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The growing concentration of population in world metropolis caused by increasing urbanization rates has pushed the demand for high capacity and efficient public transport systems. At the same time, environmental concerns have led to increasingly stricter emission standards. In this context, transit authorities have become strongly focused on making their bus fleets more efficient and cleaner, by incorporating new alternative fuels and clean propulsion technologies. This has led to increased interest in electric driven technologies, with their intrinsic efficient, quiet and environment friendly features. Trolleybuses, a well proven mature electric technology already adopted in some cities, although efficient and clean, are burdened by high infrastructure costs and operational inflexibility.

Variable Damping systems for commercial vehicle applications have been in the market for several years now. The systems modify damping according to the actual demand within milliseconds. This reduces vertical accelerations which lead to improved comfort while maintaining vehicle stability and safety at the same time. Driver, cargo and vehicle are better protected. The technical effort for variable damping systems was in the past rather high and affected a limited market penetration. On the other side the used control algorithms did not tap the full potential of the system performance. New concepts, like integration of sensors or concentration on the most relevant axle, in combination with new control algorithms, simplifies the systems architecture and improves the performance. Besides the functional advantages, the system improves vehicle efficiency as it reduces the energy dissipated by the dampers. This energy would have to be generated by the engine.

The use of modern quenched and tempered steels in dumper bodies to reduce weight to increase the payload and reduce the fuel consumption is briefly discussed. Modern quenched and tempered steels in combination with adopted design concept will further increase weight savings of the dumper body. Use of these materials may lead to 4 times longer wear life than ordinary steels. One of the main load cases for a dumper body is impact of an object, i.e. boulders and rocks, into the body. A well-proven test setup is used to develop a model to predict failure and depth of the dent after the impact. A material model with damage mechanic was utilized to predict fracture. The developed model was used to study the effect of the geometry of the impacting object, thickness of the plate and unconstrained plate field. The model was also implemented in larger model and compared with a full scale test of dumper body. It was found that the most sensitive parameter is the geometry of the falling object.

This paper aims to discuss technically the global trend of labeling legislation and the reflections of governmental programs, such as Inovar Auto, on auto parts industry, in special, about ecolabel intended for tires, focusing advances on rolling resistance analyses and its influence on the fuel consumption of motor vehicles. It will be presented analytical models and theirs respective predicted results to support tire development and researches regarding fuel consumption.

The purpose of this paper is to show a multiaxial bench test for static and dynamic testing of leaf springs for suspension of commercial vehicles. The bench test simulates the critical operating conditions (track, ramp, speed bump on track, curves and braking), with stroke control for strength and deformation analysis. One of the main advantages in bench test is to reduce the time of the test, its repeatability, its cost saving and monitoring its performance through inspections and graphic records. The aim of the test is to evaluate the behavior in durability of the components, to analyze the possible failure mode and to be able to approve or reject the component based on the test's results. Criteria were set to accelerate the test by comparing signals measured on the field and bench test with deflection by stress curves. These criteria were maintained under extreme conditions for longer than the observed in previous and real applications.

The proper technology selection, depending on the application environment, will be discussed and exemplified in this paper through the analysis of the fuel level sensor technology selection applied to the Latin America environment. Commercial vehicles have a very particular requirement when it comes to fuel tanks configuration, depending on usage (autonomy), road conditions, weight distribution and application. The most common layout is the dual tank configuration where two tanks are connected to each other by means of communication vessels. After the selection of the fuel tank layout, the challenge is to correctly select the level sensor system, which provides useful information to the vehicle driver. If this measurement is not correctly performed, a significant logistic issue is raised, as usually, a commercial vehicle with full load carries up to 1200 liters of diesel (it will depend on the desired range).

During the field tests of a prototype of a cabin suspension assembly applied in a commercial vehicle it has been evidenced the premature failure in the torsion bar. Due to this failure, which happened with 20% of approval total test, one verified that the adding of a lateral displacement control bar (Panhard), attached to the torsion bar, promoted a significant additional force to it, which was not predicted in the initial dimensioning. Due to that, it was executed a re-design of the assembly, paying a special attention to the torsion bar, considering the influence of Panhard bar. To do that, several numerical simulations were carried out, using the finite element software Abaqus, whose boundary conditions were determined based on data collected in the field tests. Lately, the new concepts developed were submitted to bench tests, applying hydraulic actuators to apply the loads, in which one executed an experimental verification of stresses to calibrate the numerical models.

The development of weldable high-strength and wear-resistant steels have made modern structures such as booms and mobile equipment possible. These sorts of novel and effective designs could not be constructed with traditional mild steel. Unfortunately, the use of these novel steels requires proper design, and there is no practical design code for these novel steels. This paper addresses stability issues, which are important considerations for designs with high-strength steels, and the properties of the heat-affected zone, which may require special attention. Fatigue design is also discussed in this paper, and the importance of the weld quality is highlighted, along with discussions on which details in the weld are the most important. By comparing the test results with the classical load limit solution, it is determined that full plastic capacity is reached and that the samples display good strain properties.

Applying knowledge available at technical literature for cycle counting, damage caused by each load cycle through S-N curve, and fatigue damage accumulation by Palmgren-Miner rule, durability prediction is performed for a leafspring of a commercial vehicle with 6×4 suspension system. Max principal tension is measured by means of strain gages in the most representative points for fatigue life of the leafspring, determined with FEA, while vehicle runs over off-road track in a proving ground. Load and tension are also measured in a laboratory bench test for this component. Correlation between off-road track and bench test is then performed. Finally, representative samples of the component are tested with dynamic loading until fatigue fracture in bench test, and using data from these tests, statistical analysis is performed with application of Weibull distribution, allowing life prediction in statistical terms.

Depletion of fossil fuel reserves, the unsteadiness of their prices and the increasingly stricter exhaust emission legislation put forward attention of world towards use of alternate fuels. The ever increasing demand for ecologically friendly vehicles can be met by use of clean fuels like Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Hydrogen (H2). Lower carbon to hydrogen ratio of CNG makes it a cleaner fuel, due to this CNG is gaining popularity as an internal combustion (IC) engine fuel in transport sector. Hydrogen fuel for IC engines is also being considered as a future fuel due to its simple carbon less structure. However, several obstacles have to be overcome before widespread utilization of hydrogen as an IC engine fuel can occur in the transport sector. The 18 percent hydrogen enriched CNG fuel referred to as HCNG has the potential to lower emissions and could be considered a first step towards promotion of a Hydrogen economy.

This paper presents the study of chassis tuning of a commercial vehicle, which has a rear suspension with dual stage leaf spring assembly and a front suspension with double wishbone torsion bar. To balance the handling and ride performance of the vehicle, it is necessary to tune the key suspension parameters of the chassis including the dual stage stiffness of the leaf spring, the contact load of the leaf spring, the torsional rigidity of the torsion bar, the force curve of the front and rear dampers etc. The chassis tuning process of a physical commercial vehicle was first put forward. In the proposed flowchart, the kinematics and statics of front & rear suspensions were checked at the beginning of the tuning. Then the tire mechanical characteristics were tested by using a plate-type tire tester and the inertial parameters of the vehicle were indirectly measured. The K&C characteristics of front and rear suspensions were also tested and compared with the benchmark vehicle's.

Operating in an increasingly competitive market, buses and agricultural equipment are facing the changes that passed trucks and commercial vehicles. Those changes are affecting drastically the final cost of the product and consequently its relationship with the costumer. This constant for more competitive prices drives the companies to develop more aggressive strategies of components standardization on a global level, leading to the emergency of global products in regional applications, keeping regional particularity characteristics when operating in the field. In the bus market, it is confirmed that in various media and academic publications there are recurrent complains about driver comfort by several factors related from the ergonomics of the workplace, as well as with operators from agricultural implements.

The application of high-efficiency diesel engines, hybrid systems, waste heat recovery (WHR) systems, aftertreatment systems, and advanced drivetrains were all examined as possible approaches to improve the fuel consumption of heavy-duty, long-haul commercial trucks that mainly drive on highways. In this study, the strategies that were employed in an effort to improve the fuel consumption performance of the diesel engine itself and the results of evaluating and testing the actual engine are reported.

With the continuous improvement of the road condition, commercial vehicles get to be faster and more overloaded than before, which puts higher pressure on the vehicle braking system. Conventional friction braking has been difficult to meet the needs of high-power commercial vehicle. The auxiliary braking equipment will become the future trend for commercial vehicle. Hydraulic retarder is superior to secondary braking equipment. Previously hydraulic retarder research mainly focus on flow field analysis, the braking torque calculation, cascade system optimization and control methods for hydraulic retarder. The gas-liquid two-phase flow in working chamber is less researched. Based on this, this article discusses on the hydraulic retarder from two aspects. Firstly, this paper presents a block modeling method for hydraulic retarder system.

In a heavy commercial vehicle, the engine cooling package is designed by considering peak heat load on the vehicle cooling system from an engine end. In cooling systems, the major unit that consumes most power from the engine is the engine cooling fan. It was seen from the vehicle measured duty cycle data, for most of the time engine operates at part load condition. Regardless of demand from the engine cooling system, engine fan was operating continuously at equivalent speed of the engine. This results in continuous consumption of productive engine power from the fan end ultimately affecting vehicle fuel economy. The present study shows that low idle speed viscous fan has the potential to meet stringent engine cooling performance requirements and consumes less engine power throughout an actual vehicle duty cycle. Experiments were conducted on test vehicle with different fan speeds.

In commercial vehicle, Leaf Spring design is an important milestone during product design and development. Leaf springs are the most popular designs having multiple leaves in contact with each other and show hysteresis behavior when loaded and unloaded. Commonly used methods for evaluation of leaf spring strength like endurance trials on field and Rig testing are time consuming and costly. On the other hand, virtual testing methods for strength and stiffness evaluation give useful information early in the design cycle and save considerable time and cost. They give flexibility to evaluate multiple design options and accommodate any design change early in development cycle. A study has been done in Volvo-Eicher to correlate Rig result with Finite Element Analysis (FEA) simulation result of Multi-stage Suspension Leaf Spring, entirely through Finite Element Analysis route.

Emissions, fuel economy, and performance are determined over a light and a heavy driving cycle designed to represent the vehicles in-use driving patterns. The vehicles are 2010 class 8 Freightliner tractor trucks equipped with Cummins engines with Selective Catalytic Reduction and Diesel Particulate Filter emission control systems. The hybrid has lower carbon dioxide emissions, better fuel economy, and nitrogen oxide emissions statistically the same as the conventional. The CO emissions are well below the standards for both vehicles, but they are higher from the hybrid. The higher CO emissions for the hybrid are primarily related to the cooling of the Diesel Oxidation Catalyst (DOC) during the standard 20 minute key-off soak between repeats of the driving cycles. With a 1 minute key-off soak the CO emissions from the hybrid are negative.

The tracked vehicle with a fully hydraulic driving system, which has a strong traveling performance of passing and mobility ability in the complex terrain, is a typical system of mechanical-electrical-hydraulic integration. At the same time, for the good low-speed stability of the hydraulic system, this vehicle is widely applied in most engineering projects. However, for the complexity and unpredictability of the motion state in the complex environment and the power matching of the driving system, the driving path of the tracked vehicle with hydraulic driving is difficult to control. Moreover, for the complicated interaction between mechanics, the establishment of the mathematical model is much more complex, and the traditional mechanics-control and hydraulic-control co-simulation can not accurately simulate this physical phenomenon. The kinematic and dynamics characteristics of the tracked vehicle are studied firstly, and the dynamics model is built.

The hydraulic retarder is an important auxiliary braking device for the heavy vehicle, which has some characteristics, such as the big brake torque and long duration braking, when the vehicle is traveling in braking state. However, the transmission power loss will be produced when the vehicle is traveling in non-braking state. This transmission power loss is called Air-friction. Firstly, the air flow distribution characteristics of retarder cavity are studied by computational fluid mechanics, and the Air-friction characteristic in different conditions is analyzed. Then, according to the Air-friction characteristics for the condition of different filling density, a set of vacuum air loss reduction system is designed. Meanwhile, the test bench for retarder Air-friction is set up, the test data of the revolution speed, pressure in cavity and air loss resistance is obtained according to the test bench for hydraulic retarder.

The phase-plane analysis technique has become a powerful tool for analyzing lateral stability of single-unit vehicles. Articulated vehicles, such as car-trailer combinations, consist of multiple vehicle units. Multi-unit vehicles exhibit unique dynamic features compared against single-unit vehicles. For example, a car-trailer may exhibit one of the three unstable motion modes, i.e., jack-knifing, trailer sway and rollover. Considering the distinguished configurations and dynamic features of articulated vehicles, it is questionable whether the phase-plane analysis method based on single-unit vehicles is applicable for analyzing the lateral stability of multi-unit vehicles. In order to address the problem, case studies are conducted to test the effectiveness of the phase-plane method for analyzing the lateral stability of a car-trailer combination, which is represented by a nonlinear vehicle model generated using the CarSim software package.