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A technique is developed for differentiating valve train lift data producing velocity and acceleration curves. The technique is shown to work with valve train lift data collected in a typical lab environment.

Companies typically invest significant time and money in choosing the proper test equipment for new automotive test systems. Yet, the architecture for proper data storage and management of the mounds of data these systems produce is often times an afterthought. Although data management may not appear as an obstacle during initial design, as the system expands, changes, and interfaces with other systems, the ability to easily access and exchange technical data becomes a critical challenge to overcome. This paper will introduce new technologies giving engineers the power to search and mine data sets to find key information and trends in the data for to rapidly turn the raw data into results.

The Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV), a collaborative government-industry R&D program, has laid out and initiated a plan for a “Supercar” with the following specifications: a fuel economy of 80 miles per gallon (2.9 liters/100 km), size comparable to a midsize, four door sedan, equivalent function in other performance areas, and cost commensurate with that of today's automobile. Together, the performance and cost goals are formidable to say the least. The PNGV projects that a 50% mass savings in the “body-in-white” (BIW) is a necessary contribution to meet the 80 mpg goal. The two most likely materials systems to meet the mass reduction goal are aluminum and carbon fiber reinforced polymer composites, neither of which are inexpensive relative to today's steel unibody.

The development of new components that have a structural commitment and still achieve mass reduction is becoming increasingly complex and sophisticated materials for production for the automotive market for commercial and passenger vehicles. To achieve this level of demand the use of composite materials such as carbon fiber, glass fiber or a compound of the two has become a reality, however the production rate was still considered a problem for medium volume parts (up to one hundred thousand parts per year).

In this paper, wavelets as signal processing tools are used to analyze the acceleration data acquired at the cylinder head for the detection and characterization of combustion malfunctions in multi-cylinder industrial engines. The objectives were to collect data on 1) normal operations, and 2) operations with a deactivated cylinder to simulate a faulty condition. Wavelet packet and local discriminatory basis algorithm are used to select wavelets that can recognize different conditions. It is shown that the wavelet packet provides a useful data analysis structure for extracting features that are capable of detecting the combustion malfunction of one cylinder in a 12-cylinder engine. Feature extraction is followed by a classification that uses a neural network for the fault identification phase.

As new passenger cars are constantly getting cleaner, their contribution to air pollution is in large part defined by the in-use emissions degradation. In this respect, malfunctions in emissions-related components may play an important role to the contribution of passenger cars in air pollution. This paper assesses the impact of malfunctions of selected emissions related components to the pollutant emissions and evaluates the response of the OBD system to these malfunctions, under legislated and non-legislated driving cycles. The emissions-related components subjected to malfunctions are, for gasoline fuelled cars oxygen sensor and catalytic converter, and for diesel cars Exhaust Gas Recirculation system (EGR) and diesel Particulate Filter (DPF). For gasoline cars, the results show that total malfunctions of the above components result in up to two orders of magnitude increase in pollutant emissions.

Increasing electronic controls in aircraft flight deck, especially in military aircrafts, demands special attention from crew workload assessment and human error analysis point of view. The main objective for the Authority is to validate that the crew workload is adequate for different and complicated military missions. Besides, human error analysis is a regulatory requirement in Airworthiness Certification of airplanes. Human errors need to be observed during simulated operational use of novelties and analyzed later (during the debriefing with pilots or during the results analysis). The main objective during the debriefing is to identify their causes, their consequence, their criticality and the current safety barriers in terms of human errors management. Simulators offer wide range of capability to identify the problems in early stages of the design. Degree of fidelity needed on evaluation media is related with the complexity of the military mission and project budget.

Reliability and maintainability of both terrestrial and space systems have too long been needlessly sacrificed because man's role within each system has been an afterthought. To overcome this short-sighted approach, man's capabilities as well as limitations must be clearly understood at the outset of system development by those who are responsible for design. This paper presents the results of recent research in human engineering which should aid system designers to optimize man's role as a control element in space systems. In particular, five human characteristics necessary for spacecraft control are shown to exceed the capabilities of any known or planned machines. The maximum role of which man is capable should be defined for each particular space system. When this maximum role is known, then tradeoffs become possible between human and automatic control.

History of X-15 performance reveals that the pilot, by unscheduled or unplanned inputs, enabled completion of almost twice as many flights as would otherwise have been completed on a routine basis. The prelaunch team (including the pilot) supported 92 successful routine launchings and overcame malfunctions to enable 10 additional launchings; 13 missions were unsuccessful because of team error. The maintenance crew was responsible for 6 failures out of 164 mission attempts. A reliability point estimate of 0.84 for the X-15 personnel subsystem is derived from these comparisons.

With the continuing success of the Space Transportation System, attention is currently being focused upon the assessment of the ways in which a crewperson's capabilities can be utilized. The purpose of this paper is to identify candidate crew roles in space, as these roles relate to crew-payload interaction. Additionally, the advantages of the crew's presence in space will be optimized as designers increasingly depend on man's inherent capabilities and integrate them in the operating system. Design guidelines and considerations will be reviewed and specific advantages of utilizing man versus machine will be addressed, as well as man/machine function allocation, crew restraint systems, and displays and controls.

Advancing technology and existing needs are converging toward a new spacecraft system - a free-flying telemanipulator system which can perform satellite servicing, minor repairs, inspection, and retrieval. Langley is supporting the technology required and performing systems analysis for such a vehicle. Man is a major part of the system - performing both high level direction and lower level control functions, but sharing these functions with some onboard autonomy. This paper discusses the technical challenges and the role of man in such a system, and results from recent simulation studies.

This paper recapitulates the major design, development, and management of a program for the engineering development of integrated spacecraft environmental control and life support systems and for the solution of man-machine integration problems. The different phases of the program are applicable to a family of manned space laboratories and manned interplanetary space vehicles. Simulation techniques included the use of space-laboratory types of life support subsystems hardware of flight type, but not necessarily of flight weight. Most of the preliminary results of the first phase of this program and future phases are discussed in this paper, and future phases are reviewed.

This paper describes the man-machine interface and control software of a Navigation System for private automobiles. The system shows the accurate position of the vehicle on a CRT map display and can also provide useful information such as the locations of hotels, golf clubs, etc. The man-machine interface of this system consists of a menu display and touch-sensitive switches on the screen. Due to safety considerations, some of the displays and operations are prohibited while the vehicle is in motion. A multi-tasking software system controls these functions. Most of the programs were written in “C”, but assembly language was used for some basic input/output control programs. The total program size is about 384 Kbytes. This navigation system was installed in Mitsubishi's Diamante models in 1990.

Artificial, closed ecosystems are potentially useful tools with which to explore ecosystem interactions, allowing investigations of the biology, physiology and biophysics of complex communities. They can also be used to evaluate the long-term effects of environmental constituents that are usually present at very low concentrations. The introduction of humans into such systems extends their usefulness even further, allowing the study of the influence of the environment on people, and the effects of people on the environment. Because of the great potential of such systems in adding to human knowledge, and their considerable expense, it is appropriate that such activities be international studies. The Institute of Biophysics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Siberian Branch) has established, The International Research Center for Closed Ecosystems (Biospherics). It is located in Central Siberia near Krasnoyarsk on the Yenissei river, and is open to all interested investigators.

The mistakes of humans, whether in design, construction or operation of modern technological systems, are likely to occur in the most unexpected circumstances. The author discusses examples of accidents or mishaps due to human errors in design, training and management as well as possible solutions. New opportunities for hazard have appeared in the form of human abuse of legal and illegal drugs as they may alter the predictability of human behavior. As the reliability of systems increases, human operators are faced with dull monitoring tasks and boredom, while the remote risk of failure can have catastrophic consequences.

Auto stop-start (Engine stop-start, ESS) has become a widely used feature to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions particularly in congested cities. Typically, vehicles equipped with such systems include two DC power sources that are coupled in parallel: a primary and a secondary power source. The primary power source supplies energy to the starter to crank the engine, while the secondary power source supplies energy to the rest of the vehicle electric loads. During an auto-stop event, a controllable switch decouples the two power sources. Moreover, operating current, voltage and the State of Charge (SOC) are monitored to ensure enough energy for the next auto-start event. When any of these operating parameters are below the threshold values, the controllable switch opens to isolate the two batteries and then the engine is automatically started.

Similar to three way catalysts (TWC), conventional oxidation catalysts (COC) have a “control window” with respect to inlet O2 concentrations. Within this window, which is bordered on one side by poor HC / CO efficiency and low sulfate formation and on the other side by good HC / CO efficiency and high sulfate formation, is a region offering simultaneous control of HC, CO and sulfates. Starting with an advanced emission control system, which incorporates a TWC with an O2 sensor and closed loop feedback control of the air-fuel ratio (A / F) followed by a COC with secondary air addition for adequate control of HC and CO, an additive control system has been designed which maintains a constant O2 level at the inlet of the oxidation catalyst. With the nearly constant composition of the exhaust gases of an engine with stoichiometric A / F control, the quantity of secondary air addition required to achieve this constant O2 level is a linear function of engine air flow.

AN industrial engineering program for the complete control of manufacturing operations is described here. The program stresses the application of engineering methods and thinking to management's planning and control problems. Plans for establishing standards for men and machines and for developing a variable control budget are presented. Statistics, the author says, could solve many control problems if only engineers would learn more about statistical principles. Wage incentives, mistakenly publicized as a major part of industrial engineering, he asserts, are not a substitute for good management.

Sophisticated electronic control unit (ECU) systems are required to achieve optimal performance in electric vehicles, especially in the areas of charge management and climate control. Some of the important control parameters for these systems include charge control and state of charge determination (SOC). Motorola's Automotive Group recently developed an electronic control unit (ECU) that controls and manages the heart of electric vehicles, the battery.

Management is the group that ultimately must decide on the real value of a business aircraft operation to a company in relation to its relatively high cost. This paper discusses several of the tangible and intangible benefits a company realizes by operating its own aircraft and how these benefits offset the costs.