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When high-intensity discharge (HID) electric lamps are used for plant growth, system inefficiencies occur due to an inability to effectively target light to all photosynthetic tissues of a growing crop stand, especially when it is closed with respect to light penetration. To maintain acceptable crop productivity, light levels typically are increased thus increasing heat loads on the plants. Evapotranspiration (ET) or transparent thermal barrier systems are subsequently required to maintain thermal balance, and power-intensive condensers are used to recover the evaporated water for reuse in closed systems. By accurately targeting light to plant tissues, electric lamps can be operated at lower power settings and produce less heat. With lower power and heat loads, less energy is used for plant growth, and possibly less water is evapotranspired. By combining these effects, a considerable energy savings is possible.

Rolling element bearings provide near frictionless relative motion between two rotating parts. Automotive transmissions use various ball and rolling element bearings to accommodate the relative motion between rotating elements. In order to understand changes in bearing performance due to the loads imposed through the transmission, advanced modeling of the bearing is required. This paper focuses on the effects of cage flexibility on bearing performance. A flexible cage model was developed and incorporated into a six degree-of-freedom dynamic, deep groove ball bearing model. A lumped mass approach was used to represent the cage flexibility and was validated through an ANSYS forced response analyses of the cage. Results from the newly developed Flexible Cage Model (FCM) and an identical numerical model employing a rigid bearing cage were compared to determine the effects of varying ball-to-cage pocket clearance and cage stiffness on cage motion and ball-to-cage pocket contact forces.

Numerical computations of combusting transient jets are performed under diesel-like conditions. Discussions of the structure of such jets are presented from global and detailed points of view. From a global point of view, we show that the computed flame heights agree with deductions from theory and that integrated soot mass and heat release rates are consistent with expected trends. We present results of several paramaters which characterise the details of the jet structure. These are fuel mass fractions, temperature, heat release rates, soot and NO. Some of these parameters are compared with the structure of a combusting diesel spray as deduced from measurements and reported in the literature. The heat release rate contours show that the region of chemical reactions is confined to a thin sheet as expected for a diffusion flame. The soot contour plots appear to agree qualitatively with the experimental observations.

The identification of the dominant noise sources in diesel engines and the assessment of their contribution to far-field noise is a process that can involve both fired and motored testing. In the present work, the cross-spectral densities of signals from cylinder pressure transducers, accelerometers mounted on the engine surface, and microphones (in the near and far fields), were used to identify dominant noise sources and estimate the transfer paths from the various “inputs” (i.e., the cylinder pressures, the accelerometers and the near field microphones) to the far field microphones. The method is based on singular value decomposition of the input cross-spectral matrix to relate the input measurements to independent virtual sources. The frequencies at which a particular input is strongly affected by an independent source are highlighted, and with knowledge of transducer locations, inferences can be drawn as to possible noise source mechanisms.

In modern engine design, downsizing and reducing weight while still providing an increased amount of power has been a general trend in recent decades. Traditionally, an engine design with superior NVH performance usually comes with a heavier, thus sturdier structure. Therefore, modern engine design requires that NVH be considered in the very early design stage to avoid modifications of engine structure at the last minute, when very few changes can be made. NVH design optimization of engine components has become more practical due to the development of computer software and hardware. However, there is still a need for smarter algorithms to draw a direct relationship between the design and the radiated sound power. At the moment, techniques based on modal acoustic transfer vectors (MATVs) have gained popularity in design optimization for their good performance in sound pressure prediction.

Swirl in Diesel engines is known to be an important parameter that affects the mixing of the fuel jets, heat release, emissions, and overall engine performance. The changes may be brought about through interactions of the swirling flow field with the spray and through modifications of the flow field. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the interaction of the swirl with sprays in a Diesel engine through a computational study. A multi-dimensional model for flows, sprays, and combustion in engines is employed. Results from computations are reported with varying levels of swirl and initial turbulence in two typical Diesel engine geometries. It is shown that there is an optimal level of swirl for each geometry that results from a balance between increased jet surface area and, hence, mixing rates and utilization of air in the chamber.

Notched spoilers may be used to suppress flow-induced cavity resonance in vehicles with open sunroofs or side windows. The notches are believed to generate streamwise vortices that break down the structure of the leading edge cross-stream vortices predominantly responsible for the cavity excitation. The objectives of the present study were to gain a better understanding of the buffeting suppression mechanisms associated with notched spoilers, and to gather data for computational model verification. To this end, experiments were performed to characterize the surface pressure field downstream of straight and notched spoilers mounted on a rigid wall to observe the effects of the notches on the static and dynamic wall pressure. Detailed flow velocity measurements were made using hot-wire anemometry. The results indicated that the presence of notches on the spoiler reduces drag, and thus tends to move the flow reattachment location closer to the spoiler.

The design optimization of thin-walled tubular structures is of relevance in the automotive industry due to their low cost, ease of manufacturing and installation, and high-energy absorption efficiency. This study presents a methodology to design thin-walled tubular structures for crashworthiness applications. During an impact, thin-walled tubular structures may exhibit progressive collapse/buckling, global collapse/buckling, or mixed collapse/buckling. From a crashworthiness standpoint, the most desirable collapse mode is progressive collapse due to its high-energy absorption efficiency, stable deformation, and low peak crush force (PCF). In the automotive industry, thin-walled components have complex structural geometries. These complexities and the several loading conditions present in a crash reduce the possibility of progressive collapse. The Hybrid Cellular Automata (HCA) method has shown to be an efficient continuum-based approach in crashworthiness design.

Strawberry is a life-support-system candidate crop species that is long-lived, asexually propagated, and can bear large quantities of fruit high in sugar and antioxidant content. Strawberries of four day-neutral cultivars (‘Tribute’, ‘Tristar’, ‘Seascape’, and ‘Fern’) and one ever-bearing cultivar (‘Cavendish’) were grown under greenhouse conditions or varying temperature regimes in three growth chambers. Flowers in growth chambers were hand pollinated three-times weekly with stored pollen, and ripe berries were harvested, counted, weighed, and tested organolepticly. In the greenhouse, two different pollination treatments were compared, while another group of plants was left unpollinated, receiving only occasional mechanical stimulation from normal greenhouse airflow, berry harvest, and plant maintenance. A second group was pollinated with a vibrating wand, and a third group was hand pollinated with stored pollen.

The sound barrier performance of elastomeric vehicle weather seals was investigated. Experiments were performed for one bulb seal specimen following a reverberation room method. The seal wall vibration was measured using a laser Doppler vibrometer. The acoustic pressure near the seal surface was measured simultaneously, allowing the sound intensities on both side of the seal, and the sound transmission loss to be evaluated. The vibration response of the bulb seal and its sound transmission loss were then computed using the finite element method. Model predictions for the same seal geometry were found to be in excellent agreement with the experimental data within the frequency range of interest, comprised between 500 Hz and 4000 Hz.

Nowadays, the increasing number of structural high pressure die casting (HPDC) aluminum parts need to be joined with high strength steel (HSS) parts in order to reduce the weight of vehicle for fuel-economy considerations. Self-Pierce Riveting (SPR) has become one of the strongest mechanical joining solutions used in automotive industry in the past several decades. Joining HPDC parts with HSS parts can potentially cause joint quality issues, such as joint button cracks, low corrosion resistance and low joint strength. The appropriate heat treatment will be suggested to improve SPR joint quality in terms of cracks reduction. But the heat treatment can also result in the blister issue and extra time and cost consumption for HPDC parts. The relationship between the microstructure of HPDC material before and after heat treatment with the joint quality is going to be investigated and discussed for interpretation of cracks initiation and propagation during riveting.

A novel Blended Hydraulic Hybrid transmission architecture is presented in this paper with benefits over conventional designs. This novel configuration combines elements of a hydrostatic transmission, a parallel hybrid, and a selectively connectable high pressure accumulator using passive and actively controlled logic elements. Losses are reduced compared to existing series hybrid transmissions by enabling the units to operate efficiently at pressures below the current high pressure accumulator's pressure. A selective connection to the high pressure accumulator also allows for higher system precharge which increases regenerative braking torque and energy capture with little determent to system efficiency. Finally operating as a hydrostatic transmission increases transmission stiffness (i.e. driver response) and may improve driver feel in certain situations when compared to a conventional series hybrid transmission.

The latest US emission regulations require dramatic reductions in Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) emissions from vehicular diesel engines. Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) is the current technology that achieves NOx reductions of up to 90%. It is typically mounted downstream of the existing after-treatment system, i.e., after the Diesel Oxidation Catalyst (DOC) and Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF). Accurate prediction of input NO₂:NO ratio is useful for control of SCR urea injection to reduce NOx output and NH₃ slippage downstream of the SCR catalyst. Most oxidation of NO to NO₂ occurs in the DOC since its main function is to oxidize emission constituents. The DOC thus determines the NO₂:NO ratio as feedgas to the SCR catalyst. The prediction of NO₂:NO ratio varies as the catalyst in the DOC ages or deteriorates due to poisoning. Thus, the DOC prediction model has to take into account the correlation of DOC conversion effectiveness and the aging of the catalyst.

Accurate modeling of the transient structure of reacting diesel jets is important as transient features like autoignition, flame propagation, and flame stabilization have been shown to correlate with combustion efficiency and pollutant formation. In this work, results from Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulations of flame lift-off in diesel jets are examined to provide insight into the lift-off physics. The large eddy simulation (LES) technique is also used to computationally model a lifted jet flame at conditions representative of those encountered in diesel engines. An unsteady flamelet progress variable (UFPV) model is used as the turbulent combustion model in both RANS simulations and LES. In the model, a look-up table of reaction source terms is generated as a function of mixture fraction Z, stoichiometric scalar dissipation rate Xst, and progress variable Cst by solving the unsteady flamelet equations.

Modern pulse-turbocharged systems produce a turbine operating environment that is dominated by unsteady flow. Effective utilization of the unsteady exhaust gas energy content at the turbine inlet is critical to achieving optimum system efficiency. This work presents predictions for turbocharger unsteady performance from a model based on the Euler equations with source terms (EEST). This approach allows the time-accurate performance of the turbine to be determined, allowing comparisons of actual energy utilization and that estimated from steady flow performance maps.

An experiment has been developed to investigate the ignition characteristics of ultra-lean premixed H2/air mixtures by a supersonic hot jet. The hot jet is generated by combustion of a stoichiometric mixture in a small prechamber. The apparatus adopted a dual-chamber design in which a small-volume (1% of the main chamber by volume) prechamber was installed within a large-volume main chamber. A small orifice (nozzle) connects the two chambers. Spark initiated combustion inside the prechamber causes a pressure rise and pushes the gases though the nozzle, resulting in a hot jet that would ignite the lean mixture in the main chamber. Simultaneous high-speed Schlieren photography and OH* Chemiluminescence were applied to visualize the jet penetration and the ignition processes inside the main chamber. Hot Wire Pyrometry (HWP) was used to measure temperature distribution of the transient hot jet.

Component sound quality is an important factor in the design of competitive diesel engines. One component noise that causes complaints is the gear rattle that originates in the front-of-engine gear train which drives the fuel pump and other accessories. The rattle is caused by repeated tooth impacts resulting from fluctuations in differential torsional acceleration of the driving gears. These impacts generate a broadband, impulsive noise that is often perceived as annoying. In most previous work, the overall sound quality of diesel engines has been considered without specifically focusing on predicting the perception of gear rattle. Gear rattle level has been quantified based on angular acceleration measurements, but those measurements can be difficult to perform. Here, the emphasis was on developing a metric based on subjective testing of the perception of gear rattle.

Design optimization for functionality, and manufacturability was virtually impossible in the past. However, recent standardization of file storing formats resulted in seamless data transfer from one software package to another; thus, allowing integration of all facets of product design optimization. This paper describes a metalcasting design optimization process. It focuses on the design of cast parts according to functional requirements while optimizing shape with respect to structural integrity, while ascertaining that the part can be manufactured (cast) without defects.

With the need for improvement in the fuel economy along with reduction in emissions due to stringent regulations, powertrain hybridization has become the focal point of research for the automotive sector. Hydraulic hybrids have progressively gained acceptance due to their high power density and low component costs relative to their electric counterpart and many different architectures have been proposed and implemented on both on and off-highway applications. The most commonly used architecture is the series hybrid which offers great flexibility for implementation of power management strategies. But the direct connection of the high pressure accumulator to the system often results in operation of the hydraulic units in high pressure and low displacement mode. However, in this operating mode the hydraulic units are highly inefficient. Also, the accumulator renders the system highly compliant and makes the response of the transmission sluggish.

The ALS/NSCORT Education and Outreach provides an avenue to engage and educate higher education students and K-12 educators/students in the center's investigations of the synergistic concepts and principles required for regenerative life-support in extended-duration space exploration. The following K-12 Education programs will be addressed: 1) Key Learning Community Project provides exposure, mentoring and research opportunities for 9-12th grade students at Key Learning Community This program was expanded in 2004 to include an “Explore Mars” 3-day camp experience for 150 Key students. The overall goal of the collaborative project is to motivate students to pursue careers in science, technology, and engineering; 2) Mission to Mars Program introduces 5th-8th grade students to the complex issues involved with living on Mars, stressing the interdisciplinary fundamentals of science, technology and engineering that underlie Advanced Life Support research.