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A typical mid-range vehicle can house hundreds of electromechanical actuators. These actuators perform functionalities ranging from radiator fan, seat actuation motors, power glass to windscreen wipers. The weight and power consumption of these actuators contribute adversely towards the efficiency of the vehicle. The last decade has observed a growing trend of design modularity and normalization of actuators for inventory management. This strategy has resulted in an ill-engineered addition of actuators. This paper presents a subjective analysis of these factors resulting cause of actuator redundancy and need for optimization. Also, it investigates the functional distribution and characterization of these actuators in the vehicle. The study reveals that many of these actuators are in proximity and thus ideally suited to achieve an actuator domain architecture. Paper proposes a novel actuator domain architecture that clusters a group of identified actuators.

Autonomous braking systems are prevalent in mid/upper-mid range vehicles today. The major drawback: acute boundary condition during which the system will function. The paper describes the implementation of Adaptive Range LIDAR Systems (ARLS) containing a state of the art collimator and wave shaper with a 140̊ sweep MEMS mirror, capable of calculating beam convergence as a function of distance, considering multiple obstacles ahead of it. The paper also describes the use of ARLS for ACC (Adaptive Cruise Control) and Autonomous braking, reinforcing the available software structure with more data points. Contrary to the other systems that detect objects/obstacles from a stationary point of reference, ARLS determines the velocity of obstacle with respect to the ground point of reference and computes most optimum brake effort curve.

Failures of automotive mechanical systems such as suspension systems, or “springs” while a vehicle is in operation is most often serious, and can sometimes incur financial loses or even fatal consequences. Spring failures result from either chronic overloading, poor driver behavior, severe duty cycle, or a combination of the aforementioned conditions. These conditions result in extraordinary fatigue, ultimately reducing the spring’s overall expected useful life. There has been a significant reduction in the cost of onboard computing making it economically viable to measure, record, and store various parameters that affect the spring life. An economical measurement system was designed that could plot the Load vs. Displacement graph (L/D) by simply measuring the spring’s displacement from its nominal (static) position.

This paper suggests an Intelligent Control Algorithm for optimizing the charge and discharge of a battery pack used in a hybrid/electric vehicle. With precision control of voltage and current levels in secondary batteries, high performance and greater battery life can be achieved and the problems of overcharging and over discharging in batteries can be avoided. It uses cell isolation system, which controls the number of cells required specifically for an instantaneous load condition, thus reducing the overall internal resistance of battery pack, hence reduces losses due to heating.