Gasket life criteria at low temperatures adopting proportional compensation for loss of flexibility and conformability

In the automobile industry, the service life of gaskets is defined as the time until which a released gasket recovers 60 % of the original compression. It was observed that the recovery curves of gaskets were highly nonlinear at high temperatures, and relatively nonlinear at temperatures above the room temperature. However, it was also noted that the recovery curves of the gaskets at temperatures below room temperature exhibited linearity with respect to the ln(time). Automotive manufacturers demand gasket life criteria that exceed a specific time or the entire life of a car. In the case of gaskets used at lower temperatures, since materials encounter losses in its flexibility and conformability, the definition of service life specifying a 60 % recovery may not be sufficiently safe to eliminate possible leakages. In this study, new gasket life criteria that could be used at low temperatures were proposed. The new criteria were proposed based on the change in Young’s modulus of the gasket material in order to conserve the sealing capability.     

Performance Design of an Exhaust Superheater for Waste Heat Recovery of Construction Equipment

Although fuel cost has been the largest portion of annual operating costs of construction equipment, it is possible to save the energy and reduce cost using fuel economy enhancement technology. In this study, an organic Rankine cycle is applied to an excavator in order to recover waste heat, reproduce it into electrical energy, and consequently reduce the fuel consumption by 10 %. A design process was carried out to develop an exhaust gas superheater that recovers the waste heat from exhaust gas through a composite-dimensional thermal flow analysis. A one-dimensional code was developed to perform a size design for the exhaust gas superheater. The ranges for the major design parameters were determined to satisfy the target of the heat recovery, as well as the pressure drop at both fluid sides. Performance analysis was done through onedimensional design code results, which were compared with three-dimensional CFD analysis. By utilizing a 3D commercial code, the arrangement of the tubes was selected and the working fluid pressure drop was reduced through a detailed layout design. The design procedure was verified by a performance evaluation of the prototype, which yielded only a 7 % tolerance in heat recovery.     

Effects of Residual Ash on Dpf Capture and Regeneration

To study the effects of residual ash on the capture and regeneration of a diesel particulate filter (DPF), repeated capture and complete regeneration experiments were conducted. An engine exhaust particulate sizer was used to measure the particle size distribution of diesel in the front and back of DPF. Discrepancies in the size distribution of the particulate matter in repeated trapping tests were analyzed. To achieve complete DPF regeneration, a DPF regeneration system using nonthermal plasma technology was established. The regeneration carbon removal mass and peak temperatures of DPF internal measuring points were monitored to evaluate the effect of regeneration. The mechanism explaining the influence of residual ash on DPF capture and regeneration was thoroughly investigated. Results indicate that the DPF trapping efficiencies of the nuclear-mode particles and ultrafine particles have significant improvements with the increase quantity of residual ash, from 90 % and 96.01 % to 94.17 % and 97.27 %, respectively. The exhaust backpressure of the DPF rises from 9.41 kPa to 11.24 kPa. Heat transfer in the DPF is improved with ash, and the peak temperatures of the measuring points accordingly increase. By comparing the regeneration trials, the elapsed time for complete regeneration and time difference for reaching the peak temperature between adjacent reaction interfaces are extended with increased quantity of ash. The carbon removal mass rises by 34.00 %.     

Feature-Based Cad System Buildup for Passenger Airbag Design

The passenger airbag (PAB) requires a large volume and fast deployment because of the large distance between the dashboard and the passenger. And various shapes and sizes of the PAB are required depending on the type of vehicle. However, since the PAB modeling process for each design change is complicated and time consuming, the design parameters of the PAB could not be well investigated. In this study, a unique feature-based CAD system has been proposed that easily constructs PAB CAD model and then generates PAB FE model for collision analysis. Main keypoints and widths of PAB that determine the shape and size have been extracted by analyzing the geometric-feature of airbag. The PAB CAD model can be easily constructed by inputting keypoints and widths information. Then, from the constructed PAB CAD model, the PAB FE model is automatically generated. Finally, the generated PAB FE model can be directly employed for collision analysis, thereby reducing the modeling time of the PAB and enabling efficient parametric studies on design.     

Review of Secure Communication Approaches for In-Vehicle Network

In the connected vehicles, connecting interfaces bring threats to the vehicles and they can be hacked to impact the vehicles and drivers. Compared with traditional vehicles, connected vehicles require more information transfer. Sensor signals and critical data must be protected to ensure the cyber security of connected vehicles. The communications among ECUs, sensors, and gateways are connected by in-vehicle networks. This paper discussed the state-of-art techniques about secure communication for in-vehicle networks. First, the related concepts in automotive secure communication have been provided. Then we have compared and contrasted existing approaches for secure communication. We have analyzed the advantages/disadvantages of MAC and digital signatures for message authentication and compared the performance and limitations of different cryptographic algorithms. Firewall and intrusion detection system are introduced to protect the networks. The constraints and features of different intrusion detection approaches are presented. After that, the technical requirements for cryptographic mechanism and intrusion detection policy are concluded. Based on the review of current researches, the future development directions of the automotive network security have been discussed. The purpose of this paper is to review current techniques on automotive secure communication and suggest suitable secure approaches to implement on the in-vehicle networks.     

Creep Life Prediction of Alloy 718 for Automotive Engine Materials

This study was carried out to investigate the creep life at the high temperature of the Alloy 718 for automotive engine components using the initial strain parameter method (ISPM). Creep tests have performed at elevated temperatures in the range of 550 oC to 700 oC in this work. We also carried out constant stress creep tests. The initial strains were measured during 1 minute after loading. Both the creep stress and rupture time depend on the initial strain. We calculated the creep life of Alloy 718 by using the creep life prediction equations obtained from the ISPM. Then, we compared the creep life predicted by the ISPM to the Larson-Miller parameter (LMP). The experimental rupture time and the calculated rupture time by using the ISPM agreed with a confidence level of 95 %. The creep life predicted by using the ISPM was in very good agreement with the creep life predicted using the LMP method.     

New Optimal Power Management Strategy for Series Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles

Recently Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) have gained increasing attention due to their ability to reduce the fuel consumption and emissions. In this paper a new efficient power management strategy is proposed for a series PHEV. According to the battery state of charge (SOC) and vehicle power requirement, a new rule-based optimal power controller with four different operating modes is designed to improve the fuel economy of the vehicle. Furthermore, the teaching-learning based optimization (TLBO) method is employed to find the optimal engine power and battery power under the specified driving cycle while the fuel consumption is considered as the fitness function. In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, four different driving cycles with various numbers of driving distances for each driving cycle are selected for the simulation study. The performance of the proposed optimal power management strategy is compared with the rule-based power management method. The results verify that the proposed power management method could significantly improve the fuel economy of the series PHEV for different driving conditions.     

Disturbance Observer-Based Sideslip Angle Control for Improving Cornering Characteristics of In-Wheel Motor Electric Vehicles

In this paper, a robust sideslip angle controller based on the direct yaw moment control (DYC) is proposed for in-wheel motor electric vehicles. Many studies have demonstrated that the DYC is one of the effective methods to improve vehicle maneuverability and stability. Previous approaches to achieve the DYC used differential braking and active steering system. Not only that, the conventional control systems were commonly dependent on the feedback of the yaw rate. In contrast to the traditional control schemes, however, this paper proposes a novel approach based on sideslip angle feedback without controlling the yaw rate. This is mainly because if the vehicle sideslip angle is controlled properly, the intended sideslip angle helps the vehicle to pass through the corner even at high speed. On the other hand, the vehicle may become unstable because of the too large sideslip caused by unexpected yaw disturbances and model uncertainties of time-varying parameters. From this aspect, disturbance observer (DOB) is employed to assure robust performance of the controller. The proposed controller was realized in CarSim model described actual electric vehicle and verified through computer simulations.     

A fundamental investigation of tilt control systems for narrow commuter vehicles

One way of addressing traffic congestion is by efficiently utilizing the existing highway infrastructure. Narrow tilting vehicles that need a reduced width lane can be part of the solution if they can be designed to be safe, stable, and easy to operate. In this paper, a control system that stabilizes the tilt mode of such a vehicle without affecting the handling of the vehicle is proposed. This control system is a combination of two different types of control schemes known as steering tilt control (STC) and direct tilt control (DTC) systems. First, different existing variations of both STC and DTC systems are considered and their shortcomings analysed. Modified control schemes are then suggested to overcome the deficiencies. Then a new method of integrating these two control schemes that guarantees smooth switchover between the controllers as a function of vehicle velocity is proposed. The performance of the proposed STC, DTC, and integrated systems is evaluated by carrying out simulations for different operating conditions and some experimental work. The design of a second-generation narrow tilting vehicle on which the developed control system has been implemented is presented.