Automotive Prototype Research Articles

Computer-Aided Design and Additive Manufacturing for Automotive Prototypes: A Review

This study investigated the integration of computer-aided design (CAD) and additive manufacturing (AM) in prototype production, particularly in the automotive industry. It explores how these technologies redefine prototyping practices, with a focus on design flexibility, material efficiency, and production speed. Adopting the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines, this study encompasses a systematic review of 28 scholarly articles. It undertakes a comprehensive analysis to identify key themes, trends, and gaps in the existing research on CAD and AM integration in automotive prototyping. This study revealed the significant advantages of CAD and AM in prototype manufacturing, including improved design capabilities, efficient material usage, and the creation of complex geometries. It also addresses ongoing challenges, such as technology integration costs, scalability, and sustainability. Furthermore, this study foresees future developments by focusing on enhancing CAD and AM technologies to meet evolving market demands and optimize performance. This study makes a unique contribution to the literature by providing a detailed overview of the integration of CAD and AM in the context of automotive prototyping. This study incorporates valuable insights into the current practices and challenges and future prospects, potentially leading to more advanced, sustainable, and customer-oriented prototyping methods in the automotive sector.

Depletion of Electrolyte Salt Upon Calendaric Aging of Lithium-Ion Batteries and its Effect on Cell Performance

The trend for increased nickel content in layered transition metal oxide cathode active materials and increasing charging cut-off voltages aggravates aging of lithium-ion battery cells at high state of charge (SOC). We investigate the calendaric aging behavior of large-format automotive prototype cells and laboratory single-layer pouch cells at high but realistic cell voltages/SOCs and demonstrate that electrolyte oxidation in combination with follow-up reactions can cause a significant loss of the LiPF6 salt in the electrolyte. For this, we analyze the LiPF6 concentration in aged cells, the generation of H2 upon storage, and the cell resistance for different aging conditions. We show that the LiPF6 loss is a critical aging phenomenon, as it cannot readily be detected by capacity fading measurements at low/medium C-rates or by cell resistance measurements, while it severely reduces rate and fast-charging capability. Under certain circumstances, LiPF6 loss can even lead to a temporary capacity increase due to conversion of the conducting salt in the electrolyte to cyclable lithium in the active material. Finally, we suggest a possible reaction mechanism and a simple accounting model to keep track of how different side reactions involved in LiPF6 loss change the cyclable lithium inventory of a lithium-ion cell.

Additive Manufacturing for Rapid Sand Casting: Mechanical and Microstructural Investigation of Aluminum Alloy Automotive Prototypes

The automotive industry is undergoing a rapid evolution to meet today’s challenges; therefore, continuous innovation and product development are needed. Validation tests on prototypes play a crucial role in moving new components into industrial production. There is also a pressing need for faster prototyping processes. In this context, rapid sand casting (RSC), based on additive manufacturing technology, offers a promising solution for a quick production of sand molds. While this technology is already employed in the industry, the need to deepen the general understanding of its impact on the casting properties is still a relevant item. In this study, different geometries of automotive prototypes made of aluminum EN AC 42100-T6 alloy were experimentally analyzed. Microstructural examinations, tensile tests, and fractography and porosity analyses were conducted. The findings demonstrate the considerable potential of RSC, giving, in general, high mechanical properties. A comparative analysis with prototypes produced through traditional sand casting revealed similar results, with RSC exhibiting superior yield strength and stress at brake. However, both technologies revealed a reduced elongation percentage, as expected. Future efforts will focus on standardizing the RSC process to enhance ductility levels.

Handgrip Automotive Prototype of Polypropylene Reinforced Benzoyl Treated Kenaf and Sugar Palm Fibers: A Facile Flexural Strength and Hardness Studies

Combining two or more different types of fibers within a polymer matrix is defined as hybrid composites. The requirements for an impressive hybrid composites include compatible weight ratio, good compressive strength, low-cost production and ease of fabrication. Moreover, hybrid composites provide a combination of remarkable mechanical properties including tensile modulus, compression, impact strength, flexural and hardness, which are comparable with the metal-based product materials. Recently, hybrid composites have been established due to their remarkable performance and efficiency. This study presents a facile analysis of polypropylene (PP) reinforced benzoyl treated kenaf and sugar palm fibers for handgrip prototype application. The materials were further analyzed for their materials molding modeling, and facile mechanical behavior including flexural strength, flexural modulus, Rockwell hardness (HRF), and also weight reduction percentage test. Hybrid composite T-SP7K3 shows higher flexural strength and flexural modulus compared to the ABS (Perodua Axia) at 339.5 MPa and 17.19 MPa, respectively. In addition, the HRF testing shows a higher value of hybrid composite (at 92.96 N/mm2) compared with the ABS handgrip with. Furthermore, the weight reduction percentage also recorded hybrid composite T-SP7K3 with the highest value at 22.7%.

USE OF AUGMENTED REALITY IN AUTOMOTIVE PROTOTYPING

Augmented reality (AR) is a technique to enhance the knowledge about an object. This knowledge is in digital format and available on handy gadgets. On the need basis anyone, anywhere, any object information can be obtained within no time using AR technique. This way one may not require expert physical presence to know about any object. This technique is being very well used in many areas like education, medical, aerospace etc. This technique can be extended in manufacturing process also. One important manufacturing process is the vehicle conversion through automotive proto building, where many parts are to undergo changes. This work require expert presence and his knowledge for assembly and disassembly sequence, appropriate tool usage, correct applications of force and torque, correct parts and their fitment. All these requirements are met with in lieu of time and money in terms of expert presence and manual convey of knowledge. All the above requirements can be addressed through application of digital capability of modern world and one of the application is Augmented Reality (AR) in virtual prototyping. This paper discusses about usage of AR technique in making automotive virtual prototype. The virtual prototype is a handy knowledge bank which help technicians and engineers to perform their job without anyone help & hence save money, reduces turnaround time and avoid errors in the process.

Service level analysis for an automotive prototype manufacturing company through the application of discrete event modelling and simulation

Service level analysis for an automotive prototype manufacturing company through the application of discrete event modelling and simulation

Service level analysis for an automotive prototype manufacturing company through the application of discrete event modelling and simulation

Service level analysis for an automotive prototype manufacturing company through the application of discrete event modelling and simulation

RECYCLED FIBERS INTEGRATION IN AUTOMOTIVE COMPONENTS MANUFACTURED BY INJECTION

In the last decade, a great effort has been made to achieve a transition from the current linear economy to a circular economy. This transition also affects the composites sector, which, due to the intrinsic complexity of recycling, requires the implementation of recovery and remanufacturing processes that will be technically, economically and environmentally feasible. This challenge was addressed within the FiberEUse project, in which one of the working lines was based on waste recycling from wind and aeronautical sectors. Both glass and carbon fiber were recovered by pyrolysis. Subsequently, the recycled fiber was treated and processed with thermoplastic matrices used in automotive applications. The technologies used and the results obtained throughout the value chain, from the waste to the part, are presented in this paper. Formulations with different recycled fibers, with and without sizing treatments and with different matrices, were manufactured by compounding-injection. These materials were mechanically analysed and tested with the aim of selecting three formulations. The reinforced materials were validated in three real automotive prototypes: a pedal bracket, a front-end and a cowl top support. As a result, the prototypes were manufactured, tested and validated by the automotive companies.

Worker assistance systems in the automotive prototype assembly – A case study

In the increasingly volatile and competitive environment of the mobility industry, introducing new innovative products faster than competitors forms a key success factor for OEMs. To increase strategic flexibility, it is critical to speed up the development process while at the same time reducing the cost per vehicle project. Despite the increasing use of virtual methods in product development and production system design, hardware prototypes are indispensable for the series development today and will remain necessary in the foreseeable future. As these prototypes are very costly and their production tedious, companies are trying to reduce the number of pre-series vehicles required and optimize their production. Therefore, the authors developed a worker assistance system specifically designed for the pre-series production, that aims at increasing efficiency and maximizing the benefit for the series development. This paper reports on a case study that evaluated the application of this assistance system in a real industry environment. The results show that the assessed approach offers a significant potential to speed up the prototype assembly (up to 40% in the examined case), while at the same time contributing to the series assembly system development by systematically testing, correcting and evaluating planned series procedures.

Novel Low-Side/High-Side Gate Drive and Supply With Minimum Footprint, High Power Density, and Low Cost for Silicon and Wide-Bandgap Transistors

High-power silicon field-effect transistors as well as insulated gate bipolar transistors and particularly wide-bandgap semiconductor transistors typically need negative turn-off voltage for a secure off-state, resilience to spurious turn on, and rapid transition through the saturation mode. We present a gate driver configuration with compact and very efficient supply of the high and low sides of power transistor bridges with asymmetric bipolar control voltages without the need for costly and lossy isolated dc-dc converter and only low-voltage active components. The underlying negative voltage gate driver supply circuit consists of only a few cost-efficient components, its electrical potential is referenced to the source of the controlled semiconductor power switch, and its operation is synchronized with the gate driver output. It outcompetes the established use of isolated dc-dc converters in gate circuits with negative voltage needs with respect to cost, size, reliability, and efficiency. Importantly, the proposed negative voltage supply allows bootstrapping without the need for controllable high-voltage semiconductors for the sake of further cost reduction. We present detailed design rules of the circuit and experimentally validate circuit and control. In the automotive prototype implementation, size of the gate driver supply was reduced by 61%, cost by 57%, and loss by more than 16%.

Analysis of residual stress in the production of automotive prototype tools by multi-axis technology

Abstract Surface quality influences characteristics such as fatigue strength, wear rate, corrosion resistance, etc. Steel components often have to be machined after heat treatment in order to obtain the correct shape as well as the required surface finish. Hard turning allows manufacturers to simplify their processes and still achieve the desired surface finish quality. There are various parameters such as cutting speed, feed rate, and tool nose radius that are known to have a large impact on surface quality. This article describes, how different cutting parameters affect the machined surface and fatigue life in machining. The goal of this work is analysed residual stress if tools production is replaced by grinding on multi-axis machining.

A comparative study of model-based capacity estimation algorithms in dual estimation frameworks for lithium-ion batteries under an accelerated aging test

The actual capacity of a battery is an essential indicator for calculating both the state of health and the remaining electric driving range. Numerous model-based techniques employing adaptive filters have been proposed for the online capacity estimation. However, in these filter-based methods, the impacts of filter configurations and the algorithm effectiveness at various aging stages have not yet been fully investigated. To address this gap and to evaluate the performance of three most popular algorithms, i.e. the extended Kalman filter, the particle filter, and the least-squares-based filter, they are coupled with an SOC estimator in dual frameworks. The characterization and accelerated aging tests have been carried out on a lithium-ion battery. After investigating the possible impacts from the configurations, the tracking accuracy, the robustness against the uncertainty of the initial capacity and the long-term performance of the three algorithms are compared. Furthermore, their computational efforts are extensively assessed regarding complexity, simulation runtime as well as compiled code size utilizing an automotive prototype hardware. The results show that the extended Kalman filter is the least sensitive to model degradation with the lowest computational effort; the particle filter shows the fastest convergence speed but has the highest computational effort; and the least-squares-based filter has an intermediate behavior in both long-term performance and computational effort.

Skyline

This paper describes the research and development process of an in-vehicle user experience using Skyline, an automotive prototyping platform created in Intel Labs to empower interaction designers and user experience researches to rapidly and iteratively develop and test in-vehicle user experience concepts. The paper describes the hardware and software components of Skyline in depth and how to configure them to suit individual researcher needs. The paper also presents a case study to exemplify the design making process that Skyline enables. From ideation to use-case creation, prototyping and validation through user assessment, the paper showcases the benefits of capturing early qualitative user feedback as support for rapid prototyping walking through a study titled Agency vs. Control and the associated interactions inside the cockpit. Ten defined use-cases are developed and integrated into a hero scenario in Skyline. High fidelity HMI concepts are tested and validated over the course of six months with feedback from a total of fifty users.

Fuzzy neural network–based shift control method of electromagnetic unmanned robot applied to automotive test

A new shift control method for an electromagnetic unmanned robot applied to automotive test based on a Sugeno fuzzy neural network is proposed in this article. The method can achieve the intelligent shifting of unmanned robot applied to automotive test with good robustness. The structure and working principle of the electromagnetic unmanned robot applied to automotive test are discussed. The electromagnetic unmanned robot applied to automotive test adopts electromagnetic linear motors as its drive mechanism. The position of the throttle mechanical leg for the electromagnetic unmanned robot applied to automotive test, the speed and acceleration of the test vehicle are used as the input to the Sugeno fuzzy neural network model, and the shifting of the test vehicle is used as the output of the Sugeno fuzzy neural network model. The number of membership functions is three, and the type of membership functions is gbellmf (generalized bell membership function). The hybrid learning algorithm that combines the back propagation algorithm with a least square method is applied to train and optimize the network parameters, and the optimal network parameters are determined. According to the optimized network parameters and the model input parameters, the intelligent shifting of the electromagnetic unmanned robot applied to automotive test is completed with the Sugeno fuzzy neural network. An electromagnetic unmanned robot applied to automotive test prototype is designed and manufactured. Experiments have been conducted using a Ford FOCUS car. The proposed control method is verified by the continuous and stable shift operation of the electromagnetic unmanned robot applied to automotive test prototype.

LPV Torque Vectoring for an Electric Vehicle with Experimental Validation

In this paper, we propose a torque vectoring controller for an electric vehicle with two electric machines which drive the front wheels independently. The torque vectoring system includes a vehicle dynamics controller and a motor torque and wheel slip limiter. The vehicle dynamics controller is designed as a polytopic, linear parameter-varying (LPV) gain-scheduled controller. The LPV controller tracks the longitudinal velocity and the yaw rate of the vehicle. A torque and slip limiter (TSL) is developed to deal with physical saturation of the electric motors and wheel slip limitations which are related to the traction of the tires. The TSL deals with actuator limitations and prevents the wheel from spinning or blocking. Following the design, the controller is converted into fixed-point representation and is implemented on an automotive-qualified microcontroller. As part of the European project eFuture, test drives are performed to obtain experimental data. For comparison the automotive prototype is driven with both, equal torque and the designed torque vectoring controller. The differences between the two approaches are illustrated with experimental results for a double lane change maneuver.

Composites con refuerzos naturales para aplicaciones en automoción y construcción

The assumption of the future exhaustion of the crude reserves world-wide and the increasing environmental concerns is leading to consider, more and more insistently, the use of regenerable raw materials for the design and development of new vehicle components. The main objective of this project consists on the evaluation of pine powder and corn powder as reinforcement for different PP resins. A compatilibization study has been defined and set-up in order to combine these two reinforcements with three different resins based on PP. A final material selection has been carried out to produce an automotive prototype part.

Acoustic analysis of lightweight auto-body based on finite element method and boundary element method

A lightweight automotive prototype using alternative materials and gauge thickness is studied by a numerical method. The noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) performance is the main target of this study. In the range of 1–150 Hz, the frequency response function (FRF) of the body structure is calculated by a finite element method (FEM) to get the dynamic behavior of the auto-body structure. The pressure response of the interior acoustic domain is solved by a boundary element method (BEM). To find the most contributing panel to the inner sound pressure, the panel acoustic contribution analysis (PACA) is performed. Finally, the most contributing panel is located and the resulting structural optimization is found to be more efficient.

Modeling automotive gas-exchange solenoid valve actuators

We develop a finite-element analysis (FEA) model to describe transient and static operation of gas-exchange valves. Such valves, directly controlled by solenoids, are a promising method for enhancing automotive engine efficiency. The FEA model is validated by experimental testing on an actual automotive prototype valve. We show that a nonlinear lumped-parameter model that uses FEA results also closely matches experimental data. The lumped-parameter model is suitable for optimization of design and can be readily used for closed-loop simulation. We present a simplified lumped-parameter model to facilitate controller design. Finally, we compare a dynamic open-loop simulation with experimental results.