High-performance Vehicle Research Articles

Kinematic Analysis of Power Drive Transmission System of High-Performance Four-Wheel Off-Road Vehicles

Firstly the schematic diagram and working principle of this power drive transmission system of high-performance four-wheel off-road vehicles are introduced. And then the kinematic characteristic of the device is analyzed based on an off-road vehicle.

High performance automotive chassis design: a topology optimization based approach

Automotive chassis design in view of car weight reduction is a challenging task due to the many performance targets that must be satisfied, in particular in terms of vehicle safety. In this paper a methodology for automotive chassis design in involving optimization techniques is presented. In particular, topology, topometry and size optimizations are coupled with fem analyses and adopted in cascade for reaching an optimum chassis configuration. The methodology is applied to the design process of a rear-central engine high performance vehicle chassis. The objective of the optimization process is the chassis weight reduction, yet in fulfilment of structural performance constraints as required by Ferrari standards. The results demonstrate the general applicability of the methodology presented for obtaining the general trusses layout and thicknesses distribution of the structure. The numerical model at this stage shows a significant weight reduction when compared to the chassis of the Ferrari F458 Italia.

PENGEMBANGAN INVERTER FUZZY LOGIC CONTROL UNTUK PENGENDALIAN MOTOR INDUKSI SEBAGAI PENGGERAK MOBIL LISTRIK DENGAN METODA VECTOR KONTROL

: In response to concerns about energy cost, energy dependence, and environmental damage, a rekindling of interest in electric vehicles (EV’s) has been obvious. Thus, the development of power electronics technology for EV’s will take an accelerated pace to fulfill the market needs, regarding with the problem in this paper is presented development of fuzzy logic inverter in induction motor control for electric vehicle propulsion. The Fuzzy logic inverter is developed in this system to directed toward developing an improved propulsion system for electric vehicles applications, the fuzzy logic controller is used for switching process. This paper is describes the design concepts, configuration, controller for inverter fuzzy logic and drive system is developed for this high-performance electric vehicle.

Influence of core density, core thickness, and rigid inserts on dynamic characteristics of sandwich panels with polyurethane foam as core

The growth in practical applications of sandwich constructions in high performance vehicles, aerospace, marine, automobile, and electronic packaging industries needs a thorough investigation of all vibration modes of the structure. This is to ensure that debonding between facings and core in the through-thickness vibration mode does not occur during service. In the present work, experimental modal analysis on sandwich panels of different densities and core thicknesses have been carried out under three different boundary conditions. The influence of rigid inserts of different volume fractions on the dynamic behavior has also been examined. A non-dimensional parameter representing the ratio of core density and core thickness to face density and face thickness has been established, which correlates excellently with measured fundamental natural frequency. The corresponding mode shapes and modal damping have also been evaluated.

Vehicle model recognition from frontal view image measurements

This paper deals with a novel vehicle manufacturer and model recognition scheme, which is enhanced by color recognition for more robust results. A probabilistic neural network is assessed as a classifier and it is demonstrated that relatively simple image processing measurements can be used to obtain high performance vehicle authentication. The proposed system is assisted by a previously developed license plate recognition, a symmetry axis detector and an image phase congruency calculation modules. The reported results indicate a high recognition rate and a fast processing time, making the system suitable for real-time applications.

Numerical/Experimental Correlation of a Plasma Wind Tunnel Test on a UHTC-Made Nose Cap of a Reentry Vehicle

The nose cap demonstrator named Nose_2 has been tested for the second time in the plasma wind tunnel (PWT) facility which is part of the sharp hot structure (SHS) technology project, focused on the assessment of the applicability of ultrahigh temperature ceramics (UHTC) to the fabrication of high performance vehicles and SHS for reusable launch vehicles. In this paper the FEM based thermal analyses, carried out for the rebuilding of this PWT test, are presented. Experimental data measured in the PWT have been compared with numerical ones in order to validate the FEM model and to help in interpreting the experimental test itself. The knowledge on the physical phenomenon under investigation has been greatly improved, thanks to the synergy between numerical and experimental activities. In particular, a qualitative study of the modeling of the tip-dome interface has been performed in order to estimate the thermal contact resistance that heat flux encounters in passing through the demonstrator. The correlation...

Rolling Stability Control Utilizing Rollover Index for In-wheel Motor Electric Vehicle

In this paper, a novel integrated stability program (ISP) based on robust rolling stability control (RSC) for in-wheel electric vehicle (EV) is proposed. Since EVs are driven by electric motors, they have the following four remarkable advantages: (1) motor torque generation is quick and accurate, (2) motor torque can be estimated precisely, (3) a motor can be attached to each wheel, and (4) a motor can output negative torque as a brake actuator. These advantages enable a high-performance three-dimensional vehicle motion control with a distributed in-wheel-motor system. Rolling stability is important for all classes of light-vehicles, especially, for EVs that have narrow tread and high center of gravity. In this study, RSC is designed using two-degree-of-freedom control (2-DOF), which achieves tracking capability to reference value and disturbance suppression. However, as the drivability of the vehicle will be changed significantly if only RSC is applied, vehicle rolling motion should be controlled depending on the rolling state. Therefore, variable weight-ISP and variable reference-ISP are proposed using rolling state information. For detecting rolling state, rollover index (RI) is introduced. The validity of the proposed methods is shown by the simulation and the experimental results.

Application of System Identification for Efficient Suspension Tuning in High-Performance Vehicles: Full-Car Model Study

Application of System Identification for Efficient Suspension Tuning in High-Performance Vehicles: Full-Car Model Study

Development and implementation of a torque vectoring algorithm for an innovative 4WD driveline for a high-performance vehicle

The sporting spirit that characterises a high-performance car can be observed in certain technical solutions. The power distribution on the rear wheels is the simplest example of that. It is well known that rear-wheel drive (RWD) vehicles are more fun to drive and faster in their reactions. Unfortunately, they are also less intuitive and harder to control because of their natural oversteering behaviour. The idea of maintaining an RWD driveline in the future is not farseeing, because it would imply an excessive tyre dimension increasing to let the driver use all engine power in many cornering and low-friction conditions. The choice of adopting a part-time all-wheel drive (AWD) driveline comes from the will of enhancing the overall performance by using all the available friction every time that it is needed. It has to be kept into account that a normally aspirated motor of a sport car can supply 500–600 Hp nowadays, and that it will supply 700–800 Hp in the very near future. However, the proposed driveline has not to worsen the weight characteristics (mass and load distribution) that make an RWD vehicle better than other cars. Because of all these considerations and constraints, a new driveline system has been designed. It derives from an RWD driveline with a semi-active differential, to which has been added a controlled wet clutch that directly connects the engine to the front differential. This device allows the drive torque to be distributed between the two axles. It can be understood that in such a device, the torque distribution does not depend only on the central clutch action, but also on the engaged gear. Because of this particular layout, this system can not work in the whole gear range because of thermal problems due to kinematical reasons. So the centre clutch controller has to consider the gear position too. The control algorithms development was carried out using a vehicle model, which can precisely simulate the handling response, the powertrain dynamic, and the actuation system behaviour. Such a modelling precision required the development of a customised powertrain model library in Matlab/Simulink.

Design improvement of clamped joints in front motorbike suspension based on FEM analysis

This paper aims at defining the tensile state in shaft–hub joints realized between the clamp (hub) located at the end of the suspension leg of the front motorbike suspensions and the wheel pin (shaft). The clamp under investigation has an asymmetric shape and a slot useful for the assembly operation: one or two bolts (depending on the vehicle performances) are tightened in order to generate the coupling pressure which is necessary to lock the pin. The fundamental objective of this work is to define a mathematical model to calculate the maximum stress generated on the clamp by the tightening forces. The mathematical model was defined by comparing the De Saint Venant theoretical bending stress (the maximum stress on the clamp) with several FEM results. Thus a sort of theoretical stress concentration factor was calculated in function of the dimension and of the location of the spot facings of the clamp. The new developed model is useful to optimize and to verify, in a very short time, this type of coupling without performing any complex numerical analysis. The validity of the model has been demonstrated by several FEM results and by some experimental tests carried out on a high performance vehicle.

Application of System Identification for Efficient Suspension Tuning in High-Performance Vehicles: Quarter-Car Study

Application of System Identification for Efficient Suspension Tuning in High-Performance Vehicles: Quarter-Car Study

Real-Time Clamp Force Measurement in Electromechanical Brake Calipers

In brake-by-wire systems, central controllers require accurate information about the clamp force between the brake pad and the disc as a function of pad displacement, which is usually denoted as the characteristic curve of the caliper. Due to aging, temperature, and other environmental variations, caliper characteristic curves vary with time. Therefore, automatic caliper calibration in real-time is vital for high-performance braking action and vehicle safety. Due to memory and processing-power limitations, the calibration technique should be memory efficient and of low computational complexity. In a typical electromechanical-braking-system design, clamp force measurement variations with actuator displacement is hysteretic. This paper introduces a simple and memory-efficient real-time calibration technique in which a clamp-force model is fitted to the data samples around each hysteresis cycle. The model includes a Maxwell-slip model for the hysteresis caused by friction. Experimental results from the data recorded in various temperatures show that the proposed technique results in clamp force measurements with less than 0.7% error over the range of clamp-force variations. It is also shown that, by using these measurements, the characteristic curve can be accurately calibrated in real-time.

Operating parameters of high performance vehicle engines

The paper presents the assessment of operating parameters for piston combustion engines used in sports vehicles. The assessment was made for parameters of selected performance vehicles: Formula 1, Le Mans and WRC in relation to conventional vehicles. The conventional vehicles were classified within two categories: sports vehicles and general use road vehicles. Basic engine characteristics were analyzed and the parameter values obtained allowed a comparison of the engines.

International safety standards for high-performance marine vehicles – the DSC Code, HSC Codes and the WIG Craft Guidelines

International acceptance of high-performance marine vehicles for commercial operations has been facilitated by the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) development of a series of safety standards for such craft, commencing with the Code of Safety for Dynamically Supported Craft of1977 and continuing to the present day. The author, as the Australian delegate, has led many of the IMO working and correspondence groups that have carried out much of this work, and been closely associated with the remainder. This paper provides an overview of this series of standards, including notable features of their development. It covers up to and including the 2006 amendments to the 2000 High-Speed Craft Code for relatively conventional high-speed vessels, and the WIG Craft Interim Guidelines and the associated principles and recommendations for operating personnel of such high-speed craft of the future.

Advanced composites for the body and chassis of a production high performance car

Carbon fibre composites can offer a great deal of weight saving and manufacturing flexibility in the design of a high performance vehicle, while decades of research in metal science have produced manufacturing techniques that guarantee perfect surface finish, alloys that can withstand weathering agents during the lifetime of a vehicle and very reliable joining methods, these relatively new materials require constant evaluation in automotive applications to ensure equal if not greater performance than their metallic counterpart. This paper highlights the fundamental contributions of advanced composites in the production of the body panels and integrated chassis components for the Murcielago and Murcielago Roadster.

DLC–ceramic multilayers for automotive applications

The present work explores the deposition of hard, wear resistant multilayer coatings, by magnetron sputtering onto Aluminium (Al) alloy substrates that are used in the automotive industry. Multilayer coatings have been manufactured to increase surface hardness and wear resistance for a commercial powder metallurgy Al alloys (Al 2618). The multilayer coating consisted of 25 bi-layers of Titanium Diboride (TiB 2) and diamond-like carbon (DLC). These DLC/TiB 2 coatings were fabricated, maintaining a constant composition wavelength (sum of two layers [ λ] = 200 nm) for an array of ceramic fractions ranging from 75% to 95% by volume. The effect of the DLC content on the structure and performance (hardness and adhesion) of the films was investigated. The bi-layer thickness influences the failure patterns resulting from the scratch testing. This study has found hardness values of 27.8 GPa, with a critical load of 20 N and a friction coefficient of 0.47. As a result of these findings the multilayer with 10% of DLC was found to be a better compromise between high hardness (23.8 GPa) and high adhesion (critical load higher than 20 N) and with no signs of cracking during friction testing, proving to be a solution to be employed in components located in the upper valve train area of high performance vehicles.

Integrated development of CFRP structures for a topless high performance vehicle

When modern saloon cars are re-engineered as convertibles (or roadsters) it is typical for them to lose 50% or more of the body’s torsional rigidity. Consequently the vehicles rarely handle quite as crisply, nor do they ride as well as the coupes from which they derived. This paper highlights the fundamental contributions of advanced composites in achieving the desired value of handling of the Murcièlago Roadster without penalizing the overall weight of the vehicle. To compensate for the absence of the roof structure, the vehicle was strongly redesigned by introducing new structural members and reinforcing existing critical components. A new all-carbon/epoxy composite sub-frame, which spans the entire engine bay, is comprised of elliptical tubular members, and it is the first of its kind in a production vehicle. Engineering of the sub-frame, from preliminary design to manufacturing decisions, is the focus of this paper, and is achieved through a Building Block approach that sets the program within the Integrated Product Development (IPD) strategy that the Advanced Composites Division of Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. employs for its technology demonstrators. The strategy consists in a concurrent analytical and experimental development of the product, from the initial conceptual design and coupon testing, through the stages of element and subcomponent engineering, to final component manufacturing.

Development of a new control strategy for a semi-active differential for a high-performance vehicle

Although VDC systems usually operate on the engine torque and on brake pressures [Van Zanten, A.T., Erhardt, R. and Pfaff, G., 1995, VDC, The Vehicle Dynamics Control System of Bosch. SAE Technical Paper Series, no. 950759, Esmailzadeh, E., Goodarzi, A. and Vossoughi, G.R., 2003, Optimal yaw moment control law for improved vehicle handling. Mechatronics 13.] new automotive applications try to use semi-active or active differentials in order to optimize the torque distribution on the wheels for traction maximization, driving comfort, stability, and safety of the vehicle. The system presented in the article comes from the cooperation of Ferrari S.p.A. and Politecnico di Milano in the development of a new semi-active differential. In the article, a description of the vehicle dynamic control strategy, its development, and experimental results are presented.

Trajectory generation and control for four wheeled omnidirectional vehicles

This paper describes an algorithm to calculate near-optimal minimum time trajectories for four wheeled omnidirectional vehicles, which can be used as part of a high-level path planner. The algorithm is based on a relaxed optimal control problem. It takes limited friction and vehicle dynamics into account, as encountered in high-performance omnidirectional vehicles. The low computational complexity makes the application in real-time feasible. An implementation of the algorithm on a real vehicle is presented and discussed.

Thermo Mechanical Treatment of Nickel and Titanium Aluminides

Polycrystalline Ni3Al and TiAl are attractive materials for high temperature structural applications due to their stability in oxidizing and sulphidizing environment upto700 0 C. They possess significantly higher specific stiffness and similar specific strength as that of super alloys. Hence, these materials can replace super alloys for high temperature applications (~900°C). TiAl has lesser density and can be used for reducing component weight up to 50% and suitable for aerospace and automobile (high performance vehicles) sectors. The major difficulty for putting Ni3Al for engineering applications is its extremely low ductility and inter-granular fracture at ambient temperatures. TiAl, apart from the said brittleness it also suffers from high temperature corrosion. However the brittleness of these aluminides can be reduced by micro-alloying and by subjecting them to Thermo Mechanical Treatments, TMT. This paper deals with the recrystallization studies on nickel aluminides, deformed to different extents by rolling. The average grain size dependence with the % elongation is evaluated in the grain size range of 10-35micron. For the nickel aluminide deformed for 50% by rolling, the variation of resistivity and hardness with annealing time is determined. The homogenized TiAl samples were cold worked and annealed at 1000 0 C. Since the aluminide suffers from low ductility at room temperature, an arbitrary parameter, electrical resistivity, was chosen. Corresponding hardness values were also obtained. Finally a qualitative determination of ductility was made by studying the flow behavior of alloy around the hardness indentation. Thus a correlation was developed between resistivity, hardness and ductility values. It was then to some extent possible to investigate the TMT cycles on the microstructure and hence on the ductility of the TiAl without going for the actual tensile tests.