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The wear mechanisms of the methanol engine were studied using dynamometer tests. Formic acid from methanol combustion mixes with the lubricant oil and attacks the metal surfaces. The iso tacho prorissis method was successfully applied to analyze the formic acid content of the used oil. A large amount of condensed water is also formed by methanol combustion and accelerates the wear. Wear can be effectively reduced by shortening lubricant oil change intervals, by using a special oil and by durable surface treatment of engine parts.

Display devices are required to have some fundamental functions which are brightness & gradation, colorfullness, resolution & sharpness, response time, and suitable size of the picture. Since the CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) is superior to the other display devices in these requirements, it can offer much information efficiently and effectively. Their visibility should not be evaluated only on the basis of some standards for office automation systems. From the point of view of human factors, visibility investigations of the CRTs for automobiles are examined. In this paper the relationship between the chromaticity difference and the luminance contrast for drivers to read the picture easily, and the luminance of the background in the CRTs for drivers not to be dazzled in the nighttime driving are clarified.

The automobile industry currently faces many challenges which may greatly impact on its foundry operations. One of these challenges, consumers'' demand for greater fuel efficiency, can be met by reducing the weight of castings used in automobiles, and minimizing engineering tolerances. In answer to this particular demand, engine foundries have begun to either produce cylinder blocks or other castings with aluminum rather than cast iron. However, if a reduction in weight (thin wall and near-net shaping) can be realized with cast iron, there would be numerous merits from the perspective of cost and compactness and there would be much more flexibility in automotive parts design.

This research developed a new measurement technology for thermal analysis of the heat radiation from a hybrid transaxle case surface to the air and improved the heat radiation performance. This heat flux measurement technology provides the method to measure heat flux without wiring of sensors. The method does not have effects of wiring on the temperature field and the flow field unlike the conventional methods. Therefore, multipoint measurement of heat flux on the case surface was enabled, and the distribution of heat flux was quantified. To measure heat flux, thermal resistances made of plastic plates were attached to the case surface and the infrared thermography was used for the temperature measurement. The preliminary examination was performed to confirm the accuracy of the thermal evaluation through heat flux measurement. The oil in the transaxle was heated and the amount of heat radiation from the case surface was measured.

This paper describes an analysis of the rise in timing belt temperature occuring under high engine speed operation that was made to establish the cause of heat deterioration of the belt materials. Surface temperatures of the belt were accurately measured by correcting thermo-vision detected radiations to eliminate environmental radiation. The temperature profile of a belt cross-section was obtained by a specially developed thermo-couple device. The experimental results indicated that heat generated by the belt contributes significantly to the temperature rise and that the primary cause of the heat generation is bending hysteresis of the belt cords. In addition, a description is made of a method of calculating the rate of heat generation in the belt. In this simulation method, the energy dissipated as heat is calculated from the bending strains and loss moduli of the belt materials. Calculated results were found to agree well with experimental results.

A new automotive interior component material, TSOP-5 has been developed by refining the technology utilized to develop TSOP-1, the high modulus and high flow material for bumper covers. This new interior component material has excellent molding capability (MI=30dg/min.) yet still maintains high impact resistance which enables the material to be used in areas such as the dash board as well as trim covers requiring to meet the FMVSS 214, the new side impact regulation or the FMVSS 201, the new soft upper trim regulation.

The combustion chamber deposit (CCD) forming tendency of gasoline components and detergents were investigated with laboratory tests ad engine dynamometer tests. In the dynamometer tests, the driving conditions under which fuels and detergents influence CCD formation were specified, and the effects of different gasoline components and detergent blends on CCD formation were examined. In the laboratory tests, the CCD forming process was investigated thoroughly [10]. The CCD forming tendency of aromatic compounds in gasoline were dependent not only on physical properties such as molecular weight, but also chemical structure (number or position of the alkyl substituents of aromatic molecules). As for oxygenates, engine dynamometer tests with MTBE blended gasoline yielded less CCD than the test without MTBE. The CCD forming tendency of detergents correlated with the thermal decompositon tendency of the detergent package and the concentration of the main agents.

The human body undergoes a variety of changes as it ages through adulthood. These include both morphological (structural) changes (e.g., increased thoracic kyphosis) and material changes (e.g., osteoporosis). The purpose of this study is to evaluate structural changes that occur in the aging bony thorax and to assess the importance of these changes relative to the well-established material changes. The study involved two primary components. First, full-thorax computed tomography (CT) scans of 161 patients, age 18 to 89 years, were analyzed to quantify the angle of the ribs in the sagittal plane. A significant association between the angle of the ribs and age was identified, with the ribs becoming more perpendicular to the spine as age increased (0.08 degrees/year, p=0.012). Next, a finite element model of the thorax was used to evaluate the importance of this rib angle change relative to other factors associated with aging.

This paper describes application of sintered silicon nitride to the swirl lower-chamber in order to improve performance of turbocharged diesel engines. Various stress analyses by finite element method and stress measurements have been applied to determine the design specifications for the component, which compromise brittleness of ceramic materials. Material development was conducted to evaluate strength, fracture toughness, and thermal properties for the sintered bodies. Ceramic injection molding has been employed to fabricate components with large quantities in the present work. Quality assurance for the components can be made by reliability evaluation methods as well as non-destructive and stress loading inspections. It is found that the engine performance with ceramic component has been increased in the power out put of 9PS as compared to that of conventional engines.

Pre-collision system (PCS) that basically consists of warning buzzer, brake-assist and automatic brake functions is designed to help mitigate injury occurring in frontal impacts where preceding vehicles are impacted from the rear. Since the benefit of each function is influenced by drivers' reaction before collision, it is difficult to estimate quantitative effectiveness for improvement. This paper proposes an approach to establish a Safety Impact Methodology (SIM) for the effectiveness estimation of a PCS by utilizing driving simulator (DS) test results and Event Data Recorder (EDR) data. The estimation procedure consists of four steps. Firstly, the PCS functions were modeled as linear transfer functions with gain, delay, etc. Test vehicle's properties were measured and modeled as an example. Secondly, the transfer functions were applied to each DS test result, and the speed reduction from travel speed to impact speed was calculated by the model assuming that PCS was installed.

Two-layered surface materials composed of a thermoplastic olefin elastomer (TPO) skin and a cross-linked polypropylene (PP)foam are increasingly replacing the conventional PVC skin/PVC foam for interior trims. In the past, recycled material obtained by melt-blending TPO skin and PP foam could not be re-used for TPO skin because of its appearance. A new recycling technology using the reaction biaxial extruder with a reaction agent can decompose the network structure of PP foam. As a result, PP foam is dispersed into TPO uniformly and the recycled material has properties and an appearance similar to virgin TPO. These new properties may allow the application of the recycled material as a surface material.

The deactivation process of automotive catalysts by lead and phosphoruos were studied. The accelerated poisoning test were performed. The activity evaluation and characterisation of poisoned pellet oxidation catalysts showed the following origin of poisoning deactivations. Lead interacts with active materials and phosphorus covers over catalysts to reduce these catalytic performance. In the case of phosphorus and lead co-existence, the activity decreases rapidly because leadphosphate plugges pores of the support. In monolithic catalysts, highly axial distributions of poisons was obserbed. This characteristic distribution is advantageous for the durability of the catalyst.

The colour painting of polypropylene bumpers has required development of a new polypropylene surface treatment which provides improved adhesion of the paint film to polypropylene. According to the results of various improvement studies on the application of plasma treatment, it has been discovered that surface treatment by means of plasma of an oxygen and nitrogen gas mixture activated by microwave (2,450 MHz) provides a remarkable improvement in adhesion. Furthermore, establishing a technique to diffuse plasma effectively within the treatment chamber has enabled a uniform surface treatment of several polypropylene bumpers formed in large and complicated shapes.

ϵ-caprolactam was polymerized in the interlayer space of montmorillonite, the clay mineral yielding a nylon-clay hybrid (NCH). X-ray and TEM measurements revealed that each template of the silicate, which was 1 nm thick, was dispersed in the nylon 6 matrix, and that the interlayer distance of clay increased continuously from 1.2 nm for the unintercalated material to 21.4 nm for the intercalated material. Thus, NCH is a polymer-based molecular composite or a nano-composite. NCH contains 1-15 vol% of monolayer clay. Injection-molded NCH showed excellent mechanical properties compared with nylon 6 in terms of tensile strength, tensile modulus and heat resistance. The tensile modulus of NCH was twice that of Nylon 6, and the heat distortion temperature increased from 65°C for nylon 6 to 145°C for the NCH containing only 1.6 vol% of a clay mineral. It was found that such excellent properties of an NCH system was due to the strong ionic interaction between nylon 6 and the silicate layer.

In the present investigation, a numerical model of side impact dummy (DOT-SID) is developed using TNO's MADYMO-3D multi-body features. During the model construction phases, relevant dummy components are individually modeled and are verified against empirical test results. The completed DOT-SID model is then integrated into a padded impactor model to simulate secondary-impact. Computations are run for several input force-deflection distributions, in conjunction with other parameters. From the results, occupant responses to various thoracic input are quantitatively sought, and the effectiveness of the MADYMO DOT-SID model as a vehicle development tool is assessed.

This paper describes a new plastic coloring and forming system. The system greatly reduces the time and amount of raw materials necessary for color changes, and eliminates the need for manual cleaning during a color change. This system is well-suited for small-lot production with frequent color changes, as well as for automated production systems. The system is being used by auto parts makers, and is practical in a variety of other fields involved with the coloring and forming of plastics.

A system to measure transient temperature distribution on the brake disc rotor at high speed braking has been developed and its measuring principle and configuration were discussed in this paper. This system consists of two revolution sensors and two sets of optical fiber array, photoelectric elements, and microprocessor, which fiber array is so arranged that it faces the brake disc rotor. This new system has the following features: (1) Measuring is made using a visible radiation wavelength range for red hot temperatures higher than 550°C.

Intersection collisions currently account for approximately one-fifth of all crashes and one-sixth of all fatal crashes in the United States. One promising method of mitigating these crashes and fatalities is to develop and install Intersection Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (I-ADAS) on vehicles. When an intersection crash is imminent, the I-ADAS system can either warn the driver or apply automated braking. The potential safety benefit of I-ADAS has been previously examined based on real-world cases drawn from the National Motor Vehicle Crash Causation Survey (NMVCCS). However, these studies made the idealized assumption of full installation in all vehicles of a future fleet. The objective of this work was to predict the reduction in Straight Crossing Path (SCP) crashes due to I-ADAS systems in the United States over time. The proportion of new vehicles with I-ADAS was modeled using Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) fleet penetration predictions.

As a means of effectively incorporating the concept of “life cycle” for reducing the environmental impact of the automobile, we carried out a life cycle inventory study on a part-by-part basis. The targets of our study are the fuel tanks that are made of different materials and manufacturing processes. One is made of steel, and the other is made of plastic, both perform identical functions. Our evaluation study encompasses the period from the manufacturing of the main materials until the disposal of the tanks. The evaluation items consist of the amount of energy consumed and the emissions (of CO2, NOx, SOx, and PM) that are released into the atmosphere. The results show that the plastic tank poses a greater burden in terms of the amount of energy consumed and the CO2 and NOx emitted.

Automobile production technology has been transferred in the order of "automobile assembly technology", "automotive parts manufacturing technology" and "production preparation technology". Transfer of our "automobile assembly technology" has already been nearly 100% completed and, as the manufacture of local parts is promoted and our experiences to undergo model changes are widened, the transfer of "automotive parts manufacturing technology" and "production preparation technology" is making a steady progress. The most critical point that makes the technical transfer difficult is the small automobile markets in developing countries where it is impossible to acquire a sufficient production volume which permits satisfactorily low cost. Various measures to secure a sufficient production volume such as exports and complementation within regions have been taken so far, but any remarkable effect has not been achieved.