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We have tried to develop our own integrated CAD/CAE systems, to provide user friendly systems to our staff members who are not familiar with CAE. These systems have been shown to support our R&D in more efficient ways than before. - They improved the quality and reduced the time of experiments and tests. The concept of development and several examples will be reported.

Over the past decades, the automotive industry has made significant efforts to improve engine fuel economy by reducing mechanical friction. Reducing friction under cold conditions is becoming more important in hybrid vehicle (HV) and plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHV) systems due to the lower oil temperatures of these systems, which results in higher friction loss. To help resolve this issue, a new internal gear fully variable discharge oil pump (F-VDOP) was developed. This new oil pump can control the oil pressure freely over a temperature range from -10°C to hot conditions. At 20°C, this pump lowers the minimum main gallery pressure to 100 kPa, thereby achieving a friction reduction effect of 1.4 Nm. The developed oil pump achieves a pressure response time constant of 0.17 seconds when changing the oil pressure from 120 kPa to 200 kPa at a temperature of 20°C and an engine speed of 1,600 rpm.

To develop Low-cost system, we used matrix function under the condition of the vehicle having symmetrical brake conduit and four-wheel control capability. As a result, 3 SOL system is a likely candidate for rear-wheel drive vehicles, and a 4 SOL system for front wheel drive vehicles by using a orifices instead of the Normal-Open solenoid. In developing a logic system, we used the learning control function with a duty pointer containing four hydraulic wave modes. The actuator weighs 2.2kg and has a volume of 1.2 liters (W90 × H105 × L133)

One of the problems concerning T/M is conventionally how “Improving the input torque as the engine gets higher power” and “Making product lighter in weight and more compact to improve the fuel consumption” can be realized at the same time. To realize these things at the same time, it is needless to say that the gears must be stronger. For the “pitting fatigue strength” which is quoted as a problem lately, the fatigue mechanism has not been clarified, yet. Therefore, it is now a big problem how to achieve high strength. In the meantime, we tried to develop the production engineering for “finer crystal grains” and “fine-dispersion precipitation of carbo-nitrides,” and succeeded in improving “pitting fatigue strength” remarkably. Such results will be reported in the following sections:

AISIN SEIKI CO., Ltd. Started the production of electronically controlled hydraulic automatic transmissions for medium-duty trucks and buses in 1989. The number of vehicles on the Japanese market in which this system is adopted is increasing steadily. After re-examining market needs, AISIN SEIKI CO., Ltd. has newly developed an electronically controlled hydraulic automatic transmission A580 which focuses on improved input capacity, driving performance and fuel economy for medium-duty trucks and buses and lessens learnt from experience.

As a process that enables the high-speed and continuous forming of lengthy materials with a constant cross-sectional configuration, roll forming offers much higher productivity than the stamping process. However, in case a change must be made to the shape of the cross section, the material must normally be stamped or joined with a part containing a separate shape. This affects productivity, increases the number of pieces, and degrades the material's appearance. This report describes the roll-forming technology that we developed, in which the cross section of the material can be changed gradually. This method adopts a system which uses a movable and rotatable roll-stand that enables high-speed, continuous roll-forming processes.

Automating the inspection of the piston combustion chamber volume is difficult and prevents establishing an unmanned machining process of the piston in the future. So, we developed an inspection technique which uses a Range Finder, non-contact visual sensor, and calculate the chamber volume by integrating 3D position data. We applied this real-time measurement technique which enables 100 % inspection to our production lines. Then, we developed the “Defect Free Production Line”, which calibrates itself by feeding back the measured volume data to the machining process. Our paper will explain this inspection technique and our “Defect Free Production Line”.

Responsiveness is one of the main characteristics of a brake booster. The design of a tandem booster, with its two boosting chambers, has a negative influence on high responsiveness. This report, using the CFD method for the air flow analysis, shows the way we found the most suitable air passage within the space of the given design of the current production tandem booster.

As a part of our process engineering (planning) steps and in order to shorten the initial flow control after the implementation of a production system, we have been adopting countermeasures for defects that have been forecasted by the application of FMEA. However, due to this having to be done with limited information (which is dependent upon the skill level of the operator) and due to the fact that the effects of each particular countermeasure are not fully understood, we cannot be certain that the measures implemented during the planning stages are thorough enough. The current situation is that countermeasures for most issues are being handled during the initial flow control stages based on the trial-and-error method. Given this situation, normally, it would take us more than three months from the time of line-off (start of production) to achieve our target rate of capacity utilization.

In recent years, the number of reported traffic accidents due to sudden deterioration in driver’s physical condition has been increasing, it is expected to develop a system that prevents accidents even if physical condition suddenly changes while driving, or reduces damage through vehicle body control. For this purpose, it is necessary to detect sudden changes of the driver’s physical condition, and research is being conducted widely. Among them, it is reported that some of such changes may appear in the heartbeat interval. In other words, by acquiring the driver’s heartbeat interval in real time, it may be possible to detect the sudden changes, and reduce traffic accident. Even if a traffic accident occurs, the damage can be reduced by emergency evacuation immediately after detecting sudden changes.