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The need for efficient space utilization has provided a framework for the design of a 248mm family of torque converters that supports a wide choice of engine and transmission combinations. The axial length of the part and its weight have been substantially reduced while the performance range has been broadened without degradation of efficiency. The new converter operates in an expanded slipping clutch mode. It significantly contributes to the performance and fuel economy improvements of related vehicles. To meet the cost target, the comprehensive lineup and the resulting complexity have required a high level of component interchangeability. During the design phase, the manufacturing core competencies were scrutinized and process redundancies eliminated, both resulting in optimization of material selection and applicable technology.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) have both developed crash test methodologies to address frontal collisions in which the vehicle's primary front structure is either partially engaged or not engaged at all. IIHS addresses Small Overlap crashes, cases in which the vehicle's primary front energy absorbing structure is not engaged, using a rigid static barrier with an overlap of 25% of the vehicle's width at an impact angle of 0°. The Institute's Moderate Overlap partially engages the vehicle's primary front energy absorbing structure using a deformable static barrier with 40% overlap at a 0° impact angle. The NHTSA has developed two research test methods which use a common moving deformable barrier impacting the vehicle with 20% overlap at a 7° impact angle and 35% overlap at a 15° impact angle respectively.

Rollover crashes have continued to be a source of extensive research into determining both vehicle performance, and occupant restraint capabilities. Prior research has utilized various test procedures, including the FMVSS 208 dolly fixture, as a basis for evaluating vehicle and restraint performance. This research, using 2001 Nissan Pathfinder sport utility vehicles (SUVs), was conducted to update the status of passenger vehicle rollover testing, and evaluate dynamic test repeatability with a new test procedure. A series of eight rollover tests was conducted using these SUV vehicles, mounted on a modified FMVSS 208 rollover dolly fixture, with instrumented dummies in both front seat positions. This test protocol involved launching the vehicles horizontally, after snubbing the dolly fixture, and having the leading-side tires contact curbing for a trip mechanism.

A continuously variable lift, duration and phase mechanical lift mechanism is described, as applied to the intake valvetrain of a SOHC, 4-valve per cylinder, four-cylinder production engine. Improvements in fuel economy were sought by reduction of pumping losses and improved charge preparation, and optimization of WOT torque was attempted by variation of intake valve closing angle. Adjustment of the mechanism is achieved by movement of the pivot shaft for the rocker arms. The relationship between lift, duration and phase is predetermined at the design stage, and is fixed during operation. There is considerable design flexibility to achieve the envelope of lift curves deemed desirable. The operation of the mechanism is described, as are the development procedure, testing with fixed cams, some cycle simulation, friction testing on a separate rig and dyno testing results for idle, part load and WOT.

In this paper, we have analyzed the problem of the engine noise propagation and have classified that there is a fundamental relationship between exterior noise and structural design. In the case of light vehicles, we have isolated the following 2 factors in structural design which have a direct bearing on exterior noise. (1) The layout and the area of exposed openings in the engine room. (2) The ability of the engine room to absorb noise. In conclusion we suggest comprehensive approach to the problem of automotive noise reduction.

Recently, many authors have attempted to represent an automobile body in terms of experimentally derived frequency response functions (FRFs), and to couple the FRFs with a FEA model of chassis for performing a total system dynamic analysis. This method is called Hybrid FEA-Experimental FRF method, or briefly HYFEX. However, in cases where the chassis model does not include the bushing models, one can not directly connect the FRFs of the auto body to the chassis model for performing a total system dynamic analysis. In other cases when the chassis model includes the bushings, the bushing dynamic rates are modeled as constant stiffness rather than frequency dependent stiffness, the direct use of the HYFEX method will yield unsatisfactory results. This paper describes how the FRF's of the auto body and the frequency dependent stiffness data of the bushings can be combined with an appropriate mathematical formulation to better represent the dynamic characteristics of a full vehicle.

Research is under way on an engine system [1] that achieves a variable compression ratio using a multiple-link mechanism between the crankshaft and pistons for the dual purpose of improving fuel economy and power output. At present, there is no database that allows direct judgment of the feasibility of the specific sliding parts in this mechanism. In this paper, the feasibility was examined by making a comparison with the sliding characteristics and material properties of conventional engine parts, for which databases exist, and using evaluation parameters based on mixed elasto-hydrodynamic (EHD) lubrication calculations. In addition, the innovations made to the mixed EHD calculation method used in this study to facilitate calculations under various lubrication conditions are also explained, including the treatment of surface roughness, wear progress and stiffness around the bearings.

In a gasoline engine, the unswept in-cylinder residual gas and introduction of external EGR is one of the important means of controlling engine raw NOx emissions and improving part load fuel economy via reduction of pumping losses. Since the trapped in-cylinder Residual Gas Fraction (RGF, comprised of both internal, and external) significantly affects the combustion process, on-line diagnosis and monitoring of in-cylinder RGF is very important to the understanding of the in-cylinder dilution condition. This is critical during the combustion system development testing and calibration processes. However, on-line measurement of in-cylinder RGF is difficult and requires an expensive exhaust gas analyzer, making it impractical for every application. Other existing methods, based on measured intake and exhaust pressures (steady state or dynamic traces) to calculate gas mass flowrate across the cylinder ports, provide a fast and economical solution to this problem.

Nissan has developed a new GA16DE engine for use in the new 1991 Sentra. The major development aims for this engine were to achieve ample torque at low to intermediate engine speed and smooth throttle response. These aims, of course, had to be compatible with good fuel economy, quietness, maintenance-free operation and high reliability. In addition, It was necessary to achieve a compact package size despite the twin-cam design. All of those objectives have been attained through the use of a super-long and aerodynamic intake system, variable valve timing control, a low friction, maintenance-free, direct acting valve system, dual direction fuel injectors, and a two-stage cam drive system. This paper discuss the major development objectives, basic engine structure and principal component parts.

There has been a growing need to develop more compact automatic transmissions with a greater number of speeds for better fuel economy and better driveability. This study investigated a method for determining suitable planetary gear trains for today's transmissions. A computer program has been developed for application to five-speed transmissions consisting of two planetary gearsets. By analyzing various gear train possibilities, the program can identify which gearsets are suitable for different conditions, including the number of speeds, the number of binding elements, topological suitability and other factors.

Interior noise caused by exterior air flow, or wind noise, is one of the noise-and-vibration phenomena for which a systematic simulation method has been desired for enabling their prediction. One of the main difficulties in simulating wind noise is that, unlike most other noises from the engine or road input, wind noise has not one but two different types of sources, namely, convective and acoustic ones. Therefore, in order to synthesize the interior sound pressure level (SPL), the body sensitivities (interior SPL/outer source level) for both types of sources have to be considered. In particular, sensitivity to the convective input has not been well understood, and hence it has not been determined. Moreover, the high-frequency nature of wind noise (e.g., the main energy range extends up to 4000 Hz) has limited the effective application of CAE for determining body sensitivities, for example, from the side window glass to the occupants’ ears.

With the increasing emphasis on Systems Engineering, there is a need to ensure that Electrical/Electronic (E/E) Systems Endurance Testing of vehicles, in a real world environment, prior to Production Launch, is performed in a manner and at a technological level that is commensurate with the high level of electronics and computers in contemporary vehicles. Additionally, validating the design and performance of individual standalone electronic systems and modules “on the bench” does not guarantee that all the permutations and combinations of real-world hardware, software, and driving conditions are taken into account. Traditional Proving Ground (PG) vehicle testing focuses mainly on powertrain durability testing, with only a simple checklist being used by the PG drivers as a reminder to cycle some of the electrical components such as the power window switches, turn signals, etc.

A robotic driver has been designed on the basis of an analysis of a human driver's action in following a given driving schedule. The self-learning algorithm enables the robot to learn the vehicle characteristics without human intervention. Based on learned relationships, the robotic driver can determine an appropriate accelerator position and execute other operations through sophisticated calculations using the future scheduled vehicle speed and vehicle characteristics data. Compensation is also provided to minimize vehicle speed error. The robotic driver can reproduce the same types of exhaust emission and fuel economy data obtained with human drivers with good repeatability. It doesn't require long preparation time. Thereby making it possible to reduce experimentation work in the vehicle development process while providing good accuracy and reliability.

Technologies for improving the fuel economy of gasoline engines have been vigorously developed in recent years for the purpose of reducing CO2 emissions. Increasing the compression ratio is an example of a technology for improving the thermal efficiency of gasoline engines. A significant issue of a high compression ratio engine for improving fuel economy and low-end torque is prevention of knocking under a low engine speed. Knocking is caused by autoignition of the air-fuel mixture in the cylinder and seems to be largely affected by heat transfer from the intake port and combustion chamber walls. In this study, the influence of heat transfer from the walls of each part was analyzed by the following three approaches using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and experiments conducted with a multi-cooling engine system. First, the temperature rise of the air-fuel mixture by heat transfer from each part was analyzed.

This paper describes a study of drag reduction devices for production pick-up trucks with a body-on-frame structure using full-scale wind tunnel testing and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations. First, the flow structure around a pick-up truck was investigated and studied, focusing in particular on the flow structure between the cabin and tailgate. It was found that the flow structure around the tailgate was closely related to aerodynamic drag. A low drag flow structure was found by flow analysis, and the separation angle at the roof end was identified as being important to achieve the flow structure. While proceeding with the development of a new production model, a technical issue of the flow structure involving sensitivity to the vehicle velocity was identified in connection with optimization of the roof end shape. (1)A tailgate spoiler was examined for solving this issue.

A continuously variable valve event and lift (VEL) system, actuated by oscillating cams, can provide optimum lift and event angles matching the engine operating conditions, thereby improving fuel economy, exhaust emission performance and power output. The VEL system allows small lift and event angles even in the engine operating region where the required intake air volume is small and the influence of valvetrain friction is substantial, such as during idling. Therefore, the system can reduce friction to lower levels than conventional valvetrains, which works to improve fuel economy. On the other hand, a distinct feature of oscillating cams is that their sliding velocity is zero at the time of peak lift, which differs from the behavior of conventional rotating cams. For that reason, it is assumed that the friction and lubrication characteristics of oscillating cams may differ from those of conventional cams.

A study was made on a control method for an adaptive cruise control (ACC) system that uses vehicle-to-vehicle communication to achieve a substantial improvement in string stability and natural headway distance response characteristics at lower levels of longitudinal G. A control system using model predictive control was constructed to achieve this desired ACC vehicle behavior. Control simulations were performed using experimental data obtained in vehicle-following driving tests conducted on a proving ground course using a platoon of three manually driven vehicles. The results showed that the proposed ACC system satisfactorily achieved higher levels of required ACC performance.

Technologies for improving the fuel economy of gasoline engines have been vigorously developed in recent years for the purpose of reducing CO2 emissions. Increasing the compression ratio for improving thermal efficiency and downsizing the engine based on fuel-efficient operating conditions are good examples of technologies for enhancing gasoline engine fuel economy. A direct-injection system is adopted for most of these engines. Direct injection can prevent knocking by lowering the in-cylinder temperature through fuel evaporation in the cylinder. Therefore, direct injection is highly compatible with downsized engines that frequently operate under severe supercharging conditions for improving fuel economy as well as with high compression ratio engines for which susceptibility to knocking is a disadvantage.

A key factor influencing the performance of a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) is how the engine and motor-generator (MG) are combined with the vehicle. There have been several types of combinations such as power transfer by using the mechanical transmission of conventional vehicles or the electrical transmission originally designed for HEVs. The objectives of this research were to clarify fuel economy characteristics according to the type of power transfer system used and to identify the requirements for MG system development by analyzing MG operation conditions in each power transfer mode. HEV systems for passenger car use were modeled on the basis of a functional classification. Simulations were conducted using the characteristics of the power transfer systems as parameters to evaluate fuel economy tendencies under several driving modes. The mechanism of the fuel economy tendencies was then analyzed to evaluate quantitatively the effect of each power transfer system on fuel economy.

The techniques harmonizing the contradiction which consists of exhaust noise reduction and engine power increase, have been required for the exhaust muffler. This techniques rapidly improved by means of the clarification due to the acoustic theories and the flow analyses. Recently, according to the passenger car tendency toward high grade and high performance, demands for low noise and high power exhaust systems are increasing year by year. The “Dual Mode Muffler” system (abbreviated, below, DMM) mounted on Nissan Cedric, Grolia and Cima series, installed in 1987, is achieved the consistent of the quietness and the engine power performance. This system is the first control type exhaust system for the 4 wheel car. On previous paper, the analyses of acoustic characteristics on DMM were mainly shown. The analyses of exhaust pressure characteristics are also an important theory along with the acoustic in the development of the exhaust system.