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A novel computer vision technique for rapid measurement of surface coordinates is presented. The technique is based on the marriage of a digital fringe projection technique and a fringe-phase extraction algorithm. A digitally controlled video signal in the form of linear and parallel fringes of cosinusoidal intensity variation is projected onto an object. The fringe pattern is perturbed by the three-dimensional object surface with fringe-phase containing information on the depth of the object. A phase extraction algorithm is used to determine the fringe-phase distribution, from which the three-dimensional surface coordinates are determined. The theoretical basis of this technique and some experimental results are presented in this paper.

Wheel Aerodynamics is an important part of vehicle aerodynamics. The wheels can notably influence the total aerodynamic drag, lift and ventilation drag of vehicles. In order to simulate the real on-road condition of driving cars, the moving ground and wheel rotation is of major importance in CFD. However, the wheel rotation condition is difficult to be represented exactly, so this is still a critical topic which needs to be worked on. In this paper, a study, which focuses on two types of cars: a fastback sedan and a notchback DrivAer, is conducted. Comparing three different wheel rotating simulation methods: steady Moving wall, MRF and unsteady Sliding Mesh, the effects of different methods for the numerical simulation of vehicle aerodynamics are revealed. Discrepancies of aerodynamic forces between the methods are discussed as well as the flow field, and the simulation results are also compared with published experimental data for validation.

In this work, the influences of various real-timely available energy management strategies on vehicle fuel consumption (VFC) and energy flow of a range-extender electric vehicle were studied The strategies include single-point, multi-point, speed-following, and equivalent consumption minimization strategy. In addition, the dynamic programming method which cannot be used in real time, but can provide the optimal solution for a known drive situation was used for comparison. VFCs and energy flow characteristics with different strategies under Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicles Test Cycle (WLTC) were obtained through computer modeling, and the results were verified experimentally on a range-extender test bench. The experimental results are consistent with the modeled ones in general with a maximum deviation of 4.11%, which verifies the accuracy of the simulation models.

Flame speed data reported in most literature are acquired in conventional apparatus such as the spherical combustion bomb and counterflow burner, and are limited to atmospheric pressure and ambient or slightly elevated unburnt temperatures. As such, these data bear little relevance to internal combustion engines and gas turbines, which operate under typical pressures of 10-50 bar and unburnt temperature up to 900K or higher. These elevated temperatures and pressures not only modify dominant flame chemistry, but more importantly, they inevitably facilitate pre-ignition reactions and hence can change the upstream thermodynamic and chemical conditions of a regular hot flame leading to modified flame properties. This study focuses on how auto-ignition chemistry affects flame propagation, especially in the negative-temperature coefficient (NTC) regime, where dimethyl ether (DME), n-heptane and iso-octane are chosen for study as typical fuels exhibiting low temperature chemistry (LTC).

Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries and issues related to their thermal management and safety have been attracting extensive research interests. In this work, based on a recent thermal chemistry model, the phenomena of thermal runaway induced by a transient internal heat source are computationally investigated using a three-dimensional (3D) model built in COMSOL Multiphysics 5.3. Incorporating the anisotropic heat conductivity and typical thermal chemical parameters available from literature, temperature evolution subject to both heat transfer from an internal source and the activated internal chemical reactions is simulated in detail. This paper focuses on the critical runaway behavior with a delay time around 10s. Parametric studies are conducted to identify the effects of the heat source intensity, duration, geometry, as well as their critical values required to trigger thermal runaway.

Selecting the right transportation platform is challenging, whether it is at a personal level or at an organizational level. In settings where predominantly the functional aspects rule the decision making process, defining the mobility of a vehicle is critical for comparing different offerings and making acquisition decisions. With the advent of intelligent vehicles, exhibiting partial to full autonomy, this challenge is exacerbated. The same vehicle may traverse independently and with greater tolerance for acceleration than human occupied vehicles, while, at the same time struggle with obstacle avoidance. The problem presents itself at the individual vehicle sensing level and also at the vehicle/fleet level. At the sensing and information level, one can be looking at issues of latency, bandwidth and optimal information fusion from multiple sources including privileged sensing. At the overall vehicle level, one focuses more on the ability to complete missions.

Tubular hydroforming is a novel process that has recently gained much attention due to its cost-effective application in the automotive industry. Hydroformed automotive parts have high strength to weight ratio and have good repeatability with high dimensional accuracy. At this time, there is little experience in modeling the hydroforming process to better understand its application and researchers have tried using stamping simulation software to analyze the process. Unlike conventional sheet stamping which is a displacement driven process, tubular hydroforming is a force driven process and its success is governed by the nature of internal pressurization. Hence, a new three-dimensional finite element model using a computationally efficient 6-noded shell element has been developed. A simple pressure prediction model has been developed and integrated into the formulation for effective control of the process.

A new method is demonstrated for rating the “severity” of a hypoid gear set duty cycle (revolutions at torque) using the intercept of T-N curve to support gearset selection and sizing decision across vehicle programs. Historically, it has been customary to compute a cumulative damage (using Miner's Rule) for a rotating component duty cycle given a T-N curve slope and intercept for the component and failure mode of interest. The slope and intercept of a T-N curve is often proprietary to the axle manufacturer and are not published. Therefore, for upfront sizing and selection purposes representative T-N properties are used to assess relative component duty cycle severity via cumulative damage (non-dimensional quantity). A similar duty cycle severity rating can also be achieved by computing the intercept of the T-N curve instead of cumulative damage, which is the focus of this study.

An electrochemical impedance spectroscopy battery model based on the porous electrode theory is used in the paper, which can comprehensively depict the internal state of the battery. The effect of battery key parameters (the radius of particle, electrochemical reaction rate constant, solid/electrolyte diffusion coefficient, conductivity) to the simulated impedance spectroscopy are discussed. Based on the EIS analysis, a lithium-ion battery optimized equivalent circuit model is built. The parameters in the equivalent circuit model have more clear physical meaning. The reliability of the optimized equivalent circuit model is verified by compared the model and experiments. The relationship between the external condition and internal resistance could be studied according to the optimized equivalent circuit model. Thus the internal process of the power battery is better understood.

The research and development of data-driven highly automated driving system components such as trajectory prediction, motion planning, driving test scenario generation, and safety validation all require large amounts of naturalistic vehicle trajectory data. Therefore, a variety of data collection methods have emerged to meet the growing demand. Among these, camera-equipped drones are gaining more and more attention because of their obvious advantages. Specifically, compared to others, drones have a wider field of bird's eye view, which is less likely to be blocked, and they could collect more complete and natural vehicle trajectory data. Besides, they are not easily observed by traffic participants and ensure that the human driver behavior data collected is realistic and natural. In this paper, we present a complete vehicle trajectory data extraction framework based on aerial videos. It consists of three parts: 1) objects detection, 2) data association, and 3) data cleaning.

Recently, several datasets have become available for occupant monitoring algorithm development, including real and synthetic datasets. However, real data acquisition is expensive and labeling is complex, while virtual data may not accurately reflect actual human physiology. To address these issues and obtain high-fidelity data for training intelligent driving monitoring systems, we have constructed a hybrid dataset that combines real driving image data with corresponding virtual data generated from 3D driving scenarios. We have also taken into account individual anthropometric measures and driving postures. Our approach not only greatly enriches the dataset by using virtual data to augment the sample size, but it also saves the need for extensive annotation efforts. Besides, we can enhance the authenticity of the virtual data by applying ergonomics techniques based on RAMSIS, which is crucial in dataset construction.

Fatigue life estimation, reliability and durability are important in acquisition, maintenance and operation of vehicle systems. Fatigue life is random because of the stochastic load, the inherent variability of material properties, and the uncertainty in the definition of the S-N curve. The commonly used fatigue life estimation methods calculate the mean (not the distribution) of fatigue life under Gaussian loads using the potentially restrictive narrow-band assumption. In this paper, a general methodology is presented to calculate the statistics of fatigue life for a linear vibratory system under stationary, non-Gaussian loads considering the effects of skewness and kurtosis. The input loads are first characterized using their first four moments (mean, standard deviation, skewness and kurtosis) and a correlation structure equivalent to a given Power Spectral Density (PSD).

Real-time measurement or estimation of crank-angle-resolved engine cylinder pressure may become commonplace in the next generation of engine controllers to optimize spark, valve timing, or compression ratio. Toward the development of a real-time cylinder pressure estimator, this work presents a crank-angle-resolved engine cylinder pressure estimation model that could accept inputs such as speed, manifold pressure and throttle position, and deliver crank-angle resolved cylinder pressure in real-time, at engine speeds covering the useful operating range of most engines. The model was validated by comparing simulated cylinder pressure with thirteen sets of cylinder pressure data, from two different commercial engines from two different OEMs. Estimated pressures were compared against the actual measured pressure traces. The average relative error is about 3% while the maximum relative error is 5%. Both can be improved with further tuning.

In Aluminum Alloy, AA, sheet metal forming, the through thickness cracking at the edge of cut out is one of the major fracture modes. In order to prevent the edge cracking in production forming process, practical edge stretch limit criteria are needed for virtual forming prediction and early stamping trial evaluations. This paper proposes new methods for determining the edge stretching limit of the sheet coupons, with and without pre-stretching, based on the Digital Image Correlation (DIC) technique. A numbers of sets of notch-shaped smaller coupons with three different pre-stretching conditions (near 5%, 10% and fractured) are cut from the prestretched large specimens. Then the notch-shaped smaller coupons are stretched by uniaxial tension up to through edge cracking observed. A dual-camera 3D-DIC system is utilized to measure both coupon face strain and thickness strain in the notch area at the same time.

During current design process of vehicle engine exhaust system, the frequently-used approach mainly concerns an individual component, which usually results in not meeting the overall design requirements or unreasonable design parameters. Here a concept of comprehensive evaluation metrics for vehicle engine exhaust system was established, of which a new weight factor assignment method was proposed, named change rate method, as the core of evaluation system to be especially studied. Taking muffler as an instance, six weight factor assignment schemes were adopted to compare with each other. And the rationality and practicability of the change rate assignment method was verified by the muffler noise experiments. The results show that, the change rate method makes the weight assignment more scientific and rigorous. And the new method can reflect the wishes of designers and completely displays the performance comparison and evaluation between schemes.

Battery models are often applied to describe the dynamic characteristics of batteries and can be used to predict the state of the battery. Due to the process of charging and discharging, the battery heat generation will cause the inhomogeneity between inner battery temperature and surface temperature. In this paper, a novel battery impedance model, which takes the impact of the battery internal temperature gradient on battery impedance into account, is proposed to improve the battery model performance. Several experiments are designed and conducted for pouch typed battery to investigate the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) characteristics with the artificial temperature gradient (using a heating plate). Experimental results indicate that the battery internal temperature gradient will influence battery EIS regularly.

With the popularity of automated vehicles, the future mixed traffic flow contains automated vehicles with different degrees of intelligence developed by other manufacturers. Therefore, simulating the interaction behavior of automated vehicles with varying levels of intelligence is crucial for testing and evaluating autonomous driving systems. Since the algorithm of traffic vehicles with various intelligence levels is difficult to obtain, it leads to hardships in quantitatively characterizing their interaction behaviors. Therefore, this paper designs a new automated vehicle test platform to solve the problem. The intelligent vehicle testbed with multiple personalized in-vehicle control units in the loop consists of three parts: 1. Multiple controllers in the loop to simulate the behavior of traffic vehicles；2. The central console applies digital twin technology to share the same traffic scenario between the tested vehicle and the traffic vehicle, creating a mixed traffic flow. 3.

Wireless charging system for vehicular power batteries is becoming more and more popular. As one of important issues, charging power regulation is indispensable for online control, especially when the distance or angle between chassis and ground changes. This paper proposes a novel power regulation method named Z-Source-Based Pulse-Amplitude-Modulation (ZSB-PAM), which has not been mentioned in the literatures yet. The ZSB-PAM employs a unique impedance network (two pairs of inductors and capacitors connected in X shape) to couple the cascaded H Bridge to the power source. By controlling the shoot-through state of H bridge, the input voltage to H bridge can be boosted, thus the transmitter current can be adjusted, and hence, charging current and power for batteries. A LCL-LCL resonant topology is adopted as the main transfer energy carrier, for it can work with a unity power factor and have the current source characteristic which is suitable for battery charging.

As one of the key technologies in autonomous driving, the lateral planning module guides the lateral movement during the driving process. An integrated lateral planning module should consider the non-holonomic constraints of a vehicle, the optimization of the generated trajectory and the applicability to various scenarios. However, the current lateral planning methods can only meet parts of these requirements. In order to satisfy all the performance requirements above, a novel Potential Field (PF) based lateral planning method is proposed in this paper. Firstly, a PF model is built to describe the potential risk of the traffic entities, including the obstacles, road boundaries and lines. The potential fields of these traffic entities are determined by their properties and the traffic regulations. Secondly, the planning algorithm is presented, which comprises three modules: state prediction, state search and trajectory generation.

Cold start capability is one of remaining major challenges in realizing PEMFC (Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell) technology for automotive applications. Gas purge is a common and integral shutdown procedure of a PEMFC automotive in subzero temperature. A dryer membrane electrode assembly (MEA) can store more water before it gets saturated and ice starts to penetrate in the open pores of porous media, thus enhancing cold start capability of a PEMFC. Therefore, gas purge is always performed prior to fuel cell shutdown to minimize residual water in a PEMFC. In the hope of improving effectiveness of purge in a PEMFC vehicle, two important purge parameters are evaluated including purge time and energy requirement. In practice, an optimized gas purge protocol should be developed with minimal parasitic energy, short purge duration and no degradation of components. To conclude, the cold start capability and performance can be consolidated by proper design of gas purge strategies.