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In the modern and fast growing automotive sector, reliability & durability are two terms of utmost importance along with weight & cost optimization. Therefore it is important to explore new technology which has less weight, low manufacturing cost and better strength. The new technology developed always seek for a quick, cost effective and reliable methodology for its design validation so that any modification can be made by identifying the failures. This paper presents the rig level test methodology to validate and to correlate the CAE derived strain levels, life cycle & failure mode of newly developed light weight stabilizer link for EV Bus suspension

Affordable, efficient and durable catalytic converters for the Commercial Vehicle and Non-Road industry in all countries are required to reduce vehicle emissions under real world driving conditions and fulfill future legal requirements. Specially for India traffic conditions and payload to engine size conditions new cost-effective solutions are needed to participate in a cleaner and healthier environment. Metallic substrates with structured foils like the Transversal StructureTM (TS) or the Longitudinal StructureTM (LS) have been proved to be capable of improving conversion behavior, even with smaller catalyst size. Now Vitesco Technologies is developed a new Substrate for Heavy duty applications that specifically maintains the geometric surface area at a very high level and improves further the mass transport of the pollutants, which potentially leads together to very high pollutant conversion rates.

Powertrain electrification is becoming increasingly common in the transportation sector to address the challenges of global warming and deteriorating air quality. This paper introduces a novel “Build Your Hybrid” approach to experience and test various hybrid powertrain concepts. This approach is applied to the light commercial vehicles (LCV) segment due to the attractive combination of a Diesel engine and a partly electrified powertrain. For this purpose, a demonstrator vehicle has been set up with a flexible P02 hybrid topology and a prototype Hybrid Control Unit (HCU). Based on user input, the HCU software modifies the control functions and simulation models to emulate different sub-topologies and levels of hybridization in the demonstrator vehicle. Three powertrain concepts are considered for LCVs: HV P2, 48V P2 and 48V P0 hybrid. Dedicated hybrid control strategies are developed to take full advantage of the synergies of the electrical system and reduce CO2 and NOx emissions.

With the increase in demand for energy sustainability projects over the last few years, the Brazilian commercial vehicle industry was guided to develop projects based on ESG policies. Aligned with this need, an initiative that ended up becoming a reality was the “e-Sys” electrification solution, by the company Suspensys. This solution includes a power source (battery), an e-powertrain (motors, inverters and drive axle) and an intelligent control system (VCU with embedded code and sensors). The main motivational drive was the hybridization of semi-trailers, in order to generate a reduction in fuel consumption in cargo transport in Brazil, in addition to the consequent reduction in the emission of particles into the environment and promoting the safety of the operation. It was also adopted, as a premise of the project, that the electrification system was totally independent of the truck’s electronic system (stand alone system), in order to facilitate the operation of the fleet owner.

Career development planning is critical to getting the most out of one's working years. It should start when one starts a career, but even if you start in mid-career, it's not too late. For those who haven't done it, career planning may seem difficult and confusing. Increasingly, your community library and state employment service agency provides valuable help in the form of computerized and manual aids to career planning and job-getting. This article follows Dave Brown, a mid-career engineer, through the career-planning process, introduces library and government resources to you and provides a list of computer programs relating to career planning and job getting.

Yield potential was predicted and mapped for three corn fields in Central Illinois, using digital aerial color infrared images. Three methods, namely statistical (regression) modeling, genetic algorithm optimization and artificial neural networks, were used for developing yield models. Two image resolutions of 3 and 6 m/pixel were used for modeling. All the models were trained using July 31 image and tested using images from July 2 and August 31, all from 1998. Among the three models, artificial neural networks gave best performance, with a prediction error less than 30%. The statistical model resulted in prediction errors in the range of 23 to 54%. The lower resolution images resulted in better prediction accuracy compared to resolutions higher than or equal to the yield resolution. Images after pollination resulted in better accuracy compared to images before pollination.

SINCE 1954 the CIMTC Subcommittee has been engaged in a program to meet military requirements through industry's production of construction equipment which can give satisfactory cold weather performance down to temperatures of −65 F. Individual contracts for three crawler tractors and one motor grader were negotiated by ERDL for these projects, and their performance is discussed. Industry participation was subsequently expanded to include engineering tests in the cold weather conditions of the Mesabi Iron Range. This joint report of the Winterization Sub-committee of the CIMTC and ERDL Winterization Section consists of separate papers by various members and consultants of this Sub-committee and ERDL personnel.

Since 1992, Caterpillar has invested millions of dollars to purchase CAD software, and spends nearly $2M per year keeping its engineers up-to-date, via instructor lead training (ILT), as new enhancements are introduced. Periodic upgrades to the software also require huge resource (people, costs) commitments for the planning and execution of the training requirements required for a large global workforce. This paper will examine gaps uncovered in the efficiency and effectiveness of the current training process, and the cultural change required as a result of switching from an instructor led environment to a completely web-based solution, which, once deployed, had promised to change the way Caterpillar approached training for the future. The proposed change promised to improve human resource capability by utilizing new technological capabilities, and resulted in improvements in organizational capabilities as well.

HIGH output per cubic inch of piston displacement is desirable not alone for the purpose of being able to transport more payload faster, but more particularly for the invariably associated byproduct of lower specific fuel consumption, and especially at road-load requirements. The only way of accomplishing this purpose is through the use of higher compression ratios, and the limiting factors for this objective are fuel distribution and the operating temperatures of the component parts. A manifold is proposed which not only definitely improves distribution at both full and road loads, but has the inherent additional advantage of reducing the formation of condensate, thus still further facilitating a reduction in road-load specific fuel consumption. Hydraulic valve lifters, obviation of mechanical and thermal distortion, and controlled water flow are the essentials in improved cooling.

Meet like-minded mobility engineersto discuss new legislation and regulations around thermal management, emissions control, safety, and energy conservation.

Meet like-minded mobility engineersto discuss new legislation and regulations around thermal management, emissions control, safety, and energy conservation.

Why should you attend the 2022 Thermal Management Systems Symposium

Statistical measures of whole-body vibration from ambulation are shown to be higher than those from operation of earthmoving machinery and significantly higher than published guidelines for human exposure to whole-body vibration. The inconsistency of human response to low level vibration of technological origin as compared to human imperceptiveness to high level vibration from ambulation is discussed.

Abstract Wheel chocks are rather simple compliant mechanisms for stabilizing vehicles at rest. However, chocks must be carefully designed given the complex interaction between the chock and the tire/suspension system. Despite their importance for safety, literature is surprisingly limited in terms of what makes a wheel chock efficient. Using simple but reliable quasi-static mechanical models, this study identifies mechanical requirements that help to avoid a number of failure modes associated with many existing wheel chocks. Given that chock grounding is not always possible, a chock’s maximum restraining capacity is only obtained when the wheel is completely supported by the chock. A generic chock profile is proposed to achieve this objective while mitigating undesirable failure modes. The profile is based on fundamental mechanical principles and no assumption is made on the load interaction between the chock and the wheel.

Continuing education is important; in fact, it is absolutely necessary for the person or corporation that expects to be successful. Yet a lot of continuing education programs seem to be of little or no use as measured by the changes they effect in both people and companies. This study shows why so little success occurs, and makes suggestions to correct that shortfall. Good programs must be supported with time and resources provided by the employer. However, a truly successful continuing education program must be managed and driven by the individual. Otherwise, it will not pay off. The smart employer provides time and financial support, but expects the individual to direct his own career program.

Quality improvement, widely accepted as the key to survival in today's global marketplace, can only be achieved through a disciplined approach to problem solving based on proven statistical process control (SPC) techniques. Improving quality also improves productivity, and SPC applications are generating substantial savings for both product and service organizations throughout industry.

The scope of Finite Element Analysis in the Product Development Cycle is given. A brief review of the development process is given. A brief description of the analysis method is presented. A description of how it works, how is it implemented, and where do I use it are included. The entire range of questions are answered through, how do I train for it, how do I manage it, along with what are the limitations and what are the benefits of this analysis method.

Financial planners are always anxious to assist engineers and scientists in making retirement decisions. Many engineers, especially Industrial Engineers (IE), have had courses that provide the knowledge to make these retirement financial plans themselves. This paper will provide a method of estimating retirement needs utilizing Excel software and IE college coursework.

Abstract The use of appropriate loads and regulations is of great importance in weld fatigue assessment of rail on-track maintenance equipment and similar vehicles for optimized design. The regulations and available loads, however, are often generalized for several categories, which proves to be overly conservative for some specific categories of machines. EN (European Norm) and AAR (Association of American Railroads) regulations play a pivotal role in determining the applicable loads and acceptance criteria within this study. The availability of track-induced fatigue load data for the cumulative damage approach in track maintenance machines is often limited. Consequently, the FEA-based validation of rail track maintenance equipment often resorts to the infinite life approach rather than cumulative damage approach for track-induced travel loads, resulting in overly conservative designs.

Welding has been used extensively in automotive components design due to its flexibility to be applied in manufacturing, high structural strength and low cost. To improve fuel economy and reduce material cost, weight reduction by optimized structural design has been a high priority in auto industry. In the majority of heavy duty vehicle's chassis components design, the ability to predict the mechanical performance of welded joints is the key to success of structural optimization. FEA (finite element analysis) has been used in the industry to analyze welded parts. However, mesh sensitivity and material properties have been major issues due to geometry irregularity, metallurgical degradation of the base material, and inherent residual stress associated with welded joints. An approach, equilibrium-equivalent structural stress method, led by Battelle and through several joint industrial projects (JIP), has been developed.