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Bentley Motors Ltd. has developed a Carbon Silicon Carbide (CSiC) brake system for its Mulsanne product, introduced at 17MY. The CSiC brake system is conceived as a performance brake system, and as such offers notable improvements in brake performance. In developing the brake system, particular focus was placed on meeting the refinement levels required for a premium product, and indeed as the flagship model for Bentley Motors, NVH refinement of the brake system was of particular concern. This paper intends to discuss the technical performance of the brake system and review the NVH performance of the brakes. Particular attention is given to the methodology employed by Bentley Motors Ltd. and IDIADA Automotive Technology S.A. in identifying NVH concerns, and proposing and validating solutions in the field, through extensive NVH endurance runs. The performance of the system is benchmarked against similar systems offered by Bentley Motors.

Reduction of CO2 emission is a mandatory objective for every actor in the field of automotive transport, and electric vehicles (EV's) are increasingly becoming an effective option for both OEMs and customers. However, components development and vehicle integration for EV's present new challenges that must be faced and new issues which need to be solved. In particular electric motor control systems are developed to achieve the same comfort conditions as in conventional vehicles. IDIADA developed a prototype electric commercial vehicle in which both the motor and driveline were integrated. The electric motor output shaft delivers the torque to the transmission under a certain level of load variation and with torque irregularities that must be smoothed out in the transmission components. This paper studies the results of the testing of the prototype vehicle carried out to improve the overall NVH behavior of the powertrain.

Fatigue has been one of the main causes of failure in automotive components since the industry's beginnings. As the fatigue phenomenon is very complex and has a high degree of variability designs have traditionally been over-engineered, resulting in an increase in weight and cost. This paper investigates the predictability of the fatigue failure process in MIG welded joints due to the variability of the welding production process and the consequent uncertainty of the notch factor of the critical zone located at the transition line between the weld bead and the work piece. The study focuses on exhaust systems for cars, but the procedure and concepts presented here can be applied to any type of welded element.