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The foundation of many production aircraft assembly facilities is a more dynamic and unpredictable quantity than we would sometimes care to admit. Any tooling structures constructed on these floors, no matter how thoroughly analyzed or well understood, are at the mercy of settling and shifting concrete, which can cause very lengthy and costly periodic re-certification and adjustment procedures. It is with this in mind, then, that we explore the design possibilities for one such structure to be built in Belfast, North Ireland for the assembly of the Shorts C-Series aircraft wings. We evaluate the peak floor pressure, weight, gravity deflection, drilling deflection, and thermal deflection of four promising structures and discover that carefully designed pivot points and tension members can offer significant benefits in some areas.

Many manufacturing companies want to apply AFP technology to complex high-curvature part shapes. As new AFP machine technologies are developed to specifically apply material over complex shapes, new and innovative NC programming approaches are needed to successfully, reliably, and accurately apply material with good consolidation, while meeting the fiber direction and coverage requirements. A big issue with AFP is the production rate vs. part complexity. Most complex shapes can be created with a single .125? wide strip (tow) of material. But the production time would be impractically long. So machine builders create 6, 8, 16, even 32 tow AFP heads, and use the widest tow possible for the highest laydown rates. But then wide compaction rollers on these systems have difficulty consolidating material over curved surfaces, and the minimum steering radius of wider tows challenge the software?s ability to meet the layup requirements.

Automakers, suppliers, public agencies, interest groups and others are increasingly embracing the environment as one of the dominant forces in the US automotive market. All parties have a strong vested interest in understanding how environmental concerns will influence design, production, marketing and usage of tomorrow�s vehicles. A common need of all parties is independent and actionable information to enable them to make better decisions and have the greatest chance of being successful in this uncertain future. Four factors - an uncertain economic climate; a constantly changing governmental regulatory system; advancements in powertrain technology; and ever-present environmental concerns - continue to shape the automotive landscape. While automakers are focused on developing alternative powertrains and alternative fuel options for an increasingly �green� vehicle market, J.D.

There has recently been a great deal of hypothesizing and prognosticating about the security of supply of the rare earths for the non-Chinese OEM automotive industry. The pundits and industry analysts have warned of demand destruction by substitution driven by sustained high prices as well as due to supply interruptions. What has been overlooked for the most part is that the issue is not about all of the rare earths; it is just about some of them, the critical rare earths. And even in that category there are two separate issues: 1) Is there enough production of the light rare earth, neodymium, to sustain current demand and can its non-Chinese production grow to meet expected non-Chinese demand? and 2.) Is there even enough production of the heavy rare earths, dysprosium and terbium, to meet current Chinese demand and is it possible to produce dysprosium a.) Outside of China, and b.)

Gasoline engines continue to suffer from significant pumping losses despite decades of effort focused on reducing throttling. Honeywell Turbo has developed a throttle with an integrated turbine/generator that generates electricity by recovering pumping work. This energy offsets power normally provided by the crank driven alternator, thereby saving fuel. It integrates well with modern electrical systems which employ smart charging and idle stop strategies. The ThrottleCharger provides fuel economy benefits up to 5% over federal test cycles and in real world conditions. Presenter Mike Guidry, Honeywell Int'l (Turbo Technologies)

The presentation describes the aerodynamic development and optimization process of the three different new models of the Audi A6/A7 family. The body types of these three models represent the three classic aerodynamic body types squareback, notchback and fastback. A short introduction of the flow structures of these different body types is given and their effect on the vehicle aerodynamic is described. In order to achieve good aerodynamic performance, the integration into the development process of the knowledge about these flow phenomena and the breakdown of the aerodynamic resistance into its components friction- and pressure drag as well as the induced drag is very important. The presentation illustrates how this is realized within the aerodynamic development process at Audi. It describes how the results of CFD simulations are combined with wind tunnel measurements and how the information about the different flow phenomena were used to achieve an aerodynamic improvement.

Simulation-based tolerance analysis is the accepted standard for dimensional engineering in aerospace today. Sophisticated 3D model-based tolerance analysis processes enable engineers to measure variation in complex, often large, assembled products quickly and accurately. Best-in-class manufacturers have adopted Quality Intelligence Management tools for collecting and consolidating this measurement data. Their goal is to completely understand dimensional fit characteristics and quality status before commencing the build process. This results in shorter launch cycles, improved process capabilities, reduced scrap and less production downtime. This paper describes how to use simulation-based approaches to correlate the theoretical tolerance analysis results produced during engineering simulations to actual as-built results. This allows engineers to validate or adjust as-designed simulation parameters to more closely align to production process capabilities.

In “The Impact of Additive Manufacturing in Automotive Applications”, a professor from Kettering University explains why additive manufacturing will be a game changer for car makers, and how process control is one of the biggest challenges ahead. An engineer at Local Motors in Arizona shows how the company builds its cars using a large-scale 3D printer, including how a variety of materials is being evaluated for optimal performance in this type of application. The episode highlights: The expected positive impact of AM on smaller car makers and suppliers The key difference between small 3D printers and large-scale ones The need to find the best possible material combination so vehicles that are #D-printed are as safe as traditional ones Also Available in DVD Format To subscribe to a full-season of Spotlight on Design, please contact SAE Corporate Sales: CustomerSales@sae.org or 1-888-875-3976.

Downsizing and downspeeding are two efficient strategies to reduce vehicles CO2 emission, provided that high BMEP can be achieved at any engine speed under clean, safe, stable and efficient combustion. With a 6:1 minimum compression ratio, the MCE-5 VCRi achieves 40 bar peak BMEP at 1200 rpm with no irregular combustion. If peak BMEP is maintained below 35 bar, fuel enrichment is no longer necessary. When running at part loads, the engine operates at high compression ratios (up to 15:1) to minimize BSFC and maximize the sweet spot area on the map. Next generation MCE-5 VCRi engines will combine VCR and stoichiometric charges, highly diluted with external cooled EGR, in order to improve part loads efficiency by means of both the reduction in heat and pumping losses, and the optimization of compression-expansion ratio. This strategy, added to downsizing-donwspeeding, requires high-energy ignition systems to promote repeatable, stable, rapid and complete combustion.

Main topics are the development and the build-up of an 18ton hybrid truck with a parallel hybrid drivetrain. With this truck it is possible to drive up to 3 kilometers in the pure electric driving mode. Presenter Andreas Eglseer, Engineering Center Steyr GmbH & Co. KG

Those who are concerned about access to rare earths and other critical minerals for EV powertrains are focused on the exact wrong problem. Mr. Thomas discusses why it's control of process technology, not the raw ores themselves, that dictates cost, availability and performance. Presenter Lawrence B. Thomas, Primet Precision Materials

The aerospace industry has long sought a solution for storing maintenance history information directly on aircraft parts. In 2005 leading airframe manufacturers determined that passive Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology presented a unique opportunity to address this industry need. Through the efforts of the Air Transport Association (ATA) RFID on Parts Committee and SAE International testing standards and data specifications are in place to support the broad adoption of passive RFID for storing parts history information directly on aircraft parts. The primary focus of the paper will be on the SAE AS-5678 environmental testing standard for passive RFID tags intended for aircraft use. Detail will be provided to help aerospace manufacturers understand their role and responsibilities for current programs and understand how this may impact their parts certification process.

There are worldwide activities in developing guidelines and standards for fiber optic sensors. Fiber optic sensors (FOS) are increasingly demanded for structural health monitoring purposes and for measurement of physical and chemical quantities because of their specific features. However, they are not yet widely established for practical use due to a lack of guidelines and confirmed standards. Therefore, there are few groups worldwide which are very active in developing standards for use of FOS in different fields, particularly driven from aircraft industry, oil industry or the necessity to provide sensor systems for health monitoring of structures with a certain level of risk. The benefits of guidelines and/or standards on the way to well-validated and well-specified sensor systems will be presented by means of related examples. The presentation will also give an overview on the state-of-the-art and most relevant activities. Results achieved are discussed.

EGR coolers are used in combustion engines to reduce NOx emissions. However, heat transfer in these coolers also results in thermophoresis-temperature-gradient driven motion of suspended particles towards cooler regions-which leads to significant soot deposition. Presenter Meisam Mehravaran

For internal combustion engines and industrial machinery, it is well recognized that the most cost-effective way of reducing energy consumption and extending service life is through lubricant development. This presentation summarizes our recent R&D achievements on developing a new class of candidate lubricants or oil additives ionic liquids (ILs). Features of ILs making them attractive for lubrication include high thermal stability, low vapor pressure, non-flammability, and intrinsic high polarity. When used as neat lubricants, selected ILs demonstrated lower friction under elastohydrodynamic lubrication and less wear at boundary lubrication benchmarked against fully-formulated engine oils in our bench tests. More encouragingly, a group of non-corrosive, oil-miscible ILs has recently been developed and demonstrated multiple additive functionalities including anti-wear and friction modifier when blended into hydrocarbon base oils.

Silicones have been utilized in multiple industries in the last 50 years and their applications are still expanding as technology grows. Ice phobic coatings, as an example, have been utilized on lock walls, navigation channels, wind turbines, hydropower intakes, and aircraft. Without protection these applications have a high risk of failure in the functions they perform. For example, ice build up on an aircraft?s aerodynamic surfaces increases drag which reduces lift during flight operations. Utilizing a silicone ice phobic coating significantly reduces the adhesion of ice to aerodynamic surfaces. Compared to other polymeric materials, silicones are known for their broad operating temperature range and lend themselves to excellent performance in a variety of harsh environments. Especially in low temperatures where ice adhesion is a concern, silicones retain their elastomeric physical properties and low modulus.

The combination of advanced combustion with advanced selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalyst formulations was studied in the work presented here to determine the impact of the unique hydrocarbon (HC) emissions from premixed charge compression ignition (PCCI) combustion on SCR performance. Catalyst core samples cut from full size commercial Fe- and Cu-zeolite SCR catalysts were exposed to a slipstream of raw engine exhaust from a 1.9-liter 4-cylinder diesel engine operating in conventional and PCCI combustion modes. The zeolites which form the basis of these catalysts are different with the Cu-based catalyst made on a chabazite zeolite which las smaller pore structures relative to the Fe-based catalyst. Subsequent to exposure, bench flow reactor characterization of performance and hydrocarbon release and oxidation enabled evaluation of overall impacts from the engine exhaust.

Presented by: Dan Ott Web Industries Director, Business Development, Advanced Composites Market With the growth of Fiber Placement technology as a preferred automation technology in aerospace manufacturing and the rapid growth of new production line installations, it is crucial to provide material in a form which meets all necessary specifications and supports the optimum productivity available from this major capital investment made by the producer of the parts. Achieving these goals happnes when the part designer, AFP machine builder, and the slit tape producer design the best process and format which provides smooth, efficient and rapid delivery of the prepreg slit tape to the Fiber Placement laydown head. Tape size (width), slit width tolerance, spool shape and size, density of prepreg on the spool, spool change-over and handling processes all play a factor in productivity, and creating (or inhibiting) the best ROI on a full-scale AFP production line.

Exhaust Emission Control: DPF Systems. Presenter Shingo Iwasaki, NGK Insulators, Ltd.

In a variety of industries there is a growing need to manufacture high quality carbon fibre epoxy matrix composite structures at greater production rates and lower costs than has historically been the case. This has developed into a desire for the automation of the manufacture of components, and in particular the lay-up phase, with Automated Tape Laying (ATL) and Fibre Placement (AFP) the most popular choices. When used for large primary structures there are such potential gains to be had that both techniques have seen rapid implementation into manufacturing environments. But significant concerns remain and these have limited their wider adoption into secondary structure manufacturing, where manual forming of woven broadgoods is dominant. As a result the manufacture of secondary structures is generally explored for costs reduction through drape simulation and lower cost materials.