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Various techniques are presented and evaluated for their ability to forecast equipment sales in the agricultural industry. The forecasting methods discussed include trend approximation, time series moving averages, exponential smoothing, Delphi Method, buyer intentions and econometric models. A model that predicts future sales for industrial tractors was presented including a 1978 forecast. Leading indicators for Industrial Tractor Sales were GNP construction dollars, index of prices of construction machinery and new housing starts. Also, a farm tractor sales model and the resulting difficulty in finding leading indicators were discussed. Statistical methods required for econometric forecasting and model validity testing are given.

Four alternative fluid power systems were analyzed to determine their efficiencies and standby power consumption while providing hydraulic power for power steering and a hitch for an agricultural tractor operating over a typical duty cycle. The investigation shows that a significant reduction in losses can be achieved with systems incorporating both split flow and variable delivery capabilities. These characteristics reduce losses by providing the required flow and pressure to each function without a large pressure drop for the function operating at the lower pressure. These systems can be used to improve efficiencies whenever there are multiple, simultaneous hydraulic power demands which require significantly different pressures.

The demands on aluminum pistons from increasing diesel engine BMEP levels and longer expected service life are at the point that classical piston alloys processed with conventional casting techniques are no longer adequate. New processes and material enhancements are needed to upgrade heavy duty pistons. The application of the squeeze casting process to densify material improves the fatigue properties of aluminum alloys. This process also allows the use of fiber reinforcing to further improve the physical characteristics of squeeze cast diesel pistons. Metallurgical and physical test data on permanent mold, squeeze cast and squeeze cast metal matrix composite systems show significant differences in high temperature properties such as fatigue, tensile and thermal expansion. Wear characteristics are also compared. The property improvements observed will contribute to the continued use of aluminum pistons in heavy duty diesel engines.

Thermal Spray Coatings resulting from the integration of surface preparation, coating material selection, complete process control and finishing technology provide an innovative method for the salvage of diesel engine and associated equipment components. The economic nature and proven reliability of this repair method has resulted in widespread acceptance throughout the industry. Documented and approved applications are being performed by engine and equipment rebuilders, job shops and OEMs. Three applications; engine block (fire deck surface), connecting rod bearing bore, and transmission clutch housing bore are discussed in detail.

Technologies and incremental costs for meeting the proposed 2004 US emissions standards for heavy-duty diesel engines are discussed in this paper. Manufacturers will most likely use a combination of technologies including reoptimized combustion chambers, fuel systems, air handling systems, electronic controls and aftertreatment. First year production incremental costs are estimated to range from between $257 and $467 to meet the new standards.

A family of logic-based radio-controlled components, engine speed sensors, and industrial magnetic pulleys suitable for the most severe applications found in the environmental management industries has been developed. The relay logic boards are user friendly and user ready for an unlimited array of output to match OEM's ever-changing demand. The speed sensors relieve the engine power plant and drive components of unnecessary abuse when the plant is under a heavy load. The industrial magnetic head pulleys are a “new breed” of ceramic magnet that create a unique magnetic field capable of removing a large percentage of ferrite metal from waste wood grinding.

Patents granted recently to Mr. Rode have changed the industry capability to adjust and verify wheel-end bearings on trucks. Until now it was believed1 that there was nothing available to confirm or verify the most desirable settings of preload on these bearings. The new, breakthrough invention is a tool and spindle-locking nut that permit quick and accurate wheel bearing adjustment by utilizing direct reading force measurement. Bearings can be set to either SAE recommended preloads or specific endplay settings. The author has been working on bearing adjustment methods for industrial applications for over forty years, and considers these inventions to be his most important breakthrough for solving this elusive bearing adjustment problem. Consistent wheel bearing preload adjustment was not possible before, even though it was widely known to achieve the best wheel performance as noted in SAE specification J2535 and re-affirmed in 2006 by the SAE Truck and Bus Wheel Subcommittee.

Air Pollution is a major concern in our country due to which Indian Government has taken a decision to move from BS-IV to BS-VI which is nearly 90% reduction in NOx and 50% in particulate matter along with addition of particulate number regulation for BS-VI in comparison to BS-IV norms in very short span of time. Vehicle manufacturers are also having the challenge to produce low cost and fuel efficient product with BS-VI solution in order to meet tightening emission regulations and increasing needs of lower fuel consumption. Detailed study is done with different approaches to meet BS-VI emission which is elaborately explained in different aspect of engine design and after treatment parameter with its pros and cons. After Treatment selection plays an important role in engine development to meet stringent emission legislations and customer demands. Strategies for BS-VI were described with the advantage and drawbacks for after treatment selection.

Paddy farming in India needs extensive water usage. Due to the rapidly declining ground water and ever increasing monsoon uncertainty, there is significant drive on water conservation for paddy farming through sustainable agriculture practices. The wide variability of irrigation water in Indian rice field, as high as 160 mm, necessitates an extra 100 mm of water in the field to provide complete water coverage. This is primarily due to inaccurate manual land leveling, often practiced in Indian paddy farming. In the present work, architecture of laser land leveler has been created by integrating low cost electronics, hydraulics and GPS technology. This paper will provide an overview of the current practices and suitable operating mode to meet the future demand on land leveling. The presentation would compare the laser land leveler with GPS land leveler solution architectures. The technological differences along with individual merits and limitations would be detailed.

Technology transfer between universities and industries is discussed from two viewpoints: (1) the mechanisms of technology transfer and, (2) the future for university/industry interaction. The first major premise is that technology is transferred most efficiently through personal interaction; programs seeking to improve technology transfer should focus on promoting person-to-person contacts. The second major premise is that industry has become so dependent on a high technology that, as the Federal government reduces its support for academic research, industry will have to step in. This will require significant changes in attitude by all three parties: universities, industries, and the Federal funding agencies.

Commercial vehicles require fast aftertreatment heat-up to move the SCR catalyst into the most efficient temperature range to meet upcoming NOX regulations while minimizing CO2. The focus of this paper is to identify the technology levers when used independently and also together for the purpose of NOX and CO2 reduction toward achieving 2027 emissions levels while remaining CO2 neutral or better. A series of independent levers including cylinder deactivation, LO-SCR, electric aftertreatment heating and fuel burner technologies were explored. All fell short for meeting the 2027 CARB transient emission targets when used independently. However, the combinations of two of these levers were shown to approach the goal of transient emissions with one configuration meeting the requirement. Finally, the combination of three independent levers were shown to achieve 40% margin for meeting 2027 transient NOx emissions while remaining CO2 neutral.

In the last two decades we have literally became a global society in all aspects of technology. Unfortunately, this has caused us to “race” to stay competetive and consistent in our desires to remain in this technological race. Any time an accelerated pace is demanded, mundane things are often overlooked. This becomes the basis for many lost opportunities.

Protection of the Earth's environment by means of energy saving and cleaning up of air pollution on a global scale is one of the most important subjects in the world today. Because of this, the requirements for better fuel economy and cleaner exhaust emissions of internal combustion engines have been getting stronger, and, in particular, simultaneous reduction in nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) from heavy-duty diesel engines (HDDEs) without degrading fuel economy has become a major subject. Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MM) has been selling diesel-powered heavy-duty trucks in the U.S. market since 1985 and has agressively carried out development work for meeting the 1991 model year exhaust emission standards.

Recent global environmental problems which have come to light must be solved for ensuring the survival of the human race. And it is of the utmost importance that we give to our descendants a world full of nature and beauty. In the past years Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) has long been positive in research and the development activities so as to satisfy the demands for low emission and good fuel economy vehicles. (1) As one example of our research efforts, the technology that will meet the US '94 HDDE exhaust emission regulations, which is one of the most stringent regulations in the world, is described in this paper. The exhaust emissions were reduced by improvement of combustion, using the pre-stroke control type fuel injection pump and optimizing the combustion chamber shape. Efforts were also made to improve the oil consumption, in order to reduce PM (Particulate Matter) emission.

Connected vehicles has lot of applications coming up which involves Vehicle to Vehicle(V2V), to Infrastructure(V2I) communication techniques and many are getting deployed through frugal connectivity and security solutions. However, executing multiple customer centric, OEM centric and productivity services and applications needs lot of rigorous validation and bulk deployments. This needs lot of time, man efforts, and cost. Also quality of data collected from thousands of vehicles at every few seconds /minutes is matter of concern. There is a desperate need of telematics validation tools which can be customized as per OEM ad-hoc architecture. The suggested telematics smart testing and validation tool involves easy, configurable, and seamless options to test software updates in multiple variable nodes in connected onboard system architecture like telematics ECUs, multiple ECUs (EMS, ACM, IC, and Gateway ECU).

The utilization of commercially based technologies has the ability to greatly reduce the time and cost of military vehicle development. Commercially based technologies also enable the transition of a high level of capability into the military vehicle inventory and to the Army's ultimate customer, the soldier. The Army's National Automotive Center (NAC) has created SmarTruck, a light truck platform enhanced for military concept exploration. SmarTruck is outfitted with telematics, safety, and non-lethal weapon systems technology. It is a prime example of the NAC's central focus, which is dual-use commercial technology transfer. At the core of success for SmarTruck is the application of telematics technologies including embedded diagnostics, advanced electronic architectures, tele-maintenance, and wireless communications.

This paper intends to show how Telematics has started in Brazil and describe its impact in the traditional way of making Business with commercial vehicles. We want to make a brief comment about the main enabling technologies for the Telematics improvement: Telecom infrastructure: the investments after the privatisation of the sector, as well, trends for new services (WAP, SMS, Tracking, etc); Internet infrastructure: the growing of internet accesses and its impact in the industrial economy; The impact of these new technologies in the trucking Business and how Brazil is prepared for. New investments that are coming; The impact of IT technologies in the Brazilian GIP (Gross Internal Product) and in the Transportation market.

Advances in telemetry have produced techniques for the observation of phenomena that were not previously amenable to mensuration. An analysis of types of sensors such as mechanical, generator, resistive, and reactive is presented together with data pertaining to their operation. Means of transmitting and recording sensor data are also evaluated. Improvements in telemetry indicate that future testing equipment will be simpler, more reliable, and will operate with a greater degree of accuracy.

An all-hydrostatic, track-driven vehicle with both remote control and autonomous operation capabilities was designed. The platform vehicle features fully hydrostatic drive with a variable displacement pump and a hub motor for each track. The combination of hydrostatic drive and tracks offers excellent controllability for autonomous applications as well as good maneuverability and traction. The remote control system allows the user to operate both the vehicle and various payloads, including robotic manipulators and surveillance equipment. The teleoperation (video-assisted remote control) has the same basic functionality, but allows the operator to be beyond visual range from the vehicle. The autonomous control system includes an easy-to-use man-machine interface and mission planning module, precise positioning, and autonomous controls for both the vehicle and the payload. The system design is modular and adaptable.

The design and employment of teleoperated heavy equipment for safe and efficient handling of hazardous material requires a thorough understanding of task characteristics and variables which can effect operator performance. This is particularly true when accurate end effector positioning is required, and where mistakes can result in life threatening events. This paper presents results of a Lockheed Martin Environmental Systems and Technologies Company Independent Research and Development study to determine the effects of 2-D vs 3-D visual displays on operator-system performance during a set of tasks associated with the operation of a 110,000 pound Caterpillar 235 Front Shovel. The research program is in support of Department of Energy, Department of Defense, Bureau of Mines, and Lockheed Martin commercial program objectives.