Automotive Test Research Articles

Focus on lasers and imaging

Focus on lasers and imaging

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.

Effectiveness of the Two-in-One Device; Ignition Coil and Spark Plug Testing Instrument

Technological modernization and invention have brought convenience that life has become fulfilling, and they give amusement to our lives. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the Ignition Coil and Spark Plug Instrument that can be used to determine the condition of an Ignition coil through high voltage output and also spark plug through visible spark. It made use of project and experimental method of research. This was accomplished in three phases namely: the making of the design for the device, constructing the device and testing the device functionality through actual observation. Group of experts coming from the automotive and electronic sectors evaluated the effectiveness of the automotive testing instrument. A five-point Likert scale was used to find the mean product and the descriptive rating in terms of usefulness, effectives, functionality, reliability and safety. The results of the study revealed that the output voltage and frequency are directly proportional to the resistance of network Ra, but inversely proportional to resistance network Rb in the circuit. The output frequency is directly proportional to the output voltage. The evaluation of the group of experts in terms of usefulness, effectiveness, functionality, reliability and safety was rated excellent respectively. The device is an instrument for automotive technicians in testing ignition coil and spark plugs. The researchers recommended further study about the device for its safety because based on the result it has the least rating among the different standards although it was evaluated as “Excellent.”           Keywords – Engineering, development, ignition, spark plug, testing instrument, R and D, Vigan City, Philippines

Design of prototype simulation system for driving performance of electromagnetic unmanned robot applied to automotive test

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a prototype simulation system for driving performance of an electromagnetic unmanned robot applied to automotive test (URAT) to solve that it is difficult and dangerous to online debug control program and to quickly obtain test vehicle dynamic performance. Design/methodology/approach – The driving performance of the electromagnetic URAT can be evaluated by the prototype simulation system. The system can simulate various driving conditions of test vehicles. An improved vehicle longitudinal dynamics model matching to the electromagnetic URAT is established. The proposed model has good real-time, and it is easy to implement. The displacement of throttle mechanical leg, brake mechanical leg, clutch mechanical leg and shift mechanical arm is used for the system input. Test vehicle speed and engine speed are used for the system output, and they are obtained by the computation of the established vehicle longitudinal dynamics model. Findings – Driving conditions simulation test and vehicle emission test are performed using a Ford Focus car. Simulation and experiment results show that the proposed prototype simulation system in the paper can simulate the driving conditions of actual vehicles, and the performance that electromagnetic URAT drives an actual vehicle is evaluated by the simulation system. Research limitations/implications – Future research will focus on improving the real time of the proposed simulation system. Practical implications – The autonomous driving performance of electromagnetic URAT can be evaluated by the proposed prototype simulation system. Originality/value – A prototype simulation system for driving performance of an electromagnetic URAT based on an improved vehicle longitudinal dynamics model is proposed in this paper, so that it can solve the difficulty and danger of online debugging control program, quickly obtaining the test vehicle performance.

Automotive winter testing with path-following steering robot

When testing modern active safety systems on cars, it is essential to test vehicle response to steering inputs. This paper highlights the use of a path-following steering robot for repetitive car testing in winter conditions. Experiments have been made with commonly used test sequences, e.g., lane-change, double lane-change, constant radius circle, and handling circuit. The steering input from the human driver is replaced by a steering robot and a path-following algorithm. The main focus for this paper is to describe what happens when one pushes the path-following system to, and beyond, the physical limitations of road grip when cornering at high vehicle speed. It shows that, with an appropriate tuning of the path-following parameters, the system performs predictably and satisfactorily. The overall conclusion is that a path-following steering robot is indeed useful for repetitive test in winter conditions with poor road grip.

Biogas: A Sustainable and Potential Fuel for Transport Application

Energy is an essential ingredient for economic growth, social development, human welfare and improving the standards of living. This growing consumption of energy has resulted in increased dependence on fossil fuels, which is causing environmental problems. Depletion of fossil fuels, energy security and large emission of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere is a matter of great concern today. Diesel and petrol are the major transport fuels in India and each year billions of money are being expended for their import. Biogas can play a key role in transformation and dependency with a large potential in India (approximately 48, 383 million m3 biogas annually), having possibilities to replace and therefore reduce our dependence on fossil fuels for transportation sector. Based on the Indian Petroleum and Natural Gas Statistics 2011–2012 data, the contribution of upgraded biogas in the transportation sector as a percentage of total petroleum fuels consumption for the year 2011–2012 is approximately 86.8% if used to replace transport fuel which is quite encouraging. A 10 Nm3/h capacity fully automated biogas purification and bottling plant with improved design parameters has been designed, fabricated and implemented at Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi) campus. The enriched and bottled biogas has been regularly fuelled to a Wagon R car (from last three years), and to analyse the performance of it, mass emissions testing has been performed at ICAT (International Centre for Automotive Testing). Results of mass emissions, i.e., nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbon (HC) and particulate matter(PM) were complying with Bharat Stage-IV (BS-IV) norms. In principal, biomethane can be used for exactly the same applications as natural gas, if the final composition is in line with the different natural gas qualities on the market.upgradation, Biogas for vehicular application

Vehicle Robot Driver Research and Development Based on Servo Motor Control

Vehicle robot drivers are widely used in automotive tests especial for some tests on automotive chassis dynamometer. However, China has less technology accumulations than west developed countries in the field of research and development of robot driver. In order to promote the developments of the domestic robot driver technology, a vehicle robot driver based on servo motor control was developed for automobile chassis dynamometer test, its system composition, functional features, and key technologies in developing process were expounded specifically in this paper.

Digital prototyping design of electromagnetic unmanned robot applied to automotive test

The digital prototyping design of electromagnetic unmanned robot applied to automotive test (URAT) is presented in this paper. The electromagnetic URAT adopts electromagnetic linear motor (EMLM) as its drive mechanism. The three-dimensional simulation model of electromagnetic URAT is established. And the kinematics simulation and dynamics simulation of electromagnetic URAT is conducted. The displacement, speed and force of shift mechanical arm, throttle mechanical leg, brake mechanical leg and clutch mechanical leg are obtained. Using the finite element method (FEM), the structure and material of key components of electromagnetic URAT are checked. The automatic driving simulation of electromagnetic URAT is conducted. Experiments are performed using a Ford FOCUS car. Simulation and experiment results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed prototyping of electromagnetic URAT system. Electromagnetic URAT adopts electromagnetic linear motor as its drive mechanism.The three-dimensional simulation model of electromagnetic URAT is established.Kinematics and dynamics simulation of electromagnetic URAT is conducted.The structure and material of electromagnetic URAT using FEM are checked.The automatic driving simulation of electromagnetic URAT is conducted.

Diagnose Method Based on Spectral Analysis of Measured Parameters

The paper presents a possible method to diagnose a mechanical fault of an automotive system. Starting from the point of view that every fault of a mechanical system should introduce an abnormal component within the signal that describes the time history of a mechanical parameter we tried to find a way to reveal it.We were performing some tests involving a military vehicle with respect to the performances of its braking system. The tests were aiming at identifying a way to bring up-to-date the old weapon system from the braking systems point of view. During these tests we observed some anomalies concerning the pressure evolution within the braking cylinders of the vehicle. Some unusual but also systematic noises occurred. As a main issue at this point, the source of the noise should have been identified and filtered if necessary. We had to decide whether the noisy component of the signal is just a noise that should be removed by filtering the signal or it is a physical component of the mechanical parameter itself (not noise but a useful information).These procedures take time and they also request accurate knowledge as well as fine expertise in automotive testing. Since our Dept. has a long and rich practice in this respect, we assumed to processing data and give them a thorough interpretation. So, the first thing we did was to perform a frequency analysis, using classical methods. Usually, a simple frequency analysis cant provide information about a time variation of the frequency spectra due to the Fourier Transforms behavior, since it freezes the signal in time. A much more accurate analysis is the time-frequency analysis. However, observing both the amplitude and power spectra can lead to a useful conclusion. We concluded that the noise we met within the signal is due to the brake drums loss of circular shape (they turned into an oval, the process being known as ovalization). Hence, we cant talk about a noise as it is usually defined.

An In Vitro Impact Model for the Study of Central Nervous System Cell Mechanobiology

Concussive injuries are a subset of traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) during which impact of the head against another object leads to rapid deceleration and deformation of brain tissue. Mechanically triggered changes in central nervous system (CNS) cell behavior following this type of injury are believed to play a role in the pathological response to TBI observed clinically. To study the mechanobiology of CNS cells under controlled conditions an in vitro impact tester was developed to mimic the impact deceleration and strain parameters associated with concussive injuries. Similar in concept to a automotive crash test, the bench top system was capable of delivering decelerations from 0 to 300g and biaxial strains from 0 to 25% over durations from 1 to 20 ms to pure populations of cells grown in both 2d and 3d culture. The small footprint (1′ × 1′) and inexpensive design, utilizing many off the shelf components, makes it a useful lab based system. Utilizing the system, neuronally differentiated PC12 cells and cortical astrocytes were treated with both low (50 g + 10% stain) and high (100 g + 20%) single impact conditioning. Following both low and high impact testing, significant PC12 cell detachment was measured, suggesting as others have shown, a susceptibility of neurons to impact conditioning. Alternatively, astrocyte cultures showed no evidence of cellular detachment in response to either low or high impact conditioning, but significant reductions to the production of TGFβ1 and MCP-1 were measured following high impact conditioning. The relationship between impact and the production of key wound healing cytokines by astrocytes not only supports astrocyte mechano-sensitivity, but also suggests their involvement in the wound healing response following TBI. We believe this device provides a unique toolset that will aid in the exploration of cellular impact mechanobiology and that ultimately an improved understanding of cell mechanobiology will help guide the development of diagnostic techniques and therapeutic interventions targeting cells with known roles in the response to TBI.

How Stress Variance in the Automotive Environment will Affect a ‘True’ Value of the Reliability Demonstrated by Accelerated Testing

This paper discusses the effect of the field stress variance on the value of demonstrated reliability in the automotive testing. In many cases the acceleration factor for a reliability demonstration test is calculated based on a high percentile automotive stress level, typically corresponding to severe user or environmental conditions. In those cases the actual field (‘true’) reliability for the population will be higher than that demonstrated by a validation test. This paper presents an analytical approach to estimating ‘true’ field reliability based on the acceleration model and stress variable distribution over the vehicle population. The method is illustrated by an example of automotive electronics reliability demonstration testing.

Debugging measurement systems using a domain-specific modeling language

Capturing physical data in the context of measurement systems is a demanding process that often requires many repetitions with different settings. To assist in this activity, a domain-specific modeling language (DSML) called Sequencer has been developed to enable the improved definition of measurement procedures. With Sequencer, the level of abstraction has been raised and sophisticated changes in measurement procedures are now enabled. Although there are numerous DSMLs like Sequencer in the existing literature, there are some obstacles working against the more widespread adoption of DSMLs in practice. One challenge is the lack of supporting tools for DSMLs, which would improve the capabilities of end-users of such languages. For instance, support for debugging a model expressed in a DSML is often neglected. The lack of a debugger at the proper abstraction level limits the domain experts in discovering and locating bugs in a model. In this paper, Sequencer is presented together with debugging facilities (called Ladybird) that are integrated in a modeling environment. Ladybird supports different execution modes (e.g., steps, breakpoints, animations, variable views, and stack traces) that can be helpful during the debugging of a model. Ladybird's primary contribution is in showing the value of error detection in complicated industrial environments, such as data acquisition in automotive testing. The paper contributes to a discussion of the implementation details of DSML debugging facilities and how such a debugger can be reused to support domains other than the measurement context of Sequencer.

Development of Electromagnetic Unmanned Robot Applied to Automotive Test

A novel electromagnetic unmanned robot applied to automotive test (URAT) based on the conversion principle of electric-magnetic-force is proposed. Electromagnetic URAT adopts electromagnetic linear motor (EMLM) as its drive mechanism. The mechanical system structure and the control system structure of electromagnetic URAT are designed. The coordinated control method of multiple manipulators is given. Experiments are performed using a Ford FOCUS car. Experimental results shows that electromagnetic URAT can smoothly achieve starting, acceleration, shifting, steady speed and deceleration. The overshoot of speed tracking control during transition from the acceleration stage to steady stage is small. Moreover, the speed fluctuation at the steady stage is smooth, and the speed control accuracy can meet the requirements of national test standards. The robot can automatically drive different vehicle models instead of human driver without need of any automobile modification.

Sliding Mode and Continuous Estimation Techniques for the Realization of Advanced Control Strategies for Parallel Kinematics

The realization of advanced control concepts for parallel kinematic machines (PKM) requires the knowledge of system states. Despite the fact that the direct kinematic problem (DKP) is not explicitly solvable for PKMs they need not to be measured directly. This can be achieved by the usage of state estimation techniques, which can also be extended for disturbance estimation and hence allow for disturbance compensation - a possibility that direct measurement devices or iterative algorithms to solve the DKP cannot provide for. Subsequently, two possibilities for the realization of adequate estimation are presented: a new approach for the state and disturbance estimation for PKMs via sliding mode techniques and a more classical approach based on continuous Kalman filtering. Their suitability for the usage within an advanced state control scheme is validated simulatively with models of different complexity of a hydraulically actuated hexapod intended to be used as a motion simulator for automotive testing purposes.

A self-decoupled three-axis force sensor for measuring the wheel force

The wheel force transducer is an important device in the automotive testing field which can measure the force or torque applied to the wheel. Because existing wheel force transducers are almost commercial products, they are too expensive and technical information about them has not been made public; this slows down the development of the wheel force transducer to a certain extent. Accordingly a three-axis wheel force transducer is presented in this paper which is self-decoupled without calculating the decoupling matrix in theory. Its elastic body has a spoke structure with eight elastic beams, which means that it is easy to fabricate. This paper first introduces the overall elastic body structure of the proposed wheel force transducer. Then the strain gauge arrangement, the principle of strain measurement, the connection modes of the bridge circuits and the rotation decoupling principle for Fx and Fz are analysed, and the self-decoupled characteristics are depicted in detail. Finally, to verify the validity of the designed wheel force transducer, three kinds of experiment are carried out. In the static experiments the static performance and the self-decoupled characteristics of the wheel force transducer are verified; in the dynamic tests, a vehicle dynamics test system is adopted to verify the accuracy of the wheel force transducer in the dynamic environment; in road tests, the sensor is installed in the vehicle to verify whether the output of the proposed wheel force transducer can reflect the variation in the force applied to the wheel in practical applications. The results shows the following: first, the maximum non-linearity error, the maximum hysteresis error and the maximum repeatability error of the proposed wheel force transducer are 0.9% of the full scale, 1.1% of the full scale and 0.5% of the full scale respectively; second, the static coupling rate is about 0.08%, which means that the designed wheel force transducer is self-decoupled in theory; third, the proposed wheel force transducer can measure Fx, Fz and My effectively in real applications.

Hardware System for Automotive Wiring Harness Testing Based on DAQ Instrument

With the development platform based on Advantech DAQ board, we have completed the design of multi-channel analog switch, decoding circuit and impedance testing circuit and built a good hardware platform for the automotive wiring harness testing system. Testing software is used to import different values into the digital I/O of data acquisition card of the hardware of to choose the tested points and then the voltage signal is read from every loop and the voltage signal is sent into the computer. Analyzing, processing, displaying is done by the testing software so that the hardware system becomes the development platform for Lab-VIEW software application.

Fuzzy neural control for unmanned robot applied to automotive test

PurposeThe paper aims to overcome the shortcomings that proportional‐integral‐derivative (PID) control for unmanned robot applied to automotive test (URAT) needs a priori manual retuning, has large speed fluctuations and is hard to adjust control parameters. A novel control approach based on fuzzy neural network applied to URAT was proposed.Design/methodology/approachAccording to the target vehicle speed and driving command table, the multiple manipulator coordinated control model was established. After that, the displacement of throttle mechanical leg, clutch mechanical leg, brake mechanical leg and shift mechanical arm for URAT was used as input of fuzzy neural network (FNN) model, and vehicle speed was used as output of FNN model. The number of membership functions was three, and the type of that was generalized bell membership function (gbellmf). The hybrid learning algorithm which combined with back propagation algorithm and least square method was applied to train the model. The Sugeno model was selected as fuzzy reasoning model.FindingsExperimental results demonstrated that compared with PID control method, the proposed approach can greatly improve the accuracy of vehicle speed tracking. The approach can accurately realize the vehicle speed tracking of given driving test cycle. Therefore, it can ensure the accuracy and effectiveness of automotive test results.Research limitations/implicationsFuture work will focus on improving the efficiency of this learning algorithm.Practical implicationsThe paper provides effective methods for improving the accuracy of speed tracking and repeatability.Originality/valueAfter establishing the multiple manipulator coordinated control model, this paper proposes a novel control approach based on FNN for URAT.

Towards a safety index for assessing head injury potential in service robotics

There are many standards worldwide dealing with safety issues in robots and adequate protections for their industrial use. Two main safeguard actions are considered to avoid mechanical risks, namely physical or non-physical protections and design guidelines for robots and their components. Nevertheless, there is a lack of specific standards for service robots. Safety in these robots needs a new point of view. It requires a strategy to be changed from pre-contact to post-contact safety, since it is not possible to avoid human–robot interaction. On the other hand, in automotive industry crash test results are used for assessing car safety by means of safety indices. In this paper, quantitative head injury indices for automobiles are analysed and a new safety index for robots NIR is derived. The similitude between NIR and indices used in automotive industry lets the new index to take advantage of previous results and knowledge available in automotive field. Results with NIR are compared with those given by experimental tests with robots. The effects of main parameters on the new index are analysed and results are compared with other safety criteria in order to clarify differences and benefits.

Design of an Integrated Testing Platform for Automotive Electronic Control Units

Automotive electronic control units (ECU) play an increasingly important role in modern cars. With the rapid development of ECU market, more and more ECU for vehicle appears, the ECU performance test is very important because automotive ECU closely related to the reliability and the safety of the vehicle. Starting from analyzing the characteristics of automotive electronic control unit, this article describes a generic automotive ECU testing platform, with the testing platform characteristics discussed. The proposed ECU testing platform can comply hardware testing, function testing, and communication testing, it can also reduce the test errors, and support assembly line test of ECU, which can greatly reduces the complexity of ECU functional test and test work.

The Development of Santana 2000 Lighting Test Rig

Santana 2000 car is the study of the automotive lighting test rig. In the development process, all parts are arranged in accordance with the original car position, and the original car lighting harness was wiring, and fault box of the simulation of the actual fault was set. Developed automotive lighting test rig can really provide lighting and signal system control principle and process. The whole system or local circuit wiring training and line detection training can be done. Actual troubleshooting ability can be trained by the whole system or local circuit. It is multi-function, much cheaper and has better effect. And it provides real platform for improving the operating ability of the lighting and signal system.