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For reduction of fuel consumption, a new device “Water Jacket Spacer” which improves temperature distribution of a cylinder block bore wall was developed. In the case of a conventional cylinder block, coolant flow concentrates at the bottom and middle region of the water jacket. While temperature of the upper bore wall is high (due to high-temperature combustion gas) the temperature of the lower bore wall is low, since its only function is to support the piston. When the developed spacer is inserted into a water jacket, the coolant flow concentrates at the upper part of the jacket. As a result, cooling ability to the upper bore wall was improved and temperature of lower bore wall was increased, thereby reducing fuel consumption.

One of the practical consequences of the development of low CO₂ emission cars is that many of the traditional NVH sound engineering processes no longer apply and must be revisited. Different and new sound sources, new constraints on vehicle body design (e.g., due to weight) and new sound perception characteristics make that the NVH knowledge built on generations of internal combustion-powered vehicles cannot be simply transferred to Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (HEV). Hence, the applicability of tools must be reviewed and extensions need to be developed where necessary. This paper focuses on sound synthesis tools as developed for ICE-powered vehicles. Because of the missing masking effect and the missing intake and exhaust noise of the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) in electric vehicles, on one hand electric vehicles are quieter than traditional vehicles.

The paper will introduce some recent advances in vibration testing and modal analysis of airplanes. Recently, a very promising parameter estimation method became available, that has the potential to become the new standard. The main advantage of this so-called PolyMAX method is that it yields extremely clear stabilization diagrams even for broadband and high-order analyses. The method will be applied to two aircraft cases: a Ground Vibration Test using broadband shaker excitation on a small composite aircraft and in-flight data using natural turbulences as excitation. These two data sets allow illustrating both the classical Frequency Response Function based as well as the operational output-only modal analysis process.

Generally, automobiles have many performance requirements for comfort, of which noise, vibration and harshness are very important. Toyota Motor Corporation equipped several 2003 models with the second-generation Electronically Controlled Brake system (ECB2). These ECB2 actuator units adopted a new structure that reduced pumping noise by controlling the skew phenomena of needle roller bearings. Normally, needle roller bearings are advantageous over other bearings in cases where a large force is loaded on bearings, because the contact areas can be made larger. However, a thrust force arises from skew phenomena because of minute clearances among the component parts of needle roller bearings. As a result, axial vibration of the bearing shaft sometimes occurs due to the thrust force. This paper explains how the thrust force generated from the skew phenomena of needle roller bearings occasionally affects the pumping vibration level of equipped machinery such as the brake actuator unit.

Wing Anti-Icing Systems (WAIS) are integral part of a wing design. Their presence ensures safety in all-weather conditions. In standard designs, the WAIS are fitted in the slat internal structure and runs throughout its span in between the ribs. Given its critical function, such a system has to pass qualification test. The test specification is dictated by international standards. In the case discussed in this article, the standard adopted is the RTCA DO-160G “Environmental Conditions and Test Procedures for Airborne Equipment”. In particular, the work presented here concerns with the Vibration environmental test. The standard prescribes a number of dynamic tests to be carried out on the AIS: random, shock and sine excitation tests have to be performed in order to study their effect on the parts composing the Anti-Icing System. The standard prescribes vibration levels at the attachment locations of the AIS to the wings' ribs.

This paper proposes a technology to reduce vehicle surge during towing that utilizes motors and shifting to help ensure comfort in a parallel HEV pickup truck. Hybridization is one way to reduce fuel consumption and help realize carbon neutrality. Parallel HEVs have advantages in the towing, hauling, and high-load operations often carried out by pickup trucks, compared to other HEV systems. Since the engine, motor, torque converter, and transmission are connected in series in a parallel HEV, vehicle surge may occur when the lockup clutch is engaged to enhance fuel efficiency, similar to conventional powertrains. Vehicle surge is a low-frequency vibration phenomenon. In general, the source is torque fluctuation caused by the engine and tires, with amplification provided by first-order torsional driveline resonance, power plant resonance, suspension resonance, and cabin resonance. This vibration is amplified more during towing.

To reduce interior noise effectively in the vehicle body structure development process, noise and vibration engineers have to first identify the portions of the body that have high sensitivity. Second, the necessary vibration characteristics of each portion must be determined, and third, the appropriate body structure for achieving the target performance of the vehicle must be realized within a short development timeframe. This paper proposes a new method based on the substructure synthesis method which is effective up to 200Hz. This method primarily utilizes equations expressing the relationship between driving point inertance change at arbitrary body portions and the corresponding sound pressure level (SPL) variation at the occupant's ear positions under external force. A modified system equation was derived from the body transfer functions and equation of motion by adding a virtual dynamic stiffness expression into the dynamic stiffness matrix of the vehicle.

This paper describes the development and achievement of a target engine sound for a V6 SUV in consideration of the sound quality preferences of customers in the U.S. First, a simple definition for engine sound under acceleration was found using order arrangement, frequency balance, and linearity. These elements are the product of commonly used characteristics in conventional development and can be applied simply when setting component targets. The development focused on order arrangement as the most important of these elements, and sounds with and without integer orders were selected as target candidates. Next, subjective auditory evaluations were performed in the U.S. using digitally processed sounds and an evaluation panel comprising roughly 40 subjects. The target sound was determined after classifying the results of this evaluation using cluster analysis.

The low frequency interior noise in cars is for a large part the result of structure borne excitation. The transfer of the structure borne sound involves a large number of components of the engine suspension, wheel suspension and chassis which are all potentially contributing to the overall noise level. This process can be analyzed through a combination of transfer function measurements with operational measurements under normal conditions. This technique, called transfer path analysis, requires large numbers of transfer function measurements with excitation of the body or cabin at the rubber mountings. Unfortunately, bad access to these crucial measurement locations causes either high instrumentation and measurement effort or less accurate measurement data. The practicality and quality of the measurements can be improved by using reciprocal measurements for the mechano-acoustic transfer of the body or cabin structure; a loudspeaker in the cavity is used for the reciprocal excitation.

This paper presents a model updating method based on experimental receptances. The presented method minimises the so called ‘indirect receptance difference’. First, the reduced analytical dynamic stiffness matrix is expressed as an approximate, linearised function of the updating parameters. In a numerically stable, iterative procedure, this reduced analytical dynamic stiffness matrix is changed in such a way that the analytical receptances match the experimental receptances at the updating frequencies. The updating frequencies are a set of selected frequency points in the frequency range of interest. Some considerations about an optimal selection of the updating frequencies are given. Finally, a mixed static-dynamic reduction scheme is discussed. Dynamic reduction of the analytical dynamic stiffness matrix at each updating frequency is physically exact, but it involves a great computational effort.

In recent years, the automotive manufacturers have been working to reduce fuel consumption in order to cut down on CO2 emissions, promoting weight reduction as one of the fuel saving countermeasures. On the other hand, this trend of weight reduction is well known to reduce vehicle stability in response to disturbances. Thus, automotive aerodynamic development is required not only to reduce aerodynamic drag, which contributes directly to lower fuel consumption, but also to develop technology for controlling unstable vehicle behavior caused by natural wind. In order to control the unstable vehicle motion changed by external contour modification, it is necessary to understand unsteady aerodynamic forces that fluctuating natural wind in real-world environments exerts on vehicles. In the past, some studies have reported the characteristics of unsteady aerodynamic forces induced by natural winds, comparing to steady aerodynamic forces obtained from conventional wind tunnel tests.

The renewed platform of the upcoming flagship front-engine, rear-wheel drive (FR) vehicles demands high levels of driving performance, fuel efficiency and noise-vibration performance. The newly developed driveline system must balance these conflicting performance attributes by adopting new technologies. This article focuses on several technologies that were needed in order to meet the demand for noise-vibration performance and fuel efficiency. For noise-vibration performance, this article will focus on propeller shaft low frequency noise (booming noise). This noise level is determined by the propeller shaft’s excitation force and the sensitivity of differential mounting system. In regards to the propeller shaft’s excitation force, the contribution of the axial excitation force was clarified. This excitation force was decreased by adopting a double offset joint (DOJ) as the propeller shaft’s second joint and low stiffness rubber couplings as the first and third joints.

Newly developed 2VZ-FE engine for CAMRY is a 2.5-liter water cooled and V-type 6-cylinder engine exported from TOYOTA for the first time. This engine has the TOYOTA original 4-valve DOHC system. That is, exhaust camshafts driven by intake camshafts using scissors gears. By its compact configuration with the gear driven camshafts, this V-type 6-cylinder engine is mounted on a front-wheel-drive vehicle which originally had an in-line 4-cylinder engine. By increasing IVZ-FE engine displacement (for domestic), compact pentroof-type combustion chambers, optimum air-fuel ratio and ignition timing by TCCS (TOYOTA Computer Controlled System) and other technologies, a high performance 153HP/5600rpm and a large torque 155ft·lbs/4400rpm have been achieved with a low fuel consumption.

This paper presents a modeling method for prediction of low-frequency road noise in a steady-state condition where rotating tires are excited by actual road profile undulation input. The proposed finite element (FE) tire model contains not only additional geometric stiffness related to inflation pressure and axle load but also Coriolis force and centrifugal force effects caused by tire rotation for precise road noise simulation. Road inputs act on the nodes of each rib in the contact patch of the stationary tire model and move along them at the driving velocity. The nodes are enforced to displace in frequency domain based on the measured road profile. Tire model accuracy was confirmed by the spindle forces on the rotating chassis drum up to 100Hz where Coriolis force effect should be considered. Full vehicle simulation results showed good agreement with the vibration measurement of front/rear suspension at two driving velocities.

Tip-in/Tip-out of the accelerator pedal generates transient torque oscillations in the driveline. These oscillations may be amplified by P/T, suspension and body modes and will eventually be sensible at the receiver side in the vehicle, for example at the seat or at the steering-wheel. The forces that are active during this transient excitation are influenced by non-linear effects in both the suspension and the power train mounts. In order to understand the contribution of each of these forces to the total interior target response (e.g. seat rail vibration) a detailed investigation is performed. Traditional force identification methods are not suitable for low-frequent, transient phenomena like tip-in/tip-out. Mount stiffness method can not be used because of non-linear effects in the P/T and suspension mounts. Application of matrix inversion method based on trimmed body vibration transfer functions is not possible due to numerical condition problems.

This paper presents a new time-domain source contribution analysis method for in-room pass-by noise. The core of the method is a frequency-domain ASQ model (Airborne Source Quantification) representing each noise generating component (engine, exhaust, left and right tyres, etc.) by a number of acoustic sources. The ASQ model requires the measurement of local FRF's and acoustic noise transfer functions to identify the operational loads from nearby pressure indicator responses and propagate the loads to the various target microphones on the sides of the vehicle. Once a good ASQ model is obtained, FIR filters are constructed, allowing a time-domain synthesis of the various source contributions to each target microphone. The synthesized target response signals are finally recombined into a pass-by sound by taking into account the speed profile of the vehicle.

This paper presents the thermal management of a hybrid vehicle (HV) using a heat pump system in cold weather. One advantage of an HV is the high efficiency of the vehicle system provided by the coupling and optimal control of an electric motor and an engine. However, in a conventional HV, fuel economy degradation is observed in cold weather because delivering heat to the passenger cabin using the engine results in a reduced efficiency of the vehicle system. In this study, a heat pump, combined with an engine, was used for thermal management to decrease fuel economy degradation. The heat pump is equipped with an electrically driven compressor that pumps ambient heat into a water-cooled condenser. The heat generated by the engine and the heat pump is delivered to the engine and the passenger cabin because the engine needs to warm up quickly to reduce emissions and the cabin needs heat to provide thermal comfort.

In order to reduce CO₂, Electric Vehicles (EV) and Hybrid Vehicles (HV) are effective. Those types of vehicles have powertrains from conventional vehicles. Those new powertrains drastically improve their efficiency from conventional vehicles keeping the same or superior power performance. On the other hand, those vehicles have an issue for thermal energy shortage during warming up process. The thermal energy is very large, and seriously affects the fuel economy for HV and the mileage for EV. In this paper, we propose VHDL-AMS multi-domain simulation technique for the estimation of the vehicle performance at the concept planning stage. The VHDL-AMS is IEEE and IEC standardized language, which supports not only multi-domain (physics) but also encryption. The common modeling language and encryption standard is indispensable for full-vehicle simulation.

The engine in the new fourth generation Prius carries over the same basic structure as the 2ZR-FXE used in the third generation and incorporates various refinements to enhance fuel efficiency. Called the ESTEC 2ZR-FXE, the new engine incorporates various fuel efficient technologies to improve combustion characteristics, knocking, and heat management, while also reducing friction. As a result of this meticulous approach to enhancing fuel efficiency, the new engine is the first gasoline engine in the world to achieve a maximum thermal efficiency of 40%. This paper describes the fuel efficient technologies incorporated into this engine.

In an effort to reduce CO2 emissions, governments are increasingly mandating the use of various levels of biofuels. While this is strongly supported in principle within the energy and transportation industries, the impact of these mandates on the transport stock’s CO2 emissions and overall operating efficiency has yet to be fully explored. This paper provides information on studies to assess biodiesel influences and effects on engine performance, driveability, emissions and fuel consumption on state-of-the-art Euro IV compliant Toyota Avensis D4-D vehicles with DPNR aftertreatment systems. Two fuel matrices (Phases 1 & 2) were designed to look at the impact of fuel composition on vehicle operation using a wide range of critical parameters such as cetane number, density, distillation and biofuel (FAME) level and type, which can be found within the current global range of Diesel fuel qualities.