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In the past few decades CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) fuel growing as an alternate fuel due to its more economically as compared to Gasoline & Diesel fuels by vehicle running cost in both passenger as well as commercial vehicles, additionally it is more environment friendly & safer fuel with respect to gasoline & diesel. At standard temperature & pressure fuel density of Natural Gas (0.7-0.9 kg/m3) is lower than Gasoline (715-780 kg/m3), Diesel (849~959 kg/m3), therefore CNG fuel require higher storage space as compared to Gasoline & Diesel & also it stores at very high pressure (200-250 bar) to further increase the fuel density 180 kg/m3 (at 200 bar) and for 215 kg/m3 (at 250 bar) in CNG cylinders so that max fuel contains in the cylinders and increase the vehicle running range per fuel filling & reduces its fuel filling frequency at filling stations.

Petroleum Oil, Lubricants (POL) & Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tanker vehicles are special application segment that holds a significant Market share for commercial vehicles. These vehicles need to comply additional Safety regulations specified by Petroleum and explosives safety organization (PESO). For compliance to Rule-70, Protective heat shield on exhaust system needs to be designed and validated in order to avoid any catastrophic failure. The paper demonstrates the methodology to identify the worst case scenario for the existing commercial vehicle segment. Based on detail digital mock up (DMU) review Metallic heat shield was designed on after treatment system (ATS). The flexible heat shield was designed for exhaust pipe & joints in order to restrain the heat flow to the surrounding aggregates. After finalising design, CFD analysis was carried out to find out the thermal effects on various components and results within acceptable limits.

Climate change due to global warming are major concerns. Electric vehicles are one of the promising technologies to curb the climate change by reducing CO2 emissions significantly. Electric vehicle component selection is a complex process, which has to fulfil multiple requirements with trade-off between performance & efficiency, efficiency & cost, performance & NVH, packaging & performance etc. In addition, E-drive selection in passenger & commercial vehicle is different due to application difference. Hence, it is a great challenge to select right E-Drive comprising motor, MCU and overall gear ratio to meet EV program constraints and targets. This study focuses on criterion used for selecting an E-Drive system comprising motor, MCU and overall gear ratio for electric vehicles in commercial and passenger vehicle segments.

Automotive crash data analysis and reconstruction is vital for ensuring automotive safety. The objective of vehicle crash reconstruction is to determine the vehicle's motion before, during, and after the crash, as well as the impact on occupants in terms of injuries. Simulation approaches, such as PC CrashTM, have been developed to understand pre-crash and post-crash vehicle motion, rather than the crash phase behavior. Over the past few decades, crash phase simulations have utilized vehicle finite element models. While multibody simulation tools are suitable for crash simulations, they often require detailed crash test data to accurately capture vehicle behavior, which is not always readily available. This paper proposes a solution to this limitation by incorporating crash test data from databases, such as NHTSA, Global NCAP, consumer rating reports, and videos, along with a multibody-based approach, to conduct crash phase simulations.

The automotive world is rapidly moving towards achieving shorter lead time using high-end technological solutions by keeping up with day-to-day advancements in virtual testing domain. With increasing fidelity requirements in test cases and shorter project lead time, the virtual testing is an inevitable solution. This paper illustrates method adopted to achieve best approximation to emulate driver behavior with 1-D (one dimensional) simulation based modeling approach. On one hand, the physical testing needs huge data collection of various parameters using sensors mounted on the vehicle. The vehicle running on road provides the real time data to derive durability test specifications. One such example includes developing duty cycle for powertrain durability testing using Road Torque Data Collection (RTDC) technique. This involves intense physical efforts, higher set-up cost, frequent iterations, vulnerability to manual errors and causing longer test lead-time.

The commercial vehicles market is dominated by manual transmission, due to lower ownership cost. Generally, commercial vehicles are used in large numbers by the fleet owners. The transmission endurance life is very important to a vehicle owner. On the other hand, driver fatigue can be reduced with a smooth gear change process. The gear change process in a manual transmission is carried out with the help of the synchronizer pack. The crucial function of a synchronizer pack in an automotive transmission is to match the speed of the target gear for smooth gear shifting. In a transmission, the loose and the weakest part is the synchronizer ring. The failure of the synchronizer affects smooth gear shifting and it also affects the endurance life of the transmission. The synchronizer ring can fail due to poor structural strength, synchronizer liner wear, synchronizer liner burning, etc.

Hydrogen internal combustion engines (H2ICE) offer a cost-effective solution to decarbonize transport by combining a lower carbon intensity fuel with mature and established internal combustion engine technology. While vehicles running with hydrogen have been demonstrated over the years, this fuel's physical and chemical properties require modifications and upgrades on the vehicle from an engine and system-level perspective. In addition, market-specific regulatory and economic factors can also constrain the realization of optimal hydrogen powertrain architectures. Therefore, this paper reviews the impact of hydrogen use on combustion, injection, air management, and after-treatment systems, indicating the different strategies used to enable effective H2ICE strategies from an efficiency, cost, and safety standpoint.

The passive safety performance of a child seat is modulated by the design features of the child seat and the vehicle interior. For example, in the rear-facing configuration, the child seat impacting front structures increases the head injury risk during a frontal crash. Therefore, this study evaluates the effectiveness of the load leg countermeasure in improving the child seat's overall kinematics and its capability to prevent the secondary impact on the vehicle interior structure in a severe frontal crash scenario. An in-depth, real-world crash investigation involving a properly installed rear-facing child seat impacting the center console was selected for the study where the infant sustained a severe brain injury. In addition, this crash is employed to choose the crash parameters for evaluating the effectiveness of the load leg countermeasure in a similar scenario.

Sustainability has evolved from being just a niche engagement to a fundamental necessity. The reduction of carbon emissions from aspects of human activity has become desirable for its ability to mitigate the impact of climate change. The Transportation industry is a critical part of the global economy – any effort to curb emissions will have a significant impact on CO2 reduction. Engine lubricant can play an efficient and key role to enhance powertrain performance that have undergone significant hardware changes to reduce emissions. As part of a significant collaborative programme between Tata Motors and Infineum, a new engine oil formulation SAE 5W-30 API FA-4 has been developed and commercially introduced for use in the modern Bharat Stage 6 Phase 2 engines.

Child crash injury protection in severe rear impact chiefly depends on how well the rear survival space bounded by the vehicle structure is maintained. Previous research and studies have shown the ill effects of front seatback collapse intruding into the rear child survival space from front with minor or no intrusions from the rear. This paper shows the child injury pattern and fatal injury mechanism for a rear impact crash with a severe compartment intrusion from the rear without any front seat occupant. Furthermore, it compares the injury outcome with a similar crash and severe intrusion in the presence of the front occupant employing a full-scale vehicle-to-vehicle crash test. A detailed real-world crash investigation is conducted to identify the injury mechanism and is compared with the outcome of similar severity rear impact vehicle-to-vehicle crash tests producing different injury patterns.

The battery electric buses (BEB) are set as key tools to enable cities to meet their challenging transport environmental targets, i.e. the reduction of Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, improvement of local air quality, as well as to provide a quieter system for both passengers and the urban community. The recent evolutions of the traction battery technology, with increasing battery energy and power densities, battery durability and dynamic performance, driven by both the light and heavy duty vehicles segment, has opened the way for a series of transit bus electrification initiatives, focused on the evaluation of the feasibility of the BEB technology for the zero local emission bus fleet targets, already set by transit authorities in some important cities worldwide.

Biodiesel is one of the renewable alternatives to the use of diesel of fossil origin, and its usage has been growing in the world. The production of biodiesel can be performed from a large variety of raw materials. Within these raw materials, a known highlight is the cottonseed, from which the oil can represent 20% of its mass. For this, this work has the goal to study, with an experimental and methodic approach, the behavior of an internal combustion engine when working with biodiesel produced from cottonseed and different blends of this biofuel with commercial diesel. The tested proportions were 100%, 80%, 50%, 20% and 0% of biodiesel in the blend. To make this research, the specific fuel consumption and the power generated on a diesel cycle conventional engine working at maximum power speed and plain load were observed.

A measurement for a Commercial Vehicle Manufacturer was executed to compare and monitor the behaviors of a Heavy-Duty Vehicle with a real-life standard load on a private proving ground and on real road. During this measurement an event of Trailer Hoist-up was captured and recorded. Suspension springs arch open when the weight of the truck is put on them, while theoretically possible, it is improbable the springs would arch the other way around. It would require the vehicle to be suspended for a small fraction of time, which is rare on real road application because of the mass inertia of Heavy-Duty Vehicles. A Trailer Hoist-up produces an interesting particular situation for the spring. The strain distribution on the spring during the event was measured by the strain gauges mapped as a grid. The implications on the vehicle were measured by wheel force transducers, equipped with triaxial forces and triaxial moments, speed and position.

Brazil has a robust agricultural sector; however, the mechanization of crops causes several problems in the physical soil structure, including surface compaction. Compaction reduces crop productivity and producer profits. The intensity of compaction varies depending on the wheelset model used, tire type, water content, and soil load applied. Recent studies have shown that soil compaction in sugarcane can be attenuated by maintaining the vegetation cover (straw biomass) on the surface after harvesting. The present study used different tire models to evaluate the interaction between wheelset-soil as a function of different amounts of biomass left over from the sugarcane harvest. A physical simulation system (fixed tire testing unit) was used for the tests. The wheelsets were subjected to controlled loads on tanks with confined and standardized soil samples.

The mechanization of crops causes problems in soil structure as it causes compaction. Compaction can be severe depending on the type of tire adopted in the field. Producers are concerned with selecting wheelsets that harm the soil less and remembering to save resources when buying agricultural tires. Agricultural tires are more expensive than road tires, and truck tires can be an alternative for producers to save money. The present study evaluated the interaction between wheelset and ground in a fixed tire testing unit, comparing the impact of different tire models on bare ground. The 6 treatments performed consisted of 3 tire models (p1: road radial, composed of double wheelset - 2×275/80r22.5; p2: agricultural radial - 600/50r22.5; and p3: agricultural diagonal - 600/50-22.5) versus two contact surfaces, one rigid and the other with bare agricultural soil. Seven response variables were used to apply Regression analysis and descriptive statistics.

Heavy vehicles are major fuel consumers in road transportation, and the traditional way to reduce fuel consumption is to reduce weight, resistance, improve mechanical transmission efficiency, and improve engine thermal efficiency. However, European heavy-duty truck companies took the lead in realizing predictive cruise control (PCC) technology on the basis of cruise through intelligent network technology, based on ADAS maps, and achieved good fuel saving effects. In this paper, by studying the fuel consumption characteristics of trucks, designing the dynamic parameters of the load and whole vehicle, the predictive adaptive cruise control (PACC) technology is realized based on the predictive cruise strategy, and the statistics of fuel saving rate under different cruise ratio conditions are analyzed through the big data platform.

Given the rapid advancement of connected and automated transportation, its applications have significantly increased. They are being studied worldwide to shape the future of mobility. Key promises are a more comfortable, efficient and socially adapted kind of mobility. As part of the EU Horizon2020 project SHared automation Operating models for Worldwide adoption (SHOW), the Karlsruhe Test Site in the Test Area Autonomous Driving Baden-Württemberg (TAF-BW) addresses aspects of scalability to overcome challenges, which have so far hindered market penetration of this future-oriented kind of mobility. The explored services, including passenger and cargo transport, are closely linked to the daily travel requirements of road users, particularly in peri-urban areas, to cover the last mile of their journeys, connecting them to public transport.

The phenomenon of liquid transfer in the liquid tank of the semi-trailer vehicle for transporting dangerous cargo (SVTDC) during braking is analyzed and the relevant mathematical model is established. The braking dynamic model of the SVTDC considering the liquid sloshing in the tank is established, and the model is verified based on the co-simulation method. Based on the typical conditions, the braking deceleration and axle load calculation functions of the model are simulated and analyzed, and the application prospect of the model in the development of driving automation control strategy is discussed.

Automated vehicles, in the form we see today, started off-road. Ideas, technologies, and engineers came from agriculture, aerospace, and other off-road domains. While there are cases when only on-road experience will provide the necessary learning to advance automated driving systems, there is much relevant activity in off-road domains that receives less attention. Implications of Off-road Automation for On-road Automated Driving Systems argues that one way to accelerate on-road ADS development is to look at similar experiences off-road. There are plenty of people who see this connection, but there is no formalized system for exchanging knowledge. Click here to access the full SAE EDGETM Research Report portfolio.

The internal rotor and related parts of a permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) utilized in electric cars are being designed with optimization as the key objective of this study. The goal is to achieve the best “NVH (Noise, Vibration, and Harshness)” performance while maintaining the mechanical integrity and longevity of the motor. By matching the motor’s NVH characteristics with its peak and continuous power needs depending on the duty cycle of the vehicle, the study seeks to improve overall vehicle performance. The researchers use advanced NVH simulation modeling and simulation methods with the “CAE Software” finite element software program to do this. The ultimate goal is to enhance the motor’s noise and vibration characteristics while assuring its durability and long-term performance.