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Consumers design different PHEVs than expert analysts assume. Experts almost uniformly assume PHEVs that offer true all-electric driving for 10 to 60 miles; consumers are more likely to design PHEVs that do not offer true all-electric driving and have short ranges over which they use grid-electricity. Thus consumers? PHEV designs are less expensive. These consumer PHEV designs do, or don?t, produce lower GHG emissions than experts? PHEVs over the next ten years. The devil is in the details, i.e., which powerplant emissions to assign to new electricity demand: marginal or average. If (based on marginal powerplant emissions) it makes almost no difference whether we sell consumer-designed or expert-assumed PHEVs over the next ten years, yet as the grid continues to de-carbonize all-electric PHEV designs emerge as clearly the better option, there is a trajectory we could be on from blended, ?short range? PHEVs to all-electric ?long range? PHEVs.

In the brake system, unevenly distributed disc-pad contact pressure not only leads to a falling-off in braking feeling due to uneven wear of brake pads, but also a main cause of system instability which leads to squeal noise. For this reason there have been several attempts to measure contact pressure distribution. However, only static pressure distribution has been measured in order to estimate the actual pressure distribution. In this study a new test method is designed to quantitatively measure dynamic contact pressure distribution between disc and pad in vehicle testing. The characteristics of dynamic contact pressure distribution are analyzed for various driving conditions and pad shape. Based on those results, CAE model was updated and found to be better in detecting propensity of brake squeal.

Pressure variation during engine combustion generates torque fluctuation that is delivered through the driveline. Torque fluctuation delivered to the tire shakes the vehicle body and causes the body components to vibrate, resulting in booming noise. HKMC (Hyundai Kia Motor Company)’s TMED (Transmission Mounted Electric Device) type generates booming noises due to increased weight from the addition of customized hybrid parts and the absence of a torque converter. Some of the improvements needed to overcome this weakness include reducing the torsion-damper stiffness, adding dynamic dampers, and moving the operation point of the engine from the optimized point. These modifications have some potential negative impacts such as increased cost and sacrificed fuel economy. Here, we introduce a method of reducing lock-up booming noise in an HEV at low engine speed.

A semi-empirical index to evaluate the noise propensity of brake friction materials is introduced. The noise propensity index (NPI) is based on the ratio of surface and matrix stiffness of the friction material, fraction of high-pressure contact plateaus on the sliding surface, and standard deviation of the surface stiffness of the friction material that affect the amplitude and frequency of the stick-slip oscillation. The correlation between noise occurrence and NPI was examined using various brake linings for commercial vehicles. The results obtained from reduced-scale noise dynamometer and vehicle tests indicated that NPI is well correlated with noise propensity. The analysis of the stick-slip profiles also indicated that the surface property affects the amplitude of friction oscillation, while the mechanical property of the friction material influences the propagation of friction oscillation after the onset of vibration.

High-voltage battery system plays a critical role in eco-friendly vehicles due to its effect on the cost and the electric driving range of eco-friendly vehicles. In order to secure the customer pool and the competitiveness of eco-vehicle technology, vehicle electrification requires lowering the battery cost and satisfying the customer needs when driving the vehicles in the real roads, for example, maximizing powers for fun drive, increasing battery capacities for achieving appropriate trip distances, etc. Because these vehicle specifications have a critical effect on the high-voltage battery specification, the key technology of the vehicle electrification is the appropriate decision on the specification of the high-voltage battery system, such as battery capacity and power. These factors affect the size of battery system and vehicle under floor design and also the profitability of the eco-friendly vehicles.

The Design For Six Sigma (DFSS) process consists of four phases, identification & definition of opportunity, concept development, design optimization, and design verification. In the phase of concept development, TRIZ (Russian acronym for Theory of Inventive Problem Solving) is useful for creating new ideas from the present ideas, which includes the trimming strategy, the antidote strategy, and the picket fence strategy. In this paper, systems of a vehicle such as Variable Compression Ratio (VCR) engine, windshield wiper blade, and Continuously Variable Valve Actuation (CVVA) of engine, are selected and new concepts for each system are created by applying the previously mentioned three strategies. FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis), the latter part in the phase of concept development in DFSS, is conducted for newly generated concepts of systems that are mentioned above. As a result of FMEA, it is found that the wind lift of the wiper blade can be a serious problem.

This paper deals with creep groan noise in vehicles which is a low frequency vibration problem at 20∼500Hz that appears in low brake pressures and extremely low speed especially in automatic transmission car, where there is a transition from static to dynamic condition. The vibration causing the noise is commonly thought to result from friction force variation between brake disc and pad in stick-slip phenomena. Simulation results are confirmed through dynamometer testing. Then presented noise contribution factor analysis by experimental approach between chassis components.

Passenger fatigue during long distance driving is greatly influenced by the comfort performance of the seat. Seat comfort performance is determined by the appropriate contour of the seat and the appropriate pad with sufficient thickness. The height of vehicle has been lowered to enhance car styling, and battery for electric vehicle applied to the underbody of the vehicle, reducing the package space of the seat in the vehicle. These external factors eventually lead to a reduced pad thickness of the seat cushion and compromise one of the important components in the seat cushion compartment, creating an uncomfortable cushioning problem when driving long distances. To improve the cushion composition of the seat within a limited package, air bladders are applied to the underside of the cushion pad. In addition, the function to support the buttocks using the air bladders of the lower cushion, similar to lumbar support for the back, was implemented to improve cushion comfort performance.

In this study, the preliminary validation method of the steering system is constructed and the objective is to satisfy the target performance in the conceptual design stage for minimizing the problems after the detailed design. The first consideration about steering system is how to extract the reliable steering effort for parking. The tire model commonly used in MBD(Multi-Body Dynamics) has limited ability to represent deformations under heavy loads. Therefore, it is necessary to study adequate tire model to simulate the behavior due to the large deformation and friction between the ground and the tire. The two approaches related with F tire model and mathematical model are used. The second is how to extract each link’s load in the conceptual design stage. Until now, each link’s load could be derived only by actual vehicle test, and a durability analysis was performed using only pre-settled RIG test conditions.

This paper mainly focuses on a lateral control law for pre-given path following which is developed by using the backstepping control design methodology. The position information of the vehicle is obtained by Real Time Kinematic DGPS, and the yaw rate and side-slip angle used in controller are estimated by Kalman estimator. To show the performance of the proposed controller under different speed and various path curvature conditions, the results are given through experiments which are executed on proving ground especially designed for high maneuvering test of which minimum radius of curvature is about 60 m.

The multi-function drive plate used for a high performance engine was developed by optimizing its structure, material and design features. To do so, the investigation of the load characteristics was done in order to increase FEA reliability. DFSS was utilized for optimizing the design features and defining the effect of geometric parameters on the durability. The durability of the optimized drive plate was verified by comparing the FEA and test results with other drive plates which were already verified. Finally, the real powertrain test was done to confirm its durability for a high performance engine.

This paper proposes a modeling technique which is able to not only reliably and easily represent the hysteretic characteristics but also analyze the dynamic stress of a taper leaf spring. The flexible multi-body dynamic model of the taper leaf spring is developed by interfacing the finite element model and computation model of the taper leaf spring. Rigid dummy parts are attached at the places where a finite element leaf model is in contact with an adjacent one in order to apply contact model. Friction is defined in the contact model to represent the hysteretic phenomenon of the taper leaf spring. The test of the taper leaf spring is conducted for the validation of the reliability of the flexible multi-body dynamic model of the taper leaf spring developed in this paper. The test is started at an unloaded state with the excitation amplitude of 1∼2mm/sec and frequency of 132mm. First, the simulation is conducted with the same condition as the test.

Suspension system of vehicle is very important because it has an effect on ride comfort and safety. And the leaf spring is one of the major parts of commercial vehicle. By that reason it has to be designed to operate under severe condition to ensure enough endurance. But the traditional method for fatigue design needs repeated fatigue tests for each design according to its geometry, material, and operating condition. This means that a lot of time and money is needed for those tests. Thus, in this paper, a fatigue design method for leaf spring based on numerical analysis is proposed. At first, stress analysis is performed to get the stress under operation load or rig tests. And fatigue analysis is performed to get the fatigue life and to ensure the safety of leaf spring. Through this study, design parameters that play vital role in fatigue life of the leaf spring can be found out.

The most popular issues nowadays in the automotive industry include reduction of environmental impacts by emission materials from automobiles as well as improvement of fuel economy. This paper deals with development of a ¡mild-hybrid¡ system for a city bus as an effort to increase fuel economy in a relatively reasonable expense. Three different technical tactics are employed; an engine is shut down at an engine idle state, a vehicle kinetic energy when the bus is decelerated is re-saved to a battery in the form of electricity, and finally the radiator cooling fan is operated by an electric motor using the saved electric energy with an optimal speed control. It has been demonstrated through the driving tests in a specific city mode, ¡Suwon city mode¡, that an average fuel economy is improved more than 12%, and the system can be a feasible choice in a city bus running in a city mode experiencing many stop and go¡s.

This paper describes an automated path following system using vision sensor. Lateral control law for path following is especially underlined which is developed by using the backstepping control design methodology. To establish the proposed control system, the lateral offset to the reference path, the heading angle of vehicle relative to tangent line to the path, and path curvature are required. Those inputs to the controller have been calculated through Kalman filter which is frequently adopted for the purpose. The lane mark detection has been achieved in an ECU (Electric Control Unit) platform with vision sensor. The yaw rate and side-slip angle also needed in the controller are estimated by Kalman estimator. To show the performance of the proposed controller under different speeds, experiment has been conducted on a proving ground having straight and curve sections with the curvature of about 260m.

As the use of diesel engines increases in the transportation industry and emission regulations tighten, the implementation of diesel particulate filter systems has expanded. There are many challenges associated with the design and development of these systems. Some of the key robustness parameters include regeneration, efficiency, fuel penalty, engine performance, and durability. One component of durability in a diesel particulate filter (DPF) system is the filter's ability to resist ring-off-cracking (ROC). ROC is described as a crack caused primarily by thermal gradients, differentials, and the resulting stresses within the DPF that exceed its internal strength. These cracks usually run perpendicular to the substrate flow axis and typically result in the breaking of the substrate into separate halves.

For a complete automotive HVAC system, it is desirable to keep good air quality control for the interior vehicle cabin. This experimental study for evaluating the CO2 concentration levels in a vehicle cabin was done on the roads in South Korea. Increasing levels of CO2 can cause a passenger to become tired, sleepy and cause headaches or discomfort. The study results shows that CO2 and fine dust concentration is a result of the number of passengers,_driving condition and HVAC user settings. The result from this investigation can be used to establish a development guide for air quality in a vehicle cabin.

Parallel Hybrid Electric Vehicle consists of internal combustion engine, engine clutch, motor, automatic transmission, Integrated Starter Generator (ISG), and battery. Due to hybridizations such as using engine clutch to disengage the internal combustion engine and omitting torque converter from the automatic transmission to increase fuel economy, drivability will not be same as conventional vehicle. To ensure drivability comparable to conventional vehicle, dynamic simulation has been utilized to foresee the drivability issues for the proposed hybrid system and ideas for improvements are tested in simulation. CoSimulation of AMESim vehicle model and Simulink Hybrid Control Unit (HCU) model has been used to test and improve HCU logic.

Peak pressure fluctuation amplitudes in the ¾ open-jet test-section of the Hyundai Aeroacoustic Wind Tunnel have been reduced from root-mean-square levels equal to 6% of the test-section dynamic pressure to levels of less than 0.5% over almost the full wind speed range of the tunnel. The improvement was accomplished using a retrofit of the test-section collector. Using an analysis of the physics of the problem, it was found that the HAWT pressure fluctuations could be accurately modeled as a resonance phenomenon in which acoustic modes of the full wind tunnel circuit are excited by a nozzle-to-collector edgetone-feedback loop. Scaling relations developed from the theory were used to design an experiment in 1/7th scale of the HAWT circuit, which resulted in the development of the new collector design. Data that illustrate the benefit of the reduction in pressure fluctuation amplitudes on passenger-car aerodynamic force measurements are presented.

There are various tests for evaluating how well a vehicle protects people in a crash. The frontal and offset crash test is one of the most important tests that evaluate the crashworthiness of a vehicle. In this paper, we will discuss some parameters that have a major effect on the amount and pattern of intrusion into the occupant compartment during the frontal and offset crash test. And the characteristics of impact are described according to the types of chassis frame, T-type frame and #-type frame. The T-frame has worse performance than #-frame in crash, So it is necessary to make stronger dash compartments in T-frame. We will design a vehicle which has optimized body, chassis structure and material selections by controlling major parameters of frontal crash performance.