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This paper first reports on the benchmarking of a gasoline- fueled vehicle currently for sale in California that is certified to ULEV standards. Emissions data from this vehicle indicate the improvements necessary over current technology to meet SULEV tailpipe standards. Tests with this vehicle also show emissions levels with current technology under off-cycle conditions representative of real-world use. We then present Delphi's strategy of on-board partial oxidation (POx) reforming with gasoline-fueled, spark-ignition engines. On-board reforming provides a source of hydrogen fuel. Tests were run with bottled gas simulating the output of a POx reformer. Results show that an advanced Engine Management System with a small on-board reformer can provide very low tailpipe emissions both under cold start and warmed-up conditions using relatively small amounts of POx gas. The data cover both normal US Federal Test Procedure (FTP) conditions as well as more extreme, off-cycle operation.

TPO is getting wider acceptance for automotive applications. An exterior application like a fascia is a very good example. Interiors are still a challenge due to many reasons including overall system cost. For interior applications, “all-olefin” means it mainly consists of three materials: TPO skin, cross-linked olefinic-based foam and PP substrate. The driving force for TPO in Europe is mainly recyclability while in the USA, it is long-term durability. This paper describes the key limitations of the current TPO systems which are: poor grain retention of TPO skin, shrinkage in-consistency of the skin, high cost of priming (or other treatments) and painting of the skin, lower process window of the semi-crystalline TPO material during thermoforming or In-mold lamination / Low pressure molding, high cost of the foam, low tear strength of the foam for deep draw ratio etc.

The lateral runout of disc brake corner components can lead to the generation of brake system pulsation. Emphasis on reducing component flatness and lateral runout tolerances are a typical response to address this phenomenon. This paper presents the results of an analytical study that examined the effect that the attachment of the wheel to the brake corner assembly could have on the lateral distortion of the rotor. An analysis procedure was developed to utilize the finite element method and simulate the mechanics of the assembly process. Calculated rotor distortions were compared to laboratory measurements. A statistical approach was utilized, in conjunction with the finite element method, to study a number of wheel and brake corner parameters and identify the characteristics of a robust design.

The industry strategy for automotive safety systems has been evolving over the last 20 years. Initially, individual passive devices and features such as seatbelts, airbags, knee bolsters, crush zones, etc. were developed for saving lives and minimizing injuries when an accident occurs. Later, preventive measures such as improving visibility, headlights, windshield wipers, tire traction, etc. were deployed to reduce the probability of getting into an accident. Now we are at the stage of actively avoiding accidents as well as providing maximum protection to the vehicle occupants and even pedestrians. Systems that are on the threshold of being deployed or under intense development include collision detection / warning / intervention systems, lane departure warning, drowsy driver detection, and advanced safety interiors.

Automotive occupant safety continues to evolve. At present this area has gathered a strong consumer interest which the vehicle manufacturers are tapping into with the introduction of many new safety technologies. Initially, individual passive devices and features such as seatbelts, knee- bolsters, structural crush zones, airbags etc., were developed for to help save lives and minimize injuries in accidents. Over the years, preventive measures such as improving visibility, headlights, windshield wipers, tire traction etc., were deployed to help reduce the probability of getting into an accident. With tremendous new research and improvements in electronics, we are at the stage of helping to actively avoid accidents in certain situations as well as providing increased protection to vehicle occupants and pedestrians.

A front disc brake system is used as an example for an investigation of low frequency squeal. Many different modifications to this disc brake system have been proposed and this paper focuses on a solution that reduces the stiffness of the rotor. This is accomplished by a reduction in the Young's modulus of the rotor material. The complex eigenvalue method is used for a detailed analytical study in order to obtain a better understanding of this solution technique. Modal participation factors are calculated to examine the modal coupling mechanism. Parametric studies are also performed to find out the effects of friction coefficient and rotor stiffness. Results show that shifting rotor resonance frequencies may ecouple the modal interaction and eliminate dynamic instability, which is in agreement with experimental results.

The objective of this paper is to impart the challenges presented and the solutions derived to transform an artist's rendering into a production driver's door switch to be used in the interior of a high profile sports car. The challenges took many forms throughout the process, from data translation and packaging, to the final decorative issues. The results are a finished product providing a new approach to automotive interior switch design. It incorporates a low profile, continuous plane keypad with “soft touch” feel, tactile feedback, and integrated back lighting.

The development of an analytical model for multilayer stack subjected to temperature change is demonstrated here. Thin continuous layers of materials bonded together deform as a plate due to their differing coefficients of thermal expansion upon subjecting the bonded materials to the change in temperature. Applications of such structures can be found in the electronics industry (the study of warpage issues in printed circuit boards) or in the aerospace industry as (the study of laminated thin sheets used as skin structures for load bearing members such as wings and fuselage). In automotive electronics, critical high-power packages (IGBT, Power FETs) include several layers of widely differing materials (aluminum, solder, copper, ceramics) subjected to wide temperature cyclic ranges. Modeling of such structures by using three-dimensional finite element methods is usually time consuming and may not exactly predict the inter-laminar strains.

The utilization of Laser welding process has increased during last years in several areas of industry, due to many benefits that can be achieved with this technology, such as: flexibility, productivity and quality. Thus, the optimization of Laser welding processes has been considered as a “green field” to be explored by Laser manufacturers, automation companies and process/project engineers. Nowadays there are few researches that provide a roadmap for Laser welding processes improvement that approaches both the aspects and characteristics applied to evaluate the Laser weld application performance. Therefore, this paper has per its main purpose through an exploratory study to provide parameters toward continuous improvement of Laser welding process considering both types of Lasers: Laser spot weld and Laser seam weld of stainless steel joints, thus this work may be considered as theoretical and practical reference to be applied by people involved with Laser welding applications.

The four major discriminators for products in the market place are Technology, Quality,1 Cost and Delivery. Effective measurement systems and initial design quality have the largest impact on delivered field quality, program development cost and timing, as well as customer enthusiasm. System-level reliability testing methods have a major impact on the business health of any product. The implementation of laboratory forced failure testing in simultaneously applied energy environments has the largest influence for "designing in" field reliability and lowering development cost. Clearly a policy change from success based testing to forced failure testing has had the largest impact on results for the consumer.

The SuperPlug™ door module is a new Delphi innovation. It is a one-piece composite structure, which integrates several door components into one assembly. This reduces the total part count, simplifies the vehicle level assembly process, and reduces labor cost (see the Appendix). The door slam durability test is an important factor in door module design. As more hardware is integrated into the SuperPlug, this subsystem performance in a door slam test becomes important. Therefore, the correct placement of components and the supporting structure is critical. Currently, the evaluation of door slam durability for the SuperPlug is a process of build then test. This is time consuming and costly due to a long testing lead-time and the expense of tooling a new mold. It was realized that a numerical process for assessing the effect of door slam would be required. This process would compute the dynamic response using finite element analysis (FEA).

Side impact accounts for a significant source of societal harm, injury and death. To address this issue, Europe and US have introduced legislation to be met for the new vehicle certification. In an effort to meet these regulations and the market demand for safety, Automotive manufacturers have significantly improved vehicle side structure integrity and introduced side impact airbags are for added protection. Today, passenger vans, light truck and sport-utility type vehicles are all popular consumer choices in the US. These vehicles differ significantly from passenger cars in many respects and as such need special design considerations for side airbags. Here, MADYMO-3D model of a generic passenger van / Sport-Utility type vehicle is created and correlated to FMVSS-214 side impact crash test. This model is used to evaluate both door and seat mounted side airbag designs in different orientations at standard test impact condition and at a higher speed.

Tomorrow's winning powertrain solutions reside in those technology combinations providing optimized propulsion systems with zero emissions and no cost or performance penalty compared with today's vehicles. The recent Kyoto Protocol for CO2 reduction and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) thrust for zero emission vehicles along with the European Regulatory community, motivate car manufacturers to adopt new light body structures with low aerodynamic drag coefficients, low-rolling resistance and the highest efficiency powertrains. The environmental equation expresses car manufacturers aptitude and desire to create zero emission vehicles at acceptable levels of performance unlike limited range electrical powered vehicle products. The cheapest solution to the environmental equation remains the conventional internal combustion engine ($30 to $50 per kW).

The most popular aluminum alloys for semi-solid automotive components are A356 and A357. The density of rheocast semi-solid A357 is higher than die cast A357 and allows for both T5 and T6 heat treatment. The mechanical properties of rheocast semi-solid A357 was found to be more dependent upon the heat treat schedule and casting soundness than by the solid content of the semi-solid slurry or the globule shape.

Vehicle interior harmony is related to human factors but it deals with human emotional attachment to the product. Kansei, or sensory engineering provides an effective approach to address harmony issues. This paper reports a preliminary investigation of human sensory evaluation of commercial truck interiors, especially the door interiors. To investigate the end users' needs and preference, a questionnaire survey was administered to twenty-six commercial truck drivers. Responses on usability, styling, harmony, and ergonomics issues of each driver's own truck were recorded. Furthermore, a set of 12 semantic differential scales, together with a preference ranking scale, was served to evaluate six truck door interiors. Results show that commercial truck drivers are more concerned with functionality and usability than styling and visual harmony.

This paper is about the use of the Six Sigma Methodology, to solve variation problems in the manufacture area, at one of the Delphi Automotive Systems unit that manufacturer electrical harness. The DMAIC framework was followed, the improvements were done, eliminating the rots causes, and the use of Six Sigma methodology, was showed very efficient in solve problems. The methodology power, is in using a structured frame work, the DMAIC (Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control), completing by quality quality tools (Pareto Chart, Five Why's, Cause and Effect Diagram) and statistical analyses, for example: variance analyses, hypotheses tests and Design of Experiments.