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Water content estimation is a key problem for studying the PEM fuel cell. When several hundred fuel cells are connected in serial and their active surface area is enlarged for sufficient power, the difference between cells becomes significant with respect to voltage and water content. The voltage of each cell is measurable by the cell voltage monitor (CVM) while it is difficult to estimate water content of the individual. Resistance of the polymer electrolyte membrane is monotonically related to its water content, so that the new online high frequency resistance (HFR) measurement technique is investigated to identify the uniformity of water content between cells and analyze its sensitivity to operating conditions in this paper. Firstly, the accuracy of the proposed technique is experimentally validated to be comparable to that of a commercialized electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurement equipment.

Crashworthiness is one of the most important performances of vehicles, and the front rails are the main crash energy absorption parts during the frontal crashing process. In this paper, the front rail was simplified to a thin-walled beam with a cross section of single-hat which was made of steel and aluminum. And the two boards of it were connected by riveting without rivets. In order to optimize its crashworthiness, the thickness (t), radius (R) and the rivet spacing (d) were selected as three design variables, and its specific energy absorption was the objective while the average impact force was the constraint. Considering the error of manufacturing and measurements, the parameters σs and Et of the steel were selected as the uncertainty variables to improve the design reliability. The algorithm IP-GA and the approximate model-RBF (Radial Basis Function) were applied in this nonlinear uncertainty optimization.

Carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) composite materials have gained particular interests due to their high specific modulus, high strength, lightweight and perfect corrosion resistance. However, in reality, CFRP composite materials cannot be used alone in some critical places such as positions of joints with hinges, locks. Therefore, metal reinforcements are usually necessary in local positions to prevent structure damage. Besides, if uncertainties present, obtained optimal structures may experience in failures as the optimization usually pushes solutions to the boundaries of constraints and has no room for tolerance and uncertainties, so robust optimization should be considered to accommodate the uncertainties in practice. This paper proposes a mixed topology method to optimize metal and carbon fiber reinforced plastic composite materials simultaneously under nondeterministic load with random magnitude and direction.

This paper presents a technological comparison of weldability and mechanical properties between a dual phase steel (DP) and an advanced high strength low alloy steel (AHSLA) used for automotive structural parts in order to demonstrate some unclear characteristics of each. Samples were spot welded and had their hardness and microstructure analyzed, also a shear test was applied on the weld button area. The edge stretchability was analyzed using hole expansion tests and tensile tests to determine the tensile and yield strength, anisotropic coefficients and total elongation. Data were used to estimate crash energy absorption. The results showed an AHSLA steel with higher than typical ductility. Finally, while DP showed improved stretchability, it was also concluded that such AHSLA could perform better bendability, drawability, flangeability and weldability.

The catalyzed diesel particulate filter with Pt and Pd noble metals as the main loaded active components are widely used in the field of automobile engines, but the high cost makes it face huge challenges. Rare earth element doping can improve the soot oxidation performance of the catalyzed diesel particulate filter and provide a new way to reduce its cost. In this paper, thermogravimetric tests and chemical reaction kinetic calculations were used to explore the effect of Pt-Pd catalysts doped Ce, and La rare earth elements on the oxidation properties of soot. The results shown that, among Pt-Pd-5%Ce, Pt-Pd-5%La, and Pt-Pd-5%Ce-5%La catalysts, Pt-Pd-5%La catalyst has the highest soot conversion, the highest low-temperature oxidation speed, and the activation energy is the smallest. Compared with soot, this catalyst reduced T10 and T20 by 82% and 26%, respectively, meaning the catalytic activity of Pt-Pd-5%La catalyst was the best.

The price of fossil fuels and the increasing inexorable energy crisis have become vital issues for everyone. Tongji University EconoPower Racing Team was established to participate in the “Honda EconoPower Cup” annually. Every contestant in the competition must finish a certain distance in the fixed time, with the gasoline supplied by the committee. After that the committee will measure the fuel consumption of every team and calculate the distance per liter fuel (the farther the better) to determine the champion. In order to enhance the EP vehicle's achievement we've made some improvements, such as framework, body, engine's optimization and so on. In this passage we mainly state some details of our research approaches in framework, steering, transmission, shape and driving strategy. The main technologies were: friction reduction, lightweight, enhancement of power train efficiency, tire selection and driving strategy.

A methodology that enables two-dimensional strain field measurement in the vicinity of ductile rupture is described. Fully martensitic steel coupons were strained to fracture using a miniature tensile stage with custom data and image acquisition systems. Rupture initiated near the center of each coupon and progressed slowly toward the gage section edges. A state-of-the-art digital image correlation technique was used to compute the true strain field before rupture initiation and ahead of the resulting propagating macroscopic crack before final fracture occurred. True strains of the order of 95% were measured ahead of the crack at later stages of deformation.

Magnesium alloys are not corrosion resistant in many applications and they require coating protection. In this study, we developed an electroless E-coating technique for magnesium alloys and discussed a cathodic E-coating deposition mechanism for the electroless E-coating process. This coating can be formed within a few seconds by dipping a magnesium alloy (i.e., AZ91D) in an E-coat bath without applying a current or voltage. The deposited electroless coat can offer good protection to the AZ91D magnesium alloy in 5 wt% NaCl corrosive solution as well as in a phosphating bath. The most interesting finding is that the electroless coating is not sensitive to local damage. No preferential corrosion attack occurred along the scratches made on the coating.

Heat treated cast aluminum components like engine blocks and cylinder heads can develop significant amount of residual stress and distortion particularly with water quench. To incorporate the influence of residual stress and distortion in cast aluminum product design, a rapid simulation approach has been developed based on artificial neural network and component geometry characteristics. Multilayer feed-forward artificial neural network (ANN) models were trained and verified using FEA residual stress and distortion predictions together with part geometry information such as curvature, maximum dihedral angle, topologic features including node's neighbors, as well as quench parameters like quench temperature and quench media.

Laser welding of dissimilar metals such as Aluminum and Copper, which is required for Li-ion battery joining, is challenging due to the inevitable formation of the brittle and high electrical-resistant intermetallic compounds. Recent research has shown that by using a novel technology, called laser braze-welding, the Al-Cu intermetallics can be minimized to achieve superior mechanical and electrical joint performance. This paper investigates the robustness of the laser braze-welding process. Three product and process categories, i.e. choice of materials, joint configurations, and process conditions, are studied. It is found that in-process effects such as sample cleanness and shielding gas fluctuations have a minor influence on the process robustness. Furthermore, many pre-process effects, e.g. design changes such as multiple layers or anodized base material can be successfully welded by process adaption.

Global regulations intended to enhance pedestrian protection in a vehicle collision, thereby reducing the severity of pedestrian injuries, are presenting significant challenges to vehicle designers. Vehicle hoods, for example, must absorb a significant amount of energy over a small area while precluding impact with a hard engine compartment component. In this paper, a simple passive approach for pedestrian protection is introduced in which thin metal alloy sheets are bent to follow a C-shaped cross-sectional profile thereby giving them energy absorbing capacity during impact when affixed to the underside of a hood. Materials considered were aluminum (6111-T4, 5182-O) and magnesium (AZ31-O, AZ61-O, ZEK100) alloys. To evaluate the material effect on the head injury criterion (HIC) score without a hood, each C-channel absorber was crushed in a drop tower test using a small dart.

A series connection of the KVBC (Kelvin-Voigt and Bouc-wen) theoretical model of rubber bush in automobile suspension is established. The numerical calculation model is also developed through Matlab/simulation and 9 parameters are identified. Experiments are conducted on the rubber bush on a bench for dynamic and static characteristics and to supply appropriate and reliable data for parameter identification. Based on this, preload and temperature are taken into consideration in an ordinary KVBC model as two important additional factors. As a result, it leads to developing a novel model with new parameter identification, which is validated under different conditions. This new modeling method of rubber bush has three advantages. First, it shows improved accuracy for solving non-linear problems in a multi-body calculation, which is useful for researchers and vehicle engineers.

For a practical pad design, a magnetic shielding layer is imperative which is made of ferrite, aluminum or some other metallic material. However, once the magnetic shielding layer is added, not only the mutual inductance but also the self-inductance of the coupling coils vary with the lateral misalignment which is inevitable for a human driver. The change of self-inductance will also result in the mistuning problem in the resonant circuit, which can significantly reduce the transmission efficiency of the whole wireless power transfer (WPT) system. This paper proposed a method of parameter identification of self-inductance based on the least square in order to solve the mistuning problem. In order to verify the proposed method, both the simulation model and the experiment set-up are built.

Edge fracture is one of the major issues for stamping Advanced High Strength Steel (AHSS). Recent studies have showed this type of fracture is greatly affected by an improper trimming process. The current production trimming process used for the conventional mild steels has not been modified for AHSS trimming. In addition to the high-energy requirement, the current mechanical trimming process would generate a rough edge (burr) with microcracks in trimmed edges for AHSS trimming, which could serve as the crack initiation during forming. The purpose of this study is to develop a proper production trimming process for AHSS and elucidate the effect of the trimmed edge conditions on edge fracture. A straight edge shearing device with the capability of adjusting the shearing variables is used in this study.

Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) tube is an important material for the lightweight design of automotive structures. Simulation method of CFRP thin-walled tubes subjected to axial compression using MAT54 in LS-DYNA was investigated. Based on the two-layer shell model combined with MAT54, failure strategy and the parameters sensitivity of the model were discussed in detail. Then the simulation model was verified by using duplicate specimens comprised of carbon fiber/epoxy unidirectional prepreg tape. Furthermore, the modeling methods of crush trigger and different types of loading speed were analyzed. In addition, based on the method of equal energy absorption, energy absorption performance of thin-walled circular and square tubes made from four materials including mild steel, high strength steel, aluminum alloy and CFRP were also compared.

Aiming at the laborious process in motor structure modeling for acoustic noise calculation, an improved stator structure modeling scheme is proposed, which includes stator structure simplification and equivalent material parameters identification. The stator assembly is modeled as a homogeneous solid with the same size as the stator core, and the influence of model simplification is compensated by orthotropic equivalent material parameters. The equivalent material parameters are acquired through an optimization algorithm by minimizing the error between FEM calculated modal frequencies and the modal tested results. With the stator assembly model, the motor assembly model is built, and the constrained modal characteristics of the motor assembly are verified by comparing the modal frequencies to the resonance bands in the vibration acceleration spectrum. Finally, the motor structure model is used to calculate the electromagnetic noise of an induction motor.

The vehicle permanent magnet synchronous motor has the advantages of high power density, compact structure and small size, which makes it generate heat obviously in the process of energy conversion, which seriously affects the service life of the motor and the performance of permanent magnet. Predicting magnet temperature is a challenging task, in lab and various specialized applications, infrared sensors or thermocouples are used to measure the temperature, but it cost a lot. In order to predict the temperature field of the motor, the hysteresis characteristic test of the core material of the motor is carried out in this paper. The hysteresis characteristic and loss of electrical steel under different temperature, magnetic field intensity and magnetic field frequency are tested. It is found that the loss of electrical steel increases with the increase of magnetic induction intensity and magnetic field frequency.

The effects of biodiesel on the swelling of the elastomers and plastics and the corrosion of metals are studied by the immersion tests. The results indicate that biodiesels make little corrosion effect on aluminum, steel and little swelling impact on plastics, but a significant corrosion may be taken place on cooper and brass for some sourced biodiesels. For nitrile-butadiene rubber, the variation of swelling properties in biodiesels is slightly higher than that in diesel. For the non-diesel-resistant elatomers, the variation of swelling properties is lower than those in diesel. The production process and biodiesel source have an influence on the result of elastomer swelling and corrosion. The relationship between the impact of biodiesel on materials and biodiesels properties are also discussed.

The influence of heat flow and cooling water characteristics on motor temperature cannot be accurately reflected by the traditional motor temperature analysis method. In order to study the motor and its key components’ temperature characteristics under different temperatures and flow rates of cooling water, this paper establishes the lumped parameter transient thermal model which includes cooling water module, based on a 50kW permanent magnet synchronous motor. The transient and steady temperature is calculated through this model together with the motor loss calculation module in the electric drive system model. The influence of different temperature and flow rate of cooling water on motor and its key components’ temperature characteristics is compared. During the modeling process, the motor body is divided into 14 parts, based on the internal heat flow path of the motor. The thermal resistance of each key component and cooling water is calculated.

More Mg alloys are being considered for uses in the automotive industry. Since the corrosion performance of Mg alloy components in practical service environments is unknown, long term corrosion testing at automotive proving grounds will be an essential step before Mg alloy components can be implemented in vehicles. However, testing so many Mg alloy candidates for various parts is labor intensive for the corrosion engineers at the proving grounds. This report presents preliminary results in evaluating corrosion performance of Mg alloys based on rapid corrosion and electrochemical tests in the lab. In this study, four Mg alloy candidates for transmission cases and oil pans: AE44, AXJ530, MRI153M and MRI230D were tested in the lab and at General Motors Corporation Milford Proving Ground and their corrosion results were compared.