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Comfort performance has developed into a central theme of vehicle seating design due to the role of the seat as the interface between the vehicle and the human. These comfort performance requirements exercise considerable influence over the specifications of the polyurethane foam that serves as a primary load-bearing material in the seat assembly. Various test protocols have been established to measure and predict comfort performance for polyurethane foam. One of the most important test methods is the vibration transmissivity test, used to characterize the response of a material to vibration of varying frequency and energy. This test methodology measures the performance of polyurethane foam alone to the performance of a fully assembled seat in a vehicle driven on a road surface. As such, there are a variety of test conditions employed to characterize transmissivity performance.

Due to environmental and legislative concerns, less polluting and more efficient vehicle powertrain systems must be developed. A first step is a simple, low cost system such as the presented Engine Stop-Start (ESS) system. A 1.9 liter four-cylinder spark-ignition engine with a four-speed automatic transmission was modified to enable fuel off-on transitions during decelerations and stops. Additional hardware includes a 7 kW electric motor-generator, a power electronics module with an inverter and a DCDC converter, a 36 Volt nominal battery system, and minor modifications to the transmission. A control scheme was developed which takes advantage of the system's fuel saving potential while minimally affecting driveability. Tests have shown EPA City fuel economy gains of approximately 12-14 percent while maintaining the same emissions classification. The EPA Highway fuel economy was increased by approximately 1 percent.

The design of the newly developed Toyota AZ series 4 cylinder engine has been optimized through both simulations and experiments to improve heat transfer, cooling water flow, vibration noise and other characteristics. The AZ engine was developed to achieve good power performance and significantly reduced vibration noise. The new engine meets the LEV regulations due to the improved combustion and optimized exhaust gas flow. A major reduction in friction has resulted in a significant improvement in fuel economy compared with conventional models. It also pioneered a newly developed resin gear drive balance shaft.

This paper describes a study of visual responses to center high mounted stop lamps (CHMSLs) using a newly developed sweeping neon lamp. This study compares sweeping neon, incandescent, and light-emitting diode (LED) technologies. The incandescent CHMSL was a conventional after-market CHMSL brake light. The sweeping neon CHMSL used a novel controller whereby the luminous signal started at the center of the neon tube and grew in a “sweeping” motion outward toward the ends of the tube at an adjustable rate. The sweeping LED CHMSL had a segmented display simulating the sweeping characteristics of the neon CHMSL. Both the neon and LED CHMSLs had faster onset times than the incandescent CHMSL. Experimental subjects performed a tracking task cognitively similar to driving, and released a flip switch upon detecting the onset of the CHMSLs, which were mounted so as to be seen peripherally.

The European Union (EU)-Thematic Network sponsored by DG Research of the European Community analyzed the subject of eco-efficient treatment with respect to plastics in End-of-Life Vehicles (ELV). This paper deals with the shredder residue treatment and use for today and in the future.

Global environmental issues require that new alternatives to R-134a refrigerant be investigated by the automotive air-conditioning (A/C) industry. Test facilities must be able to handle the challenges that these refrigerants pose. One refrigerant currently under investigation is Carbon Dioxide (CO2). The high pressure and toxicity of CO2, require the test facility to institute more stringent guidelines and add equipment to safeguard personnel. The operating characteristics of this refrigerant, and the additional equipment needed for the test A/C system, necessitate more complex automated test data acquisition and control. The addition of an internal heat exchanger in the CO2 A/C system is an example of the changes required. Different thermal characteristics introduced by this refrigerants mean that new measurement devices such as higher-pressure transducers are required. Compatibility between test stand sealing materials, hose assemblies, etc., and the refrigerant must be addressed.

The penetration of rainwater through the heating ventilation and air conditioning system (HVAC) of a vehicle directly affects the provision of thermal comfort within the vehicle passenger compartment. Present vehicle designs restrict considerably the air-management processes due to reduced space and tighter packaging. The motivation for the study is to get an insight into factors affecting the water ingress phenomenon when a stationary vehicle is subjected to water loading such as heavy rain when parked or waiting in a traffic light or when in a car wash. The test programme made use of a compact closed circuit full-scale automotive climatic wind tunnel that is able to simulate wind, rain and road inclination. The tunnel was developed as part of the collaborative research between the Flow Diagnostics Laboratory (FDL) of the University of Nottingham and Visteon Climate Control Systems [1].

The shape and configuration of the air ventilation system determines the ventilation performance while influencing the design and structure of a car. It is therefore necessary to decide the configuration of the air ventilation system in the early stages of design. We tried to analyze the pressure level of the ventilation ducts from the aerodynamics simulation results added to the cowl top which had the ventilation intake duct, and so on. Thus we succeeded in designing a new development process that can be used to predict the ventilation performance in a shorter time without the use of prototypes.

Fulfillment of SULEV standards without catalyst - this is a target engineers at IAV have been working on since the middle of the 1990s. The core of this development is an advanced steam engine with a high performance burner. This burner features extremely low raw pollutant emission. This paper describes new solutions that were found to solve the challenging tasks in the development of such an engine concept.

The desire to increase production and reduce cost while increasing environmental consciousness, is a constant challenge in the thermoplastic olefin (TPO) paint industry. Typically, TPO substrates are painted with an adhesion promoter for durability, and top coats for appearance. Although the adhesion promoter has an important function, the intrinsic value is not significant compared to top coats. A process and material was developed to eliminate conventional adhesion promoter spray application. By incorporating a novel adhesion promoter into the aqueous pretreatment system, many of the stresses of high production volumes, and operating costs were addressed while improving environmental awareness.

The transfer efficiency for painting processes utilizing water-borne materials is low, and the residual paint is disposed of as waste. In this study, we focused on a recycling system to collect and dissolve the paint over-spray in the booth water, and to concentrate and regenerate it by means of an ultra filter (UF). Paint adaptable to the recycling system has been developed by providing compatibility between the high hydrophilicity of liquid paint and the high hydrophobicity of the paint film, in order to ensure the recyclability and the high anti-corrosion performance required of paint on automobile underbody parts. This recycling technology is used in an actual propeller shaft painting process and provides large waste reduction and a decrease in painting cost.

This paper will describe the BorgWarner Interactive Torque Management (ITM) system for FWD based AWD systems as well as the utilization of P/M technology for critical components within this system. The ITM is an electro-mechanical coupling device. The device consists of an electromagnet, ball ramp and wet clutch system. The system can be mounted anywhere in the drive line as well as integrated into components such as transfer cases and transaxles. The clutch actuation force is dependent on the current applied to the electromagnetic coil, providing a truly variable torque transfer device. The decision to make extensive use of P/M technology in the structural portion of this system was based on the net shape capability and weight reduction combined with the ability to chose from a wide range of engineered materials that resulted in the most economical total system package.

Automotive engineers are challenged with increasing fuel economy in transportation vehicles by reducing weight. Aluminum castings are replacing cast iron components as one way to reduce weight in cars. Many of the aluminum castings produced for automobiles today are made with a sand core to form the internal cavity of the automotive component. Currently, the most popular choice of sand binder system in core making is the phenolic urethane cold-box binder system. This system, however, was not designed for use at aluminum pouring temperatures. The collapsibility of a phenolic urethane cold-box core is not sufficient for expedient shakeout in an aluminum casting. Because of this, many aluminum castings must undergo secondary core removal processes. This reduced shakeout effectiveness limits the designer in the casting geometries available and adds cost to the part.

In a conventional soldering process, solvents, such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), have been necessary to remove the flux-residue after soldering. A new CFC-free fluxless soldering process has been developed to obtain high sealing ability even in a small soldering area. This new process utilizes a reducing atmosphere with an appropriate load and assembly orientation to solder the parts. Under this fluxless condition, it is found that appropriate loading and good solder-wettability of the upper part increase the wettability of the lower part.

The use of cutting fluid in machining operations not only poses a health risk to workers but also creates environmental challenges associated with fluid treatment and disposal. In an effort to minimize these concerns and eliminate the costs associated with cutting fluids, e.g., purchase, maintenance, and treatment, dry machining is increasingly being considered as an alternative. This paper is focused on comparing dry and wet machining approaches from several perspectives, including air quality, product quality, and economics. Both experimental and analytical work is presented. Experiments have been performed to determine the effect cutting fluid has on product quality and aerosol generation in the wet and dry turning of gray cast iron. To compare costs in wet and dry turning, a cost model, which includes cutting fluid-related components, has also been established.

This paper introduces the new 1.6L engine family, designed and developed by the Chrysler group of DaimlerChrysler Corporation in cooperation with BMW. An overview of the engine's design features is provided, with a detailed review of the performance development process with emphasis on airflow, combustion, thermal management and friction. This information is presented, to provide an understanding of how the engine simultaneously achieves outstanding levels of torque, power, fuel consumption, emissions and idle stability. The use of analytical tools such as Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) in the optimization of the engine is shown.

Engineers use phenomenological simulation models to determine engine performance. Using these models, we can predict with reasonable accuracy the heat release rate mechanism inside the engine cylinder, which enables us to obtain a prediction of the pressure history inside the engine cylinder. Using this value and the volume change rate of the combustion chamber, we can then estimate the indicated power output of the engine. However, in order to obtain the brake engine power output we must have an indication for the mechanical losses, a great part of which are friction losses. Up to now various correlations have been proposed that provide the frictional mean effective pressure as a function mainly of engine speed and load. These correlations have been obtained from the processing of experimental data, i.e. experimental values for the indicated and brake power output of engines.

The demands on valve seat inserts are that they should have enhanced wear resistance and machinability using non-environmentally hazardous materials at a reasonably low cost. Research into the possibility of producing a new valve seat insert material which fulfills such demands was therefore made. As a result Hitachi Powdered Metals (HPM) has developed a new material which uses dispersed die steel hard particles in the production of intake valve seat inserts.

A new CAD-based model of the occupant/driver for interior and seat design has been developed. Unlike traditional automotive iterative design methods that begin with a 2D human manikin in an environment based on the location of H-point, the 3D ERL manikins determine the initial design positions of multiple occupants based on the simulated interactions of seat, driver package, skeletal linkage system and deflected human tissue. The 3D ERL human body representations come from measurements of posture-critical skeletal landmarks on 102 test subjects combined with measurements of “deflected human tissue” data from 60 test subjects. The result is a set of three dimensional, posture-biofidelic manikins that a computer algorithm optimizes the driver's workplace environment to fit the population range of sizes and postural preferences.

For an automobile seat, lateral support is considered to be one of the most essential elements for comfort. This report examines lateral support with two selected seats. Driver's movement while cornering was observed by seat pressure distribution (S.P.D.), and muscle activity was simultaneously recorded in electromyogram (EMG). S.P.D showed larger lateral movement of driver and EMG showed higher muscle activity on a poor lateral support seat than on a good lateral support seat. The higher muscle activity on the poor seat was explained as an effort to compete against the larger lateral movement of the body. Thus, poor lateral support was proved to lead to heavier physical burden.