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This paper is the part II of the report of IDIS (Isuzu Dual Fuel Injection System) IDIS was applied to 5.8 liter L-6 DI diesel engine. The outlines of improved and simplified system, rate of alcohol blend, exhaust emission and performance of the engine were shown in the case of methanol blend as well as ethanol blend. For preventing the torque deviation just after start and end of alcohol blend caused by difference of calorific values between alcohol and diesel fuel, improved system with additional check valve was developed. It was confirmed that replacement of about 30% of diesel fuel by alcohol was possible without any fundamental problems. Basically no modification of the engine was required except the adoptions of new fuel tank and fuel line with low pressure pump for alcohol, some check valves and magnetic valves, a microswitch on the fuel lever and the new delivery valves with increased retraction volume.

Turbocharged diesel engines prevail not only in the European and American markets, but in the Japanese market. But many problems due to higher brake mean pressure have not been cleared especially in the field of reliability and durability. Torsional vibration is one of remained problems and particularly, on the occasion of low temperature, dynamic behavior of crankshaft and torsional damper has been unknown heretofore. Furthermore, combustion pressure which is exciting force for torsional vibration has not been grasped in detail. Therefore, this paper deals with experimental studies which were conducted in a special cold test ceil using a turbocharged diesel engine for automotive use installed with rubber damper. It has been found that torsional vibration of crankshaft gets bigger at low temperature than at normal temperature. On the contrary, distortion of damper rubber shows nearly zero. This is because stiffness of damper rubber becomes higher due to low temperature.

The diesel engine with a electronic control system which has been used in production passenger cars in Isuzu shows great advantages such as fuel economy, idle noise, cold startability and output performance by the help of the new commet V combustion chamber design. The new combustion chamber which differs in shape and throat area from the conventional commet V has been developed to be well matched to the electronic control system. The passenger car equipped with the electronic control diesel engine mentioned above provides the following four additional advantages: 1. Good acceleration response 2. Idle speed control which is affected by engine coolant temperature, on-off of the air conditioning compressor and battery voltage 3. Cruise control 4. Self-diagnostic system

Diesel emissions are significant issue worldwide, and emissions requirements have become so tough that. the application of after-treatment systems is now indispensable in many countries To meet even more stringent future emissions requirements, it has become apparent that the improvement of market fuel quality is essential as well as the development in engine and exhaust after-treatment technology. Japan Clean Air Program II (JCAP II) is being conducted to assess the direction of future technologies through the evaluation of current automobile and fuel technologies and consequently to realize near zero emissions and carbon dioxide (CO2) emission reduction. In this program, effects of fuel properties on the performance of diesel engines and a vehicle equipped with two types of diesel NOx emission after-treatment devices, a Urea-SCR system and a NOx storage reduction (NSR) catalyst system, were examined.

In Biodiesel Fuel Research Working Group(WG) of Japan Auto-Oil Program(JATOP), some impacts of high biodiesel blends have been investigated from the viewpoints of fuel properties, stability, emissions, exhaust aftertreatment systems, cold driveability, mixing in engine oils, durability/reliability and so on. This report is designed to determine how high biodiesel blends affect oil quality through testing on 2005 regulations engines with DPFs. When blends of 10-20% rapeseed methyl ester (RME) with diesel fuel are employed with 10W-30 engine oil, the oil change interval is reduced to about a half due to a drop in oil pressure. The oil pressure drop occurs because of the reduced kinematic viscosity of engine oil, which resulting from dilution of poorly evaporated RME with engine oil and its accumulation, however, leading to increased wear of piston top rings and cylinder liners.

From a view point of environment protection and energy saving on the world-wide basis low pollution, quieter and light-weight direct injection diesel engines for automotive use have been strongly requested. In order to meet these social requirements we have endeavoured to develop design methods for such engines available at the design stage. Firstly, we have clarified relationship between vibration and radiated noise using simple 2 cylinder block model (1). Secondary, we have successfully developed light-weight, better fuel economy and quieter multi-cylinder research engines which have potential to be able to meet more stringent legislative standards for noise and gas emissions to be expected in the late 80’s. This paper summarises mainly the process to develop multicylinder engine to be lighter and quieter and also refers to the effects compared to current ones.

The medium duty commercial vehicle “ISUZU FORWARD” powered by the newly designed 6HE1 six cylinder engine was placed on Japanese market in April 1990. At the same time the engine family of the four cylinder version 4HF1 engine mounted in the light duty commercial vehicle “ISUZU ELF” was introduced in Japanese market in August 1990. These H-series engines are successors to the B-series engines, which have been used worldwide for vehicles, industrial machinery and boats. The basic structure of OHC and ladder frame of these engines made it possible to improve the design of the inlet and exhaust ports and valves, and improve the stiffness of the cylinder block and the cylinder head. In turn this provides higher performance, durability and reliability. This paper describes the special features and construction of these new H-series engines, together with newly adopted technology.

Injuries of the human brain and spinal cord associated with the central nervous system (CNS) are seen in automotive accidents. CNS injuries are generally categorized into severe injuries (AIS 3+). However, it is not clear how the restraint conditions affect the CNS injuries. This paper presents a newly developed three-dimensional (3D) finite element head-neck model in order to investigate the biomechanical responses of the brain-spinal cord complex. The head model consists of the scalp, skull, and a detailed description of the brain including the cerebrum, cerebellum, brainstem with distinct white and gray matter, cerebral spinal fluid (CSF), sagittal sinus, dura, pia, arachnoid, meninx, falx cerebri, and tentorium. Additionally, the neck model consists of the cervical vertebral bodies, intervertebral discs, muscles, ligaments, spinal cord with white and gray matter, cervical pia, and CSF.

In order to further improve the performance of NOx storage-reduction catalysts (NSR catalysts), focus was placed on their high temperature performance deterioration via sulfur poisoning and heat deterioration. The reactions between the basicity or acidity of supports and the storage element, potassium, were analyzed. It was determined that the high temperature performance of NSR catalysts is enhanced by the interaction between potassium and zirconia, which is a basic metal oxide. Also, a new zirconia-titania complex metal oxides was developed to improve high temperature performance and to promote the desorption of sulfur from the supports after aging.

A method of mapping a sound field using sound quality metrics has been investigated with an aim of identifying noise sources based on their sound characters rather than traditional measures such as sound pressure level (SPL) and intensity. The method having 11 metrics was implemented in four different array applications, namely near-field acoustical holography, planar beamforming, spherical beamforming, and patch acoustical holography. The sound quality metrics (SQ) mapping was applied to diesel engine measurements as well as vehicle interior measurements. In both applications, there have been a number of attempts to identify impulsive noise sources and therefore in this investigation an impulsiveness metric was developed. The proposed metric was validated against ideal impulses as a function of impulse repetition frequency, amplitude and duration of impulses.

Biodiesel Fuel (BDF) Research Work Group works on identifying technological issues on the use of high biodiesel blends (over 5 mass%) in conventional diesel vehicles under the Japan Auto-Oil Program started in 2007. The Work Group conducts an analytical study on the issues to develop measures to be taken by fuel products and vehicle manufacturers, and to produce new technological findings that could contribute to the study of its introduction in Japan, including establishment of a national fuel quality standard covering high biodiesel blends. For evaluation of the impacts of high biodiesel blends on performance of diesel particulate filter system, a wide variety of biodiesel blendstocks were prepared, ranging from some kinds of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) to another type of BDF such as hydrotreated biodiesel (HBD). Evaluation was mainly conducted on blend levels of 20% and 50%, but also conducted on 10% blends and neat FAME in some tests.

In Biodiesel Fuel Research Working Group(WG) of Japan Auto-Oil Program(JATOP), some impacts of high biodiesel blends have been investigated from the viewpoints of fuel properties, stability, emissions, exhaust aftertreatment systems, cold driveability, mixing in engine oils, durability/reliability and so on. In the impact on exhaust emissions, the impact of high biodiesel blends into diesel fuel on diesel emissions was evaluated. The wide variety of biodiesel blendstock, which included not only some kinds of fatty acid methyl esters(FAME) but also hydrofined biodiesel(HBD) and Fischer-Tropsch diesel fuel(FTD), were selected to evaluate. The main blend level evaluated was 5, 10 and 20% and the higher blend level over 20% was also evaluated in some tests. The main advanced technologies for exhaust aftertreatment systems were diesel particulate filter(DPF), Urea selective catalytic reduction (Urea-SCR) and the combination of DPF and NOx storage reduction catalyst(NSR).

The present study deals with a new gear noise diagnosis system for automobile transmission units with an artificial intelligence; i.e., the neural net. In order to use this system, first of all, the system must be trained with teacher signals. This training process includes iterative calculations, so that the convergence in the training process is a very important issue. In the present paper, conditions were determined for the convergence. Then, the judgement performance of the developed system was discussed. As a result, the system can realize over 70% performance of noise evaluation experts.

Thermal fatigue tests were conducted to find how material properties, operating temperature and initial mechanical stress caused by press fitting of valve seat inserts etc. influence on thermal fatigue cracks of cast iron cylinder heads by means of a simulation test at mainly 100°C. = 350°C cycles. These tests revealed that the reduction in initial stresses and improvement of tensile strength of material at room temperature are very effective to improve thermal fatigue resistance. And a new cast iron cylinder head material with high thermal fatigue resistance for heavy duty diesel engines has been successfully developed, utilizing the results of casting experiments by means of experiment design, L16(2[ILLEGIBLE]). High reliability of new cast iron cylinder heads has been confirmed by accelerated durability bench tests.

In the Japan Clean Air Program II (JCAP II) Diesel WG, effects of fuel properties on the performance of two types of diesel NOx emission aftertreatment devices, a Urea-SCR system and a NOx storage reduction (NSR) catalyst system, were examined. For a Urea-SCR system, the NOx emission reduction performance with and without an oxidation catalyst installed in front of the SCR catalyst at low exhaust gas temperature operation was compared. For an NSR catalyst system, the effect of fuel sulfur on both emissions and fuel economy during 50,000 km driving was examined. Furthermore, effects of other fuel properties such as distillation on exhaust emissions were investigated. The results show that sulfur is the influential factor for both devices. Namely, high NOx emission reduction performance of the Urea-SCR system with the oxidation catalyst at low exhaust gas temperature operation is influenced by sulfur.

Effect of the ambient O2 concentration and pressure on the spray combustion characteristics of diesel fuel was experimentally examined using a high-temperature, high-pressure combustion vessel. The sequential images were captured by using a high-speed color video camera and were analyzed using the two color method to quantify the temporal variation of the soot temperature and KL factor. Based on a series of systematic experiments, it is confirmed that O2 concentration is the dominant factor affecting both the ignition delay and combustion period. The volumetric fraction of O2 in ambient air has great effect on flame temperature and NOx emission, however ambient pressure has little effect on both values. On the contrary both of the volumetric fraction of O2 in ambient air and the ambient pressure have large effect on soot production.

Breath alcohol interlock systems are used in Europe and the U.S. for drunk driving offenders, and a certain effect has been revealed in the prevention of drunk driving. Nevertheless, problems remain to be solved with commercialized detectors, i.e., a person taking the breath alcohol test must strongly expire to the alcohol detector through a mouthpiece for every test, more over the determination of the breath alcohol concentration requires more than 5 seconds. The goal of this research is to develop a device that functions suitable and unobtrusive enough as the interlock system. For this purpose, a new alcohol detector, which does not require a long and hard blowing to the detector through a mouthpiece, has been investigated. In this paper, as a tool available on board, a contact free alcohol detector for the prevention of drunk driving has been developed.

To investigate the effect of muscle activity in pre-impact on injury outcome, we developed a human arm finite element model with muscles which consisted of solid elements and truss elements that could be used for simulating muscle stiffness change for the inputted activity and 3-D geometry of each muscle. Two series of experimental tests on muscle stiffness change and arm flexion were conducted for validation of the model. Comparisons between the simulation results and test data indicated the model validity. Lateral impact simulations for a left arm demonstrated that the muscle activity in pre-impact had significant effects on the motion and stress distribution of the arm bones.

A few reports suggest differences in injury outcomes between cadaver tests and real-world accidents under almost similar conditions. This study hypothesized that muscle activity could primarily cause the differences, and then developed a human body finite element (FE) model with individual muscles. Each muscle was modeled as a hybrid model of bar elements with active properties and solid elements with passive properties. The model without muscle activation was firstly validated against five series of cadaver test data on impact responses in the anterior-posterior direction. The model with muscle activation levels estimated based on electromyography (EMG) data was secondly validated against four series of volunteer test data on bracing effects for stiffness and thickness of an upper arm muscle, and braced driver's responses under a static environment and a brake deceleration.

Toyota Motor Corporation began leasing a new generation fuel cell vehicle the FCHV (Fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicle) in December 2002. That vehicle includes a new variable voltage power electronics system and uses the Nickel Metal Hydride (Ni-MH) battery system from the Prius hybrid gasoline electric vehicle. This paper describes on-going efforts to model optimum secondary storage systems for future vehicles. Efficiency modeling is presented for the base Ni-MH storage system, an ultra capacitor system and a Lithium ion (Li-ion) battery system. The Li-ion system in combination with a new high efficiency converter shows a 4% improvement in fuel economy relative to the base system. The ultra capacitor system is not as efficient as the base system.