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An overview of Daimler?s progression to advance powertrain technology in a growth industry shows many different solutions to improvement in transportation. Daimler continues to make breakthroughs in technology development and application building on 125 years of automotive development. Optimization of current powertrains will enable a significant gain in CO2/mi reductions, that dependent on product mix can be augmented with additional technologies. There is however no bypass to some form of electrification, enabling efficiency gains and alternative forms of power supply. Development of hybrid powertrains continues in an established manner and enhanced development of further electrified powertrains are in development. Organizationally and technically, significant skills and adjustments need to continue to be undertaken enabling OEMs and in particular the supply base to develop optimized solutions efficiently. The outlook is bright for novel component development and innovation.

CFD has been widely used to predict the flow behavior inside 2-stroke engines over the past twenty years. Usually a mass flow profile or a simple 0D model is used for the inlet boundary condition, which replaces the complete intake geometry, such as reed valve, throttle, and air box geometries. For a CFD simulation which takes into account the exact reed valve geometry, a simulation of all above mentioned domains is required, as these domains are coupled together and thus interact. As the high speed of the engine affects the opening dynamic and closure of the reed valve, the transient data from the crank case volume and the section upstream the reed valve have an important influence on the reed petal dynamic and therewith on the sucked fresh air mass of the engine. This paper covers a methodology for the transient CFD simulation of the reed petals of a 2-stroke engine by using a 2D model.

The absence of combustion engine noise pushes increasingly attention to the sound generation from other, even much weaker, sources in the acoustic design of electric vehicles. The present work focusses on the numerical computation of flow induced noise, typically emerging in components of flow guiding devices in electro-mobile applications. The method of Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) represents a powerful technique for capturing most part of the turbulent fluctuating motion, which qualifies this approach as a highly reliable candidate for providing a sufficiently accurate level of description of the flow induced generation of sound. Considering the generic test configuration of turbulent pipe flow, the present study investigates in particular the scope and the limits of incompressible Large-Eddy Simulation in predicting the evolution of turbulent sound sources to be supplied as source terms into the acoustic analogy of Lighthill.

The reliability of electronic components is of increasing importance for further progress towards automated driving. Thermal aging processes such as electromigration is one factor that can negatively affect the reliability of electronics. The resulting failures depend on the thermal load of the components within the vehicle lifetime - called temperature collective - which is described by the temperature frequency distribution of the components. At present, endurance testing data are used to examine the temperature collective for electronic components in the late development stage. The use of numerical simulation tools within Vehicle Thermal Management (VTM) enables lifetime thermal prediction in the early development stage, but also represents challenges for the current VTM processes [1, 2]. Due to the changing focus from the underhood to numerous electronic compartments in vehicles, the number of simulation models has steadily increased.

The enhancement of efficiency will play a more and more important role in the development of future (small) internal combustion engines. In recent years, the Atkinson (or Extended Expansion) cycle, realized over the crank drive, attracted increasing attention. Several OEMs have investigated this efficiency-increasing principle in the whole range from small engines up to automotive engines until now. In prior publications, the authors outlined the remarkable efficiency potentials of an Extended Expansion (EE) cycle. However, for an internal combustion engine, a smooth running performance as well as low vibrations and noise emissions are relevant aspects. This is especially true for an Extended Expansion engine realized over the crank drive. Therefore, design measures concerning friction and NVH need to be taken to enable possible series production status. Basically, these measures strongly depend on the reduction of the free mass forces and moments.

As for passenger cars, the overall noise and vibration comfort in commercial trucks and busses becomes an increasingly important sales argument. In order to effectively reduce the noise and vibration levels it is required to identify possible NVH issues at an early stage in the vehicle development process. For this reason a so-called “Virtual Transfer Path Analysis” (VTPA) method has been implemented which combines the results obtained from the conventional multi-body simulation and finite element method approaches. The resulting VTPA tool enables Daimler Trucks to systematically investigate and predict the complex interaction between powertrain excitation and the resulting vehicle response well before hardware prototypes become available. An overview of the theory is presented as well as the practical application and outcome of the technique applied in a past product development.

At the moment the documentation of failure inhibition matrices and the fault path management for different controller types and different vehicle projects are mainly maintained manually in individual Excel tables. This is not only time consuming but also gives a high potential for fault liability. In addition there is also no guarantee that the calibration of these failure inhibition matrices and its fault path really works. Conflicting aims between costs, time and fault liability require a new approach for the calibration, documentation and testing of failure inhibition matrices and the complete Diagnostic System Management (DSM) calibration. The standardization and harmonization of the Diagnostic System Management calibration for different calibration projects and derivates is the first step to reduce time and costs. Creating a master calibration for the conjoint fault paths and labels provides a significant reduction of efforts.

For noise quality and brand sound design of passenger cars a unique software tool is currently used by our clients world-wide to evaluate and optimise the interior noise quality and brand sound aspects of passenger cars on an objective basis. The software tools AVL-VOICE and AVL-COMFORT are designed for the objective analysis of interior noise quality, for benchmarking, for the definition of noise quality targets and most important for effective vehicle sound engineering. With this tool, the target orientated implementation of the required interior noise quality or brand sound by predictable hardware modifications into passenger cars - for tailor made joy of driving - becomes feasible. The use of this tools is drastically reducing vehicle evaluation time and sound engineering effort when compared with traditional jury subjective evaluation methods and standard acoustic NVH optimisation procedures.

Safety-critical embedded software has to satisfy stringent quality requirements. All contemporary safety standards require evidence that no data races and no critical run-time errors occur, such as invalid pointer accesses, buffer overflows, or arithmetic overflows. Such errors can cause software crashes, invalidate separation mechanisms in mixed-criticality software, and are a frequent cause of errors in concurrent and multi-core applications. The static analyzer Astrée has been extended to soundly and automatically analyze concurrent software. This novel extension employs a scalable abstraction which covers all possible thread interleavings, and reports all potential run-time errors, data races, deadlocks, and lock/unlock problems. When the analyzer does not report any alarm, the program is proven free from those classes of errors. Dedicated support for ARINC 653 and OSEK/AUTOSAR enables a fully automatic OS-aware analysis.

Wall flow particulate filters have been used as a standard exhaust aftertreatment device for many years. The interaction of particulate matter (PM) regeneration and catalytically supported reactions strongly depends on the given operating conditions. Temperature, species concentration and mass flow cause a change from advective to diffusive-controlled flow conditions and influence the rate controlling dominance of individual reactions. A transient 1D+1D model is presented considering advective and diffusive transport phenomena. The reaction scheme focuses on passive PM conversion and catalytic oxidation of NO. The model is validated with analytical references. The impact of back-diffusion is explored simulating pure advective and combined advective diffusive species transport. Rate approaches from literature are applied to investigate PM conversion at various operating conditions.

Dynamometer (dyno) durability testing plays a significant role in reliability and durability assessment of commercial engines. Frequently, durability test procedures are based on warranty history and corresponding component failure modes. Evolution of engine designs, operating conditions, electronic control features, and diagnostic limits have created challenges to historical-based testing approaches. A physics-based methodology, known as Load Matrix, is described to counteract these challenges. The technique, developed by AVL, is based on damage factor models for subsystem and component failure modes (e.g. fatigue, wear, degradation, deposits) and knowledge of customer duty cycles. By correlating dyno test to field conditions in quantifiable terms, such as customer equivalent miles, more effective and efficient durability test suites and test procedures can be utilized. To this end, application of Load Matrix to a heavy-duty diesel engine is presented.

Small combustion engines can be found in various applications in daily use (e.g. as propulsion of boats, scooters, motorbikes, power-tools, mobile power units, etc.) and have predominated these markets for a long time. Today some upcoming competitive technologies in the field of electrification can be observed and have already shown great technical advances. Therefore, small combustion engines have to keep their present advantages while concurrently minimizing their disadvantages in order to remain the predominant technology in the future. Whereas large combustion engines are most efficient thermal engines, small engines still suffer from significantly lower efficiencies caused by a disadvantageous surface to volume ratio. Thus, the enhancement of efficiency will play a key role in the development of future small combustion engines. One promising possibility to improve efficiency is the use of a longer expansion than compression stroke.

Since 2013 the new Daimler Aeroacoustic Wind Tunnel (AAWT) is in operation at the Mercedes-Benz Technology Center in Sindelfingen, Germany. This construction was the second stage of a wind tunnel center project, which was launched in 2007 and started with the climatic wind tunnels including workshop and office areas. The AAWT features a test facility for full-scale cars and vans with a nozzle exit area of 28 m2, a five-belt system, and underfloor balance to measure forces with best possible road simulation. With a remarkable low background noise level of the wind tunnel, vehicle acoustics can be investigated under excellent conditions using high-performance measurement systems. An overview is given about the building and the design features of the wind tunnel layout. The aerodynamic and aeroacoustic properties are summarized. During the first years of operation, further improvements regarding the wind tunnel background noise and vehicle handling were made.

Increasing requirements for the result quality of exhaust emission analyzers and state of the art analyzer technology require a new point of view regarding measuring range definitions and linearization procedures. To make best use of the power of this analyzer technology, linearization procedures need reconsideration. In certification laboratories, legislation defines the procedures to linearize an exhaust emission analyzer more or less stringently. On the other hand, on testbeds for development purposes there are many possibilities for making use of today's improved analyzers. However, procedures are often used in development labs that are very similar to those mentioned in the legislation. For some measurement purposes it is necessary to leave these procedures regarding measuring ranges and their specifications behind. The exhaust gas analyzing system has to provide consistent result quality during the whole test procedure.

Over the past few years, the fuel mass measurement gained in importance to record the consumed fuel mass and the specific fuel consumption [g/kWh] with high accuracy. Measuring instruments, such as positive displacement meters, methods based on the burette or the Wheatstone bridge mass flow meter measure either the volumetric flow and a temperature-dependant fuel density correction is necessary or they have old technology and therefore poor accuracy and repeatability. A new-generation Coriolis sensor featuring an ideal measurement range for engine test beds but still with flow depending pressure drop has been integrated in a fuel meter to ensure that no influence is given to the engine behaviour for example after engine load change. The new Coriolis meter offers better accuracy and repeatability, gas bubble venting and easy test bed integration. For returnless fuel injection systems the fuel system supplies the fuel pressure.

Car driver’s behavior and its influence on driving characteristics play an increasing role in the development of modern vehicles, e.g. in view of efficient powertrain control and implementation of driving assistance functions. In addition, knowledge about actual driving style can provide feedback to the driver and support efficient driving or even safety-related measures. Driving patterns are caused not only by the driver, but also influenced by road characteristics, environmental boundary conditions and other traffic participants. Thus, it is necessary to take the driving circumstances into account, when driving patterns are studied. This work proposes a methodology to cluster and evaluate driving patterns under consideration of vehicle-related parameters (e.g. acceleration and jerk) in combination with additional influencing factors, e.g. road style and inclination. Firstly, segmentation of the trip in distance series is performed to generate micro cycles.

Over the past 30 years, simulation of the N&V (Noise and Vibration) behaviour of automotive drivelines became an integral part of the powertrain development process. With current and future HEVs (Hybrid-Electrical Vehicles), additional phenomena and effects have entered the scene and need to be taken into account during layout/design as well as optimization phase. Beside effects directly associated with the e-components (namely electric whistle and whine), torque changes caused by activation/deactivation of the e-machine give rise to vibration issues (e.g. driveline shuffle or clonk) as well. This is in particular true for transient operation conditions like boosting and recuperation. Moreover, aspects of starting the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) using the built-in e-machine in conjunction with the dynamic behaviour of torsional decoupling devices become increasingly important. In order to cope with above-mentioned effects a multi-physics simulation approach is required.

Increasing demands for safety, security, and certifiability of embedded automotive systems require additional development effort to generate the required evidences that the developed system can be trusted for the application and environment it is intended for. Safety standards such as ISO 26262 for road vehicles have been established to provide guidance during the development of safety-critical systems. The challenge in this context is to provide evidence of consistency, correctness, and completeness of system specifications over different work-products. One of these required work-products is the hardware-software interface (HSI) definition. This work-product is especially important since it defines the interfaces between different technologies. Model-based development (MBD) is a promising approach to support the description of the system under development in a more structured way, thus improving resulting consistency.

To get an overview of the emission situation in the field of small non-road mobile machinery powered by various types of SI engines, the Association for Emissions Control by Catalyst (AECC), together with the Institute for Internal Combustion Engines and Thermodynamics (IVT) of Graz University of Technology, conducted a customized test program. The main goal for this campaign was to derive information regarding the emissions of regulated gaseous components (following European Directive 97/68/EC) as well as particulate matter. With regard to the big variety of different engines that are available on the European and North-American market, the most representative ones had to be chosen. This resulted in a pool of test devices to cover different engine working principles (2-Stroke and 4-Stroke), technological standards (low-cost and professional tools) and different emissions control strategies (advanced combustion and exhaust gas aftertreatment).

The enhancement of efficiency will play a more and more important role in the development of future (small) internal combustion engines. In recent years, the Atkinson cycle, realized over the crank drive, has attracted increasing attention. Several OEMs have been doing investigations on this efficiency-increasing principle with in the whole range from small engines up to automotive ones. In previous publications, the authors stated that an indicated efficiency of up to 48% could be reached with an Atkinson cycle-based engine. However, these studies are based on 1D-CFD simulation. To verify the promising simulation results, a prototype engine, based on the Atkinson principle, was designed and experimentally tested. The aim of the present study is to evaluate and validate the (indicated) engine efficiency gained by experimental tests compared to the predicted simulation results. In order to investigate part load behavior, several valve timing strategies were also developed and tested.