Automotive Science and Engineering

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One of the factors that affects the efficiency and lifetime of spark ignited internal combustion engine is “knock”. Knock sensor is a commonly used to detect this phenomenon. However, noise, limits detection accuracy of this sensor. In this study, Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) method is introduced as a fully adaptive signal-based analysis. Then, based on weighting decompositions, a method for reducing knock signal noise to enhance detection accuracy of knock, has been proposed. Then, the presented method has been evaluated using recorded signals from four engine cylinders. Internal pressure of each cylinder were recorded and used as reference for knock detection. Test results verifies that knock detection accuracy improved by about 11.3%. The results of optimization method were consistent with our expectations and the weights of middle levels are higher than other levels, which means that the proposed method not only extracts the main frequencies of knock, but also assigns reasonable weights to them.

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This study tries to redesign the interior design of inter-city bus in order to fulfill needs of Iranian User. The goal of this study is practically investigate how user centered design can be applied considering cultural needs of Iranian user. By defining common needs between cultural and physical aspects of Iranian user, the main focus was on improving the sitting condition of the traveler with intercity bus. Ergonomic redesign of the Bus Seat was the result of such a study

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Accurate and correct performance of controller in cruise control systems is important. Hence, in such systems, controller should optimize itself against noise and probable changes in system dynamic. As a matter of fact, in this article three approaches have been conducted to-ward this purpose: MIT, direct estimation and indirect estimation. These approaches are used as controllers to track reference signal. First the performance of each of these three controllers is checked. comparison of performances indicated better behavior for indirect estimation than others. Also, it has less sensitivity against external noise. Finally, by using indirect estimation method as an adaptive control approach, two parallel separate controllers are designed for two inputs, gas and braking, and their performances are compared with recent studies. It shows improvement in performance of adaptive cruise control system to track reference signal.

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The designing of advanced driver assistance systems and autonomous vehicles needs measurement of dynamical variations of vehicle, such as acceleration, velocity and yaw rate. Designed adaptive controllers to control lateral and longitudinal vehicle dynamics are based on the measured variables. Inertial MEMS-based sensors have some benefits including low price and low consumption that make them suitable choices to use in vehicle navigation problems. However, these sensors have some deterministic and stochastic error sources. These errors could diverge sensor outputs from the real values. Therefore, calibration of the inertial sensors is one of the most important processes that should be done in order to have the exact model of dynamical behaviors of the vehicle. In this paper, a new method, based on artificial neural network, is presented for the calibration of an inertial accelerometer applied in the vehicle navigation. Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm is used to train the designed neural network. This method has been tested in real driving scenarios and results show that the presented method reduces the root mean square error of the measured acceleration up to 96%. The presented method can be used in managing the traffic flow and designing collision avoidance systems.

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New product development (NPD) is described in the literature as the transformation of a market opportunity into a product available for sale. In the automotive industry, within the context of ISO/TS16949:2002 (the automotive quality management system international standard),  these related to the product realization process (PRP) which consists of Three main phases such as planning, Implementation and sales, and  five sub-phases called  “Planning”, “Product Design”, “Process Design and Development”, “Product and Process Verification and Validation”, and “Production”. These phases could be done concurrently and have correlated activities.

 There has been a wide range of working in new product development but in automotive section no contributes has been done before. The paper proposes a contribution between the new product development performance factors of a same project in a developed country and developing country. It shows the differences of employee and systems ways of thinking in two above mentioned categories. The  main factors were extracted from literatures which are Goal clarity; Process formalization, Process Concurrency, Iteration, Learning, Team Leadership, Team Experience, Team Dedication, Internal Integration, External integration, Empowerment and Architecture. Having differences of people and systems thinking of new product development process of automotive engineering in two different working stations will be helpful in developing a complete model for performance measurement of a new product development in automotive industry. The questionnaires were made to analyze the value of each factor via employee view and system view and distribute in two different bases. The differences are illustrated in the paper.

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Off-road cars’ windshields are vulnerable to different types of stones, road debris and pebbles due to common off paved and gravel surfaces in which they drive. Any attempt to design windshield that minimizes injury and death of occupants during a vehicle accident requires a thorough understanding of the mechanical behavior of automotive windshield subjected to foreign object impact loads.

In this study, some drop ball tests in different impact energy levels are conducted in order to monitor fracture behavior of an off-road automotive windshield. Also dynamic crack patterns of laminated glasses are examined based on the impact energy levels and impact conditions. In addition, the acceleration which is imposed to impactor during the accident is recorded. The experimental results are compared to an analytical approach regarding the resultant impact force as well. There is a good agreement between the impact forces of experimental test results and analytical approaches ones. All in all, in low velocity impacts, impact energy releases through powdering region in impact area, radial cracks and strain energy in PVB. It is concluded that in lower impact energy levels, the higher impact speed, the more number of radial cracks. In addition, at higher energy levels, number of radial cracks decease due to higher strain energy levels in PVB interlayer. Therefore, in low velocity impacts, number of radial cracks has reverse relationship with penetration depth in PVB interlayer.

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In this study an experimental analysis is conducted to explore the effects of the distance placement of a trailer model on the dynamic of flow and the higher-order parameters of velocity like flatness and skeweness in the wake of a Notch back car model. In addition, the changing trends of Strouhal number and the mixed length scale are depicted. All the experiments are conducted in the aerodynamic laboratory of Hakim Sabzevari University. In order to measure the property of flow, the researchers have made use of the wind tunnel device and hot wire anemometer produced by Farasanjesh-e-Saba Company. The results indicated that the values of skewness in the lower heights (near to ground) are less than their values in the upper heights (near to roof of model) and this issue is in contrast as the distance from the car increases. The values of flatness also gradually decrease by an increase in the distance from the car. The Strouhal number often reduces by increase in the distance of car from trailer and the mixed length scale in the width of trailer often has one or two maximum peaks. The wake of trailer in positions near the car is not effective in the formation of maximum peaks of mixed length scale sites.

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Excitations from the vehicle engine and the road surface cause vibrations in the exhaust system and the exhaust noise and vibrations are transmitted through the vehcile body and structure to the cabin, causing distractions and discomfort for the driver and passengers. In this article the method of average driving degrees of freedom displacement (ADDOFD) has been used to determine and optimize the location of suspended hanger points. Based on this approach, a model of car exhaust system is used using ANSYS software to optimize the hanger installation points for reducing vibration and to select the best positions for these points. The optimum hanger positions must have a relatively lower ADDOFD value compared to adjacent points. Then the static and dynamic analysis of the exhaust system is illustrated and finally on the basis of the above analyses, the position is chosen for the exhaust system hangers to reduce the transmission of noise and vibrations into the car cabin. Results indicate that optimization of the locations has resulted in a significant decrease in hanger loads, significantly reducing the vibrations transmitted to the vehicle cabin and increasing the life of the rubber hangers. This study has practical significance for reducing the vibration of automobile exhaust systems and the vehicle cabin.

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Although, the Stirling engine (SE) was invented many years ago, the investigation on SE is still interesting due to variety of energy resources can be applied to power it (solar energy, fossil fuel, biomass and geothermal energy). In this paper, the thermodynamic cycle of SE is analyzed by employing a new analytical model and a new method is presented to evaluate output power and efficiency of real engines. Using the correcting functions; represent more accurate results for known Schmidt equations respect to adiabatic model. So without need to employing numerical methods and iterative solver programs, analogous results with accuracy and correctness of open-form solution-adiabatic method is obtained. The modeling of results of two methods is done by Non-linear Multiple Regression and new equations based on Schmidt equations with new correctness factors is presented. The correctness factors are function of structural and operational characteristics of engine.  Moreover, available output data of GPU-3 SE was compared. These comparisons show good agreement, indicating that the model is an appropriate method for modeling of SE outputs.

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In the current paper, a biomechanical model of human body with unique structure is developed for evaluating the biodynamic responses, the vibration transmissibility and the transmitted accelerations to vertical vibration for the seated position with ignoring backrest support. In this regard, the 6-DoF Lumped-parameter model with six concentrated masses which are connected with linear springs and dampers is presented. Further, the full vehicle model is developed in ADAMS/CAR software in order to utilize the accelerations of seat under various roads excitation for different amount of vehicle speeds. Also, the vibration transmissibility and transmitted accelerations in vertical direction are measured for the different segments of human body including: Pelvis, Abdomen and Diaphragm, Chest, Torso, Back, Head and Neck. Finally, vibration transmissibility and transmitted accelerations due to the roughness of the roads surfaces are investigated for the different segments of human body in frequency domain from 0 to 50 Hz. As it is illustrated the maximum values for transmissibility for different body segments occurred for frequencies equivalent 20 to 30 Hz, it can be concluded that the human body is more sensitive to vibration with frequencies under 30 Hz.

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Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) benefit from current infrastructure to discern environmental information. Traffic signs are global guidelines which inform drivers from near characteristics of paths ahead. Traffic Sign Recognition (TSR) system is an ADAS that recognize traffic signs in images captured from road and show information as an adviser or transmit them to other ADASs. In this paper presents a novel machine vision algorithm for traffic sign recognition based on fuzzy sets. This algorithm is a pipeline consists of multiple fuzzy set that create a fuzzy space here called Super Fuzzy Set (SFS). SFS helped to design a flexible and fast algorithm for recognizing traffic signs in a real-time application. Designed algorithm was implemented in computer-based system and checked on a test car in real urban environment. 83.34% accuracy rate was obtained in real-time test.

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Automotive design engineers face the challenging problem of developing products in highly competitive markets. In this regard, using conceptual models in the first step of automotive development seems so necessary. In this paper, to make a body in white conceptual model, an engineering approach is developed for the replacement of beam-like structures, joints, and panels in a vehicle model. The proposed replacement methodology is based on the reduced beam, joint, and panel modeling approach, which involves a geometric analysis of beam member cross-sections and a static analysis of joints. In order to validate the proposed approach, an industrial case-study is presented. Two static load cases are defined to compare the original and the concept model by evaluating the stiffness of the full vehicle under torsion and bending in accordance with the standards used by automotive original equipment manufacturer (OEM) companies. The results show high accuracy of the concept models in comparison with the original model in bending and torsional stiffness prediction.

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This paper presents finite element analysis (FEA) of a coated and uncoated cylinder heads of a diesel engine to examine the distribution of temperature and stress. A thermal barrier coating system was applied on the combustion chamber of the cylinder heads, consists of two-layer systems: a ceramic top coat (TC), made of yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ), ZrO2-8%Y2O3 and also a metallic bond coat (BC), made of Ni-Cr-Al-Y. The coating system in this research comprises 300 μm zirconium oxide TC and 150 μm BC. The three-dimensional model of the cylinder heads was simulated in abaqus software and a two-layer viscoplasticity model was utilized to investigate the elastic, plastic and viscous behavior of the cylinder heads. The elastic and plastic properties of BC and TC layers were considered and the effect of thermal barrier coatings on distribution of temperature and stress was investigated. The aim of this study is to compare the distribution of temperature and stress in the coated and uncoated cylinder heads under thermo-mechanical loads. The results of FEA showed that the thermal barrier coating system reduces the temperature about 53°C because of its lower thermal conductivity. As a result, the cylinder head tolerates lower temperature and fatigue life will increase. The results of thermo-mechanical analysis indicated that the stress in the coated cylinder head decreased approximately 24 MPa for the sake of depletion of temperature gradient which can lead to higher fatigue lifetime. Viscous strain was significant and its amount is not negligible.

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This article investigates the effects of using a thin-walled structure in the chassis front rails in the automotive industry. In frontal accidents, the front rails of the vehicle chassis, increases vehicle crash-worthiness and occupants’ safety by plastic deformation, energy absorption, increasing the crash duration and reducing the load and injuries to the occupants. The objective is to optimize the thin-walled structure of the bumper and the direct beams in the front chassis rails. An explicit FEM full vehicle model with a dummy, safety belts, and air bags are used for the modeling and analysis of the applied loads on the vehicle and the occupants. The FMVSS No. 208 and ECE No. 94 standards are considered for the simulation of a vehicle accident. Finally, the proper model will be selected based on the results.
 

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Recent evolutions in World Trade Organization (WTO) and other international trading agreements have made industries all around the world face a new era of intense global competition. Simultaneously with increased competitive pressure, permanent development and innovation comprise building blocks of firm excellence. In a dynamic environment, failure to innovate ends up with business stagnation and getting out of the competition ring.
Technological innovation capability is a complex, elusive and uncertain concept, which have made it difficult to characterize. Measuring technological innovation capability requires considering numerous qualitative and quantitative criteria at the same time. One of the main factors hindering the success of adopting technological innovation to attain competitive advantage by firms in developing countries is lack of awareness about and recognition of the level of firm technological capabilities and how to use them to acquire relative advantages. Evaluation of technological capability serves as a tool for identifying the required capabilities to implement the firm technological priorities.
Based on a wide spectrum of available literature, the present paper attempts to extract criteria related to technological innovation capabilities in the field of turbocharging technology. These criteria were then provided to a group of experts in automotive industry, so as to identify the desired level of technology for turbocharging technology in automotive industry. On the other hand, by restricting items of the questionnaire based on the experts’ opinions, the current state of turbocharging technology capabilities was identified, based on which technological gap in each criterion under study was determined. On the other hand, once the technological gap was identified, improvement projects were defined to either suppress or eliminate the gap.

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In automotive industry, foam-filled structures have aroused increasing interest because of lightweight and capacity of energy absorption. Two types of foam filled thin walled structures such as the uniform foam filled (UF) and the functionally graded foam (FGF). To improve crashworthiness performance, FGF are used to fill structures, unlike existing uniform foam materials. In addition, by seeking for an optimal design systematically, some computational optimization signifies a more effective tool to find the best crashworthiness design of structures,. This paper will an exhaustive review of the previous studies of simulation-based optimization such as metamodels, objective functions, design variables, design of experiments, optimization techniques of crashworthiness of tubes.

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Heat transfer in internal combustion engines is one of the most significant topics. Heat transfer may take place through thermal conduction and thermal convection in spark ignition engines. In this study, valve cover heat transfer and thermal balance of an air-cooled engine are investigated experimentally. The thermal balance analysis is a useful method to determine energy distribution and efficiency of internal combustion engines. In order to carry out experiments, a single cylinder, air-cooled, four-stroke gasoline engine is applied. The engine is installed on proper chassis and equipped with measuring instruments. Temperature of different points of valve cover and exhaust gases is measured with the assistance of K-type thermocouples. These experiments are conducted in various engine speeds. Regarding to the first law of thermodynamics, thermal balance is investigated and it is specified that about one-third of total fuel energy will be converted to effective power. It is also evaluated that for increasing brake power, fuel consumption will increase and it is impossible to prevent upward trends of wasted energies. In addition, it is resulted that, there is a reduction heat transfer to brake power ratio by increasing engine speed. Furthermore, it is found that, at higher engine speed, lower percentage of energy in form of heat transfer will be lost.

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Due to the extensive use of cars and progresses in the vehicular industries, it has become necessary
to design vehicles with higher levels of safety standards. Development of the computer aided design and
analysis techniques has enabled employing well-developed commercial finite-element-based crash
simulation computer codes, in recent years. The present study is an attempt to optimize behavior of the
structural components of a passenger car in a full-frontal crash through including three types of energy
absorptions: (i) structural damping of the car body, (ii) viscoelastic characteristics of the constituent
materials of the bumper, and (iii) a proposed wide tapered multi-cell energy absorber. The optimization
technique relies on the design of experimental (DOE) method to enables finding the absolute extremum
solution through the response surface method (RSM) in MINITAB software. First, the car is modeled in
PATRAN and meshed in ANSA software. Then, the full-scale car model is analyzed in ABAQUS/CAE
software. The optimization has been accomplished through a multi-objective function to simultaneously,
maximize the observed energy and minimize the passenger’s deceleration. Results are verified by the
experimental results and effects of using non-equal importance coefficients for the absorbed energy and
passenger’s deceleration in the multi-objective function are also evaluated. Influence of the optimized
parameters on the frontal crash behavior of the vehicle body structure and passenger’s deceleration is
investigated, too.