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Wear and friction behavior of disc brakes are important properties of disc brake systems and are mainly addressed by appropriate selection and tuning of friction material. Disc material composition is often considered as “given”. The most common material used for brake discs is grey cast iron which can have carbon content between 2.5 to 4.2 percent. It is difficult to find in literature investigations related to the influence of cast iron material in combination with modern low-met friction material on wear and friction performance of disc brakes. In this work, the author will try to analyze impact of brake disc material properties on wear and friction performance.

Gear meshing noise is a common noise issue in manual transmission, its noise generation mechanism has been studied extensively [1, 2]. But most of time we have situations where multiple gear sets are connected in series and the noise and vibration behavior for a multi-stage gear can be quite different due to vibration inter-actions or interferences among multiple gear sets. In this paper, a two-stage gear driveline model was built using MSC ADAMS. Vibration order contents of a two-stage gear driveline were analyzed by both CAE simulation and theoretical calculations. In addition to gear meshing vibration orders of each gear set, the orders resulted from modulations between individual gear meshing and their harmonics were evident in the results. These special order contents were verified by experimental results, and also evidenced on transmission end of line tester results at transmission supplier GJT in Ganzhou, China.

The current political push for e-mobility marked a major decline in the R&D interest to internal combustion engine (ICE). Following this global trend, Ford is committed to going 100% electric by 2030 for passenger cars and 2035 for light commercial vehicles. At the same time, many researchers admit that, due to many objective factors, vehicles powered by ICE will remain in operation for decades to come. Development of alternative carbon-neutral fuels can bring a renaissance in the ICE development as practical limitations of electric-only approach get exposed. Since a significant part of energy losses in the ICE comes from friction, engine tribology has been an important research topic over the past two decades and a significant progress in improving the engine efficiency was achieved.

The fuel consumption of modern passenger cars can be reduced by utilizing lightweight construction as well as by decreasing internal friction losses in the drive train. Modern engine blocks are partly made of cast iron or alumimum material whereas for the later hypo-eutectic AlSi-alloys dominate. Due to the low hardness, surfaces made of these alloys cannot be used as a friction partner for the piston rings. Cast iron liners are often inserted into the engine block to provide a wear-resistant surface for the piston rings. This work describes how cast iron liners can be replaced by thin, nanocrystalline iron based coatings in order to decrease friction losses as well as reduce the engine weight. The coatings were applied by thermal spraying with the Plasma Transferred Wire Arc internal diameter coating system.

The increase in efficiency is the focus of current engine development by adopting different technologies. One limiting factor for the rise of SI-engine efficiency is the onset of knock, which can be mitigated by improving the combustion process. HCCI/SACI represent sophisticated combustion techniques that investigate the employment of pre-chamber with lean combustion, but the effective use of them in a wide range of the engine map, by fulfilling at the same time the need of fast load control are still limiting their adoption for series engine. For these reasons, the technologies for improving the characteristics of a standard combustion process are still largely investigated. Among these, water injection, in combination with the Miller cycle, offers the possibility to increase the knock resistance, which in turn enables the rise of the engine geometric compression ratio.

Numerous studies have demonstrated that exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) can attenuate knock propensity in spark ignition (SI) engines at naturally aspirated or lightly boosted conditions [1]. In this study, we investigate the role of cooled EGR under higher load conditions with multiple fuel compositions, where highly retarded combustion phasing typical of modern SI engines was used. It was found that under these conditions, EGR attenuation of knock is greatly reduced, where EGR doesn’t allow significant combustion phasing advance as it does under lighter load conditions. Detailed combustion analysis shows that when EGR is added, the polytropic coefficient increases causing the compressive pressure and temperature to increase. At sufficiently highly boosted conditions, the increase in polytropic coefficient and additional trapped mass from EGR can sufficiently reduce fuel ignition delay to overcome knock attenuation effects.

In recent years, the residential and transportation sectors have made significant strides in reducing energy consumption, mainly by focusing efforts on low-hanging fruit in each sector independently. This independent viewpoint has been successful in the past because the user needs met and resources consumed in each sector have been clearly distinct. However, the trend towards vehicle electrification has blurred the boundary between the sectors. With both the home and vehicle now relying upon the same energy source, interactions between the systems can no longer be neglected. For example, when tiered utility pricing schemes are considered, the energy consumption of each system affects the cost of the other. In this paper, the authors present an integrated Home-Vehicle Simulation Model (HVSM), allowing the designer to take a holistic view.

The effect of compression ratio on sensitivity to changes in start of injection and air-fuel ratio has been investigated on a single-cylinder DI diesel engine at fixed low and medium speeds and loads. Compression ratio was set to 17.9:1 or 13.7:1 by using pistons with different bowl sizes. Injection timing and air-to-fuel ratio were swept around a nominal map point at which gross IMEP and NOx values were matched for the two compression ratios. It was found that CO, HC and ISFC were higher at low compression ratio, but the soot/NOx trade-off improved and this could be exploited to reduce the fuel economy penalty. Sensitivity to inputs is generally similar, but high compression ratio tended to have steeper response gradients. Reducing compression ratio to 13.7 gave rise to a marked degradation of performance at light load, producing high CO emissions and a fall in combustion efficiency. This could be eased by reducing rail pressure, but the advantage in smoke emission was lost.

A Ford 2.4-liter 115PS light-duty diesel engine was modified to allow solenoid control of the oil feed to the piston cooling jets, enabling these to be switched on or off on demand. The influence of the jets on piston temperatures, engine thermal state, gaseous emissions and fuel economy has been investigated. With the jets switched off, piston temperatures were measured to be between 23 and 88°C higher. Across a range of speed-load points, switching off the jets increased engine-out emissions of NOx typically by 3%, and reduced emissions of CO by 5-10%. Changes in HC were of the same order and were reductions at most conditions. Fuel consumption increased at low-speed, high-load conditions and decreased at high-speed, low-load conditions. Applying the results to the NEDC drive cycle suggests active on/off control of the jets could reduce engine-out emissions of CO by 6%, at the expense of a 1% increase in NOx, compared to the case when the jets are on continuously.

Diesel fuels are complex mixtures of thousands of hydrocarbons. Since modeling their combustion characteristics with the inclusion of all hydrocarbon species is not feasible, a hybrid surrogate model approach is used in the present work to represent the physical and chemical properties of three different diesel fuels by using up to 13 and 4 separate hydrocarbon species, respectively. The surrogates are arrived at by matching their distillation profiles and important properties with the real fuel, while the chemistry surrogates are arrived at by using a Group Chemistry Representation (GCR) method wherein the hydrocarbon species in the physical property surrogates are grouped based on their chemical classes, and the chemistry of each class is represented by using up to two hydrocarbon species.

A great deal of current automotive engineering effort involves the development of three-way catalyst-based emission control systems that seek to minimize fuel consumption while simultaneously meeting stringent exhaust emission standards. Mitigation of emissions is enhanced in a three-way catalyst system when the system air-fuel ratio (A/F) is in proximity to ideal burning or stoichiometry. This paper is concerned with extending methods used for determining engine calibrations to closed-loop systems with three-way catalysts. The paper presents a simulation model that employs experimentally obtained data to characterize the A/F control loop.

Computer programs and models are playing an increasing role in simulating vehicle crashworthiness, dynamic, and fuel efficiency. To maximize the effectiveness of these models, the validity and predictive capabilities of these models need to be assessed quantitatively. For a successful implementation of Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) models as an integrated part of the current vehicle development process, it is necessary to develop objective validation metric that has the desirable metric properties to quantify the discrepancy between multiple tests and simulation results. However, most of the outputs of dynamic systems are multiple functional responses, such as time history series. This calls for the development of an objective metric that can evaluate the differences of the multiple time histories as well as the key features under uncertainty.

As a renewable energy source, the ethanol fuel was employed with a diesel fuel in this study to improve the cylinder charge homogeneity for high load operations, targeting on ultra-low nitrogen oxides (NOx) and smoke emissions. A light-duty diesel engine is configured to adapt intake port fuelling of the ethanol fuel while keeping all other original engine components intact. High load experiments are performed to investigate the combustion control and low emission enabling without sacrificing the high compression ratio (18.2:1). The intake boost, exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) and injection pressure are independently controlled, and thus their effects on combustion and emission characteristics of the high load operation are investigated individually. The low temperature combustion is accomplished at high engine load (16~17 bar IMEP) with regulation compatible NOx and soot emissions.

This study presents the utilization of the hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) approach for regenerative braking (regen) control enhancement efforts for the power split hybrid vehicle architecture. The HIL stand used in this study includes a production brake control module along with the hydraulic brake system, constituted of an accelerator/brake pedal assembly, electric vacuum booster and pump, brake hydraulic circuit and four brake calipers. This work presents the validation of this HIL simulator with real vehicle data, during mild and heavy braking. Then by using the HIL approach, regen control is enhanced, specifically for two cases. The first case is the jerk in deceleration caused by the brake booster delay, during transitions from regen to friction braking. As an example, the case where the regen is ramped out at a low speed threshold, and the hydraulic braking ramped in, can be considered.

This study demonstrates the use of pressure sensing technology to predict the crash severity of frontal impacts. It presents an investigation of the pressure change in the front structural elements (bumper, crush cans, rails) during crash events. A series of subsystem tests were conducted in the laboratory that represent a typical frontal crash development series and provided empirical data to support the analysis of the concept. The pressure signal energy at different sensor mounting locations was studied and design concepts were developed for amplifying the pressure signal. In addition, a pressure signal processing methodology was developed that relies on the analysis of the air flow behavior by normalizing and integrating the pressure changes. The processed signal from the pressure sensor is combined with the restraint control module (RCM) signals to define the crash severity, discriminate between the frontal crash modes and deploy the required restraint devices.

The application of a turbocharger, having an electric motor/generator on the rotor was studied focusing on the electric energy recuperation on a downsized gasoline internal combustion engine (turbocharged, direct injection) using 1D-calculation approaches. Using state-of-the art optimization techniques, the settings of the valve timing was optimized to cater for a targeted pre-turbine pressure and certain level of residual gases in the combustion chamber to avoid abnormal combustion events. Subsequently, a steady-state map of the potential of electric energy recuperation was performed while considering in parallel different efficiency maps of the potential generator and a certain waste-gate actuation strategy. Moreover, the results were taken as input to a WLTP cycle simulation in order to identify any synergies with regard to fuel economy.

Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) has favorable characteristics as a vehicular fuel, in terms of fuel economy as well as emissions Using CNG as a fuel in a series hybrid vehicle has the potential of resulting in very high fuel economy (between 26 and 30 km/liter, 60 to 70 mpg) and very low emissions (substantially lower than Federal Tier II or CARB ULEV) This paper uses a vehicle evaluation code and an optimizer to find a set of vehicle parameters that result in optimum vehicle fuel economy The vehicle evaluation code used in this analysis estimates vehicle power train performance, including engine efficiency and power, generator efficiency, energy storage device efficiency and state-of-charge, and motor and transmission efficiencies Eight vehicle parameters are selected as free variables for the optimization The optimum vehicle must also meet three performance requirements accelerate to 97 km/h in less than 10 s, climb an infinitely long hill with a 6% slope at 97 km/h with a 272 kg (600 lb) payload, and have a 610 km (380 mile) range in the combined urban/highway driving cycle The optimizer used in this work was originally developed in the magnetic fusion energy program, and has been used to optimize complex systems, such as magnetic and inertial fusion devices, neutron sources, and rail guns The optimizer consists of two parts an optimization package for minimizing non-linear functions of many variables subject to several nonlinear equality and/or inequality constraints and a programmable shell that allows interactive configuration and execution of the optimizer The results of the analysis indicate that the CNG senes hybrid vehicle has a high fuel economy and low emissions These results emphasize the advantages of CNG as a near-term alternative fuel for vehicles

The ability to switch off the internal combustion engine (ICE) during vehicle operation is a key functionality in hybrid powertrains to achieve low fuel economy. However, this can affect driveability, namely acceleration response when an ICE re-engagement due to a driver initiated torque demand is required. The ICE re-start as well as the speed and load synchronisation with the driveline and corresponding vehicle speed can lead to high response times. To avoid this issue, the operational range where the ICE can be switched off is often compromised, in turn sacrificing fuel economy. Based on a 48V off-axis P2 hybrid powertrain comprising a lay-shaft transmission we present an up-front simulation methodology that considers the relevant parameters of the ICE like air-path, turbocharger, friction, as well as the relevant mechanical and electrical parameters on the hybrid drive side, including a simplified multi-body approach to reflect the relevant vehicle and powertrain dynamics.

Identification of the noise generating mechanisms of gravity action and vibrator stimulated sliding chutes has resulted in the development of practical and effective noise abatement treatments for both. In the case of gravity action chutes the application of foam-backed thin and narrow spring steel plates on the chute surface achieves the desired effect with noise reduction of 14 to 25 dB(A). With vibrator stimulated chutes progressive steps were taken to attenuate source noise, chute radiation noise and the non-productive component of the force vector from the vibrator, resulting in noise reduction of 25 to 30 dB(A).

Numerous studies describe the fuel consumption benefits of changing the powertrain temperature based on vehicle operating conditions. Actuators such as electric water pumps and active thermostats now provide more flexibility to change powertrain operating temperature than traditional mechanical-only systems did. Various control strategies have been proposed for powertrain temperature set-point regulation. A characteristic of powertrain thermal management systems is that the operating conditions (speed, load etc) change continuously to meet the driver demand and in most cases, the optimal conditions lie on the edge of the constraint envelope. Control strategies for set-point regulation which rely purely on feedback for disturbance rejection, without knowledge of future disturbances, might not provide the full fuel consumption benefits due to the slow thermal inertia of the system.