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The requirement of “zero defects” is rapidly finding its way as a “standard” of quality in numerous quarters. This phrase has great psychological appeal, and is often taken literally at all levels in an organization even though quality motivation may be the intention. It is common to believe that when zero defects are found in the sample, this must be the case for “all the rest” as well. In this paper the technical side of “zero defects” is examined. We look at the statistics of zero defects and show what is implied about lot or process quality when zero defects is the actual sample outcome. The focus is on attribute measurements and includes some special cases where a significant measurement error exists and cases where a Bayesian statistical analysis may be appropriate.

This paper demonstrates the possibilities of using Automotive waste plastic material from “end of life” vehicles (ELVs), in the Footwear Industry to manufacture shoe components. The study establishes the sustainability of the flow of ELVs, from the European Car Parc and identifies and estimates the quantity of plastic materials potentially available for recycling from ELVs. Four potential materials, Acrylonitrile/butadiene/styrene (ABS), Polypropylene (PP), Polypropylene/ethylene/propylene/diene (PP/EPDM) and Polyamide (PA), were identified and three materials (PP, PP/EPDM and ABS) were reprocessed from ELV components and evaluated by the Footwear Industry. As a result, ABS was recommended as an economically, suitable replacement for HIPS, the current material used for manufacturing shoe heel components.

Oil pumpability in passenger car gasoline engines was well-characterized by an ASTM program and by individual researchers in the 1970's and early 1980's. Oil pumpability in diesel engines however, was not investigated to any significant extent until the mid-1980's. This study was initiated to define the performance of several commercial viscosity modifiers in different formulations containing 3 detergent-inhibitor (DI) additive packages and 4 basestock types. The test oils were run at -18°C (0°F) in a Cummins NTC-400 diesel engine. The results, when statistically analyzed, indicated that a new, second generation olefin copolymer (OCP) viscosity modifier had better performance than a first generation OCP and, furthermore, had performance equal to a polymethacrylate (PMA) viscosity modifier. The analysis also showed that one DI/base stock combination had a significant effect on performance.

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

Understanding customer expectations is critical to satisfying customers. Holding customer clinics is one approach to set winning targets for the engineering functional measures to drive customer satisfaction. In these clinics, customers are asked to operate and interact with vehicle systems or subsystems such as doors, lift gates, shifters, and seat adjusters, and then rate their experience. From this customer evaluation data, engineers can create customer loss or preference functions. These functions let engineers set appropriate targets by balancing risks and benefits. Statistical methods such as cumulative customer loss function are regularly applied for such analyses. In this paper, a new approach based on the Taguchi method is proposed and developed. It is referred to as Taguchi Customer Loss Function (TCLF).

An unique bonding mechanism was studied after several instances, where the linings stuck to the brake drums on transit buses, were reported. Evidences suggested that the linings were “glued” to the brake drums surface after wear debris (dust) was turned into “adhesive paste” through complicated thermal and chemical changes. Factors such as the friction materials, environment and service conditions, which could activate and deactivate the lining bonding, were observed and discussed. The prevention measures are proposed.

Proper lubrication of moving parts is a critical factor in internal combustion engine performance and longevity. Determination of ideal lubricant change intervals is a prerequisite to ensuring maximum engine efficiency and useful life. When oil change intervals are pushed too far, increased engine wear and even engine damage can result. On the other hand, premature oil changes are inconvenient, add to vehicle maintenance cost, and result in wasted natural resources. In order to determine the appropriate oil change interval, we have developed an oil condition sensor that measures the electrical properties of engine oil, and correlates these electrical properties to the physical and chemical properties of oil. This paper provides a brief background discussion of the oil degradation process, followed by a description of the sensor operational principles and the correlation of the sensor output with physical and chemical engine oil properties.

In automotive electronics on-board diagnostics does the fault diagnosis and reporting. It provides the level of robustness required for the control electronics against various faults. The amount of diagnostic information available via on board diagnostics are depends on the type of vehicle. Pre-supply fuel pump is the component in the common rail hydraulic system. It pumps the fuel from the fuel tank to the inlet valve of the high pressure fuel pump. Electronic control unit synchronizes its operation with high pressure fuel pump. A dedicated driver module in the ECU controls the operation of pre-supply fuel pump. The driver module consist of an ASIC with internal voltage, current monitoring modules for the fault diagnosis and the pre-drivers to control external HS and LS power stages. The software part of the OBD programmed in the internal memory of the ASIC. The “Rds_on” of the power MOSFETs are used for the fault detection purpose.

Research information on solid lubricants has been compiled for consideration in the possible use of such materials in aircraft electrical equipment. Solid lubricants are capable of lubricating at the maximum temperatures (600° F) for aircraft electrical equipment. Many solids that adhere well to metals may be useful lubricants; those with layer-lattice structure usually give low friction. Solid lubricants are most commonly used as bonded films but the use of fluid carriers and surface reaction products have considerable merit.

Nisshin Steel Co., Ltd. has developed a new process for the production of a “one-side aluminized steel sheet”. The process utilizes a double layer one-side “stop-off” coating to prevent the molten Al from adhering to the steel surface. The “Stop-off” coating is removed by simple mechanical brushing after hot dipping. The characteristics of this product by above mentioned process are: 1) The steel side was as clean as a conventional cold rolled surface and showed no trace of the “stop-off” layer. Thereby, phosphating and ED painting were performed. 2) In the salt spray test data was obtained from zinc and Al coated steel surfaces; the coatings on both surfaces being of equal thickness.

Engineers doing squeak and rattle testing of instrument panels (IP's) have successfully used large electrodynamic vibration systems to identify sources of squeaks and rattles (S&R's). Their successes led to demands to test more IP's, i.e., to increase throughput of IP's to reflect the many design, material, and/or manufacturing process changes that occur, and to do so at any stage of the development, production, or QA process. What is needed is a radically different and portable way to find S&R's in a fraction of the time and at lower capital cost without compromising S&R detection results.

Vehicle dynamics is a discipline of mechanical engineering that benefited of significant improvements thanks to the progress of computational engineering. Vehicle dynamics engineers are using CAE for the development of a vehicle with MBS and FEA. The concurrent use of these two technologies is a standard in the automotive industry. However the current simulation process is not fully efficient because local geometrical and material nonlinearities are not accurately modeled in classical MBS software. This paper introduces a methodology for vehicle dynamics simulation integrating MBS capabilities in one single nonlinear FEA environment enabling an accurate modeling of nonlinearity in vehicles.

Engineers have long been restricted in designing and manufacturing one piece, hollow composite components with complex internal geometry. Complex core pulls in the plastic tool, major concessions made in the actual component design or components joined from several pieces were the early means of producing such components. Progressive thinking led to the use of matrix materials such as sand, salt and wax, which provided a measure of flexibility in allowing designed-in undercut areas. These materials, however, lacked the capability to meet the required demands of dimensional accuracy and internal surface, as well as proving themselves unsuitable for high volume production. The concerns for repetitive dimensional accuracy, quality internal surface and high volume production capability has now been satisfied with the use of low melting temperature metal alloys.

This paper describes the application of statistical techniques known as Design of Experiments (D.O.E.) to efficiently use the results of numerical analysis data in order to improve the configuration of automotive systems. The general framework of these techniques is presented in a format aiming at the design engineer as their end user. Besides, a case study is presented with the purpose of illustrating their practical use. The first step of the case study is to build predictive models for the behaviour of the automotive system being developed by means of the Response Surface Method (RSM), using the proper D.O.E. options. Once these predictive models are available, automatic numerical optimization algorithms are used to improve the responses of interest for given operating conditions. Finally, the automotive systems are robust designed taking into account that the operating conditions vary randomly.

Automotive industry is a major contributor to global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and waste generation. Not only do vehicles produce emissions during usage, but they also generate emissions during production phase and end of life disposal. There is an urgent need to address sustainability and circularity issues in this sector. This paper explores how circularity and CO2 reduction principles can be applied to design and production of automotive parts, with the aim of reducing the environmental impact of these components throughout their life cycle. Also, this paper highlights the impact of design principles on End-of-Life Management of vehicles. As Design decisions of Component impacts up to 80% of emissions [1], it is important to focus on this phase for major contribution in reduction of emissions.

Carbon and rephosphorized pre-strained sheet steels for cold drawing forming operations were studied and the tensile, high cycle fatigue and fatigue crack propagation properties were determined. The fatigue limit was found to be higher for 20% than for 1% pre-strained condition. Threshold stress intensity factors (▵Ků) of 5.29 MPa. m1/2 for rephosphorized steel and 7.07 MPa. m1/2 for carbon steel. Critical crack lenghts were calculated by ▵Ků and fatigue limit data using the Lukas-Klesnil short-crack criterion. Through fractographic analysis it was possible to determine the general behavior of tested materials near threshold.

Energy demand climbs as a consequence of the inherent relationship between the rate of consumption of energy and the growth of the economy. In light of the depletion of fossil fuels, it is necessary to implement energy efficiency techniques and policies that support sustainable development. Globally, researchers show more interest in discovering fossil fuel alternatives, as a result of fuel crisis. This research elaborates on the production and experimental investigation of briquettes made from ideal municipal solid waste (MSW), such as food waste and garden waste, as a feasible choice for alternate fossil fuels. From Municipal, agricultural, and food waste, we can get biomass waste. Municipal solid and agricultural waste is extensively dispersed, but their potential for converting biomass into energy generation still needs to be explored. This study was carried out based on the information gathered from various studies published in the scientific literature.