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A low speed continuous belt, flat surface tire testing machine has been developed to perform force and moment tests on automotive and light truck tires. The machine is known as the Flat-Trac™ Tire Testing Machine. The design and development of the machine is presented including discussion of machine geometry, belt tracking, belt support bearing, machine controls and the multi-axis load transducer. The specifications and capacities for the machine are also presented.

The advantages of a fully automated computer controlled force and moment operational procedure are reduced manpower requirements, increased machine efficiency and improved repeatability and precision in obtaining data. These advantages are especially important when considering the needs of the automobile manufacturers. Existing apparatus and test procedures at Firestone for determining cornering force, self-aligning torque and rolling resistance have been additionally mechanized through computer usage along with a complex hydraulic control system. These enhancements have sharply improved the control operation and, of course, collection and reduction of the data. A test that may consist of a tire warm-up and a series of wheel loads and slip angles is well suited to automation.

There have been several methods developed to measure film thickness, but most are not practical because they require physical disturbances of the material or flow by probe insertion. The tread-deflection measurement system was developed to investigate the transient response of a sliding tire as it encounters a change in free waterfilm thickness. The system is capable of measuring transient deflection changes in the contact region of a tire within one millisecond intervals. The system consists of seven capacitive sensors which are fixed to the inside surface of a tire and control the frequency output of integrated function generators which will accurately measure variable-induced displacements of less than 250 micro-inches. This system provides data in a form which enables evaluation of tire footprint shapes as a function of time for both steady state and transient hydroplaning conditions.

Coordinate Dimming is a digital method of controlling the brightness of an electronic display. It provides a significantly greater number of brightness steps than other digital dimming methods, and is especially useful for implementing non-linear dimming patterns.

This paper reviews advances made in the state of the art of twisted nematic field effect Liquid Crystal Displays from an automotive designer point of view. The extension of glass frit sealing techniques to larger displays and the advent of polarizing films that are able to maintain efficiency after prolonged exposure to heat and humidity have contributed to the displays’ long term life and reliability. Likewise the development of liquid crystal fluids capable of operating over a wide temperature range results in performance features which are close, to automotive requirements. Finally the paper discusses some multiplex drive techniques using currently available drive circuits. The intent is to show practical methods of reducing pin count without serious loss of performance.

Advancements in speech synthesizing techniques combined with the increasing level of semiconductor integration has made possible new and novel applications for digital speech synthesis. One of these applications is in an automotive vehicle. A voice synthesizer designed into a vehicle’s instrumentation system can provide the driver with verbal information on the vehicle’s operation for improved safety and performance.

An instrument panel of a large area liquid crystal display (LCD), including a 50 segment bargraph speedometer, a six digit odo/trip/tacho meter, two gauges and several warning indicators, has been developed. The LCD cell evaluated for this instrument panel is operated in a reflective twisted nematic mode and dimensions of the cell are 260 × 110 × 3 mm. The liquid crystal material is capable of operating over a wider temperature range from −30°C to 80°C and the response time is less than 1 second at −20°C without heaters. The LCD instrument panel can display in multi-color by using high performance dichroic polarizers. Finally feasibility of the large area LCD instrument panel is investigated.

This paper covers basic design principles and alloy recommendations for aluminum impacts. The three types of impacting are explained and advantages and limitations of impacts covered.

The history of the development of sheet aluminum wheels, including alloy selection, properties, and tests are discussed. A number of alloys were considered for wheel application. The strain hardening characteristics, the excellent corrosion resistance and other property criteria led to the selection of 5454 as the sheet aluminum wheel alloy

This paper discusses the development of an aluminum pickup frame fabricated on steel production tools as it relates to fuel economy, vehicle design, material selection, frame component fabrication, frame assembly, truck build, proving ground tests and program conclusions.

Automotive manufacturers need information on refinery energy use and economics to identify the engine(s) that achieve maximum, vehicle miles from limited petroleum resources. To provide this information, we modeled a modern refinery producing varying amounts of automotive diesel fuel and producing gasolines covering a wide range in octane quality. Refinery energy consumption averages about 8% of the crude input. It declines slightly with increasing diesel fuel production and rises slightly with increasing gasoline octane number. However, differences in fuel energy utilization among engines are much larger than the variations in refinery energy use. When engine effects are considered, 7 to 8% more vehicle miles per barrel of crude could be achieved with gasoline having an Antiknock Index of 88–90 RM/2 and with maximum use of diesel vehicles.

This work shows how winterized diesel-powered mining vehicles can operate on No. 2 diesel fuel at low winter temperatures without using No. 1 diesel fuel as a diluent to lower cloud point. A study of low temperature fuel requirements was made during the 1976–1977 winter. Fuel system temperatures were compared to ambient temperatures and vehicle operability. Once the diesel equipment was warmed up and operating, fuel system temperatures remained high enough that wax plugging did not occur with No. 2 diesel fuel. Based on this data, a recirculating fuel system heater was designed to be used while vehicles were shut down and parked. This approach was successfully tested during the 1978–1979 winter.

Accurate remote sensing or control of liquid levels is of interest in a variety of applications. A method capable of distinguishing between the presence and absence of liquid at a discrete level by monitoring the rate of heat transfer from a solid-state sensing element is discussed; a detailed description is given of the silicon sensor and the associated electronic circuitry. Small size (0.50 × 0.50 × 0.15mm3) and low thermal conductance mounting of the active element assure precise level determination and rapid response, while an auto-referencing scheme used in the circuit permits reliable operation over a wide temperature range. Three versions of the system are described, each suited for different types of level sensing applications. Suggested among the possible uses are a number of automotive applications such as crankcase, transmission, and brake fluid measurements.

The theory, design and operation of a solid-state fluid-flow sensor are presented together with some results of laboratory evaluations. Two silicon sensing elements, mounted inside a cylindrical tube and connected through a resistance bridge, are maintained at a constant temperature differential with one element at the temperature of the fluid, providing a reference. The magnitude of flow can be determined from the heat transfer rate off the hotter of the two elements. Flow rates between about 2 and 40 liters/hr may be resolved with the present sensor arrangement. Dynamic range and resolution can be adjusted for particular applications by varying the values of the fixed bridge resistors, thus varying the temperature differential between sensors, or by varying the tube diameter. The measurement of fuel flow is a potential application.

Significant advancements have been made in the development and application of more fuel efficient and cost effective auxiliary drive systems for powering aerial man lift equipment as used by the electric utility and telecommunications industries. Small gasoline powered engines and self-contained battery operated hydraulic systems not only reduce overall fuel consumption and contribute favorably to the ecological needs of the community, they reduce overall fuel and maintenance costs dramatically.

A new electronic system for the accurate control of Otto-engines is described. The system combines the electronic fuel injection and the electronic ignition in one system using a microcomputer-controlled electronic control unit. The potential of the system is outlined, its basic features and its advantages with respect to fuel economy, maintenance and driveability are presented.

One of the most important parameters in a vehicle dynamics model is tire cornering stiffness. Recently, Bergman has developed a quadratic expression relating cornering stiffness and normal load by correlating tire test data from four different sources. This quadratic expression, as well as linear and constant approximations of it, are used in lateral stability analyses of a car and of a car/trailer system. It is shown that the change in cornering stiffness with normal load does significantly affect critical speed.

With the ever increasing pressures of competition, economics, consumerism and regulatory requirements, management must continually seek to improve their product/process. Modifications are implemented in order to move towards an optimal operating level which will satisfy all consumer and government requirements and still be economically sound. As part of the management team, the quality professional must satisfy these obligations, but with additional handicaps. Primary among these are the enigmatic nature of quality and the existance of misleading ‘folklore’. This paper will discuss how management can overcome these obstacles and satisfy their requirements by the proper formulation and application of quality (improvement) goals. The steps necessary to develop and implement these goals are provided and explained.

A configuration of micro and minicomputers in a hierarchical is used to provide adaptive control for a resistance welding process. The specific application of aluminum welding is reviewed and the resulting control system defined. The system concept, sensors, procedures for adaptive control, and operator interface are outlined.

The application of a bivariate control chart for simultaneous control of left and right caster has been presented in this paper. The joint control region is an ellipse and it reduces to a circle when the casters are assumed to be independent and to have equal variability. This has been illustrated with a simple numerical example.