Search Results

Currently the Automotive industry demands highly competitive product to survive in the global tough competition. The engine cooling system plays a vital role in meeting the stringent emission norms and improving the vehicle fuel economy apart from maintaining the operating temperature of engine. The airflow through vehicle subsystems like the grille, bumper, the heat exchangers, the fan and shroud and engine bay are called as front-end flow. Front end flow is crucial factor in engine cooling system as well as in determining the aerodynamic drag of vehicle. The airflow through the engine compartment is determined by the front-end vehicle geometry, the CRFM and CAC package, the engine back restriction and the engine compartment geometry including the inlet and outlet sections. This paper discusses the 1D modelling method for front-end airflow rate prediction and thermal performance by 1D method. The underbody components are stacked using heat stack and simulated in pressure mode.

The present work discusses the developed simulation model aimed to predict the heat rejection (HR) performance and external pressure drop characteristics of automotive charge air cooler (CAC). Heat rejection and airside pressure drop characteristics of CAC were predicted for the conditions of different charge air mass flow rates and different cooling air velocities. The lack of detailed research on CAC performance prediction has motivated the development of the proposed simulation model. The present 1-D simulation has been developed based on the signal library of AMESIM application tool. Input parameters for this simulation such as core size, tube pitch, tube height, number of tubes, fin density, louver angle, louver pitch, charge air mass flow rate, cooling air velocity, charge air inlet temperature, and ambient temperature. Heat rejection curve and airside pressure drop of CAC were the output of the present simulation.

With the advancement in vehicle technology over the years, many intuitive technologies are coming in automotive passenger vehicles to improve the safety aspects during vehicle driving in night conditions. In addition to headlamps, cornering lamps or infrared camera with head up display etc. are evolving as a part of AFS (Advanced Front Lighting Systems) to aid driver vision. Many OEMs are following conventional methodology of subjective assessments with the ratings on different numerical scale mapped with customer acceptance to validate head lamps and its tech updates. These methods lag in getting repeatability of results, acceptance reliability and not knowing the limitations of the installed system due to high dependency on the selected evaluators. This paper emphasizes on robust test methodology development to validate the complete performance of cornering lamps with the objective test data analysis.

This study introduces a method to examine the flow path of the lubricant inside a transmission housing of a tractor. A typical gearbox has several loads bearing elements which are in relative sliding motion to each other which causes heat to be released. The major sources of friction as well as heat are the meshing teeth between gears (sun/planet, planet/ring & power/range drive gear), thrust washers, thrust bearings and needle roller bearings. The churning of oil performs the vital function of both lubricating these sliding interfaces and cooling these sources of heat, thereby preventing failure of the gearbox. In this paper, we have applied VOF multiphase flow model and sliding meshing to simulate the fluid flow during splashed lubrication within a mating gear box. Lubrication oil dynamics and oil surface interaction with the air is modeled using VOF multiphase approach.

Current high rating thermal loaded engines must have super-efficient lubrication system to provide clean oil at appropriate pressure and appropriate lube oil temperature to every part of the engine at all engine RPM speeds and loads. So oil pump not only have to satisfy above parameters but also it should be durable till engine life. Gerotor pumps are internal rotary positive-displacement pumps in which the outer rotor has one tooth more than the inner rotor. The gear profiles have a cycloidal shape. Both are meshed in conjugate to each other. Gerotor takes up engine power through crankshaft and deliver to various engine consumers at required pressure and required time. Over the complete engine rpm speed and loads range, oil pump need to perform efficiently to provide proper functioning of the engine. Otherwise low oil pressure leads to more friction in the pump, seizure of bearings and final failure of the engine .High oil pressure can lead to failure in oil filter, gaskets and seal.

The air velocity achieved at driver and passenger aim point is one of the key parameters to evaluate the automotive air-conditioning system performance. The design of duct, vent and vanes has a major contribution in the cabin air flow directivity. However, visual appearance of vent and vane receives higher priority in design because of market demand than their performance. More iterations are carried out to finalize the HVAC duct assembly until the target velocity is achieved. The objective of this study is to develop an automated process for vane articulation study along with predicting the optimized velocity at driver and passengers. The automated simulation of vane articulation study is carried out using STAR-CCM+ and SHERPA optimization algorithm which is available in HEEDS tool. The minimum and maximum vane angle are defined as parameters and face level velocity is defined as response.

Body in White (BIW) of an automobile serves as the shell, on which all the components that make up a vehicle, are mounted. The BIW is an assembly of press formed sheet metal components. The sheet metal composition of each component varies based on the form and functionality requirement of that component. The resulting assembly has multiple weld joineries with dissimilar compositions. The weld integrity of the joineries is crucial in maintaining the geometrical and structural integrity of the BIW. The primary welding method used in BIW assembly is Resistance Spot Welding (RSW). The quality of the weld is an outcome of a combination of multiple weld parameters. These parameters are majorly estimated based on the joinery thicknesses and material combinations. Multiple welding and testing iterations are done to fine tune the parameters for an optimum weld joinery. This is a very tedious process which increases the process time of a BIW assembly.

In an off-road vehicle, Vehicle Structure plays a major role in passenger safety, Aesthetics, Durability, through a validated construction of canopy structure. This structure is to maintain the shape of the vehicle and to support various loads acting on the vehicle. In present market a safe, Durable, Robust, Waterproof, Noise less, Light weight and cost-effective off-road vehicle will always be a delight for any customer. However, the current conventional way of Soft top vehicle structure use metal brackets and formed sheet parts to create a structure to retain the canopy shape in place. These conventional structures are often heavier and would have many demerits such as heavy weight, Corrosion, Risk of canopy tear due to metallic structure edges and inappropriate draining, water management. Considering this we replaced the heavy metal brackets in to blow molded plastic parts.

Climate change is primary driver in the current discussions on CO2 reduction in the automotive industry. Current Type approval emissions tests (BS III, BS IV) covers only tailpipe emissions, however the emissions produced in upstream and downstream processes (e.g. raw material sourcing, manufacturing, transportation, vehicle usage, recycle phases) are not considered in the evaluation. The objective of this project is to assess the environmental impact of the product considering all stages of the life cycle, understand the real opportunities to reduce environmental impact across the product life cycle. As a part of environmental sustainability journey in business value chain, lifecycle assessment (LCA) technique helps to understand the environmental impact categories. To measure overall impact, a cradle to grave approach helps to assess entire life cycle impact throughout various stages.

Design and development of high-pressure pipe involves number of design validation plans for robust design in diesel engine. The fundamental behavior of two-cylinder diesel engine with parallel stroke involves high vibration which generates stress on components mounted on crankcase resulting into earlier fatigue failure. In this paper, the innovative approach of using optimized design of vibration damper for resolving high vibration stress concerns in fuel system is discussed. The vibration dampers were designed meeting both performance and durability aspects in two-cylinder diesel engine applicable for both passenger and commercial vehicle. This paper highlights the design approach involving experimental stress measurements and design optimization based on part development feasibility.

During the vehicle launch (i.e. moving the vehicle from “0” speed), the clutch would be slowly engaged by the Driver or Transmission Control Unit (in Automatic Transmission/Automatic Manual Transmission vehicle) for smooth torque transfer between engine and transmission. The clutch is designed to transfer max engine torque with min heat generation. During the clutch engagement, the difference in flywheel and gearbox input shaft speed is called the clutch slipping phase which then leads to a huge amount of energy being dissipated in terms heat due to friction. As a result, clutch surface temperature increases consistently, when the surface temperature crosses the threshold limit, the clutch wears out quickly or burns spontaneously. Hence it is crucial to predict the energy dissipation and temperature variation in various components of clutch assembly through virtual simulation.

Achieving higher emission norms involves various techniques and it has always been a challenging task on meeting the same. Improving the exhaust temperature is indispensable in order to enhance better conversion efficiency on the after-treatment systems. This paper clearly investigates on the various strategies involved to improve the exhaust temperatures of selective catalytic reduction and post injection strategies to meet the emission norms. On the basis of MIDC operation, key load points were selected and split injections with three pulses were implemented. The variation of both the post injection timing and quantity were performed in this paper in order to evaluate the optimum output. The effect of post injection timing and quantity variation on hydrocarbon emissions, carbon monoxide, diesel oxidation catalyst temperatures was observed on all load points. The above strategy was also evaluated on generating the pressure crank angle data.

Tractors in the field are exposed to adverse operating conditions and are surrounded by dust and dirt. The tiny, thin and sharp broken straw and husks surround the system in reaper operation. The tractors which are equipped with air conditioning system tend to show detrimental effects in cooling performance. The compressor trips frequently by excess pressure developed in the system due to condenser clogging and hence cooling performance is reduced considerably. The air conditioning performance reduces due to the clogged condenser located on the top roof compartment of operator’s cabin, which is better design than keeping in front of radiator where clogging happens every hour and customer need to stop the tractor to clean it with specific blower.

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.

Air conditioning systems are one of the significant auxiliary loads on the vehicle powertrain. In an Electric Vehicle (EV) where the available energy is limited, it becomes crucial to optimize the overall energy consumption of the auxiliary loads. The major power consuming components in an automotive HVAC system (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) are: Compressor, Cabin blower, Condenser cooling fan and the Control devices. Significant progress is already made in enhancing the energy efficiency of the above-mentioned power consuming components part of vehicle HVAC system. Alternate energy sources are being explored recently, to reduce the energy demand from vehicle. One such proposal is to harness the abundant solar energy available, through solar panels and consume this energy to supplement the power required for HVAC system components. Solar panels convert solar energy to electrical energy by the principle of the photovoltaic effect.

Tensile Testing is one of the most used and highly reliable method of mechanical testing to evaluate the tensile properties of the material. However, there is a large scope for discussing the behavior of the metals based on the direction of rolling and the tensile specimen size used for testing. This paper discusses the variation observed in the tensile values along the direction of rolling and traverse to the direction of rolling for S460MC. It also evaluates the variation observed in the values based on the various gauge lengths (GL) commonly used in testing as per international standards (80mm, 50mm and 25mm GL). It is observed that perpendicular to the direction of rolling, the Yield and Tensile strength of the material increase marginally while the Elongation percentage (%E) decreases by a small margin irrespective of the gauge length taken into consideration.

Automotive Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) are always striving to deliver fast Air-Conditioning (AC) pulldown performance with consistent distribution of cabin temperature to meet customer expectations. The ultimate test is the OEM standard, called “AC Pull Down,” conducted at high ambient temperature and solar load conditions with a prescribed vehicle drive cycle. To determine whether the AC system in the vehicle has the capacity to cool the cabin, throughout the drive cycle test, cabin temperature measurements are evaluated against the vehicle target. If the measured cabin temperatures are equal or lower than the required temperatures, the AC system is deemed conventional for customer usage. In this paper, numerical predictions of the cabin temperatures to replicate the AC pulldown test are presented. The AC pulldown scenario is carried out in a digital Climatic Wind Tunnel simulation. The solution used in this study is based on a coupled approach.

Air conditioning systems are one of the significant auxiliary loads on the vehicle powertrain. In an Electric Vehicle (EV) where the available energy is limited, it becomes crucial to optimize the overall energy consumption of the auxiliary loads. The major power consuming components in an automotive HVAC system (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) are: Compressor, Cabin blower, Condenser cooling fan and the Control devices. Significant progress is already made in enhancing the energy efficiency of the above-mentioned power consuming components part of vehicle HVAC system. Alternate energy sources are being explored recently, to reduce the energy demand from vehicle. One such proposal is to harness the abundant solar energy available, through solar panels and consume this energy to supplement the power required for HVAC system components. Solar panels convert solar energy to electrical energy by the principle of the photovoltaic effect.

Several studies in the field of hedonics using subjective responses to gauge the nature and influence of odors have attempted to explain the complex psychological and chemical processes. Work on the effect of odors in alleviating driver fatigue is limited. The potential to improve road safety through non-pharmacological means such as stimulating odors is the impetus behind this paper. This is especially relevant in developing countries today with burgeoning economies such as India. Longer road trips by commercial transport vehicles with increasingly fatigued drivers and risk of accidents are being fuelled by distant producer - consumer connections. This work describes a two stage comparative study on the effects of different odors typically obtainable in India. The stages involve administration of odorants orthonsally and retronasally after the onset of circadian fatigue in test subjects. This is followed by a small cognitive exercise to evaluate hand-eye coordination.

Lubrication system is a critical factor for engine health. But it creates parasitic load and increased fuel consumption of the engine. The oil demand of an engine depends on engine speed, load, bearing clearances, operating temperature and engine's state of wear. Ideally, the oil pump should adapt the delivery volume flow to actual engine oil demand and should avoid unnecessary pumping of oil which causes increased power and fuel consumption. However in a conventional mechanical oil pump, there is no control on the oil flow and it is purely a function of operating speed. A variable discharge oil pump (VDOP) is an approach to reduce the parasitic losses wherein the oil flow is regulated based on the mechanical needs of the engine. This study is based on the results of a two stage VDOP installed on a 1.2 litre, 3 cylinder MPFI engine. The oil supply is regulated by a solenoid control which receives command from Engine Control Unit (ECU). The study was done in two stages.