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Today's automotive and electronics technologies are evolving so rapidly that educators and industry are both challenged to re-educate the technological workforce in the new area before they are replaced with yet another generation. In early November 2009 Ford's Product Development senior management formally approved a proposal by the University of Detroit Mercy to transform 125 of Ford's “IC Engine Automotive Engineers” into “Advanced Electric Vehicle Automotive Engineers.” Two months later, the first course of the Advanced Electric Vehicle Program began in Dearborn. UDM's response to Ford's needs (and those of other OEM's and suppliers) was not only at the rate of “academic light speed,” but it involved direct collaboration of Ford's electric vehicle leaders and subject matter experts and the UDM AEV Program faculty.

The use of model-based software development in automotive applications has increased in recent years. Current vehicles contain millions of lines of code, and millions of dollars are spent each year fixing software issues. Most new features are software controlled and many times include distributed functionality, resulting in increased vehicle software content and accelerated complexity. To handle rapid change, OEMs and suppliers must work together to accelerate software development and testing. As development processes adapt to meet this challenge, model-based design can provide a solution. Model-based design is a broad development approach that is applied to a variety of applications in various industries. This paper reviews a project using the MATLAB/Simulink/Stateflow environment to complete a functional model of a low cost radio.

Ford Motor Company’s assembly plants build vehicles in a certain sequence. The planned sequence for the plant’s trim and final assembly area is developed centrally and is sent to the plant several days in advance. In this work we present the study of two cases where the plant changes the planned sequence to cope with production constraints. In one case, a plant pulls ahead two-tone orders that require two passes through the paint shop. This is further complicated by presence in the body shop area of a unidirectional rotating tool that allows efficient build of a sequence “A-B-C” but heavily penalizes a sequence “C-B-A”. The plant changes the original planned sequence in the body shop area to the one that satisfies both pull-ahead and rotating tool requirements. In the other case, a plant runs on lean inventories. Material consumption is tightly controlled down to the hour to match with planned material deliveries.

This work discusses the development of SAE procedure J2747, “Hydraulic Pump Airborne Noise Bench Test”. This is a test procedure describing a standard method for measuring radiated sound power levels from hydraulic pumps of the type typically used in automotive power steering systems, though it can be extended for use with other types of pumps. This standard was developed by a committee of industry representatives from OEM's, suppliers and NVH testing firms familiar with NVH measurement requirements for automotive hydraulic pumps. Details of the test standard are discussed. The hardware configuration of the test bench and the configuration of the test article are described. Test conditions, data acquisition and post-processing specifics are also included. Contextual information regarding the reasoning and priorities applied by the development committee is provided to further explain the strengths, limitations and intended usage of the test procedure.

Recently a sound absorption study was undertaken involving a wide range of samples of common automotive materials from ten different manufacturers. The study included 128 porous absorbers of varying thicknesses and material types (cotton blends, microfibers, etc.). This paper presents the results of that study. It was found that no single material outperformed all the others; rather, metrics such as specific air flow resistance were more important than the specific material making up the absorber. In general, samples within a certain range of thickness and specific air flow resistance showed the best performance. However, there was no single value of specific flow resistance that was optimal for all material thicknesses. Instead thinner materials required higher flow resistivity than thicker materials. In addition, because the specific air flow resistance is such an important parameter, the presence or lack of a scrim had a significant impact on absorption results.

Near Dry or Minimum Quantity Lubrication (MQL) Machining eliminates conventional flood coolant from the machining processes. In doing so, MQL reduces oil mist generation, biological contamination of coolant, waste water volume, costs for capital equipment and regulatory permitting. MQL also improves recycling and transport of coolant contaminated chips [1]. Although MQL machining technology has several advantages compared to wet machining, widespread implementation will require a paradigm shift among end-users, machine suppliers, and cutting tool suppliers. Successful implementation of MQL machining requires a high technical understanding and a solid infrastructure to support maintenance and on-going continuous improvement [2].

In automotive industry, the interior quietness is a task that manufacturers are constantly improving for passenger comfort. In order to improve the interior quietness there are considered the contribution of structure borne and airborne noise. An alternator used in vehicles for generation of electricity can be considered as a contributor of airborne noise. Due to the characteristics of an alternator, it could radiate mechanical, aerodynamic and electromagnetic noise. The last two characteristics are normally perceived by customer during powertrain and idle evaluation. In this paper is presented correlation between interior noise measured on road test and alternator radiated noise measured on bench test.

As part of the International Lubricant Standardization and Approval Committee's (ILSAC) goal of developing a global automatic transmission fluid (ATF) specification, members have been evaluating test methods that are currently used by various automotive manufacturers for qualifying ATF for use in their respective transmissions. This report deals with comparing test methods used for determining torque capacity in friction systems (shifting clutches). Three test methods were compared, the Plate Friction Test from the General Motors DEXRON®-III Specification, the Friction Durability Test from the Ford MERCON® Specification, and the Japanese Automotive Manufacturers Association Friction Test - JASO Method 348-95. Eight different fluids were evaluated. Friction parameters used in the comparison were breakaway friction, dynamic friction torque at midpoint and the end of engagement, and the ratio of end torque to midpoint torque.

In this study, the Gleeble test was used to investigate the effect of cooling time, which is an indication of welding heat input, on fracture toughness at the simulated HAZ of different test materials, including one mild steel and three DP600 steels from three different suppliers. One of the important findings is that the three DP600 steels have similar tensile properties and similar base metal microstructures. After different simulated welding thermal cycles, however, the microstructure, the microhardness and thus the fracture toughness of the simulated HAZ of the steels showed significant variations among the steels tested, which indicates that DP600 steels from different suppliers can have different responses to the welding heat input.

North American drivers particularly dislike wheel dust (brake dust on their wheels). For some vehicle lines, customer surveys indicate that wheel dust is a significant concern. For this reason, Ford and its suppliers are investigating the root causes of brake dust and developing test procedures to detect wheel dust issues up-front. Intuitively, it would appear that more brake wear would lead to more wheel dust. To test this hypothesis, a gage was needed to quantitatively measure the wheel dust. Gages such as colorimeters were evaluated to measure the brightness (L*) of the wheel, which ranged from roughly 70-80% (clean) to 10-20% (very dirty). Gage R&R's and subjective ratings by a panel of 30 people were used to validate the wheel dust gages. A city traffic vehicle test and an urban dynamometer procedure were run to compare the level of wheel dust for 10 different lining types on the same vehicle.

Becoming a truly global company means more than becoming global in product offerings and sales. It requires even more than establishing and integrating global manufacturing operations. The truly global company in today's business environment must establish an integrated, global research and development activity, which has to be closely linked to global manufacturing and purchasing. This is required both to resource technologies effectively on a global basis and to respond to diverse customer needs in highly differentiated markets around the globe (1). This paper describes the steps of the Zetec RoCam engine, developed for markets around the globe. This product was introduced with specific features to the South American market in 1999 utilizing global engineering and manufacturing concepts.

A number of spark ignition engines from 1997 to 2003 are analyzed for their overall friction characteristics using the Willans line approach. This methodology appears to be quite robust across many different types of engines. Using a variety of partial and complete engine maps from multiple manufacturers, it is confirmed that engine friction has been decreasing over the decades (compared to past studies). Overall there has been a 25% reduction over 30 years. It is also demonstrated that thermal efficiency (defined here as the slope of fuel mep and bmep excluding enrichment) has been remaining steady during the same period. The application to aggregate engine models is discussed.

Vehicle NVH performance is significantly affected by the dynamics of various primary systems. In the automotive industry, different design activities or vendors are responsible for designing various different systems simultaneously. Therefore, it is highly desirable to gain a better understanding of the individual system characteristics and the interaction between the primary systems to achieve a desirable overall NVH performance. Unfortunately, it is usually quite difficult to construct a proper fixture to accurately measure and quantify the actual uncoupled system characteristics. This paper examines an alternate approach of applying the FRF-based substructuring method to back-calculate the system response characteristics from the full vehicle system measurements. The results are then used to forward-compute the dynamic response of the vehicle, which are also validated by comparison to the direct response function measurements.

Automotive operations experience substantial financial losses when any one item, from a set of vehicle-specific sequenced parts, is unavailable. Justifying the appropriate buffer size using “heuristics” is increasingly difficult as “lean” advocates push for smaller inventories. One costly scenario is the painted body buffer in operations where the sequence of parts for final assembly is determined prior to the start of the paint process. To provide an objective methodology for determining buffer building capacity and target fill level, we developed a cost optimization model. This demonstrates, graphically, the criticality of proper buffer sizes and the cost effectiveness of designing the final assembly operations with the capability of short-term storage for a small amount (2 - 10) of sequenced parts, when the expected painted body is not available. The model is easily modified to suit a particular situation, by revising the input parameters to more appropriate values.

A robust Vehicle Model Architecture (VMA) has been developed to support model-based Vehicle System Control (VSC) design work and, in general, model-based vehicle system engineering activities. It is based on a logical breakdown of the vehicle into key subsystems with supporting bus infrastructure for distribution of signals between subsystems. Primary physical interfaces between the top level subsystems have been defined. Subsystem models that comply with these interfaces can be easily plugged into the architecture for complete simulation of vehicle systems. The VMA encourages model re-use and sharing between project teams and, furthermore, removes key obstacles to sharing of models with suppliers.

In the course of developing a body-on-frame vehicle for barrier crash performance, automotive manufacturers must take into account numerous regulatory and corporate requirements. One of the most common barrier crash modes is the perpendicular front barrier crash used to verify compliance to F/CMVSS 208. The frontal rail or “horn” is the primary component that absorbs a significant amount of the vehicle's crash energy. The frontal rail collapse determines the vehicle deceleration. This paper evaluates several frontal horn designs for perpendicular front barrier impacts. Two basic frontal rail architectures are evaluated: a uniform rectangular cross section and a tapered cross section. For a 35 mph (15.65 m/s) impact test condition, a parametric design study was commenced to evaluate the affect of gauges, convolutions, triggers, and initiating holes for a total of eleven configurations.

Collection of diesel exhaust using the Tapered Element Oscillating Microbalance (TEOM) instrument was investigated as an alternative to the traditional method of filter weighing for particulate matter mass determination. Such an approach, if successful, would eliminate considerable manual labor involved in weighing, as well as the delay of hours or days before final results were known. To avoid known artifacts in the second-by-second mode of operation, the TEOM was used in a phase-by-phase mode and was equilibrated with air of constant temperature and humidity before each measurement. Electrically operated valves were used to automate the equilibration and measurement process. The study also included a comparison between two types of TEOM filter - an older type and a new one designed by the TEOM manufacturer for more uniform flow and less flexing. Best results were obtained with the TEOM using the new filter under no-flow conditions.

Ride Hailing service and Dynamic Shuttle are two key smart mobility practices, which provide on-demand door-to-door ride-sharing service to customers through smart phone apps. On the other hand, some big companies spend millions of dollars annually in third party vendors to offer shuttle services to pick up and drop off employees at fixed locations and provide them daily commutes for employees to and from work. Efficient fixed routing algorithms and analytics are the key ingredients for operating efficiency behind these services. They can significantly reduce operating costs by shortening bus routes and reducing bus numbers, while maintaining the same quality of service. This study developed an off-line optimization routing method for employee shuttle services including regular work shifts and demand based shifts (e.g. overtime shifts) in some regions.

The failure of an A/C system often results in the introduction of contaminants to the A/C system. The sources of the contaminants include debris from damaged components and debris from the surrounding environment. Returning the A/C system to service requires the removal of these contaminants from any reused components. The recommended approach to cleaning contaminated components and systems is to flush with a solvent flushing machine. Previous internal studies have concluded that solvent flushing will remove all contaminants, restoring component and system performance. Many commercial refrigerant recovery and recharge machines include a refrigerant “flush” feature which can flush oil from the system and components with the systems refrigerant. The effectiveness of using the “flush” feature of a refrigerant recovery and recharge machine with an added in-line filter to remove contaminants is investigated.

A simple and rapid immersion type corrosion test has been successfully developed that discriminates corrosion performance in condensers from various suppliers and with differing manufacturing processes. The goal is to develop a test specification that will be included in the Ford corrosion specification for condensers so that condensers received from various suppliers may be evaluated rapidly for their relative corrosion performance to each other. Sections from condensers from Supplier A (tube is silfluxed), Supplier B (tube is zinc arc sprayed), and Supplier C (bare folded tube with no zinc for corrosion protection) were tested in 2% v/v hydrochloric acid for 16, 24 and 48 hours. The results showed that in terms of corrosion performance, zinc arc sprayed Supplier B condenser performed the worst while Supplier C condenser performed the best with Supplier A in between. It was also observed that the fins, and fin-to-tube joints were first to corrode followed by the tube in all cases.