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Diesel Engines are known for its low fuel consumption coupled with high specific power output. Downsizing the engines with turbocharging and common rail injection technologies are the recent trends in improving the efficiency and performance of diesel engines. It is very challenging to match the torque targets at low speed and power targets at high speed range of a diesel engines due to system hardware limitation. Torque at lower engine speed will improve a greater extent to the drivability of a vehicle. Formation of black smoke is a major problem in lower engine speeds due lack of air availability. The use of variable geometry, two stage turbocharging and four valves per cylinder are some of the solutions which make the task simpler, also involves additional cost and fundamental design changes. At the same time commonly used waste gate turbocharger for boosting the airflow, fails to deliver required air flow at lower engine speeds.

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.

Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) test benches are indispensable for the development of modern vehicle dynamics controllers (VDCs). They can be regarded as a standard methodology today, because of the extremely safety critical nature of the multi-sensor and multi-actuator systems used in vehicle dynamics control. The required high quality standards can only be ensured by systematic testing within a virtual HIL environment before going into a real car. The steering system is an important aspect of the automobile from operational safety and driver enjoyment perspectives. Current Problem/Opportunity is realistic subjective steering feel prediction before vehicle build. And upfront predict the handling characteristics more accurately with subjective feel before proto build. Current Issue is difficult to convert the objective data into subjective feel and difficult to incorporate the nonlinear steering characteristics with hysterics, friction and power assist curves using virtual simulation.

Side Door closing velocity is one of the key customer touch points which depicts the build quality of the vehicle. Side door closing velocity results from the interaction of different parts like door and body seals, door check arm, door hinge, latch, and alignment of door hinge axis. In this paper, a high door closing velocity issue in a sports utility vehicle is discussed. Physical studies are carried out to understand each parameter in door closing velocity and its contribution is defined in terms of velocity. Many physical trials are conducted to conclude the contribution of each parameter. Studies revealed that the body and door seal are contributing around 70% of door closing velocity. Check arm and hinge axis deviation are contributing around 10% of the door closing velocity. Physical trials are conducted by reducing the compression distance of the body seal.

Costlier engine exhaust gas treatment systems as a result of stringent emission norms and increasing awareness about industrial effects on climate have pushed the automotive industry around the globe to shift its focus from fossil fuel driven vehicles to electrically powered ones. While Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) have some problematic issues such as lower range, lesser energy density and higher cost owing to not fully mature battery technology, they do provide some benefits such as lower carbon footprint and simpler transmission systems. The torque and power characteristics vary greatly between IC engines and electric motors. The longitudinal dynamics of a vehicle depends greatly on the nature of its powertrain. As a result, new challenges have emerged for simulation engineers who were until very recently accustomed only to IC engine driven vehicles.

Tractor weight transfer is the most common farm-related cause of fatalities nowadays. As in India it is getting mandatory for all safety devices across all HP ranges. Considering any changes in the weight from an attachment such as Rops, PTO device, tow hook and draw bar etc. can shift the center of gravity towards the weight. center of gravity is higher on a tractor because the tractor needs to be higher in order to complete operations over crops and rough terrain. Terrains, attachments, weights, and speeds can change the tractor’s resistance to turning over. This center of gravity placement disperses the weight so that 30 percent of the tractor’s weight is on the front axle and 70 percent is on the rear axle for two-wheel drive propelled tractors and it must remain within the tractor’s stability baseline for the tractor to remain in an upright position.

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.

Oil pump is one of the important engine parasitic loads which takes up engine power through crankshaft to deliver oil flow rate according to engine demand to maintain required oil pressure. The proper functioning of oil pump along with optimum design parameters over various operating conditions is considered for required engine oil pressure. Pressure relief passage is also critical from design point of view as it maintains the required oil pressure in the engine. Optimal levels of oil pressure and flow are very important for satisfied performance and lubrication of various engine parts. Low oil pressure will lead to seizure of engine and high oil pressure leads to failure of oil filters, gasket sealing, etc. Optimization of pressure relief passage area along with other internal systems will also reduce the power consumed by the pump.

Oil pump is one of the important engine parasitic loads which takes up engine power through crankshaft to deliver oil flow rate according to engine demand to maintain required oil pressure. The proper functioning of oil pump along with optimum design parameters over various operating conditions is considered for required engine oil pressure. Pressure relief passage is also critical from design point of view as it maintains the required oil pressure in the engine. Optimal levels of oil pressure and flow are very important for satisfied performance and lubrication of various engine parts. Low oil pressure will lead to seizure of engine and high oil pressure leads to failure of oil filters, gasket sealing, etc. Optimization of pressure relief passage area along with other internal systems will also reduce the power consumed by the pump.

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 automotive industries around the world is undergoing massive transformation towards identifying technological capabilities to improve vehicle performance. In this regard, the engine dynamic torque plays a crucial role in defining the transient performance and drivability of a vehicle. Moreover, the dynamic torque is used as a visualization parameter in performance prediction of a vehicle to set the right engineering targets and to assess the engine potential. Hence, an accurate measurement and prediction of the engine dynamic torque is required. However, there are very few methodologies available to measure the engine dynamic torque with reasonable accuracy and minimum efforts. The measurement of engine brake torque using a torque transducer is one of the potential methods. However, it requires a lot of effort and time to instrument the vehicle. It is also possible to back-calculate the engine torque based on fuel injection quantity and other known engine parameters.

The tractor usage is growing in the world due to derivative of rural economy and farming process. It needed wide range of implements based on the applications of the customer. The tractor plays a major role in Agricultural and Construction applications. In a tractor, hydraulic system is act as a heart of the vehicle which controls the draft and position of the implement. Hydraulic system consists of Powertrain assembly, 3-point linkage and DC sensing assembly. The design of hydraulic powertrain assembly is challenging because the loads acting on the system varies based on the type of implement, type of crop, stage of farming and soil conditions etc., Hydraulic powertrain assembly is designed based on standards like IS 12207-2019 which regulates the test methods for the system based on the lift capacity of the tractor. In this paper, virtual simulation has been established to optimize the design and perform the test correlation.

In the event of a frontal car crash, occupant sitting in a car meets various types of injuries like Head injury, Chest compression, Neck injury etc. These injuries may lead to the death of an occupant if exceeded beyond biomechanical limits. Seat belt is a primary restraint system, which when worn controls the motion of occupant sitting inside the car during the event of a car crash. An Anchorage location of three point seat belt system has significant effect on occupant injuries during the crash event. By changing the mount locations of a seat belt anchor points i.e. D-ring, Anchor & Buckle, performance of seatbelt system can be enhanced further thereby reducing occupant injuries to certain extent. As per regulation AIS015, locations of safety belt anchorage points should be within prescribed zone.

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.

Attaining better acoustic performance and back-pressure is a continuous research area in the design and development of passenger vehicle exhaust system. Design parameters such as tail pipe, resonator, internal pipes and baffles, muffler dimensions, number of flow reversals, perforated holes size and number etc. govern the muffler design. However, the analysis on the flow directivity from tail pipe is limited. A case study is demonstrated in this work on the development of automotive muffler with due consideration of back pressure and flow directivity from tail pipe. CFD methodology is engaged to evaluate the back pressure of different muffler configurations. The experimental and numerical results of backpressure have been validated. The numerical results are in close agreement with experimental results.

OEMs these days are focusing on front loading the activities to Virtual Test Environment (VTE) based development owing to high development cost and complexity in achieving repeatability during testing phase of vehicle development,. This process not only helps in reducing the cost and time but also helps in increasing the maturity and confidence level of the developed system before actual prototype is built. In the past, extensive research has happened for increasing the fidelity of VTE by improving plant model efficacy which involves powertrain and other vehicle systems. On the other hand, improving the precision of driver model which is one of the most complex nonlinear systems of virtual environment still remains a challenge. It is apparent that various drivers show different behavior in real world for a given drive profile. While modelling a driver for a VTE, the real world driver attributes are seldom considered.

With continuous pressure for reducing vehicle development time and cost, without compromising on system reliability, it is imperative to move from Road to Lab to Model (RLM) based development. Every OEM is currently using virtual environment to complete functional checks of systems during development. The method of developing control functions and calibration in virtual environment brings repeatability and reproducibility which typically is challenging in real world testing. This process is cost effective and optimizes the time for development and brings high level of system maturity before testing it in the vehicle. This paper focuses on defining a front-loading approach for setting up of virtual test environment. Development of virtual test environment and its validation with respect to real vehicle data will be discussed, with focus on vehicle plant model and driver model.

Condition Monitoring is the process of identifying any significant change in operating parameters of a machine, which can be indicative of a failure in future. This paper discuss a non-invasive condition monitoring methodology for sensing and investigating the problems which could be identified by noise and vibrations. This could be an easy solution for predicting failures in tractors which are operational in the field. An example of engine tappet is used to demonstrate the methodology. A disturbed setting causes a distinguishable noise, referred to as “tappet rattle”. Android smartphones (with inbuilt sensors - accelerometer, gyroscope and microphone) are used to record noise and vibration from tractors in good condition as well as in disturbed condition. Time series data analysis is done to extract relevant features and then Fourier Transform is applied to the signals for extracting frequency domain signatures.

Ride is an important attribute which must be accounted in the passenger segment vehicles. Excessive H point acceleration, Steering wheel acceleration, Pitch acceleration can reduce the comfort of the driver and the passengers during high frequency and low frequency rough road events. Excessive Understeer gradient, roll gradient, roll acceleration and Sprung mass lift could affect the Vehicle driver interaction during Steady state cornering, Braking and Step steer events. The concept architecture of the vehicle plays an important role in how comfort the vehicle will be. This paper discusses how to improve SUV ride performances by keeping handling performance attributes same or better than base vehicle. Multi Objective Optimization was carried out by keeping spring, bushing and damper characteristic as the design variables to avoid new system or component development time and cost.