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Volvo Car Corporation has developed a Reference Architecture for PAG1 Infotainment Systems. A Reference Architecture is an architecture scoping over more than a single system, i.e. an architecture aimed for a family of systems. The Infotainment Reference Architecture has since 2001 been successfully applied for the PAG family which so far covers the infotainment systems of Volvo XC90, Volvo S40/V50, Jaguar XK, Aston Martin DB9 and the brand new Volvo S80. In 1999, the system design departments started up with the clear objective to develop a system solution aiming for the PAG infotainment system family. The work was carried out according to the established development process at Volvo Cars. A year later a discouraging design review was performed. The number of involved functions, the level of function interaction and the distribution of functionalities between ECUs resulted in a non-manageable system solution.

The low frequency acoustic response of the passenger compartment (cavity) in sedans is considered with respect to the coupling between the cavity and the trunk. Both acoustic (via holes in the parcel shelf or behind the backrest of the rear seat), and structural (via the parcel shelf itself, or the panel of the backrest) mechanisms are investigated by both test and CAE. It is found that the peaks in acoustic response of the cavity at low frequencies are due to both acoustic and structural phenomena. However, the acoustic ones can be effectively blocked by proper design of the trim. Recommendations concerning modeling of acoustic effects in sedans are formulated.

In the early days of the automotive industry, durability and reliability were hit or miss affairs, with end-users often being the first to know about any durability problems - and in many cases forming an essential part of the development process. More recently, automotive companies have developed proving ground and laboratory test procedures that aim to simulate typical or severe customer usage. These test procedures have been used to develop the products through a series of prototypes and to prove the durability of the product prior to release in the marketplace. Now, commercial pressures and legal requirements have led to increasing reliance on CAE methods, with fatigue life prediction having a central role in the durability engineering process.

Audio CAE is an emerging area of interest for vehicle OEMs. Questions regarding early stages of the vehicle design, like choosing the possible positions for speakers, deciding the installation details that can influence the visual design, and integration of the low frequency speakers with the body & closures structure, are of interest. Therefore, at VCC, the development of the CAE methodology for audio applications has been undertaken. The key to all CAE applications is the loudspeaker model made available in the vibro-acoustic software used within the company. Such a model has been developed, implemented and verified in different frequency ranges and different applications. The applications can be divided into the low frequency ones (concerning the installation of woofers and subwoofers), and the middle/high frequency ones (concerning the installation of midrange and tweeter speakers). In the case of the woofer, it is the interaction with the body vibration that is of interest.

Maintaining the current ratio between certified and the customer-observed fuel consumption even with future required levels poses a considerable challenge. Increasing the efficiency of the driveline enables certified fuel consumption down to a feasible level in the order of 80 g CO₂/km using fossil fuels. Mainly affecting off-cycle fuel consumption, energy amounts used to create good interior climate as well as energy-consuming options and features threaten to further increase. Progressing urbanization will lead to decreasing average vehicle speeds and driving distances. Highly efficient powertrains come with decreased amounts of waste energy traditionally used for interior climate conditioning, thus making necessary a change of auxiliary systems.

Automotive turbo compressors generate high frequency noise in the air intake system. This sound generation is of importance for the perceived sound quality of luxury cars and may need to be controlled by the use of silencers. The silencers usually contain resonators with slits, perforates and cavities. The purpose of the present work is to develop acoustic models for these resonators where relevant effects such as the effect of a realistic mean flow on losses and 3D effects are considered. An experimental campaign has been performed where the two-port matrices and transmission loss of sample resonators have been measured without flow and for two different mean flow speeds. Models for two resonators have been developed using 1D linear acoustic theory and a FEM code (COMSOL Multi-physics). For some resonators a separate linear 1D Matlab code has also been developed.

A broad measurement campaign was run at Volvo aiming at the evaluation of dispersion in test-based NVH characteristics of a car body and at the derivation of reference data for judging the accuracy of CAE predictions. Within this work 6, nominally identical, vehicles were tested. Tests included operational noise on Complete Vehicle (CV) level (road noise, engine noise and idling noise), NTF, VTF & Acoustic FRF measurements in CV, Trimmed Body (TB) & TB-Stripped (TBS) configurations. Additionally, modal analysis and NTF, VTF, AFRF tests were carried out on 4 BIPs of the same vehicle type. Further, limited tests were carried out on 28 vehicles of the same type. The aim of the work was to study the development of dispersion with increasing complexity of the test object, from the BIP to TB and CV.

Most OEMs are shifting their strategy and way of thinking regarding ECUs. This, in combination with the electrification of vehicles and the shift towards software-based companies (car as a device), implies one of the biggest paradigm changes in automotive history. On the other hand, despite the current struggles, remarkable advances have been made in electronic technology during the past few years. These developments have opened a door to very promising enabling technology, with exterior lighting as a main target market. These circumstances seem to have created a perfect storm leading to new strategies for electronic control and driving for (front and rear) exterior lighting. We, at our company, have investigated the enabling technology, challenges, and benefits of this emerging exterior lighting approach, that we call ‘ECU-Less’.

The automotive industry strives to develop high quality vehicles in a short period of time that satisfy the consumer needs and stand out in the competition. Full exploitation of simulation and Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE) tools can enable quick evaluation of different vehicle concepts and setups without the need of building physical prototypes. Addressing the aforementioned statements this paper presents a method for optimising the Electric Power-Assisted Steering (EPAS) ECU parameters employing solely CAE. The objective of the optimisation is to achieve a desired steering response. The developed process is tested on three specific steering metrics (friction feel, torque build-up and torque deadband) for two function parameters (basic steering torque and active return) of the EPAS. The optimisation method enabled all metrics to fall successfully within the target range.

Vehicle dynamics development relies on subjective assessments (SA), which is a resource-intensive procedure requiring both expert drivers and vehicles. Furthermore, development projects becoming shorter and more complex, and increasing demands on quality require higher efficiency. Most research in this area has focused on moving from physical to virtual testing. However, SA remains the central method. Less attention has been given to provide better tools for the SA process itself. One promising approach is to introduce computer-tablets to aid data collection, which has proven to be useful in medical studies. Simple software solutions can eliminate the need to transcribe data and generate more flexible and better maintainable questionnaires. Tablets’ technical features envision promising enhancements of SA, which also enable better correlations to objective metrics, a requirement to improve CAE evaluations.

Passenger cars equipped with diesel engines will meet challenging emission legislation for the coming decade, with introduction of Euro6 and Euro7, which comprises reduced NOX emissions and possibly new driving cycles including off-cycle limits. The technology measures to meet these legislative limits comprise a broad spectrum of engine and aftertreatment, i.e., engine measures such as improved fuel injection with respect to mass and timing, improved exhaust gas recirculation, improved warm-up and reduced friction, as well as aftertreatment measures such as selective catalytic reduction and lean NOX trap in combination with diesel particulate filter, and the thereby associated engine control. The resulting technology matrix is therefore large, and calls for a multidisciplinary simulation approach for appropriate selection and optimization of technology and control with the objectives and constraints of emissions, fuel consumption, performance and cost.

The aim of the presented research is to propose and benchmark two brake models, namely the novel dynamic ILVO (Ilmenau-Volvo) model and a neural-network based regression. These can estimate the evolution of the brake friction between pad and disc under different load conditions, which are typically experienced in vehicle applications. The research also aims improving the knowledge of the underlying mechanism related to the evolution of the BLFC (boundary layer friction coefficient), the reliability of virtual environment simulations to speed up the product development time and reducing the amount of vehicle test in later phases and finally improving brake control functions. With the support of extensive brake dynamometer testing, the proposed models are benchmarked against State-of-the-Art. Both approaches are parametrized to render the friction coefficient dynamics with respect to the same input parameters.

In areas such as Active Safety, new technologies, designs (e.g. AUTOSAR) and methods are introduced at a rapid pace. To address the new demands, and also requirements on Functional Safety imposed by ISO 26262, the support for engineering methods, including tools and data management, needs to evolve as well. Generic and file-based data management tools, like spreadsheet tools, are popular in the industry due to their flexibility and legacy in the industry but provide poor control and traceability, while rigid and special-purpose tools provide structure and control of data but with limited evolvability. As organizations become agile, the need for flexible data management increases. Since products become more complex and developed in larger and distributed teams, the need for more unified, controlled, and consistent data increases.