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Cold-climate comfort for EVs and FCVsTesting Hyundai’s electric and fuel-cell vehicle HVAC at the Arctic Circle

Lightweighting innovations

WCX 2018 highlights

Roof-crush testing advances

May 2018 autoengineering.sae.org

AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING

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AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING May 2018 1

FEATURES16 Testing for cold-climate comfort COVER STORY AE goes way north to the Arctic Circle for an inside look at Hyundai’s winter testing of the new Nexo FCV and Kona EV and their unique and critical HVAC systems.

20 Innovation more than skin deep MATERIALS | LIGHTWEIGHTING A new wave of engineered plastics are delivering structural, mass-reducing, and aesthetic benefits for new vehicle applications.

24 A secret weapon for roof-crush testing TESTING

Before you crush that bus or racecar chassis, find out how engineers at CAPE are optimizing test-rig performance.

ON THE COVERHyundai’s latest production fuel-cell-powered vehicle, the all-new Nexo, prepares to ‘go sideways’ during a frozen-lake test session at the Mobis proving ground in Sweden in February 2018. For details on Nexo, the Kona EV and Hyundai’s electrified-vehicle HVAC technology, see Sebastian Blanco’s feature article on page 16.

8

REGULARS2 Editorial: Tesla’s Model 3 is two very different cars4 SAE Standards News

A hive of activity

6 Supplier EyeWhy aren’t there more unibody pickups?

7 The Navigator We can’t trust humans to supervise machines

8 Technology Report8 Acura and ArcelorMittal debut world-first

hot-stamped door ring system on 2019 RDX | MATERIALS

10 Powertrain analyst: Light-vehicle fleet needs big gains to meet tightening emissions regs | POWERTRAIN | PROPULSION

11 Toyota unveils more gasoline ICEs with 40% efficiency | POWERTRAINS | PROPULSION

12 IAV using 3D-printed pistons for engine testing | POWERTRAINS | PROPULSION

14 Road Ready14 2018 Kona debuts Hyundai’s new B-SUV platform

15 Nissan variable-compression engine gets first shot at volume with new 2019 Altima

26 Product BriefsSpotlight: Materials

29 What We’re Driving30 Reader Feedback31 Companies Mentioned, Ad Index32 Q&A

Honeywell’s Geoff Duff talks turbos

CONTENTS

Audited by

Automotive Engineering®, May 2018, Volume 5, Number 5. Automotive Engineering(ISSN 2331-7639) is published in January, February, March, April, May, June, August, September, October, and November by Tech Briefs Media Group, an SAE International Company ®, 261 Fifth Avenue, Suite 1901, New York, NY 10016 and printed in Mechanicsburg, PA. Copyright © 2018 SAE International. Annual print subscription for SAE members: first subscription, $15 included in dues; additional single copies, $30 each North America, $35 each overseas. Prices for nonmember subscriptions are $115 North America, $175 overseas. Periodicals postage paid at New York, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to Automotive Engineering, P. O. Box 47857, Plymouth, MN 55447. SAE International is not responsible for the accuracy of information in the editorial, articles, and advertising sections of this publication. Readers should independently evaluate the accuracy of any statement in the editorial, articles, and advertising sections of this publication that are important to him/her and rely on his/her independent evaluation. For permission to reproduce or use content in other media, contact [email protected]. To purchase reprints, contact [email protected]. Claims for missing issues of the magazine must be submitted within a six-month time frame of the claimed issue’s publication date. The Automotive Engineering title is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Full issues and feature articles are included in the SAE Digital Library. For additional information, free demos are available at www.saedigitallibrary.org.(ISSN 2331-7639 print)(ISSN 2331-7647 digital)

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EDITORIAL Bill VisnicEditorial [email protected]

Lindsay [email protected]

Ryan GehmAssociate [email protected]

Jennifer ShuttleworthAssociate [email protected]

Lisa ArrigoCustom Electronic Products [email protected]

ContributorsKami BuchholzDetroit Editor

Stuart BirchEuropean Editor

Terry CostlowElectronic Technologies Editor

Ian Adcock, Steven Ashley, Matthew Borst, Dan Carney, Bruce Morey, Don Sherman, Paul Weissler

DESIGNLois ErlacherCreative Director

Ray CarlsonAssociate Art Director

SALES & MARKETINGJoe [email protected]

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Martha TressRecruitment Sales Manager+1.724.772.7155 [email protected]

REGIONAL SALESNorth AmericaNew England/Eastern Canada:ME, VT, NH, MA, RI, QCEd [email protected]

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AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING 2 May 2018

EDITORIALTesla’s Model 3 is two very different carsSandy Munro doesn’t mince words. The founder and CEO of Munro & Assoc., one of the industry’s most respected competitive-teardown-and-analysis firms, and his team recently finished a 6000-man-hour, nut-and-bolt study of Tesla’s Model 3. Then they invited me-dia, including yours truly, to their ex-pansive Auburn Hills, Michigan, facility to see the car (one of two purchased on the open market by Munro) stripped to its component-level skivvies.

There, on tables and hanging on pegboards, were the guts of the first “affordable” Tesla automo-bile, organized into major subsystems—body in white, HVAC, power elec-tronics, chassis and steer-ing, interior, battery sys-tem. Circuit boards, e-mo-tor windings and fasteners laid bare. Even the potting compound and industrial adhesive that are spread like peanut but-ter throughout the battery pack to con-nect components and protect them from vibration were scrutinized.

“There’s nothing in this pack that isn’t covered in glue,” noted senior lean-design expert Mark Ellis. “Not very maintenance-friendly. We had to chisel it apart.”

After the team of experts walked us through the initial findings of the Tesla teardown, I asked the boss: On a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest state-of-the-EV art, where does Model 3 stand?

“This really is two very different cars,” Munro replied. “Its body is a 1—every-thing above the floorpan is really puz-zling. Let’s just say it’s an ‘unusual’ way to put a car together. Body fit-and-fin-ish and DFM [design for manufactur-ability] are poor. But Tesla’s electronics rate a 6 on a scale of 5. We were shocked by the sophisticated integra-tion and manufacturing techniques in the battery system and related elec-tronics. Some things in the car I would

rate a 4 or 5; others are a 2 or 3. Clearly there is innovation here.”

That was evident as I peered into re-cessed areas of the disassembled car. Bespoke aluminum connectors, made using a low-heat wire bonding technique (“popular in Silicon Valley,” Ellis noted) link nearly 2200 Panasonic cylindrical battery cells to their voltage-control elec-tronics. Wiring in the pack is minimal. The

main power controllers share a single location. The A/C compressor housing is thickly lined with insulation to curb NVH. The DC in-verter’s internal architecture is beautiful.

Model 3’s cabin abounds with smart solutions. Its cross-car beam consists of a hydroformed aluminum tube with overmolded-plas-tic mounts and hangers. The assembly weighs 3.3 kg (7.2 lb)—“lighter than could be done in magnesium,” said

Stephen Handley, an interior systems spe-cialist at Munro. The HVAC system fea-tures a compact, high-aspect-ratio duct-work for precise, efficient air delivery that Handley claimed is unique in the industry.

While its electronic systems may be Space-X-advanced, in the eyes of Munro, the Model 3’s BIW reflects a de-cidedly lower state of art. A walkaround revealed a bewildering hodgepodge of fastener solutions, weld techniques, and “unusual choices” in the steel-intensive (to minimize cost) body. For example, the car’s B-pillar uses three grades of material with only one laser welded blank, Munro noted. And the rear cargo tub is an intricate fabrication of alumi-num sheet: “A molded fiberglass tub would have made sense here,” he said.

There is much, much more to be learned from Munro’s full Model 3 re-port, cost analysis and benchmarking. Contact Munro & Assoc. at LeanDesign.com or 248-362-5110 for details.

Lindsay Brooke, Editor-in-Chief

While its electronic systems are Space-X- advanced, the Model 3’s body-in-white reflects a decidedly lower state of the art.

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SAE STANDARDS NEWS

Jennifer ShuttleworthAssociate EditorJennifer.Shuttleworth @sae.org

A hive of activity

In this column we feature the efforts and work of SAE International’s robust standards development.

There are 700 standards development tech-nical committees and 17,000 technical profes-sional volunteers from countries around the world involved in the development of SAE standards.

These volunteers serve every aspect of indus-try from vehicle design and integration to build, manufacture, operate, and maintain. They ad-dress critical issues on everything from fuel to weather conditions, materials to electronics, en-gine power to energy mandates.

Work happens around the globe. Some meet-ings are held in person; some via WebEx. Through it all, SAE Standards staff work sup-ports the efforts. It is a wheel that is always in motion; a hive of activity.

This month, Automotive Engineering provides an update on recent activity.

New standards development agreementSAE International and ASAM (Association for Standardization of Automation and Measuring Systems) recently finalized an agreement to jointly develop standards.

ASAM e.V was founded in December 1998 in Stuttgart, Germany through an initiative of German car manufacturers Audi, BMW, Daimler, Porsche and VW. It is a non-profit orga-nization that promotes standardization for tool chains in auto-motive development and testing. The organization’s members are international vehicle OEMs, suppliers, tool vendors, engi-neering service providers and research institutes from the automotive industry.

According to Jack Pokrzywa, SAE International’s Director, Global Ground Vehicle Standards, the partnership will first focus on a joint development of standards in the diagnostics area. “This will be based on an expedited model reducing the time of development,” he explained.

Other areas of collaborative standards development be-tween the organizations include measurement and calibra-tion, ECU networks, ECU software, test automation, and data management and analytics.

ASAM is actively promoting standardization within the auto-motive industry, Pokrzywa said. Together with its more than 200 member companies worldwide—including the German OEMs noted above plus Bosch, Denso, Ford, GM, Honda, Toyota, and others (see https://www.asam.net/members/ for a full list)—the association develops standards that define inter-faces and data models for tools used for the development and testing of ECUs and for the validation of the entire vehicle.

DG Technologies’ President Mark Zachos, chair of the SAE OBD committee, will serve as SAE expert representative to this effort. Organizational liaisons for the collaboration will be

ASAM - Klaus Estenfeld, ASAM Managing Director, and SAE - Jack Pokrzywa.

While Zachos will be the liaison for SAE, “eventually we will engage SAE committees in this work,” Pokrzywa told AE.

Since the agreement was only recently final-ized, the timeframe for publishing the first stan-dards is yet to be determined. Watch this space.

New technical standard for demonstrating electromagnetic compatibility on civil aircraftIn April, SAE International published a new tech-nical standard that provides detailed informa-tion, guidance, and methods for demonstrating EMC on civil aircraft.

The standard, ARP60493: “Guide to Civil Aircraft Electromagnetic Compatibility” (https://

www.sae.org/standards/content/arp60493/) describes civil aircraft regulations and provides guidance for achieving air-craft EMC compliance. It also details approaches for aircraft electrical and electronic equipment qualification testing and result analysis.

This wide-ranging document is specifically oriented to small general aviation aircraft, passenger airliners, and heli-copters. The SAE International AE4 Electromagnetic Compatibility committee, which developed the standard, was established to provide a technical and advisory function spe-cifically in the field of aerospace EMI. The group studies vari-ous electrical and electronic accessories in spacecraft, aircraft, and propulsion systems for compatibility with various com-munications media.

According to Mike Riley, co-chair of the AE4 Electromagnetic Compatibility committee (which developed the standard), it is the first document to comprehensively address EMC demon-strations on aircraft and will become the standard for all EMC compliance demonstrations in the aerospace industry—both in the U.S. and Europe.

“What this means for the average air traveler is less chance of interference between the various aircraft systems, which means a safer flight,” said Riley.

And of course, a better passenger experience.SAE International’s global reach resulted in ARP60493

being developed with contributions by more than 50 work-ing group members from Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Japan, Spain, Germany, the U.K., and the U.S.

The document (which also standardizes EMC demonstra-tions in Europe) was jointly rolled out by the European Organisation for Civil Aviation Equipment (EUROCAE) as ED-248 “Guide to Civil Aircraft Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC).”

With reporting by William Kucinski

https://www.asam.net/members/

https://www.sae.org/standards/content/arp60493/

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SUPPLIER EYE

Michael RobinetManaging DirectorIHS Markitmichael.robinet @ihsmarkit.com

Why aren’t there more unibody pickups?

Growing up in southern Ontario pro-vides a constant dose of the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. Along with the staple of Hockey Night in Canada on

Saturdays during my youth, there was an inter-esting CBC program called Quirks and Quorks. Q&Q dealt with the oddities of science—seeking to explain the unexplainable to the layman.

Any potential automotive version of Q&Q would have to investigate a rare, man-made odd-ity: the unibody pickup truck. While not quite a unicorn, unibody pickups aren’t exactly thick on the ground. You’d need only the fingers of one hand to count their number in the past 25 years.

Their oddball history in North America began with VW’s Rabbit Pickup, produced in the com-pany’s Pennsylvania plant from 1979-82. Derived from the first-generation Golf, the com-pact Rabbit Pickup was a strategic play—it en-abled VW to skirt the infamous 25% ‘chicken tax’ levied on 2-door pickups imported into the US.

During the same period, Subaru also avoided the truck tariff with its imported BRAT—a car-based ‘utility coupe.’ Carpeting and rear-facing plastic jump seats in the cargo box allowed Subaru to cleverly classify the BRAT as a pas-senger car. It was discontinued in 1985.

In 1986 AMC launched the Jeep Comanche, a pickup version of the popular XJ Cherokee. Sized between a compact and midsize truck, Comanche was a ‘semi-unibody’ design, incor-porating frame rails under the cargo box. Jeep fans loved it, but production lasted only to 1992.

Others have followed. Subaru briefly tried again with its Baja, a derivation of the Outback. Honda then jumped in with the Ridgeline, now in its second generation and currently the sole u-pickup in the world’s biggest pickup market. Hyundai has been studying the space for a de-cade and is preparing its Tucson-based Santa Cruz for 2020. VW recently showed its Atlas-based Tanoak concept that follows the Ridgeline model. Both would be built in the U.S., avoiding the ‘foul’ tax.

With scores of highly-flexible C & D-segment unibody platforms available for u-pickup duty, the scarcity of current offerings is puzzling. Why aren’t there more?

Most of the development cost and complexity of a unibody platform is embedded from the A-post forward (A-post and engine/crash box). It would thus seem wise to derive as many vari-ants as possible, to increase capacity utilization and reduced fixed cost per vehicle. Therein lies the rub: OEMs have several choices today when planning CUV derivatives. Two-row, three-row, luxury and sport variants—there are many high-volume options. A unibody pickup would need to outperform other lower-risk variants to ex-pand volume.

U-pickups often are considered by those OEMs lacking a capable, high-volume traditional body-on-frame (BOF) platform. Volume is key. Differing build technologies, the need to out-source the frame to a supplier and a substan-tially different design process for BOF pickups act as barriers to entry for unibody-centric OEMs. Engineering and building a BOF structure and vehicle family requires a multiple-cycle commitment. Scale alone dictates a ~200,000-units starting point. In fact, most of the major BOF pickup players have annual vol-umes approaching half a million units or more.

Deciding to enter the pickup fray through the BOF window is a significant though popular un-dertaking. Of the 6.1 million pickups forecast by IHS Markit to be produced in 2018, only 2.6% are unibody. That slice is forecast to grow to 7% of all pickups by 2025.

OEMs are chasing an increasingly fragmented market, and younger consumers may be less concerned with extreme towing and payload capability than having innovative utility, en-hanced fuel economy and better driveability. For many OEMs, entering the u-pickup fray may be an economic choice. But whatever the motiva-tion, I expect u-pickups to be less quirky and more mainstream in the future.

To get the green light, unibody pickups must outperform other lower-risk CUV variants to expand volume.They appearpoised to makea return.


THE NAVIGATOR

Sam AbuelsamidSenior AnalystNavigant ResearchSam@ abuelsamid.com

We can’t trust humans to supervise machines

The human mind is an amazing thing. It can conceive of fantastic tales, produce stunningly beautiful art and engineer ways to take us off this planet. Part of

this ability comes from the mind’s tendency to wander to far-off places when it isn’t focused on any task that is more local. That tendency is a double-edged sword that makes most humans particularly ill-suited to act as supervisors for partially or fully automated vehicles.

There is little doubt that human behavior is the cause of most road crashes, injuries and fa-talities. Working to address this, a lot of very smart people are creating machines that drive themselves, in the hope of eliminating the hu-man error.

But as history has shown, people with highly-concentrated intelligence in specific areas often lack empathy for the broader human condition. In their rush to be proven as the smartest or to dominate a nascent market, they are neglecting the reality that humans, while remarkably adapt-able, are not as logical, rational or focused as some like to believe.

Adaptation, however, isn’t instantaneous. As a result, we often end up with more power or responsibility than we are truly ready to handle.

I’ve written in past columns and articles about my skepticism when it comes to partially automat-ed vehicles that require a human operator to super-vise while the car does most of the work. Out in the real world, away from the engineer’s whiteboards and computers compiling code, there are far more variables than we can account for in advance.

When attentive, we humans can respond to changing conditions with remarkable speed. But once our minds start to wander to that happy place, away from the banality of the daily com-mute, switching modes becomes much more challenging.

Recently we’ve seen at least two fatal crashes spawned by that combination of technological hubris and human frailty. In Tempe, Arizona, a pedestrian was struck and killed by an automat-ed Uber prototype where the safety driver on board was not alert enough to take control when the vehicle failed to respond. In Mountain View, California, just minutes from Tesla’s head-quarters, a Model X in Autopilot mode struck a highway barrier when the driver apparently failed to respond to alerts to take the wheel.

Both crashes were still under investigation by the NTSB in late April; full details of what went wrong won’t be known for some time. However, it does appear clear that both incidents include a blend of technological and human failure.

We have allowed technology that is clearly still in development to be put to use by average peo-ple who had more trust in it than was warranted.

Tesla has repeatedly stated that AutoPilot is a beta product that its customers were helping to make better. And former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick and former automated driving leader Anthony Levandowski both made clear that the company needed to take all necessary shortcuts to get to the front of the AV pack. Given the op-timistic nature of humans and our tendency to be overly trusting of those with more money and apparently more brains, we all bought into the hype.

To varying degrees, we—as engineers, scien-tists and citizens alike—all share in the responsi-bility for these deaths by allowing companies to race ahead without sufficient oversight or skep-ticism. Hopefully, we can take this opportunity to reflect on how we are approaching the prob-lems of automated driving. And hopefully we can make some course corrections that will get industry and society closer to the desired out-come: zero fatalities and zero congestion.

We have allowed technology that is still in development to be put to use by average people.



TECHNOLOGY REPORT


SAE INTERNATIONAL BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Mircea Gradu, PhDPresident

Douglas Patton2017 President

Paul Mascarenas, OBE2019 President Elect

Pascal JolyVice President – Aerospace

Carla BailoVice President – Automotive

Landon SproullVice President – Commercial Vehicle

Pierre AlegreTreasurer

David L. Schutt, PhDChief Executive Officer

Gregory L. Bradley, Esq.Secretary

Haoran Hu, PhD

Donald Nilson

Eric Tech

Jeff Varick

Todd Zarfos

SAE International SectionsSAE International Sections are local units comprised of 100 or more SAE International Members in a defined technical or geographic area. The purpose of local Sections is to meet the technical, developmental, and personal needs of the SAE Members in a given area. For more information, please visit sae.org/sections or contact SAE Member Relations Specialist Abby Hartman at [email protected].

SAE International Collegiate ChaptersCollegiate Chapters are a way for SAE International Student Members to get together on their campus and develop skills in a student-run and -elected environment. Student Members are vital to the continued success and future of SAE. While your course work teaches you the engineering knowledge you need, participation in your SAE Collegiate Chapter can develop or enhance other important skills, including leadership, time management, project management, communications, organization, planning, delegation, budgeting, and finance. For more information, please visit students.sae.org/chapters/collegiate/ or contact SAE Member Relations Specialist Abby Hartman at [email protected].

MATERIALS

Acura and ArcelorMittal debut world-first hot-stamped door ring system on 2019 RDX

The 2019 Acura RDX will feature the world’s-first hot-stamped inner/outer front door-ring system. The tailor-welded components are part of an all-new body architecture developed by Honda for the third-generation of Acura’s mid-size SUV. The new structure provides a 50% increase in the use of high-strength materials, increasing rigidity while dropping body-in-white weight 19 kg (42 lb), according to body development lead engineer Joe Riggsby.

Acura debuted the new door ring system at SAE’s WCX 2018 conference in Detroit, with the tailored blanks from supplier ArcelorMittal on display at an adjacent booth. The new door-ring system is helping Acura reach significant crash-performance and stiffness goals for a platform anchoring a new five-link rear suspension, and

the fourth generation of Acura’s torque-vector-ing Super Handling all-wheel-drive.

The new ultra-high-strength (1,600 MPa) steel front door-ring system is an evolution of the single (outer) ring technology that debuted on the 2014 Acura MDX. A laser-welded tai-lored blank permits thickness optimization around the ring, maximizing chassis perfor-mance and material utilization.

The outer ring on the 2014 MDX used two sec-tions of differing gauge. For the 2019 RDX, both the inner- and outer-rings use ultra-high-strength tailor-welded blanks. The outer ring is composed of four sections in three gauges, with the inner ring composed of five sections in two gauges.

The new inner ring also incorporates the in-ner sill, providing improved connection to the floor and roof structures. This is part of a new inner-set manufacturing process for the RDX, which makes the use of an inner ring possible. Inner-set manufacturing first welds front and rear inner door rings to the floor, then adds the roof rail, rear rail and windshield lower before the chassis’ outer structure is applied.

“We’ve evolved the technology from the 2014 MDX, and it’s about balance,” Riggsby told Automotive Engineering. “Now part of system, the inner and outer rings can be further optimized for weight reductions and performance gains.”

The new door-ring system contributes to increased body rigidity and fitting-point stiff-ness on a chassis with a 2.6-in (66-mm) longer wheelbase, and also featuring a standard pan-oramic sunroof without crossmembers.

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Gagan Tandon, director of product development at ArcelorMittal Tailored Blanks (AMTB) Americas, with the Acura RDX door ring on display at SAE WCX 2018.

Honda R&D Americas is justifiably proud of its body-structure engineering, displaying a cutaway and color-coded body of its all-new 2019 Acura RDX at the 2018 SAE WCX. The door ring system is shown in red.

http://www.sae.org/chapters/collegiate/

http://www.sae.org/sections

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POWERTRAIN | PROPULSION

Powertrain analyst: Light-vehicle fleet needs big gains to meet tightening emissions regs

As American drivers increasingly show a preference for light trucks instead of cars, one widely known industry pow-ertrain researcher and analyst warns the auto industry is on a path towards non-compliance with near-term federal fuel-economy and emissions regulations.

At SAE International’s 2018 High-Efficiency IC Engine Symposium in Detroit, Greg Pannone, president of Novation Analytics, showed data to indicate the efficiency of the U.S. ve-hicle fleet will need to improve at three times the rate it did in the last 12 years if it is to comply with federal green-house-gas (GHG) emissions regula-tions—standards that effectively stipu-late fuel economy—for the 2017-2021 model years. Currently, he added, only about 6% of today’s vehicles desig-nated as light-duty trucks would com-ply with the 2021 “footprint”-based GHG emissions standards.

“The light-truck fleet has been strug-gling since 2012,” Pannone said, adding

that the 2016 model year marked the first time the broad auto industry did not comply with fleetwide average emissions standards, needed “banked” emissions credits to comply with the Phase 1 of the standards in effect for the 2012-2016 model years.

Pannone’s Novation Analytics re-search and consulting firm uses a met-ric it calls “tractive efficiency” to mea-sure the relative efficiency of vehicle powertrains, controlling for other effi-ciency-related aspects of light-vehicle design such as mass, aerodynamics, rolling resistance and other factors. He said that although light vehicles are making steady and meaningful progress in improving tractive efficiency, the cur-rent pace of improvement will fall short of federal Phase 2 emissions regulations governing the 2017-2025 model years.

Like other speakers at the High-Efficiency IC Engine Symposium, Pannone acknowledged that although the U.S. EPA recently indicated it in-

tends to ease the regulations affecting the 2022-2025 model years (see https://www.sae.org/news/2018/03/epa-to-ease-vehicle-emissions-stan-dards), there is no certainty about the outcome of the EPA’s intent.

The top 1%Without banked credits, Pannone said, in 2021 the industry fleet average would need to equal the tractive efficiency of the top 1% of current powertrains to comply. According to Novation’s mea-sure, the top current powertrains have a tractive efficiency of about 25.5%, com-pared with industry-leading stated ther-mal efficiencies of around 40%.

Nonetheless, “we do see 2021 (fleet-wide compliance) as very doable,” Pannone said, adding that currently available technologies, if deployed at higher penetration, is projected to make possible fleetwide compliance. The 2021 year is a watershed because it is the last year that does not fall under the purview of the 2017-2025 standards’ “midterm review” that al-lows the EPA to revise the standards for the 2022-2025 model years if it deems the regulations are too strin-gent or unachievable.

Many current technologies are being adopted at a comparatively rapid pace. Pannone said some 55% of all 2017-model light vehicles in the U.S. were fitted with direct-injection en-gines; the ratio is up from 22.4% in 2012. Stop-start technology appeared in about 18.5% of vehicles in 2017 com-pared with just 0.8% in 2012. And tur-bocharged engines were fitted to about 23.3% of all vehicles in 2017, Pannone said, compared with just 8.4% in 2012.

Pannone said at the current pace, GHG banked credits will be depleted by 2021 and the overall vehicle fleet will need substantial increases in the pen-etration of electric vehicles to achieve the existing 2025 GHG standard.

Bill Visnic

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Novation Analytics research indicates that from model years 2017-2021, tractive efficiency of the U.S. vehicle fleet would have to improve at three times the rate of the previous 12 model years.

TECHNOLOGY REPORT

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https://www.sae.org/news/2018/03/epa-to-ease-vehicle-emissions-standards

AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING May 2018 11Free Info at http://info.hotims.com/70467-624

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TECHNOLOGY REPORT

POWERTRAINS | PROPULSION

Toyota unveils more gasoline ICEs with 40% efficiencyToyota is well-regarded for its advances in electric drive technology with its hybrid-electric Prius models, but the company also continues to make progress with in-ternal combustion engine technology.

At the 2018 Geneva Motor Show, Toyota engineers unveiled a new 2.0-L four-cylinder gasoline engine family it dubs “Dynamic Force.” There will be two versions initially—one for purely ICE-powered vehicles and a revised Atkinson-cycle version for hybrid-elec-tric applications. Toyota claims the con-ventional version will achieve 40% peak thermal efficiency and the hybrid en-gine will reach 41%. Toyota engineers explained the engines in further detail in an SAE Technical Paper presented at WCX 2018.

These are the latest Toyota gasoline ICEs to offer levels of brake thermal

efficiency (BTE) approaching that of light-duty diesels. They follow a 1.8L VVT in the 2015 Prius that used a large-volume exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) system, and the 2.5-L four used in the Camry Hybrid.

Hyundai also claims 40% BTE for its Kappa-family 1.4-L Atkinson cycle four used in the Elantra Eco and the 1.6L Kappa used in the Ioniq hybrid.

A heat engine’s thermal efficiency is the ratio between the useful output of a device and the input, in energy terms. The thermal efficiency must be between 0% and 100% when expressed as a per-centage. Due to factors including fric-tion, heat loss, etc., thermal efficiencies typically are much less than 100%. A typical automotive gasoline ICE oper-ates at around 25%.

Toyota’s recent success is achieved,

not by breakthrough like Mazda’s gaso-line-compression-ignition SpCCI engine, but by relentless nibbling away at waste.

A significant improvement is the use

Toyota 2.0-L cutaway showing laser-clad valve seat, intake tumble-swirl and direct-injector location.

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of a new laser-clad valve seat that shrinks the seat to the ab-solute minimum of the contact surface with the valve face. This reduces the seat’s interference with the intake port’s straight shot into the combustion chamber, which contributes to intake charge swirl inside the combustion chamber.

The valves in the new 2.0-L four also are arranged in a wid-er included angle to fit within the smaller diameter of the un-dersquare (80.5 x 97.6-mm) bore and stroke design. Each cylinder measures 496.5cc, increasingly typical for current generation 4-cylinder ICEs.

The engine features a dual fuel injection system, as seen previously on the Lexus-brand engines, with both direct injec-tors and port injectors to provide the best efficiency under all loads and engine speeds.

Very high compression ratios—13:1 for the conventional en-gine and 14:1 for the hybrid—are similar to those used by Mazda for its Skyactiv-G. Combined with the revised tumble-inducing intake ports, and dual-injection scheme and high intake charge velocity associated with long-stroke designs,

the Dynamic Force Engine boasts much faster combustion, according to the company.

Increased variable-valve-timing control precision is provided by electronic phasers for the intake camshafts. These replace hydraulic actuators, as Toyota has also done on Lexus engines. “The advantage is that it is faster, especially in cold conditions,” explained Gerald Killman, vice president of research and devel-opment. Cold, thick oil leads to sluggish variable valve timing, so the electric intake cam phasers are critical.

Exhaust cam actuators remain hydraulic because the ex-haust side is less sensitive to rapid timing adjustments, he continued. “[Electric cam phasers] cost more, so if there isn’t a clear benefit, why bother?” Killman asked.

Low-friction pistons feature laser-crosshatching in their res-in-coated skirts for reduced friction. Other technologies aimed at higher efficiency include the use of an electronic thermostat to precisely control the coolant temperature for efficiency un-der all conditions, and an electric water pump ensures that the water pump only spins quickly when it needs to.

“In the warm up, you want to avoid any water flow,” said Killman. So unlike a belt-driven pump, the electric pump just turns off when the engine is cold.

The oil pump is mechanically driven, but it is variable ca-pacity, so its parasitic load is reduced. “We need improvement in every single item,” Killman emphasized.

Power ratings for the conventional 2.0-L engine are 126 kW (170 hp) at 6600 rpm and 205 N·m (151 lb·ft) at 4800 rpm. The new hybrid engine is rated at 107 kW (143 hp) at 6000 rpm and 180 N·m (132 lb·ft) at 4400 rpm.

Toyota also recently announced an innovation for the CVT to be matched to the engine. This Aisin AW-supplied trans-mission will employ a conventional first gear ratio for launch, then switch to the CVT when it upshifts from first gear. This lets the CVT shift its ratios to higher-speed driving.

The result is improved efficiency and better customer satis-faction because the response is more like the familiar linearity of a geared transmission, reported Killman. “This new CVT was designed looking to driving pleasure as well as efficien-cy,” he said.

Shift speed is a claimed 20% quicker because the CVT’s belt angle is 9° rather than the previous 11°, and the transmis-sion’s overall ratio spread is 15% greater thanks to the addi-tion of the launch gear, Killman explained.

Dan Carney

New Toyota 2.0L gasoline four achieves 40% BTE in conventional version, 41% in Atkinson cycle version for hybrid models.

TECHNOLOGY REPORT

POWERTRAINS | PROPULSION

IAV using 3D printed pistons for engine testingEngineering services specialist IAV is using 3D printed parts to shorten en-gine development timelines.

“A 3D printed part is a very fast way to get a new piece to the test stand, so you can compare and analyze variations K

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in part geometry,” said Robert Dolan, Director of Commercial Vehicle and Government Programs for IAV.

Dolan and Kody Klindt, IAV’s Project Development Director for the Powertrain System, spoke with

Automotive Engineering at the com-pany’s SAE WCX 2018 exhibit.

IAV recently began 3D printing pis-tons for engine research and develop-ment purposes. The company is pro-ducing the parts for customers involved


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TECHNOLOGY REPORT

with commercial vehicle diesel engines and passenger vehicle gasoline engines. It also has produced 3D printed cylinder heads for an advanced thermal man-agement system.

The 3D printed pistons “enable us to achieve internal geometries that you can’t get through traditional manufac-turing methods,” Dolan said.

In one example, a 3D printed piston designed for a gasoline engine features an internal honeycomb structure under the dome area. “It provides the strength needed to tolerate the cylinder pres-sure, and it incorporates cooling fea-tures,” Dolan explained.

Producing unique piston concepts via additive manufacturing effectively en-ables engineers to push the boundaries on thermal dynamics. “It also means that engineers can push the boundaries as it relates to single cylinder engine development,” Klindt said.

IAV’s 3D printed metal pistons can be up to 25% lighter in weight than pistons produced by conventional manufactur-ing, said Dolan. He noted that produc-tion applications are being investigated.

“It’s likely to happen much sooner with a lower-volume, high-content pis-ton for a diesel engine commercial ve-hicle before it would happen for a pas-senger vehicle. And that’s because the boundary conditions are so much more severe with a diesel engine piston,” Dolan said.

Regardless of how soon 3D printed pistons become production reality, testing

A 3D printed diesel engine piston is shown in a cutaway view.

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with 3D printed parts has proven valuable.“Just put yourself in the middle of an

internal combustion engine develop-ment program. It’s expensive to oper-ate an engine in a specific test cell, so when you decide that you want to

change this or that based on the re-sults, being able to get a 3D printed piston into the test cell in just a day or two days versus several weeks is very appealing,” Dolan noted.

Kami Buchholz


ROAD READY


2018 Kona debuts Hyundai’s new B-SUV platform

With its all-new platform, extensive use of advanced high-strength steel and various Hyundai-first technologies, the 2018MY Kona enters the burgeoning small CUV segment.

“This segment is predicted to gain 16 percent between 2019 and 2024 based on IHS [Markit] forecasting. That’s quite a bit of growth, so this is where the action is,” said Michael O’Brien, Vice President of Product, Corporate and Digital Planning for Hyundai Motor America.

Assembled in Ulsan, South Korea, Hyundai’s first B-segment crossover for the U.S. market joins a growing list of small CUVs, including the Chevrolet Trax, Jeep Renegade, Honda HR-V, Toyota C-HR, Mazda CX-3, and Ford EcoSport.

“We’re essentially middle-of-the-pack in this segment for almost every exte-rior dimension—width [70.9 in/1800 mm], height [61 in/1549 mm], and wheelbase [102.4 in/2600 mm],” O’Brien said. He added that even though 5-door Kona is shorter in overall length (164 in/4165 mm) than most of its competitors, its interior package is “very, very competitive.”

O’Brien and other Hyundai product experts spoke with Automotive Engineering during the vehicle’s recent media launch program in (appropriately)

Kona, Hawaii.Hyundai engineers maximized cabin

space by minimizing the center tunnel intrusion into the cabin. That cabin-first approach carried over to the underfloor layout, which integrates an optional all-wheel drive system.

AWD models use an independent, dual-arm multilink suspension design, while front-drive versions employ a tor-sion-beam design. The front suspension

is comprised of McPherson struts, gas-filled shock absorbers and a hollow sta-bilizer bar.

Fifty-two percent of Kona’s unibody is in hot-stamped advanced high-strength steel (AHSS). The structure employs AHSS primarily for impact absorption and reinforced occupant protection.

“We have the advantage of being able to have custom blends of steel that have different properties for the various parts of our vehicles,” O’Brien said, referring to Hyundai being the only global automo-tive OEM producing its own steel.

Kona’s 375 feet (114 m) of structural adhesives exceed the 330 feet (100.5 m) used on the Hyundai Tucson. “The extensive use of the catalyzed adhe-sives and the various grades of AHSS allow us to get an ideal combination of properties for the body shell,” said O’Brien. He explained that the torsion-ally-rigid chassis helps deliver improved ride quality.

In a claimed Hyundai-first, the new Kona has an available head-up display that is separate from the windshield. A lower dash button activates the pop-up 8.0-in full color HUD with 10,000 nits (a unit of brightness). In comparison, the Mazda CX-3 features a horizontal-fold 3.2-in HUD with 3,000 nits. Kona also

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Kona’s floating 7-in touchscreen includes Android Auto and Apple CarPlay capability.

2018 Kona uses an all-new platform configured in the expected FWD or AWD layouts.

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Nissan variable-compression engine gets first shot at volume with new 2019 Altima

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features a Hyundai-first via the rear-view camera.

“We’ve taken a technology that’s common on [handheld] cameras and applied it to the vehicle’s rear-view camera lens,” O’Brien said about a coat-ing that’s intended to prevent water droplets and dirt from adhering to the glass surface of the lens.

Hyundai claims the Kona’s wireless charging deck for smartphones is a first for the CUV segment. This center console charging interface is compatible with Android and Apple Qi-enabled devices.

Kona is offered in four trims (SE, SEL, Limited, and Ultimate) and is available in the U.S. with choice of two engines. From Hyundai’s ‘Nu’ gasoline engine family is a 2.0-L 4-cylinder Atkinson en-gine delivering a claimed 147 hp (110 kW) at 6200 rpm and 132 lb·ft (179 N·m) at 4500. The 2.0-L mates with a Hyundai-engineered 6-speed automatic transmission. Curb weight of the 2.0-L version is 2,844–3,049 lb (1,290–1,383 kg), depending on driveline and options.

A Gamma 1.6-L turbocharged 4-cylin-der generates a claimed 175 hp (130 kW) at 5500 rpm and 195 lb·ft at 1500-4500 rpm; it is paired with Hyundai’s 7-speed EcoShift dual-clutch transmission. Hyundai’s turbocharged 1.0-L from the Kappa engine family and 1.6-L U2 tur-bodiesel also are available for various global markets. A battery-electric ver-sion with a claimed 200- to 250-mile (321 to 402-km) driving range is expect-ed to be released in Korea later this year.

U.S. retail base MSRP of the Kona SE is $19,500.

Kami Buchholz

Nissan’s all-new, sixth-generation Altima midsize sedan arrived at its 2018 New York auto show reveal with several innova-tions, but probably its most significant is the availability of the company’s recently launched variable-compression four-cylin-der engine. To now, the so-called VC-Turbo powerplant (https://www.sae.org/news/2016/10/nissan-unveils-2018-pro-duction-variable-compression-ratio-ice) was offered exclusively by Nissan’s Infiniti premium brand for its 2019 QX50 cross-over, but the engine’s new application for the Altima offers the potential for mark-edly expanding the reach of Nissan’s vari-able-compression technology.

Revealing the new 2019 Altima, Nissan said the VC-Turbo engine will be offered as an option for the sedan’s SR and Platinum trim levels. With 248 hp and 273 lb·ft (370 N·m), the VC-Turbo supplants the previous Altima’s 3.5-L V6; that engine generated 270 hp and

251 lb·ft (340 N·m). For the VC-Turbo, effective compression ratio can be var-ied between 8:1 and 14:1 and premium-unleaded gasoline is recommended. Nissan said a display in the digital gauge cluster will indicate the VC-Turbo’s operational state.

More size, first time for AWDTo accompany the 2019 Altima’s pow-ertrain changes is the model’s first-ever fitment of all-wheel drive. The company said the Intelligent All Wheel Drive sys-tem can apportion drive torque in a range from 100% to the front axle to a 50/50 split between front and rear ax-les. In a release, Nissan said AWD will answer demand from customers in foul-weather regions—and suggested its availability may help buffer the buyers’ accelerating shift away from sedans in favor of crossover body styles.

Bill Visnic

ROAD READY

Kona offers U.S. buyers the choice of two 4-cylinder engines, a naturally-aspirated 2.0-L and this 1.6-L turbocharged unit.

The 2019 Nissan Altima will be the first mainstream model available with the company’s variable-compression 4-cylinder engine.

Altima looks to go upscale with richer

cabin materials and advanced driver-

assistance features.

https://www.sae.org/news/2016/10/nissan-unveils-2018-production-variable-compression-ratio-ice


Arjeplog, Sweden sits around 35 miles (57 km) below the Arctic Circle, but this remote city has been a bustling hub for the automotive industry for decades. Since the first win-ter tests were conducted here in the 1973, the area has be-

come a second home to a dozen OEMs and suppliers during the bru-tally cold winter months. Engineers take over the small town every winter when average high temperatures hover around 19°F (-7 C) and the average low is a brisk 3°F (-16 C).

To make room for the influx, residents rent out their homes to the auto industry, moving into guest rooms or in campers parked with relatives or friends in other parts of town. These temporary living situations are required as the automotive industry pushes forward to greener powertrains.

Hyundai has a particular impetus to test where it’s cold. Battery EVs and fuel-cell vehicles (FCV) have unique cold-climate operating characteristics, and those propulsion types will play a major role in the company’s aim to vie for the global eco-car sales lead by 2025. Ensuring optimum HVAC system cold-climate performance for EVs and FCVs is paramount.

Arjeplog, then, has become like a second home to engineer Gunther Frank, Hyundai’s head of Functional Vehicle Development. Automotive Engineering was invited to join Frank and his team in their winter lair in early 2018 as they prepared the new Nexo fuel cell vehicle and the Kona EV for production.

Developing FATCHyundai does most basic HVAC development work using a climate chamber at its Namyang Technology Research Center in Korea. Then the cars come to Sweden for on-site field tests and fine tuning. Frank

AE goes way north for an inside look at Hyundai’s winter testing of the new Nexo FCV and Kona EV and their unique and critical HVAC systems.

by Sebastian Blanco

Testing for cold-climate

said a car typically spends one to two weeks in cold weather testing, and the same amount of time in hot weather. It’s the in-between climate that actually takes longer, maybe three or four weeks, because it’s diffi-cult to get the full automatic temperature control (FATC) system just right.

“Mild climate conditions are much, much more com-plex, not from the performance point of view in terms of cooling or heating, but from the control point of view of the FATC,” Frank said. “In alpine regions, when we are at a height of 2,500 meters (8,202 feet) where it is quite cool, and we are driving within an hour down to the valley where we see temperatures of 22 or 23°C (72-73°F), the controller has to be aware of the chang-ing conditions and react.”

FATC is Hyundai’s end goal for all of its vehicles, no matter what powertrain they use. The basic idea is that the driver can set a temperature, push the “auto” but-ton, and then never think of the heating or cooling settings again.

“This would be the ideal situation, having just the ‘auto’ button, but human beings are so different,” Frank said. “The way you feel one day in comparison to the other is also so different and you are never go-ing to be able to create a control algorithm which will fit all of them. It’s a very nice feature, but you have to make sure that the customer has the possibility to overwrite the system, because finally it’s up to them.”

The more important challenge for Frank and his team in Arjeplog, though, is getting consistent heat A

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The Arjeplog test facility of Hyundai Mobis, where average high temperatures hover around -7 °C. Its frozen lake used

for a variety of vehicle testing covers 1.6 million m².

COMFORT


COVER STORY

without the waste heat from a traditional ICE. Both of Hyundai’s new fuel cell and all-electric vehicles use high-voltage electronic compressors. Unlike older compressors, which needed to run off of engine RPM, the electronic compressors can be run independently. They can also be turned off when the cabin climate is stable, which then reduces the load on the energy source and thus leads to increased efficiency.

The high-voltage systems can also heat up the cabin faster than an ICE, since they don’t need a warm en-gine to work. “From the HVAC point of view, it’s a much, much better situation than in the olden days,” Frank noted. “If you don’t have an electronic heating device, when you start your engine, it takes a very long time until the cabin becomes warm. With our high-voltage systems, we have the possibility to im-mediately warm up the cabin.”

Heating the Nexo FCVThe Nexo is the Hyundai’s second-gen fuel-cell vehicle, arriving some time in 2018. It follows the Tucson FCV and has increased fuel cell stack efficiency and perfor-mance. All of its components are newly developed. In fact, the Nexo achieves 60% fuel cell system efficiency, compared to the Tucson’s 55%. Based on this improve-ment, along with an increase in the hydrogen storage available on board (three tanks that each hold 6.3 kg [13.9 lb] of hydrogen, the Nexo’s driving range could reach over 800 km (497 mi) in NEDC city mode, and over 370 miles (595 km) on the U.S. test cycle.

These numbers are preliminary, but Nexo senior en-gineer Sang Ho Yoon said the driving range would be around a 35% increase over the Tucson fuel cell. That

vehicle is rated at 265 miles (426 km) in the U.S. The same energy used to move the car is needed to heat it, so de-

veloping an efficient HVAC system is important to achieving long range. While there are similarities between the HVAC system in the Nexo and a standard ICE vehicle—there is some free heat energy available because the stack needs to be cooled down—the overall process is quite different. The good news is that different also works.

Frank happily proved the Nexo’s rapid heating power on a day when the outside ambient temperature was -23°C (-9.4°F). After just three minutes in the prototype, a breast-level temperate sensor showed it was 15°C (59°F) in the car.

“We have an internal target that with an ambient temperature of -20°C (-4°F), the average cabin temperature should reach an average of 18°C (64°F) after 20 minutes of driving,” Frank said. “Believe me, it’s quite tough to fulfill that with low-capacity internal combustion engine cars. With our full EV cars or with our fuel cell car, we are able to reach that target much, much faster.”

Part of that quick heat comes from a 3.7-kW Air Side positive tem-perature coefficient (PTC) thermistor. The use of PTC thermistors as heaters in cars has been studied since at least the 1990s and they are used today in some gas cars, especially 1-kW units in 3-cylinder European vehicles. With alternative powertrain models, PTCs have really come into their own, Frank explained.A

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Nexo fuel cell stack (top) with its air processing system shown separately at bottom. The gray ribbed box at center is the humidifier/air cooler module. To its right in light purple is the centrifugal-type air pump.

Engineers review the day’s data in the warmth of an Arjeplog hut.


Driving an early prototype gives only a hint of what the finished vehicle will act like, but spinning the new Hyundai Nexo hydrogen fuel cell utility and the Kona EV around a frozen lake in northern Sweden prove there’s more than one way to tune an eco car.

The Nexo, as seems appropriate for what will almost certainly be the more expensive of the two models, has a softer suspension and an aggressive stability control system that prevented the FCV from ever really losing its footing, even when speeding around Hyundai’s circular ice track. Throttle and steering response were dramatically limited and the system’s interventions were early and substantial, which bodes well for the safety of the eventual pro-duction vehicle. There was not a lot of oversteer and there wasn’t much to do about the understeer in the icy circumstances.

The Kona EV, on the other hand, felt further from production ready, with plenty of noise coming from the back when pushed to the

frozen limits. The safety control strategy is also tuned different here, allowing us to mildly drift the car on the lake. This meant more fun on the safe confines of the expansive ice track, and it indicates the EV might be the more fun of the two models.

Thankfully, the Kona EV’s floor-mounted battery creates a low center of gravity that helps keep the car firmly planted. It was dif-ficult to test the EV’s flat-out accel-eration on the slippery surfaces, but the impressive torque got the tires spinning on the ice, even when we were already at 100 km/h (62 mph). Even so, pushing the accelerator pedal all the way to the floor didn’t do much once the sys-tem detected slippery conditions and neutered our input.

Thanks in part to their grippy tires, both zero-emission vehicles kept their composure. The Kona rode on Continental 215-55 R 17 V XL WinterContact TS 850P tires, while the Nexo wore Hankook’s Winter I-cept Evo2 245/45R19 102V M+S.

S.B.

The first step to warming a fuel cell car’s cabin, Frank explained, is to heat up the cooling system of the stack. While this happens, the PTC offers quick heat in the Nexo’s cabin. Once the stack is warmed up and able to provide some excess heat, the PTC’s power is reduced, even down to zero in the conditions we experienced in Sweden.

“When the car is in a stable condition, it’s similar to internal com-bustion engine cars and we don’t need additional electronic power to run the heating system,” he said. “In stable conditions, there is no influence on driving range.”

Hyundai developed a new membrane electrode assembly and 3D porous flow field in house for the Nexo. “The 3D porous flow field is a new concept for the Nexo stack,” Yoon said. “It can improve the stack

performance for power density.” Yoon said the Nexo uses the world’s smallest hydrogen supply system for automotive use because it does away with the hydro-gen recirculating pump required in the Tucson fuel cell and only uses an ejector to supply hydrogen for the electrochemical reaction within the fuel cell stack.

A new thermal management system means im-proved response time to control the coolant tempera-ture of the stack thanks to a two-way and a four-way valve. The four-way valve is a world’s first for electric vehicles, Yoon said, and it improves the Nexo’s cold-start ability. Cold starts are traditionally difficult for FCVs, but the Nexo can start at ambient temperatures of -30°C (-22°F), the same threshold the company’s ICE vehicles must pass.

That’s not the only way the Nexo will function like an ICE. Thanks to a new, highly durable membrane, a new platinum catalyst in the stack, and a new operat-ing control technology, Yoon said the durability rating for the new fuel cell powertrain warranty will cover 160,000 km (100,000 mi) and 10 years, just like the company’s ICE vehicles.

The Nexo’s powertrain has a maximum power out-put of 120 kW and 395 N·m. This will improve top speed by a claimed 10% and acceleration performance by 25%, compared to the Tucson FCEV.

Heating the Kona EVThe Kona EV will come in two flavors, a 64-kW·h model with up to 470 km (292 mi) of range (all range num-bers here are just targets, and are based on WLTP ho-mologation). This model offers 204 hp and a 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) time of 7.6 seconds. The 39-kW·h model will get up to almost 300 km (186 mi) on a charge with a motor that generates 135 hp and hits 100 km/h in 9.3 seconds. Both powertrain versions deliver 395 N·m. On a 100-kW fast charger, the 64-kW·h bat-tery can be charged to 80% in less than one hour. A 7.2-kW, Level 2 charger will take almost 10 hours to A

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Frozen-lake fun in the Kona EV and Nexo

FCV heating circuit for using stack energy. 1st step: COD heater warms stack coolant. 2nd step: PTC heater mainly supplies heating energy. 3rd step: As coolant temp increases, PTC heater power decreases for saving energy. 4th step: PTC heater turns off when coolant heater can supply sufficient heat.

Author Blanco pilots a Kona EV in the northern Sweden winter.

Testing for cold-climateCOMFORT


arm.com/sw-auto

Safety meets performance


COVER STORY

fully charge the larger pack.One challenge with electric vehicles is that the bat-

tery temperature needs to be moderated along with the cabin. The Kona EV uses battery packs that are bigger than the ones used in Hyundai’s Ioniq and Kia Soul EVs, which are air-cooled. The Kona’s battery pack shouldn’t get hotter than 40°C (104°F), which is why the battery in the Kona EV uses an active liquid cooling system in combination with a radiator to keep it from overheating. If this is not sufficient, the cabin’s AC system can be used to cool down the battery as well.

Like the Nexo, the Kona EV prototype uses an AirSide PTC—this time a 5-kW unit—along with a 2.7-kW heat pump. A more powerful PTC is needed be-cause there’s no waste heat from a fuel cell stack to help warm the cabin. The Kona EV does manage to siphon some heat energy off of the electronic compo-nents, including the motor.

“We are able to transfer it and use that energy to warm up the cabin and to increase the efficiency of the overall heating system,” Frank noted.

The heat pump system uses some heat energy from the air, ideally at ambient temperatures above 0°C (32°F), which then runs the AC drive cycle. At an ambi-

ent temperature of 0°C (32°F) and a cabin setting of 23°C (73°F), “we are losing about 40% in comparison to heater off when we have a PTC system, but we are able to create 20% more energy with the heat pump system and therefore to increase the efficiency,” Frank said.

Those are the numbers that Hyundai’s winter test engineers have to crunch to keep drivers of their new powertrain vehicles happy. If the PTC and the FATC and all the rest can work in Arjeplog, chances are they will work in other parts of the world. If not, it’s back to the cold for more testing.

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New 4-way valve in the Nexo’s thermal management system is a first for FCVs and helps improve response time to control coolant temperature of the stack.



With the Steel-vs.-Aluminum battle raging unabated across the global vehicle-development domains, plastics/com-posites material and manufacturing suppliers are deliver-ing equally impressive innovations in places that are vis-

ible—or not—in new cars and trucks. While BMW recently ended its ambitious “closed loop” carbon fiber

supply chain that stretched from Moses Lake, Washington to Germany (after gaining valuable knowledge in the process of outfitting its i3 and i8 programs), advanced composite development continues to prove the lightweight materials’ mettle to the metals-centric mobility indus-try. Here’s a look at some recent “wins” in automotive plastics, along with a view of the future for CFRP from one of its leading proponents.

BMW gets its CorebackInstrument-panel carriers and cross-vehicle structures are an ongoing focus of materials innovation, with various metals and metal-com-posite solutions vying with new composite developments. When BMW needed to reduce mass in the instrument panel structure of its 2017 Mini Countryman, the engineers sought out International Automotive Components Group (IAC) for a new injection-molding process called Coreback.

The result is a Mini IP carrier molded in lightweight plastic (long-glass polypropylene) foam, achieving a claimed 15% mass savings with superb stiffness-to-weight characteristics, compared with injec-tion molding of a conventional PP-based, talc-filled product. Such traditional processes are capable of perhaps a 4-5% mass savings.

“With the Coreback process, we inject the resin and a CFA [chemi-cal foaming agent] at full injection pressure, filling the mold 100%. Then we open the mold. This gives us consistent, perfect expansion of the foam throughout the cross-section of the part relative to the die draw, the direction that the mold opens,” explained Marc Hayes, IAC’s Director of Advanced Development.

A new wave of engineered plastics that deliver structural, mass-reducing, and aesthetic benefits are landing new vehicle applications.

by Lindsay Brooke

Innovation more than SKIN DEEP

Hayes noted that using Coreback, molding a large piece such as the IP carrier or a door trim panel would start at 1.8 mm, then open the tool at 2.8 mm to achieve the finished wall thickness. “We’re truly inject-ing 1.8-mm of resin into the mold cavity, versus 2.8 mm. That’s where the weight-save of 15-20% comes from. Everything else in that cross section is air pock-ets.” The process accommodates a maximum mold opening/expansion of 4 mm (.157 in).

The Mini IP carrier project was IAC’s first production application of the Coreback process. The company and BMW partnered with tool maker Siebenwurst and chemical supplier Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) on the project.

“Using Coreback, we’re not as stuck to the standard rib-to-wall-stock ratio [typically 60%] for things like sink or lifter actions,” Hayes explained. “The foaming agent helps increase the ratios that we’re allowed to use.”

IAC and SABIC engineers used CAE to determine how to use a specialized CFA in existing injection molding machines, and to predict foamed-part warp-age. The extensive analysis allowed tooling to be mod-ified in advance to avoid any potential production is-sues and helped ensure a flawless launch.

Structural foam has been a staple of marine instru-ment panel applications for decades, as well as in ar-chitectural trim and doors. Ford also experimented with structural foam IP structures in the 1980s.

Following its success with the Mini IP program, IAC is continuing Coreback development to produce visible interior parts in addition to unseen structural parts. According to Hayes, this will require further develop-ment of the CFA. B

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BMW came to IAC for a lightweight IP solution for its latest Mini Countryman.


Say goodbye to the days of “are we there yet?”

The future of transportation is carrying us toward a time when our vehicles will be more than just a way to get from point A to point B.

To help automakers meet this vision, Faurecia is stepping up innovation in sustainable mobility and smart life on-board technologies. In Silicon Valley and throughout its global R&D network, Faurecia is making new investments in academic research, forging new partnerships and helping fuel startups that will help us continue improving the comfort, well-being and in-vehicle experience of people on the move. After all, tomorrow’s driving experience isn’t about the destination, it’s about all the things you’ll do on the journey.

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Carbon fiber ‘boxes’ DenaliThe debut of the industry’s first carbon-composite pickup bed on the 2019 GMC Sierra Denali signals that the light-weight materials, including those that are continuous-fiber reinforced, are moving closer to mainstream applica-tions at higher volumes.

It’s worth noting here that GM pio-neered a partially-composite (sheet-molding compound) pickup bed on the 1955-58 Chevrolet Cameo Carrier, so the Denali is part of a long technology continuum that began with the 1953 Corvette’s body. The latest carbon-composite structure was developed by GM in collaboration with Continental Structural Plastics (CSP) and its parent company, Teijin Group.

GM engineers like the Sierra’s new cargo box for its dent, scratch and cor-rosion resistance, said Sierra Chief Engineer Tim Herrick in an interview with Automotive Engineering. Compared to the Sierra’s standard steel bed, the carbon-fiber themoplastic (ny-lon 6) bed is 62 lb (28 kg) lighter.

The material employs chopped fiber rather than woven. Its formability en-abled designers to push the cargo box sides further outward, increasing volume

by a cubic foot. Structural adhesive and a mechanical fastener are used at the beginning of the two-layer bond process to prevent peeling, Herrick noted.

Two parts of the Sierra bed (the right and left front stake-pocket reinforce-

ments) are made from 100% of the post-process recyclate, Herrick told AE. CSP’s Huntington, Indiana, plant will mold and form the carbon fiber bed, which will then be trimmed out at GM’s Fort Wayne, assembly plant.

Cross-section of a Coreback part measuring 2.8-mm total thickness. The white material is a 1-mm reference scale.



MATERIALS | LIGHTWEIGHTING FEATURE

Plasan brings advanced analysis to CFRPWhile the 2019 Sierra Denali enters showrooms in fall 2018, engineers are watching for GM to unveil its much-anticipated C8 Corvette. Will the next-gen Vette, expected to arrive in early 2019, increase its car-bon-fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) content on Class-A body panels, as pioneered on 2014 models using supplier Plasan Carbon Composites’ out-of-autoclave “pressure-press” technology?

“No comment—we can’t answer that!” exclaimed Dan Hartzler, PCC’s VP of Engineering, and Robert Murch, the company’s Principal Engineer. In a recent interview with AE, Hartzler and Murch noted recent progress in CFRP materials and process technologies aimed at faster cycle times and throughput, and dramatically reduced post-mold finishing.

“Ten years ago our process technology was outpacing that of the pre-preg chemistries,” Murch explained. “But that call has been heard by all the major resin suppliers. The advances we’ve seen in

pre-preg systems in the last 3 years is astonishing. Those companies—Solvay, Toray—continue to outdo each other, including on the aerospace side. The chemistries are caught up with advanced processes such as ours. We can process in 2 minutes or less even with a pre-preg system.”

Hartzler reports that PCC’s pressure-press tooling development is moving forward. “We’re working down to a 10-12-minute cycle [from 15-17 minutes]. Now it’s a matter of further attacking the bottlenecks, which are always moving. Can we create tooling to meet the new cycle times the new resins are capable of?” He indi-cated that alternate forming processes may be in de-velopment to support the faster cycle times.

“The OEMs are finally ready to investigate how they can best use the new materials and forming methods in new areas,” Hartzler said. The next ad-vancements will allow CFRP to get into higher-vol-ume structural components.

PCC has announced that its $40 million investment in automation technology will soon support faster, lower cost manufacturing of structural carbon fiber for parts including door beams and bumper beams.

“Our increased use of dynamic modeling will enable B-pillars and underhood components,” Murch said. “I’m a little cautious of what I can say here, but Plasan as a company has leveraged technologies from our parent company [Plasan Sasa] on the ballistics side. We’re taking that knowledge base and transferring it to Automotive. Now we can provide the OEMs com-plete solutions including analysis.”

Looking at the 2020s and the rise of automated and fully autonomous vehicles, Hartzler and Murch see even greater opportunity for CFRP.

“There is a new openness among the OEMs to de-velop and apply these new composite solutions—not as a replacement for sheet metal, but fully integrated with the components around it,” Hartzler said.

Detroit-based Kami Buchholz contributed reporting for this article.

The Coreback instrument panel carrier in the Mini shows the material’s benefits in parts consolidation.

Exploded view of the materials mix used in creating the new carbon fiber composite cargo bed on the 2019 GMC Sierra Denali.

Plasan Carbon Composites pioneered Class-A slickness and quality on the current Corvette series (2019 ZR1 roadster shown). Will the C8 offer new advancements?

Innovation more than SKIN DEEP

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LESSONS LEARNED DEVELOPING ISO 26262 SUPERVISORY CONTROLLERS FOR EV/HEV Thursday, May 24, 2018 at 12:00 pm U.S. EDT

For additional details and to register visit: www.sae.org/webcasts

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This Webinar shares lessons learned during the development of several EV/HEV controllers including the M560 OpenECU while satisfying ISO 26262 ASIL D safety goals. An overview of the development experience shows specific areas where satisfying ISO 26262 is not as technically difficult as it is culturally challenging. It also discusses the importance of balancing prototyping activities to support aggressive automotive project schedules with the diligence required for functional safety.

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In this Webinar, experts examine fast, reliable anti-corrosion coating analysis with the Phenom XL Desktop SEM, including how it aids in the analysis of crystal size and surface coating coverage and provides actionable data for process control. The improved data acquisition aids in the overall quality of automotive parts, improving chassis durability.

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This Webinar examines a new magnetic position sensor that helps enable new designs and reduce design effort and cost by adding innovative features such as stray field immunity mode, input pin measurement capability, high-temperature operation, and improved robustness for harsh operating environments. Topics include applications, configurations, and software and hardware tools for easy evaluation and integration of magnetic sensors.

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Evaluating how school buses and other commercial vehicles perform in crash-test scenarios is regular practice at the Center for Advanced Product Evaluation (CAPE) in Westfield, Indiana. The center, a unit of advanced vehicular safety sys-

tems manufacturer IMMI, designs and builds test rigs that help engi-neers determine whether there is survivable space inside the vehicle, and whether the vehicle’s body-to-frame mounting system is suffi-ciently strong to withstand a rollover incident.

The tests performed at CAPE are typically designed to prove that vehicle manufacturing processes comply with standards set by orga-nizations such as SAE International and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA).

CAPE’s engineering team recently completed development of a test rig that can provide vehicle OEMs with roof crush testing up to 100 tons (890 kN). The unit can also be used to test off-road vehicle roll cages and racecar chassis. The rig uses four hydraulic actuators (cylinders), mounted at the four corners of a heavy-gauge pressure plate and controlled as four separate motion axes.

At the core of the new test system is an eight-axis RMC150 electro-hydraulic motion controller manufactured by Delta Computer Systems.

Before you crush that bus or racecar chassis, find out how engineers at CAPE are optimizing test-rig performance.

by Bruce Coons

CAPE engineers had previously integrated Delta motion controllers into two other test rigs before the new roof crush system was developed. According to the facility’s Technical Director, Ryan Hoover, the RMCs exhibit supe-rior stability for test applications. He described the Delta software as “very professionally developed and finished,” noting that CAPE had previously experienced control software that was often “buggy.”

“Virtual Gearing”CAPE engineers used a special function of the RMC151 motion controller called “Virtual Gearing” to cause all four axes to move in precise synchrony, to ensure that the pressure plate is kept completely level during a compres-sion operation. The four “slave” axes follow a virtual “mas-ter” axis, which is set up to control the position of the pressure plate and the cumulative force being applied.

The motion controller tracks the position of each corner cylinder using inputs from a linear variable displacement IM

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testingA SECRET WEAPON FOR ROOF-CRUSH

The CAPE roof crush test rig operates with

hydraulics cylinders at each corner of a

pressure plate.


TESTING | FEATURE

transducer (LVDT) attached to the cylinder. It controls the compression force using a load cell mounted on each cylinder rod end.

Besides the motion axes, the Delta controller gathers information on the deflection of the vehicle under test by tracking four “reference axis” inputs which are connected to string potentiometers mounted to the body and test frame. In this way, the RMC functions as a multi-channel data acquisition device in addition to a motion controller.

The typical compression cycle starts as follows. The hydraulic pump is turned on and the transducers are ini-tialized to zero values. Then the four compression cylin-ders are set up to be geared together, and the system is given a command to move the steel pressure plate up and out of the way. The vehicle cab/body is placed in the rig, and the pressure plate is lowered until it reaches a position that is just above the cab but not touching it. The command is then given to pre-load the rig to 500 lb (227 kg), followed by the command to apply the full load, a process that takes between one and five minutes.

The system is allowed to rest under load for 30 sec-onds and then it is unloaded to zero pounds on the load cells. Finally, the press plate is moved completely off the cab, and the test data is downloaded from the motion controller to the network drive over the RMC’s Ethernet interface.

Programming the motion steps was done using RMCTools software, provided free with Delta’s motion controllers. It enables programming the controllers using high-level commands, such as the Virtual Gearing arrange-ment. As the accompanying screen shot shows, program-ming the operation of the four corner cylinders is done by filling in boxes and selecting options from pull-down menus. Velocity, acceleration and deceleration rates can be set to cause the axes to start, stop and move smoothly.

The RMC hydraulic systems use proportional servo valves to enable precise control over the closed-loop mo-tion parameters.

Following programming, the system needed to be

tuned. “Initially, the test rig was shaking,” said Hoover. “Then we used Delta’s Tuning Wizard, another part of RMCTools, to get the system pret-ty close to where we wanted it to be.” After that, the CAPE team did fine-tuning, operating the press plate up and down at various speeds.

“We validated the tuning process by testing different cabs with different amounts of crushing force,” Hoover explained.

A test operator interfaceDuring testing operations, the Delta motion controller in the CAPE test rig performs the data acquisition and maintains all the test data internally. Not just for motion program development; the RMCTools software can handle test system operator interface functions and data transfer to an attached PC. The package is capable of develop-ing and running an array of tests, Hoover said.

An accompanying graph shows how the various test parameters can be tracked and displayed in real time. The black plot line is the total force being applied, and the upper magenta line shows that some roof crushing has occurred. The relationship between crushing force and amount of crush at all points in time is clear, and the plot serves as documentation of the complete test cycle.

Serving as “a powerful core of a flexible electrohydraulic test sys-tem, Delta controllers are easy to program and tune for engineers,” Hoover noted.

Bruce Coons, a ceramics engineer, is Regional Applications Specialist at Delta Computer Systems Inc. Previously he has held positions at Union Carbide, Texas Instruments Automotive Components Division, and Moog Industrial Hydraulics. IM

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RMCTools Plot Manager enables the test operator to visually track the values of all transducers and the values of the geared axis parameters during a test.

Delta Computer Systems’ RMC150 can control up to eight motion axes simultaneously, while serving as a data acquisition subsystem in test applications. A built-in Ethernet interface is provided for uploading test data from registers inside the controller.

The RMCTools software can be used for both developing motion programs and setting up/monitoring tests in process.

Sound and vibration softwareBK Connect software platform from Brüel & Kjær (St. Charles, IL) is a fully integrated user-cen-tric software solution for multi-channel data acqui-sition, data processing, data management and reporting. BK Connect core applications are designed for general-purpose sound and vibration engineering. The com-pany says together they provide a comprehensive set of tools for real-time measurement and data processing with the flexibility to deal with a wide range of engineering sce-narios from repetitive, standardized testing to complex trou-bleshooting investigations. It also offers a wide range of specialized modules for structural dynamics, noise source location and angle domain analysis. The BK Connect data concept is open, enabling full access to data—regardless of its original format, from legacy LabShop data to third-party, universal and finite element model formats.

For more information, visit http://info.hotims.com/70467-402

SPOTLIGHT: MATERIALS

Expandable cavity sealers High-temperature, fluorinated rubberA family of proprietary fluorinated rubber from Freudenberg-NOK Sealing Technologies (Plymouth, MI) has been designed to meet static seal challenges. According to the company, the materials offer sealing capabilities under very high temperatures and pressures, ease installation challenges, and are cost competitive against more expen-sive perfluorinated material options. The new rubber can also be custom mixed to meet specific powertrain engi-neering requirements. Unlike traditional fluorocarbon rub-ber, which effectively handles temperatures ranging from -40° to +235°C (-40° to +455°F), the new formulas effec-tively seal at temperatures ranging as high as 270°C (518°F). In addition, compression stress relaxation (CSR) testing performed by Freudenberg-NOK on the materials demonstrated what the company says is “exceptional” sealing capability. The elasticity of these materials is main-tained along with their flexibility after prolonged high tem-perature air exposure.



This miniature poppet-style relief valve offers a faster opening rate and more stable fl ow than typical, ball-style relief valves.

Stable Flow – Low HysteresisLow LeakageSelf-RetainedZero Leak Models AvailableRelief Pressures up to

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Innovation in Miniature

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The SikaBaffle 400 series from Sika Automotive (Madison Heights, MI) is a product family of high performing, heat-expandable cavity sealers for acoustic damping and moisture seal-

ing. The series offers cavity-sealing properties across a wider range of baking temperatures than previous products—even under the variable bake schedules used in the automotive industry. The first released product from the new 400 series is SikaBaffle-455, which is a very high-expansion cavity sealer with improved acoustic properties and watertight perfor-mance. Thanks to its homogenous expansion properties, SikaBaffle-455 applications can be designed to optimize ma-terial usage without excess material, supporting vehicle light-weighting initiatives. According to Sika Automotive, the SikaBaffle-455’s sealing properties ensure a complete seal under production conditions—i.e. multiple bake schedules—and also during real aging of the vehicle. SikaBaffle-455 has been released at major OEMs and is globally available.


High-temperature, fluorinated rubberHigh-temperature, fluorinated rubber

PRODUCT BRIEFS

AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING 26





Measurement and calibration toolVector (Stuttgart, Germany) integrates many new functions in the new version of the CANape (16.0) measurement and calibration tool. In this way, Vector says calibration engi-neers can simplify their work and interactions with their ECUs. The storage of configuration files in containers accelerates important project transfer op-erations. Improvements have also been made in the field of ADAS development, in particular for the visualization of LIDAR sensor data. According to Vector, the day-to-day ex-change of CANape projects with colleagues or customers/suppliers is now faster and more secure. The user saves all the relevant information and files in a data container at the touch of a button, so nothing is left out when projects change hands. The new vCDM option assists calibration data manage-ment tasks to improve data handling efficiency and reliability.


High-resolution LCD panels Kyocera International, Inc.’s (Plymouth, MI) line of high-performance, high-resolu-tion liquid-crystal display (LCD) panels are specifically designed for automotive head-up displays (HUDs). The company’s new HUD LCDs provide light transmittance up to an ultra-high 8.5%, and typical contrast ratios of up to 1700:1. Their low-tempera-ture polysilicon technology delivers pixel density of approxi-mately 300 ppi—about twice that of conventional LCDs—and an 85-degree viewing angle (in four directions—above, below, left and right—with contrast ratio not less than 10:1) with no color shift, through Kyocera’s Advanced Wide Viewing tech-nology (AWVII). Additionally, Kyocera HUD LCDs offer an op-erating temperature range of -40°C to +105°C (-40°F to +221°F), the broadest currently available among automotive displays the company claims.



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Keypad switch modules The TC-3 and TC-4 keypad switch mod-ules from OTTO (Carpentersville, IL) are a self-contained, sealed switch module with up to five positions. Especially useful in cursor control or data entry applications, the TC Series can be used in a grip, front panel or hand-held device. According to OTTO, the advantage of the TC module is that it incorporates keypad function-ality within a very small footprint, at slightly over an inch in diameter. Standard or custom legends are avail-able and can be LED backlit. Standard termination options for the TC Series include flying leads, ribbon cable (with or without AMP connector) and FFC (flexible flat cable). It has an operating/storage temperature range of -40°C to 85°C (-40°F to 185°F).

For more information,visit http://info.hotims.com/70467-407

Polymer-based patch antennasThe patent-pending Terrablast range of antennas from Taoglas (Barcelona, Spain) are a poly-mer-based series of patch antennas that the company claims are 30% lighter than their ceramic counterparts and extreme-ly resistant to fracture upon impact. Unlike traditional ceramic patch anten-nas, Terrablast uses a new class of Taoglas polymer dielectric material com-posed of glass-reinforced epoxy lami-nate. The addition of the polymer to the blend makes the antenna extremely lightweight, yet impact resistant. Terrablast antennas are designed to withstand drops, falls and impacts, mak-ing them suitable for applications such as automotive and UAVs, where the an-tenna’s mechanical robustness following potential impact is critical.


Trace timing analysis LuxTrace from Luxoft Holding Inc (Munich, Germany) is a new and im-proved web-based version of TraceAnalyzer 4.0, a timing analysis tool for visualizing system timing in terms of the constituent ECUs, control-lers, processors, buses and networks. Luxoft says it processes large traces up to ten times faster than the previous version. With LuxTrace, Luxoft has turned the desktop application TraceAnalyzer into a modern web-based solution. It is ready for deployment in a continuous integration workflow. LuxTrace now enables engineers to formulate all timing requirements using a flexible test-case centric representation. Being Python-based, users can test even the most complex timing requirements automatically. At the same time, easy tem-plates are provided for general test cases.


In-vehicle rugged cellular gatewayKontron’s (Augsburg, Germany) EvoTRAC G102 In-Vehicle Rugged Cellular Gateway for on and off-road vehicle use is a flexible open-architecture building block platform engineered to help devel-opers accelerate application-specific innovation. Already proven in multiple intelligent truck and trailer management applications, Kontron says EvoTRAC G102 is designed to give operators the actionable information needed to keep drivers safe, lower fuel consumption, and effectively manage maintenance costs. The EvoTRAC G102 extends Kontron’s line of products for smart cities and con-nected transportation. For the highest reliability in extreme on and off-road environmental conditions, the EvoTRAC G102 Gateway is based on 4th genera-tion Intel Atom processors (quad core at 1.91 GHz) on Kontron’s hardened Type 6 COM Express COMe E3845 CPU module.


THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX – GET A NEW POINT OF VIEW ON YOUR TEST SITUATION!OXYGEN Automotive complimentary features set new standards for the time saving acquisition of multiple gyro systems and the calculation and visualization of position between moving and stationary objects for ADAS testing.

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Free Info at http://info.hotims.com/70467-629 AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING 28 May 2018

PRODUCT BRIEFS







WHAT WE’RE DRIVING

Supercars able to master street and track driving sound good in theory but rarely pan out in practice. Ford’s GT, for example, is a track champ but a clumsy daily driver.

To close out the C7 era, Corvette chief engineer Tadge Juechter and his team are taking their shot at the street/race chal-lenge with a family of ZR1 models starting at, ahem, $122,095. A new supercharged and intercooled LT5 6.2-L OHV V-8 fur-nishes 755 horsepower and 715 lb·ft (969 N·m). Removable-roof coupe and con-vertible body styles, two trim levels, and 7-speed manual and 8-speed automatic transmissions are offered.

A $2995 performance package adds near-slick ultra-low-profile radials and 950 lb (431 kg) of downforce spread equitably over both axles. Bosch, Brembo, and Michelin collaborated during 2000 hours of racetrack testing at ten circuits through-out the seven-year development effort.

After thrashing ZR1s at Road Atlanta and on Georgia mountain roads, I’m con-vinced that the definitive dual-purpose sports car has arrived. This Corvette’s combination of speed, grip and arrest-ing-hook brakes will annihilate track re-cords the world over. Drivers with basic track skills can exploit 98% of its perfor-mance after very few laps. But at the twist of its driving-mode knob, the ex-haust flame and fury cease as ZR1 trans-forms into Clark Kent for the street.

The towering rear wing and black-tattooed bodywork pose too much threat for my driver’s license, but I en-thusiastically applaud what’s been achieved with a single engine camshaft and a classic driveline layout.

Let’s hope this is the warm-up act for C8 excellence to follow.

Don Sherman

When reviewing a new BMW, it’s impor-tant to note the car’s most vital attri-bute first. And that would be…pow-ertrain performance? Steering preci-sion? Chassis reflexes? The optional ($1700) M Sport brakes? While all are nearly ideal, they’re not it.

In the case of the Sunset Orange 440i I tested during the Michigan winter, the Bimmer’s greatest attribute—in that sea-son, anyway—was its heated front seats. Their performance is outstanding, with three warmth levels to select at the push of a button. My buns and back tell me the seats deliver the fastest “time-to-toasty” heat-up, from stone cold, of any I can recall. Trimmed in leather, the heated seats are part of a $2,000 Premium Package that includes navigation.

Based on BMW’s widely bench-marked 3-Series architecture, the 4-Series (F32) was created in 2013 to segregate the 2-door coupe and con-vertible into separate nameplates. A 4-door variant has since been added; same sausage in a premium, higher-profit wrapper.

For 2018, the 4’s steering response and suspension damping are sharpened, the navi interface is a bit more straight-forward with six configurable icons and there are new head- and taillamps.

Perfectly paired with the 320-hp (239-kW) turbocharged 3.0-L inline-6 is ZF’s 6-speed manual (the S6-37) gear-box, an increasingly rare combination even in a BMW—and still a joy to oper-ate. Less than perfect is some vestigial BMW weirdness—when you shut off the ignition and open the door to exit, the audio system remains ‘on’ until you hit the door lock.

Lindsay Brooke

Selling a car, any kind of car, is tough business in a time when everyone wants crossovers. It’s always seemed particu-larly difficult for FCA, so in more than one sense you can see the logic of allow-ing the Chrysler 300 to soldier on with-out much meaningful investment.

Although its V6 is of the recently—and usefully—upgraded Pentastar fam-ily, the 300S’s platform effectively is the same as used for the first modern-era 300 launched in 2005, when Daimler still owned Chrysler and the 300 under-pinnings were cleverly derived from the then-current Mercedes-Benz E-Class.

At the time, that platform sharing was a grand bargain for those buying a 300—but 13-odd years later, although the 300S still gets down the road rather pleasantly, it all feels its age.

Not that it’s a stick in the eye: the 300S is palpably quiet and serene in an 80-mph cruise, where the variable-valve-timed 3.6-L V-6 is unstressed and agree-ably efficient. But this big sedan and the weight of all-wheel-drive don’t make life easy for this 300-hp/264-lb·ft version of the Pentastar when you ask for roll-on acceleration, which elicits a pained en-gine wail to accompany an uncharacter-istically violent kickdown from the 8-speed automatic transmission.

For not much more money, fitting the 300 with FCA’s Hemi 5.7-L V-8 and its jovial 394 lb·ft (534 N·m) makes all that go away.

FCA’s Uconnect driver interface re-mains fantastic, but the general cabin impression is that the bill of materials just isn’t where it ought to be for a $50,000 sedan.

Bill Visnic

2019 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1

2018 BMW 440i 2018 Chrysler 300S AWD

READERS: Let us know what you think about Automotive Engineering magazine. Email the Editor at [email protected]. We appreciate your comments and reserve the right to edit for brevity.

Fluid coupling, not torque converterPage 25 of the April issue shows a photo of a pre-war Hydra-Matic with caption “An early Hydra-Matic and torque con-verter.“ These early 4-speed planetary automatic transmis-sions had a fluid coupling, not a torque converter. It had no stator therefore no torque multiplication. Many of the post-war 2-speed ATs used torque converters, including the Chevy Powerglide and Buick Dynaflow.

In those days the automatic transmission was the most com-plicated part of an automobile. Compared to today’s cars, it’s a piece of cake.

AE is a great magazine, love it. Daniel Cory

SAE member

Thanks to Mr. Cory and five other readers who took the time to point out the fluid coupling on the 1939 Hydra-Matic in our feature. It is on display at the Ypsilanti (MI) Automotive Heritage Museum.

Fear and loathing toward SAE Level 4 drivingLindsay Brooke’s March editorial (“Fear and loathing on the path to Level 4 driv-ing”) hit the nail on the head.

I accompanied my son when he went to buy a new car in 2016. The difference be-

tween how the Honda Civic with lane keeping assist and the Ford Fusion with same was startling. The Ford was ping ponging back and forth and the Honda almost serene by comparison.

On the other hand, my son never uses the Civic auto brak-ing after too many instances where it got confused and braked when it shouldn’t have—and almost caused an acci-dent! He also uses the auto braking on the cruise control only once in a while, because it brakes too aggressively when it gets closer to the vehicle in front. I wish Honda had “over the air” updates to key safety systems like Tesla has.

I fervently hope that what [Aptiv CTO Glen] DeVos stated, “The performance differential across platforms will diminish,” comes to pass sooner rather than later. I agree with Brooke: It can’t come quick enough.

Also, Sam Abuelsamid’s column about automated driving and the systems’ ability to detect potholes was great.

Ray Antonelli

SAE Mobility History at WCX18Great feature on the many technologies that led to today’s automated-driving systems (“Technology Time Warp,” April AE). That was really fun to read. Also, thanks to the SAE Mobility History Committee for their wonderful display of re-lated vehicles during the WCX World Congress. Just seeing the famous GM Firebird II in all its titanium-skinned glory made my day at Cobo Center. Keep up the good work.

James Phillips

You may not have known in the “Technology Time Warp” piece on the 1960 Cruise Control introduction that its inventor was our 1936 SAE President, Ralph Teetor, for whom the annual Teetor Award is named. He designed and built the prototype in his home shop and pat-ented his idea which was subsequently licensed by Chrysler and GM. A graduate engineer, Teetor had been blind from age 5! He was a life-long friend of my father, and the two had many memorable experi-ences together.

In 1995, an excellent biography of him written by his daughter was published, titled One Man’s Vision: The Life of Automotive Pioneer Ralph R. Teetor.

As an aside, the accompanying photo shows Ralph in Dad’s [Cummins I4-powered] Packard road-ster which set the world’s first diesel speed record at Daytona Beach in 1930.

C. Lyle Cummins, Jr.SAE Member 1956

Mr. Cummins is the son of Clessie Lyle Cummins, founder of the Cummins Engine Co. He is the author of five acclaimed books on his father and diesel engine history.

Lyle

Cum

min

s

Cruise control innovator Ralph Teetor tries the cockpit of the Cummins diesel-powered Packard at Daytona Beach, 1930.


READER FEEDBACK

Acura ........................................................................................................ 8

Aisin .........................................................................................................12

AMC .......................................................................................................... 6

Apple .......................................................................................................14

Aptiv .......................................................................................................30

ArcelorMittal ........................................................................................... 8

Association for Standardization of Automation and

Measuring Systems ......................................................................... 4

Audi .......................................................................................................... 4

BMW ............................................................................................4, 20, 29

Bosch ..................................................................................................4, 29

Brembo ..................................................................................................29

Brüel & Kjær ..........................................................................................26

Buick .......................................................................................................30

Center for Advanced Product Evaluation .........................................24

Chevrolet .......................................................................................... 14, 21

Chrysler ........................................................................................... 29, 30

Continental .............................................................................................18

Continental Structural Plastics ............................................................21

Cummins ................................................................................................30

Daimler ..............................................................................................4, 29

Delta Computer Systems ....................................................................24

Denso ....................................................................................................... 4

DG Technologies ..................................................................................... 4

Environmental Protection Agency .....................................................10

European Organisation for Civil Aviation Equipment ...................... 4

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles ..................................................................29

Ford ....................................................................................... 4, 14, 29, 30

Freudenberg-NOK Sealing Technologies .........................................26

General Motors ...........................................................................4, 21, 30

GMC .........................................................................................................21

Hankook ..................................................................................................18

Honda ............................................................................4, 6, 8, 14, 30, 32

Honeywell Aerospace .......................................................................... 32

Honeywell Transportation Systems ................................................... 32

Hyundai .............................................................................. 6, 11, 14, 16, 18

IAV ...........................................................................................................12

IHS Markit ...............................................................................................14

IMMI ........................................................................................................24

Intel .........................................................................................................28

International Automotive Components Group ...............................20

Jeep .................................................................................................... 6, 14

Kia ...........................................................................................................19

Kontron ..................................................................................................28

Kyocera International .......................................................................... 27

Lexus .......................................................................................................12

Luxoft Holding ......................................................................................28

Mazda ...........................................................................................11, 14, 32

Mercedes-Benz .....................................................................................29

Michelin ..................................................................................................29

Mini .........................................................................................................20

Munro & Assoc. ....................................................................................... 2

National Fire Protection Association ................................................24

Nissan ................................................................................................15, 32

Novation Analytics ................................................................................10

OTTO .......................................................................................................28

Plasan Carbon Composites ................................................................. 22

Porsche .................................................................................................... 4

SAE International ........................................................... 4, 10, 11, 24, 30

Saudi Basic Industries .........................................................................20

Siebenwurst ..........................................................................................20

Sika Automotive ...................................................................................26

Subaru ...................................................................................................... 6

Taoglas ...................................................................................................28

Teijin Group ............................................................................................21

Tesla ................................................................................................2, 7, 30

Toyota .............................................................................................4, 11, 14

Uber .......................................................................................................... 7

Vector ..................................................................................................... 27

Volkswagen .........................................................................................4, 6

Company Page

Advertiser Page Web LinkARM Ltd. .................................................................19 ..................................arm.com/sw-autoCOMSOL, Inc. ................................................Cover 4 ....comsol.blog/adhesion-decohesionCreate The Future Design Contest ............ Cover 3 ............. CreateTheFutureContest.comDelta Computer Systems, Inc. ............................. 13 ...................................deltamotion.comDewetron, Inc. ....................................................... 28 ..............................www.dewetron.comEvonik Performance Materials ............................. 5 ...............www.acrylite-polymers.comFaurecia................................................................... 21 .....................http://www.faurecia.comHydro Extrusions .................................................... 9 ..................www.hydroextrusions.comMacDermid Enthone Industrial Solutions ..........11 ...macdermidenthone.com/industrialMaterial Sciences Corporation .................. Cover 2 .........www.materialsciencescorp.comSAE Mobility ........................................................... 31 ................................connection.sae.orgSchneider Software............................................... 31 ......................dynascopesoftware.comShiloh Industries, Inc. .............................................3 .............................................. shiloh.comSynopsys, Inc. ....................................................... 27 .............. www.synopsys.com/autovdkThe Lee Company................................................. 26 ...................................www.leeimh.com

Autonomous Vehicle EngineeringANSYS, Inc. ................................................... Cover 2 .......................ansys.com/autonomousAras.......................................................................... 21 ................................ aras.com/platformARM Ltd. ................................................................. 13 ..................................arm.com/sw-autoCOMSOL, Inc. ................................................Cover 4 .................. comsol.blog/touchscreensCreate The Future Design Contest ............ Cover 3 ......www.createthefuturecontest.comDiverse Optics Inc................................................. 36 ................................ DiverseOptics.comEricsson North America ....................................... 15 .............http://t.eric.sn/connected-carFaurecia.................................................................... 9 .....................http://www.faurecia.comMagnet Applications, Inc. ....................................19 ..................... magnetapplications.comMichigan Economic Development Corporation ..... 5 ..........................................planetm.comPhoton Engineering ................................................ 1 ..........................www.photonengr.comRogers Corporation ................................................11 ........................... www.rogerscorp.comS.E.A. Ltd. .................................................................3 ...........................www.SEAlimited.comSAE Mobility .......................................................... 36 ................................connection.sae.orgSAE MTech ............................................................. 33 ....................................mtechguide.comSBG Systems ......................................................... 27 ........................ www.sbg-systems.comSilicon Sensing Systems Ltd. .............................. 35 ......................www.siliconsensing.comTechnologic Systems ............................................ 31 ...................www.embeddedARM.comZF North America Inc. .......................................... 12 ............... zf.com/autonomous-drivingZierick Manufacturing Corp. ................................ 31 ................................... www.zierick.com



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Q&A


Honeywell’s Geoff Duff: From Formula SAE to boosting future mobility.

Turbos tackle new propulsion applicationsTurbo machines continue to drive engine “right-sizing” trends while adding complementary technologies such as electric mo-tors. They’re also finding new applications for vehicle propulsion. Pairing an advanced turbo system with its latest hydrogen fuel cell stack helped Honda create the recently introduced Clarity Fuel Cell. The 5-passenger sedan offers an anticipated U.S. EPA driving range exceeding 300 miles (483 km), a refueling time of under five minutes and zero tailpipe emissions except water.

Honeywell Transportation Systems engineers worked close-ly with Honda counterparts to deliver an industry-first 2-stage turbo compressor for the Clarity application. The Honeywell machine operates at a maximum 4 bar (58 psi) and the fuel-cell “stack” has a 20-kW continuous rating—claimed to be more than double the power density of comparable stacks and delivering 60% more power density compared with Honda’s previous-generation FCX Clarity. It also marks the first auto-motive use of Honeywell Aerospace air-foil bearings. Cooled by the machine’s own compressed air, the bearings eliminate the potential for “poisoning” the stack with oil mist.

Such applications expand Honeywell’s turbocharger hori-zons, noted Geoff Duff, Director of Applications Engineering,

HO

NEY

WEL

L

North America. A 15-year veteran at Honeywell Transportation Systems, Duff was an ardent Formula SAE competitor during his undergrad years at Purdue University. He spoke recently with Automotive Engineering Editor Lindsay Brooke.

The century-old ICE proves that it’s ‘not dead yet’ with new boosting solutions that help extend its life. What new engine trends do you see emerging? Well, fuel cells are part of our electrified strategy. We see en-gines moving to power densities of well over 100-kW/L. Gasoline engines will continue to push toward higher com-pression ratios and BTEs well past 40%. Coupling boosting with hybrid systems really starts to open a bright future for IC engines as they get more efficient. New ways to optimize the ICE create bigger demand for air and new challenges from a boosting perspective. This trend will continue as we push gas-oline engines to behave a bit more like diesels.

The SpCCI from Mazda and VR variable compression ratio engines from Nissan are potential next steps. We’ll have to see how they play out. There are also heavy Miller-cycle applica-tions. The common theme across all of these is they require boost. This is where we’re seeing some of the technology we’ve developed start to be applied. Variable geometry (VNT) turbos and new gas and diesel turbos focused on transient response and high efficiency in the critical areas of the operating map.

Turbochargers have become multi-role devices. Yes. For example, running Miller-cycle creates a reduction in power, which creates a challenge for the turbocharger. That’s where the benefits of variable geometry (VNT) technology can make up some of the losses. It can provide boost where a traditional wastegate turbo doesn’t have the compressor power to drive the kind of boost needed at low speeds and low loads. A tremendous amount of our work with customers is around ensuring bypass flow and enhancing catalyst light-off to help reduce emissions. A solution: we’re doing a lot of work with electric actuation.

Where is electrically-assisted turbo technology going?Honeywell is taking a complete-systems approach. We’re de-veloping very high-speed electric motor controls and diag-nostic software. We’ve been able to overcome thermal chal-lenges through the design of the motor itself, how we cool it and how we cool its controls. We’ll soon have the manufactur-ing technology to build electric turbos to enter production in the 2021-2022 timeframe.

Is 48-volt the basic power for optimized e-turbo systems?We can do 12-V systems just as easily but we see a lot more value in the 48-V and what it means for the entire vehicle, not just the powertrain.

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