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Whole Body Vibration (WBV) of tractors was measured on different surfaces in real world usage pattern of Indian customers on tractors of various capacities. Vibration levels were measured at the interface of the seat and the operator, on the seat base/floor and on the head. The mean weighted Root Mean Square (RMS) values along the different axes, the vector sum of weighted RMS values along the three orthogonal axes, the crest factor, Vibration Dose Value (VDV) and 8 h exposure levels were calculated according to ISO 2631-1. In addition to the above parameters, the transmissibility between the seat base and the seat interface (SEAT) and between the seat interface and the operator head (TR) were also calculated. Finally, these parameters were correlated with the subjective feel of customers which was captured through suitable questionnaires. It is observed that the Indian tractor operators are exposed to WBV that exceeds the cautionary boundaries set in place by the ISO 2631-1.

The purpose of this study is to conduct dynamic seat pressure mapping on vehicle seats during its operation on different test tracks under ambient environmental conditions for a defined speed. The test track comprises of pave roads, high frequency track, low frequency track and twist track. The variations in pressure distribution on seat during diverse road load inputs help to understand the seat cushion and back comfort for unique percentiles of human subjects ranging from 50th to 95th percentile population. For conducting the study, a sport utility vehicle (SUV) loaded with leatherette seats has chosen. Totally six participants (human subjects), five male and one female selected for the study based on their BMI (Body mass index) and body morphology. Pressure mats suitable for taking dynamic load inputs and able to log the data at a defined sampling rate mounted on seats and secured properly. The pressure mats should cover the seat cushion, bolster areas and back seat completely.

BSR (Buzz, Squeak and Rattle) is one of the oldest concerns in automobiles which directly reflect the build, assembly and manufacturing quality of a vehicle. In a cabin all the areas where there is relative motion between two components, such as trims, instrument panel and seats, are prone to squeak. This paper explains the study of seat squeak measurement and diagnosis which is a major concern for one of the products which is already in the market. Since squeak is a friction induced non stationary phenomenon, lot of effort was required to generate squeak in both component as well as vehicle level. At component level, electrodynamic shaker was extensively used for generation of squeak signals. In Vehicle level, driving through different road patterns, pave track and forced excitation on four posters are performed for generation of squeak signals. In this paper usage of wavelet and Zwikker loudness are explained for the diagnosis of seat squeak to identify the problematic frequencies.

Heat exchangers are thermoregulatory system of an automotive air conditioning system. They are responsible for heat exchange between refrigerant and air. Sizing of the heat exchanger becomes critical to achieve the required thermal performance. In the present work, the behavior of heat exchanger with respect to change in size is studied in detail by developing a scaling model. The limited experiments have been conducted for 3 different condensers. Commercially available 1D tool GT Suite is used for simulations. The heat exchangers are modeled using COOL3D module of GT Suite. The experimental thermal capacities of heat exchanger are compared with the simulated values. A good agreement up to ±2.3% is found between the experiments and simulations. Then developed scaling model in GT Suite is used for predicting the thermal behavior of heat exchangers by changing the size of the heat exchanger. Scaled thermal capacities of each model is compared with the corresponding experimental results.

Airbags play a vital role in occupant protection during a crash event. Apart from the crash test the airbags have to additionally meet the requirements of the ECE R 12 headform impact test with Driver's Airbag (DAB) located in the steering wheel being deployed and the ECE R21 headform impact test for Passenger Airbag (PAB) in undeployed condition. Improper location of the PAB module below the Instrument Panel, the design of the air bag housing and the Instrument Panel are some of the factors that could lead to non compliance of the components of the uninflated PAB. The paper deals with the investigation conducted for compliance of the PAB to ECE R 21 with the uninflated air bag in meeting the requirements of 80 g at 19.3 km/h by proper location, changes to the design of the PAB cover, air bag housing brackets, etc.

The prime focus of automotive industries in recent times is to improve the energy efficiency of automotive subsystem and system as whole. Harvesting the waste energy and averaging the peak thermal loads using thermal energy storage (TES) materials and devices can help to improve the energy efficiency of automotive system and sub-system. The phase change materials (PCM) well suit the requirement of energy storage/release according to demand requirement. One such example of TES using PCM is extended automotive cabin comfort during vehicle idling and city traffics including start/stop of the engine at traffic stops. PCM as TES poses high density and capacity in thermal energy storage and release. It is due to latent heat absorption and release during phase change. Generally the latent heat of a material compare to it sensible heat is much higher, almost an order of 2. For example, latent heat of ice is almost 160 times higher than sensible heat for a kelvin temperature rise of ice.

Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs), Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs), Extended Range Electric Vehicles (EREVs), Battery Electric Vehicles' (BEVs) development is gaining traction across all geographies to help meet ever increasing fuel economy regulations and as a pathway to offset concerns due to climate change and improve the overall green quotient of automobiles. These technologies have primarily shifted towards Li-ion batteries for Energy Storage (due to energy density and mass). In order to make actual business sense of these technologies, of which, battery is a major cost driver, it is necessary for these batteries to provide similar performance and life expectancy across the operating and soak (storage) range of the vehicles, as well as provide the requirements at a competitive cost.

The 48V mild-Hybrid system uses a 48V Lithium - Ion battery pack to boost the engine performance, to harness recuperative energy and to supply the accessory boardnet power requirement. Thermal management of the 48V battery pack is critical for its optimal utilization to realize the mild hybrid functionality, to meet CO2 reduction targets and useful life particularly under usage in hot ambient conditions. This paper discusses the various challenges and options of thermal management for the 48V battery pack based on the usage pattern and environmental conditions. The lifetime for a passively cooled battery pack is estimated for a typical Indian usage pattern. Active-air cooling is evaluated for the thermal management of the 48V mild-Hybrid battery pack. The tradeoffs are compared in terms of availability of hybrid functions and battery life.

This study presents a method for a cool down simulation of passenger compartments. The purpose was to integrate the 3D Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software StarCCM+ with the 1D thermal management software KULI. The targets were to achieve accurate prediction of temperature diffusion inside the cabin for a transient cycle simultaneously reducing the modelling effort and CPU-time consumption. The 1D simulation model was developed in KULI and the flow field data required to simulate mass flow and diffusion inside the cabin was implemented from Star CCM+. The simulation model consists of a multi-zone cabin and models the complete refrigerant circuit consisting of evaporator, condenser, Thermal Expansion Valve (TXV) and compressor. This paper describes the process flow, definition of the inputs required and finally the validation of the simulation data with experiments.

In-vehicle displays such as an instrument cluster in a vehicle provide vital information to the user. The information in terms of displays and tell-tales needs to be perceived by the user with minimal glance during driving. Drivers must recognize the condition of the vehicle and the state of its surroundings through primarily visual means. Drivers then process this in the brain, draw on their memory to identify problem situations, decide on a plan of action and execute it in order to avoid an accident. There are visual hindrances seen in real world scenario such as obscuration, reflection and glare on the instrument cluster which prevents the vital information flow from vehicle to the driver. In order to ensure safety while driving, the instrument cluster or driver displays should be placed in an optimized location. This paper deals with how to achieve a visual hindrance free cluster position in a vehicle to protect the important information flow from the vehicle to the driver.

Idle NVH (Noise Vibration Harshness) is one of the major quality parameters that customer looks into while buying the vehicle. Idle shake is undesirable vibrations generated from Engine while it is in idling condition. These low frequency vibrations affects both driver and passenger comfort. Vibrations are perceived by customer through the interfaces such as the seats, floor, and steering wheel. The frequencies of vibration felt by customer ranges between 10-30 Hz and varies based on engine configurations. There are two factors that are critical to the vehicle idle NVH quality, 1. Engine excitation force and 2. Vehicle sensitivity to excitation forces (Transfer function). Even though the engine excitation forces are governed by cylinder combustion process inside the cylinder and engine mass, it is also largely affected by how well the engine and transmission are supported on vehicle through isolators.

Reducing material wherever there is a possibility in automobile industry is inevitable for weight and cost saving. This paper explains about the possibilities of optimizing the material composition of automotive Headliners (also called as Roof liners) without affecting the performance and safety criteria. In this paper, we are targeting at optimizing the individual constituents of a composite Headliner. A conventional Headliner comprises of many sandwich layers of which PU foam shares the major percentage of the composition contributing to 80% of the Headliner thickness. In this paper, we are discussing about the optimization done in Headliner sandwich constituents without affecting the core performance parameters of headliner such as curtain airbag deployment, ergonomic regulations, drop test etc. By incorporating this change, without significant changes in other layers, overall weight reduction of ~24% and overall cost reduction of ~24% is achieved.

The customer perception about the door slam noise and its feel would indicate the brand image of the car. In this paper the authors have made an effort to improve the door slam noise quality of the vehicle, which is currently in production. This paper describes the probable areas in the door to improve the slam noise quality by attempting modifications in the door design factors, such as door alignments, door panel stiffness, door trims, window glass rattle, latch striker alignment, door seals, air extractor. Since the door closing event is a transient phenomenon, it requires special tools such as wavelet transforms, Zwicker loudness to understand the slam events precisely. Subjective jury evaluations have been conducted to understand the effect of these modifications and rank the modifications based on their contributions to the door slam quality.

Continually increasing customer demands and legislative Requirements regarding fuel economy, emissions, Performance, drive ability and comfort need to be met by every OEM's developing vehicles worldwide. There is a serious pressure to reduce CO2 emission from automotive application which contributes to around 15.9% of the total CO2 production based on the Surveys done time to time. In a developing market like India, many foreign players are entering with lots of option for offering to this market. The parameters of prime importance here are fuel efficiency with good drive ability and at the same time affordable price. Diesel engines are finding these benefits and attracting the buyer over its counterpart (Gasoline). The road condition and the driving pattern in India compared with developed countries differ to a major extent. In India, the Low speed uses are predominating in Cities and in Ghats.

The development of interior fittings of passenger car to minimize the injuries to the head of the occupants requires mandatory compliance to the regulations in Europe and USA. In European regulation ECE R21 and similarly in FMVSS 201 the test on the instrument panel area suffices. The FMVSS 201u requirements in USA require also a free motion headform to be impacted on additional areas of the A-Pillar trim, sun visors, grab handles, and seat belt upper anchorage points of the B-Pillar too. Free Motion Headform Impactors (FMHI) are costly equipment. The FMVSS 201u [1] test is not conducted by any test agency in India as yet. Paper deals with the development of the head form impactor to fire the headform at angular positions in the vehicle and the test results have enabled the development of the vehicle interiors to enhance the safety of vehicles in crash situations.

This work discusses about the emission development of a 4 cylinder inline 3.3 liter CRDe to meet BS III emission norms applicable to 3.5 Ton and above category and upgradable to BS IV emission by suitable after treatment. This engine is developed from a 3.2l mechanical pump engine. During development the focus was on the usage of higher swept volume, selection of engine hardware like piston bowl, turbocharger, injectors and optimization of the injection parameters. A cost-effective solution for meeting the BS III norms in the LCV category without application of EGR and exhaust after treatment even though there is 15% increase of the power rating and 10% increase in Peak torque of the engine. Injection parameters like injection timing, injection quantity and pilot injection were optimized to meet the emission target.

Commercial transportation is the key pillar of any growing economy. Light and Small commercial vehicles are increasing every day to cater the logistics demand, but there is always a gap between customer’s actual and desired operational efficiency. This is because of lack of organized fleet and efficient fleet operation. The major requirement of fleet owners is timely delivery, high productivity, downtime reduction, real time tracking, etc., Automakers are now providing fleet management application in modern LCV & SCV to satisfy the fleet operator requirement. However, any feature malfunction, consignment mismatch, wrong notification, missed alerts, etc., can incur huge loss to fleet operator and disrupt the entire supply chain. Hence it is very critical to extensively validate the telematics features in fleet management application. This paper explains the approach for exhaustive validation strategy of fleet management applications (B2B) from end user perspective.

BS6.1 emission standards were implemented in India in 2020 followed by BS6.2 which added more controls on emission limits. For BS6.2 OBD (On Board Diagnostics) and RDE (Real Driving Emission) were added on to the existing BS6.1 emissions. Emission control changes usually need addition of new parts, calibration changes and durability requirements. For the current 1.5L, 3-cylinder diesel engine an pSCR (Passive Selective Catalytic Reduction) brick was added for control of NOx for meeting RDE. For meeting OBD requirements PM (Particulate Matter) and NOx sensors were added in the cold end pipe along with calibration changes to meet the BS6.2 norms. In this paper we will discuss on the design aspects of sensors and pSCR only. The sensor and pSCR positioning plays vital role in meeting the legislative requirements and to ensure the ease of assembly and durability of the parts.

In this current fast-paced world, releasing a defect free product on time is of utmost importance in the automotive domain. The automobile powertrain is designed with a fine balance of weight and power. Clutch, an intermediate part between engine & transmission in manual transmission vehicle plays crucial role for vehicle smooth drive & functionality. Hydraulic clutch slave cylinder (CSC) which is a part of clutch release system was observed with one failure mode in one of the vehicles during internal road validation. It facilitates to actuate the clutch diaphragm in order to disengage the clutch when clutch pedal is pressed and to re-engage the clutch back when the clutch pedal is released. CSC failure directly disconnects the response of leg to clutch and thus driver may lose vehicle control and can possibly cause a severe vehicle crash.

A competitive market and shrinking product development cycle have forced automotive companies to move from conventional testing methods to virtual simulation techniques. Virtual durability simulation of any component requires determination of loads acting on the structure when tested on the proving ground. In conventional method wheel force transducers are used to extract loads at wheel center. Extracted wheel center forces are used to derive component loads through multi-body simulation. Another conventional approach is to use force transducers mounted directly on the component joineries where load needs to be extracted. Both the methods are costly and time-consuming. Sometimes it is not feasible to place a load cell in the system to measure hard point loads because of its complexities. In that case, it would be advantageous to use structure itself as a load transducer by strain gauging the component and use those strain values to extract hard point loads in virtual simulation.