Browse Topic: Concept vehicles
ABSTRACT An efficient and collaborative process for the realization and implementation of an electrical power management strategy for a modern military vehicle is demonstrated. Power, software and hardware engineers working together and using simulation and emulation tools are able to develop, simulate and validate a power strategy before prototype vehicle integration, reducing integration cost and time. For demonstration, an intelligent electrical power management strategy is developed for a generic military vehicle with conventional engine/transmission propulsion and an inline generator. The challenge of this architecture is maintaining electrical bus stability/regulation at low engine speed given that electrical power demands may exceed power supplied. The intelligent electrical power management strategy presented limits the total power demand to power available by overriding the demands of the individual loads. Based on load prioritization and vehicle system dynamics, power limits
ABSTRACT Model based design techniques are being used increasingly to predict vehicle performance before building prototype hardware. Tools like ADAMS and Simulink enable very detailed models of suspension components to be developed so vehicle performance can be accurately predicted. In creating models of vehicle systems, often there is a question about how much component detail or model fidelity is required to accurately model system performance. This paper addresses this question for modeling shock absorber performance by comparing a low fidelity and high fidelity shock absorber model. A high fidelity and low fidelity mathematical model of a shock absorber was developed. The low fidelity shock absorber model was parameterized according to real shock absorber hardware dimensions. Shock absorber force vs. velocity curves were calculated in Simulink. The results from the low fidelity and high fidelity model were compared to shock absorber force vs. velocity test results. New vehicle
Some challenges, such as reworking airbags to meet all seating scenarios, will be solved by the OEM as the final system integrator. Rearward-facing front seats have generally been limited to concept cars that explore a far-away world in which SAE Level 5 autonomous driving has been perfected. Magna has rewritten that playbook, winning a contract with a Chinese OEM for a reconfigurable seating system that includes fully rotating front seats on long rails, creating an unusually flexible cabin. Currently configured for vehicles with two rows of seating, the system features power-swivel seats along rails or tracks nearly two meters (6.6 ft) long. The front passenger and driver seats can rotate 270 degrees
This research aims to develop an inverse controller to track target vibration signals for the application to car subsystem evaluations. In recent times, perceptive assessments of car vibration have been technically significant, particularly parts interacting with passengers in the car such as steering wheels and seats. Conventional vibration test methods make it hard to track the target vibration signals in an accurate manner without compensating for the influence of the transfer function. Hence, this paper researched the vibration tracking system based on inverse system identification and digital signal processing technologies. Specifically, the controller employed a semi-active algorithm referring to both the offline modeling of the inverse system and the adaptive control. The semi-active controller could reconstruct the target vibration signal in a more efficient and safer way. The proposed methodology was first confirmed through computation simulations using Simulink. The
Kia's entry into the light commercial vehicle market, launched at CES in Las Vegas, provided an overview of the potential range, from last-mile delivery vehicles to medium cargo vans. Kia's Platform Beyond Vehicles (PBVs) will enter production with the PV5 in 2025 at a new PBV-dedicated plant in Hwaseong, Korea. The larger PV7 will follow between 2027 and 2032. PV5, similar in size to the Ford Transit Connect, was always going to be the first of the range to enter production, according to executive vice president and head of Kia Global Design, Karim Habib. Design plans include a van, a high-roof van and a robot taxi. “The primary purpose was a business-to-business vehicle,” says Habib.” The business-to-customer side was definitely not very high on the list at the beginning. It came in more and more as the product took shape and as we saw the potential for it, but the business-to-business side was definitely the most important, whether it's ride-hailing or delivery logistics
In the early stages of vehicle development, it is critical to establish performance goals for the major systems. The fundamental modes of body and chassis frames are typically assessed using FE models that are discretized using shell elements. However, the use of the shell-based FE method is problematic in terms of fast analysis and quick decision-making, especially during the concept phase of a vehicle design because it takes much time and effort for detailed modeling. To overcome this weakness, a one-dimensional (1D) method based on beam elements has been extensively studied over several decades, but it was not successful because of low accuracy for thin-walled beam structures. This investigation proposes a 1D method based on thin-walled beam theory with comparable accuracy to shell models. Most body pillars and chassis frame members are composed of thin-walled beam structures because of the high stiffness-to-mass ratio of thin-walled cross sections. However, thin-walled cross
When it displayed its Concept CLA Class for the first time in North America at CES 2024, Mercedes-Benz focused on the car's merging of novel user-experience, new all-encompassing operating system and a radical sound-system concept - all as examples of the company's intent to own its software-defined destiny. But the Concept CLA Class is more than a software story: it also is the showcase for the upcoming Mercedes-Benz Modular Architecture (MMA) that underpins the company's imminent new generation of compact, entry-level EVs. In a roundtable interview with media during CES, Christoph Starzynski, vice-president - development, Mercedes-Benz Cars, said several of the hardware innovations in the Concept CLA Class are central to improving EV performance across many segments, not just entry-level models. The concept car, he said, previews next-generation hardware that will be available when the production CLA models begin later in 2024 to replace the current-generation CLA, which has been in
GM Defense announced in July 2022 that the U.S. Army selected it to provide a battery-electric vehicle for analysis and demonstration. As a subsidiary of General Motors, that vehicle could be based on none other than the GMC Hummer EV pickup (www.sae.org/news/2022/06/hummer-ev-drive), production of which had just begun months before. Less than a year after that announcement, GM Defense in June 2023 revealed at the Modern Day Marine Expo in Washington, D.C. its Electric Military Concept Vehicle (eMCV). Featuring GM's Ultium Platform, the EV propulsion architecture satisfied the U.S. Army's requirement for a light- to heavy-duty BEV that helps to reduce fossil-fuel reliance in operational and garrison environments
Elektrobit CEO discusses the landscape of automotive software development and explains why a lot of software doesn't have to be all that transformational. The phrase “software-defined vehicle” has embedded in the vehicle-development lexicon as the catchall for a new era of digitally driven products. But there is persistent disagreement about even the phrase's definition, much less the engineering scope required to transition from the industry's hardware-intensive history to a software-driven environment
With funding from the US Departments of Transportation, Energy, Defense, and others, Airborne LiDAR Pipeline Inspection Sensor (ALPIS®) has evolved from a simple proof of concept model to a fully capable and successful commercial airborne pipeline inspection system. The ALPIS® system has undergone a long development period
Asahi Kasei's concept electric shuttle is a rolling showcase of the supplier's materials and electronics innovations, with a strong focus on sustainability. Dubbed the AKXY2, it is “a complete vehicle design - exterior and interior,” Michael Franchy, director of North American Mobility at Asahi Kasei America, told SAE Media in Detroit. The AKXY2 showcases 18 technologies, including two collaborations with startup companies identified by Asahi Kasei's corporate venture-capital arm. Fifteen of the Asahi Kasei technologies either are in production or production-ready. “Everything visible, touchable and interactable is made from Asahi Kasei original or collaborative technology,” Franchy said. The concept emphasizes three overlapping themes: sustainability, satisfaction and society
The technology below the smooth skin of BMW's i Vision Dee concept car, unveiled at CES 2023, marks a major step forward in the company's electric-vehicle competitiveness. Models based on the automaker's Neue Klasse EV architecture will ditch today's rectangular prismatic batteries for the type of large, cylindrical-form-factor cells that Tesla is pioneering with its “4680” cells, so named for their 46 mm × 80 mm dimensions. For its sixth-generation EV batteries, BMW and its battery partners - including China's CATL and EVE Energy - will adopt even-larger cells of “4595” and “46120” sizes. At a pre-CES media backgrounder held in Munich in December 2022, Martin Schuster, BMW Group VP for high-voltage batteries, said the new cells pack at least 10% more active battery material relative to their metal cases and are 20% more energy-dense
The present numerical study investigates the design and analysis of a concept model Le Mans Grand Touring Prototype (LMGTP) car. Through analysis, aerodynamic pitch sensitivity and related factors are found to be detrimental to the straight-line stability of these high-speed race cars. Simulations are carried out on a commercial Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) tool for varying pitch angles of the car from −1° to +2.5°. For each pitch angle, steady-state pressure contours, velocity contours, and streamlines are presented. Additionally, coefficients and force values of lift and drag are calculated with the k-omega turbulence model implemented. Obtained numerical results are validated via Ahmed Body studies reported in the literature, and an average error deviation of 1.013% is exhibited. It is observed that lift force at the front axle increases with increasing pitch angles, leading to reduced pitch stability. At a peak of 2.5° pitch angle, the destabilizing lift force peaks at 1872 N
The NVH optimization of new vehicle models can in principle only be carried out in a relatively late stage of the development process, when the geometrical data (CAD) are available and can be used to generate detailed Finite Element (FE) models of the car body. Unfortunately, in this stage of the development process most of the geometrical data are already fixed and countermeasures are limited and expensive. In order to be able to evaluate design concepts in an earlier conceptual stage of the development process existing models of similar predecessor vehicles must be used leading to techniques such as “mesh-morphing” or “concept modelling” (see for instance [1, 2]). Here, a different approach is investigated based on a substructuring technique. In principle the coupling of the component-structures coming from different models would require post-processing in order to obtain compatible interface degrees-of-freedom (DOFs), an operation which in most cases must be carried out manually and
This paper introduces a novel personal rapid transit (PRT) system and further describes the process of designing and optimizing the suspension system for the prototype vehicle. The objective of the prototype development is to build a small, low-cost, lightweight, and comfortable vehicle. The current build of the vehicle lacks enough roll stiffness or a smooth ride. As such, a complete redesign of the suspension system for the next generation of prototypes is desired. The Short-Long Arm (SLA) double wishbone suspension with an outboard coil is the design of choice for the new prototype. To evaluate the ride and safety, a quarter-car model is evaluated for suspension travel, body acceleration, and dynamic wheel load over a pseudo-random road profile. The results from these models show a comparison between the two prototype vehicles in relation to their ride comfort and safety. For lateral stability, a few performance metrics are discussed, and the two designs are compared by their body
This paper describes the aerodynamic development process and features of the flow field of the GAC ENO.146, a concept vehicle shown in Guangzhou Auto Show 2019, which achieved a CD of 0.146. Key factors in the design process, including how design decisions are made and how the interactions occur between aerodynamicists and designers are explained in detail. The design language forms the next generation of BEVs. The aerodynamic development philosophy is guided by three principles: minimizing flow separation, maximizing rear pressure recovery, and controlling tire wake. This vehicle took full advantage of the unique 2-1-2-1 seating configuration that allowed a tapered tail design with a narrower rear track to further minimize the size of the rear recirculation zone, improving rear pressure recovery. In order to reduce induced drag, detailed studies on roofline and diffuser angles were conducted to develop the optimal combination, eliminating any loss of flow momentum. The diffuser design
Team AVERERA is a group of automobile enthusiast students from Indian Institute of Technology (Banaras Hindu University). The team works under the Center for Energy and Resources development. The team designs and develops energy-efficient vehicle prototypes and takes part in Shell Eco-marathon Asia each year. The competition demands student teams to design and build a prototype vehicle with a focus to achieve maximum energy efficiency. After 3 successful attempts in the competition since 2015, the team built a completely redesigned fourth version named Alterno V4.0 shown in Figure 1. The vehicle represented IIT (BHU) and India in the 2018 and 2019 chapters of the event. The vehicle clocked highest energy efficiency of 465.1 km/kWh in the 2019 chapter of Shell Eco-marathon Asia held at Sepang International F1 Circuit, Malaysia and stood 2nd in the event. The vehicle won the 2019 Shell Eco-marathon Asia Vehicle Design Award for its revolutionary design, 2019 Shell Eco-marathon India
The Deep Orange program immerses automotive engineering students into the world of an OEM as part of their 2-year graduate education. In support of developing the program’s seventh vehicle concept, the students studied the sponsoring brand essence, conducted market research, and made a heuristic assessment of competitor vehicles. The upfront research lead to the definition of target customers and setting vehicle level targets that were broken down into requirements to develop various vehicle sub-systems. The powertrain team was challenged to develop a scalable propulsion concept enabled by a common vehicle architecture that allowed future customers to select (at the point of purchase) among various levels of electrification best suiting their needs and personal desires. Four different configurations were identified and developed: all-electric, two plug-in hybrid electric configurations, and an internal combustion engine only. The electrified powertrain comprises of an innovative
Toyota used the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), to reveal an all-new, battery-electric commercial vehicle targeted for emerging e-commerce and mobility business applications. The pod-like e-Palette vehicle is designed to employ certain Toyota-developed foundation technologies but to also be flexible enough to allow companies purchasing or leasing the vehicle to apply their own or a preferred automated-driving system. In addition, the e-Palette, which is intended to be built in three different sizes, also is the centerpiece of a new mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) development alliance Toyota formed with initial partners Amazon, Didi, Mazda, Pizza Hut and Uber. Toyota said the e-Palette Alliance launch partners “will collaborate on vehicle planning, application concepts and vehicle verification activities
Everyone knew the automated-driving development frenzy would have to plateau. I observed some of this level-setting after taking in CES 2018 and the Detroit auto show in quick succession in January. If ever there was a barometer for how badly companies want to be perceived as leaders in the tech revolution, the event formerly known as the Consumer Electronics Show is it. The auto sector latched onto CES just as touchscreens and human-machine interface (HMI) cascaded into the automotive environment. Advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS) features followed, then extended their promise to the various levels of automated driving we now endlessly discuss
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