Search Results

A two-leading shoe air/spring operated wedge brake for heavy commercial vehicles of up to 13 tonnes static axle weight. The dual-wedge design gives a more uniform shoe-to-drum loading pattern than the conventional ‘S’ cam. An auto adjustment mechanism is incorporated which is fully enclosed and functions on the same proven principle as used in automobile rear disc brakes. Overall brake assembly weight is reduced by the use of direct mounted actuators. The brake has been adopted by major vehicle manufacturers in view of higher permissable axle weights, improved half systems and handbrake requirements in Europe.

Intelligent Vehicle/Highway Systems (IVHS), also known as Road Transport Informatics (RTI) in Europe and by names such as Vehicle Information Communication System (VICS) and Info-Mobility in Japan, are expected to comprise as much as 10 percent of vehicle costs by the year 2000. In view of the global nature of the automobile industry, global IVHS standards are required There are three particularly important areas for standardization: data communication links between vehicle systems and the infrastructure, digital map databases for the on-board navigation and driver information systems, and the driver/machine interface. This paper outlines key IVHS standards requirements and some of the efforts already underway towards their development.

The Global Powder Metallurgy Property Database was released to the general public in October 2004, with a definite focus on the automotive end user community. The Database is the culmination of four years of planning, formulating and joint development between the North American, European and Japanese powder metallurgy communities. This unique data offering includes ferrous, non-ferrous and bearing alloys and covers mechanical, physical and fatigue data. Nearly 200 different alloys are included. Materials and properties can be searched using MPIF and ISO material codes, following standard or advanced search methods with up to six variables simultaneously. Graphical presentation of the data is available throughout the system. Examples of search outputs are presented along with helpful hints for getting the most out of this new and exciting powder metallurgy database.

As companies transform themselves from national or multinational organizations into global businesses, the corporate R&D process must also be transformed. Forces driving this change include a need: to link more directly to customers and markets around the globe; to rapidly deploy product and process technologies throughout the business operations world-wide; and to remain abreast or ahead of competitors in access to technology regardless of its geographical origin. Defining an optimal global R&D organization within a company depends on accurately defining corporate objectives and needs for global R&D. Such networks can serve either to access global technology or to disseminate centrally developed corporate technology. The structure and operations will be different in the two cases. Finally, interactions between companies are becoming increasingly important.

The Goals Report together with its substantial number of supporting documents is an excellent study of engineering education as it is today and as it is likely to evolve in the next 10 to 20 years. The philosophy of its many findings and recommendations can be expressed in three broad areas of recommended change. They are: 1) Bachelor's degree programs should be liberalized. 2) Graduate work at all levels will continue to expand. 3) Continuing education of one sort or other will be the habit and expectation of most practicing engineers. Supporting these three basic concepts are many detailed analyses and recommendations. The full report is recommended reading for all engineers and the author presents the opinions of a practicing engineer with respect to the basic recommendations.

The glare to pedestrians remains one of the biggest challenges since the invention of the automobile and the automobile lighting. As far as pedestrians are concerned, whether the roadside pedestrians or the pedestrians in the crossing area are almost like lambs to the slaughter. To balance the glare interference of automobile lighting and protecting pedestrians, modeling and simulation for the pedestrian glare have been theorized by the use of forest sunlight effects and a novel controlled dark photonic channel. Based on the modeling and simulation, a novel full-factors light environment control system and pedestrian glare-free lighting system have been derived.

The catastrophic effect of oxidation of molybdenum on the electronic signal integrity of an airborne avionic system is documented. A chemical process for effective reduction of these corrosion products is defined, and fixtures are described for the electroplating of coaxial cables on aircraft without removal of the cables. An electrolytic process for plating nickel and gold over molybdenum is developed, and shown to have an excellent first pass through yield. The investigation and development of a repair process shows a unique approach to failure analysis and problem solving, and results in restoration of the original electronic performance of the coaxial cable.

Eighteen vehicles ranging from a 1938 Dodge to a 1965 Mustang were tested to determine their fuel economy and exhaust emissions relative to today's vehicles and today's driving conditions. The 1979 models are getting about 10% better fuel economy over the urban cycle and 20% better over the highway cycle than the older vehicles. The reasons for these differences as well as the exhaust emissions from the older vehicles are also discussed.

This paper defines the Government engineering role during quantity procurement of various types of machinery, in an attempt to point out areas in which suppliers often run into problems when on fixed price contracts. Outlined are contrasting operational objectives of the military as opposed to most industry operational objectives. When adapting a commercial item to meet specific military needs, specifications are expressed in requirement type terminology. Another factor to be considered by contractors is drawings which provide design data and ignore process data. Possible problem areas are insufficient material allowance for processing, inaccurate transfer of dimensions, substitution of materials, and inaccurate conversion from military standards to supplier practices. No contractor should commit himself until all questionable engineering requirements of a quantity procurement contract have been clarified to eliminate all misunderstanding.

Motor vehicle accidents resulting in injuries and deaths are caused by a variety of reasons. Quality control problems, resulting in vehicle defects, contribute to these accidents. Reduction in motor vehicle accidents is worthwhile. The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 through the Office of Defects Investigation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, provides a means of administering the manufacturers' and government's corrective action for those potential accidents caused by vehicle defects.

Orthodox economic analysis indeed demonstrates that, where a good has a marginal cost that is insensitive to volume, only a monopoly is stable. However, the further postulate animating public managements today, that a monopoly can increase its profits by holding the good off the market, is implausible with respect to a good that is perfectly perishable, e.g. the opportunity to traverse a highway. Thus a publicly-owned system may not, as is commonly supposed, be tolerant of bad management. In truth, the highway is sensitive to overloading: below the minimum speed, the flow is unstable. Therefore “fine tuning” of supply and demand is appropriate. The assumption that public ownership demands public management is, then, to be rejected. It is shown that the public can let the management of the highway out to a profit-seeking concessionaire, who could be relied upon to raise charges sufficiently to prevent over-loading, without any risk of the capital assets being degraded.

The forces required to control a car while cornering come from 4 small contact patches between the tire and road. Maximizing the average speed through the turn is almost entirely dependent upon the lateral force developed at these four points by the tires. Historically, these forces have not been measured directly, but secondary results such as lateral acceleration have been measured as an indicator of the total lateral force on the vehicle. In addition, tire characteristics have been measured from steady state measurements collected on a Force and Moment machine. Halliday Technologies Inc. has developed the Grip Evaluation and Management device, GEM, with which the lateral force developed by each tire mounted on a vehicle can be measured directly and recorded dynamically. The GEM device is patented in the USA and patents are pending in more than 20 other countries. This paper describes the operation of the GEM device, and presents some of the data collected to date.

Current powered lift aircraft studies include those which propose to utilise high specific thrust engines vectored for vertical landing. In ground proximity the high pressure, high temperature, exhaust plumes create a hostile environment for the aircraft, ground crew and equipment, and the landing platform. The potential difficulties have re-awakened research interest in the fields of: Ground surface erosion. Near field/mid field noise. Upwash impingement on the aircraft. Ground sheet temperature and velocity. This paper describes the physical nature of these problems, discusses some of the perceived operational difficulties and makes suggestions for further work, under each of the above headings. Ground proximity also creates other problems; notably ingestion of hot gas into the engines inlets and jet re-circulation induced forces and moments on the aircraft, but these are outside the scope of this paper.

The large wind tunnel at the Technische Universität München was upgraded by integrating a modular single-belt system, which enables the simulation of moving ground conditions for ground vehicle testing. Central part of this system is its large belt that moves at a maximum speed of 50 m/s. This belt not only simulates the relative motion between the model vehicle under investigation and the floor, but also drives the model's wheels. Due to its size, the wind tunnel facility is suited for testing 40%-scaled models of typical passenger cars, which are held in place by a newly designed model support system consisting of five struts: One strut to support the body of the model and four struts to hold the model's wheels on top of the moving belt. Another crucial step in upgrading the wind tunnel was to install a boundary layer scoop system to reduce the thickness of the boundary layer approaching the moving belt.

Over the past 25 years Space Solar Dynamic component development has advanced to the point where it is considered a leading candidate power source technology for the evolutionary phases of the Space Station Freedom (SSF) program. Selection of SD power was based on studies and analyses which indicated significant savings in life cycle costs, launch mass and EVA requirements were possible when the system is compared to more conventional photovoltaic/battery power systems. However, like any new or untested system proposed for space applications a number of issues have been raised concerning performance of the components when integrated into a system in a vacuum environment. Issues associated with micro-gravity operation such as the behavior of the thermal energy storage materials are being addressed in other programs. A ground test of a 2 kWe solar dynamic system is being planned by the NASA Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology to address the integration issues.

Western Washington University has built two ground-up hybrid electric vehicles. The first vehicle, Viking 21, was utilized to test various systems before incorporating them into Viking 23 which is the vehicle discussed in this paper. The front wheels are driven by two brushless D.C. motors through a purpose built 4 speed transaxle incorporating a limited slip differential. The rear wheels are driven with a natural gas, fuel injected, four cylinder, 16 valve engine through a six speed gearbox and mechanical diodes at the rear wheel hubs. The body-chassis is made from sandwich construction carbon fiber composite. The NiCd battery is charged from a 720 Watt solar array covering the entire surface of the upper body's aerodynamic shell. The low weight (900 Kg), combined with a Cd of .275, yield a gasoline equivalent efficiency of more than 200 miles per gallon.

There exists a growing trend within our industry to move in the direction of a mass market air transport system with emphasis on greater efficiency of equipment, capital, and energy. While satisfying the essential needs of the market majority the mass market approach compromises the needs of the more service oriented market. Such compromises are changing the perception of the industry from service conscious to price conscious. It need not be either price or service - it can be both. Within resource limitations further specialization can produce satisfaction in both the lower fare mass market and the higher fare service market. In addition specialization carries with it the benefit for further product differentiation thus improving potential profitability in a highly competitive industry.

Used lube oil and transmission sump filters are not considered hazardous waste if they are disposed of according to Federal guidelines. The options for disposal after hot draining include incineration, landfilling, and recycling. Landfilling of filters increasingly have been banned by more and more states. The states are requiring that filters be recycled. The OEMs have acknowledged this governmental trend for life cycle recycling by their establishment of the Vehicle Recycling Partnership, one of the consortia of the United States Council on Automotive Research (USCAR). An all plastic transmission sump filter has been designed, developed, and is currently being manufactured for certain GM and Ford platforms. The use of a composite resin material and proprietary technology facilitates the effort to recycle. The recycled material may be used again when combined with virgin material to meet the OEM material specifications. Residual oil may also be recovered and reprocessed.

The stamping of thermoplastic sheet is gaining acceptance in the automobile industry. The process has been used in consumer product areas which are less demanding than automotive, but this has demonstrated process viability. As the process gains in acceptance, special materials are being developed for stamping of components which have properties required for specific applications. There are several variations of the basic process as related to the product, material, and equipment. The definite advantage of stamping is rapid cycle time. In-the-mold decorating and pre-decorated materials will provide further applications in trim components. Stamping of thermoplastic provides an additional tool for automotive engineers.