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This testing series was not meant to determine the effects of refractory ceramics fiber on friction applications, but was an introduction of the company to the friction industry as well as an opportunity for it to begin to build a knowledge base as a supplier of ceramic fiber to the friction industry. This study was first step towards obtaining the necessary information to become a qualified supplier to the automotive friction industry. As more is learned about the effects of ceramic fiber on friction applications, it will become easier to provide the expertise and support to the brake pad manufacturers so that they may achieve there goals more rapidly. It is the intent of this company to continue an experimental program to learn the effects of fiber diameter, length, chemistry, and shot particle size distribution on friction materials.

This work compares the typical manufacturing process of cast iron piston rings with chromium or molybdenum coating with the more recent nitriding steel process. Environmental impact of the processes is estimated by their material losses, consumption of energy and hazardous waste. Despite all technological development, the nowadays production process of a typical piston ring still implies that the finished part has only 30% of the iron initially cast. A more recent design, nitrided steel piston ring, reduces substantially material losses during the part manufacturing. It also substitutes high polluter processes as chromium plating or metal spray for the lower polluter gas nitriding. Production of Nitrided Steel Rings (NSR) uses 40% less energy, needs 78% less raw material and produces almost 10 times less hazardous waste. NSR has significant lower environmental impact in comparison with the traditional Coated Iron Ring (CIR). NSR also has environmental advantages during use.

Catalyst applications for gasoline and diesel engine powered passenger cars and 2-stroke Two- and Three-wheelers are the main focus of this paper. Catalyst durability and deactivating effects are discussed in detail. Experiences on Indian conditions are also included.

Several features of the automotive catalyst support contribute to the performance of a catalytic converter system. Certainly the very high surface area and straight and uniform channels allow for an active catalytic surface while still providing a comparatively low back pressure. Other properties of the substrate such as mass and specific heat capacity prove deleterious to the rapid attainment of high conversion efficiency. The size and shape of the channel also can have positive or negative effects, depending on the relative values of these factors, which contribute to both the back pressure and the heat/mass transfer. In turn, the mass transfer is directly related to the catalyst performance. This paper examines the inter-relationships among these substrate parameters and performance properties using both calculations from measured substrate properties and measured substrate performance properties for comparison.

While often treated as separate entities, there is a significant interaction between engine operating parameters and the catalytic aftertreatment system in determining overall performance. The impressive gains in vehicle emissions and durability required for such marketplaces, as California and Europe provide excellent examples of this interrelationship. Similarly, the Indian marketplace can expect to follow these technology progressions in engine as well as catalyst application design. To progress from an unregulated emissions environment to the first level of catalyzed aftertreatment of relatively simply designed carbureted engines, and then to more sophisticated engines with fuel injection, India can take advantage of what has been learned in other marketplaces worldwide.

The environment load by traffic has reached limits of reasonableness in many places and metropoles. High mobility and environmental protection however can be equally fulfilled by consistently using latest automobile and engine technology. Nowadays the mean fuel consumption of new passenger cars equipped with gasoline engines is below 8 L/100 km and with diesel engines below 6 L/100 km. A 30 - 50 % reduction of fuel consumption within the next 10 years is expected with similar progress for commercial vehicle. This reduction of fuel consumption is not only important for saving resources, but also for protecting our global climate. The utmost target for engine development is to minimize both consumption and pollutant emissions. Effective reduction in classical pollutants for gasoline engines and new technologies such as oxydation Catalyst, De-NOx etc., for diesel engines have placed both power plants promising for passanger car market.

For the reason of environmental and health protection, future Diesel emission legislation will become increasingly severe. Ceramic honeycomb traps are well suited to efficiently reduce particulate emissions. Several of such filtering devices have been introduced, but the major problem of regenerating the trap regarding reliability and failsafe operation is not yet sufficiently solved. This paper describes a particulate trap system with a self supporting, sequential regeneration system. The regeneration of the collected soot inside the channels of the honeycomb trap during vehicle opertion is initiated by ignition of the soot layer using meander shaped heat wires installed in the front end of the trap inlet channels.

Extruded cordierite honeycomb substrates have proven successful both as filters for efficient trapping and incineration of soot carbon and as catalyst supports for the oxidation of CO and HC emissions in diesel exhaust. The microstructure, properties, and design of extruded cordierite ceramic filter (EX-80 composition) with 100/17 square cell structure, which help meet performance and durability requirements, are presented. Similarly, the design, properties, and washcoat compatibility of extruded cordierite ceramic catalyst support (EX-20 composition) with 300/8 square cell structure, which help meet conversion efficiency, back pressure and durability requirements are briefly reviewed. The importance of systems approach to filter design is illustrated by two different examples where the appropriate choice of filter composition, packaging design, soot loading and regeneration technique helps meet performance and durability requirements under specific operating conditions.

An experimental study was carried out on two engines of different displacement, in order to analyze in detail the two most common methods for the determination of the top dead center. The direct method, in which the top dead center is obtained from direct measurement of the piston position was compared with the thermodynamic method, based on the pressure curve in the combustion chamber. The experimental results show that the thermodynamic method, is accurate.

A bi-fuel engine using direct injection natural gas at low pressure was submitted to runs with full power in a foucaut dynamometer. The results obtained show a small decrease in power when the engine was fueled with natural gas when compared which carburated gasoline. Engine power data is compared, showing the factors which contribute to this reduction in power. Modifications to be made to minimize those losses are discussed

In this paper, four different configurations of plug type muffler are investigated. Three different evaluations methods are used; Finite Element Method, Transfer Matrix Method and experimental measurements. The results obtained for the transmission loss of each muffler are compared. No flow and temperature variation are considered.

The heavy-duty natural gas engine has been subject of growing interest as a feasible alternative for the reduction of pollution levels in urban centers, where currently diesel vehicles predominate. This paper summarizes the development of the Mercedes Benz compressed natural gas engine M366LAG, which reached competitive characteristics of Diesel engines, like fuel consumption, weight / power ratio and thermal loading, by matching the turbocharging technology with charge cooler and the concept of lean burn combustion. An oxidation catalyst was developed and emissions less than 50% of the EURO II limits were achieved. With 5,958 1 of displacement and 6 cylinders in line, the M366LAG provides a power of 170 kW @ 2600 min-1 and 720 Nm @ 1560 min-1 as maximum torque.

The brazilian industries are seeking a quality improvement by the reaching of the required level of certification of their systems by the ISO 9000 standards. The majority of them do not even obtain the ISO 9000 certificate and the great north american automotives launched QS-9000, creating various obstacles. This article discusses the origin of QS-9000 and the positive/ negative points that will fall upon the automotives and brazilian autoparts. Here are cited the elements and the steps required to the certification, the care to be taken in the certification, the time limit to aquisition and the tendencies in the field of quality.

The trends in all levels of the automotive value added chain, government regulations and performance requirements for components are driving the use of higher performance materials in electrical automotive connections in Europe and therefore in Brazil. Designs utilizing the material properties offered by high performance Cu-based materials will result in cost-effective and reliable solutions to the needs faced by the automotive component industry. Understanding of the various high performance alloys and their impact on the different applications is essential in coping with the increasing demands for automotive components based on the strategy: „Lower Cost, Better Quality”.

One of the major steps that can be taken to reduce vehicle leadtime is optimal body engineering. To understand this process, a short history of vehicle body development will be presented plus examples of three active programs that highlight the use of aluminum, plastics and steel concentrating on weight and cost reduction. In addition, two areas of potential design and development leadtime reduction will be investigated. First, the potential of drastically reducing the “concept” decision leadtime…this can be done with the aid of a new computer program. Secondly, the need for excellent communication between the car companies, their contract design services and the “blackbox/graybox” suppliers.

Linear static and dynamic analysis are state-of-the-art to determine the NVH behaviour of engines and the fatigue behaviour of crankshafts by use of the finite element method (FEM). Using direct methods for solving the equations even supercomputing does not help to prevent nonlinear transient analysis from being very time consuming and inefficient for the essentially large number of degrees of freedom. Presenting nonlinear transient analysis results of different engines, the K+P software products XFEP/CT and XFEP/NVH are shown to be both highly sophisticated and efficient for determining the NVH and the fatigue behaviour of complete power units.

We present the physical concepts of acoustic barriers which have the purpose of reducing airborne sound transmission for both paths: internal and external noise. We introduce the mass-spring model, the utilization of compound sandwiches, and the improvement of the Transmission Loss through the use of channels in the material working as spring. We show some results regarding the behavior of absorption materials exposed to environment/working conditions. In addition we discuss the effect of acoustic leaks and the way of evaluating these barriers in vehicles. We show examples based on experimental investigations.

This literature review is part of a PhD. project which is being carried out under the supervision of the second one, at UFSC/Brazil and ISVR/UK of the first author. The principal excitation sources for the internal combustion engine is presented, together with the methods used for identification and quantification of piston slap excitation sources.

This paper describes the Interferometric SAR (InSAR) of Aero-Sensing AeS-1 The system AeS-1, being designed and manufactured at Aero-Sensing, will be mainly used for generation of fully geocoded SAR images and Digital Elevation Models (DEM) AeS-1 has a maximal ground resolution of 0 5 m x 0 5 m and a height accuracy of 0 5 m AeS-1 will have the first tests in August 1996 and will be operational in November 1996 The expected products of the AeS-1-System are presented Finaly the results of the DLR SAR E-SAR are shown

At Western Washington University s Vehicle Research Institute (VRI) students are currently working on producing a Formula Race Car for the annual SAE competition For the last two years students in the VRI in collaboration with the Manufacturing Engineering Technology (MET) program have been using an integrated CAD/CAM approach in designing and manufacturing parts for the car Some of the parts manufactured with this approach include Bulkheads as main chassis members a-arms for suspension brake callipers hubs drive sprockets spindles drive axles shifter components suspension uprights and wheel reinforcements All the parts are machined on a four axis CNC Vertical Machining Centre and a three axis Turning Centre This integrated CAD/CAM approach allows a team of ten students to design and produce a complete race car in a period of eight months with excellent successes in the competition having achieved fourth place overall in a field of eighty-five competitors Having won the best performing car at the event the integrated CAD/CAM approach is considered the driving force behind the success