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Ammonia, as a carbon-free fuel, is a promising alternative fuel source for decarbonization of the shipping industry. Nevertheless, the poor flammability and low flame speed restrict its potential application as marine engine fuel. In order to explore the ammonia application feasibility and methods in marine engines, the effects of two combustion promoters, including n-heptane and hydrogen, on improving the ammonia combustion characteristics were compared and discussed theoretically in this study, in terms of flammable intake boundary conditions and laminar flame speed under engine operating conditions. A new detailed reaction mechanism of ammonia/n-heptane dual fuel was developed and validated to characterize the combustion of ammonia and diesel. The results demonstrate that the flammability of ammonia is more sensitive to intake temperature as compared to equivalence ratio and intake pressure.

Considering the defect of current test method and learning from the developing experience of other methods around the world, a method adopted China Light-duty Vehicle Test Cycle (CLTC) which is suitable for the real condition of Chinese road was put forword. Through comparing the test results of 20 vehicles with big data statistics, the results obtained by this method are close to those from customers and the difference between them is around 6%. Thus, the rationality of this method is proved. Furthermore, this method can evaluate the real fuel consumption of vehicle running on Chinese roads.

It is commonly believed that running-in behavior is related to engine reliability and fuel economy. This paper uses a methodology to find the influence of running-in, based on telematics data. In this paper, the key related telematics parameters are identified to assess running-in behaviors through feature analytics with telematics vehicle real-road data. By analyzing these parameters, truck groups subjected to different running-in behaviors are classified to evaluate the relationship between running-in behaviors and fuel economy.

The vibration isolation performance of vehicle powertrain mounting system is mostly determined by the three-directional stiffness of each mount block. Because of the manufacturing tolerance and the coupling effect, the stiffness of mounts cannot be maintained stable. The purpose of this study was to find out the way to optimize the stiffness of mounts via the design of experiments (DOE). According to the DOE process, a full factorial design was implemented. The z-direction stiffness of three mount blocks in the mounting system was selected as the three analysis factors. The maximum and the minimum stiffness of each mount block within the manufacturing tolerance were selected as the two levels. The measured vibration of vehicle body under certain loading case was selected as the response factor. After eight times of experiment, the DOE parameters were analyzed with statistical methods.

Regarding safety, obstacle avoidance has been considered as one of the most important features among ADAS systems for ground vehicles. However, the implementation of obstacle avoidance functions to commercial vehicles are still under progress. In this paper, we demonstrate a complete process of obstacle avoidance strategy for unmanned ground vehicle and implement the strategy on the self-developed Arduino based RC Car. In this process, the sensor LIDAR was used to detect the obstacles on the fore-path. Based on the measured LIDAR data, an optimized path is automatically generated with accommodation of current car position, obstacle locations, car operation capability and global environmental restrictions. The path planning is updated in real time while new or changing obstacles being detected. This algorithm is validated by the simulation results with the RC car. The comparison will be discussed at the end of this paper.

ADAS features development involves multidisciplinary technical fields, as well as extensive variety of different sensors and actuators, therefore the early design process requires much more resources and time to collaborate and implement. This paper will demonstrate an alternative way of developing prototype ADAS concept features by using remote control car with low cost hobby type of controllers, such as Arduino Due and Raspberry Pi. Camera and a one-beam type Lidar are implemented together with Raspberry Pi. OpenCV free open source software is also used for developing lane detection and object recognition. In this paper, we demonstrate that low cost frame work can be used for the high level concept algorithm architecture, development, and potential operation, as well as high level base testing of various features and functionalities. The developed RC vehicle can be used as a prototype of the early design phase as well as a functional safety testing bench.

In this paper, a sensor fusion approach is introduced to estimate lane departure. The proposed algorithm combines the camera, inertial navigation sensor, and GPS data with the vehicle dynamics to estimate the vehicle path and the lane departure time. The lane path and vehicle path are estimated by using Kalman filters. This algorithm can be used to provide early warning for lane departure in order to increase driving safety. By integrating inertial navigation sensor and GPS data, the inertial sensor biases can be estimated and the vehicle path can be estimated where the GPS data is not available or is poor. Additionally, the algorithm can be used to reduce the latency of information embedded in the controls, so that the vehicle lateral control performance can be significantly improved during lane keeping in Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) or autonomous vehicles. Furthermore, it improves lane detection reliability in situations when camera fails to detect lanes.

On-board fuel reforming offers a prospective clean combustion mode for the engines. The flexible cylinder engine strategy (FCE) is a new kind of such mode. In this paper, the combustion of the primary reference fuel of PRF90 was theoretically investigated in a homogeneous charge compression ignition engine to validate the FCE mode, mainly focusing on the ignition delay time, the flame speed, and the emissions. The simulations were performed by using the CHEMKIN2.0 package to demonstrate the fuel reforming process in the flexible cylinder, the cooling effect on the reformed products, and the combustions of the mixture of the fresh fuel and the reformed products in the normal cylinders. It was found that the FCE mode decreased the ignition delay time of the fuel by about 35 crank angles at a typical engine condition.

The emergence of wide band gap devices has pushed the boundaries of power converter operations and high power density applications. The wide band gap devices in conjunction with silicon on insulator electronic components enable the realization of power converters that can operate at high ambient temperatures that are typically found in aerospace engine environments. This paper describes the design and test of a power electronic inverter that converts a fixed input DC voltage to a variable voltage variable frequency three phase output. The design of the key functional components such as the gate drive, power module, controller and communication will be discussed in this paper. Test results for the inverter at high temperature are also presented.

Several factors including internal factors which are related to the structure and components of transmission and external factors which are related to the running condition influence transmission efficiency (TE) collectively. Selected one manual transmission as the research object, this paper mainly analyzes factors including gears and bearings power loss through theoretical calculation and the external factors, such as gears, temperature and torque. Firstly, with a methodology, the overall efficiency of the manual transmission is calculated based on factors. Then, this paper discusses efficiency through external factor. This transmission is experimented on transmission test bench. On the bench, the driving motor (DM) simulates the power input of engine and the load motor (LM) simulates the whole resistance of vehicle. The mechanical transmission is operating in different speeds, torques and work temperature, thus the corresponding data are obtained.

This paper focuses on the dynamic parameters matching and powertrain ratio optimization of an ERCB (Extended Range City Bus) for improving fuel economy. Firstly, according to the bus data and design targets of an ERCB, dynamic parameters are matched. Simulation models of each component that makes up the whole powertrain are established depending on the platform of AVL-CRUISE, including battery, motor, main reducer, wheels, etc. Dynamic performance, such as full load acceleration, climbing performance, maximum speed performance and endurance mileage, is simulated successively using AVL-CRUISE. Also the fuel economy performance under Chinese Urban Driving Cycle (CUDC) is worked out. The simulation results of each performance are analyzed. To improve the fuel economy, the transmission ratio and final ratio are optimized with Isight software.

Dynamic and economic performance play an important role in the vehicle evaluation indexes, and also are crucial parts considered during the design progress. This paper applies a method of parameters matching of powertrain to one Pure Electric City Bus(PECB), with which a four-speed transmission dynamic system is designed. Meanwhile two powertrain models adopting motors with identical peak power but different base speeds and peak torques coupled with two-speed transmission or without transmission are introduced for comparison to analyze if a smaller motor performs better in performance. The three models are based on identical type of bus. Then according to the powertrain parameters, simulation models of three bus models are established respectively. From the results of simulation, vehicle performances of the four-speed transmission powertrain, especially economic performance, are compared with the other two.

In the Plug-in hybrid electric bus, the power train parameter and control strategy significantly affect the economy and dynamic performance. Thus, the simultaneous optimization of power train parameter and control strategy is designed for the trade-off between the dynamic and economic performance. Depending on the parallel electric auxiliary control strategy in a plug-in hybrid electric bus, a vehicle dynamic simulation model is built with the software AVL Cruise. Aiming at the minimization of equivalent gas consumption and acceleration time from 0 to 50kmph, the gear ratio, final drive ratio, gear shifting strategy and control strategy are chosen as optimal variable, which significantly impact power performance and fuel economy. The driving performance and the driving range with full battery are considered as constraints. Based on the software Isight, multi-objective optimization model is built by adopting non-dominated sorting genetic optimization algorithm (NSGA-II).

“Soichiro Honda Cup, Honda Econo-Power Competition”, is an annual international energy-saving competition which is hosted by Honda Motor Co., Ltd. Till now it has been held 27 sessions. The aims of the EP project are: promoting the development of environmental protection, making full use of limit earth resources, challenging the fuel consumption limitation of vehicle. Tongji University's students' team has participated in the competition for seven consecutive times. In order to minimize the fuel consumption of the EP energy-saving vehicle, this paper focuses on the technical methods of improving the fuel economy of the engine. Firstly, the optimization of the carburetor. Secondly, for the purpose of improving combustion efficiency, researches on dual spark plug and compression ratio are done.

A high-temperature tensile impact experimental technique, based on a rapid-contact heating method, is developed to test specimen at temperatures up to 1073K. High-strain-rate tensile responses of commercially pure titanium at elevated temperature are investigated. The testing results show that the yield stress and ultimate tensile stress all decrease with increasing temperature, while the fracture strain decreases with increasing temperature at the temperature range 25 °C350 °C.

FIRCRI-a flexible injection rate common rail injector was developed. This paper presents the working principle and the configuration of the injector. As key technologies in development of the injector, a new fast response solenoid valve was developed and 4 dimensionless design parameters of hydraulic system were presented by through computer simulation and experimental study. The solenoid valve was deliberately designed so as to eliminate the hydraulic force acting on the valve. Other configuration parameters were also optimized so that the response time of the solenoid valve is 0.3 ms. It is interesting to find that the response time of the injector is not only determined by the solenoid valve, but all parameters of the hydraulic system of the injector. The injector can realize pilot injection, which is less than 2.5mm3, at a controllable phase and multi-injections.

A pressure accumulative injection rate controllable unit injector-PAIRCUI is proposed and developed. This unit injector is powered by fuel pressure accumulation controlled by an electronic control unit and its injection rate is shaped by inner valves of the injector. Inherent advantages of an accumulator type unit injector have been carried out in this new design, including sructural simplicity, totally flexible injection timing, medium common rail pressure, tolerable pump size and flow requirement. A number of decisive features have also been realized that are significant for high efficiency and low emissions of engine combustion, including higher mean effective injection pressure(MEIP), pilot injection capability and rapid end of injection. The injection pressure is independent of engine speed, but regulated upon engine load. These characteristics are beneficial in improving engine performance and fuel consumption.