talking tech strategy last chance with ford’s ken...
TRANSCRIPT
The CTOTalking tech strategy
with Ford’s Ken Washington, plus
CTOs from Renesas, Schaeffler Group
Advanced acoustics modeling
GM’s all-new turbo-4 for trucks
New steels are tough—and light!
June 2018 autoengineering.sae.org
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The CTOTalking tech strategy
with Ford’s Ken Washington, plus
CTOs from Renesas, Schaeffler Group
Advanced acoustics modeling
GM’s all-new turbo-4 for trucks
New steels are tough—and light!
June 2018 autoengineering.sae.org
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AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING June 2018 1
FEATURES18 Special Report: CTOs’ Vision COVER STORY 18 Underway on nuclear power Ford Motor Co. CTO Dr. Ken Washington is driving new approaches to technology innovation—from inside and outside the enterprise.
24 Silicon drives autonomy movement Renesas’ Amrit Vivekanand explains how the software and semiconductors that underlie the industry’s rapid transition are rapidly evolving.
26 Automotive propulsion ‘On a journey’ CTO Jeff Hemphill explains how Schaeffler Group is blending its longstanding mechanical-systems expertise with critical investment in electrification and autonomy.
28 Steeling for reduced mass and higher strength MATERIALS
New 3rd-generation AHSS and steel-polymer hybrid tech aim to cut mass by up to 30%—and take a bite out of aluminum’s business.
32 Balancing the rumble and roar SIMULATION | ACOUSTICS Multiphysics simulation is part of the development toolset at Mahindra Two Wheelers, as the Indian motorcycle and scooter maker expands into global markets with larger bikes.
34 Le Mans 2018: can anyone beat Toyota’s hybrids? MOTORSPORTS TECH | LE MANS PROTOTYPES
At this month’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, managing fuel consumption is vital for Prototype-class victory. Do the new privateers have a chance?
ON THE COVERDr. Ken Washington, Ford Motor Co. Chief Technology Officer and Vice President, Research and Advanced Engineering. (Image by Keith Tolman)
REGULARS2 Editorial: Ignoring reality4 SAE Standards News
Conductive Automatic Charging Recommended Practice nears completion
6 Supplier EyeIs the demise of the sedan upon us?
8 The Navigator The root of the AV ethics problem
9 What We’re Driving10 Technology Report
10 Chevy bombshell: first-ever 4-cylinder for fullsize pickups | PROPULSION
12 Stanadyne pumps up the volume | PROPULSION
13 SAE brings autonomy to the public in new demonstration program | AUTONOMY
14 Road Ready14 Nissan’s new VCR engine: worth the effort?
16 2019 Avalon: Toyota further refines its Lexus alternative
37 Product BriefsSpotlight: Electronic Components
38 Reader Feedback39 Companies Mentioned, Ad Index40 Q&A
Scott Bailey, CEO Tula Technology, talks digital cylinder deactivation and his company’s new tech for hybrids and EVs
CONTENTS
Audited by
Automotive Engineering®, June 2018, Volume 5, Number 6. 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
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AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING 2 June 2018
EDITORIAL
History has proven how difficult it is to accurately predict the pace of technology penetration, particularly in the transportation space.
Ignoring reality amid the hypeCheery optimism turned to disappoint-ment within a few minutes. I could hear it in the voice of a reporter who inter-viewed me by phone recently. He’d called to ask me about future mobility and the pace of technology adoption—when can people expect U.S. streets to be flowing with fully electric, self-driv-ing vehicles? When can we expect to push an app on our smartphones and have pizza delivered by robot van?
Take a nap while our cars whisk us autonomously to destinations hours away? “This is coming in the next couple years, it appears,” he said, trying to lead my reply.
After all, the writer not-ed, the automakers have announced big plans for “going electric” in the early 2020s. He’d seen a LiDAR-equipped mule running test loops on roads near his office—“it had those spinning soup-can things on the roof.” Each day’s news carries stories of more business investment aimed at an impending ‘mobility revolution.’
Yes, all are development steps within the general trend, I replied, sensing an “ahem” rising toward my vocal chords. But history has proved how difficult it is to accu-rately predict the pace of technology penetration, particularly in the trans-portation space.
Who would have guessed that horse-drawn deliveries of various products were still being made in U.S. cities in the late 1940s? Or that it took over 20 years for diesel to finally replace steam loco-motives on mainline railroads? Or that military aircraft powered by gasoline-fueled radial piston engines—planes de-signed in the 1940s and built in the 1950s—would still be serving reliably on U.S. active duty in the mid-1980s?
There is no “lightswitch” that governs
the rate of adoption and obsolescence. Implementation of new technologies typi-cally overlaps the incumbent ones in phases that, for the tech advocates, are frustratingly slow and often puzzling. User trust, practicality, timing, cost—all must be aligned. Such realities tend to be ignored or obscured when future-hype takes over.
Earlier this year I interviewed a tech scout based in Silicon Valley about her work. To my last question—“What do you see in your business that amazes you the most?”—she replied: “That anyone is con-tinuing to develop technology for the in-
ternal combustion engine.”She clearly hadn’t spo-
ken with Uwe Grebe, the executive at global engi-neering firm AVL who, at a recent industry confer-ence, stated that millions more ICEs will be pro-duced in 2030 than in 2018. And I reckon the scout hasn’t met Scott Bailey, the CEO of San Jose-based “tech start-up” Tula Technology, who is the subject of this month’s Q&A on page 40.
“It’s an interesting dis-cussion—why it is still worth evolving the ICE,” Bailey observed. “I’m a big proponent of the transi-
tion into electric propulsion. And Tula is not competing against it. However, I stress that no matter how aggressive the forecasts are regarding the rate of change to full electric propulsion, a fact remains: Between now and 2040, an-other billion ICEs will be entering the market worldwide.
“For us engineers,” Bailey asserted, “it’s not just an opportunity, but an obli-gation, to do all we can to make those engines as efficient and environmen-tally friendly as possible.”
I can’t summarize the period of flux that this industry is in any better than that.
Lindsay Brooke, Editor-in-Chief
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AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING 4 June 2018
SAE STANDARDS NEWS
Jennifer ShuttleworthAssociate EditorJennifer.Shuttleworth @sae.org
Conductive Automatic Charging Recommended Practice nears completion
SAE’s Medium and Heavy-Duty Vehicle Conductive Charging Task Force com-mittee has been working to develop a Recommended Practice (RP) for heavy-
duty conductive automatic charging, and the document is now close to the publication stage. SAE J3105, which is slated for publication in first quarter 2019, covers the physical, electrical, functional, testing, and performance require-ments for conductive DC power transfer primar-ily to electrified transit vehicles.
“The document is for buses or heavy-duty vehicles in general,” Mark Kosowski, SAE J3105 Committee Chairperson and long-time SAE member, told Automotive Engineering.
For the past two years, the task force has been meeting twice monthly via WebEx as well as in person, with the next one scheduled for July in Troy, Mich. “The group has worked to define conductive power transfer methods for the RP,” Kosowski said. The methods in-clude the infrastructure electrical contact and vehicle connec-tion interfaces, the electrical characteristics of the DC supply and the communi-cation system.
J3105 also covers the functional and dimensional re-quirements for the vehicle connection and supply equip-ment interfaces.
Kosowski re-cently shared in-formation about the forthcoming new RP in a pre-sentation at the APTA (American Public Transit Association) 2018 Bus & Paratransit Conference last month. The tech-nical, educational program is held for bus and para-transit system employees and managers, board members, contractors, suppliers, manufacturers and consultants.
“J3105 will ensure that each connection type is safe and interoperable among manufacturers,” said Kosowski, who is Technical Executive for the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI).
The RP will be produced as a family of documents connected
by a main document. J3105, the main document, will contain the significant common parts of the system (about 90%), which include the electrical interface, power flow (voltage and currents), com-munications, safety and systems.
The four subdocuments of the RP—J-3105-1, J3105-2, J3105-3, and J3105-4—will detail the different connections and the unique parts, in-cluding connection locations and alignment. All connections will use the common requirements established in the overall document J3105.
• J3105-1 Infrastructure-Mounted Pantograph (Cross rail), figure 1;
• J3105-2 Infrastructure-Mounted Blade (Blade), figure 2;
• J3105-3 Vehicle-Mounted Pantograph (Bus-up), figure 3;
• J3105-4 Enclosed Pin and Socket, figure 4.
When an infrastructure is selected, then all vehicles indepen-dent of the manufacturer will be able to use the system.
Many individuals have been involved in the standard development work with approximately 20-25 experts in regular attendance at meetings. Participants in-volved include ma-jor bus manufac-turers (GILLIG, New Flyer, Nova Bus, Opbrid, Proterra), charger manufacturers (ABB, Heliox, Siemens, Toshiba), pantograph and connector manu-facturers (Furrer+Frey, SCHUNK, Stäubli, STEMMANN), utili-
ties (EPRI, Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), Southern California Edison), transit fleets (APTA, Chicago Transit Authority, King County Metro, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, NY City Transit) and other interested parties (ANL, CalStart, CEC, and CTE).
For more information on J3105, contact Mark Kosowski at [email protected]. C
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Fig. 1 - J3105-1 Infrastructure-Mounted Pantograph (Cross Rail).
Fig. 2 - J3105-2 Infrastructure-Mounted Blade (Blade).
Fig. 3 - J3105-3 Vehicle-Mounted Pantograph (Bus-up).
Fig. 4 - J3105-4 Enclosed Pin and Socket.
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AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING 6 June 2018
SUPPLIER EYE
Michael RobinetManaging DirectorIHS Markitmichael.robinet @ihsmarkit.com
Is the demise of the sedan upon us?
It’s no secret that OEMs are substantially al-tering their product portfolios in favor of more utility vehicles at the expense of se-dans. The strategy, driven by global con-
sumer demand, seeks the most efficient struc-tures in which to launch CUVs and SUVs in every size and taste. (For brevity’s sake we’ll call them all CUVs here.)
This shift certainly has legs, as evidenced by Bentley, Rolls-Royce, and even Lamborghini entering the fray. According to the latest IHS Markit U.S. Market Light Vehicle Sales Forecast, the ratio of all-new/major revisions of CUVs ver-sus sedans for the 2018-21 period will be 2.2:1—up from 1.6:1 for the 2014-17 period.
In 2020 alone, the pace is forecast to be an astounding 2.9:1. In terms of launch count, the total is 100 sedans between 2014-21 versus 195 CUVs during the same period.
Four-door sedans have been the backbone of the industry since the 1960s. Before that, coupes soaked up all the glory, volume and the atten-tion of consumers. The next decade brought longer silhouettes—perfect to tag on a couple of extra doors for easier ingress and egress. Great nameplates such as Galaxie, Impala, and Monaco met the needs of a growing America. Later, Accord and Camry sedans did the same.
Wagons, minivans, pickups and the occasional hatchback have all tried to knock the sedan off this half-century perch. Now, the CUV is doing it. Until recently, most unibody platforms were an-chored by the scale offered by a sedan. Coupes, cabrios, 5-doors and even taller bodystyles were spun off the high-volume host.
The transition to CUVs as the main offering in the C and D segments is being done two ways. Some makers are ‘adding’ CUV nameplates while continuing to build similar size sedans. This strategy tends to add cost due to increased build and part complexity, marketing and adver-tising—OEMs are loath to add nameplates with-
out incremental volume.Other automakers have decided not to invest
in major redesigns for several core sedans, ef-fectively abandoning them in the process. And this creates a problem: How to retain the loyal sedan customer? Simply offering a CUV in the place of a sedan does not guarantee that the majority of your loyal customers will follow.
According to 2017 IHS Markit loyalty analysis, fully 48% of sedan consumers are loyal to an-other sedan as their next purchase. This makes axing an existing sedan from the portfolio a tricky business. It requires the organization to tool-up for a new bodystyle, along with market-ing resources to support it.
And after that’s all done, they still need to find a home for the 48% of their customers for whom a sedan is just fine and have no intention of moving outside the sedan world.
Meeting consumer desires for utility vehicles of all types offering a higher view of the road and arguably greater practicality brings poten-tial for significant disruption, including duplica-tion of development efforts; build and part com-plexity, taller (and heavier) vehicles, and cus-tomer retention.
The last time a shift in vehicle type of this magnitude occurred was in the early 1980s, when the Detroit brands switched to unibody-front drive platforms to reduce mass and in-crease fuel efficiency. That transition was ragged to say the least.
The current shift that’s underway will drive market share and financial performance of sev-eral OEMs. I believe several OEMs with a strong history within, and reliance on, the sedan market may continue to remain there to conquest sedan ‘refugees’ from other brands and maintain their own customers.
Those companies realize that even with all their features and benefits, utilities are not for everyone.
Axing a sedan from your portfolio in favor of CUVs is tricky: Nearly half of sedan consumers are loyal to another sedan as their next purchase.
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AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING 8 June 2018
THE NAVIGATOR
Sam AbuelsamidSenior AnalystNavigant ResearchSam@ abuelsamid.com
The root of the AV ethics problemAs automated vehicles move from the realm of science fiction to what seems like a viable main-stream reality, a lot of the AV discussion has centered around ethics. Standard questions in-clude, “How should a self-driving car respond to choosing between slamming into another ve-hicle and possibly injuring its occupants, or di-verting off the road and possibly killing children who are nearby?”
As more newcomers to transportation and automotive development jump into the AV space, it seems that such questions are entirely wrong. Rather than asking what would the car do in such circumstances, we should be asking: What would the people do?
Nearly every incumbent automaker has a pro-gram to at least research automated driving. But starting with Waymo (formerly the Google self-driving car project) we’ve increasingly seen peo-ple and companies from the technology sector try their hand at creating virtual drivers.
It’s great to infuse fresh ideas and thinking into a business that’s over a century old. AVs have the potential to improve much of what is best about today’s vehicles while eliminating their worst effects. But that will only happen if we develop and deploy the technology with care and forethought. That means the people work-ing on these systems need a grounding in ethics before we even start thinking about program-ming ethics into software.
In the last quarter century, the technology industry has built upon the invention and growth of the internet to develop enormous advances that have again transformed the world. Unfortunately, however, the software industry’s collective mindset of “move fast and break things” has also taken root.
At its core, this isn’t a fundamentally bad con-cept. When you can quickly push out software changes to correct errors or enhance functional-ity, the customer benefits. But in recent years we’ve seen the dark side of this approach in multiple ways.
The rush to deploy a minimum viable product
and fix it later has allowed developers to try new ideas, evaluate the market response to them and either improve on or abandon them much more quickly. In the realm of games, photo-sharing apps and social networks, the consequences of failure are low. A flawed concept or erroneous implementation of something like this usually doesn’t kill anyone.
But in recent years the dark side of these sys-tems has surfaced. By ignoring the realities of the bad ways in which people might utilize tech-nology, we’ve unleashed some extremely de-structive side-effects such as trolling, cyber-bullying and malicious hacking.
Many of the same tech-industry people who grew up with “ready, aim, fire” as the norm for shipping new products are entering the trans-portation industry to develop automated ve-hicles and mobility services. And as was re-vealed during the trade-secrets trial between Waymo and Uber earlier this year, some of them are more than happy to take shortcuts in the rush to be first to market.
From watching the way Tesla has brought its underdeveloped AutoPilot driver assistance sys-tems to market, it’s clear to me that not every-one understands what the threshold should be for defining a minimum-viable product for transportation.
The incumbent auto industry is far from blameless when it comes to ignoring the unin-tended consequences of product engineering decisions. Witness Takata airbags, GM ignition switches and VW’s calculated malfeasance re-lated to vehicle-emissions testing. The century-old industry has a history of putting flawed products in customer hands.
But as we prepare to unleash potentially tens or hundreds of millions of automated vehicles onto public roads in the coming decades, those in charge of product need to slow down and think seriously—not just about the fortunes that might be made or the societal good that can emerge, but also about all the many things that might go wrong.
Those who are working on AV systems need a grounding in ethics before they even start thinking about programming ethics into software.
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING June 2018 9
WHAT WE’RE DRIVING
Uncoiling the fat-diameter charge cord from its kit bag, I plugged the Nissan’s new Leaf into the 120-V outlet on my garage’s exterior wall. Handling the cord, which was dirty from the previous day’s charging, left black grime on my hands. Like fueling a diesel but without the smell and oily fingers.
“Of course, I’d have a Level 2 wall-mount charging station inside the ga-rage if I owned this car,” I reminded my-self, just as a ‘beep’ signaled the car was taking on electrons.
While I still am not an EV convert, I found much to like about the latest generation of Nissan’s pioneering bat-tery-electric. At freeway speeds, the car’s cabin is quieter than that of many luxury cars. On a twisty road, the Leaf doesn’t embarrass itself, even though much of the platform is carryover from the previous generation and the car rides on Michelin’s low-rolling-resis-tance tires. For an EV, steering feedback is surprisingly accurate and the rede-signed cabin feels airy and roomy.
By applying only moderate pressure to the Leaf’s rheostat ‘throttle’ pedal, I was able to coax 146 miles (236 km) between full charges in mixed-roads commuting. Not bad for late April in Michigan, where it both snowed and reached 65°F during my week with Leaf; Nissan advertises a 151-mile (243-km) range. A heavy right foot will sap the 40-kW·h air-cooled battery quickly, though. The e-Pedal function enables one-pedal operation and boosts brake regen capability.
The 60-kW·h battery due later this year will bring 200-mile (322-km) range—perhaps enough to steer more EV aspirants towards the Nissan store.
Lindsay Brooke
Its birth may have been way back in 1955, but any mention among auto-industry technology aficionados of Citroën’s then startlingly radical DS will generate a sigh of admiration that echoes the sighs of the car’s radical hydropneumatic suspension and the velvety ride it delivered.
Now, Citroën’s mid-term update for the funky C4 Cactus has been given at least a soupçon of that technology with its use of what the company terms “progressive hydraulic cushions.”
Citroën worked with supplier KYB Suspensions Europe (based in Spain) to develop an alternative to conventional shock absorber bump stops and intro-duce new standards of compression and rebound, as previously reported in AE. Some 20 technology patents were filed by Citroën’s parent, PSA.
The results are mixed. Complemented by new, wider seats with added foam density and textured foam near the sur-face, the Cactus provides a fine immedi-ate impression of comfort and the oc-cupants are well-isolated
On main highways, the suspension can feel slightly floaty, a little like American sedans of yesteryear; it is not unpleasant, just surprising.
But the Cactus’ suspension does not pretend to be as sophisticated as that of the company’s legendary models. On minor roads, lateral ridges, small pot-holes and rough surfaces are generally dealt with effectively—but when hurried on winding roads, roll is noticeable.
However, this does not detract from roadholding in general and in a curious way harks back at least a little to Citroën’s delightful, softly-sprung 2CV and Dyane models that always seemed to have plenty of grip.
Stuart Birch
The most prominent recent brand-identi-fier for the Dodge brand has been its outlandishly-powered Challenger SRT Hellcat and Demon. It seemed inevitable FCA would try the big-power imprint for its ever-expanding Jeep SUV brand.
The 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk borrows the 707-hp super-charged 6.2-L Hemi V8 that started it all in the Hellcat to enable what Jeep claims is the quickest SUV on the mar-ket (0-60 mph in 3.5 s).
True to its promise, the Grand Cherokee Trackhawk is boisterously, un-avoidably ballistic. Anytime, anywhere, a tickle of the throttle unleashes more sound and fury than you probably were banking on unleashing. Stay on the pedal and triple-digit speeds show up with shocking abruptness—and frequency.
Mitigating the Trackhawk’s punch is its 5363-lb (2433-kg) curb weight, nearly a half-ton more than the 4449-lb (2018-kg) Challenger Hellcat. Half a ton!
Even with Bilstein-supplied adaptive dampers, the Trackhawk’s suspension is too stiff for tattered-road hijinks: pave-ment irregularities play havoc with the performance Jeep’s tracking. It may not slide, but fast cornering on anything but smooth pavement certainly injects some “active” into the rear axle.
I averaged about 13 mpg. Those un-troubled by the prospect of frequent credit card-frying fill-ups also won’t look askance at our Trackhawk’s as-tested price that ran just 35 bucks shy of $100,000. Sure, there’s immense per-formance here—and even a kind of off-beat gravitas—but a six-figure Grand Cherokee is a stretch, even if it does have Ferrari-whipping horsepower.
Bill Visnic
2018 Nissan Leaf SV Citroën Cactus C4 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk
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AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING 10 June 2018
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].
PROPULSION
Chevy bombshell: first-ever 4-cylinder for fullsize pickups
The latest act in the carefully-choreographed unveiling of the 2019 Chevy Silverado that goes on sale this fall is the first four-cylinder engine ever offered in a GM fullsize pickup.
Code named L3B and built in GM’s Spring Hill, TN manufacturing plant, this turbocharged and intercooled gasoline 2.7-liter DOHC I4 aims to provide Silverado buyers a breakthrough combination of power, torque, and fuel econo-my—minus a traditional four-banger’s noise and vibration. Chief engineer Tom Sutter ex-plained, “Our goal was delivering leading-edge towing and hauling performance with unprec-
edented smoothness. Development tests sug-gest that this new four will offer Silverado cus-tomers an excellent alternative to six- and eight-cylinder gas and diesel engines.”
This clean-sheet, truck-only (thus far) engine has a deep-skirt, liberally ribbed die-cast alu-minum block with iron liners. The 16-valve alu-minum head uses new copper-alloy exhaust valve guides for improved heat transfer. Dual balance shafts and a variable-output oil pump are supported by a bolt-on aluminum lower-block module extending well below the forged-steel crankshaft’s main bearings. In a now well-accepted basic-design technique, the crank-shaft is offset from the cylinder bore centerline to reduce friction from piston side-loading.
Also consistent with current trends, the new 2.7-L is an under-square design with a 3.63-in (92.25-mm) bore and a 4.01-in (102-mm) stroke to facilitate compact, high-tumble com-bustion chambers. Side-mounted direct injec-tors deliver up to three injection events per combustion cycle. Compression ratio is 10:1. The unit generates its SAE-rated output of 310 hp (231 kW) and 348 lb·ft (473 N·m) on 87-RON gasoline, Sutter noted.
Weight-saving measures such as a nylon-rein-forced plastic oil pan (another GM truck-engine first) and intake manifold and smaller-than-usu-al hollow-head fasteners yield an engine that’s 80 lb (36 kg) lighter than GM’s less-powerful 4.3-L V6, which the new engine replaces as the base powerplant for the 2019 Silverado’s high-volume LT and RST mid-level trims.
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Chevrolet said the all-new 2.7-L I4 was designed specifically for truck duty and will be the first 4-cylinder ever used for a GM fullsize pickup.
The 2019 Chevrolet Silverado fullsizepickup has a five-engine lineup that
includes all-new turbocharged gasoline4-cylinder and inline six-cylinder diesel engines.
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING June 2018 11
TECHNOLOGY REPORT
Dual-volute saluteSutter is especially proud of the dual-volute turbocharger that delivers 22 psi (1.5 bar) of boost and a maximum 348 lb·ft (473 N·m) from 1500 to 4000 rpm. “One goal we achieved,” he noted, “was throttle response quick enough to pro-vide 90% of peak torque in less than two seconds, which is significantly fast-er than our competition.”
Recently patented by BorgWarner, this turbo does a better job of exploiting exhaust-pulse energy to build boost more quickly than twin-scroll turbos. The
key difference is that the twin-scroll ex-haust passages are side-by-side while they are concentric in the dual-volute design. Since the points where the two flow paths engage the turbine wheel are more widely separated with dual volutes, more pulse energy is available to spin the wheel. The new dual-volute design also is said to be less susceptible to flow “short-circuiting” where the two exhaust streams exit the turbine housing.
The new 2.7 brings several other ad-vanced features to the fullsize pickup segment. Beyond the variable valve
timing and stop-start used by GM for some time, this engine includes an all-new camshaft design developed inter-nally by GM. It features an electromag-netically-actuated sliding lobe assembly that automatically provides the most appropriate of three different intake cam profiles; low valve lift optimizes efficiency during part-throttle condi-tions, high lift maximizes power and torque. To curb fuel consumption dur-ing deceleration, the active fuel-man-agement system also disables the two center cylinders’ exhaust valves.
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GM adopts advanced cylinder deactivation for 2019 Chevy Silverado V8sCalling 2019 variants of its 5.3-L and 6.2-L OHV V8s for the 2019 Chevrolet Silverado full-size pickup “the most ad-vanced gasoline V8s in the [Chevrolet] brand’s history,” GM introduces Dynamic Fuel Management, a high-tech new variation of the company’s longstanding Active Fuel Management cylinder-deacti-vation system.
“Chevrolet first introduced its Active Fuel Management cylinder deactivation system in 2005, and Dynamic Fuel Management is a natural pro-gression of the technology,” said Jordan Lee, chief engineer for GM’s small-block engines. “Dynamic Fuel Management enables only the cylinders needed to deliver the power you want, seamlessly deliver-ing the best balance of power and fuel economy.”
At a media program to introduce the new V8s, Lee said equipping them with the DFM system was “equivalent to making an all-new engine.” The program required a new block casting. The V8s will serve along with an all-new 2.7-L turbocharged I4 and Chevrolet’s 4.3-L V6—not to mention an all-new 3.0-L inline six-cylinder diesel coming later—to cover the eight-model 2019 Silverado lineup.
Cylinder-deactivation sophisticationThe new DFM system that has seen extensive initial development at Tula Technology and mega-supplier Delphi, works from a “map” of 17 distinct cylinder-firing regimes that control the firing individual cylin-ders; the previous AFM design allowed only for switching between 8-cyl. or 4-cyl. operation. Brief drives in DFM-equipped trucks show constant fluctuation between the 64 available “fractions” of 8-cylin-der operation based on the 80-times-per-second ministrations of a
microcontroller to determine how many of the cylinders are required in relation to the driv-er’s request for torque. The system then decides which cylinders to fire—and in the optimized order.
The DFM system controls valve actuation via solenoids that meter oil pressure to con-trol ports in each cylinder’s valve lifters. To shut down a cylinder, oil pressure is diverted from the two-piece lifters, causing them to collapse on themselves, preventing the cam lobes from opening the valves. When the cylinder is reactivated, oil pressure is re-stored to the lifter control ports and the latching mecha-nism restores normal cylinder function.
To help cancel the minor irregular vibrations transmitted by cylinder switching, the auto-
matic transmissions paired with the new V8s—an 8-speed for the 5.3-L and a 10-speed for the 6.2-L—are fitted with a specially-de-signed damper that varies its effect based on the amount of torque-converter slippage dictated by the powertrain controller.
The enhanced sophistication of the DFM system allows some form of cylinder deactivation roughly 9% more than with the former AFM cylinder-deactivation system, said Lee. Working out the calcu-lations for DFM’s algorithms swallowed 12.4 million hours of com-puter processing time. The company has yet to release fuel-econo-my figures for the new all-aluminum V8s. The 5.3-L is SAE-rated at 355 hp (265 kW) at 5600 rpm and 383 lb·ft (510 N·m) at 4100 rpm.
The 2019 DFM-equipped 6.2-L V8 develops an SAE-rated 420 hp (313 kW) at 5600 rpm and 460 lb·ft (621 N·m) at 4100 rpm. Both are built at GM’s engine plant in Tonawanda, NY.
Bill Visnic
General Motors 2019 5.3-L OHV V8, the first GM engine fitted with Dynamic Fuel Management, is SAE-rated at 355 hp (265 kW) at 5600 rpm and 383 lb·ft (510 N·m) at 4100 rpm.
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING 12 June 2018
TECHNOLOGY REPORT
PROPULSION
Stanadyne pumps up the volumeAlthough the auto sector continues to intensify its focus on electrification, plan-ners and analysts remind almost daily that internal combustion-based propulsion will continue to be the baseline for a decade or more. Consequently, Stanadyne—the Windsor, Conn.-based specialist supplier of high-pressure fuel pumps for the crucial gasoline- and diesel-engine direct-injec-tion systems to fuel engines for the fore-seeable future—intends to play a larger role in the IC-engine Renaissance that really isn’t a “rebirth” at all.
Noting that the global market for gasoline direct-injection (GDI) is pro-jected to grow to $13 billion by 2026, Stanadyne President and Chief Technology Officer John Pinson said the company is planning to expand in the GDI space and take on sector heavy-weights such as Bosch, Delphi and oth-ers with advanced fuel pumps that de-liver new levels of quietness and effi-ciency-enhancing injection pressures.
Best-in-breed“Stanadyne is unique in the industry,” Pinson told Automotive Engineering in an interview at the SAE’s WCX 2018 conference in Detroit. “We’ve decided to focus on best-in-breed pumps.” For Pinson, an MBA and mechanical engi-neering Ph.D, “best-in-breed” means
extraordinarily low emitted noise and claimed industry-leading injection pres-sures—both of which translate to added value for customers of the million-plus GDI and diesel common-rail fuel pumps the company annually produces.
Pinson presented a new-generation GDI pump of near-solid billet that seems barely larger than a few sugar cubes and can generate 350-bar (5076-psi) injection pressure.
Pinson said the increasing addition of electrification to automotive pow-ertrains and differing regional needs represent opportunity for innovation—and new supplier relationships.
“The market dynamics are very inter-esting,” he explained, saying that China is seeking new levels of fuel efficiency because it is concerned about energy security, while other regions are fo-cused on improved refinement or are dealing with shifts in gasoline- and diesel-engine market drivers.
He believes Stanadyne’s 140-year his-tory of experience in precision-machining engine components positions the com-pany to simply offer a better product. He points to the patented QuietTech control valve design for GDI pumps: “From a noise standpoint, we’re the quietest on the market.” The deep experience with fine machining—these compact dynamos
work at upwards of 200 strokes per second—brings the ability to offer ever-higher injection pres-sures at affordable prices. At least to a point.
“You do pay for pressure,” Pinson said. Above about 350 bar for GDI, he said, “it starts to get expensive.”
But 350-bar pressures should deliver what’s required for the foreseeable gasoline-engine fu-ture, he believes, adding that new electrification techniques might enable “decoupling” the injector pump from the engine altogether—at least for smaller engines such as 3-cylinders.
Bill Visnic
High-tech thermal managementTo speed engine, cabin and automatic transmission warmup following a cold start and to maintain even temperatures in all four cylinders, this engine’s Active Thermal Management system dispenses with the traditional thermostat in favor of an electrically-driven water pump feeding a rotary valve to regulate three distinct cooling channels: one serving the block, a second to the cylinder head and a third line connected to the ex-haust manifold and turbocharger’s cen-ter bearing. A processor-controlled vane-type oil pump provides a regu-lated amount of bearing, bore, and val-vetrain lubrication, plus squirts to cool the pistons during high-load conditions.
The new 2.7-L engine will be paired with the 8L90 Hydra-Matic automatic transmission. The 8-speed features a new centrifugal pendulum absorber that helps counteract torsional vibra-tion that includes when cylinders are deactivated.
During Automotive Engineering’s brief proving-grounds drive of a pre-production Silverado powered by the new 2.7-L, it performed as publicized without a hint of turbo lag or four-cylin-der commotion. With gas prices on the rise, it will be the wise choice for pickup owners not requiring a V8’s energy re-serve and will serve as competitive counterpoint to rival Ford’s longstand-ing downsized turbocharged Ecoboost engine choices for the F-150 fullsize pickup line.
Don Sherman
The 8L90 8-speed automatic transmission is paired with the all-new 2.7-L turbocharged 4-cylinder engine as the standard drivetrain for the 2019 Chevrolet Silverado LT and RTS trims.
Stanadyne’s latest fuel pump for gasoline direct-injection (GDI) applications generates 350 bar of injection pressure from a meager footprint and has claimed market-leading noise levels. SA
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AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING
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AUTONOMY
SAE brings autonomy to the public in new demonstration program
With a first-of-its-kind program that allows the public to ex-perience traveling in a fully-automated (SAE Level 4) vehicle, SAE International was in Tampa, Florida, in early May for its inaugural SAE Demo Day to gauge the public’s reaction to—and attitudes about—self-driving technology.
The Demo Day program is believed to be the first broad-based educational initiative designed to give the public hands-on (or is it “hands-off”?) exposure to fully-automated vehicles by providing demonstration rides. For this first event near Tampa, an SAE Level 4 vehicle developed by Perrone Robotics drove participants on a specially-cordoned section of Tampa’s Lee Roy Selmon Expressway.
Participants also experienced the Velodyne LiDAR Virtual Reality environment and interacted with a self-driving car developed by Voyage.
“Public comfort and acceptance of self-driving vehicles is crucial for their success, both in the near-term of testing and the future of widespread use,” said Frank Menchaca, SAE International Chief Product Officer. “This Demo Day brings the most important audience to the dialogue—the public.”
Important impressionsWith the Demo Day initiative, SAE International hopes to bet-ter understand evolving public attitudes about self-driving technology and the experience of traveling in an automated vehicle. Riders are asked questions before, during and after the ride about their perceptions of and comfort level with au-tonomous vehicles.
Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority (THEA) and Florida state senator Jeff Brandes (R-St. Petersburg) also partnered with SAE to conduct the event in the Tampa area, where media and civic officials also took part in the approxi-mately six-minute rides in the Perrone Robotics vehicle.
Perrone Robotics CMO Dave Hofert said, “We are very pleased to support SAE International in this effort. Our company mission is to enable broad-based autonomous mobility of all kinds and we believe that public engagement will drive awareness and ac-ceptance of these vehicles. Through this demo, people will expe-rience autonomous driving and can better make informed deci-sions about how autonomy could fit into their lives.”
Bill Visnic
For the inaugural SAE Demo Dayin Tampa, FL, participants traveled ona public freeway in a fully-autonomous(SAE Level 4) vehicle developed by Perrone Robotics.
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AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING 14 June 2018
Nissan’s new VCR engine: worth the effort?
Announced at the 2016 Paris Motor Show, Nissan’s new Variable Compression Ratio engine—known as the VC Turbo—pushes the pause button, at least momentarily, on the company’s journey to a completely electrified-vehi-cle future. Fully productionized as the KR20DDET, the 2.0-L VC Turbo debuts in the all-new 2019 Infiniti QX50 compact luxury SUV. It will gain considerable pro-duction scale in its second announced application, the 2019 Nissan Altima.
As detailed in SAE Technical Paper 2018-01-0371, “Development of a New 2L Gasoline VC-Turbo Engine with the World’s First Variable Compression Ratio Technology” (https://www.sae.org/publications/technical-papers/content/2018-01-0371/), the VC Turbo can infinitely vary its piston stroke and effective compression ratio between 8:1 and 14:1. The low-compression mode is for high power demand and high-road-load conditions and the high-compression mode for cruising and light loads.
Several carmakers have explored VC technology, only to be thwarted by the hurdles of cost, complexity and reliability. Nissan is the first to put it on the road, a culmination of two decades of work. The fuel efficiency gained from VC operation alone is 8%, according to Shimichi Kiga, the Chief Powertrain Engineer.
Crossover showcaseAs part of a complete road-to-roof redo, the new QX50 moves to an all-new platform. It drops the previous util-ity’s rear-drive layout and the trans-verse-mounted VC Turbo replaces the longitudinally mounted 3.7-L V6 and 7-speed automatic. The VC Turbo is matched to Nissan’s JATCO-supplied Xtronic continuously variable automatic transmission. Both front-drive and on-demand all-wheel drive are available.
The transverse powertrain is more space-efficient than the previous longi-tudinal one derived from the FM-platform G35 sedan. The new QX50 is
8.1 in (206 mm) shorter nose-to-tail than the previous version, yet gains rear seat legroom and cargo space.
Automotive Engineering piloted a VC Turbo-equipped 2019 QX50 over about 160 miles (257 km) of Los Angeles city streets, area freeways and winding Malibu canyon roads. Small luxury SUVs are as thick as thieves on most LA-area roads and the QX50 was definitely in its element. Crisp throttle response is high-ly prized there—highly Balkanized roads make for sudden merges, disappearing lanes, hidden intersections and overall traffic chaos.
At a rated 268 hp (200 kW), peak
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Overly complex or beautiful sophistication? The cranktrain of the industry’s first production Variable Compression Ratio engine, the Nissan KR20DDET, laid bare.
The VC Turbo consumed two decades of development, noted chief engineer Shimichi Kiga.
The 2019 QX50 moves to an all-new platform that sheds 100 lb vs. its predecessor. RO
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output for the new QX50 is down by 59 hp (44 kW) from last year’s V6. But in stoplight drag races, torque is king. And as with competitive turbo fours from Audi, BMW, Lexus and others, the new VC Turbo-powered QX50 reaches its peak advertised 280 lb·ft (283 N·m) at a low (1600) rpm. It stays in the fat part of the torque curve to 4800 rpm, giving it healthy midrange and part-throttle responses.
A 0-60 mph (0-97 km/h) sprint now takes about 6.5 seconds, around a half-second down from last year’s model. Not that you feel cheated. Acceleration is still close to 2.0-L turbo-powered X3s and Q5s. The KR20DDET spools quickly and the CVT, although some-times exhibiting a “springy” quality, changes ratios without delay. The en-gine’s transitions between low and high compression modes are seamless and transparent. Even if you peek at the largely decorative digital meter between the speedo and tach that dis-plays when the engine is operating in high compression (Power) or low-com-pression (Eco) modes, there’s no au-dible or tactile sensation of anything occurring under the hood.
There is, however, a split second of perceived turbo lag when punching the throttle from rest. The sensation could be a CVT belt rushing to the right place on the cone, or a traction control inter-vention to the throttle map.
The new VC Turbo has a different voice than last year’s V6 growl, with an exhaust note from the dual pipes (last year’s model had a single exhaust) a bit higher pitched and in the upper rev range. The song it sings is almost Italianate. The 2019 model sports both active noise cancellation working through the audio speakers to nullify unwanted rumbles when cruising at highway speeds at low rpm and active sound enhancement to emphasize the positive notes.
There are paddle shifters that allow the driver to summon eight simulated fixed gear ratios in the CVT. Four select-able driving modes—standard, sport, eco and personal—tailor the throttle and transmission ratio maps.
Big efficiency gainWhy did Nissan go to the trouble of the increased costs and complexity of the variable-compression engine? Fuel economy. The company is anticipating a 27-30% jump in QX50 fuel economy with the VC Turbo compared with that of the previous 3.7-L V6. Final EPA numbers were not yet available when this article was posted but Infiniti esti-mates that the 2019 QX50 with AWD will achieve a 24 mpg city/30 mpg highway/26 mpg combined rating.
The 26-mpg-combined number is just 1-mpg better than the combined EPA estimates for the 2018 BMW X3 xDrive30i and Audi Q5 and is 2-mpg more efficient than for the AWD 2018 Lexus NX300. Those competitors use turbocharged 4-cylinder engines but without variable compression.
In 100+ miles (161 km) of L.A. metro-politan driving, the 3,952-lb (1,793-kg) QX50 delivered 24 mpg, mostly operat-ing in the high-load/low-compression mode. So, the real question: How much of the QX50’s fuel-economy improve-ment is due to downsizing to a 2.0-L 4-cylinder turbo and how much of it is attributable to the variable-compres-sion feature?
While Kiga-san maintained that the VC feature alone is good for an 8% fuel-economy gain, other factors include the move to a CVT and overall vehicle weight savings of about 100 lb (45 kg).
Challenges in optimizing the VC mechanism included machining the central cantilever/actuators that vary the piston stroke, Kiga said. Tolerances are critical, he continued, and that’s one of the reasons the VC Turbo 4-cylinder is assembled at the same Yokohama plant that makes the high-performance Nissan GT-R V6.
The VC Turbo engine requires premi-um-octane fuel—a surprise to some who might think that the ability to switch to low-compression mode under higher road loads would permit the use of lower-octane ratings.
With Infiniti stating that its products will be electrified from 2021 forward, where does that leave an elegant and compli-cated mechanical solution to improved fuel economy such as the VC Turbo? It’s a shame buyers can’t see the fascinating workings within this machine that took Nissan engineers so long to perfect. Then again, how many luxury SUV buyers are apt to look under the hood at all?
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From the QX50’s cabin, the engine transitioning from low to high compression modes is seamless and transparent.
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AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING 16 June 2018
2019 Avalon: Toyota further refines its Lexus alternative
At a time when buyers are increasingly migrating to SUVs, Toyota is launching its all-new 2019 Avalon believing that there is still high-volume life left in the large-sedan segment. Behind its Toyota “cow catcher” chin, the latest Avalon is longer, lower, wider, roomier, slicker (0.27 Cd) and quieter.
Like the latest-generation Prius and Camry, the Avalon rides on the TNGA (Toyota New Global Architecture) mid-size K platform with multilink rear sus-pension. It features a Toyota-first Adaptive Variable Suspension (AVS) standard on its top-line Touring trim and shares the Camry’s 3.5-L V6 and Toyota
Hybrid System (THS II) powertrains.The Atkinson-cycle, dual-injected
(port- and direct-injection) V6 delivers a claimed 301 hp (224 kW) and 267 lb·ft (362 N·m) through a new 8-speed Aisin automatic transaxle, while the hybrid delivers a net 215 hp (160 kW) from its 2.5-L I4 and 650-V electric motor through a continuously variable trans-mission (CVT). With dual “intelligent” variable valve timing—electrically-actu-ated cam phasers on the 2.5-L—the Avalon XLE V6 scores 22 EPA mpg city, 32 highway and 26 combined and the XLE Hybrid 43/44/44 (one mpg lower in higher grades).
The Hybrid’s two electric motors charge its NiMH battery pack—now under the back seat—and one of them assists the engine. New Auto Glide Control (AGC) lets the car coast in near-neutral with little engine braking in Eco mode, while Sport mode enhances performance and the XSE Hybrid has steering-wheel paddles to shift through its CVT’s six sim-ulated gears. The V6 Touring adds a Sport+ mode to further tighten its AVS real-time active suspension.
In limited driving on well-trafficked city and suburban roads, these new Avalons seemed plusher, quieter and crisper-han-dling than outgoing models. And in a world where rivals typically emphasize quietness, the Touring also enhances en-gine sound. “We start with an Intake Sound Generator in the engine compart-ment,” said Executive Program Manager Mark De Jongh, “and add a unique sport exhaust sound. From there, three micro-phones inside the vehicle listen for boom-ing and other unwanted noise, and we send out frequencies through the sub-woofer to cancel out those sounds. Then we add Engine Sound Enhancement through the front door speakers to give it a full, rich sound.”
Toyota’s “massive underbite” grilles—dark horizontal bars on XLE and Limited, piano-black mesh on XSE and Touring grades—are visually polarizing, but there’s more appealing, expressive-ly-sculpted sheetmetal everywhere else. The upper front corners house slim, all-LED projector headlamps, long vents run from below them to the lower cor-ners, and all-LED taillamps integrate backup, stop and turn lights into three-dimensional “aero fin” arrays in back.
A cluster of three reflectors for low-, high-beams and DRLs in the LED Vision Tech headlamps available on XLE and XSE provides “exceptional light dis-bursement,” especially in low-visibility conditions, Toyota says. Limited and Touring boast thin low- and high-beam modules, cornering lamps that fade in and out (instead of moving) to add 60% more foreground width, (sequen-tial) Dynamic Auxiliary Turn Signals front and rear and Technical Laser B
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New Avalon Hybrid features all-LED headlamp array, continues to rely on nickel metal-hydride battery cells.
All-LED taillamps integrate backup, stop and turn lights into three-dimensional “aero fin” arrays.
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Ablation that adds special texture to DRL, park- and taillamp lenses. Other Toyota firsts include standard Apple CarPlay (but not Android Auto) and Amazon Alexa compatibility.
Plush and techy interiorThe roomy cabin displays plentiful soft-touch materials, Perforated Ultrasuede (XSE, Limited and Touring) upholstery, a nine-inch multimedia screen floating above the IP, a seven-inch multi-infor-mation display (MID) behind the leath-er-wrapped wheel, a 10-in color head-up display (HUD) in Limited and Touring, five USBs (only one connecting to the sound system) and wireless phone charging and a 12-V plug in a slide-open bin.
The standard Toyota Safety Sense P (TSS-P) system bundles Pre-Collision with Pedestrian Detection (PCS w/PD), Full-Speed-Range Dynamic Radar Cruise Control (DRCC), Lane Departure Alert with Steering Assist (LDA w/SA) and Automatic High Beams (AHB). Also standard are 10 airbags, a backup camera, Blind Spot Monitor (BSM) with Rear Cross Traffic Alert (RCTA), Back Guide Monitor (BGM) and Toyota’s Star Safety System of advanced stability control and anti-lock braking. A Panoramic View Monitor with Alert (PVMA) and Intelligent Clearance
The 2019 Avalon’s HMI features a 9-in multimedia screen floating above the IP, a 7-in multi-information display (MID) behind the leather-wrapped wheel and a 10-in color head-up display (HUD) in Limited and Touring trims.
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Sonar (ICS) with Rear Cross Traffic Braking (RCTB) are available.
XLE and XSE trims offer eight-speaker sound with Toyota Entune 3.0 Audio Plus. Toyota’s first smartwatch (or Amazon Alexa) -enabled device connectivity pro-vides remote engine start, fuel-level check and door lock/unlock, and a 14-speaker surround-sound JBL premium
audio system is standard in Limited and Touring, optional in XLE and XSE.
U.S. pricing begins at $35,500 (plus $895 delivery) for the base XLE and extends to $42,200 for the Touring, with XLE, XSE and Limited Hybrid mod-els stickering at $1,000 over their con-ventional stablemates.
Gary Witzenburg
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING 18 June 2018
Underway on nuclear power
The global competition to create autonomous, connected and elec-trified vehicles in volume has been described as an “arms race,” which makes Dr. Ken Washington one of its top commanders.
As Ford Motor Co.’s VP Research and Advanced Engineering and Chief Technology Officer, Dr. Washington’s role is, as he puts it, “to interface with the technology world at large.” His mission is to ensure that the best ideas and highest-potential inno-vations from that race end up in Ford products, services and pro-cesses across the enterprise.
So, it was fun to hear a panel discussion a couple years ago in
At Ford Motor Co., CTO Dr. Ken Washington is driving new approaches to technology innovation—from inside and outside the enterprise.
by Lindsay Brooke
which Dr. Washington traded some tech-world obser-vations with Jeff Owens, his CTO counterpart at Delphi. Owens proudly noted that he’d recently visited a tiny start-up company in Israel which had some promising cybersecurity software. Delphi, he indicated, had discovered a winner.
Dr. Washington listened and began to smile. Then he said, “Yes, I remember those guys. They were working in that little beach house outside of town. My team and I were there a week before you.”
COVER STORY
CTOs’ FUTURE VISION
Dr. Washington aims to use new tools and
technology to enable Ford to reduce
engineering costs while increasing
engineering efficiency.
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Such urgency was also at the top of new CEO Jim Hackett’s agenda in 2017, as he looked to strengthen and expand Ford’s multi-billion-dollar pathway toward future mobility. One of Hackett’s early actions was to elevate Dr. Washington to a direct report, three years after the 58-year-old nuclear engineer and former VP of Lockheed Martin Space Systems’ Advanced Technology Center had joined Ford.
“I’ve only done Technology my entire life—I’m a geek at heart,” he told Automotive Engineering. “But technology on its own won’t matter unless we bring it back to the company and bring it to life inside Ford’s products, services and strategies.”
He cited seven “revolutions” erupting in Automotive—autonomy, artificial intelligence, connect-ed car, mobility as a service, lightweighting, advanced manufacturing/robotics, and electrification—that oc-cupy almost 90% of his focus. All will drive many new jobs in the mobility industry going forward. Equally vital are the development and replenishment of engineering and scientific talent. Starting at K-12, STEM is a crusade for which Dr. Washington is utterly passionate.
As the “owner” of Ford’s technology plan, he also keeps a close eye on innovations outside of automo-tive, including aerospace (where he regularly networks with other CTOs), computer gaming, and even medical tech. “I want to know how they’re taking advantage of AI, machine learning, advanced materials,” he said.
He also relies on the extensive “tentacles” of Ford’s cross-disciplinary Research team, which extend throughout the company as well as outside it. “We go after technology and innovation as a team sport,” he asserted. “And when I say ‘innovation’ I’m not just talk-ing technology innovation. I mean business innovation as well. As in how we’re approaching autonomous ve-hicles—it’s about bringing autonomy to the masses, and helping people take advantage of an autonomous car. It’s about helping businesses reinvent themselves.”
That requires the complex task of rethinking scores of delivery mechanisms—how vehicles operate indi-vidually and in fleets, how they interact with humans and embedded infrastructure in cities, and how they can be designed and engineered to improve mobility within the societal ecosystem.
Ford’s booming tech baseDr. Washington disagrees with the notion that funda-mental research has mostly transitioned away from the OEMs and now is generated mainly by suppliers, start-ups and research universities.
“Ford’s intellectual property portfolio has never been richer,” he claimed. “We’re doing more invention disclo-sures than ever. We do technology across multiple time domains—we think of them as the Now, the Near, and
the Far. All are in play simultaneously.” The ‘now’ are deliverables ex-ecuted by Product Engineering. The ‘near’—committed to production but not quite ready—are handled by Advanced Engineering. And the ‘far,’ in Research, are five years or more beyond the cycle plan.
Of course, not everything is developed internally. Ford is ace at le-veraging its close relationships with the supply base. It’s also in the vanguard of OEMs who are steadily expanding their tech chops through inorganic acquisitions and partnerships [see table p. 22]. The Dearborn-based company is clearly thinking big: its $1 billion invest-ment in Argo AI is helping to speed development of Ford’s autono-mous ‘driver system.’ The decision to create Ford’s own open-sourced Transportation Mobility Cloud drove the 2018 acquisition of Autonomic to do distributed software and mobility services over the web.
CTOs’ FUTURE VISION
A flurry of acquisitions and strategic partnerships, such as those with Argo AI and Autonomic, combined with Ford’s in-house expertise in electrified vehicles and controls, is driving development of AVs and mobility as a service.
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This is enabling Ford to take its con-nected-car strategies “to the next level,” Dr. Washington claimed, while helping to build nimble, fast cultures across all areas of the company where software engineering predominates. For its Mobility group, Ford created a small tech incubator called Ford X designed to quickly identify and sort out poten-tial winners that can be scaled.
An exclusive partnership with Nirenberg Neuroscience aims to bring more “humanlike intelligence” to ma-chine learning elements of self-driving vehicle systems. Meanwhile, the com-pany now has over 100 engineers in-house engaged in data analytics and machine learning, according to Dr. Washington, and a fast-growing team of advanced-degree experts working on robotics and artificial intelligence.
“We’ll never make high-definition cameras, radars or LiDARs. But we’ll create the algorithms that stitch the signals from those three types of sen-sors together,” he said. Ford also is de-veloping in-house the software to cre-ate its next-generation electrical archi-tecture. He dubs it “core technology” to support the wave of new electrified ve-hicles with increased automated driving capability due in the early 2020s.
The new electrical platform will allow engineers to deliver over-the-air up-dates using in-house software innova-tions—and to make Ford vehicles more resilient against cyber attack.
The war for talentAs the influence of AI, robotics, batteries, cybersecurity, cloud technology, software and materials innovations expands within
the industry, so too does the need to grow and sustain the professional talent base. In that regard the ongoing battle for engineers and scientists between Silicon Valley, the Midwest and other states is almost a moot point for Ford.
“If you’re a really gifted engineer or scientist you can work pretty much wherever you want,” Dr. Washington observed. “The key for Ford is to make our workplace a fun and intellectually invigorating place to be, in which you’re working on the challenging problems of society.”
He said the company, by having facili-ties in both Palo Alto and southeast Michigan, has learned that “if you have hard problems for people to solve, the top talent will gravitate to you. Being competitive on pay is a given. But you also must have the right environment and problems to solve. Talented people want to work on things that are meaningful.
“If you have all those things, you’ll attract the best,” he opined.
One of the first things he tells top candidates is, “If you don’t want to work in Michigan you don’t have to.” Ford’s Palo Alto site has been an effec-tive magnet for attracting talent to the Research and Advanced Engineering skills team. After opening the facility “with 12 people and a beanbag chair,” the staff now numbers over 200—with room to expand, Dr. Washington noted.
There’s also Corktown, the historic Detroit neighborhood in which Ford’s Team Edison has established its new headquarters. Charged with creating a sustainable business ecosystem around EVs, Team Edison “is a great example of how Ford is innovating on a business front,” Dr. Washington said. While the C
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“Our intellectual property portfolio has never been richer. We’re doing more
invention disclosures than ever.”
COVER STORY
CTOs’ FUTURE VISION
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CTOs’ FUTURE VISION
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STEEL THAT’S LIGHTER THAN STEELTM
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company believes EVs are the future, it also realizes for them to be profitable (and thus sustainable) the vehicles must be part of a systems solution with charg-ing, digital services, and connection to Ford’s Transportation Mobility Cloud.
Team Edison is tasked with helping Ford to think through how to stitch that holistic system together, a self-con-tained ‘atomic’ unit under one roof and outside the distractions in Dearborn. “This is really our ‘moonshot’—figuring out how to make electrified vehicles at scale in a way that will be a success for our consumers and also a success for the company and for the planet,” he noted. “They’re one of my most impor-tant customers as a research team.
“We’re giving them a hard problem to solve,” he said. “They’re bringing fresh thinking and ideas, in an environ-ment that’s close to the end customer. City dwellers will be the primary con-sumers for electrified vehicles, and the Corktown area in Detroit brings a differ-ent vibe than Dearborn or Ann Arbor.”
Ford Research gets ‘fit’Ford’s announcement that it plans to reduce overall costs by $20 billion
raised concerns across the company’s product-development groups. How will that initiative affect Research and Advanced Engineering?
“To use the athlete analogy, it’s no secret Ford as a company needs to be more fit so we can compete more ef-fectively,” Dr. Washington replied. “We know we can be more efficient in how we engineer and design the product, how we work together and operate the company. We’re convinced that we can achieve that fitness and take billions of dollars out of how we operate the company, while still being true to our mission of delivering great products and services.”
The stringent corporate ‘fitness’ pro-gram will not curb Ford’s Research and Advanced Engineering talent plans, he pledges: “We’re key to the fitness goals of the company. You must grow in areas of high strategic importance, and in the areas where you have technology gaps. So, my commitment to the company is to make my team fit—which means fund the most important things and fund less of those less important.”
Dr. Washington plans to bring tools and technology to Ford that will allow the company to take cost out of areas
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CTOs’ FUTURE VISION
“The big revolutions happening in Automotive take up almost 90% of
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COVER STORY
where it can while being more efficient in engineering. The goal is to do things that couldn’t be done previously, and at a lower cost point.
“For example, one area of advanced manufacturing we’re highly focused on is 3D printing. I’ve got a major effort in researching the ‘art of the possible’ in 3D/additive manufacturing. How far can we push the technology? How might it change the way we design? Our investment in Desktop Metal is part of this effort.”
Last March Ford announced it was leading a $65 million venture invest-ment in Desktop Metal, a promising 3D printing tech start-up. Dr. Washington joined Desktop Metal’s board of direc-tors as part of the agreement. The start-up also is backed by BMW, GE and TTI.
“It’s not a stretch to realize that one day, this investment in research might lead to a game-changing engineering-
design method in product develop-ment. It might allow us to make ve-hicles that are lower weight, or enable us to combine multiple parts to take cost out. Simplify manufacturing meth-ods. Reduce tooling costs. It’s an ex-ample of how, when you become more ‘fit’ in Research, you can take cost out of the product.”
Could 3D printing expertise create a new ‘Highland Park’ for Ford, ushering in a new era of manufacturing domi-
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nance? “It’s too early to estimate what it might become,” Dr. Washington said. “I can tell you that this is something we’re very serious about. We’re de-voted to understanding how we might transition from a research project to something that might make products that we manufacture.
“The revolution around autonomy and connected-car mobility is under-way!” he exclaimed. “And at Ford we’re all leaning in. It’s an exciting time.”
CTOs’ FUTURE VISION
“Technology on its own won’t matter unless we
bring it back to the company and bring it to life inside
Ford’s products, services and strategies.”
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING 24 June 2018
Silicon has joined iron and steel as a basic infra-structure material for autos—and the drive to-wards autonomy won’t slow that transition. Numerous tradeoffs will challenge automotive
engineers as solid-state sensors and graphics process-ing units (GPUs) join the microcontrollers that have been the workhorses of automotive electronics.
Microcontrollers are the foundation for the industry’s gains in fuel economy and infotainment, as well as the emergence of automated-driving features. They also underpin the expanding use of software to provide new features and functions.
“Software is becoming a larger part of total costs. We’re seeing decisions being made on the basis of legacy software, [but] using it means they don’t need software development. Managing the software explo-sion that comes when you have 40 modules talking to each other is a big challenge,” said Amrit Vivekanand, Vice President of Renesas’ Automotive Systems Business Division.
Microcontrollers have to process all that software at breakneck speeds while managing all the communica-tions between modules. They also have to simultaneously perform diagnostics and check the integrity of operations. Though clock speeds and throughput are necessities when automotive engineers choose microcontroller fami-lies, those aren’t the only important parameters.
Renesas’ Amrit Vivekanand explains how the software and semiconductors that underlie the industry’s rapid transition are rapidly evolving.
By Terry Costlow
Silicon drives autonomy movement
“When you look at the computing challenge, it’s not so much sim-ply wanting a lot of computing power; it’s computing power within a set power level. That impacts heat, which impacts reliability. Software is where power gets consumed. That has a lot to do with how you architect the chips,” noted Vivekanand, who earned an MS in Electrical Computer Engineering at Duke University.
When electronic engineers are establishing control architectures, there are always tradeoffs. Chip designers need to determine which functions can be transferred into hardware and where they want to retain flexibility with software. Doing everything in silicon yields low power consumption, but it increases chip size and reduces flexibility. Using software for every task shrinks die size, but power consump-tion pushes heat skyward.
Partner ecosystemsThose silicon-level choices highlight the complexity facing OEMs, which are integrating scores of semiconductors and millions of lines of software into one huge, mobile electromechanical system. The auto industry in turn is addressing this complexity by linking multiple partners in ecosystems.
“The main reason for building ecosystems is time-to-market. When the OEMs want something like a hypervisor, they could do it, but it’s quicker for them to deal with a company that is deeply involved in that technology, or any other technology,” Vivekanand explained.
These alliances can also agree on interfaces, something that’s an issue given the lack of standards and the number of variants in use. AUTOSAR and Adaptive AUTOSAR are helping; on the software side, the number of operating systems will make it difficult for smaller companies to create apps and maintain them.
“In something like safe operating systems, there are multiple ven-dors. Some companies think that being able to run apps on any of these will be easy. It’s not. If you’re a small third-party company, you can do one, or do three, but that’s about it. You can’t do them all,” Vivekanand said.
The transition to autonomy ripples out in many directions. It’s also changing views of safety. If an autonomous system on a driverless car fails, the vehicle may return control to humans.
“Today, people focus on functional safety, making sure systems fail BO
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Armit Vivekanand, Vice President of Renesas’ Automotive Systems Business Division.
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safely. Going forward with autonomous-vehicle architectures, you may not want things to fail safely, but to fail operationally so func-tions are still available to the driver when the autonomous capabili-ties aren’t there,” Vivekanand asserted.
On deck: GPUsThe explosion of safety-related sensors has also created an opening for GPUs, which process images from cameras, radar and LiDAR in-puts. These highly parallel microprocessors also are at the forefront of the artificial-intelligence revolution. The Renesas autonomy plat-form being developed with ecosystem partners includes GPUs and application-specific standard parts.
“We use GPUs for graphics. We do some in-house—they’re in our line—and we have a GPU license with Imagination Technology,” he noted. “For special applications like deep learning, we have some custom silicon IP. That’s the path we’re going down—we feel it’s very effective.”
The entire automotive supply chain is also grappling with connec-tivity and security. These intertwined issues impact most of the elec-tronic control units in a vehicle.
“Connectivity is not just communication between wireless, the cloud and the car. It’s also the communication inside the car, between modules, providing the ability to get data from sensors, to reflash modules, to get data in and out of the car,” Vivekanand said.
The security that is paramount for connected cars goes down to the microcontroller level. Chipmakers are putting trusted zones and encryption modules on many chips. But adding trusted zones can make it more difficult to analyze faults.
“It’s harder to lock a chip down; when you do, it’s harder to see
why chips fail. If a chip fails, you want to put it in a debug mode so you can see what happened. When things are locked down, it’s harder to debug. There are always tradeoffs,” Vivekanand explained.
Tradeoffs and transitions are occurring at all levels. Startups are beginning to play a more important role in the industry, adding a layer of complexity for OEMs. At the same time, there are changes in the large com-panies OEMs have relied on for years.
“There is a Tier 1 consolidation that makes it more difficult for OEMs to differentiate,” he said. “We’re see-ing system integrators being called in more and more to tie in software that OEMs are getting from some-times 20 or 30 companies.”
Some automakers are responding by doing more work themselves. Now that software is becoming a differentiator for various makes and models, some coding projects are being brought in-house. So chip-makers like Renesas increasingly need to write some basic programs that make it easy for design teams to run reference designs through their paces.
“There’s a big change in software, OEMs are doing more of their own software,” Vivekanand observed. “Chipmakers are also doing more software. Much of it is written so we are able to measure the metrics car-makers care about. When we want to position our-selves for an in-vehicle infotainment system, we use it to show that our chip systems meet all the speed and communications paths so carmakers can see how the chips work.”
Silicon drives autonomy movement
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CTOs’ FUTURE VISIONRenesas is adopting new strategies to deal with increasingly complex hardware and software networks and an expanding universe of software developers.
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There might be few more incisive examples of the industry’s organic technology transformation than what’s going on with Germany’s Schaeffler Group. The company’s name invariably arises in
discussion of key baseline technology for all manner of driveline systems. An engineer from GM’s Global Propulsion Systems, for example, recently noted that GM collaborated with Schaeffler for development of an innovative damper for GM’s new 8-speed automatic transmission that varies its effect based on the amount of torque-converter slippage dictated by the powertrain controller.
The Schaeffler Group includes the 113-year-old FAG brand that’s intimately associated with specialty bear-ings and clutch and friction-material specialist LuK. Schaeffler’s foundation essentially rests on the “ba-sics” of internal combustion-related technology.
Then what’s behind the company’s bricks-and-mor-tar in Silicon Valley and a new e-mobility business unit, both established early this year?
“Well, we’re certainly on a journey,” said Jeff Hemphill, Vice-President and Chief Technical Officer of the Schaeffler Group for the Americas, in a recent in-terview with Automotive Engineering. “The technical founding of the company is the cage-guided needle roller bearing—it’s about the least-electronic product you could think of,” he quipped.
Schaeffler Group is blending longstanding mechanical-systems expertise with critical investment in electrification and autonomy
By Bill Visnic
Automotive propulsion ‘On a journey’
But with responsibility for new-product development, analysis and testing of transmission, engine and chassis components and systems for conventionally- and hybrid-powered vehicles, Hemphill and Schaeffler are enmeshed in the adoption of electrified technology and features that has become the byword of almost all major multinational suppliers.
What’s ‘new’ isn’t, reallyIt’s no secret, of course, that suppliers of “traditional” mechanical components and systems have for years been electrifying. “It’s been 10 or 15 years, probably, that we got into what you would probably call ‘mechatronics’ or lead systems,” Hemphill said. “That was started on the transmission side and now also on the engine side. We do a lot of actuation for dual-clutch transmissions, for example.
“And those are smart actuators with embedded microcontrollers and software and functional safety readings and the whole works. So, we now have a product that’s got our mechanical bits in it but, also has a printed circuit board and sensors and software with it.
“So we actually have quite a lot of experience with that. And, our mechanical background has really helped us with that,” he said.
One of the things the company is most proud of is its degree of integration. Hemphill cites development of a new hybrid module, for which the design engineers and production people collaborated closely on the component and system levels—and devised new ways to integrate it all.
“That has been for us pretty powerful,” he said. “In that hybrid module it allowed us to take out, I want to say, 60 mm of axial length compared to the customer’s original request—just because we [al-ready] make the torque converters. And we were therefore able to figure out a different way to connect it to the electric motor that took out a lot of space. So, it did turn out not to be that bad of a back-ground for an electrical and mechatronic company.”
One word: softwareFor Schaeffler, the process of evolving mechatronics effectively led to another important evolution, said Hemphill: development of soft-ware—as well as associated electronics-controls “skills”—vital for the new integrated business models the auto sector has come to de-mand. Is it now inescapable that fully-integrated suppliers must have A
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Jeff Hemphill, Vice-President and Chief Technical Officer of the Schaeffler Group for the Americas.
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software-development competency?“It varies by what product we’re talking about,”
Hemphill explained. “For some of our actuators [and other modules], let’s say, there’s a line drawn, usually, between the supplier and the OEM regarding who does how much of the software.”
On some programs Schaeffler may provide a simple interface where the customer specifies a torque value. On others, Schaeffler has greater ownership of the control strategy, and so on. “It just depends on the project, but we certainly have hundreds of people do-ing software now,” he said, adding that the total per-centage of the R&D staff doing software is still less than half the total.
Hemphill, himself holder of more than 100 issued or filed patents, said Schaeffler’s global R&D workforce currently numbers well more than 6000 persons. For major suppliers, he explained, today’s R&D environ-ment is comprised of internally-driven research and response to customer requests for certain develop-ments or innovations.
“I would say it’s a combination of both,” he observed. “We’re certainly proud of our innovative capacity. And we also have developed over the years—because we make parts throughout the powertrain or even through-out the vehicle—we can take system-level perspective on things and sometimes arrive at some unique solutions.”
Schaeffler engineers often demonstrate their technol-ogy solutions to global customers, sometimes using demo vehicles co-developed with the OEMs.
“And then sometimes the OEM will come to us with an idea, and we’ll take that on and execute it. So, it’s a mix and we’re pretty happy with our contribution there,” he asserted.
But the challenges facing the industry go beyond any one OEM or multiple OEMs and one supplier. We’re all thinking our brains out here,” he said.
Proximity to techSchaeffler’s new Silicon Valley site in San Jose is evidence of its in-tent to keep pace—and not necessarily just with electrification. Although integrated wheel-hub motors are one of the company’s most-visible developments aimed at the coming twin waves of elec-trification and automation, Hemphill believes being in California’s tech ‘nest’ is the right move to help identify and analyze new busi-ness models.
“Out in the Valley there is someone thinking about everything. If you can pick out a couple [ideas] that end up being right and help them get going, you can really be part of something big,” he said. And, it’s a good place to scout for startups which have potentially useful technology.
“e-Mobility hybridization in electric vehicles is certainly a growing area. And probably the bulk of our projects are dedicated to those,” Hemphill revealed. “But we do keep a certain piece of R&D forward-focused in free-thinking kind of research and advanced development just to make sure that we’re trying to lead the curve as well as keep-ing up with it.”
Hemphill describes Schaeffler Group as “pretty bullish” on full-electric vehicles and electric propulsion. He cites a U.S. forecast that shows EV market penetration “in the mid-20s” by 2030—with a high-er percentage globally. “It is a lot easier to add lengths to an electric motor than to add a bank of cylinders to an engine!” he exclaimed.
But even with such an optimistic forecast, about 70% of the vehicle fleet will still have a combustion engine and therefore some form of transmission with it—even if it has an electric motor on board.
“It’s almost a matter of degree where the combustion engine will be around for a long time. It may have an electric motor with it. We have to be prepared to engineer both of those and put them togeth-er into an intelligent system,” he asserted.
And it’s a similar outlook for autonomy. One of the concepts Schaeffler Group showed at its 2018 technical symposium in Baden-Baden is called the eCorner. Featuring an integrated electric wheel mo-tor, eCorner is specifically designed for autonomous operation—think robo-taxis or delivery vehicles. And Schaeffler is preparing to spin off a company to produce its Bio Hybrid (see image above).
“There’s every possibility out there,” he said. “We basically just want to be close to the leading edge and have an earlier chance to assess where it might go and not go—and where to get involved.”
Automotive propulsion ‘On a journey’
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CTOs’ FUTURE VISIONSchaeffler intends to produce its Bio Hybrid micro-mobility concept, a vehicle that could be seen as symbolic of the company’s intent to stretch well beyond its mechanical-components roots.
Schaeffler believes electric drive motors integrated
into the wheel can revolutionize the development ofelectric-vehicle
architectures.
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING 28 June 2018
The auto industry’s increasing use of mixed-material body structures, and the wide array of joining technologies accom-panying them, are paving the way for a new value construct for the steel industry. OEMs are now willing to pay over three
times the cost of conventional carbon steel, experts say, for new ma-terial solutions that reduce vehicle mass while retaining crash integ-rity and overall durability.
“The trend to using dissimilar metals has ripped the lid off of tech-nology constraints and opened up an entirely new universe for ve-hicle designers,” noted Eric Petersen, VP of Research and Innovation at AK Steel.
Petersen and others credit Ford’s bold switch, beginning in 2015, to aluminum-intensive structures for its F-Series pickups and large SUVs, for spurring a new round of incorporating steel innovations into vehicle designs. It’s akin to the 1980s when steel rose to new challenges presented by engineered plastics for body panels.
“Since the year 2000 the steel industry has doubled its number of automotive-spec steel alloys, to 200 grades,” said Petersen. “And there’s so much more coming as we look at medium- and high-man-ganese alloys and the opportunities that extend beyond them.”
The new high-strength and advanced high-strength (HSS and AHSS) alloys now in use, and those so-called Generation 3 products in the pipeline for 2020-2022, enable engineers to downgauge components and consolidate parts in an assembly. These and other new develop-ments, including the ‘Smart Steel’ product from Material Sciences Corp. (see below), are giving body engineers the opportunity to re-duce structure mass by 30% compared with conventional mild steels.
Even with their price premium and, for some applications, more costly processes such as hot stamping, the new automotive-grade steels are still expected to beat aluminum in cost.
“That cost barrier [vs. aluminum] tends to be whether an OEM is looking at a 2G design change or a 3G,” Petersen explained—2G being a simple step-change in material gauge, versus the bigger leap into a new part geometry, or 3G change. The Generation 3 steels feature higher tensile strengths, improved formability, and more opportunities
for downgauging and part consolidation. Constant innovation by steelmakers has kept steel
the dominant material for automotive body construc-tion. It accounts for over 55% of vehicle curb weight: 36% of that is mainly mild steel sheet; 13% is HSS/bake hardened; 6% is AHSS and 1% is UHSS, according to materials analysts Ducker Worldwide. By comparison, aluminum accounts for 11% of vehicle curb weight.
Some 63 new steel-intensive vehicles—ranging from the Honda Accord and Tesla Model 3 to the Ram 1500 and Chevrolet Silverado—were unveiled at major North American auto shows during the past 12 months, according to industry executives at the 2018 Great Designs in Steel conference in Michigan.
“The steel industry never rests on advancing its game,” an SPE-awarded plastics engineer told Automotive Engineering during GDIS. “That’s why you see plastics guys like me at this event.”
New 3rd generation AHSSAn example of lightweighting steels are the two ‘fami-lies’ of AK Steel’s Nexmet™. One is a low-carbon, bake-hardenable alloy called Nexmet 440EX designed for closures and other Class-A surface applications. It of-fers high strength and increased formability with im-proved dent resistance, according to the company.
“With 440EX, we were able to take ‘the battle’ on closures directly to aluminum,” Petersen explained. “Typically for Class-A applications you’re limited on the level of strength you can bring from an alloying perspective. The 440EX enables customers to down-gauge—to potentially as low as 0.50 mm. With this we’ve seen over 20% weight reductions over existing bake-hardened Class-A type products.”
STEELING FOR REDUCED MASS AND HIGHER STRENGTH
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Honda Motor Co. is among the industry’s leading exponents of increasing HSS and AHSS content in its production body structures for increased crashworthiness, reduced NVH and improved vehicle dynamics. The 2019 Acura RDX body shown during build now features 56% HSS, vs. 47% in the previous model.
New 3rd-generation AHSS and steel-polymer laminates are sparking significant mass reduction—and taking a bite out of aluminum’s business.
by Lindsay Brooke
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The second Nexmet family, 1000 and 1200, is a 3rd-generation AHSS aimed at body-in-white structural applications. Introduced in 2017, these alloys enable gauge reductions and opportunities for 3G part-geometry changes. Both are cur-rently in customer trials. Last year AK Steel purchased a company called Precision Partners which allows the steel-maker to start stamping its new products before its OEM customers finish their qualifications or run stamping tests.
“We did a front-end study on a pickup truck with Nexmet 440EX as well as the 1000 and 1200, and achieved about a 30% weight reduction in the vehicle’s front end—with global formability of the Nexmet 1200 nearly equivalent to a du-al-phase 590 AHSS,” Peterson said. He explained that such capabilities create opportunities both in cold stamping and enable customers to take hot-stamped components and make them out of the cold-stamped Nexmet product.
“That provides cost savings and de-sign opportunities,” he said.
Steel gets ‘Smart’Along with new alloys are what some experts dub ‘hybrid steel’ solutions—steel/plastic laminates—that are also engineered for mass reduction. Material Sciences Corp.’s new Smart Steel will launch on three continents in MY2019 and employs technology similar to that of the company’s Quiet Steel acoustic-focused products that have helped re-duce cabin noise by up to 5 dB in a va-riety of vehicles since 2003.
Quiet Steel features a viscoelastic, 0.02 mm (0.00078 in) polymer sheet sandwiched between two stamped-steel skins. The material is spot-welded into floor pan tunnels, dash panels and other areas of the body-in-white. Micro-level shearing, caused by the panels moving against each other when at-tenuated, dampen the noise. In addition to its acoustic properties, Quiet Steel also has enabled mass reduction by eliminating various add-on NVH mastics and blankets. MSC engineers leveraged the Quiet Steel laminate technology to FR
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STEELING FOR REDUCED MASS AND HIGHER STRENGTH
AK Steel’s new 3rd generation Nexmet 1000 and 1200 alloys are engineered to provide significantly improved formability at higher ultimate tensile strength levels. Their microstructures contain martensite, bainite and retained austenite for high strength with superior elongation and hole-expansion ratio, claims the company.
HSS content in the latest-generation Honda Odyssey, a vehicle in the vanguard of body engineering and smart materials use.
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create Smart Steel, explained Matt Murphy, VP Engineered Solutions at MSC’s Canton, MI tech center.
“Rather than using a thin, viscoelastic middle-layer as in Quiet Steel, the polymer in Smart Steel is an extruded product,” explained Murphy. “We take four to five poly-mer components, including one with embedded steel fibers, compound them into our formulation, and ex-trude rolls of sheet that is about the width of the [steel] coil,” he said. “Then we laminate that sheet between two monolithic metal skins.”
For the body-in-white components, the polymer core of Smart Steel is 0.38 mm (0.015 in), vs. the 0.02 mm core of Quiet Steel (and 0.025 mm in MSC’s Quiet Aluminum). The steel outer sheets are thin and “very formable—basically like a cold-rolled product,” Murphy said.
He explained that Smart Steel was developed for applications to replace monolithic steel “high in the body,” Murphy explained—“close-outs, roof panels, package trays, brackets. It’s not a replace-ment for the high-tensile martensite or 1180 dual-phase alloys used in cross-car beams, B-pillars or rockers.”
Body-in-white applications are attracting most OEM attention, in-cluding high interest in pickup-truck bumpers. “With this product we can take the weight of those big chrome pickup bumpers down from an average 35 pounds today, to 25 pounds.” CAE simulations for off-set crash performance are “very favorable,” he said. MSC is also work-ing with forming-simulation software suppliers to develop new tech-niques to model Smart Steel for springback and other characteristics, correlating the modeling with the first set of production tools.
MSC has been awarded several vehicle programs by the OEM that is launching Smart Steel for MY19. Dies have been built for upper-body parts and the Production Part Approval Process (P-PAPP) is under way, according to Murphy.
“The cool thing about Smart Steel is it will spot-weld into the body with existing welding equipment. That’s the key,” Murphy said. “While the engineering community often thinks of aluminum related to lightweighting, that requires a change in supply chain and joining processes in the body shop. With Smart Steel, you run it through the same dies as with monolithic steel, spot-weld it into the body, run it through e-coat and paint—and save up to 35% in mass.”
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Acoustic Sensors
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING 32 June 2018
The Two Wheelers division of Indian tractor and automotive giant Mahindra & Mahindra has been riding a strategic growth curve in recent years. With its scooters and small-displacement (up to 300cc) commuter motorcycles popular in the home
market, Mahindra is moving into international markets with larger ma-chines under two iconic bike brands: Jawa and BSA, the latter acquired by Mahindra in 2016. Jawa machines are built under license.
To meet the increasingly stringent exhaust emission and noise reg-ulations across global motorcycle markets, engineers at the Mahindra Two Wheelers R&D Centre at Pune adopted numerical simulation tools early in the development cycle of a recent single-cylinder four-stroke, liquid-cooled model. They used multiphysics simulation to study the NVH (noise, vibration, and harshness) performance of the engine, including its intake and exhaust systems. The knowledge gained from these studies enabled the development team to improve the new engine’s structural design and achieve desired noise levels.
The simulation software, COMSOL Multiphysics, also “helped to significantly reduce the number of design iterations that we had to go through, thereby saving time,” noted Niket Bhatia, Deputy Manager R&D, Mahindra.
Achieving optimal noise levelsInternal combustion engines contain many sources of noise, including the intake and combustion processes, pistons, gears, valve train, and exhaust systems. Combustion noise is due to structural vibrations caused by a rapid pressure rise within the cylinders. These vibrations continue from the powertrain to the engine casings through bearings, radiating noise.
Acoustics analysis solely through physical testing can be an expen-sive and time-consuming process. The team at Mahindra decided to complement physical testing with acoustics modeling to analyze how the engine’s structure might encourage noise radiation. The research goal was to find the parts of the engine that generate the most noise and come up with changes to the structure that could reduce it.
Using the multiphysics software, the researchers performed an acoustic-radiation analysis of a single-cylinder ICE under combustion load. The engineers enclosed the engine ‘skin’ in a computational do-main surrounded by a perfectly matched layer (PML). PMLs dampen
the outgoing waves with little or no reflections. This allows for accurate results while reducing the size of the computational domain.
The team decided to focus their analysis in the 800 Hz to 2000 Hz frequency range, as physical experi-ments indicated that the motorcycle’s engine noise radiation under combustion load was dominant in that region of the acoustic spectrum. This choice allowed the team to save computational resources and better understand what areas radiate the most noise.
Based on this analysis, the sound pressure level (SPL) was studied and modifications, such as increasing rib height and wall thickness and strengthening the mount-ing location, were made to the cylinder head and block. By adjusting these parameters, reduction in SPL was achieved at the targeted frequency range.
Both intake and exhaust noise are major contribu-tors to pass-by-noise. [See SAE J2825, “Measurement of Exhaust Sound Pressure Levels of Stationary On-Highway Motorcycles” (https://www.sae.org/stan-dards/content/j2825_200905/)]. Noise radiating from the air filter structure, usually made of plastic, is one of the major contributors to intake noise. An acoustic transfer function (ATF) analysis was carried out for the plastic air filter walls. The air filter structure was modi-fied by providing ribs to improve the ATF. This helped in reducing the structural noise of the air filter.
Born to be mild Regulatory requirements are always competing with customer demands in the motorcycle sector. Many rid-ers prefer the louder exhaust note that continues to be perceived as an indicator of the motorcycle’s power, as well as being part of the thrill of two-wheeler owner-ship. Within the constraint of pass-by noise regulations, the challenge for Mahindra engineers was to increase their machines’ low-frequency exhaust ‘rumble’ while reducing the sound level for higher frequencies. CO
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Multiphysics simulation is part of the development toolset at Mahindra Two Wheelers, as the Indian motorcycle and scooter maker expands into global markets with larger bikes.
by Mads Herring Jensen
CAD geometry of a Mahindra liquid-cooled single (left) with meshed 3D model enclosed in a PML.
Balancing the RUMBLE and ROAR
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING June 2018 33
SIMULATION | ACOUSTICS FEATURE
While attenuation of engine exhaust noise is the primary function of the bike’s muffler, factors such as the ability to provide low back pressure and meet pass-by-noise regulations also need to be considered. The performance of a muffler in an automotive ex-haust system is characterized by three parameters: transmission loss, insertion loss, and radiated noise levels. Transmission loss is considered the most impor-tant parameter, and it is determined solely by the muf-fler design and is independent of the pressure source.
The challenge for the Mahindra team was to predict the transmission loss for a motorcycle muffler and then optimize the loss to desired levels for a certain frequency range.
A muffler of a single cylinder, liquid-cooled four-stroke motorcycle engine was considered for the anal-ysis. Transmission loss analysis of the muffler was car-ried out using COMSOL Multiphysics.
With the Acoustics Module, boundary conditions such as continuity and sound hard wall were applied at appropriate locations. Perforations in pipes were defined by giving porosity details for the perforated area using a built-in transfer impedance model. The inputs required for analysis were the area porosity, baffle and pipe thick-ness, and diameter of holes.
For porous materials such as the glass wool often used to pack motorcycle mufflers, flow resistivity was defined with a poroacoustic model available in the software. Unit pressure was given as input at the inlet and a plane wave radiation condition was applied to both inlet and outlet boundaries. Based on the results, the muffler design was modified by increasing the pipe length inside the muffler.
With the modified muffler, the team achieved reduced transmis-sion loss at low frequencies. As a result, the desired outcome of in-creased noise levels at low frequencies—that ‘song of the road’ that so many bike riders love, was achieved.
Benefits of early-design optimization Mahindra engineering executives praised the software’s flexibility. And available tools such as the COMSOL API allowed the team “to carry out process automation using Java code which, while dealing with acoustic analysis for example, enabled us to use different meshes for different frequency steps to find the right compromise between simulation ac-curacy and computational times,” said Ulhas Mohite, Manager of R&D.
He noted that the toolset also enabled the automatic export of de-sired outputs such as surface SPL plots and far-field SPL data in the middle of the simulation run. “This helped save a lot of time with re-spect to manual postprocessing and exporting the data,” he said. The Application Builder tool available in COMSOL was also found to be useful. The team created a simulation app to compare analysis output files and plot the SPL data—“a great time saver,” Mohite explained.
Analysis results proved to be very closely correlated with physical experiment data. With simulation, the Mahindra engineers were able to take corrective actions by carrying out structural modifications based on analysis results early in the design stage. This helped re-duce both time and cost involved in product development.
“When supported with experiments, these simulations lead us in the right direction to find an efficient solution to motorcycle noise issues,” concluded Bhatia.
Author Mads Herring Jensen, Ph.D, is Technical Product Manager, Acoustics at COMSOL.CO
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Modified airbox design, featuring ribs to improve the ATF. Simulation results (graph) show a reduction in the structural noise for the modified air filter design.
Mahindra’s 300cc Mojo model is the first of larger-displacement bikes under development for the Indian and global markets.
Transmission loss (TL) comparison between different designs. The modified design is characterized by reduced transmission loss at low frequencies and increased transmission loss at high frequencies. The modified design achieved the sought-after ‘rumbling’ exhaust tone while meeting regulations.
Balancing the RUMBLE and ROAR
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING 34 June 2018
Arguably the pinnacle of auto racing technol-ogy, the World Endurance Championship’s 24 Hours of Le Mans is in a period of transi-tion for 2018-19. The FIA sanctioning body
has dubbed this period a “super season” for the WEC, during which rules for the 2020 race are being formu-lated. The goal: attract factory teams back to the world’s premier endurance event, the 86th running of which is set for June 16-17, 2018.
Last year, Porsche and Toyota were the sole factory contenders in the excruciatingly expensive Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1) category. After notching its 19th win in the endurance classic, Porsche quit the WEC, citing plans to instead focus on the vastly cheaper battery-electric Formula E series.
“This realignment of motorsport activities for Porsche stems from the direction set out for the com-pany in Porsche Strategy 2025, which will see Porsche develop a combination of pure GT vehicles and fully electric sports cars,” the automaker explained in a statement regarding its decision to make 2017 its last in WEC racing.
Porsche’s departure left Toyota with no factory-backed rival for this year’s race. In response, the FIA scrambled to formulate less costly (read: not requiring hybrid technology) LMP1 rules that would let private teams challenge Toyota for the win in this prestigious class. The strategy generated a field of eight cars—fielded by five teams—to take on the engineering might of Toyota using chassis and engines available from traditional racing suppliers.
At the 2018 running of the
24 Hours of Le Mans, managing fuel consumption is
vital for Prototype-class victory. Do the new privateers have a chance?
By Dan Carney
LE MANS 2018: can anyone beat Toyota’s hybrids?
Fuel energy and consumption rulesThe interim regulations for 2018/19 give private non-hybrid LMP1 teams 210.9 megajoules (58.6 kW·h) of fuel energy per lap of the 13.62 km (8.47 mi) circuit, compared to the 124.9 MJ (34.7 kW·h) available to the Toyota TS050 Hybrid LMP1-H. Its hybrid-electric drive will add another 8 MJ (2.2 KW·h) per lap.
In addition to limits for total fuel consumption, the FIA also restricts instantaneous fuel flow, limiting the factory hybrid cars to an 80 kg/h rate, compared to 110 kg/h for the non-hybrid privateers. Combustion-engine displacement is unlimited for LMP1, while LMP1-H cars are lim-ited to a maximum displacement of 5.5 L. Finally, the non-hybrid cars are allowed to run 45 kg (99 lb) lighter, with a minimum mass of 833 kg (1836 lb), versus 878 kg (1936 lb) for Toyota’s hybrids.
Engines are limited to a maximum of four conventional poppet valves per cylinder and electromagnetic, hydraulic and pneumatic valve-actuation systems are forbidden. Variable valve timing and lift systems are not allowed, but teams are free to employ high-tech plasma, laser and other high-frequency ignition systems.
LMP1 fuel tanks are limited to 75-L (19.8-gal) capacity, which corre-sponds to the FIA’s 52.9 kg (116.6 lb) fuel limit, while LMP1-H’s fuel capac-ity is set at 35.2 kg (77.6 lb), corresponding to a 50-L (13.2-gal) fuel tank.
Engine ancillary systems can be driven mechanically from the en-gine or electrically by dedicated electric motors, but if they are elec-tric, the drive cannot also be connected to the engine mechanically. Power brakes are prohibited and calipers must be aluminum and con-tain a maximum of six pistons. Brake rotor material is unrestricted, but diameter is limited to 15 in (37.5 cm).
The overall intent is to give lower-budget privateer LMP1 teams a glimpse of opportunity to unseat the Toyota “works” juggernaut. And over the course of 24 hours, it is entirely possible that could happen—as Toyota saw in 2016 when, while leading on the last lap, B
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Toyota’s TS050 is favored to winthe LMP1 category this year - but it won’t befrom lack of trying from privateer teams newlypermitted to use non-hybrid drivetrains.
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING June 2018 35
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MOTORSPORTS TECH | LE MANS PROTOTYPES FEATURE
a breakdown handed victory to Porsche.“Our obvious target is delivering a significant step-up compared to
the past, but honestly, we are raising our game,” said ByKolles team principal Manfredi Ravetto. “We are proud of being manufacturers in LMP1, which is the ideal stage for our constantly-growing structure. And we are grateful to ACO and FIA for organizing and promoting such a championship, nowadays second to none in the world.”
But in pre-season testing—and in the 2018 season-opening race at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps—the Toyota TS050 Hybrids en-joyed a decisive advantage over the non-hybrid privateers, even while they probably were sandbagging to avoid any further handicapping
for the Le Mans race.The Toyota TS050s finished first and second at Spa,
with a race pace of 1:57.805, which was 1.2 seconds faster per lap than the third-place Rebellion R13 non-hybrid. In qualifying, the gap between the Toyota’s and the rest of the field was 2 seconds, before the pole-winning TS050 had its time disallowed for an administrative mistake regarding replacement of a fuel-flow limiter.
Inside Toyota’s TS050Toyota is aiming to make Le Mans history in 2018, with a goal of running a record distance to demonstrate the TS050’s speed. Indeed, in 2017 the car already set a record lap time, while using 35% less fuel compared to the team’s 2012 car.
Team engineers note that they have made “small but productive” upgrades to the TS050’s aerodynam-ics compared to last year and have added a Gentex-supplied rear-view camera to help spot overtaking cars. Rear-view cameras are a new requirement for 2018, but probably not be terribly important for the Toyotas unless they break down. The team says it also
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Results from the WEC’s 6-hour race at Spa-Francorchamps this year suggest the Toyota Gazoo Racing TS050 will be difficult to beat at the Le Mans 24-hour event.
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING 36 June 2018
Dragonspeed and Russia’s SMP Racing employ the BR Engineering BR1, a car designed by Russia’s BR Engineering and constructed by Italy’s Dallara.
If these various chassis don’t provide enough variety of potential, consider the engines the teams are using. Rebellion and Dragonspeed both chose Gibson Technology’s GL458 4.5-L V8.
ByKolles is attempting to salvage some glory for the Nissan Nismo VRX 30A, a twin-turbo, direct-injected gasoline 3.0-L, 60-degree V6 that originated in Nissan’s 2015 front-drive GT-R LM Nismo car.
SMP Racing’s entry is fitted with an AER-supplied twin-turbo V8 producing more than 800 hp (596 kW) and 590 lb·ft (800 N·m). By comparison, the CEFC TRSM team uses a Mecachome V364 3.4-L reverse-flow, single-turbo V6. It’s a development of the company’s LMP2 engine, updated with direct injection and a modified turbo-charger, combustion chamber, pistons and valves. Though Mecachrome produces most of the engine components at its factory in France, the valves are sourced from Zanzi, valve springs from NHK and Pankl provides the pistons and connecting rods.
“The project for this new V6 engine started about two and a half years ago,” noted Bruno Engelric, Mecachrome’s Motorsport Director. “We agreed to build new engines for the GP3 Series and FIA Formula 2 Championship, so when the LMP1 program was launched, it was obvious that this engine would be the perfect basis.”
Gibson Technology’s rival GL458 4.5-L V8 LMP1 engine for Rebellion is based on the company’s 600-hp (447-kW), 410-lb·ft (556 N·m) GK428 LMP2 power unit.
Gibson won’t specify the GL458’s output, but John Manchester, Gibson Technology’s Operations Director, claimed a “significant” in-crease over the GK428’s rating. The LMP1 engine (based on the LMP2) employs about 30% different parts, including the crankshaft, rods and pistons. “We put in a lot of work on weight reduction, in-cluding some significant materials changes,” he said.
“The timeframes required meant that a ‘ground up’ design could not have been achieved in under six months,” Manchester explained, while meeting cost targets.
Among the privateers, cost-effectiveness is all important. And it is significant to manufacturers as well. Expect to see limits on costly technologies when the FIA issues rules for the 2020 WEC season.
MOTORSPORTS TECH | LE MANS PROTOTYPES FEATURE
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has modified the car’s 1000-hp (746-kW) hybrid-elec-tric powertrain for improved reliability.
“Unlike previous years, the upgrades on our 2018 car are limited,” stated Pascal Vasselon, Toyota Gazoo Racing technical director. “In addition to reliability im-provements on the powertrain, we updated the cool-ing system and developed the bodywork within our 2017 homologation.”
In terms of outright performance, Toyota has since 2014 had “a car fast enough to win Le Mans on three occasions, with no fundamental reliability issues,” Vasselon asserted. “Nevertheless, we failed every time to win so we had to do something about it.”
The TS050 carries over its twin-turbocharged, di-rect-injected 2.4-L gasoline V6 producing an an-nounced 500 hp (373 kW) and supplemented by an Aisin AW-supplied traction motor driving the car’s front wheels and a Denso e-motor on the rear axle. They combine for an additional 500 official horsepow-er, with power routed from the lithium-ion battery pack through a Denso inverter.
Race teams habitually underrate their car’s perfor-mance to avoid tipping their hands to competitors or regulators—the conveniently round numbers Toyota claims seem a sure sign of that conservative approach, so the TS050’s true power output surely is higher.
Chinese and Russian privateersFor the privateers, the challenge is to identify the most competitive possibilities from the available chas-sis and engines to produce cars that will beat their fellow privateers, while keeping close enough to Toyota to be able to capitalize on any problems they might encounter during the grueling 24-hour race.
For chassis, Switzerland’s Rebellion Racing commis-sioned LMP2 constructor and longtime Le Mans stal-wart Oreca to create its R13 racecar. Austria’s ByKolles Racing runs a Lotus Racing-designed chassis that the team calls the ENSO CLM P1/01.
The Chinese CEFC TRSM Racing team fields a Ginetta G60-LT-P1 chassis, while both America’s
Chinese CEFC TRSM Racing team fields a Ginetta G60-LT-P1 chassis in its attempt to win the LMP1 class at the 2018 24-hours of Le Mans.
The Mecachrome V364 reverse flow single-turbo V6 that powers the CEFC TRSM 2018 Le Mans entry.
LE MANS 2018: can anyone beat Toyota’s hybrids?
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Maximum additive manufacturingMAKEiT’s (Alhambra, CA) MaxAM provides maximum build vol-ume for additive manufacturing ap-plications. It offers 3D-printed parts to a build envelope of 3 x 6 x 3 ft (0.91 x 1.82 x 0.91 m). The com-pany claims MaxAM has an “incredibly precise” XY position accuracy of 0.0005 in (12 micron) that is suitable for complex prototype fitment, functional testing, display models, mold making, and tooling. Flexible feeding stock option, such as PLA, PETG, and TPU, allows for a range of design possibilities with MAKEiT MaxAM. Features like automatic leveling, all-in-one onboard computer, and remote WiFi/cellular monitoring enhance reli-ability and workflow. Made to order in the USA, MaxAM has two sizes from which to choose: 2 x 4 ft (0.60 x 1.21 m) printing area or 3 x 6 ft (0.91 x 1.82 m) envelope for a user’s business needs (including network security, sizing and in-stallation options).
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High-pressure hydrogen flow meter The TCMH 0450 high-pressure TRICOR Coriolis flow meter from KEM Küppers Elektromechanik GmbH (Karlsfeld, Germany) and AW-Lake Company (Oak Creek, WI) is the world’s first MI-002/OIML137 certified Coriolis flow meter for hydrogen dispensing applications, claim the companies. According to KEM Küppers Elektromechanik and AW-Lake, by securing this certification, the TCMH 0450 can now be used in custody transfer applications—specifically in hydrogen dispens-ing stations for the fast-growing hydrogen-powered vehicle market. A recent industry report by Research and Markets pre-dicts that over 22.2 million hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will be sold or leased worldwide generating collective revenues up-wards of $1.1 trillion for the auto industry. By using the TCMH 0450 flow meter, companies can sell hydrogen fuel to end us-ers with taxation. Without a certified fuel dispenser, the taxa-tion of hydrogen is not possible.
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SPOTLIGHT: ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS
Solid state plug-in relayRobust in construction, Eberspächer’s (Esslingen, Germany) solid state plug-in power mini relay (12 V/100 A) offers a reli-able component for con-trolling and switching electric loads, such as in passenger cars, commer-cial vehicles, off roaders or industrial applications. The compact high-power solid state plug-in relay features low control pow-
er, short response times, is silent and non-wearing in op-eration. According to the company, a further advantage the compact device offers over electromechanical relays is its long service life of several million switching cycles. It is able to carry 125 A permanently at 25°C (77°F), and for a few minutes at 85°C (185°F). With a nominal contact resis-tance of just 290 µΩ, the relay features high current carry-ing capacity with little heat build-up.
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Common mode chokes TT Electronics’ (Woking, UK) HA19 series of common mode chokes are designed for use in electronic power steering (EPS) noise suppression appli-cations. With high perfor-mance and AECQ-200 certifi-cation, the devices are auto-motive ready for the new gen-eration of motor vehicles. The series is comprised of three parts with standard inductance values, ranging from 11 µH to 75 µH, which have been demonstrated to be suitable for re-ducing line-conducted inference in the circuitry. The HA19 series offers high reliability and current handling from 26.5 A to 44 A (and even higher over-current withstanding) in a rug-ged construction. Their -40 to +125°C (-40 to +257°F) operat-ing temperature range makes them suitable for high stress automotive environments. TT Electronics claims the HA19 series is a proven solution to eliminate noise emission induced by high radiated frequencies and low conducted frequencies in system circuitry, enabling EPS system designers to improve EMI robustness, ensuring safe vehicle operation.
For more information, visit http://info.hotims.com/70468-401
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING June 2018 37
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.
To develop the most capable mid-size SUV in the market, we continually refine and push the vehicle technology and capabil-ity envelopes. The Jeep Cherokee has consistently proven its off-road superiority with its class exclusive 56:1 low-range crawl ratio, locking rear differential axle and 9-speed transmission. This would not happen without a team of dedicated engineers who are also off-road enthusiasts outside of the office.
Our system controls are designed to handle extreme capa-bility while also being durable. They protect many kinds of components including the driveline. I would also like to point
out that each and every terrain mode in the Jeep Cherokee has been tuned for the correspond-ing condition, and this tuning does alter the on-road and off-road capabilities.
It is great to hear Mr. Grady’s passion for Jeep is alive and well when it comes to his long-time ownership and historical knowl-edge of our vehicles.
On the continued “progress” side—while we engineer and build for a wide range of cus-tomers, he may be aware that our all-new Jeep Wrangler still does include many “utilitarian” options such as a manual trans-fer case, full locking front and rear axles and a manual trans-mission. In today’s expanding and challenging SUV environ-ment, it remains a paragon of capability, utility, technology and safety.
Jeff Lux Head of Transmission
Powertrain, FCA - North America
Motivo EngineeringYour April article on Motivo Engineering showed how new approaches to engineering management are a positive trend for our profession. I’ve heard Praveen Penmetsa speak at in-dustry events here in SoCal—he appears to be the type of boss we all wish we had: a listener, open-minded and focused not only on the customer but also on his team. Sign me up.
Jerry Roth
Cold-climate HVAC testingAs an engineer I’ve spent much of my career in chassis and brake systems development at both OEMs and suppliers. For many years I’ve worked in the snow and ice at Bemidji, Minnesota and Kapuskasing, Ontario. The annual routine has included countless flights into Arvidsjaur Airport for vehicle testing (watch for reindeer!) on Sweden’s frozen lakes. Your May cover story about Hyundai’s EV and FCEV testing at Arjeplog brought the “cold-weather test life” of many of us into greater visibility.
How has this unique aspect of automotive development changed over the years? Two things: Despite use of increas-ingly accurate simulation tools, engineers still have to drive ve-hicles in actual winter conditions in order to fully develop and vali-date HVAC and other systems. Also, clothing materials continue to improve so that we now actu-ally stay warm at -20 deg C!
Matt RussellMetamora, MI
Good article in your May issue about the challenges of devel-oping Fuel Cell vehicles for all-weather operation. Nothing beats real-world testing in ther-mal extremes, and FCs have their own set of quirks. The Hyundai hydrogen technology appears to be head-of-class.
Dynodoug82
Jeep 4wd progressEditor’s note: The following Feedback from FCA - North America’s Head of Transmission Powertrain Jeff Lux is a re-sponse to a March letter we published from reader and long-time Jeep owner John Grady. Mr. Grady voiced some disap-pointment in the performance of the 4wd system in his cur-rent-generation Cherokee compared with that of his previous 2002 Grand Cherokee and to the Quadra-Trac 4wd of the clas-sic AMC Jeep Grand Wagoneer.
I read with great interest the “While stuck on the beach…” Reader Feedback item from the March issue.
Without knowing all the details of Mr. Grady’s experience in the new Jeep Cherokee, we can certainly relate to his frustra-tion of becoming high centered on a sandy beach without trac-tion. During our extensive hours of off-road development and testing, we do occasionally find ourselves in similar situations that are not accounted for in our “normal” development plan.
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING 38 June 2018
READER FEEDBACK
ABB ........................................................................... 4ACO ......................................................................... 35Acura ...................................................................... 28AER ......................................................................... 36Aisin ......................................................................... 16Aisin AW ................................................................ 36AK Steel ................................................................. 28Amazon ................................................................... 17American Public Transit Association ................... 4Android ................................................................... 17ANL ........................................................................... 4Apple ....................................................................... 17Argo AI .................................................................... 19Audi ......................................................................... 15Autonomic .............................................................. 19AVL ............................................................................2AW-Lake .................................................................37Bentley ..................................................................... 6Bilstein ..................................................................... 9BMW ..................................................................15, 23BorgWarner ............................................................. 11Bosch ....................................................................... 12BR Engineering ..................................................... 36BSA ......................................................................... 32ByKolles ................................................................. 35CalStart .................................................................... 4CEC ........................................................................... 4CEFC TRSM Racing ............................................... 36Chevrolet .....................................................10, 11, 28Chicago Transit Authority ..................................... 4Citroën...................................................................... 9COMSOL ................................................................. 32
CTE ............................................................................ 4Dallara .................................................................... 36Delphi .....................................................11, 12, 18, 40Denso ..................................................................... 36Desktop Metal ....................................................... 23Dodge ....................................................................... 9Dragonspeed......................................................... 36Ducker Worldwide ............................................... 28Duke University .................................................... 24Eberspächer ...........................................................37Electric Power Research Institute ........................ 4Ferrari ....................................................................... 9FIA .......................................................................... 34Fiat Chrysler Automobiles ..............................9, 38Ford ............................................................. 12, 18, 28Furrer+Frey .............................................................. 4GE .......................................................................... 23General Motors ............................... 8, 10, 11, 26, 40Gentex .................................................................... 35Gibson Technology .............................................. 36GILLIG ....................................................................... 4Ginetta ................................................................... 36Google ...................................................................... 8Groupe PSA ............................................................. 9Heliox ....................................................................... 4Honda ..................................................................... 28Hyundai .................................................................. 38IHS Markit ................................................................ 6Infiniti ...................................................................... 14JATCO ...................................................................... 14Jawa ....................................................................... 32JBL ........................................................................... 17
Jeep ........................................................................ 38KEM Küppers Elektromechanik ...........................37King County Metro ................................................. 4KYB Suspensions Europe ...................................... 9Lamborghini ............................................................ 6Lexus ....................................................................... 15Lockheed Martin Space Systems ........................ 19Los Angeles County Metropolitan
Transportation Authority ............................... 4Lotus ....................................................................... 36LuK .......................................................................... 26Mahindra & Mahindra .......................................... 32MAKEiT ....................................................................37Material Sciences Corp. ....................................... 28Mecachome ........................................................... 36Michelin .................................................................... 9Motivo Engineering .............................................. 38New Flyer ................................................................. 4New York City Transit ............................................ 4NHK ........................................................................ 36Nirenberg Neuroscience......................................20Nismo ..................................................................... 36Nissan ........................................................... 9, 14, 36Nova Bus .................................................................. 4Opbrid ...................................................................... 4Oreca ...................................................................... 36Pankl ....................................................................... 36Perrone Robotics ................................................... 13Porsche .................................................................. 34Precision Partners ................................................30Proterra .................................................................... 4Ram ........................................................................ 28
Rebellion Racing .................................................. 36Renesas .................................................................. 24Research and Markets ..........................................37Rolls-Royce.............................................................. 6Sacramento Municipal Utility District ................. 4SAE International ...................... 4, 10, 12, 13, 14, 32Schaeffler Group .................................................. 26SCHUNK ................................................................... 4Siemens ................................................................... 4SMP Racing ........................................................... 36Southern California Edison ................................... 4SPE .......................................................................... 28Stanadyne .............................................................. 12Stäubli ...................................................................... 4STEMMANN ............................................................. 4Takata ....................................................................... 8Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority ..... 13Tesla ........................................................................ 28Toshiba ..................................................................... 4Toyota ............................................................... 16, 34Toyota Gazoo Racing ........................................... 36TT Electronics .........................................................37TTI .......................................................................... 23Tula Technology...........................................2, 11, 40Uber .......................................................................... 8Velodyne LiDAR ..................................................... 13Volkswagen ............................................................. 8Voyage .................................................................... 13Waymo ..................................................................... 8Zanzi ....................................................................... 36
Company Page
Advertiser Page Web LinkCoilcraft CPS ....................................................17 ......................................... coilcraft.com/AGP
COMSOL, Inc. ........................................ Cover 4 .......................... comsol.blog/touchscreens
Create The Future Design Contest ......Cover 3 ..................... CreateTheFutureContest.com
dSPACE, Inc. .....................................................3 .......................................... www.dspace.com
EPCOS Inc., A TDK Group Company ........... 13 ................product.tdk.com/en/automotive
G.R.A.S Sound & Vibration ........................... 31 ...................................................www.gras.us
Gerdau Special Steel North America ....Cover 2 ................ www.gerdau.com/northamerica
Hydro Extrusions .......................................... 29 ..........................www.hydroextrusions.com ..............................................................................................www.aluminumeducation.com
IPETRONIK GmbH & Co. KG ........................ 20 ...................................www.IPETRONIK.com
KOA Speer Electronics, Inc. ..........................22 ......................................KOASpeerAuto.com
Lean Enterprise Institute, Inc. .....................35 .......................................... lean.org/AutoEng
Material Sciences Corporation .................... 21 ................. www.materialsciencescorp.com/ products/smart-steel
Newcomb Spring Corporation ................... 30 ... NEWCOMBSPRING.COM/WIREBENDING
Shiloh Industries, Inc. .....................................7 ...................................................... shiloh.com
Stanadyne LLC ...............................................23 ..............................................Stanadyne.com
Tesa Tape ..........................................................5 ................................................. tesatape.com
COMPANIES MENTIONED
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING June 2018 39
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AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING 40 June 2018
Not just for ICEs: Tula Technology CEO Scott Bailey.
Transforming propulsion with Tula’s digital-control magic Behind GM’s recent introduction of its new Dynamic Fuel Management system on its small-block V8s for 2019 pickups (see article p. 11) is the remarkable back-story of Tula Technology. Company founder Dr. Adya Tripathi brought the innovative concept of digital signal processing to engine control over a decade ago, attracting the attention of GM (which invest-ed in the tiny start-up). GM Propulsion saw significant potential for adopting the DSP-based system—which Tula calls Dynamic Skip Fire—to provide sophisticated cylinder deactivation in its ever-evolving OHV V8. Tula’s next collaboration, with Delphi, focuses on developing the system for 4-cylinder engines, ex-amples of which are under development in Europe and Asia.
Tula Technology has much more coming in advanced-pro-pulsion technology including hybrid and EV developments, noted company President and CEO Scott Bailey. A 40-year powertrain engineering veteran, Bailey spoke recently with AE Editor-in-Chief Lindsay Brooke.
If someone said six years ago that they were considering a new ICE technology coming out of Silicon Valley, no one would’ve believed it.People in the Valley would’ve laughed. Now, it makes perfect sense. I have to give GM big props for being willing to investi-gate the Tula technology and invest in it. LI
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Some readers may be confused over the separate GM and Delphi implementations of Tula’s technology, as well as your work with other OEMs—would you clarify?GM invested a lot of manpower to implement it, as DFM, on the 2019 truck V8s. It’s the first market validation for our technol-ogy and confirms its value proposition. It’s huge for Tula. Delphi did not play a role in the V8 system. For them it’s more of a 4-cylinder story—to prove the viability and value proposi-tion of DSF on 4-cylinder engines. Delphi is responsible for val-vetrain design and overall EMS integration. We’re focused on our core DSF firing block, we do the complete OBD package and take the lead in calibration. It’s been working very well.
We’re a couple years away from having the first 4-cylinder production program.
In general, are powertrain trends across the globe helping Tula?Yes. Downsizing generally is slowing, due to RDE [Real Driving Emissions] concerns. Further downsizing is not delivering the fuel consumption reduction that was expected. On a 4-cylinder, downsizing from 1.6-L to 1.5-L is about as ‘deep’ as OEMs want to go realistically. At the same time, cylinder deactivation is becoming more prevalent, particularly in Europe. Many compa-nies are standardizing around 2.0 L which is a perfect target for our system. Let us take care of the ‘downsizing’ via DSF soft-ware—only fire the percentage of combustion opportunities needed at a given load. That’s really the source of the savings.
What’s in Tula’s development pipeline?Some extensions of the DSF technology. With Delphi we’re working on electrified DSF, to be paired with 48-V mild hybrid systems. By itself 48-V is good for about a 15% fuel consump-tion reduction. Combined with DSF we’re seeing reduction numbers on the dyno that are greater than the sum of the two separate systems. Adding a bit of electric-motor torque opens up DSF’s ‘fly zone.’ We’ve developed P-Zero and P1 hybrid configurations that lets us do high-bandwidth control of the electric motor. We can both absorb torque and put torque back on the crankshaft within a given engine cycle, and do it very quickly, ‘smoothing’ the overall torque profile on the crankshaft. And that allows us to run certain firing densities that we would not be able to run otherwise. We use a capacitor to very briefly store energy and put that torque back on the crank quickly. All we need is a minor change in the power electronics and a capacitor. We can then pick up a couple extra points of fuel efficiency simply because we can now run [deactivate] in cer-tain load places where we couldn’t run before.
Another development is DCCO—Decel Cylinder Cut-Off. It allows us to deactivate all cylinders for very low pumping load in deceleration mode. This greatly extends braking re-generation for battery charging.
And we’re also working to increase efficiency of pure elec-tric propulsion. We’ve filed our first patents. We’re looking at evolving Tula into a propulsion-efficiency company, not just for ICEs.
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