spray injected into a quiescent gaseous environment under high pressure is observed by taking direct microscopic photographs varying the moment of exposure, the back pressure, and the ambient density. The results show that the mechanism of spray atomization is divided into 4 processes, and spatial distribution of breakup droplets and a droplet volume rate are assessed for the whole spray region. Total and local distributions of droplet size are expressed by empirical equations as a function of time elapsed from the moment of injection. It is confirmed that the uniformity of the distribution, Sauter mean diameter of droplets, and droplet production rate change with time. Mean droplet diameter is further described in relation to the pressure drop and the ambient density.

In SI engines with port injection system, the injected fuel spray adheres surely on the port wall and the inlet valve, consequently, the spray-wall interaction process leads to the generation of unburned hydrocarbons and uncontrollable mixture formation. This paper deals with the fuel mixture preparation process including basic research on characteristics of the wall-wetted fuel film on a flat wall inside a constant volume vessel. In the experiments, iso-octane mixed with biacetyl as a tracer dopant was injected through a pintle type injector against a flat glass wall under the ambient conditions of atmospheric pressure and room temperature. The thickness of the adhered fuel film on the wall was quantitatively measured by using laser induced fluorescence (LIF) technique, which provides 2-D distribution information with high special resolution as a function of the injection duration, the impingement distance from the injector to the wall, and the impingement angle against the wall.

As automotive electronic systems aiming for a safe and secure automobile society continue to develop, the control specifications of the ECU are becoming increasingly complex. When attempting to validate control specifications that cooperatively control different control specifications, control specification developers must consider various validation viewpoints. They narrow down the validation viewpoints based on rules from past experience, describe timing charts, and validate the specifications. However, due to complicated specifications, empirical rules do not pass, and specification mismatches are often found after actual systems completion. On the other hand, a block diagram simulator is a tool to verify control specifications. Since these tools are aimed at modeling and verifying the system design, it is efficient to describe how to implement the system. However, first it is necessary to verify the consistency between the model and the specifications.

Continuous improvement of gasoline engine emissions performance is required to further protect the global environment and also the impact of emissions on a local level. During real world driving, transient engine operation and variation in fuel injection, airflow, and wall temperature are key factors to be controlled. Due to the limited opportunity for optimization of engine control, generation of a well-mixed fuel spray is necessary to create a suitable combustion environment to minimize emissions. Optimum spray performance achieves minimum surface wetting as well as promoting evaporation and diffusion if wetting occurs. Improvement in spray homogeneity is an important step to achieve this. Higher fuel pressure is initially considered to achieve improvements, as it is expected to improve mixture formation by reduction of wall wetting due to high atomization and lower penetration, as well as improvement in spray homogeneity.

With the economic development of countries around the world led by BRICs(Brazil, Russia, India, China), the total number of automobiles in the world continues to rise. From the standpoint of preserving limited petroleum resources and reducing CO2 emissions, improved fuel consumption is necessary if we are to continue enjoying the use of automobiles. In Europe, significant development of diesel engine technology as a power source for automobiles has taken place to reduce fuel consumption and to enhance the “Fun to Drive” experience, and market share of diesel engines has increased in this area. However, with increasing environmental awareness worldwide, all areas of the globe are seeing tightened regulations for not only fuel consumption, but also exhaust emissions, including those for PM(Particulate Matter) and NOx. Of these regulations, the requirement for vehicles to satisfy the US Tier 2 Bin 5 rating, regardless of whether they are gasoline or dieselpowered, is the most stringent.

The objective of this study was to investigate the change of relative local velocity in each pulley groove at sliding between the belt and pulleys for a metal-pushing V-belt type CVT where micro elastic slips were inevitably accompanied to transmit power, while the transmissions were widely adopted to provide comfortable driving by continuously automatically adjusting the speed ratio. Local changes of wrapping radial position and velocity of the belt in each pulley groove of the CVT were simultaneously measured by a potentiometer with a spinning roller in the experiments. The mechanical power generated by the AC motor was transmitted through the CVT unit from the driving axis to the driven axis as usual under practical conditions while the speed ratio was set to 1.0. Pulley clamping force was applied by oil pressure.

In this research, we aim at the construction of a steering cooperation-type front-wheel steering control system to reduce the rider's steering load by stabilizing the behavior of the motorcycle when turbulence in the direction of a roll occurs during low-speed driving. Finally, a front-wheel steering control system that considers cooperation with a rider's steering based on the experimental result is constructed, and the utility is verified by simulation.

The development of energy-saving technologies is in great demand recently to stop global warming. We are committed to developing the Ejector Cycle as an energy-saving technology for refrigerating air conditioners. The ejector, which is an energy-saving technological innovation, improves the efficiency of the refrigeration cycle by effectively using the expansion energy that is lost in the conventional steam-compression cycle, and is applicable to almost all steam-compression refrigerating air conditioners, thus improving the efficiency of the refrigeration cycle. Concerning the application of the Ejector Cycle in truck-transport refrigerators, we previously released Ejector Cycle products for large and medium-size freezer trucks, which have been favorably accepted by custom-ers.

The growing functionality and complexity of recent vehicle electronic systems have made inter-device communication (on-board LAN) technology vital to vehicle design. By field of application, the LAN (Local Area Network) systems currently in use are LIN (Local Interconnect Network) used for body systems, CAN (Controller Area Network) used for control systems, and MOST (Media Oriented Systems Transport ) used for multimedia and camera systems, and work to standardize the next-generation communication technology for each of those fields is underway. This paper provides a technical overview of the CXPI (Clock Extension Peripheral Interface) communication protocol, which satisfies the body system requirements (rapid response, system extensibility, high reliability, and low cost). It also presents the progress made on standardization at SAE and other organizations.