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The Electro Gyro-Cator allows a driver to monitor his progress, plot and follow courses to a destination, select alternate routes, and drive more safely on unfamiliar roads or at night. Employing a sealed helium gas-rate gyro, the Electro Gyro-Cator offers visual display (CRT display) of a car's present location, direction and route, with overlay maps for fast, simple route selection and monitoring. The primary elements of the unit include trip and direction sensors, a 16-Bit central processing unit, a CRT display screen and a collection of transparent overlay maps fitted to the screen.

An essential feature of the Audi Quattro permanent four-wheel drive system is in the inter-axle differential located on the hollow output shaft in the gearbox: the drive is taken from this differential forward to the front differential through the inside of the hollow shaft, and rearward to a propellor shaft driving the rear differential. The major advantages in everyday driving include improved traction and a reduced tendency toward throttle induced changes of attitude. The greater traction allows not only better progress in difficult road conditions; it also gives better acceleration in difficult traffic situations, such as when joining a busy main road. The more easily predictable handling response to throttle changes means that Quattro vehicles have better tracking stability. Altogether, the active safety and "roadability" are considerably improved.

Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) are worldwide recognized as one of the best and most immediate opportunities to solve the problems of fuel consumption, pollutant emissions and fossil fuels depletion, thanks to the high reliability of engines and the high efficiencies of motors. Moreover, as transport policy is becoming day by day stricter all over the world, moving people or goods efficiently and cheaply is the goal that all the main automobile manufacturers are trying to reach. In this context, the municipalities are performing their own action plans for public transport and the efforts in realizing high efficiency hybrid electric buses, could be supported by the local policies. For these reasons, the authors intend to propose an efficient control strategy for a hybrid electric bus, with a series architecture for the power-train.

The Lunar Electric Rover (LER), which was formerly called the Small Pressurized Rover (SPR), is currently being carried as an integral part of the lunar surface architectures that are under consideration in the Constellation Program. One element of the LER is the suit port, which is the means by which crew members perform Extravehicular Activities (EVAs). Two suit port deliverables were produced in fiscal year 2008: a 1-g suit port concept evaluator for functional integrated testing with the LER 1-g concept vehicle and a functional and pressurizable Engineering Unit (EU). This paper focuses on the 1-g suit port concept evaluator test results from the Desert Research and Technology Studies (D-RATS) October 2008 testing at Black Point Lava Flow (BPLF), Arizona. The 1-g suit port concept evaluator was integrated with the 1-g LER cabin and chassis concepts.

Because of the size and weight of the various components going into the machine, new approaches were used to solve the practical limitations of manufacturing facilities, shipping clearances, and erection procedures. Although the general appearance of the machine is similar to previous units, there are a number of new design features incorporated in the unit. This paper will be limited to the major design considerations as follows: adaption to stripping two seams of coal simultaneously; dipper with two doors; computerized hydraulic steering maintaining Ackerman correction; double end drive crawlers and belt tensioning; and electrical innovations.

THIS paper deals with the road-test portion of the extensive efforts made during 1937 by the Cooperative Fuel Research Committee to get as precise a correlation as possible between the laboratory knock ratings of automobile fuels and their corresponding ratings in cars on the road. It is anticipated that the comprehensive results of car tests reported here, taken together with the results of the laboratory rating program reported in the companion paper, will serve as the basis of the continuing studies aimed at developing the best possible correlation between road and laboratory knock ratings. Work similar to that reported here has been conducted concurrently in England by the Institution of Petroleum Technologists, using British cars and fuels. An exchange of information between the British and American groups working on this problem is being made.

CHEVROLET has made its new air-suspension system easily interchangeable in production line assembly with standard full-coil suspension by adopting a 4-link-type rear suspension with short and long arms. A feature of the system is the mounting of the leveling valves within the air-spring assemblies. These valves correct riding height continually at a moderate rate, regardless of whether the springs are leveling or operating in ride motion. The system provides constant frequency ride—ride comfort remains the same whether the car is occupied by the driver alone or is fully loaded.

The size of the 1978 automotive service market is the total dollars spent on car and truck repair and maintenance in 1978. The 1978 personal-use automotive service market is the retail dollars spent in 1978 on repair and maintenance for cars and trucks used primarily for personal transportation. Service market estimates in this report do not include body repair parts and body repairs. Bureau of Economic Analysis data indicate a personal-use service market, excluding do-it-yourself (DIY) service, of $36 billion. A similar estimate made by General Motors Research Laboratories, based on a large national survey of actual consumer expenditures, is $ 37 billion. The personal-use automotive service market, excluding DIY, is roughly 3/4's the size of the total automotive service market, based on data from the Motor and Equipment Manufacturers Association and Frost & Sullivan, Inc.

A gasoline Road Octane study was conducted by the Coordinating Research Council (CRC) to evaluate the effects of heavy aromatics (C9 and heavier) and ethanol content on Road Octane performance independent of Research Octane Number (RON) and Motor Octane Number (MON). Maximum-throttle and part-throttle Road ON’s were found to be well predicted by equations containing only RON and MON terms. Heavier aromatics were found to have a small adverse effect on both maximum-throttle and part-throttle Road ON independent of its direct effects on RON and MON. The all-car data did not show a significant ethanol-content effect, but eight of the thirty-seven cars did show significant effects for ethanol content.

This paper presents a summary of body structural analysis applied to the 1989 Suzuki Sidekick/Geo Tracker at various stages of development and design. The structure analysis techniques were applied previously to rigidity, vibration, strength, crashworthiness and optimization. The studies confirm that the CAE technique for body structure analysis is more beneficial if it is utilized in the earlier structure development stages particularly for vibration and crashworthiness. Through the extensive use of the structural analysis technique in conjunction with the experiment, the design concept of the Sidekick/Tracker body has been optimized to a most extent.

A student team from Minnesota State University, Mankato's Automotive Engineering Technology program entered the Clean Snowmobile Challenge 2000. A 1998 Polaris Indy Trail was converted to indirect fuel injection running on a computer controlled closed loop fuel system. Also chassis, exhaust, and hood design modifications were made. The snowmobile was designed to compete in eight events. These events included acceleration, emissions, hill climb, cold start, noise, fuel economy/range, handling/driveability, and static display. The snowmobile modifications involved every aspect of the snowmobile with special emphasis on emissions and noise. Laboratory testing led to the final design. This paper details the modifications and test results.

The Cardinal is a Super Short Takeoff and Landing (SSTOL) aircraft, which is designed to fulfill the desire for center-city to center-city travel by utilizing river “barges” for short takeoffs and landings to avoid construction of new runways or heliports. In addition, the Cardinal will fulfill the needs of the U.S. Navy for a Carrier On-board Delivery (COD) aircraft to replace the C-2 Greyhound. Design requirements for the Cardinal included a takeoff ground roll of 300 ft, a landing ground roll of 400 ft, cruise at 350 knots with a range of up to 1500 nm with reserves, payload of 24 passengers and baggage for a commercial version or a military version with a 10,000 lb payload, capable of carrying two GE F110 engines for the F-14D, and a spot factor requirement of 60 feet by 29 feet.

Advanced control techniques are widely used in different automotive applications including climate control. Significant costs associated with the development and calibration of such controllers can be reduced if these tasks are conducted in a virtual environment. Such a virtual environment can be developed by integrating the controller with the system model. Different scenarios can be then simulated to make sure functional objectives of the system are met. 1D models provide the necessary level of accuracy without imposing extra computational cost in such virtual environments. As such, they are perfect candidates for model, hardware or software-in-the loop validation benches for controls. Performance of a heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) system can be controlled through the settings of the components like mode door, blend door, recirculation door, blower, and the compressor.

The environment is one of the most important issues currently facing the world and the automobile industry is required to respond with eco-cars. To meet this requirement, the hybrid vehicle is one of the most optimal solutions. The hybrid system automatically stops engine idling (idling stop), or stops the engine during deceleration to recover energy. The engine stop however creates a problem concerning the vehicle's climate control system. Because the conventional climate control system incorporates a compressor driven by engine belt, there is almost no cooling performance while the engine is stopped. Until now, when a driver needed more cooling comfort the engine has been switched back on as a compromise measure. To realize cabin comfort that is consistent with fuel saving, a 2-way driven compressor has been developed that can be driven both by engine belt while the engine is running and by electric motor when the engine is stopped.

The demands for comfort and a cleaner environment have been increasing for the past years for motorcycle as well as car manufacturers. With the need to decrease the time-to-market, there is a clear drive to apply CAE-based methods in order to evaluate new designs and to propose design changes that solve any identified problems. More specifically, the demands on the comfort of the rider are not only related to ride & handling and vibration levels(1), but also to the noise levels generated by the motorcycle. This paper presents the virtual modeling of one-cylinder engine of a motorcycle that identifies the mechanism behind the generation of an annoying noise. Furthermore, different possible design changes were evaluated in order to solve the problem. A combined experimental and numerical approach was followed to achieve this. Experiments were used to identify important parameters that determine the engine behavior and thus are critical for the modeling of such an engine.

This paper documents a joint development process between General Motors and Dow Automotive to improve primary body structure frequencies on the GM family of midsize vans by utilizing cavity-filling structural foam. Optimum foam locations, foam quantity, and foam density within the body structure were determined by employing both math-based modeling and vehicle hardware testing techniques. Finite element analysis (FEA) simulations of the Body-In-White (BIW) and “trimmed body” were used to predict the global body structure modes and associated resonant frequencies with and without structural foam. The objective of the FEA activity was to quantify frequency improvements to the primary body structure modes of matchboxing, bending, and torsion when using structural foam. Comprehensive hardware testing on the vehicle was also executed to validate the frequency improvements observed in the FEA results.

In October 1999, General Motors contracted Dana Corporation to manufacture an all-aluminum spaceframe for the 2006 Chevrolet Corvette Z06. Corvette introduced its first ever all-aluminum frame (see Figure 1) to the world at the 2005 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit, Michigan. The creation of this spaceframe resulted in a significant mass reduction and was a key enabler for the program to achieve the vehicle level performance results required for a Z06 in an ever-growing market. Dana Corporation leveraged ALCOA's (Aluminum Company of America) proven design capabilities while incorporating new MIG welding, laser welding, Self-Pierce Riveting (SPR), and full spaceframe machining to join General Motors (GM) Metal Fabrication Division's (MFD) hydroformed rails to produce the Corvette Z06's yearly requirement of 7000 units. This paper describes the technologies utilized throughout the assembly line and their effect on the end product.

General Motor's Corvette product engineering was given the challenge to find mass reduction opportunities on the painted body panels of the C6 Z06 through the utilization of carbon fiber reinforced composites (CFRC). The successful implementation of a carbon fiber hood on the 2004 C5 Commemorative Edition Z06 Corvette was the springboard for Corvette Team's appetite for a more extensive application of CFRC on the C6 Z06 model. Fenders were identified as the best application for the technology given their location on the front of the vehicle and the amount of mass saved. The C6 Z06 CFRC fenders provide 6kg reduction of vehicle mass as compared to the smaller RRIM fenders used on the Coupe and Convertible models.

A mid-cycle refreshening adds driver-assist technologies, more tuning options for the sport model, and the nameplate's first pairing of a V8 engine with an eight-speed automatic transmission.

The new Shelby Mustang's street-vs-track development ratio was more biased toward the track than the majority of cars from Ford Performance Enginering—even versus the GT500.