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New systems and techniques in aircraft maintenance had to be developed to cope with the rapid increase in workload and the changing nature of aircraft systems, parts, and material. Some of those that developed were from the science of mathematics dealing with sampling and the improvement of performance reliability and maintenance costs. Science and industry developed new material fabrication and machining techniques that enable us to work with materials that did not exist 10 years ago. This paper deals with maintenance concepts developed since we acquired turbine aircraft. It mentions a few of the new shop techniques that meet demands of reliability, costs, and new types of materials. It lists some needs of our business in the near future that will enable us to continue moving toward greater dependability and better control of costs.

The Author believes that the evolutionary development of today's Automotive Engines will continue and that radical alternatives are unlikely to make substantial inroads over the next fifteen ∼ twenty years. He also believes however that the two stroke, spark ignited engine could become widely used, provided the promising experiments currently being carried out demonstrate that exhaust emission limits and durability targets can be met. Electronics will become even more widely used in the future for management and diagnostic purposes. Diesel exhaust particulates legislation is likely to pose major problems in the future and may well require the widespread usage of traps/oxidisers although such technology does not currently exist.

A high number of activities in the field of research are conducted in europe to evaluate the road transport system in europe and the changes which are possible over the next ten to fifteen years to introduce of a totally integrated traffic system. This new approach to road transport will be used advanced developments in electronics communications, and vehicle on-board equipment to truly integrate the driver, the vehicle, and the road into a single system. Benefits of this road transport system will be improved traffic safety, reduced fuel consumption and exhaust emissions, and keep the travel freedom as high as of today. The presentation includes also a number of possibilities in the powertrain system.

Electrification of land transportation, primarily automobiles, will be important to conserve petroleum before the year 2000. Even with existing battery technology, electric cars would be adequate for significant urban use as second cars, and with advanced batteries they could do much more, bringing about large petroleum savings in cities relying on coal or nuclear electric power, plus modest improvement of air quality. Overall costs of auto operation would be increased, however, and availability of some battery materials is limited.

The quantitative expansion of the automobile, from now to 1985, is a mathematical certainty. “What technical solutions will be adopted for the design of those cars” is an intriguing and thrilling question. The author reviews new techniques being studied or tested by the various manufacturers, or still in the laboratory stage, and he attempts in the light of already secured or expected results to ascertain their chances of success. He concludes with the evolution possibilities of these techniques, which in any case should bring improvements and more satisfaction to the users.

For over 20 years, automotive manufacturers have been harnessing the power of 3D to help create, optimize and produce great vehicles. Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) capabilities such as concurrent development, seamless integration, simultaneous engineering, single source database, and real-time visibility have long been capable within the automotive development process. However, the reality is that these tools have existed for a select few within a corporation, and have never been pervasive to every person involved in a product’s development process. Today, there are certain market drivers requiring more from PLM technology. This includes the fact that companies must drive innovation to survive in today’s increasingly competitive and global auto industry.

This paper reviews the effectiveness of TV-radar in providing pilots with navigational, weather, and traffic data; analyzes the results of a feasibility test conducted by the FAA; discusses safety factors and the need for improving the quality of radar picture transmissions. The future of televised radar depends in great part on low initial cost of equipment, improved ability to supply traffic information simultaneously to numerous aircraft, and greater emphasis on the potential of this important electronic aid in supplying pilots with valuable information.

Digital radio broadcast systems, like HD-Radio™ and Satellite Radio, provide crystal clear sound. However, since they are essentially bits and bytes, they could also be used for distributing traffic and weather information or any other supplementary information. Due to considerably enhanced compression techniques, digital broadcast systems could also carry surround sound, which significantly improves the sound perception. Integration of the digital tuners in an automotive environment are mainly through MOST ring topologies, which allow flexibly adding different tuner modules depending on customer preferences and standards used in different markets. This paper aims at providing a more detailed insight into the aforementioned trends and developments, with a specific focus on premium segment automobiles.

The use of electronic digital tuning in automobile radios offers many advantages. These include radios of reduced size and weight which are becoming all important considerations in the design of all automotive components. In addition, the reduced size allows considerable freedom for interior stylists. At the same time, electronically tuned radios offer superior performance at reduced cost. This paper demonstrates the probability that in the near future nearly all automobile radios will be digitally tuned. It provides a direct comparison between presently available radios and all-electronic radios.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District's three-tiered Air Quality Management Plan, adopted in March 1989 and subsequently approved by the California Air Resources Board, places major emphasis on the development and commercialization of Low Emitting Vehicles (LEVs) and Extremely Low Emitting Vehicles (ELEVs) to attain ambient air quality standards in the Los Angeles basin, no later than 2007. Electric vehicles are currently the lowest emission vehicle technology under development and commercialization, and therefore represent key vehicle technologies for Tiers II and III. This paper presents an overview of the various activities underway in Southern California to overcome the critical technological barriers and allow EVs to realize their full potential. The SCAQMD encourages battery and component manufacturers to aggressively pursue the potential for EVs to displace large numbers of gasoline-powered vehicles as soon as possible.

An outlook on the lines of the technological evolution that the spark ignition and the Diesel engine must undergo in order to meet the increasing demand for improved fuel economy and very low emissions of the next years is given. As regards the gasoline engines, the fuel economy increase is the main target, to be achieved with technologies able to meet future emission limits, like stoichiometric direct injection or VVA systems. The introduction, even if on a limited scale, of the CNG and LPG electronic injection technology could give a valuable contribution not only to the CO2 emission reduction of spark ignition engines, but above all could be the only practicable solution in the short and medium term to the problem of the pollution of the urban areas. The Direct Injection Diesel engines, which share in the European market is increasing non-stop, will have to tackle the problem of more severe emissions limits, in 2005 and later on.

The hydraulic-powered wiper motor has been providing all-weather vision with full selectivity of wiping frequency on production model automobiles since 1961. This paper outlines the features of the hydraulic-powered wiper motor, examines hydraulic power sources, reviews the design and operation of the current production wiper motor, and presents performance and endurance test data. It describes the development of a simpler, more economical, smaller design motor with equivalent performance and endurance and with provisions for quick connection of hydraulic lines. Future applications for hydraulic-powered wiper motors are suggested.

An innovative mild hybrid transmission concept is presented and the opportunities described that arise from the addition of an e-machine to the transmission system and the introduction of a freewheel mechanism. Design studies and simulation have shown that hybridising elements of the transmission system can extend the efficiency gains of 12V engine-based mild hybrid systems, specifically in small passenger cars. In addition, combined with the freewheel mechanism, this concept adds desirable features and functionality that justify its cost. The paper will demonstrate how some of this functionality will enable hybridisation of a far broader range of vehicles, helping manufacturers to significantly reduce their fleet CO2 emissions.

“Formula NONE” is proposed as a solution to the problem of sanctioning bodies increasingly restricting the practice of motorsports engineering, supposedly to reduce costs, increase safety, and equalize competition -- but which reduces the value of engineers. Even in Formula One there are dozens of technologies banned outright, not to mention all the dimensional limits. A few “megabuck” sponsors allow some teams to attain an unfair technological advantage. However, a series with NO technical rules except for impact safety (speeds limited by track changes), might be feasible if all team advertising were banned, letting innovation flourish in a real Constructors Championship.

Sound quality of vehicles has become very important for car manufacturers. This feature is interpreted as among the most relevant factors regarding perceived product quality. Since the development cycles in the automotive industry are constantly reduced to meet the customers' demands and to react quickly to market needs, ensuring product sound quality is becoming increasingly difficult. Moreover, new drive and fuel concepts, tightened ecological specifications, increase of vehicle classes and increasing diversification, etc., challenge the acoustic engineers trying to create and preserve a pleasant, adequate, harmonious passenger cabin sound. Another aspect concerns the general pressure for reducing emission and fuel consumption, which lead to vehicle weight reductions through material changes also resulting in new noise and vibration conflicts.

The role of NVH testing has evolved from a firefighting role and a period of exploration to a well defined standard test role in the product development and validation process. Integral to this process is robust engineering, which drives the need to execute many tests quickly, efficiently and accurately. This allows the NVH specialist to concentrate on interpretation of results and spend less time on the acquisition of data. As the volume of data grows, this creates the opportunity to data mine an NVH database to compare results from large sample sizes and focus on product variation. Today's NVH laboratory is accountable for producing high quality, consistent, timely, and cost effective test reports. The basic core of the test has to be easy to set up and execute for a novice, yet still allow for exploratory tests by specialists as necessary. The NVH laboratory is now subject to the same budgetary pressures and quality audits as other testing operations.

Vehicle manufacturers and their suppliers are legally mandated to develop low-emission engine technologies. Type approval for road-vehicles or non-road mobile machines is only granted when the limits for carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), hydrocarbons (HC), and particulate matters (PM) are observed. In addition to complying with emission standards, road-vehicles must be equipped with a supervising system (OBD) that monitors emission-related components and detects and indicate divergences from admissible pollutant limits. As of today, emission control systems are required for non-road mobile machinery, but not their monitoring by an OBD system. This paper starts with a short introduction to the classical OBD system. For more than three decades, OBD serves as an essential part of the environmental protection.

The famous Model T Ford produced a revolution in its day due to very advanced metallurgical thinking by four engineers. Such thinking is necessary today to advance the impending and greater revolution possible with Powder Metallurgy. By designing different major components for the various production systems possible today with P/M many savings of energy, materials, equipment and costs are feasible. The potential for some present & future developments are discussed.