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Shift quality of a manual transmission is a critical characteristic that requires utmost care while structuring the transmission. Shift quality is affected by many factors viz. synchronizer design, shifter design, gear design, transmission oil selection etc. This paper presents a correlation between stiffness of the shift fork in manual transmission with the gear shift quality using a gear shift quality assessment setup. Stiffness of shifter fork is optimized using contact pattern analysis and stiffness analysis on MSC Nastran. All the subsystem (i.e. synchronizer and the shift system component) are constrained to optimize the shift fork stiffness. A-5-speed manual transmission is used as an example to illustrate the same. A direct correlation of gear shift fork stiffness with the shift force experienced by the driver is established. The shift system was modeled in the UG NX 6.0 software to collate the synchronization force, shift system gap etc with the constraint on the shift fork.

With the increase in the number of automobiles on road, there is a very strong emphasis on reducing the air pollution which led to evolution of stringent emission norms. To meet these stringent emission norms, the ideal solution is to optimize the engine hardware and the combustion system to reduce the emission at source thereby reducing the dependency on exhaust after treatment system. Gasoline Direct Injection (GDI) engines are gaining popularity worldwide as they provide a balance between fun to drive and fuel efficiency. Controlling the particle emissions especially Particle Number (PN) is a challenge in GDI engines due to the nature of its combustion system. In this study, experiments were performed on a 1.2Litre 3-cylinder 250bar GDI engine to capture the effect of injection strategies on PN.

Rotavator is an active tillage implement for breaking the Soil and for the preparation of seed bed for cultivation. The Farmers are currently facing problem due to usage of sub optimal speed of Rotavator which results in more fuel consumption, takes more time for completion of operation. Also, the Current Rental models work on Tractor + Implement as rental combination and customer not able to rent Rotavator as a standalone implement due to non-availability of Tracking information such as hours of utilization on Rotavator. Farmers not able to maintain the service periodicity, if oil change not done in prescribed duration then it may result in improper maintenance and breakdown of the Rotavator. To overcome these problems a smart Rotavator developed consists of an electronic unit fitted on the Rotavator shaft to measure the speed of the shaft rotation and in turn convert to Rotavator speed and also able to convert into Hours of usage based on the starting and stopping of the rotavator.

In today’s automobile industry where BS6 emission is posing a high challenge for aggregate development, cost control and with limited timeline. The main target is to provide the cooling system to have less impact on the in terms of cost, weight and to meet the challenging engineering requirement. Thus, the frugal engineering comes into the picture. This paper shows the application of thermosyphon principle for UDM injector cooling thereby reducing the rotation parts and power consumption such as an electric pump. Thermosyphon is a method of passive heat exchange and is based on natural convection, which circulates a fluid without the necessity of a mechanical or electric pump. The natural convection of the liquid commences when heat transfer to the liquid gives rise to a temperature difference from one side of the loop to the other.

In the era of fierce competition, launching a defect free product on time would be the key to success. In a modern automobile, the transmission system is designed with utmost care in order to transfer the maximum power from engine to driveline smoothly and efficiently. Optimized design of all the transmission components is necessary in order to meet the power requirement with the least possible weight. This optimization may require gear designs with different internal diameters. The assembly of these gears may not be possible on a solid transmission shaft. To facilitate assembling while retaining optimum design of transmission parts, a separate bush is designed to overcome this limitation. Some bushes may require a flange to restrict any free play of the mounted gear in its axial direction. During complete system level testing of one newly developed manual transmission, bush failure was observed.

There is a higher demand for quieter tractors in the agri-industry, as the continued exposure to noise levels have disastrous effects on operator’s health. To meet the world-wide regulatory norms and to be the global market leader, its mandatory to develop the comfortable tractor which meets homologation requirements and customer expectations. Typically, Operator Ear Level (OEL) noise has been evaluated in the test, after First Proto has been made. This approach increases cost associated with product development due to late changes of modifications and testing trails causing delay in time-to-market aspect. Hence, there is a need to develop the methodology for Predicting tractor OEL noise in virtual environment and propose changes at early stage of product development. At first, full vehicle comprising of skid, sheet metals and Intake-exhaust systems modelled has been built using Finite Element (FE) Preprocessor.

Fuel efficiency is critical aspect for commercial vehicles as fuel is major part of operational costs. To complicate scenario further, fuel efficiency testing, unlike in passenger cars is more time consuming and laborious. Thus, to save on development cost and save time in actual testing, simulations plays crucial role. Typically, actual vehicle speed and gear usage is captured using reference vehicle in desired route and used it for simulation of target vehicle. Limitation to this approach is captured duty cycle is specific to powertrain and driver behavior of reference vehicle. Any change in powertrain or vehicle resistance or driver of target vehicle will alter duty cycle and hence duty cycle of reference vehicle is no more valid for simulation assessment. This paper demonstrates approach which uses combination of tools to address this challenge. Simulation approach proposed here have three parts.

The given paper presents the main elements of frictional power loss distribution in an automotive axle for passenger car. For reference two different axles were compared of two different sizes to understand the impact of size and ratio of gear and bearings on power loss characteristics. It was observed that ~50% of total axle power loss is because of pinion head-tail bearing and its seals, which is very significant. Roughly 30% of total power loss is contributed by pinion-ring gear pair and differential bearings and remaining ~20% by wheel end bearing and seals. With this study the automotive companies can take note of the area where they need to focus more to reduce their CO2 emissions to meet the stringent BS6, CAFÉ and RDE emission norms.

First time right vehicle performance and time to market, remains all automotive OEMs top priority, to remain competitive. NVH performance of product communicates impression to customer, remains one of the most important and complex attribute to meet, considering performances to be met for 20 Hz -6000 Hz. Frontloading techniques (FEM/BEM/SEA/MBD) for NVH are critical and necessary to achieve first time right NVH performance. Objective of this paper is to present a frontloading approach for automotive sound package optimization (absorber, barrier and damper elements) for SUV vehicle. Current process of designing sound package is mainly based on experience, competitive benchmarking of predecessor products. This process (current process) heavily depend on testing and validation at physical prototype and happens at later stages of program, especially on tooled up body.

The ever-increasing customer expectations put a lot of pressure on car manufacturers to constantly reduce the noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) levels. This paper presents the holistic approach used to achieve best-in-class NVH levels in a modern high-power density 1.5 lit 4-cylinder diesel engine. In order to define the NVH targets for the engine, global benchmark engines were analysed with similar cubic capacity, power density, number of cylinders and charging system. Moreover, a benchmark diesel engine (considered as best-in-class in NVH) was measured in a semi-anechoic chamber to define the engine-level NVH targets of the new engine. The architecture selection and design of all the critical components were done giving due consideration to NVH behaviour while keeping a check on the weight and cost.

Till recently supercharging was the most accepted technique for boost solution in gasoline engines. Recent advents in turbochargers introduced turbocharging technology into gasoline engines. Turbocharging of gasoline engines has helped in powertrains with higher power density and less overall weight. Along with the advantages in performance, new challenges arise, both in terms of thermal management as well as overall acoustic performance of powertrains. The study focuses mainly on NVH aspects of turbocharging of gasoline engines. Compressor surge is a most common phenomenon in turbochargers. As the operating point on the compressor map moves closer to the surge line, the compressor starts to generate noise. The amplitude and frequency of the noise depends on the proximity of the operating point to the surge line. The severity of noise can be reduced by selecting a turbocharger with enough compressor surge margin.

The excitation to a vehicle is from two sources, road excitation and powertrain excitation. Vehicle Suspension is designed to isolate the road excitation coming to passenger cabin. Powertrain mounts play a vital role in isolating the engine excitation. The current study focuses on developing an analytical approach using Low-Fidelity computer programs to design the Powertrain Mount layout and stiffness during the initial stage of product development. Three programs have been developed as a part of this study that satisfy the packaging needs, NVH requirements and static load bearing requirements. The applications are capable of providing the Kinetic Energy Distribution and Static Analysis (Powertrain Enveloping and Mount Durability) for 3-point and 4-point mounting systems and the ideal mount positions and stiffness for 3-point mounting systems.

Reducing the vibrations in the powertrain is one of the prime necessities in today's automobiles from NVH and strength perspectives. The necessity of 4×4 powertrain is increasing for better control on normal road and off-road vehicles. This leads to bulky powertrains. The vehicle speeds are increasing, that requires engines to run at higher speeds. Also to save on material costs and improve on fuel economy there is a need for optimizing the mass of the engine/vehicle. The reduced stiffness and higher speeds lead to increased noise and vibrations. One more challenge a powertrain design engineer has to face during design of its transmission housings is the bending / torsional mode vibrations of powertrain assembly. This aggravates other concerns such as shift lever vibrations, shift lever rattle, rise in in-cab noise, generation of boom noise at certain speeds, etc. Hence, reducing vibrations becomes an important and difficult aspect in design of an automobile.

Noise & sound quality has gained equal importance as that of emissions and crash safety of the vehicles. With increased engine power to weight ratio, the challenges for NVH engineers has increased multifold. Passenger compartment comfort levels are getting affected largely due to lighter and powerful engines. Same time, there is pressure to reduce overall vehicle weight and cost. This impose constraints to NVH engineer in designing the body structure and sound package to reduce the effect of powertrain forces and airborne noise on passenger compartment. In addition to weight constraints, there is trend emerging to use two & three cylinder engines which need to perform on par with four cylinder engines. This has shown adverse effect on vehicle NVH performance due to wider low frequency unbalance forces.

Increase in customer's awareness for better vehicle NVH has prompted automobile industry to address NVH issues more seriously. Among other critical vehicle systems for NVH, Air Intake and Exhaust Systems play an important role in terms of passenger compartment noise, sound quality and vehicle pass-by noise. Hence proper design & development of these systems is imperative to reduce their contribution in overall vehicle NVH. This needs to be achieved within constraints of meeting other functional requirements such as emissions and engine performance. The design parameters one needs to look at while developing the intake and exhaust system are mainly the acoustic transmission loss, structural noise radiations from the surfaces and structural isolation between body and these systems. This paper demonstrates the use of FEM approach for Vibro-Acoustic Analysis as a practical means for design of intake and exhaust system in terms of high transmission loss.

Exhaust system is one of the complex automotive systems in terms of performance and strength prediction due to combination of transient mechanical and thermal loads acting on it simultaneously. Traditionally, most of automotive vehicles have exhaust systems with hot end mounted on engine and cold end mounted on chassis or BIW through hangers. A new powertrain mounted exhaust system was developed in-house. This exhaust system underwent validation and evaluation during development phase. Durability concerns were observed on exhaust system in Track test and gear shift durability test. This paper focuses on identifying the root cause of these concerns based on the failures observed during evaluation in Accelerated Durability (ADT) and gear shift durability (GSD) tests. Based on the architecture and packaging space challenges in vehicle, engine is mounted on two mounts and a roll restrictor. Muffler, which has higher inertia, is mounted at higher offset with respect to engine rolling axis.

In today's competitive automobile marketplace with reduced vehicle development time and fewer prototypes/tests, CAE is playing very crucial role in vehicle development. Automobile environment demands ever improving levels of vehicle refinement. Performance and refinement are the key factors which can influence the market acceptance of vehicle. Driveline is one of the key systems whose refinement plays critical role in improved customer satisfaction. Because of the virtue of the driveline functionality, driveline induced noise and vibration are the most common issues in the AWD vehicle development programs. Refinement of the drive line needs complicated nonlinear full vehicle CAE MBD models for the evaluation of driveline induced noise and vibration responses at different operating conditions [1]. In this paper a simplified approach is adapted for solving the Noise & Vibration issue which has been identified at the prototype testing level of an AWD vehicle development.

The present scenario in automobile industry is formed on developing smart vehicles by introducing various feature towards fuel efficient, low emission, weight reduction, and advance safety feature with hybrid and micro-hybrid vehicles. One such feature gaining more popularity is the Belt Driven Starter Generator [1] for its contribution towards fuel efficiency, emission reduction [2], weight reduction and convenient packaging with engine/electrical interface. However this invention puts challenge of integration and increase in loading to various system like power steering pump and crank shaft pulley, as all these systems are interlinked with a common belt. In this interface links we observed the steering pump hub under risk of structural failure due to additional load to support Belt Driven Starter Generator. Failure to identify safe limits of hub load can affect safe vehicle operation [3].

By reducing overall noise emanating from Engine at design phase, permits to reduce both time-to-market and the cost for developing new engines. In order to reduce vibration and radiated noise in engine assembly, oil pan is one of the most critical components. This study explains the key-steps that are executed to optimize the oil pan design for 4-cylinder diesel engine by improving Normal Modes, modified Topology, reduced Forced Frequency Response and ATV analysis for reducing its noise radiation. Using Multi-body tool crankshaft forces were generated and the FE model of Base Design was analysed for its noise radiation and panel contribution was done for finding the most radiating panels using Boundary Element Method approach. A series of iterative optimization were carried out with commercial software. Parameters like Stiffness, material property, Ribbing patterns and Shape of the Oil pan was modified to shift the natural frequencies of the component and reduce the sound radiation.

This paper presents a simulation of the stiffness of the shift fork of a manual transmission using contact pattern analysis and optistrut. All the subsystem (i.e. synchronizer and the shift system component) are constrained to optimize the shift fork stiffness. A-5-speed manual transmission is used as an example to illustrate the simulation, co-relation and validation of the optimization of the gear shift fork stiffness. The shift system was modeled in the software to collate the synchronization force, shift system gap etc with the constraint on the shift fork. It is constrained by the synchronizer sleeve and the fork mounting on the gear shift rail. The synchronizer force is then applied on the gear shift fork pads which are translated to the synchronizer sleeve. It has a number of pads which come into contact at different occasion of the synchronization because of the varying stiffness of the fork.