Autonomy-Enabled Fuel Savings for Military Vehicles: Report on 2016 Aberdeen Test Center Testing

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ragatz, Adam [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Prohaska, Robert [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Gonder, Jeff [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2017-05-26

Fuel savings have never been the primary focus for autonomy-enabled military vehicles. However, studies have estimated that autonomy in passenger and commercial vehicles could improve fuel economy by as much as 22%-33% over various drive cycles. If even a fraction of this saving could be realized in military vehicles, significant cost savings could be realized each year through reduced fuel transport missions, reduced fuel purchases, less maintenance, fewer required personnel, and increased vehicle range. Researchers from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory installed advanced data logging equipment and instrumentation on two autonomy-enabled convoy vehicles configured with Lockheed Martin's Autonomous Mobility Applique System to determine system performance and improve on the overall vehicle control strategies of the vehicles. Initial test results from testing conducted at the U.S. Army Aberdeen Test Center at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds are included in this report. Lessons learned from in-use testing and performance results have been provided to the project partners for continued system refinement.

X-43A Vehicle During Ground Testing

Science.gov (United States)

1999-01-01

The X-43A Hypersonic Experimental Vehicle, or 'Hyper-X' is seen here undergoing ground testing at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California in December 1999. The X-43A was developed to research a dual-mode ramjet/scramjet propulsion system at speeds from Mach 7 up to Mach 10 (7 to 10 times the speed of sound, which varies with temperature and altitude). Hyper-X, the flight vehicle for which is designated as X-43A, is an experimental flight-research program seeking to demonstrate airframe-integrated, 'air-breathing' engine technologies that promise to increase payload capacity for future vehicles, including hypersonic aircraft (faster than Mach 5) and reusable space launchers. This multiyear program is currently underway at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. The Hyper-X schedule calls for its first flight later this year (2000). Hyper-X is a joint program, with Dryden sharing responsibility with NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia. Dryden's primary role is to fly three unpiloted X-43A research vehicles to validate engine technologies and hypersonic design tools as well as the hypersonic test facility at Langley. Langley manages the program and leads the technology development effort. The Hyper-X Program seeks to significantly expand the speed boundaries of air-breathing propulsion by being the first aircraft to demonstrate an airframe-integrated, scramjet-powered free flight. Scramjets (supersonic-combustion ramjets) are ramjet engines in which the airflow through the whole engine remains supersonic. Scramjet technology is challenging because only limited testing can be performed in ground facilities. Long duration, full-scale testing requires flight research. Scramjet engines are air-breathing, capturing their oxygen from the atmosphere. Current spacecraft, such as the Space Shuttle, are rocket powered, so they must carry both fuel and oxygen for propulsion. Scramjet technology-based vehicles need to carry only

Vehicle brake testing system

Science.gov (United States)

Stevens, Samuel S [Harriman, TN; Hodgson, Jeffrey W [Lenoir City, TN

2002-11-19

This invention relates to a force measuring system capable of measuring forces associated with vehicle braking and of evaluating braking performance. The disclosure concerns an invention which comprises a first row of linearly aligned plates, a force bearing surface extending beneath and beside the plates, vertically oriented links and horizontally oriented links connecting each plate to a force bearing surface, a force measuring device in each link, a transducer coupled to each force measuring device, and a computing device coupled to receive an output signal from the transducer indicative of measured force in each force measuring device. The present invention may be used for testing vehicle brake systems.

Testing and development of electric vehicle batteries for EPRI Electric Transportation Program

Science.gov (United States)

1985-11-01

Argonne National Laboratory conducted an electric-vehicle battery testing and development program for the Electric Power Research Institute. As part of this program, eighteen battery modules previously developed by Johnson Controls, Inc. were tested. This type of battery (EV-2300 - an improved state-of-the-art lead-acid battery) was designed specifically for improved performance, range, and life in electric vehicles. In order to obtain necessary performance data, the batteries were tested under various duty cycles typical of normal service. This program, supported by the Electric Power Research Institute, consisted of three tasks: determination of the effect of cycle life vs peak power and rest period, determination of the impact of charge method on cycle life, and evaluation of the EV-2300 battery system. Two supporting studies were also carried out: one on thermal management of electric-vehicle batteries and one on enhanced utilization of active material in lead-acid batteries.

Electric vehicle test report Cutler-Hammer Corvette

Science.gov (United States)

1981-01-01

Vehicles were characterized for the state of the art assessment of electric vehicles. The vehicle evaluated was a Chevrolet Corvette converted to electric operation. The original internal combustion engine was replaced by an electric traction motor. Eighteen batteries supplied the electrical energy. A controller, an onboard battery charger, and several dashboard instruments completed the conversion. The emphasis was on the electrical portion of the drive train, although some analysis and discussion of the mechanical elements are included. Tests were conducted both on the road (actually a mile long runway) and in a chassis dynamometer equipped laboratory. The majority of the tests performed were according to SAE Procedure J227a and included maximum effort accelerations, constant speed range, and cyclic range. Some tests that are not a part of the SAE Procedure J227a are described and the analysis of the data from all tests is discussed.

Controlling active cabin suspensions in commercial vehicles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Evers, W.J.E.; Besselink, I.J.M.; Teerhuis, A.P.; Knaap, van der A.C.M.; Nijmeijer, H.

2009-01-01

The field of automotive suspensions is changing. Semi-active and active suspensions are starting to become viable options for vehicle designers. Suspension design for commercial vehicles is especially interesting given its potential. An active cabin suspension for a heavy-duty truck is considered,

Data Fusion Modeling for an RT3102 and Dewetron System Application in Hybrid Vehicle Stability Testing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhibin Miao

2015-08-01

Full Text Available More and more hybrid electric vehicles are driven since they offer such advantages as energy savings and better active safety performance. Hybrid vehicles have two or more power driving systems and frequently switch working condition, so controlling stability is very important. In this work, a two-stage Kalman algorithm method is used to fuse data in hybrid vehicle stability testing. First, the RT3102 navigation system and Dewetron system are introduced. Second, a modeling of data fusion is proposed based on the Kalman filter. Then, this modeling is simulated and tested on a sample vehicle, using Carsim and Simulink software to test the results. The results showed the merits of this modeling.

Integrated vehicle-based safety systems light-vehicle field operational test key findings report.

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-01

"This document presents key findings from the light-vehicle field operational test conducted as part of the Integrated Vehicle-Based Safety Systems program. These findings are the result of analyses performed by the University of Michigan Transportat...

40 CFR 86.429-78 - Maintenance, unscheduled; test vehicles.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

..., repair, removal, disassembly, cleaning, or replacement on vehicles shall be performed only with the... malfunction, or the repair of such failure or malfunction, does not render the vehicle unrepresentative of... maintenance under paragraph (a)(1)(i) of this section. (b) Repairs to vehicle components of test vehicles...

A Vehicle Active Safety Model: Vehicle Speed Control Based on Driver Vigilance Detection Using Wearable EEG and Sparse Representation.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Zutao; Luo, Dianyuan; Rasim, Yagubov; Li, Yanjun; Meng, Guanjun; Xu, Jian; Wang, Chunbai

2016-02-19

In this paper, we present a vehicle active safety model for vehicle speed control based on driver vigilance detection using low-cost, comfortable, wearable electroencephalographic (EEG) sensors and sparse representation. The proposed system consists of three main steps, namely wireless wearable EEG collection, driver vigilance detection, and vehicle speed control strategy. First of all, a homemade low-cost comfortable wearable brain-computer interface (BCI) system with eight channels is designed for collecting the driver's EEG signal. Second, wavelet de-noising and down-sample algorithms are utilized to enhance the quality of EEG data, and Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT) is adopted to extract the EEG power spectrum density (PSD). In this step, sparse representation classification combined with k-singular value decomposition (KSVD) is firstly introduced in PSD to estimate the driver's vigilance level. Finally, a novel safety strategy of vehicle speed control, which controls the electronic throttle opening and automatic braking after driver fatigue detection using the above method, is presented to avoid serious collisions and traffic accidents. The simulation and practical testing results demonstrate the feasibility of the vehicle active safety model.

Results from the Operational Testing of the General Electric Smart Grid Capable Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carlson, Richard Barney [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Scoffield, Don [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Bennett, Brion [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

2013-12-01

The Idaho National Laboratory conducted testing and analysis of the General Electric (GE) smart grid capable electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE), which was a deliverable from GE for the U.S. Department of Energy FOA-554. The Idaho National Laboratory has extensive knowledge and experience in testing advanced conductive and wireless charging systems though INL’s support of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Vehicle Testing Activity. This document details the findings from the EVSE operational testing conducted at the Idaho National Laboratory on the GE smart grid capable EVSE. The testing conducted on the EVSE included energy efficiency testing, SAE J1772 functionality testing, abnormal conditions testing, and charging of a plug-in vehicle.

General Vehicle Test Plan (GVTP) for Urban Rail Transit Cars

Science.gov (United States)

1977-09-01

The General Vehicle Test Plan provides a system for general vehicle testing and for documenting and utilizing data and information in the testing of urban rail transit cars. Test procedures are defined for nine categories: (1) Performance; (2) Power ...

40 CFR 85.1509 - Final admission of modification and test vehicles.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... test vehicles. 85.1509 Section 85.1509 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) CONTROL OF AIR POLLUTION FROM MOBILE SOURCES Importation of Motor Vehicles and Motor Vehicle Engines § 85.1509 Final admission of modification and test vehicles. (a) Except...

Electrical Vehicles Activities Around the World

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schauer, Gerd; Garcia-Valle, Rodrigo

2013-01-01

engine. In the 1990s research and demonstrations intensified and built a good basis for actual development of electrical vehicles. Discussion of the results achieved and lessons learned from millions of kilometers of road testing is worthwhile but in addition to technological developments such as light...... which have jointly changed how mobility is viewed in recent years. We describe key points concerning such field testing and the renaissance in electric vehicles that occurred around 2010. We discuss progress in lithium battery technology for high power and high energy density, improvement in integrated...... business models, and the availability of high-performance electric vehicles have become key enablers of this new technology. In this regard, it is promising that electric vehicles will soon be a part of a green transport solution (green mobility) powered by renewable energy and a new smart electricity...

Feasibility of Turing-Style Tests for Autonomous Aerial Vehicle "Intelligence"

Science.gov (United States)

Young, Larry A.

2007-01-01

A new approach is suggested to define and evaluate key metrics as to autonomous aerial vehicle performance. This approach entails the conceptual definition of a "Turing Test" for UAVs. Such a "UAV Turing test" would be conducted by means of mission simulations and/or tailored flight demonstrations of vehicles under the guidance of their autonomous system software. These autonomous vehicle mission simulations and flight demonstrations would also have to be benchmarked against missions "flown" with pilots/human-operators in the loop. In turn, scoring criteria for such testing could be based upon both quantitative mission success metrics (unique to each mission) and by turning to analog "handling quality" metrics similar to the well-known Cooper-Harper pilot ratings used for manned aircraft. Autonomous aerial vehicles would be considered to have successfully passed this "UAV Turing Test" if the aggregate mission success metrics and handling qualities for the autonomous aerial vehicle matched or exceeded the equivalent metrics for missions conducted with pilots/human-operators in the loop. Alternatively, an independent, knowledgeable observer could provide the "UAV Turing Test" ratings of whether a vehicle is autonomous or "piloted." This observer ideally would, in the more sophisticated mission simulations, also have the enhanced capability of being able to override the scripted mission scenario and instigate failure modes and change of flight profile/plans. If a majority of mission tasks are rated as "piloted" by the observer, when in reality the vehicle/simulation is fully- or semi- autonomously controlled, then the vehicle/simulation "passes" the "UAV Turing Test." In this regards, this second "UAV Turing Test" approach is more consistent with Turing s original "imitation game" proposal. The overall feasibility, and important considerations and limitations, of such an approach for judging/evaluating autonomous aerial vehicle "intelligence" will be discussed from a

Characterization Test Procedures for Intersection Collision Avoidance Systems Based on Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communications

Science.gov (United States)

2015-12-01

Characterization test procedures have been developed to quantify the performance of intersection collision avoidance (ICA) systems based on vehicle-to-vehicle communications. These systems warn the driver of an imminent crossing-path collision at a r...

Near-term electric test vehicle ETV-2. Phase II. Final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1981-04-01

A unique battery-powered passenger vehicle has been developed that provides a significant improvement over conventional electric vehicle performance, particularly during stop-and-go driving. The vehicle is unique in two major respects: (1) the power system incorporates a flywheel that stores energy during regenerative braking and makes possible the acceleration capability needed to keep up with traffic without reducing range to unacceptable values; and (2) lightweight plastic materials are used for the vehicle unibody to minimize weight and increase range. These features were analyzed and demonstrated in an electric test vehicle, ETV-2. Characteristics of this vehicle are summarized. Information is presented on: vehicle design, fabrication, safety testing, and performance testing; power system design and operation; flywheel; battery pack performance; and controls and electronic equipment. (LCL)

Integrated vehicle-based safety systems light-vehicle field operational test, methodology and results report.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-12-01

"This document presents the methodology and results from the light-vehicle field operational test conducted as part of the Integrated Vehicle-Based Safety Systems program. These findings are the result of analyses performed by the University of Michi...

A Vehicle Active Safety Model: Vehicle Speed Control Based on Driver Vigilance Detection Using Wearable EEG and Sparse Representation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zutao Zhang

2016-02-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we present a vehicle active safety model for vehicle speed control based on driver vigilance detection using low-cost, comfortable, wearable electroencephalographic (EEG sensors and sparse representation. The proposed system consists of three main steps, namely wireless wearable EEG collection, driver vigilance detection, and vehicle speed control strategy. First of all, a homemade low-cost comfortable wearable brain-computer interface (BCI system with eight channels is designed for collecting the driver’s EEG signal. Second, wavelet de-noising and down-sample algorithms are utilized to enhance the quality of EEG data, and Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT is adopted to extract the EEG power spectrum density (PSD. In this step, sparse representation classification combined with k-singular value decomposition (KSVD is firstly introduced in PSD to estimate the driver’s vigilance level. Finally, a novel safety strategy of vehicle speed control, which controls the electronic throttle opening and automatic braking after driver fatigue detection using the above method, is presented to avoid serious collisions and traffic accidents. The simulation and practical testing results demonstrate the feasibility of the vehicle active safety model.

Test bed for applications of heterogeneous unmanned vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Filiberto Muñoz Palacios

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This article addresses the development and implementation of a test bed for applications of heterogeneous unmanned vehicle systems. The test bed consists of unmanned aerial vehicles (Parrot AR.Drones versions 1 or 2, Parrot SA, Paris, France, and Bebop Drones 1.0 and 2.0, Parrot SA, Paris, France, ground vehicles (WowWee Rovio, WowWee Group Limited, Hong Kong, China, and the motion capture systems VICON and OptiTrack. Such test bed allows the user to choose between two different options of development environments, to perform aerial and ground vehicles applications. On the one hand, it is possible to select an environment based on the VICON system and LabVIEW (National Instruments or robotics operating system platforms, which make use the Parrot AR.Drone software development kit or the Bebop_autonomy Driver to communicate with the unmanned vehicles. On the other hand, it is possible to employ a platform that uses the OptiTrack system and that allows users to develop their own applications, replacing AR.Drone’s original firmware with original code. We have developed four experimental setups to illustrate the use of the Parrot software development kit, the Bebop Driver (AutonomyLab, Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, Canada, and the original firmware replacement for performing a strategy that involves both ground and aerial vehicle tracking. Finally, in order to illustrate the effectiveness of the developed test bed for the implementation of advanced controllers, we present experimental results of the implementation of three consensus algorithms: static, adaptive, and neural network, in order to accomplish that a team of multiagents systems move together to track a target.

Full-Scale Passive Earth Entry Vehicle Landing Tests: Methods and Measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Littell, Justin D.; Kellas, Sotiris

2018-01-01

During the summer of 2016, a series of drop tests were conducted on two passive earth entry vehicle (EEV) test articles at the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR). The tests were conducted to evaluate the structural integrity of a realistic EEV vehicle under anticipated landing loads. The test vehicles were lifted to an altitude of approximately 400m via a helicopter and released via release hook into a predesignated 61 m landing zone. Onboard accelerometers were capable of measuring vehicle free flight and impact loads. High-speed cameras on the ground tracked the free-falling vehicles and data was used to calculate critical impact parameters during the final seconds of flight. Additional sets of high definition and ultra-high definition cameras were able to supplement the high-speed data by capturing the release and free flight of the test articles. Three tests were successfully completed and showed that the passive vehicle design was able to withstand the impact loads from nominal and off-nominal impacts at landing velocities of approximately 29 m/s. Two out of three test resulted in off-nominal impacts due to a combination of high winds at altitude and the method used to suspend the vehicle from the helicopter. Both the video and acceleration data captured is examined and discussed. Finally, recommendations for improved release and instrumentation methods are presented.

76 FR 28947 - Bus Testing: Calculation of Average Passenger Weight and Test Vehicle Weight, and Public Meeting...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-05-19

...-0015] RIN 2132-AB01 Bus Testing: Calculation of Average Passenger Weight and Test Vehicle Weight, and... of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) regarding the calculation of average passenger weights and test vehicle... passenger weights and actual transit vehicle loads. Specifically, FTA proposed to change the average...

Executive Summary of Propulsion on the Orion Abort Flight-Test Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Daniel S.; Brooks, Syri J.; Barnes, Marvin W.; McCauley, Rachel J.; Wall, Terry M.; Reed, Brian D.; Duncan, C. Miguel

2012-01-01

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Orion Flight Test Office was tasked with conducting a series of flight tests in several launch abort scenarios to certify that the Orion Launch Abort System is capable of delivering astronauts aboard the Orion Crew Module to a safe environment, away from a failed booster. The first of this series was the Orion Pad Abort 1 Flight-Test Vehicle, which was successfully flown on May 6, 2010 at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. This report provides a brief overview of the three propulsive subsystems used on the Pad Abort 1 Flight-Test Vehicle. An overview of the propulsive systems originally planned for future flight-test vehicles is also provided, which also includes the cold gas Reaction Control System within the Crew Module, and the Peacekeeper first stage rocket motor encased within the Abort Test Booster aeroshell. Although the Constellation program has been cancelled and the operational role of the Orion spacecraft has significantly evolved, lessons learned from Pad Abort 1 and the other flight-test vehicles could certainly contribute to the vehicle architecture of many future human-rated space launch vehicles

Integrated Vehicle Ground Vibration Testing of Manned Spacecraft: Historical Precedent

Science.gov (United States)

Lemke, Paul R.; Tuma, Margaret L.; Askins, Bruce R.

2008-01-01

For the first time in nearly 30 years, NASA is developing a new manned space flight launch system. The Ares I will carry crew and cargo to not only the International Space Station, but onward for the future exploration of the Moon and Mars. The Ares I control system and structural designs use complex computer models for their development. An Integrated Vehicle Ground Vibration Test (IVGVT) will validate the efficacy of these computer models. The IVGVT will reduce the technical risk of unexpected conditions that could place the vehicle or crew in jeopardy. The Ares Project Office's Flight and Integrated Test Office commissioned a study to determine how historical programs, such as Saturn and Space Shuttle, validated the structural dynamics of an integrated flight vehicle. The study methodology was to examine the historical record and seek out members of the engineering community who recall the development of historic manned launch vehicles. These records and interviews provided insight into the best practices and lessons learned from these historic development programs. The information that was gathered allowed the creation of timelines of the historic development programs. The timelines trace the programs from the development of test articles through test preparation, test operations, and test data reduction efforts. These timelines also demonstrate how the historical tests fit within their overall vehicle development programs. Finally, the study was able to quantify approximate staffing levels during historic development programs. Using this study, the Flight and Integrated Test Office was able to evaluate the Ares I Integrated Vehicle Ground Vibration Test schedule and workforce budgets in light of the historical precedents to determine if the test had schedule or cost risks associated with it.

Vehicle accelerated corrosion test procedures for automotive in Malaysia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anuar Liza

2017-01-01

Full Text Available An accelerated corrosion test, known as proving ground accelerated test, is commonly performed by automotive manufacturers to evaluate the corrosion performance of a vehicle. The test combines corrosion and durability inputs to detect potential failures that may occur during in-service conditions. Currently, the test is conducted at an external test center overseas. Such test is aimed to simulate the effects of one year accelerated corrosion in severe corrosive environment of the north-east and south east of America. However, the test results obtained do not correlate with the actual corrosion conditions observed in the Malaysian market, which is likely attributed to the different test environment of the tropical climate of vehicles in service. Therefore, a vehicle accelerated corrosion test procedure that suits the Malaysian market is proposed and benchmarked with other global car manufacturers that have their own dedicated corrosion test procedure. In the present work, a test track is used as the corrosion test ground and consists of various types of roads for structural durability exposures. Corrosion related facilities like salt trough, mud trough and gravel road are constructed as addition to the existing facilities. The establishment of accelerated corrosion test facilities has contributed to the development of initial accelerated corrosion test procedure for the national car manufacturer. The corrosion exposure is monitored by fitting test coupons at the underbody of test vehicle using mass loss technique so that the desired corrosion rate capable of simulating the real time corrosion effects for its target market.

An adaptable, low cost test-bed for unmanned vehicle systems research

Science.gov (United States)

Goppert, James M.

2011-12-01

An unmanned vehicle systems test-bed has been developed. The test-bed has been designed to accommodate hardware changes and various vehicle types and algorithms. The creation of this test-bed allows research teams to focus on algorithm development and employ a common well-tested experimental framework. The ArduPilotOne autopilot was developed to provide the necessary level of abstraction for multiple vehicle types. The autopilot was also designed to be highly integrated with the Mavlink protocol for Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) communication. Mavlink is the native protocol for QGroundControl, a MAV ground control program. Features were added to QGroundControl to accommodate outdoor usage. Next, the Mavsim toolbox was developed for Scicoslab to allow hardware-in-the-loop testing, control design and analysis, and estimation algorithm testing and verification. In order to obtain linear models of aircraft dynamics, the JSBSim flight dynamics engine was extended to use a probabilistic Nelder-Mead simplex method. The JSBSim aircraft dynamics were compared with wind-tunnel data collected. Finally, a structured methodology for successive loop closure control design is proposed. This methodology is demonstrated along with the rest of the test-bed tools on a quadrotor, a fixed wing RC plane, and a ground vehicle. Test results for the ground vehicle are presented.

Integrated vehicle-based safety systems (IVBSS) : light vehicle platform field operational test data analysis plan.

Science.gov (United States)

2009-12-22

This document presents the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institutes plan to : perform analysis of data collected from the light vehicle platform field operational test of the : Integrated Vehicle-Based Safety Systems (IVBSS) progr...

Potential use of battery packs from NCAP tested vehicles.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lamb, Joshua; Orendorff, Christopher J.

2013-10-01

Several large electric vehicle batteries available to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are candidates for use in future safety testing programs. The batteries, from vehicles subjected to NCAP crashworthiness testing, are considered potentially damaged due to the nature of testing their associated vehicles have been subjected to. Criteria for safe shipping to Sandia is discussed, as well as condition the batteries must be in to perform testing work. Also discussed are potential tests that could be performed under a variety of conditions. The ultimate value of potential testing performed on these cells will rest on the level of access available to the battery pack, i.e. external access only, access to the on board monitoring system/CAN port or internal electrical access to the battery. Greater access to the battery than external visual and temperature monitoring would likely require input from the battery manufacturer.

40 CFR 86.152-98 - Vehicle preparation; refueling test.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 18 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Vehicle preparation; refueling test... PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) CONTROL OF EMISSIONS FROM NEW AND IN-USE HIGHWAY VEHICLES AND ENGINES Emission Regulations for 1977 and Later Model Year New Light-Duty Vehicles and New Light-Duty Trucks and New Otto-Cycle...

Efficiency Test Method for Electric Vehicle Chargers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kieldsen, Andreas; Thingvad, Andreas; Martinenas, Sergejus

2016-01-01

This paper investigates different methods for measuring the charger efficiency of mass produced electric vehicles (EVs), in order to compare the different models. The consumers have low attention to the loss in the charger though the impact on the driving cost is high. It is not a high priority...... different vehicles. A unified method for testing the efficiency of the charger in EVs, without direct access to the component, is presented. The method is validated through extensive tests of the models Renault Zoe, Nissan LEAF and Peugeot iOn. The results show a loss between 15 % and 40 %, which is far...

Ballistic Resistance of Armored Passenger Vehicles: Test Protocols and Quality Methods

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jeffrey M. Lacy; Robert E. Polk

2005-07-01

This guide establishes a test methodology for determining the overall ballistic resistance of the passenger compartment of assembled nontactical armored passenger vehicles (APVs). Because ballistic testing of every piece of every component of an armored vehicle is impractical, if not impossible, this guide describes a testing scheme based on statistical sampling of exposed component surface areas. Results from the test of the sampled points are combined to form a test score that reflects the probability of ballistic penetration into the passenger compartment of the vehicle.

Vehicle test report: South Coast technology electric conversion of a Volkswagen Rabbit

Science.gov (United States)

Price, T. W.; Shain, T. W.; Bryant, J. A.

1981-01-01

The South Coast Technology Volkswagen Rabbit, was tested at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's (JPL) dynamometer facility and at JPL's Edwards Test Station (ETS). The tests were performed to characterize certain parameters of the South Coast Rabbit and to provide baseline data that will be used for the comparison of near term batteries that are to be incorporated into the vehicle. The vehicle tests were concentrated on the electrical drive system; i.e., the batteries, controller, and motor. The tests included coastdowns to characterize the road load, maximum effort acceleration, and range evaluation for both cyclic and constant speed conditions. A qualitative evaluation of the vehicle was made by comparing its constant speed range performance with those vehicles described in the document 'state of the Art assessment of Electric and Hybrid Vehicles'. The Rabbit performance was near to the best of the 1977 vehicles.

Irradiation Testing Vehicles for Fast Reactors from Open Test Assemblies to Closed Loops

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sienicki, James J. [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Grandy, Christopher [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

2016-12-15

A review of irradiation testing vehicle approaches and designs that have been incorporated into past Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactors (SFRs) or envisioned for incorporation has been carried out. The objective is to understand the essential features of the approaches and designs so that they can inform test vehicle designs for a future U.S. Fast Test Reactor. Fast test reactor designs examined include EBR-II, FFTF, JOYO, BOR-60, PHÉNIX, JHR, and MBIR. Previous designers exhibited great ingenuity in overcoming design and operational challenges especially when the original reactor plant’s mission changed to an irradiation testing mission as in the EBRII reactor plant. The various irradiation testing vehicles can be categorized as: Uninstrumented open assemblies that fit into core locations; Instrumented open test assemblies that fit into special core locations; Self-contained closed loops; and External closed loops. A special emphasis is devoted to closed loops as they are regarded as a very desirable feature of a future U.S. Fast Test Reactor. Closed loops are an important technology for irradiation of fuels and materials in separate controlled environments. The impact of closed loops on the design of fast reactors is also discussed in this report.

Automated Search-Based Robustness Testing for Autonomous Vehicle Software

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kevin M. Betts

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Autonomous systems must successfully operate in complex time-varying spatial environments even when dealing with system faults that may occur during a mission. Consequently, evaluating the robustness, or ability to operate correctly under unexpected conditions, of autonomous vehicle control software is an increasingly important issue in software testing. New methods to automatically generate test cases for robustness testing of autonomous vehicle control software in closed-loop simulation are needed. Search-based testing techniques were used to automatically generate test cases, consisting of initial conditions and fault sequences, intended to challenge the control software more than test cases generated using current methods. Two different search-based testing methods, genetic algorithms and surrogate-based optimization, were used to generate test cases for a simulated unmanned aerial vehicle attempting to fly through an entryway. The effectiveness of the search-based methods in generating challenging test cases was compared to both a truth reference (full combinatorial testing and the method most commonly used today (Monte Carlo testing. The search-based testing techniques demonstrated better performance than Monte Carlo testing for both of the test case generation performance metrics: (1 finding the single most challenging test case and (2 finding the set of fifty test cases with the highest mean degree of challenge.

Aerodynamic Reconstruction Applied to Parachute Test Vehicle Flight Data Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Cassady, Leonard D.; Ray, Eric S.; Truong, Tuan H.

2013-01-01

The aerodynamics, both static and dynamic, of a test vehicle are critical to determining the performance of the parachute cluster in a drop test and for conducting a successful test. The Capsule Parachute Assembly System (CPAS) project is conducting tests of NASA's Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) parachutes at the Army Yuma Proving Ground utilizing the Parachute Test Vehicle (PTV). The PTV shape is based on the MPCV, but the height has been reduced in order to fit within the C-17 aircraft for extraction. Therefore, the aerodynamics of the PTV are similar, but not the same as, the MPCV. A small series of wind tunnel tests and computational fluid dynamics cases were run to modify the MPCV aerodynamic database for the PTV, but aerodynamic reconstruction of the flights has proven an effective source for further improvements to the database. The acceleration and rotational rates measured during free flight, before parachute inflation but during deployment, were used to con rm vehicle static aerodynamics. A multibody simulation is utilized to reconstruct the parachute portions of the flight. Aerodynamic or parachute parameters are adjusted in the simulation until the prediction reasonably matches the flight trajectory. Knowledge of the static aerodynamics is critical in the CPAS project because the parachute riser load measurements are scaled based on forebody drag. PTV dynamic damping is critical because the vehicle has no reaction control system to maintain attitude - the vehicle dynamics must be understood and modeled correctly before flight. It will be shown here that aerodynamic reconstruction has successfully contributed to the CPAS project.

Legacy Vehicle Fuel System Testing with Intermediate Ethanol Blends

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Davis, G. W.; Hoff, C. J.; Borton, Z.; Ratcliff, M. A.

2012-03-01

The effects of E10 and E17 on legacy fuel system components from three common mid-1990s vintage vehicle models (Ford, GM, and Toyota) were studied. The fuel systems comprised a fuel sending unit with pump, a fuel rail and integrated pressure regulator, and the fuel injectors. The fuel system components were characterized and then installed and tested in sample aging test rigs to simulate the exposure and operation of the fuel system components in an operating vehicle. The fuel injectors were cycled with varying pulse widths during pump operation. Operational performance, such as fuel flow and pressure, was monitored during the aging tests. Both of the Toyota fuel pumps demonstrated some degradation in performance during testing. Six injectors were tested in each aging rig. The Ford and GM injectors showed little change over the aging tests. Overall, based on the results of both the fuel pump testing and the fuel injector testing, no major failures were observed that could be attributed to E17 exposure. The unknown fuel component histories add a large uncertainty to the aging tests. Acquiring fuel system components from operational legacy vehicles would reduce the uncertainty.

Operations Assessment of Launch Vehicle Architectures using Activity Based Cost Models

Science.gov (United States)

Ruiz-Torres, Alex J.; McCleskey, Carey

2000-01-01

The growing emphasis on affordability for space transportation systems requires the assessment of new space vehicles for all life cycle activities, from design and development, through manufacturing and operations. This paper addresses the operational assessment of launch vehicles, focusing on modeling the ground support requirements of a vehicle architecture, and estimating the resulting costs and flight rate. This paper proposes the use of Activity Based Costing (ABC) modeling for this assessment. The model uses expert knowledge to determine the activities, the activity times and the activity costs based on vehicle design characteristics. The approach provides several advantages to current approaches to vehicle architecture assessment including easier validation and allowing vehicle designers to understand the cost and cycle time drivers.

Wind Tunnel and Hover Performance Test Results for Multicopter UAS Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Russell, Carl R.; Jung, Jaewoo; Willink, Gina; Glasner, Brett

2016-01-01

There is currently a lack of published data for the performance of multicopter unmanned aircraft system (UAS) vehicles, such as quadcopters and octocopters, often referred to collectively as drones. With the rapidly increasing popularity of multicopter UAS, there is interest in better characterizing the performance of this type of aircraft. By studying the performance of currently available vehicles, it will be possible to develop models for vehicles at this scale that can accurately predict performance and model trajectories. This paper describes a wind tunnel test that was recently performed in the U.S. Army's 7- by 10-ft Wind Tunnel at NASA Ames Research Center. During this wind tunnel entry, five multicopter UAS vehicles were tested to determine forces and moments as well as electrical power as a function of wind speed, rotor speed, and vehicle attitude. The test is described here in detail, and a selection of the key results from the test is presented.

Closed Loop In-Reactor Assembly (CLIRA): a fast flux test facility test vehicle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oakley, D.J.

1978-01-01

The Closed Loop In-Reactor Assembly (CLIRA) is a test vehicle for in-core material and fuel experiments in the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF). The FFTF is a fast flux nuclear test reactor operated for the Department of Energy (DOE) by Westinghouse Hanford Company in Richland, Washington. The CLIRA is a removable/replaceable part of the Closed Loop System (CLS) which is a sodium coolant system providing flow and temperature control independent of the reactor coolant system. The primary purpose of the CLIRA is to provide a test vehicle which will permit testing of nuclear fuels and materials at conditions more severe than exist in the FTR core, and to isolate these materials from the reactor core

Baseline tests of the C. H. Waterman DAF electric passenger vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Sargent, N. B.; Maslowski, E. A.; Soltis, R. F.; Schuh, R. M.

1977-01-01

An electric vehicle was tested as part of an Energy Research Development Administration (ERDA) project to characterize the state-of-the-art of electric vehicles. The Waterman vehicle performance test results are presented in this report. The vehicle is a converted four-passenger DAF 46 sedan. It is powered by sixteen 6-volt traction batteries through a three-step contactor controller actuated by a foot throttle to change the voltage applied to the 6.7 kW motor. The braking system is a conventional hydraulic braking system.

Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) Project - N+2 Advanced Vehicle Concepts Study and Conceptual Design of Subscale Test Vehicle (STV) Final Report

Science.gov (United States)

Bonet, John T.; Schellenger, Harvey G.; Rawdon, Blaine K.; Elmer, Kevin R.; Wakayama, Sean R.; Brown, Derrell L.; Guo, Yueping

2011-01-01

NASA has set demanding goals for technology developments to meet national needs to improve fuel efficiency concurrent with improving the environment to enable air transportation growth. A figure shows NASA's subsonic transport system metrics. The results of Boeing ERA N+2 Advanced Vehicle Concept Study show that the Blended Wing Body (BWB) vehicle, with ultra high bypass propulsion systems have the potential to meet the combined NASA ERA N+2 goals. This study had 3 main activities. 1) The development of an advanced vehicle concepts that can meet the NASA system level metrics. 2) Identification of key enabling technologies and the development of technology roadmaps and maturation plans. 3) The development of a subscale test vehicle that can demonstrate and mature the key enabling technologies needed to meet the NASA system level metrics. Technology maturation plans are presented and include key performance parameters and technical performance measures. The plans describe the risks that will be reduced with technology development and the expected progression of technical maturity.

Unmanned Vehicle Material Flammability Test

Science.gov (United States)

Urban, David; Ruff, Gary A.; Fernandez-Pello, A. Carlos; T’ien, James S.; Torero, Jose L.; Cowlard, Adam; Rouvreau, Sebastian; Minster, Olivier; Toth, Balazs; Legros, Guillaume;

Reference architecture for interoperability testing of Electric Vehicle charging

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lehfuss, F.; Nohrer, M.; Werkmany, E.; Lopezz, J.A.; Zabalaz, E.

2015-01-01

This paper presents a reference architecture for interoperability testing of electric vehicles as well as their support equipment with the smart grid and the e-Mobility environment. Pan-European Electric Vehicle (EV)-charging is currently problematic as there are compliance and interoperability

AMMONIA EMISSIONS FROM THE EPA'S LIGHT DUTY TEST VEHICLE

Science.gov (United States)

The paper discusses measurements of ammonia (NH3) emissions from EPA's light duty test vehicle while operated on a dynamometer. The vehicle's (1993 Chevrolet equipped with a three-way catalyst) emissions were measured for three transient (urban driving, highway fuel economy, and ...

Battery Test Manual For 48 Volt Mild Hybrid Electric Vehicles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Walker, Lee Kenneth [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

2017-03-01

This manual details the U.S. Advanced Battery Consortium and U.S. Department of Energy Vehicle Technologies Program goals, test methods, and analysis techniques for a 48 Volt Mild Hybrid Electric Vehicle system. The test methods are outlined stating with characterization tests, followed by life tests. The final section details standardized analysis techniques for 48 V systems that allow for the comparison of different programs that use this manual. An example test plan is included, along with guidance to filling in gap table numbers.

Battery Test Manual For 48 Volt Mild Hybrid Electric Vehicles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Walker, Lee Kenneth

2017-01-01

This manual details the U.S. Advanced Battery Consortium and U.S. Department of Energy Vehicle Technologies Program goals, test methods, and analysis techniques for a 48 Volt Mild Hybrid Electric Vehicle system. The test methods are outlined stating with characterization tests, followed by life tests. The final section details standardized analysis techniques for 48 V systems that allow for the comparison of different programs that use this manual. An example test plan is included, along with guidance to filling in gap table numbers.

Vibration test of 1/5 scale H-II launch vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Morino, Yoshiki; Komatsu, Keiji; Sano, Masaaki; Minegishi, Masakatsu; Morita, Toshiyuki; Kohsetsu, Y.

In order to predict dynamic loads on the newly designed Japanese H-II launch vehicle, the adequacy of prediction methods has been assessed by the dynamic scale model testing. The three-dimensional dynamic model was used in the analysis to express coupling effects among axial, lateral (pitch and yaw) and torsional vibrations. The liquid/tank interaction was considered by use of a boundary element method. The 1/5 scale model of the H-II launch vehicle was designed to simulate stiffness and mass properties of important structural parts, such as core/SRB junctions, first and second stage Lox tanks and engine mount structures. Modal excitation of the test vehicle was accomplished with 100-1000 N shakers which produced random or sinusoidal vibrational forces. The vibrational response of the test vehicle was measured at various locations with accelerometers and pressure sensor. In the lower frequency range, corresmpondence between analysis and experiment was generally good. The basic procedures in analysis seem to be adequate so far, but some improvements in mathematical modeling are suggested by comparison of test and analysis.

U.S. Department of Energy Vehicle Technologies Program -- Advanced Vehicle Testing Activity -- Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Review

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kevin Morrow; Donald Darner; James Francfort

2008-11-01

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) are under evaluation by various stake holders to better understand their capability and potential benefits. PHEVs could allow users to significantly improve fuel economy over a standard HEV and in some cases, depending on daily driving requirements and vehicle design, have the ability to eliminate fuel consumption entirely for daily vehicle trips. The cost associated with providing charge infrastructure for PHEVs, along with the additional costs for the on-board power electronics and added battery requirements associated with PHEV technology will be a key factor in the success of PHEVs. This report analyzes the infrastructure requirements for PHEVs in single family residential, multi-family residential and commercial situations. Costs associated with this infrastructure are tabulated, providing an estimate of the infrastructure costs associated with PHEV deployment.

Vehicle Impact Testing of Snow Roads at McMurdo Station, Antarctica

Science.gov (United States)

2014-06-01

especially during warm weather when their high flotation tires al- low greater over-snow mobility. Table 2. Test vehicle information. Vehicle Vehicle...potential danger to the vehicle and pax 16 ERDC/CRREL TR-14-9 51 GO SLOWTI-U<OtJG-ISBTFOR YOLH?. SAFETY LANE C SCOTT BASE TRANSIT/ONTO SILVER

Novel Field Test Equipment for Lithium-Ion Batteries in Hybrid Electrical Vehicle Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Goran Lindbergh

2011-04-01

Full Text Available Lifetime testing of batteries for hybrid-electrical vehicles (HEV is usually performed in the lab, either at the cell, module or battery pack level. Complementary field tests of battery packs in vehicles are also often performed. There are, however, difficulties related to field testing of battery-packs. Some examples are cost issues and the complexity of continuously collecting battery performance data, such as capacity fade and impedance increase. In this paper, a novel field test equipment designed primarily for lithium-ion battery cell testing is presented. This equipment is intended to be used on conventional vehicles, not hybrid vehicles, as a cheaper and faster field testing method for batteries, compared to full scale HEV testing. The equipment emulates an HEV environment for the tested battery cell by using real time vehicle sensor information and the existing starter battery as load and source. In addition to the emulated battery cycling, periodical capacity and pulse testing capability are implemented as well. This paper begins with presenting some background information about hybrid electrical vehicles and describing the limitations with today’s HEV battery testing. Furthermore, the functionality of the test equipment is described in detail and, finally, results from verification of the equipment are presented and discussed.

Platform for Testing Robotic Vehicles on Simulated Terrain

Science.gov (United States)

Lindemann, Randel

2006-01-01

The variable terrain tilt platform (VTTP) is a means of providing simulated terrain for mobility testing of engineering models of the Mars Exploration Rovers. The VTTP could also be used for testing the ability of other robotic land vehicles (and small vehicles in general) to move across terrain under diverse conditions of slope and surface texture, and in the presence of obstacles of various sizes and shapes. The VTTP consists mostly of a 16-ft-(4.88-m)-square tilt table. The tilt can be adjusted to any angle between 0 (horizontal) and 25 . The test surface of the table can be left bare; can be covered with hard, high-friction material; or can be covered with sand, gravel, and/or other ground-simulating material or combination of materials to a thickness of as much as 6 in. (approx. 15 cm). Models of rocks, trenches, and other obstacles can be placed on the simulated terrain. For example, for one of the Mars- Rover tests, a high-friction mat was attached to the platform, then a 6-in.- ( 15 cm) deep layer of dry, loose beach sand was deposited on the mat. The choice of these two driving surface materials was meant to bound the range of variability of terrain that the rover was expected to encounter on the Martian surface. At each of the different angles at which tests were performed, for some of the tests, rocklike concrete obstacles ranging in height from 10 to 25 cm were placed in the path of the rover (see figure). The development of the VTTP was accompanied by development of a methodology of testing to characterize the performance and modes of failure of a vehicle under test. In addition to variations in slope, ground material, and obstacles, testing typically includes driving up-slope, down-slope, cross-slope, and at intermediate angles relative to slope. Testing includes recording of drive-motor currents, wheel speeds, articulation of suspension mechanisms, and the actual path of the vehicle over the simulated terrain. The collected data can be used to

Development of vehicle model test-bending of a simple structural surfaces model for automotive vehicle sedan

Science.gov (United States)

Nor, M. K. Mohd; Noordin, A.; Ruzali, M. F. S.; Hussen, M. H.; Mustapa@Othman, N.

2017-04-01

Simple Structural Surfaces (SSS) method is offered as a means of organizing the process for rationalizing the basic vehicle body structure load paths. The application of this simplified approach is highly beneficial in the development of modern passenger car structure design. In Malaysia, the SSS topic has been widely adopted and seems compulsory in various automotive programs related to automotive vehicle structures in many higher education institutions. However, there is no real physical model of SSS available to gain considerable insight and understanding into the function of each major subassembly in the whole vehicle structures. Based on this motivation, a real physical SSS of sedan model and the corresponding model vehicle tests of bending is proposed in this work. The proposed approach is relatively easy to understand as compared to Finite Element Method (FEM). The results prove that the proposed vehicle model test is useful to physically demonstrate the importance of providing continuous load path using the necessary structural components within the vehicle structures. It is clearly observed that the global bending stiffness reduce significantly when more panels are removed from the complete SSS model. The analysis shows the front parcel shelf is an important subassembly to sustain bending load.

Aerodynamic drag reduction tests on a box-shaped vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Peterson, R. L.; Sandlin, D. R.

1981-01-01

The intent of the present experiment is to define a near optimum value of drag coefficient for a high volume type of vehicle through the use of a boattail, on a vehicle already having rounded front corners and an underbody seal, or fairing. The results of these tests will constitute a baseline for later follow-on studies to evaluate candidate methods of obtaining afterbody drag coefficients approaching the boattail values, but without resorting to such impractical afterbody extensions. The current modifications to the box-shaped vehicle consisted of a full and truncated boattail in conjunction with the faired and sealed underbody. Drag results from these configurations are compared with corresponding wind tunnel results of a 1/10 scale model. Test velocities ranged up to 96.6 km/h (60 mph) and the corresponding Reynolds numbers ranged up to 1.3 x 10 to the 7th power based on the vehicles length which includes the boattail. A simple coast-down technique was used to define drag.

Research on optimization of test cycles for comfort to the special vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Mitroi, Marian; Chiru, Anghel

2017-10-01

The comfort of vehicles, regardless of their type is represent a requirement to by fulfilled in the context of current technological developments special vehicles generally move under different soil, time, or season conditions, and the land in which the vehicles move is complex and varied in the physical structure. Due to the high level of involvement in the driveability, safety and comfort of automotive, suspension system is a key factor with major implications for vibration and noise, affecting the human body. The objective of the research is related to determining the test cycles of special vehicles that are approaching real situations, to determine the level of comfort. The evaluate of the degree of comfort will be realized on acceleration values recorded, especially the vertical ones that have the highest influence on the human body. Thus, in this way the tests can be established needed to determine the level of comfort required for each particular type of special vehicle. The utility of the test cycles to optimize comfort is given to the accurate identification of the specific test needs, depending on the each vehicle.

Vehicle for transporting instruments for testing against a wall

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hyde, E.A.; Goldsmith, H.A.; Proudlove, M.J.

1981-01-01

This invention relates to a non-destructive testing apparatus and, in particular, to a vehicle that can be moved at will, for transporting instruments for testing against a surface remote from the operator. Under this invention a vehicle is intended, for instance, for testing the vessel of an installation containing a liquid metal cooled nuclear reactor of the pond type. Such an installation includes a nuclear reactor comprising an assembly containing a nuclear fuel immersed in a pond of liquid metal coolant, located in a vessel which is itself placed in a concrete containment vessel [fr

Vehicle lateral dynamics stabilization using active suspension

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Drobný V.

2008-12-01

Full Text Available The paper deals with the investigation of active nonlinear suspension control in order to stabilize the lateral vehicle motion in similar way as systems like ESP do. The lateral stabilization of vehicle based on braking forces can be alternatively provided by the different setting of suspension forces. The basis of this control is the nonlinear property of the tyres. The vehicle has at least four wheels and it gives one or more redundant vertical forces that can be used for the different distribution of vertical suspension forces in such a way that resulting lateral and/or longitudinal forces create the required correction moment for lateral dynamic vehicle stabilization.

Heavy and Overweight Vehicle Brake Testing: Five-Axle Combination Tractor-Flatbed Final Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lascurain, Mary Beth [ORNL; Capps, Gary J [ORNL; Franzese, Oscar [ORNL

2013-10-01

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, in coordination with the Federal Highway Administration, sponsored the Heavy and Overweight Vehicle Brake Testing (HOVBT) program in order to provide information about the effect of gross vehicle weight (GVW) on braking performance. Because the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations limit the number of braking system defects that may exist for a vehicle to be allowed to operate on the roadways, the examination of the effect of brake defects on brake performance for increased loads is also relevant. The HOVBT program seeks to provide relevant information to policy makers responsible for establishing load limits, beginning with providing test data for a combination tractor/trailer. This testing was conducted on a five-axle combination vehicle with tractor brakes meeting the Reduced Stopping Distance requirement rulemaking. This report provides a summary of the testing activities, the results of various analyses of the data, and recommendations for future research. Following a complete brake rebuild, instrumentation, and brake burnish, stopping tests were performed from 20 and 40 mph with various brake application pressures (15 psi, 25 psi, 35 psi, 45 psi, 55 psi, and full system pressure). These tests were conducted for various brake conditions at the following GVWs: 60,000, 80,000, 91,000, 97,000, 106,000, and 116,000 lb. The 80,000-lb GVWs included both balanced and unbalanced loads. The condition of the braking system was also varied. To introduce these defects, brakes (none, forward drive axle, or rear trailer axle) were made inoperative. In addition to the stopping tests, performance-based brake tests were conducted for the various loading and brake conditions. Analysis of the stopping test data showed the stopping distance to increase with load (as expected) and also showed that more braking force was generated by the drive axle brakes than the trailer axle brakes. The constant-pressure stopping test data

A data driven approach for automating vehicle activated signs

OpenAIRE

Jomaa, Diala

2016-01-01

Vehicle activated signs (VAS) display a warning message when drivers exceed a particular threshold. VAS are often installed on local roads to display a warning message depending on the speed of the approaching vehicles. VAS are usually powered by electricity; however, battery and solar powered VAS are also commonplace. This thesis investigated devel-opment of an automatic trigger speed of vehicle activated signs in order to influence driver behaviour, the effect of which has been measured in ...

Trends in Aggregate Vehicle Emissions: Do We Need To Emissions Test?

OpenAIRE

Matthew Kahn

1995-01-01

Vehicle emissions are falling. As the oldest vehicles in the fleet are scrapped and are replaced by cleaner vehicles, aggregate emissions decline. Given this trend, must costly used car regulation continue? The Clean Air Act of 1990 requires more stringent used car testing without considering the counter-factual of how aggregate emissions would evolve in the absence of more regulation. This paper use data on vehicle scrappage rates, vehicle emissions by model year, and county air quality leve...

Transrapid 06 test vehicle and its drive system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Eitlhuber, E

1984-06-01

To prove the practicability of a high-speed maglev transport system, a large-scale test facility is now under construction in Emsland with the backing of the Federal Ministry of Research and Technology. The TRANSRAPID 06 test vehicle is designed to carry 192 seated passengers at a maximum speed of 400 km/h. With running tests now in progress, the project has entered a decisive phase. The article describes the objectives, concept and design of the Tr 06 vehicle and its drive system. Upon conclusion of the main operational preparations by the construction consortium, the facility will be taken over and operated by the MVP, a joint subsidiary of the DB, Lufthansa German Airlines and the IABG. Following a successful changeover, the aim will be to ensure feedback of operating experience to the industry.

40 CFR 1051.301 - When must I test my production-line vehicles or engines?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... vehicles or engines? 1051.301 Section 1051.301 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR POLLUTION CONTROLS CONTROL OF EMISSIONS FROM RECREATIONAL ENGINES AND VEHICLES Testing Production-Line Vehicles and Engines § 1051.301 When must I test my production-line vehicles or engines? (a...

TOP 01-1-011B Vehicle Test Facilities at Aberdeen Test Center and Yuma Test Center

Science.gov (United States)

2017-12-12

Test Center 400 Colleran Road Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005-5059 U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground Yuma Test Center 301 C. Street Yuma, AZ...22 2.6 Munson Test Area (MTA) ..................................................... 24 2.7 Land Vehicle Maintenance Facility...127 3.6 Maintenance Facilities ........................................................... 143

FY2014 Vehicle and Systems Simulation and Testing Annual Progress Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

2015-03-01

The Vehicle and Systems Simulation and Testing research and development (R&D) subprogram within the DOE Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) provides support and guidance for many cutting-edge automotive technologies under development. Research focuses on addressing critical barriers to advancing light-, medium-, and heavy-duty vehicle systems to help maximize the number of electric miles driven and increase the energy efficiency of transportation vehicles.

Vehicle Testing and Integration Facility; NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

2015-03-02

Engineers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL’s) Vehicle Testing and Integration Facility (VTIF) are developing strategies to address two separate but equally crucial areas of research: meeting the demands of electric vehicle (EV) grid integration and minimizing fuel consumption related to vehicle climate control. Dedicated to renewable and energy-efficient solutions, the VTIF showcases technologies and systems designed to increase the viability of sustainably powered vehicles. NREL researchers instrument every class of on-road vehicle, conduct hardware and software validation for EV components and accessories, and develop analysis tools and technology for the Department of Energy, other government agencies, and industry partners.

Design of a Portable Tire Test Rig and Vehicle Roll-Over Stability Control

OpenAIRE

Fox, Derek Martin

2009-01-01

Vehicle modeling and simulation have fast become the easiest and cheapest method for vehicle testing. No longer do multiple, intensive, physical tests need be performed to analyze the performance parameters that one wishes to validate. One component of the vehicle simulation that is crucial to the correctness of the result is the tire. Simulations that are run by a computer can be run many times faster than a real test could be performed, so the cost and complexity of the testing is reduced....

Fatigue Tests – Important Part of Development of New Vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kepka Miloslav

2018-01-01

Full Text Available In city of Pilsen (Czech Republic modern transport engineering is developed. The Skoda Transportation (production company has successfully been producing rail and road vehicles for many years (electric locomotives, trams, metro cars, trolleybuses, battery buses. This producer cooperates in developing these vehicles with the Research and Testing Institute (commercial research institute and with the University of West Bohemia (public university. Fatigue tests are carried out by the Dynamic Testing Laboratory at the Research and Testing Institute and by the Regional Technological Institute, the research center of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the university. The paper describes various fatigue tests and presents their practical realization in the mentioned laboratories.

Integrated System Test Approaches for the NASA Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Cockrell, Charles

2008-01-01

NASA is maturing test and evaluation plans leading to flight readiness of the Ares I crew launch vehicle. Key development, qualification, and verification tests are planned . Upper stage engine sea-level and altitude testing. First stage development and qualification motors. Upper stage structural and thermal development and qualification test articles. Main Propulsion Test Article (MPTA). Upper stage green run testing. Integrated Vehicle Ground Vibration Testing (IVGVT). Aerodynamic characterization testing. Test and evaluation supports initial validation flights (Ares I-Y and Orion 1) and design certification.

IRVIN - Intelligent Road and Vehicle test INfrastructure

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bakker, R.T.; Hogema, J.A.; Huiskamp, W.; Papp, Z.

2005-01-01

Simulation, or rather virtual testing, is a good instrument for study and design of traffic management concepts, traffic safety, vehicle safety and ergonomics. Simulation facilitates the evaluation of the design at an early stage and reduces the costs of making prototypes. The Dutch research

Multi-Mission Earth Vehicle Subsonic Dynamic Stability Testing and Analyses

Science.gov (United States)

Glaab, Louis J.; Fremaux, C. Michael

2013-01-01

Multi-Mission Earth Entry Vehicles (MMEEVs) are blunt-body vehicles designed with the purpose of transporting payloads from outer space to the surface of the Earth. To achieve high-reliability and minimum weight, MMEEVs avoid use of limited-reliability systems, such as parachutes, retro-rockets, and reaction control systems and rely on the natural aerodynamic stability of the vehicle throughout the Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) phase of flight. The Multi-Mission Systems Analysis for Planetary Entry (M-SAPE) parametric design tool is used to facilitate the design of MMEEVs for an array of missions and develop and visualize the trade space. Testing in NASA Langley?s Vertical Spin Tunnel (VST) was conducted to significantly improve M-SAPE?s subsonic aerodynamic models. Vehicle size and shape can be driven by entry flight path angle and speed, thermal protection system performance, terminal velocity limitations, payload mass and density, among other design parameters. The objectives of the VST testing were to define usable subsonic center of gravity limits, and aerodynamic parameters for 6-degree-of-freedom (6-DOF) simulations, for a range of MMEEV designs. The range of MMEEVs tested was from 1.8m down to 1.2m diameter. A backshell extender provided the ability to test a design with a much larger payload for the 1.2m MMEEV.

40 CFR 85.1506 - Inspection and testing of imported motor vehicles and engines.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... motor vehicles and engines. 85.1506 Section 85.1506 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) CONTROL OF AIR POLLUTION FROM MOBILE SOURCES Importation of Motor Vehicles and Motor Vehicle Engines § 85.1506 Inspection and testing of imported motor vehicles and...

40 CFR 1051.501 - What procedures must I use to test my vehicles or engines?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... vehicles or engines? 1051.501 Section 1051.501 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR POLLUTION CONTROLS CONTROL OF EMISSIONS FROM RECREATIONAL ENGINES AND VEHICLES Test Procedures § 1051.501 What procedures must I use to test my vehicles or engines? This section describes test...

New Integrated Testing System for the Validation of Vehicle-Snow Interaction Models

Science.gov (United States)

2010-08-06

are individual wheel speeds, accelerator pedal position, vehicle speed, yaw rate, lateral acceleration, steering wheel angle and brake ...forces and moments at each wheel center, vehicle body slip angle , speed, acceleration, yaw rate, roll, and pitch. The profilometer has a 3-D scanning...Stability Program. The test vehicle provides measurements that include three forces and moments at each wheel center, vehicle body slip angle , speed

Developing a 'Research Test Bed' to introduce innovative Emission Testing Technology to improve New Zealand's Vehicle Emission Standards

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cox, Stephen J

2012-01-01

Vehicle exhaust emissions arise from the combustion of the fuel and air mixture in the engine. Exhaust emission gases generally include carbon monoxide (CO), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), hydrocarbons (HC), particulates, and the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2). In New Zealand improvements have occurred in emissions standards over the past 20 years however significant health related issues are now being discovered in Auckland as a direct effect of high vehicle emission levels. Pollution in New Zealand, especially via vehicle emissions are an increasing concern and threatens New Zealand's 'clean and green' image. Unitec Institute of Technology proposes establishing a Vehicle Emissions Testing Facility, and with an understanding with Auckland University, National Institute of Water and Atmosphere Research Ltd (NIWA) this research group can work collaboratively on vehicle emissions testing. New Zealand research providers would support an application in the UK led by the University of Huddersfield to a range of European Union Structural Funds. New Zealand has an ideal 'vehicle emissions research environment' supported by significant expertise in vehicle emission control technology and associated protocols at the University of Auckland, and the effects of high vehicle emissions on health at the National Institutes of Water and Atmosphere (NIWA).

U.S. Department of Energy Vehicle Technologies Program: Battery Test Manual For Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Christophersen, Jon P. [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

2014-09-01

This battery test procedure manual was prepared for the United States Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Vehicle Technologies Office. It is based on technical targets for commercial viability established for energy storage development projects aimed at meeting system level DOE goals for Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV). The specific procedures defined in this manual support the performance and life characterization of advanced battery devices under development for PHEV’s. However, it does share some methods described in the previously published battery test manual for power-assist hybrid electric vehicles. Due to the complexity of some of the procedures and supporting analysis, future revisions including some modifications and clarifications of these procedures are expected. As in previous battery and capacitor test manuals, this version of the manual defines testing methods for full-size battery systems, along with provisions for scaling these tests for modules, cells or other subscale level devices. The DOE-United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC), Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) supported the development of the manual. Technical Team points of contact responsible for its development and revision are Renata M. Arsenault of Ford Motor Company and Jon P. Christophersen of the Idaho National Laboratory. The development of this manual was funded by the Unites States Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Vehicle Technologies Office. Technical direction from DOE was provided by David Howell, Energy Storage R&D Manager and Hybrid Electric Systems Team Leader. Comments and questions regarding the manual should be directed to Jon P. Christophersen at the Idaho National Laboratory (jon.christophersen@inl.gov).

Analysis of the ECO Test Results for Vehicles in the Republic of Croatia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dražen Kovačević

2007-01-01

Full Text Available The work presents the classification of engines for theECO test requirement at the technical inspection of vehicles.The types of harmful components in the raw emission of internalcombustion engine are listed and described, as well asthe possibilities of their reduction. In accordance with theclassification of engines for the ECO test requirements the allowedvalues of harmful components according to the legallystipulated standards in Croatia are given. The study includedthe number of vehicles that passed the ECO test at technicalinspection in 2004 and these were then statistically processedand analyzed according to the type of vehicle, classification ofcar engines for the ECO test requirements and the year ofproduction.

Baseline test data for the EVA electric vehicle. [low energy consumption automobiles

Science.gov (United States)

Harhay, W. C.; Bozek, J.

1976-01-01

Two electric vehicles from Electric Vehicle Associates were evaluated for ERDA at the Transportation Research Center of Ohio. The vehicles, loaded to a gross vehicle weight of 3750 pounds, had a range of 56.3 miles at a steady speed of 25 mph and a 27.4 miles range during acceleration-deceleration tests to a top speed of 30 mph. Energy consumption varied from 0.48 kw-hr/mi. to 0.59 kw-hr/mi.

Safe and secure South Africa. Vehicle landmine protection validation testing

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Reinecke, JD

2008-11-01

Full Text Available The objective of this paper is to provide an overview of vehicle landmine protection validation testing in South Africa. A short history of validation test standards is given, followed by a summary of current open test standards in general use...

On Electrohydraulic Pressure Control for Power Steering Applications : Active Steering for Road Vehicles

OpenAIRE

Dell'Amico, Alessandro

2016-01-01

This thesis deals with the Electrohydraulic Power Steering system for road vehicles, using electronic pressure control valves. With an ever increasing demand for safer vehicles and fewer traffic accidents, steering-related active safety functions are becoming more common in modern vehicles. Future road vehicles will also evolve towards autonomous vehicles, with several safety, environmental and financial benefits. A key component in realising such solutions is active steering. The power steer...

Study on environmental test technology of LiDAR used for vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yi; Yang, Jianfeng; Ou, Yong

2018-03-01

With the development of intelligent driving, the LiDAR used for vehicle plays an important role in it, in some extent LiDAR is the key factor of intelligent driving. And environmental adaptability is one critical factor of quality, it relates success or failure of LiDAR. This article discusses about the environment and its effects on LiDAR used for vehicle, it includes analysis of any possible environment that vehicle experiences, and environmental test design.

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle Fuel Economy Testing at the U.S. EPA National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory (SAE Paper 2004-01-2900)

Science.gov (United States)

The introduction of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and their new technology has created the need for development of new fuel economy test procedures and safety procedures during testing. The United States Environmental Protection Agency-National Vehicle Fuels and Emissions Laborato...

Development of a Remotely Operated Vehicle Test-bed

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Biao WANG

2013-06-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the development of a remotely operated vehicle (ROV, designed to serve as a convenient, cost-effective platform for research and experimental validation of hardware, sensors and control algorithms. Both of the mechanical and control system design are introduced. The vehicle with a dimension 0.65 m long, 0.45 m wide has been designed to have a frame structure for modification of mounted devices and thruster allocation. For control system, STM32 based MCU boards specially designed for this project, are used as core processing boards. And an open source, modular, flexible software is developed. Experiment results demonstrate the effectiveness of the test-bed.

Fast neutron radiography testing for components of launch vehicles by a baby-cyclotron

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ikeda, Y.; Ohkubo, K.; Matsumoto, G.; Nakamura, T.; Nozaki, Y.; Wakasa, S.; Toda, Y.; Kato, T.

1990-01-01

Recently, neutron radiography (NR) has become an important means of nondestructive testing (NDT) in Japan. Especially thermal neutron radiography testing (NRT) has been used for the NDT of various explosive devices of launch vehicles, which are developed as a H-series program by the National Space Development Agency (NASDA) of Japan. The NRT for launch vehicles has been carried out at the NR facility of a baby-cyclotron. In the NRT a conventional film method based on silver-halide emulsion has been exclusively employed to inspect various testing objects including components, and many valuable results have been obtained so far successfully. However, recently, the launch vehicles to be shot up have become much larger. With larger launch vehicles, the parts used in them have also become larger and thicker. One main disadvantage of the NRT by thermal neutrons is somewhat weak penetrability through objects because the energy is small. With the conventional thermal neutron radiography (TNR), steel objects being thicker than 40 to 50 mm are difficult to test through them because scattered neutrons obstruct real image of the object. Consequently a new method of NRT should be developed instead of TNR and applied to the new components of H-2 launch vehicles. In order to cope with the requirement, fast neutron radiography (FNR) has been studied for testing the new components of H-2, such as large separation bolts

A method for attitude measurement of a test vehicle based on the tracking of vectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang, Ning; Yang, Ming; Huo, Ju

2015-01-01

In the vehicle simulation test, in order to improve the measuring precision for the attitude of a test vehicle, a measuring method based on the vectors of light beams is presented, in which light beams are mounted on the test vehicle as the cooperation target, and the attitude of the test vehicle is calculated with the light beams’ vectors in the test vehicle’s coordinate system and the world coordinate system. Meanwhile, in order to expand the measuring range of the attitude parameters, cooperation targets and light beams in each cooperation target are increased. On this basis, the concept of an attitude calculation container is defined, and the selection method for the attitude calculation container that participates in the calculation is given. Simultaneously, the vectors of light beams are tracked so as to ensure the normal calculation of the attitude parameters. The experiments results show that this measuring method based on the tracking of vectors can achieve the high precision and wide range of measurement for the attitude of the test vehicle. (paper)

Fuzzy-Skyhook Control for Active Suspension Systems Applied to a Full Vehicle Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aref M.A. Soliman

2012-04-01

Full Text Available Nowadays, most modern vehicles are equipped with controlled suspension systems for improving the vehicle ride comfort. Therefore, this paper is concerned with a theoretical study for the ride comfort performance of the vehicle. The theoretical investigation includes a suggestion of an active suspension system controller using fuzzy-skyhook control theory, which offers new opportunities for the improvement of vehicle ride performance. The ride comfort of the active suspension system has been evaluated using a 7 degree of freedom full vehicle mathematical model. The simulation results are presented in the time and frequency domain, also in terms of RMS values, and it’s shown that the proposed active suspension system with fuzzy-skyhook control improved the vehicle ride quality in terms of body acceleration, suspension working space and dynamic tyre load in comparison with the passive and skyhook suspension systems.

Closure Report for Corrective Action Unit 240: Area 25 Vehicle Washdown Nevada Test Site, Nevada

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gustafason, D.L.

2001-01-01

The Area 25 Vehicle Washdown, Corrective Action Unit (CAU) 240, was clean-closed following the approved Corrective Action Decision Document closure alternative and in accordance with the Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (FFACO, 1996). The CAU consists of thee Corrective Action Sites (CASs): 25-07-01 - Vehicle Washdown Area (Propellant Pad); 25-07-02 - Vehicle Washdown Area (F and J Roads Pad); and 25-07-03 - Vehicle Washdown Station (RADSAFE Pad). Characterization activities indicated that only CAS 25-07-02 (F and J Roads Pad) contained constituents of concern (COCs) above action levels and required remediation. The COCs detected were Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPH) as diesel, cesium-137, and strontium-90. The F and J Roads Pad may have been used for the decontamination of vehicles and possibly disassembled engine and reactor parts from Test Cell C. Activities occurred there during the 1960s through early 1970s. The F and J Roads Pad consisted of a 9- by 5-meter (m) (30- by 15-foot [ft]) concrete pad and a 14- by 13-m (46-by 43-ft) gravel sump. The clean-closure corrective action consisted of excavation, disposal, verification sampling, backfilling, and regrading. Closure activities began on August 21, 2000, and ended on September 19, 2000. Waste disposal activities were completed on December 12, 2000. A total of 172 cubic meters (223 cubic yards) of impacted soil was excavated and disposed. The concrete pad was also removed and disposed. Verification samples were collected from the bottom and sidewalls of the excavation and analyzed for TPH diesel and 20-minute gamma spectroscopy. The sample results indicated that all impacted soil above remediation standards was removed. The closure was completed following the approved Corrective Action Plan. All impacted waste was disposed in the Area 6 Hydrocarbon Landfill. All non-impacted debris was disposed in the Area 9 Construction Landfill and the Area 23 Sanitary Landfill

40 CFR 1051.305 - How must I prepare and test my production-line vehicles or engines?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... production-line vehicles or engines? 1051.305 Section 1051.305 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR POLLUTION CONTROLS CONTROL OF EMISSIONS FROM RECREATIONAL ENGINES AND VEHICLES Testing Production-Line Vehicles and Engines § 1051.305 How must I prepare and test my production...

Hybrid Electric Vehicle Testing | Transportation Research | NREL

Science.gov (United States)

Hybrid Electric Vehicle Evaluations Hybrid Electric Vehicle Evaluations How Hybrid Electric Vehicles Work Hybrid electric vehicles combine a primary power source, an energy storage system, and an is used to propel the vehicle during normal drive cycles. The batteries supply additional power for

Remote surface testing and inspection vehicle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hyde, E.A.; Goldsmith, H.A.; Proudlove, M.J.

1981-01-01

A remotely controlled vehicle capable of roving over the outer surface of a nuclear reactor primary vessel carrying inspection instrumentation. The vehicle comprises an elongate bridge having a pair of suction support pads. Each pad carries gas thrusters for acting in opposition to the suction effort thereby to reduce adherence of the pads and enable displacement of the vehicle over the surface. The vehicle is supported by a services conducting umbilical. (author)

Subscale and Full-Scale Testing of Buckling-Critical Launch Vehicle Shell Structures

Science.gov (United States)

Hilburger, Mark W.; Haynie, Waddy T.; Lovejoy, Andrew E.; Roberts, Michael G.; Norris, Jeffery P.; Waters, W. Allen; Herring, Helen M.

2012-01-01

New analysis-based shell buckling design factors (aka knockdown factors), along with associated design and analysis technologies, are being developed by NASA for the design of launch vehicle structures. Preliminary design studies indicate that implementation of these new knockdown factors can enable significant reductions in mass and mass-growth in these vehicles and can help mitigate some of NASA s launch vehicle development and performance risks by reducing the reliance on testing, providing high-fidelity estimates of structural performance, reliability, robustness, and enable increased payload capability. However, in order to validate any new analysis-based design data or methods, a series of carefully designed and executed structural tests are required at both the subscale and full-scale level. This paper describes recent buckling test efforts at NASA on two different orthogrid-stiffened metallic cylindrical shell test articles. One of the test articles was an 8-ft-diameter orthogrid-stiffened cylinder and was subjected to an axial compression load. The second test article was a 27.5-ft-diameter Space Shuttle External Tank-derived cylinder and was subjected to combined internal pressure and axial compression.

PaTAVTT: A Hardware-in-the-Loop Scaled Platform for Testing Autonomous Vehicle Trajectory Tracking

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhigang Xu

2017-01-01

Full Text Available With the advent of autonomous vehicles, in particular its adaptability to harsh conditions, the research and development of autonomous vehicles attract significant attention by not only academia but also practitioners. Due to the high risk, high cost, and difficulty to test autonomous vehicles under harsh conditions, the hardware-in-the-loop (HIL scaled platform has been proposed as it is a safe, inexpensive, and effective test method. This platform system consists of scaled autonomous vehicle, scaled roadway, monitoring center, transmission device, positioning device, and computers. This paper uses a case of the development process of tracking control for high-speed U-turn to build the tracking control function. Further, a simplified vehicle dynamics model and a trajectory tracking algorithm have been considered to build the simulation test. The experiment results demonstrate the effectiveness of the HIL scaled platform.

7th Conference Simulation and Testing for Vehicle Technology

CERN Document Server

Riese, Jens; Rüden, Klaus

2016-01-01

The book includes contributions on the latest model-based methods for the development of personal and commercial vehicle control devices. The main topics treated are: application of simulation and model design to development of driver assistance systems; physical and database model design for engines, motors, powertrain, undercarriage and the whole vehicle; new simulation tools, methods and optimization processes; applications of simulation in function and software development; function and software testing using HiL, MiL and SiL simulation; application of simulation and optimization in application of control devices; automation approaches at all stages of the development process.

Vehicle rollover sensor test modeling

NARCIS (Netherlands)

McCoy, R.W.; Chou, C.C.; Velde, R. van de; Twisk, D.; Schie, C. van

2007-01-01

A computational model of a mid-size sport utility vehicle was developed using MADYMO. The model includes a detailed description of the suspension system and tire characteristics that incorporated the Delft-Tyre magic formula description. The model was correlated by simulating a vehicle suspension

Accelerated pavement testing efforts using the heavy vehicle simulator

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Du Plessis, Louw

2017-10-01

Full Text Available This paper provides a brief description of the technological developments involved in the development and use of the Heavy Vehicle Simulator (HVS) accelerated pavement testing equipment. This covers the period from concept in the late 1960’s...

Vehicle to Grid Communication Standards Development, Testing and Validation - Status Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gowri, Krishnan; Pratt, Richard M.; Tuffner, Francis K.; Kintner-Meyer, Michael CW

2011-09-01

In the US, more than 10,000 electric vehicles (EV) have been delivered to consumers during the first three quarters of 2011. A large majority of these vehicles are battery electric, often requiring 220 volt charging. Though the vehicle manufacturers and charging station manufacturers have provided consumers options for charging preferences, there are no existing communications between consumers and the utilities to manage the charging demand. There is also wide variation between manufacturers in their approach to support vehicle charging. There are in-vehicle networks, charging station networks, utility networks each using either cellular, Wi-Fi, ZigBee or other proprietary communication technology with no standards currently available for interoperability. The current situation of ad-hoc solutions is a major barrier to the wide adoption of electric vehicles. SAE, the International Standards Organization/International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC), ANSI, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and several industrial organizations are working towards the development of interoperability standards. PNNL has participated in the development and testing of these standards in an effort to accelerate the adoption and development of communication modules.

Free Flight Rotorcraft Flight Test Vehicle Technology Development

Science.gov (United States)

Hodges, W. Todd; Walker, Gregory W.

1994-01-01

A rotary wing, unmanned air vehicle (UAV) is being developed as a research tool at the NASA Langley Research Center by the U.S. Army and NASA. This development program is intended to provide the rotorcraft research community an intermediate step between rotorcraft wind tunnel testing and full scale manned flight testing. The technologies under development for this vehicle are: adaptive electronic flight control systems incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, small-light weight sophisticated sensors, advanced telepresence-telerobotics systems and rotary wing UAV operational procedures. This paper briefly describes the system's requirements and the techniques used to integrate the various technologies to meet these requirements. The paper also discusses the status of the development effort. In addition to the original aeromechanics research mission, the technology development effort has generated a great deal of interest in the UAV community for related spin-off applications, as briefly described at the end of the paper. In some cases the technologies under development in the free flight program are critical to the ability to perform some applications.

Trajectory Optimization and Conceptual Study of Small Test Vehicles for Hypersonic Engine Using High-Altitude Balloon

Science.gov (United States)

Tsuchiya, Takeshi; Takenaka, Youichi; Taguchi, Hideyuki; Sawai, Shujiro

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA announced a long-term vision recently. In the vision, JAXA aims to develop hypersonic aircrafts. A pre-cooled turbojet engine has great potential as one of newly developed hypersonic air-breathing engines. We also expect the engine to be installed in space transportation vehicles in future. For combustion test in real flight condition of the engines, JAXA has an experimental plan with a small test vehicle falling from a high-altitude balloon. This paper applies numerical analysis and optimization techniques to conceptual designs of the test vehicle in order to obtain the best configuration and trajectory that can achieve the flight test. The results show helpful knowledge when we design prototype vehicles.

Development of Vehicle Model Test for Road Loading Analysis of Sedan Model

Science.gov (United States)

Mohd Nor, M. K.; Noordin, A.; Ruzali, M. F. S.; Hussen, M. H.

2016-11-01

Simple Structural Surfaces (SSS) method is offered as a means of organizing the process for rationalizing the basic vehicle body structure load paths. The application of this simplified approach is highly beneficial in the design development of modern passenger car structure especially during the conceptual stage. In Malaysia, however, there is no real physical model of SSS available to gain considerable insight and understanding into the function of each major subassembly in the whole vehicle structures. Based on this motivation, a physical model of SSS for sedan model with the corresponding model vehicle tests of bending and torsion is proposed in this work. The proposed approach is relatively easy to understand as compared to Finite Element Method (FEM). The results show that the proposed vehicle model test is capable to show that satisfactory load paths can give a sufficient structural stiffness within the vehicle structure. It is clearly observed that the global bending stiffness reduce significantly when more panels are removed from a complete SSS model. It is identified that parcel shelf is an important subassembly to sustain bending load. The results also match with the theoretical hypothesis, as the stiffness of the structure in an open section condition is shown weak when subjected to torsion load compared to bending load. The proposed approach can potentially be integrated with FEM to speed up the design process of automotive vehicle.

An SINS/GNSS Ground Vehicle Gravimetry Test Based on SGA-WZ02

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ruihang Yu

2015-09-01

Full Text Available In March 2015, a ground vehicle gravimetry test was implemented in eastern Changsha to assess the repeatability and accuracy of ground vehicle SINS/GNSS gravimeter—SGA-WZ02. The gravity system developed by NUDT consisted of a Strapdown Inertial Navigation System (SINS, a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS remote station on test vehicle, a GNSS static master station on the ground, and a data logging subsystem. A south-north profile of 35 km along the highway in eastern Changsha was chosen and four repeated available measure lines were obtained. The average speed of a vehicle is 40 km/h. To assess the external ground gravity disturbances, precise ground gravity data was built by CG-5 precise gravimeter as the reference. Under relative smooth conditions, internal accuracy among repeated lines shows an average agreement at the level of 1.86 mGal for half wavelengths about 1.1 km, and 1.22 mGal for 1.7 km. The root-mean-square (RMS of difference between calculated gravity data and reference data is about 2.27 mGal/1.1 km, and 1.74 mGal/1.7 km. Not all of the noises caused by vehicle itself and experiments environments were eliminated in the primary results. By means of selecting reasonable filters and improving the GNSS observation conditions, further developments in ground vehicle gravimetry are promising.

Guidelines for the Establishment of a Model Neighborhood Electric Vehicle (NEV) Fleet

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Roberta Brayer; Donald Karner; Kevin Morrow; James Francfort

2006-06-01

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Vehicle Testing Activity tests neighborhood electric vehicles (NEVs) in both track and fleet testing environments. NEVs, which are also known as low speed vehicles, are light-duty vehicles with top speeds of between 20 and 25 mph, and total gross vehicle weights of approximately 2,000 pounds or less. NEVs have been found to be very viable alternatives to internal combustion engine vehicles based on their low operating costs. However, special charging infrastructure is usually necessary for successful NEV fleet deployment. Maintenance requirements are also unique to NEVs, especially if flooded lead acid batteries are used as they have watering requirements that require training, personnel protection equipment, and adherence to maintenance schedules. This report provides guidelines for fleet managers to follow in order to successfully introduce and operate NEVs in fleet environments. This report is based on the NEV testing and operational experience of personnel from the Advanced Vehicle Testing Activity, Electric Transportation Applications, and the Idaho National Laboratory.

Advanced testing and validation centre gets electric vehicle technology to market faster

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Astil, T.; Girard, F. [National Research Council of Canada, Vancouver, BC (Canada). Inst. for Fuel Cell Innovation

2010-07-01

The National Research Council (NRC) Institute for Fuel Cell Innovation is advancing Canada's clean energy advantage through NRC's technology cluster initiatives, which help Canadian small and medium enterprises achieve commercialization breakthroughs in key sectors. This presentation discussed the technology evaluation program (TEP) offered by the NRC Institute for Fuel Cell Innovation. The presentation discussed the TEPs mission, advanced testing and validation centre (ATVC), previous ATVC clients, environmental chamber, dynamometer, vibration table, electrochemical battery testing, and electrochemical testing laboratory. The ATVC is a specialized and safe environment for objective, reliable and accurate standardized testing applications of electric vehicle technologies. It offers independent test services to external organizations, making it easier to prove that electric vehicle technologies will perform under specific operating conditions. figs.

LMI-Based H¥ Anti-Rollover Control Algorithm of Vehicle Active Suspension

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

LIAO Cong

2014-10-01

Full Text Available In order to improve the anti-rollover ability for vehicles, a 4 DOF vehicle rollover dynamics model is established, base on which we have designed an active suspension anti-rollover controller and proposed the H¥ control strategy. Simulations were carried out using Matlab/Simulink, and results show that the proposed control scheme can not only reduce the roll angle and roll angular velocity, but also improve the rollover stability of the vehicle and reduce the probability of vehicle rollover accidents.

Practicability of passenger vehicle driving emission tests according to new European Union procedures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pielecha Jacek

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The article compares driving test data using the latest legislative proposals applicable to passenger cars. Several measurements were performed on the same test route in accordance with the RDE test guidelines, which requires a number of criteria to be met. These criteria include: the length of the measuring segments, their overall test time share, and the dynamic characteristics of the drive. A mobile device for reading the EOBD System information was used to record the engine and vehicle operating parameters during tests. This allowed for the monitoring of parameters such as: load value, engine speed and vehicle velocity. The obtained results were then analyzed for their compatibility with the RDE procedure requirements. Despite the same research route, the obtained results were not the same. The analysis also uses the two-dimensional operating time share characteristics expressed in vehicle velocity and acceleration co-ordinates. As a result it was possible to compare the dynamic properties, share of operating time and, consequently, to check the validity of conducted drive tests in terms of their practicability and emission values.

Sand and Dust Testing of Wheeled and Tracked Vehicles and Stationary Equipment

Science.gov (United States)

2009-11-18

Vacuum pump Flow meter Measurement of dust mass ±2 percent ±4 percent ±0.0005 g Weight of air cleaner element ±0.5 percent (Total estimated error...samplers should be set to a flow rate that is isokinetic ) on the front of the vehicle, in the center of the grill or windshield, or the center of...3) Record the test bed vehicle odometer and hour meter reading. (4) Document the condition of the vehicle interior, exterior, and all

Testing Low-Energy, High-Power Energy Storage Alternatives in a Full-Hybrid Vehicle (Presentation)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cosgrove, J.; Gonger, J.

2014-01-01

Automakers have been mass producing hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) for well over a decade, and the technology has proven to be very effective at reducing per-vehicle gasoline use. However, the battery cost in HEVs contribute to higher incremental cost of HEVs (a few thousand dollars) than the cost of comparable conventional vehicles, which has limited HEV market penetration. Significant cost reductions/performance improvements to the energy storage system (ESS) can improve the vehicle-level cost vs. benefit relationship for HEVs. Such an improvement could lead to larger HEV market penetration and greater aggregate gasoline savings. After significant analysis by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) and Department of Energy (DOE) Energy Storage program suggested a new set of requirements for ESS for power-assist HEVs for cost reduction without impacting performance and fuel economy significantly. With support from DOE, NREL has developed an HEV test platform for in-vehicle performance and fuel economy validation testing of the hybrid system using such LEESS devices. This poster will describe development of the LEESS HEV test platform, and LEESS laboratory as well as in-vehicle evaluation results. The first LEESS technology tested was lithium-ion capacitors (LICs) - i.e., asymmetric electrochemical energy storage devices possessing one electrode with battery-type characteristics (lithiated graphite) and one with ultracapacitor-type characteristics (carbon). We will discuss the performance and fuel saving results with LIC with comparison with original NiMH battery.

Impact of relative position vehicle-wind blower in a roller test bench under climatic chamber

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fernández-Yáñez, P.; Armas, O.; Martínez-Martínez, S.

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Air simulation model was developed for a vehicle test bench under climatic chamber. • Good accuracy between experimental data and simulated values were obtained. • Wind blower-vehicle relative position alters external cooling of after-treatment devices. • Vehicle emission certification can be affected by wind blower-vehicle relative position. - Abstract: In terms of energy efficiency and exhaust emissions control, an appropriate design of cooling systems of climatic chambers destined to vehicle certification and/or perform scientific research is becoming increasingly important. European vehicle emissions certification (New European Driving Cycle, NEDC) establishes the position of the wind-simulation blower at 200 mm above floor level. This height is fixed and kept constant independently of the vehicle tested. The position of the blower with respect to the vehicle can modify the external forced convection under the car, where after-treatment devices are located. Consequently, the performance of such devices could be modified and emission results during the certification cycle could be non-representative of real-world driving conditions. The aim of this work is to study the influence of different wind blower-vehicle relative heights on the air velocity and temperature profiles under the car by means of a simple computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach. A steady state three-dimensional CFD model was developed and applied to the estimation of the air velocity and temperature profiles inside of a climatic chamber equipped with a vehicle roller (chassis dyno) test bench. The simulations reproduce one steady-state condition from NEDC, specifically the EU17 mode (120 km/h, maximum velocity during the cycle). The cool air propelling temperature was 20 °C (minimum temperature in the NEDC range). Simulations were performed employing the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) approach with the realizable k-ε model to provide closure. Air velocity and

Design of Hydraulic Bushing and Vehicle Testing for Reducing the Judder Vibration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kim Youngman

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Generally, judder vibration is a low-frequency vibration phenomenon caused by a braking force imbalance that occurs when a vehicle is lightly decelerated within a range of 0.1 to 0.2g at a speed of 120 to 60 km/h. This comes from the change in the brake disk thickness (DTV, which is mainly caused by the side run-out (SRO and thermal deformation. The adoption of hydro-bushing in the low arm G bushings of the vehicle front suspension has been done in order to provide great damping in a particular frequency range (<20Hz in order to prevent this judder vibration from being transmitted to the body. The hydro bushing was formulated using a lumped parameter model. The fluid passage between the two chambers was modelled as a nonlinear element such as an orifice, and its important parameters (resistance, compliance were measured using a simplified experimental setup. The main design parameters are the ratio of the cross-sectional area of the chamber to the fluid passage, the length of the fluid passage, etc., and their optimal design is such that the loss angle is greater than 45 ° in the target frequency range of 10 to 20 Hz. The hydro bushing designed for reducing the judder vibration was prepared for the actual vehicle application test and applied to the actual vehicle test. In this study, the proposed hydro bushing was applied to the G bushing of the low arm of the front suspension system of the vehicle. The loss angle of the manufactured hydro bushing was measured using acceleration signals before and after passing through the bushing. The actual vehicle test was performed on the noise dynamometer for the performance analysis of the judder vibration reduction.

An Active Seat Controller with Vehicle Suspension Feedforward and Feedback States: An Experimental Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abdulaziz Alfadhli

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Active seat suspensions can be used to reduce the harmful vertical vibration of a vehicle’s seat by applying an external force using a closed loop controller. Many of the controllers found in the literature are difficult to implement practically, because they are based on using unavailable or difficult and costly measurements. This paper presents both simulation and experimental studies of five novel, simple, and cost-effective control strategies to be used for an active seat suspension in order to improve ride comfort at low frequencies below 20 Hz. These strategies use available and measurable feedforward (preview information states from the vehicle secondary suspension, as well as feedback states from the seat suspension, together with gains optimised to minimise the occupant vibration. The gains were optimised using a genetic algorithm (GA, with a fitness function based on the seat effective amplitude transmissibility (SEAT factor. Constraints on the control force and the seat suspension stroke were also included in the optimisation algorithm. Simulation and laboratory experimental tests were carried out to assess the performance of the proposed controllers according to the ISO 2631-1 standard, in both the frequency and time domains with a range of different road profiles. The experimental tests were performed using a multi-axis simulation table (MAST and a physical active seat suspension configured as a hardware-in-loop (HIL simulation with a virtual linear quarter vehicle model (QvM. The results demonstrate that the proposed controllers substantially attenuate the vertical vibration at the driver’s seat compared with both a passive and a proportional-integral-derivative (PID active seat suspension and thus improve ride comfort together with reducing vibration-linked health risks. Moreover, experimental results show that employing both feedforward information and feedback vehicle body and seat acceleration signals in the controller

Hysteresis force loss and damping properties in a practical magnet-superconductor maglev test vehicle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang Wenjiang; Liu Yu; Wen Zheng; Chen Xiaodong; Duan Yi

2008-01-01

In order to investigate the feasible application of a permanent magnet-high-temperature superconductor (PM-HTS) interaction maglev system to a maglev train or a space vehicle launcher, we have constructed a demonstration maglev test vehicle. The force dissipation and damping of the maglev vehicle against external disturbances are studied in a wide range of amplitudes and frequencies by using a sine vibration testing set-up. The dynamic levitation force shows a typical hysteresis behavior, and the force loss is regarded as the hysteresis loss, which is believed to be due to flux motions in superconductors. In this study, we find that the hysteresis loss has weak frequency dependence at small amplitudes and that the dependence increases as the amplitude grows. To analyze the damping properties of the maglev vehicle at different field cooling (FC) conditions, we also employ a transient vibration testing technique. The maglev vehicle shows a very weak damping behavior, and the damping is almost unaffected by the trapped flux of the HTSs in different FC conditions, which is believed to be attributed to the strong pinning in melt-textured HTSs

Mock-up tests of rail-mounted vehicle type in-vessel transporter/manipulator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oka, K.; Kakaudate, S.; Fukatsu, S.

1995-01-01

A rail-mounted vehicle system has been developed for remote maintenance of in-vessel components for fusion experimental reactor. In this system, a rail deploying/storing system is installed at outside of the reactor core and used to deploy a rail transporter and vehicle/manipulator for the in-vessel maintenance. A prototype of the rail deploying/storing system has been fabricated for mockup tests. This paper describes structural design of the prototypical rail deploying/storing system and results of the performance tests such as payload capacity, position control and rail deployment/storage performance

A Model of Active Roll Vehicle Suspension

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. Čech

2010-01-01

Full Text Available This paper describes active suspension with active roll for four-wheel vehicle (bus by means of an in-series pump actuator with doubled hydropneumatic springs. It also gives full control law with no sky-craping. Lateral stiffness and solid axle geometry in the mechanical model are not neglected. Responses to lateral input as well as responses to statistical unevennesses show considerable improvement of passengers comfort and safety when cornering.

A Coupling Vibration Test Bench and the Simulation Research of a Maglev Vehicle

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Weihua Ma

2015-01-01

Full Text Available To study the characteristics of the coupling vibration between a maglev vehicle and its track beam system and to improve the performance of the levitation system, a new type of vibration test bench was developed. Take a single maglev frame as the study object; simulation of the coupling vibration of the maglev vehicle, levitation system, and track beam were achieved. In addition, all types of real track irregularity excitations can be simulated using hydraulic actuators of the test bench. To expand the research scope, a simulation model was developed that can conduct the simulation research synergistically with the test bench. Based on a dynamics model of the test bench, the dynamics simulation method determined the influence on the levitation control performance of three factors: the track beam support stiffness, the track beam mass, and the track irregularity. The vibration resonance phenomenon of the vehicle/track system was reproduced by the dynamics simulation, and a portion of the simulation results were validated by the test results. By combining the test bench and the dynamics model, experiments can be guided by the simulation results, and the experimental results can validate the dynamics simulation results.

Powertrain Test Procedure Development for EPA GHG Certification of Medium- and Heavy-Duty Engines and Vehicles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chambon, Paul H. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Deter, Dean D. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

2016-07-01

xiii ABSTRACT The goal of this project is to develop and evaluate powertrain test procedures that can accurately simulate real-world operating conditions, and to determine greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of advanced medium- and heavy-duty engine and vehicle technologies. ORNL used their Vehicle System Integration Laboratory to evaluate test procedures on a stand-alone engine as well as two powertrains. Those components where subjected to various drive cycles and vehicle conditions to evaluate the validity of the results over a broad range of test conditions. Overall, more than 1000 tests were performed. The data are compiled and analyzed in this report.

Electric Vehicle Communications Standards Testing and Validation - Phase II: SAE J2931/1

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pratt, Richard M. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Gowri, Krishnan [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

2013-01-15

Vehicle to grid communication standards enable interoperability among vehicles, charging stations and utility providers and provide the capability to implement charge management. Several standards initiatives by the Society of Automobile Engineers (SAE), International Standards Organization and International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC), and ZigBee/HomePlug Alliance are developing requirements for communication messages and protocols. Recent work by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) in collaboration with SAE and automobile manufacturers has identified vehicle to grid communication performance requirements and developed a test plan as part of SAE J2931/1 committee work. This laboratory test plan was approved by the SAE J2931/1 committee and included test configurations, test methods, and performance requirements to verify reliability, robustness, repeatability, maximum communication distance, and authentication features of power line carrier (PLC) communication modules at the internet protocol layer level. The goal of the testing effort was to select a communication technology that would enable automobile manufacturers to begin the development and implementation process. The EPRI/Argonne National Laboratory (ANL)/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) testing teams divided the testing so that results for each test could be presented by two teams, performing the tests independently. The PNNL team performed narrowband PLC testing including the Texas Instruments (TI) Concerto, Ariane Controls AC-CPM1, and the MAXIM Tahoe 2 evaluation boards. The scope of testing was limited to measuring the vendor systems communication performance between Electric Vehicle Support Equipment (EVSE) and plug-in electric vehicles (PEV). The testing scope did not address PEV’s CAN bus to PLC or PLC to EVSE (Wi-Fi, cellular, PLC Mains, etc.) communication integration. In particular, no evaluation was performed to delineate the effort needed to translate the IPv6

A study on the nondestructive test optimum design for a ground tracked combat vehicle

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim Byeong Ho; Seo, Jae Hyun; Gil, Hyeon Jun [Defence Agency for Technology and Quality, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Seon Hyeong [Hanwha Techwin Co.,Ltd., Changwon (Korea, Republic of); Seo, Sang Chul [Changwon National University, Changwon (Korea, Republic of)

2015-10-15

In this study, a nondestructive test (NDT) is performed to inspect the optimal design of a ground tracked combat vehicle for self-propelled artillery, tank, and armored vehicles. The minimum qualification required for personnel performing the NDT of a ground tracked combat vehicle was initially established in US military standards, and then applied to the Korean defense specifications to develop a ground tracked combat vehicle. However, the qualification standards of an NDT inspector have been integrated into NAS410 through the military and commercial specifications unification project that were applied in the existing aerospace/defense industry public standard. The design method for this study was verified by applying the optimal design to the liquid penetrant testing Al forging used in self-propelled artillery. This confirmed the reliability and soundness of the product.

Trends in Automobile Travel, Motor Vehicle Fatalities, and Physical Activity: 2003-2015.

Science.gov (United States)

McDonald, Noreen C

2017-05-01

Annual per-capita automobile travel declined by 600 miles from 2003 to 2014 with decreases greatest among young adults. This article tests whether the decline has been accompanied by public health co-benefits of increased physical activity and decreased motor vehicle fatalities. Minutes of auto travel and physical activity derived from active travel, sports, and exercise were obtained from the American Time Use Survey. Fatalities were measured using the Fatality Analysis Reporting System. Longitudinal change was assessed for adults aged 20-59 years by age group and sex. Significance of changes was assessed by absolute differences and unadjusted and adjusted linear trends. Analyses were conducted in 2016. Daily auto travel decreased by 9.2 minutes from 2003 to 2014 for all ages (ptravel showed only modest declines across age groups and, for men aged 20-29 years, varied from 10.9 (95% CI=10.0, 11.7) in 2003 to 9.7 (95% CI=8.7, 10.8) in 2014. Reduced motor vehicle fatalities are a public health co-benefit of decreased driving, especially for male millennials. Despite suggestions to the contrary, individuals did not switch from cars to active modes nor spend more time in sports and exercise. Maintenance of the safety benefits requires additional attention to road safety efforts, particularly as auto travel increases. Copyright © 2017 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Tactical Vehicle Climate Control Testing

Science.gov (United States)

2017-03-31

1979. b. TOP 02-2-708, Vehicle Personnel Heater Compatibility, 18 July 1980. c. Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) J381, Surface Vehicle...Total Irradiance Second Class minimum, First Class recommended Engine speed ± 10 revolutions per minute (rpm) Air pressure (as appropriate) ± 1...digital camera is suggest to photograph all instrumentation locations. A tape measure, a graduated cylinder and an electric paint sprayer are required

Vehicle to Grid Demonstration Project

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Willett Kempton; Meryl Gardner; Michael Hidrue; Fouad Kamilev; Sachin Kamboj; Jon Lilley; Rodney McGee; George Parsons; Nat Pearre; Keith Trnka

2010-12-31

This report summarizes the activities and accomplishments of a two-year DOE-funded project on Grid-Integrated Vehicles (GIV) with vehicle to grid power (V2G). The project included several research and development components: an analysis of US driving patterns; an analysis of the market for EVs and V2G-capable EVs; development and testing of GIV components (in-car and in-EVSE); interconnect law and policy; and development and filing of patents. In addition, development activities included GIV manufacturing and licensing of technologies developed under this grant. Also, five vehicles were built and deployed, four for the fleet of the State of Delaware, plus one for the University of Delaware fleet.

Flight Testing of Wireless Networking for Nanosat Launch Vehicles, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The innovation proposed here addresses the testing and evaluation of wireless networking technologies for small launch vehicles by leveraging existing nanosat launch...

Performance tests of communal electric-powered vehicles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nagel, J.

1993-01-01

The use of electric vehicles within the service industry (such as the town's sanitation, its trash collection and horticultural authority) can lead to a visible environmental relief, particularly in the inner city. The RWE in Essen has been supporting the development and use of electric vehicles for over 20 years and introduced a program in 1990 for the communities(ProKom) which provides 5 million DM for over 5 years for the support of electric vehicles. In this article the communities' requirements for electric vehicles are discussed, the types of vehicles which are mediated by ProKom are introduced and the first practical experiences made are also reported. (BWI) [de

Mathematical modelling of active safety system functions as tools for development of driverless vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Ryazantsev, V.; Mezentsev, N.; Zakharov, A.

2018-02-01

This paper is dedicated to a solution of the issue of synthesis of the vehicle longitudinal dynamics control functions (acceleration and deceleration control) based on the element base of the vehicle active safety system (ESP) - driverless vehicle development tool. This strategy helps to reduce time and complexity of integration of autonomous motion control systems (AMCS) into the vehicle architecture and allows direct control of actuators ensuring the longitudinal dynamics control, as well as reduction of time for calibration works. The “vehicle+wheel+road” longitudinal dynamics control is complicated due to the absence of the required prior information about the control object. Therefore, the control loop becomes an adaptive system, i.e. a self-adjusting monitoring system. Another difficulty is the driver’s perception of the longitudinal dynamics control process in terms of comfort. Traditionally, one doesn’t pay a lot of attention to this issue within active safety systems, and retention of vehicle steerability, controllability and stability in emergency situations are considered to be the quality criteria. This is mainly connected to its operational limits, since it is activated only in critical situations. However, implementation of the longitudinal dynamics control in the AMCS poses another challenge for the developers - providing the driver with comfortable vehicle movement during acceleration and deceleration - while the possible highest safety level in terms of the road grip is provided by the active safety system (ESP). The results of this research are: universal active safety system - AMCS interaction interface; block diagram for the vehicle longitudinal acceleration and deceleration control as one of the active safety system’s integrated functions; ideology of adaptive longitudinal dynamics control, which enables to realize the deceleration and acceleration requested by the AMCS; algorithms synthesised; analytical experiments proving the

Literature review on recent international activity in cooperative vehicle-highway automation systems.

Science.gov (United States)

2012-12-01

This literature review supports the report, Recent International Activity in Cooperative VehicleHighway Automation Systems. It : reviews the published literature in English dating from 2007 or later about non-U.S.-based work on cooperative vehicle...

Performance of an all-electric vehicle under UN ECE R101 test conditions: A feasibility study for the city of Kaunas, Lithuania

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Raslavičius, Laurencas; Starevičius, Martynas; Keršys, Artūras; Pilkauskas, Kęstutis; Vilkauskas, Andrius

2013-01-01

Transport activity has been a key facilitator and driver of economic prosperity in Lithuanian (hereinafter LIT) and it is likely to continue to grow. It can produce both positive and negative effects on the quality of life and the environment depending on country-specific circumstances. This research paper sets the stage for a look at the LIT passenger vehicle fleet and its transition towards sustainable mobility through the use of all-electric vehicles. The large multi purpose vehicle from French car-maker Renault, model Renault Espace, was used for test drives, according ECE R101 (urban cycle) requirements. The conventional spark ignited internal combustion engine of the vehicle was replaced by the electric one and equipped with the new generation LiFePO 4 Lithium-ion rechargeable batteries. Three streets of Kaunas city (LIT) with different categories B1, B2 and C2 were selected for the test procedure. Estimation of the power demand (depending on displacement and daytime) and evaluation of battery performance characteristics were discussed in detail. Calculation of the driving distance of the one charge of the traction battery estimates several driving conditions and variation of the mass of the investigated vehicle. Comparison of consumption of different fuel grades for 1 km showed that costs of electric power driven vehicle is 4 times as low as with A95 grade petrol and 2.4 times as low as with diesel fuel. - Highlights: • This paper examines the perspectives for electric vehicles use in Lithuania. • We used standardized test procedure UN ECE R101 (urban cycle). • The study found that the BEVs (battery-only electric vehicles) can cover approximately 75% of all daily driving. • Inspection of the results highlights the importance of BEVs introduction. • We have shown that battery-only electric vehicles are economically rational

Test vehicles for CMS HGCAL readout ASIC

CERN Document Server

Thienpont, Damien

2017-01-01

This paper presents first measurement results of two test vehicles ASIC embedding some building blocks for the future CMS High Granularity CALorimeter (HGCAL) read-out ASIC. They were fabricated in CMOS 130 nm, in order to first design the Analog and Mixed-Signal blocks before going to a complete and complex chip. Such a circuit needs to achieve low noise high dynamic range charge measurement and 20 ps resolution timing capability. The results show good analog performance but with higher noise levels compared to simulations. We present the results of the preamplifiers, shapers and ADCs.

40 CFR 205.57-2 - Test vehicle sample selection.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... pursuant to a test request in accordance with this subpart will be selected in the manner specified in the... then using a table of random numbers to select the number of vehicles as specified in paragraph (c) of... with the desig-nated AQL are contained in Appendix I, -Table II. (c) The appropriate batch sample size...

Multi-Objective Sliding Mode Control on Vehicle Cornering Stability with Variable Gear Ratio Actuator-Based Active Front Steering Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Xinbo; Wong, Pak Kin; Zhao, Jing; Xie, Zhengchao

2016-01-01

Active front steering (AFS) is an emerging technology to improve the vehicle cornering stability by introducing an additional small steering angle to the driver’s input. This paper proposes an AFS system with a variable gear ratio steering (VGRS) actuator which is controlled by using the sliding mode control (SMC) strategy to improve the cornering stability of vehicles. In the design of an AFS system, different sensors are considered to measure the vehicle state, and the mechanism of the AFS system is also modelled in detail. Moreover, in order to improve the cornering stability of vehicles, two dependent objectives, namely sideslip angle and yaw rate, are considered together in the design of SMC strategy. By evaluating the cornering performance, Sine with Dwell and accident avoidance tests are conducted, and the simulation results indicate that the proposed SMC strategy is capable of improving the cornering stability of vehicles in practice. PMID:28036037

F-15B ACTIVE test stand

Science.gov (United States)

1995-01-01

This November 13, 1995, photograph of the underside of the F-15 Advanced Controls Technology for Integrated Vehicles (ACTIVE) at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, shows the thrust stand being used for ground testing of a new thrust-vectoring concept. The twin-engine F-15 research aircraft is equipped with new Pratt & Whitney nozzles that can turn up to 20 degrees in any direction. They give the aircraft thrust control in the pitch (up and down) and yaw (left and right) directions. This will reduce drag and increase fuel economy or range as compared with conventional aerodynamic controls, which increase the retarding forces (drag) acting upon the aircraft. Ground testing during the first two weeks of November 1995 went well, and flight tests began in March 1996. These tests could result in significant performance increases for military and commercial aircraft. The research program is the product of a collaborative effort by NASA, the Air Force's Wright Laboratory, Pratt & Whitney, and McDonnell Douglas Aerospace.

Trajectory Optimization and Conceptual Study of Small Test Vehicles for a Hypersonic Engine Using a High-Altitude Balloon

Science.gov (United States)

Tsuchiya, Takeshi; Takenaka, Youichi; Taguchi, Hideyuki; Sawai, Shujiro

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA, announced a long-term vision recently. In the vision, JAXA aims to develop hypersonic aircrafts. A pre-cooled turbojet engine has great potential as one of newly developed hypersonic airbreathing engines. We also expect the engine to be installed in space transportation vehicles in the future. For combustion test in the real flight conditions of the engines, JAXA has an experimental plan where a small test vehicle is released from a high-altitude balloon. This paper applies numerical analysis and optimization techniques to conceptual designs of the test vehicle in order to obtain the best configuration and trajectory for the flight test. The results show helpful knowledge for designing prototype vehicles.

Ecodriver. D23.1: Report on test scenarios for val-idation of on-line vehicle algorithms

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Seewald, P.; Ivens, T.W.T.; Spronkmans, S.

2014-01-01

This deliverable provides a description of test scenarios that will be used for validation of WP22’s on-line vehicle algorithms. These algorithms consist of the two modules VE³ (Vehicle Energy and Environment Estimator) and RSG (Reference Signal Genera-tor) and will be tested using the

Walkability parameters, active transportation and objective physical activity: moderating and mediating effects of motor vehicle ownership in a cross-sectional study.

Science.gov (United States)

Eriksson, Ulf; Arvidsson, Daniel; Gebel, Klaus; Ohlsson, Henrik; Sundquist, Kristina

2012-10-05

Neighborhood walkability has been associated with physical activity in several studies. However, as environmental correlates of physical activity may be context specific, walkability parameters need to be investigated separately in various countries and contexts. Furthermore, the mechanisms by which walkability affects physical activity have been less investigated. Based on previous research, we hypothesized that vehicle ownership is a potential mediator. We investigated the associations between walkability parameters and physical activity, and the mediating and moderating effects of vehicle ownership on these associations in a large sample of Swedish adults. Residential density, street connectivity and land use mix were assessed within polygon-based network buffers (using Geographic Information Systems) for 2,178 men and women. Time spent in moderate to vigorous physical activity was assessed by accelerometers, and walking and cycling for transportation were assessed by the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Associations were examined by linear regression and adjusted for socio-demographic characteristics. The product of coefficients approach was used to investigate the mediating effect of vehicle ownership. Residential density and land use mix, but not street connectivity, were significantly associated with time spent in moderate to vigorous physical activity and walking for transportation. Cycling for transportation was not associated with any of the walkability parameters. Vehicle ownership mediated a significant proportion of the association between the walkability parameters and physical activity outcomes. For residential density, vehicle ownership mediated 25% of the association with moderate to vigorous physical activity and 20% of the association with the amount of walking for transportation. For land use mix, the corresponding proportions were 34% and 14%. Vehicle ownership did not moderate any of the associations between the walkability

Walkability parameters, active transportation and objective physical activity: moderating and mediating effects of motor vehicle ownership in a cross-sectional study

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-01

Background Neighborhood walkability has been associated with physical activity in several studies. However, as environmental correlates of physical activity may be context specific, walkability parameters need to be investigated separately in various countries and contexts. Furthermore, the mechanisms by which walkability affects physical activity have been less investigated. Based on previous research, we hypothesized that vehicle ownership is a potential mediator. We investigated the associations between walkability parameters and physical activity, and the mediating and moderating effects of vehicle ownership on these associations in a large sample of Swedish adults. Methods Residential density, street connectivity and land use mix were assessed within polygon-based network buffers (using Geographic Information Systems) for 2,178 men and women. Time spent in moderate to vigorous physical activity was assessed by accelerometers, and walking and cycling for transportation were assessed by the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Associations were examined by linear regression and adjusted for socio-demographic characteristics. The product of coefficients approach was used to investigate the mediating effect of vehicle ownership. Results Residential density and land use mix, but not street connectivity, were significantly associated with time spent in moderate to vigorous physical activity and walking for transportation. Cycling for transportation was not associated with any of the walkability parameters. Vehicle ownership mediated a significant proportion of the association between the walkability parameters and physical activity outcomes. For residential density, vehicle ownership mediated 25% of the association with moderate to vigorous physical activity and 20% of the association with the amount of walking for transportation. For land use mix, the corresponding proportions were 34% and 14%. Vehicle ownership did not moderate any of the associations

Hydraulic Hybrid Fleet Vehicle Testing | Transportation Research | NREL

Science.gov (United States)

Hydraulic Hybrid Fleet Vehicle Evaluations Hydraulic Hybrid Fleet Vehicle Evaluations How Hydraulic Hybrid Vehicles Work Hydraulic hybrid systems can capture up to 70% of the kinetic energy that would -pressure reservoir to a high-pressure accumulator. When the vehicle accelerates, fluid in the high-pressure

Simulation Research on Vehicle Active Suspension Controller Based on G1 Method

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Gen; Li, Hang; Zhang, Shuaiyang; Luo, Qiuhui

2017-09-01

Based on the order relation analysis method (G1 method), the optimal linear controller of vehicle active suspension is designed. The system of the main and passive suspension of the single wheel vehicle is modeled and the system input signal model is determined. Secondly, the system motion state space equation is established by the kinetic knowledge and the optimal linear controller design is completed with the optimal control theory. The weighting coefficient of the performance index coefficients of the main passive suspension is determined by the relational analysis method. Finally, the model is simulated in Simulink. The simulation results show that: the optimal weight value is determined by using the sequence relation analysis method under the condition of given road conditions, and the vehicle acceleration, suspension stroke and tire motion displacement are optimized to improve the comprehensive performance of the vehicle, and the active control is controlled within the requirements.

Active and passive vehicle safety at Volkswagen accident research

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jungmichel, M.; Stanzel, M.; Zobel, R. [Volkswagen AG, Wolfsburg (Germany)

2001-07-01

Accident Analysis is an efficient means of improving vehicle passive safety and is used frequently and intensively. However, reliable data on accident causation is much more difficult to obtain. In most cases, one or more of the persons involved in an accident will face litigation and therefore are reluctant to provide the information that is essential to researchers. In addition, antilock brakes in almost every current vehicle have caused certain characteristic evidence, i.e. skid marks, to appear much less frequently than before. However, this evidence provides valuable information for assessing the reaction of the driver and his attempt to avoid the accident. In order to implement strategies of accident avoidance, accident causation must first be fully understood. Therefore, one of the assignments of the Volkswagen Accident Research Unit is to interpret global statistics, as well as to study single cases in order to come up with strategies for collision avoidance or mitigation. Currently, our primary concern is focused on active vehicle safety by researching vehicle behavior in the pre-crash phase. (orig.)

Vehicle engine sound design based on an active noise control system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lewis, M. [Siemens VDO Automotive, Auburn Hills, MI (United States)

2002-07-01

A study has been carried out to identify the types of vehicle engine sounds that drivers prefer while driving at different locations and under different driving conditions. An active noise control system controlled the sound at the air intake orifice of a vehicle engine's first sixteen orders and half orders. The active noise control system was used to change the engine sound to quiet, harmonic, high harmonic, spectral shaped and growl. Videos were made of the roads traversed, binaural recording of vehicle interior sounds, and vibrations of the vehicle floor pan. Jury tapes were made up for day driving, nighttime driving and driving in the rain during the day for each of the sites. Jurors used paired comparisons to evaluate the vehicle interior sounds while sitting in a vehicle simulator developed by Siemens VDO that replicated videos of the road traversed, binaural recording of the vehicle interior sounds and vibrations of the floor pan and seat. (orig.) [German] Im Rahmen einer Studie wurden Typen von Motorgeraeuschen identifiziert, die von Fahrern unter verschiedenen Fahrbedingungen als angenehm empfunden werden. Ein System zur aktiven Geraeuschbeeinflussung am Ansauglufteinlass im Bereich des Luftfilters modifizierte den Klang des Motors bis zur 16,5ten Motorordnung, und zwar durch Bedaempfung, Verstaerkung und Filterung der Signalfrequenzen. Waehrend der Fahrt wurden Videoaufnahmen der befahrenen Strassen, Stereoaufnahmen der Fahrzeuginnengeraeusche und Aufnahmen der Vibrationsamplituden des Fahrzeugbodens erstellt; dies bei Tag- und Nachtfahrten und bei Tagfahrten im Regen. Zur Beurteilung der aufgezeichneten Geraeusche durch Versuchspersonen wurde ein Fahrzeug-Laborsimulator mit Fahrersitz, Bildschirm, Lautsprecher und mechanischer Erregung der Bodenplatte aufgebaut, um die aufgenommenen Signale moeglichst wirklichkeitsgetreu wiederzugeben. (orig.)

Semi-active control of tracked vehicle suspension incorporating magnetorheological dampers

Science.gov (United States)

Ata, W. G.; Salem, A. M.

2017-05-01

In past years, the application of magnetorheological (MR) and electrorheological dampers in vehicle suspension has been widely studied, mainly for the purpose of vibration control. This paper presents theoretical study to identify an appropriate semi-active control method for MR-tracked vehicle suspension. Three representative control algorithms are simulated including the skyhook, hybrid and fuzzy-hybrid controllers. A seven degrees-of-freedom tracked vehicle suspension model incorporating MR dampers has been adopted for comparison between the performance of the three controllers. The model differential equations are derived based on Newton's second law of motion and the proposed control methods are developed. The performance of each control method under bump and sinusoidal road profiles for different vehicle speeds is simulated and compared with the performance of the conventional suspension system in time and frequency domains. The results show that the performance of tracked vehicle suspension with MR dampers is substantially improved. Moreover, the fuzzy-hybrid controller offers an excellent integrated performance in reducing the body accelerations as well as wheel bounce responses compared with the classical skyhook and hybrid controllers.

Safety of railroad passenger vehicle dynamics : OMNISIM simulation and test correlations for passenger rail cars

Science.gov (United States)

2002-07-01

The purpose of the work is to validate the safety assessment methodology previously developed for passenger rail vehicle dynamics, which requires the application of simulation tools as well as testing of vehicles under different track scenarios. This...

Design and Research on Vehicles Motor Testing System Based on Improvement PID

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fan Kuangang

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Motor is the important parts in vehicles. It is the key parts for achieving automation. It is the critical technology to test vehicle motors. We take the PID (Proportion Integration Differentiation as based fundamental controlling algorithm, and we test motor parameters through LabVIEW for single-chip AT89C52. According to practical working condition, we build circuit electric field boundary, and analyze electric field distribution of hard circuit. In addition, we also design filtering circuit for main interrupt frequency (below 1 kHz, and we improved PID for direct motor speed which is controlled by PWM (pulse-width modulation to reach speed astatic regulation. At the same time, the system achieves soft start-up.

The Ares I-1 Flight Test--Paving the Road for the Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Stephan R.; Tinker, Michael L.; Tuma, Meg

2007-01-01

In accordance with the U.S. Vision for Space Exploration and the nation's desire to again send humans to explore beyond Earth orbit, NASA has been tasked to send human beings to the moon, Mars, and beyond. It has been 30 years since the United States last designed and built a human-rated launch vehicle. NASA is now building the Ares I crew launch vehicle, which will loft the Orion crew exploration vehicle into orbit, and the Ares V cargo launch vehicle, which will launch the Lunar Surface Access Module and Earth departure stage to rendezvous Orion for missions to the moon. NASA has marshaled unique resources from the government and private sectors to perform the technically and programmatically complex work of delivering astronauts to orbit early next decade, followed by heavy cargo late next decade. Our experiences with Saturn and the Shuttle have taught us the value of adhering to sound systems engineering, such as the "test as you fly" principle, while applying aerospace best practices and lessons learned. If we are to fly humans safely aboard a launch vehicle, we must employ a variety of methodologies to reduce the technical, schedule, and cost risks inherent in the complex business of space transportation. During the Saturn development effort, NASA conducted multiple demonstration and verification flight tests to prove technology in its operating environment before relying upon it for human spaceflight. Less testing on the integrated Shuttle system did not reduce cost or schedule. NASA plans a progressive series of demonstration (ascent), verification (orbital), and mission flight tests to supplement ground research and high-altitude subsystem testing with real-world data, factoring the results of each test into the next one. In this way, sophisticated analytical models and tools, many of which were not available during Saturn and Shuttle, will be calibrated and we will gain confidence in their predictions, as we gain hands-on experience in operating the first

Probabilistic model of bridge vehicle loads in port area based on in-situ load testing

Science.gov (United States)

Deng, Ming; Wang, Lei; Zhang, Jianren; Wang, Rei; Yan, Yanhong

2017-11-01

Vehicle load is an important factor affecting the safety and usability of bridges. An statistical analysis is carried out in this paper to investigate the vehicle load data of Tianjin Haibin highway in Tianjin port of China, which are collected by the Weigh-in- Motion (WIM) system. Following this, the effect of the vehicle load on test bridge is calculated, and then compared with the calculation result according to HL-93(AASHTO LRFD). Results show that the overall vehicle load follows a distribution with a weighted sum of four normal distributions. The maximum vehicle load during the design reference period follows a type I extremum distribution. The vehicle load effect also follows a weighted sum of four normal distributions, and the standard value of the vehicle load is recommended as 1.8 times that of the calculated value according to HL-93.

Steady-state and dynamic evaluation of the electric propulsion system test bed vehicle on a road load simulator

Science.gov (United States)

Dustin, M. O.

1983-01-01

The propulsion system of the Lewis Research Center's electric propulsion system test bed vehicle was tested on the road load simulator under the DOE Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Program. This propulsion system, consisting of a series-wound dc motor controlled by an infinitely variable SCR chopper and an 84-V battery pack, is typical of those used in electric vehicles made in 1976. Steady-state tests were conducted over a wide range of differential output torques and vehicle speeds. Efficiencies of all of the components were determined. Effects of temperature and voltage variations on the motor and the effect of voltage changes on the controller were examined. Energy consumption and energy efficiency for the system were determined over the B and C driving schedules of the SAE J227a test procedure.

2014 ITS World Congress Connected Vehicle Test Bed Demonstration Traveler Situation Data

Data.gov (United States)

Department of Transportation — During the 2014 ITS World Congress a demonstration of the connected vehicle infrastructure in the City of Detroit was conducted. The test site included approximately...

2014 ITS World Congress Connected Vehicle Test Bed Demonstration Intersection Situation Data

Data.gov (United States)

Department of Transportation — During the 2014 ITS World Congress a demonstration of the connected vehicle infrastructure in the City of Detroit was conducted. The test site included approximately...

Effects of vehicle front-end stiffness on rear seat dummies in NCAP and FMVSS208 tests.

Science.gov (United States)

Sahraei, Elham; Digges, Kennerly; Marzougui, Dhafer

2013-01-01

This study is devoted to quantifying changes in mass and stiffness of vehicles tested by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) over the past 3 decades (model years 1982 to 2010) and understanding the effect of those changes on protection of rear seat occupants. A total of 1179 tests were used, and the changes in their mass and stiffness versus their model year was quantified. Additionally, data from 439 dummies tested in rear seats of NHTSA's full frontal crashes were analyzed. Dummies were divided into 3 groups based on their reference injury criteria. Multiple regressions were performed with speed, stiffness, and mass as predicting variables for head, neck, and chest injury criteria. A significant increase in mass and stiffness over model year of vehicles was observed, for passenger cars as well as large platform vehicles. The result showed a significant correlation (P-value < .05) between the increase in stiffness of the vehicles and increase in head and chest injury criteria for all dummy sizes. These results explain that stiffness is a significant contributor to previously reported decreases in protection of rear seat occupants over model years of vehicles.

Crash test rating and likelihood of major thoracoabdominal injury in motor vehicle crashes: the new car assessment program side-impact crash test, 1998-2010.

Science.gov (United States)

Figler, Bradley D; Mack, Christopher D; Kaufman, Robert; Wessells, Hunter; Bulger, Eileen; Smith, Thomas G; Voelzke, Bryan

2014-03-01

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) implemented side-impact crash testing on all new vehicles since 1998 to assess the likelihood of major thoracoabdominal injuries during a side-impact crash. Higher crash test rating is intended to indicate a safer car, but the real-world applicability of these ratings is unknown. Our objective was to determine the relationship between a vehicle's NCAP side-impact crash test rating and the risk of major thoracoabdominal injury among the vehicle's occupants in real-world side-impact motor vehicle crashes. The National Automotive Sampling System Crashworthiness Data System contains detailed crash and injury data in a sample of major crashes in the United States. For model years 1998 to 2010 and crash years 1999 to 2010, 68,124 occupants were identified in the Crashworthiness Data System database. Because 47% of cases were missing crash severity (ΔV), multiple imputation was used to estimate the missing values. The primary predictor of interest was the occupant vehicle's NCAP side-impact crash test rating, and the outcome of interest was the presence of major (Abbreviated Injury Scale [AIS] score ≥ 3) thoracoabdominal injury. In multivariate analysis, increasing NCAP crash test rating was associated with lower likelihood of major thoracoabdominal injury at high (odds ratio [OR], 0.8; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.7-0.9; p NCAP side-impact crash test rating is associated with a lower likelihood of major thoracoabdominal trauma. Epidemiologic study, level III.

Gaseous nitrous acid (HONO) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emission from gasoline and diesel vehicles under real-world driving test cycles.

Science.gov (United States)

Trinh, Ha T; Imanishi, Katsuma; Morikawa, Tazuko; Hagino, Hiroyuki; Takenaka, Norimichi

2017-04-01

Reactive nitrogen species emission from the exhausts of gasoline and diesel vehicles, including nitrogen oxides (NO x ) and nitrous acid (HONO), contributes as a significant source of photochemical oxidant precursors in the ambient air. Multiple laboratory and on-road exhaust measurements have been performed to estimate the NO x emission factors from various vehicles and their contribution to atmospheric pollution. Meanwhile, HONO emission from vehicle exhaust has been under-measured despite the fact that HONO can contribute up to 60% of the total hydroxyl budget during daytime and its formation pathway is not fully understood. A profound traffic-induced HONO to NO x ratio of 0.8%, established by Kurtenbach et al. since 2001, has been widely applied in various simulation studies and possibly linked to under-estimation of HONO mixing ratios and OH radical budget in the morning. The HONO/NO x ratios from direct traffic emission have become debatable when it lacks measurements for direct HONO emission from vehicles upon the fast-changing emission reduction technology. Several recent studies have reported updated values for this ratio. This study has reported the measurement of HONO and NO x emission as well as the estimation of exhaust-induced HONO/NO x ratios from gasoline and diesel vehicles using different chassis dynamometer tests under various real-world driving cycles. For the tested gasoline vehicle, which was equipped with three-way catalyst after-treatment device, HONO/NO x ratios ranged from 0 to 0.95 % with very low average HONO concentrations. For the tested diesel vehicle equipped with diesel particulate active reduction device, HONO/NO x ratios varied from 0.16 to 1.00 %. The HONO/NO x ratios in diesel exhaust were inversely proportional to the average speeds of the tested vehicles. Photolysis of HONO is a dominant source of morning OH radicals. Conventional traffic-induced HONO/NO x ratio of 0.8% has possibly linked to underestimation of the total HONO

Hydrogen and Hydrogen/Natural Gas Station and Vehicle Operations - 2006 Summary Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Francfort; Donald Karner; Roberta Brayer

2006-09-01

This report is a summary of the operations and testing of internal combustion engine vehicles that were fueled with 100% hydrogen and various blends of hydrogen and compressed natural gas (HCNG). It summarizes the operations of the Arizona Public Service Alternative Fuel Pilot Plant, which produces, compresses, and dispenses hydrogen fuel. Other testing activities, such as the destructive testing of a CNG storage cylinder that was used for HCNG storage, are also discussed. This report highlights some of the latest technology developments in the use of 100% hydrogen fuels in internal combustion engine vehicles. Reports are referenced and WWW locations noted as a guide for the reader that desires more detailed information. These activities are conducted by Arizona Public Service, Electric Transportation Applications, the Idaho National Laboratory, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Vehicle Testing Activity.

40 CFR 80.583 - What alternative sampling and testing requirements apply to importers who transport motor vehicle...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... requirements apply to importers who transport motor vehicle diesel fuel, NRLM diesel fuel, or ECA marine fuel... (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) REGULATION OF FUELS AND FUEL ADDITIVES Motor Vehicle Diesel Fuel... alternative sampling and testing requirements apply to importers who transport motor vehicle diesel fuel, NRLM...

Evaluating the effectiveness of active vehicle safety systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Jeong, Eunbi; Oh, Cheol

2017-03-01

Advanced vehicle safety systems have been widely introduced in transportation systems and are expected to enhance traffic safety. However, these technologies mainly focus on assisting individual vehicles that are equipped with them, and less effort has been made to identify the effect of vehicular technologies on the traffic stream. This study proposed a methodology to assess the effectiveness of active vehicle safety systems (AVSSs), which represent a promising technology to prevent traffic crashes and mitigate injury severity. The proposed AVSS consists of longitudinal and lateral vehicle control systems, which corresponds to the Level 2 vehicle automation presented by the National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA). The effectiveness evaluation for the proposed technology was conducted in terms of crash potential reduction and congestion mitigation. A microscopic traffic simulator, VISSIM, was used to simulate freeway traffic stream and collect vehicle-maneuvering data. In addition, an external application program interface, VISSIM's COM-interface, was used to implement the AVSS. A surrogate safety assessment model (SSAM) was used to derive indirect safety measures to evaluate the effectiveness of the AVSS. A 16.7-km freeway stretch between the Nakdong and Seonsan interchanges on Korean freeway 45 was selected for the simulation experiments to evaluate the effectiveness of AVSS. A total of five simulation runs for each evaluation scenario were conducted. For the non-incident conditions, the rear-end and lane-change conflicts were reduced by 78.8% and 17.3%, respectively, under the level of service (LOS) D traffic conditions. In addition, the average delay was reduced by 55.5%. However, the system's effectiveness was weakened in the LOS A-C categories. Under incident traffic conditions, the number of rear-end conflicts was reduced by approximately 9.7%. Vehicle delays were reduced by approximately 43.9% with 100% of market penetration rate (MPR). These results

Baseline tests of the C. H. Waterman Renault 5 electric passenger vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Sargent, N. B.; Mcbrien, E. F.; Slavick, R. J.

1977-01-01

The Waterman vehicle, a four passenger Renault 5 GTL, performance test results are presented and characterized the state-of-the-art of electric vehicles. It was powered by sixteen 6-volt traction batteries through a two-step contactor controller actuated by a foot throttle to change the voltage applied to the 6.7 -kilowatt motor. The motor output shaft was connected to a front-wheel-drive transaxle that contains a four-speed manual transmission and clutch. The braking system was a conventional hydraulic braking system.

Vehicle Mode and Driving Activity Detection Based on Analyzing Sensor Data of Smartphones

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dang-Nhac Lu

2018-03-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we present a flexible combined system, namely the Vehicle mode-driving Activity Detection System (VADS, that is capable of detecting either the current vehicle mode or the current driving activity of travelers. Our proposed system is designed to be lightweight in computation and very fast in response to the changes of travelers’ vehicle modes or driving events. The vehicle mode detection module is responsible for recognizing both motorized vehicles, such as cars, buses, and motorbikes, and non-motorized ones, for instance, walking, and bikes. It relies only on accelerometer data in order to minimize the energy consumption of smartphones. By contrast, the driving activity detection module uses the data collected from the accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer of a smartphone to detect various driving activities, i.e., stopping, going straight, turning left, and turning right. Furthermore, we propose a method to compute the optimized data window size and the optimized overlapping ratio for each vehicle mode and each driving event from the training datasets. The experimental results show that this strategy significantly increases the overall prediction accuracy. Additionally, numerous experiments are carried out to compare the impact of different feature sets (time domain features, frequency domain features, Hjorth features as well as the impact of various classification algorithms (Random Forest, Naïve Bayes, Decision tree J48, K Nearest Neighbor, Support Vector Machine contributing to the prediction accuracy. Our system achieves an average accuracy of 98.33% in detecting the vehicle modes and an average accuracy of 98.95% in recognizing the driving events of motorcyclists when using the Random Forest classifier and a feature set containing time domain features, frequency domain features, and Hjorth features. Moreover, on a public dataset of HTC company in New Taipei, Taiwan, our framework obtains the overall accuracy of 97

Vehicle Mode and Driving Activity Detection Based on Analyzing Sensor Data of Smartphones.

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Dang-Nhac; Nguyen, Duc-Nhan; Nguyen, Thi-Hau; Nguyen, Ha-Nam

2018-03-29

In this paper, we present a flexible combined system, namely the Vehicle mode-driving Activity Detection System (VADS), that is capable of detecting either the current vehicle mode or the current driving activity of travelers. Our proposed system is designed to be lightweight in computation and very fast in response to the changes of travelers' vehicle modes or driving events. The vehicle mode detection module is responsible for recognizing both motorized vehicles, such as cars, buses, and motorbikes, and non-motorized ones, for instance, walking, and bikes. It relies only on accelerometer data in order to minimize the energy consumption of smartphones. By contrast, the driving activity detection module uses the data collected from the accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer of a smartphone to detect various driving activities, i.e., stopping, going straight, turning left, and turning right. Furthermore, we propose a method to compute the optimized data window size and the optimized overlapping ratio for each vehicle mode and each driving event from the training datasets. The experimental results show that this strategy significantly increases the overall prediction accuracy. Additionally, numerous experiments are carried out to compare the impact of different feature sets (time domain features, frequency domain features, Hjorth features) as well as the impact of various classification algorithms (Random Forest, Naïve Bayes, Decision tree J48, K Nearest Neighbor, Support Vector Machine) contributing to the prediction accuracy. Our system achieves an average accuracy of 98.33% in detecting the vehicle modes and an average accuracy of 98.95% in recognizing the driving events of motorcyclists when using the Random Forest classifier and a feature set containing time domain features, frequency domain features, and Hjorth features. Moreover, on a public dataset of HTC company in New Taipei, Taiwan, our framework obtains the overall accuracy of 97.33% that is

Simulation of an electric vehicle model on the new WLTC test cycle using AVL CRUISE software

Science.gov (United States)

Cristian Cioroianu, Constantin; Marinescu, Dănuţ Gabriel; Iorga, Adrian; Răzvan Sibiceanu, Adrian

2017-10-01

Nowadays, environmental pollution has become a general issue and the automotive industry is probably the most affected. The principal air-quality pollutant emissions from petrol, diesel and LPG engines are carbon dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, un-burnt hydrocarbons. Modern cars produce only quite small quantities of the air quality pollutants, but the emissions from large numbers of cars add to a significant air quality problem. Electric vehicles are an answer to this problem because they have absolutely no emissions. These vehicles have some major disadvantages regarding cost and range. In this paper, an electric vehicle model will be created in the AVL Cruise software. The constructed model is based on the existing Dacia Sandero. Also unlike the real car, the model presented has different characteristics since it is a full electric vehicle. It has an electric motor instead of the petrol engine and a battery pack placed in the trunk. The model will be simulated in order to obtain data regarding vehicle performance, energy consumption and range on the new WLTC test cycle. The obtained know-how will help on later improvements of the electric model regarding methods to increase the vehicle range on the new WLTC test cycle.

A LQR-Based Controller with Estimation of Road Bank for Improving Vehicle Lateral and Rollover Stability via Active Suspension.

Science.gov (United States)

Riofrio, Andres; Sanz, Susana; Boada, Maria Jesus L; Boada, Beatriz L

2017-10-13

In this article, a Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) lateral stability and rollover controller has been developed including as the main novelty taking into account the road bank angle and using exclusively active suspension for both lateral stability and rollover control. The main problem regarding the road bank is that it cannot be measured by means of on-board sensors. The solution proposed in this article is performing an estimation of this variable using a Kalman filter. In this way, it is possible to distinguish between the road disturbance component and the vehicle's roll angle. The controller's effectiveness has been tested by means of simulations carried out in TruckSim, using an experimentally-validated vehicle model. Lateral load transfer, roll angle, yaw rate and sideslip angle have been analyzed in order to quantify the improvements achieved on the behavior of the vehicle. For that purpose, these variables have been compared with the results obtained from both a vehicle that uses passive suspension and a vehicle using a fuzzy logic controller.

Estimation of light commercial vehicles dynamics by means of HIL-testbench simulation

Science.gov (United States)

Groshev, A.; Tumasov, A.; Toropov, E.; Sereda, P.

2018-02-01

The high level of active safety of vehicles is impossible without driver assistance electronic systems. Electronic stability control (ESC) system is one of them. Nowadays such systems are obligatory for installation on vehicles of different categories. The approval of active safety level of vehicles with ESC is possible by means of high speed road tests. The most frequently implemented tests are “fish hook” and “sine with dwell” tests. Such kind of tests provided by The Global technical regulation No. 8 are published by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe as well as by ECE 13-11. At the same time, not only road tests could be used for estimation of vehicles dynamics. Modern software and hardware technologies allow imitating real tests with acceptable reliability and good convergence between real test data and simulation results. ECE 13-11 Annex 21 - Appendix 1 “Use Of The Dynamic Stability Simulation” regulates demands for special Simulation Test bench that could be used not only for preliminary estimation of vehicles dynamics, but also for official vehicles homologation. This paper describes the approach, proposed by the researchers from Nizhny Novgorod State Technical University n.a. R.E. Alekseev (NNSTU, Russia) with support of engineers of United Engineering Center GAZ Group, as well as specialists of Gorky Automobile Plant. The idea of approach is to use the special HIL (hardware in the loop) -test bench, that consists of Real Time PC with Real Time Software and braking system components including electronic control unit (ECU) of ESC system. The HIL-test bench allows imitating vehicle dynamics in condition of “fish hook” and “sine with dwell” tests. The paper describes the scheme and structure of HIL-test bench and some peculiarities that should be taken into account during HIL-simulation.

Design, Fabrication, and Testing of Active Skin Antenna with 3D Printing Array Framework

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jinzhu Zhou

2017-01-01

Full Text Available An active skin antenna with structural load-bearing and electromagnetic functions is usually installed in the structural surface of mobile vehicles such as aircrafts, warships, and high-speed train. This paper presents the design, fabrication, and testing of a novel active skin antenna which consists of an encapsulation shell, antenna skin, and RF and beam control circuits. The antenna skin which consists of the facesheet, honeycomb, array framework, and microstrip antenna elements was designed by using Bayesian optimization, in order to improve the design efficiency. An active skin antenna prototype with 32 microstrip antenna elements was fabricated by using a hybrid manufacturing method. In this method, 3D printing technology was applied to fabricate the array framework, and the different layers were bonded to form the final antenna skin by using traditional composite process. Some experimental testing was conducted, and the testing results validate the feasibility the proposed antenna skin structure. The proposed design and fabrication technique is suitable for the development of conformal load-bearing antenna or smart skin antenna installed in the structural surface of aircraft, warships, and armored vehicles.

Thermophysical and Optical Properties of Materials Considered for Use on the LDSD Test Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Redmond, Matthew; Mastropietro, A.J.

2015-01-01

In June 2014, the first of multiple flights in the Low Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) technology development program took place and successfully demonstrated a Supersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (SIAD) in Mars-like conditions. Although the primary goal of the technology program was the development of new decelerators for landing heavier payloads on Mars, the low-cost thermal design of the test vehicle was only possible through the innovative use of a combination of both commercial off the shelf (COTS) and aerospace grade materials. As a result, numerous thermophysical and optical property measurements were undertaken to characterize material candidates before the final material selection was made. This paper presents thermophysical and optical property measurements performed over the course of the LDSD test vehicle development, including those not ultimately selected for use on the vehicle. These properties are compared and contrasted with the existing measurements available in previous literature.

Population and Activity of On road Vehicles in MOVES201X

Science.gov (United States)

This report documents changes to assumptions about the US national highway vehicle fleet population and activity data for the next version of the MOVES model. Fleet population and activity data is used to convert emission rates into emission inventory values and then is used to ...

Comparison of three control methods for an autonomous vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Deshpande, Anup; Mathur, Kovid; Hall, Ernest

2010-01-01

The desirability and challenge of developing a completely autonomous vehicle and the rising need for more efficient use of energy by automobiles motivate this research- a study for an optimum solution to computer control of energy efficient vehicles. The purpose of this paper is to compare three control methods - mechanical, hydraulic and electric that have been used to convert an experimental all terrain vehicle to drive by wire which would eventually act as a test bed for conducting research on various technologies for autonomous operation. Computer control of basic operations in a vehicle namely steering, braking and speed control have been implemented and will be described in this paper. The output from a 3 axis motion controller is used for this purpose. The motion controller is interfaced with a software program using WSDK (Windows Servo Design Kit) as an intermediate tuning layer for tuning and parameter settings in autonomous operation. The software program is developed in C++. The voltage signal sent to the motion controller can be varied through the control program for desired results in controlling the steering motor, activating the hydraulic brakes and varying the vehicle's speed. The vehicle has been tested for its basic functionality which includes testing of street legal operations and also a 1000 mile test while running in a hybrid mode. The vehicle has also been tested for control when it is interfaced with devices such as a keyboard, joystick and sensors under full autonomous operation. The vehicle is currently being tested in various safety studies and is being used as a test bed for experiments in control courses and research studies. The significance of this research is in providing a greater understanding of conventional driving controls and the possibility of improving automobile safety by removing human error in control of a motor vehicle.

Design, testing, and performance of a hybrid micro vehicle---The Hopping Rotochute

Science.gov (United States)

Beyer, Eric W.

The Hopping Rotochute is a new hybrid micro vehicle that has been developed to robustly explore environments with rough terrain while minimizing energy consumption over long periods of time. The device consists of a small coaxial rotor system housed inside a lightweight cage. The vehicle traverses an area by intermittently powering a small electric motor which drives the rotor system, allowing the vehicle to hop over obstacles of various shapes and sizes. A movable internal mass controls the direction of travel while the egg-like exterior shape and low mass center allows the vehicle to passively reorient itself to an upright attitude when in contact with the ground. This dissertation presents the design, fabrication, and testing of a radio-controlled Hopping Rotochute prototype as well as an analytical study of the flight performance of the device. The conceptual design iterations are first outlined which were driven by the mission and system requirements assigned to the vehicle. The aerodynamic, mechanical, and electrical design of a prototype is then described, based on the final conceptual design, with particular emphasis on the fundamental trades that must be negotiated for this type of hopping vehicle. The fabrication and testing of this prototype is detailed as well as experimental results obtained from a motion capture system. Basic flight performance of the prototype are reported which demonstrates that the Hopping Rotochute satisfies all appointed system requirements. A dynamic model of the Hopping Rotochute is also developed in this thesis and employed to predict the flight performance of the vehicle. The dynamic model includes aerodynamic loads from the body and rotor system as well as a soft contact model to estimate the forces and moments during ground contact. The experimental methods used to estimate the dynamic model parameters are described while comparisons between measured and simulated motion are presented. Good correlation between these motions

A semi-active control suspension system for railway vehicles with magnetorheological fluid dampers

Science.gov (United States)

Wei, Xiukun; Zhu, Ming; Jia, Limin

2016-07-01

The high-speed train has achieved great progress in the last decades. It is one of the most important modes of transportation between cities. With the rapid development of the high-speed train, its safety issue is paid much more attention than ever before. To improve the stability of the vehicle with high speed, extra dampers (i.e. anti-hunting damper) are used in the traditional bogies with passive suspension system. However, the curving performance of the vehicle is undermined due to the extra lateral force generated by the dampers. The active suspension systems proposed in the last decades attempt to solve the vehicle steering issue. However, the active suspension systems need extra actuators driven by electrical power or hydraulic power. There are some implementation and even safety issues which are not easy to be overcome. In this paper, an innovative semi-active controlled lateral suspension system for railway vehicles is proposed. Four magnetorheological fluid dampers are fixed to the primary suspension system of each bogie. They are controlled by online controllers for enhancing the running stability on the straight track line on the one hand and further improving the curving performance by controlling the damper force on the other hand. Two control strategies are proposed in the light of the pure rolling concept. The effectiveness of the proposed strategies is demonstrated by SIMPACK and Matlab co-simulation for a full railway vehicle with two conventional bogies.

Emerging Needs for Pervasive Passive Wireless Sensor Networks on Aerospace Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, William C.; Juarez, Peter D.

2014-01-01

NASA is investigating passive wireless sensor technology to reduce instrumentation mass and volume in ground testing, air flight, and space exploration applications. Vehicle health monitoring systems (VHMS) are desired on all aerospace programs to ensure the safety of the crew and the vehicles. Pervasive passive wireless sensor networks facilitate VHMS on aerospace vehicles. Future wireless sensor networks on board aerospace vehicles will be heterogeneous and will require active and passive network systems. Since much has been published on active wireless sensor networks, this work will focus on the need for passive wireless sensor networks on aerospace vehicles. Several passive wireless technologies such as microelectromechanical systems MEMS, SAW, backscatter, and chipless RFID techniques, have all shown potential to meet the pervasive sensing needs for aerospace VHMS applications. A SAW VHMS application will be presented. In addition, application areas including ground testing, hypersonic aircraft and spacecraft will be explored along with some of the harsh environments found in aerospace applications.

Impact Foam Testing for Multi-Mission Earth Entry Vehicle Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Glaab, Louis J.; Agrawal, Paul; Hawbaker, James

2013-01-01

Multi-Mission Earth Entry Vehicles (MMEEVs) are blunt-body vehicles designed with the purpose of transporting payloads from outer space to the surface of the Earth. To achieve high-reliability and minimum weight, MMEEVs avoid use of limited-reliability systems, such as parachutes and retro-rockets, instead using built-in impact attenuators to absorb energy remaining at impact to meet landing loads requirements. The Multi-Mission Systems Analysis for Planetary Entry (M-SAPE) parametric design tool is used to facilitate the design of MMEEVs and develop the trade space. Testing was conducted to characterize the material properties of several candidate impact foam attenuators to enhance M-SAPE analysis. In the current effort, two different Rohacell foams were tested to determine their thermal conductivity in support of MMEEV design applications. These applications include thermal insulation during atmospheric entry, impact attenuation, and post-impact thermal insulation in support of thermal soak analysis. Results indicate that for these closed-cell foams, the effect of impact is limited on thermal conductivity due to the venting of the virgin material gas and subsequent ambient air replacement. Results also indicate that the effect of foam temperature is significant compared to data suggested by manufacturer's specifications.

Semi-active H∞ control of high-speed railway vehicle suspension with magnetorheological dampers

Science.gov (United States)

Zong, Lu-Hang; Gong, Xing-Long; Xuan, Shou-Hu; Guo, Chao-Yang

2013-05-01

In this paper, semi-active H∞ control with magnetorheological (MR) dampers for railway vehicle suspension systems to improve the lateral ride quality is investigated. The proposed semi-active controller is composed of a H∞ controller as the system controller and an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) inverse MR damper model as the damper controller. First, a 17-degree-of-freedom model for a full-scale railway vehicle is developed and the random track irregularities are modelled. Then a modified Bouc-Wen model is built to characterise the forward dynamic characteristics of the MR damper and an inverse MR damper model is built with the ANFIS technique. Furthermore, a H∞ controller composed of a yaw motion controller and a rolling pendulum motion (lateral motion+roll motion) controller is established. By integrating the H∞ controller with the ANFIS inverse model, a semi-active H∞ controller for the railway vehicle is finally proposed. Simulation results indicate that the proposed semi-active suspension system possesses better attenuation ability for the vibrations of the car body than the passive suspension system.

Relationship between pedestrian headform tests and injury and fatality rates in vehicle-to-pedestrian crashes in the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Mueller, Becky; Farmer, Charles; Jermakian, Jessica; Zuby, David

2013-11-01

Pedestrian protection evaluations have been developed to encourage vehicle front-end designs that mitigate the consequences of vehicle-to-pedestrian crashes. The European New Car Assessment Program (Euro NCAP) evaluates pedestrian head protection with impacts against vehicle hood, windshield, and A-pillars. The Global Technical Regulation No. 9 (GTR 9), being evaluated for U.S. regulation, limits head protection evaluations to impacts against vehicle hoods. The objective of this study was to compare results from pedestrian head impact testing to the real-world rates of fatal and incapacitating injuries in U.S. pedestrian crashes. Data from police reported pedestrian crashes in 14 states were used to calculate real-world fatal and in- capacitating injury rates for seven 2002-07 small cars. Rates were 2.17-4.04 per 100 pedestrians struck for fatal injuries and 10.45-15.35 for incapacitating injuries. Euro NCAP style pedestrian headform tests were conducted against windshield, A-pillar, and hoods of the study vehicles. When compared with pedestrian injury rates, the vehicles' Euro NCAP scores, ranging 5-10 points, showed strong negative correlations (-0.6) to injury rates, though none were statistically significant. Data from the headform impacts for each of the study vehicles were used to calculate that vehicle's predicted serious injury risk. The predicted risks from both the Euro NCAP and GTR 9 test zones showed high positive correlations with the pedestrian fatal and incapacitating injury rates, though few were statistically significant. Whether vehicle stiffness is evaluated on all components of vehicle front ends (Euro NCAP) or is limited to hoods (GTR 9), softer vehicle components correspond to a lower risk of fatality.

Study on Active Suppression Control of Drivetrain Oscillations in an Electric Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Lei; Cui, Ying

2017-07-01

Due to the low damping in a central driven electric vehicle and lack of passive damping mechanisms as compared with a conventional vehicle, the vehicle may endure torsional vibrations which may deteriorates the vehicle’s drivability. Thus active damping control strategy is required to reduce the undesirable oscillations in an EV. In this paper, the origin of the vibration and the design of a damping control method to suppress such oscillations to improve the drivability of an EV are studied. The traction motor torque that is given by the vehicle controller is adjusted according to the acceleration rate of the motor speed to attenuate the resonant frequency. Simulations and experiments are performed to validate the system. The results show that the proposed control system can effectively suppress oscillations and hence improve drivability.

State-of-the-art assessment of electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

1977-01-01

The Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Research, Development, and Demonstration Act of 1976 (PL 94-413) requires that data be developed to characterize the state of the art of vehicles powered by an electric motor and those propelled by a combination of an electric motor and an internal combustion engine or other power sources. Data obtained from controlled tests of a representative number of sample vehicles, from information supplied by manufacturers or contained in the literature, and from surveys of fleet operators of individual owners of electric vehicles is discussed. The results of track and dynamometer tests conducted by NASA on 22 electric, 2 hybrid, and 5 conventional vehicles, as well as on 5 spark-ignition-engine-powered vehicles, the conventional counterparts of 5 of the vehicles, are presented.

Dynamic performances analysis of a real vehicle driving

Science.gov (United States)

Abdullah, M. A.; Jamil, J. F.; Salim, M. A.

2015-12-01

Vehicle dynamic is the effects of movement of a vehicle generated from the acceleration, braking, ride and handling activities. The dynamic behaviours are determined by the forces from tire, gravity and aerodynamic which acting on the vehicle. This paper emphasizes the analysis of vehicle dynamic performance of a real vehicle. Real driving experiment on the vehicle is conducted to determine the effect of vehicle based on roll, pitch, and yaw, longitudinal, lateral and vertical acceleration. The experiment is done using the accelerometer to record the reading of the vehicle dynamic performance when the vehicle is driven on the road. The experiment starts with weighing a car model to get the center of gravity (COG) to place the accelerometer sensor for data acquisition (DAQ). The COG of the vehicle is determined by using the weight of the vehicle. A rural route is set to launch the experiment and the road conditions are determined for the test. The dynamic performance of the vehicle are depends on the road conditions and driving maneuver. The stability of a vehicle can be controlled by the dynamic performance analysis.

Active flywheel control for hybrid vehicle; Compensation active des pulsations de couple dans un vehicule hybride

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tnani, S.; Coirault, P.; Champenois, G. [Ecole Superieure d' Ingenieurs, Lab. d' Automatique et d' Informatique Industrielle, 86 - Poitiers (France)

2005-01-01

In the paper, the authors propose a novel control strategy of torque ripple on hybrid vehicle. The combustion engine ripple's are reduced by using an active filter and an AC machine which is mounted on the crank-shaft to generate on inverse torque sequence. The control strategy is based on a multi-objectives state feedback synthesis. A complete modelling of the hybrid propulsion of the vehicle is achieved. Simulation results highlight the interest of the control scheme. (authors)

Innovative control systems for tracked vehicle platforms

CERN Document Server

2014-01-01

 This book has been motivated by an urgent need for designing and implementation of innovative control algorithms and systems for tracked vehicles. Nowadays the unmanned vehicles are becoming more and more common. Therefore there is a need for innovative mechanical constructions capable of adapting to various applications regardless the ground, air or water/underwater environment. There are multiple various activities connected with tracked vehicles. They can be distributed among three main groups: design and control algorithms, sensoric and vision based in-formation, construction and testing mechanical parts of unmanned vehicles. Scientists and researchers involved in mechanics, control algorithms, image processing, computer vision, data fusion, or IC will find this book useful.

Aeroheating Test of CEV Entry Vehicle at Turbulent Conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Hollis, Brian R.; Berger, Karen T.; Horvath, Thomas J.; Coblish, Joseph J.; Norris, Joseph D.; Lillard, Randolph P.; Kirk, Ben

2008-01-01

An investigation of the aeroheating environment of the Project Orion Crew Entry Vehicle has been performed in the Arnold Engineering Development Center Tunnel 9. Data were measured on a approx. 3.5% scale model (0.1778m/7-inch diam.) of the vehicle using coaxial thermocouples in the Mach 8 and Mach 10 nozzles of Tunnel 9. Runs were performed at free stream Reynolds numbers of 1 106/ft to 20 10(exp 6)/ft in the Mach 10 nozzle and 8 10(exp 6)/ft to 48 10(exp 6)/ft in the Mach 8 nozzle. The test gas in Tunnel 9 is pure N2, which at these operating conditions remains un-dissociated and may be treated as a perfect gas. At these conditions, laminar, transitional, and turbulent flow was produced on the model at Mach 10, and transitional and turbulent conditions were produced on the model at Mach 8. The majority of runs were made on a clean, smooth-surface model configuration and a limited number of runs were made in which inserts with varying boundary-layer trips configurations were used to force the occurrence of transition. Laminar and turbulent predictions were generated for all wind tunnel test conditions and comparisons were performed with the data for the purpose of helping to define uncertainty margins for the computational method. Data from both the wind tunnel test and the computations are presented herein. Figure 1 shows a schematic of the thermocouple locations on the model and figures 2 and 3 show a photo and schematic of the AEDC Hypervelocity Tunnel 9. Figure 4 shows a typical grid used in the computations. From the comparisons shown in figures 5 through 8 it was concluded that for perfect-gas conditions, the computations could predict either fully-laminar or full-turbulent flow to within +/-10% of the experimental data. The experimental data showed that transition began on the leeside of the heatshield at a free stream Reynolds number of 9 10(exp 6)/ft in the Mach 10 nozzle and fully-developed turbulent flow was produced at 20 10(exp 6)/ft. In the Mach 8

Affordable Electro-Magnetic Interference (EMI) Testing on Large Space Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Aldridge, Edward; Curry, Bruce; Scully, Robert

2015-01-01

Objective: Perform System-Level EMI testing of the Orion Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) spacecraft in situ in the Kennedy Space Center's Neil Armstrong Operations & Checkout (O&C) Facility in 6 days. The only way to execute the system-level EMI testing and meet this schedule challenge was to perform the EMI testing in situ in the Final Assembly & System Test (FAST) Cell in a reverberant mode, not the direct illumination mode originally planned. This required the unplanned construction of a Faraday Cage around the vehicle and FAST Cell structure. The presence of massive steel platforms created many challenges to developing an efficient screen room to contain the RF energy and yield an effective reverberant chamber. An initial effectiveness test showed marginal performance, but improvements implemented afterward resulted in the final test performing surprisingly well! The paper will explain the design, the challenges, and the changes that made the difference in performance!

Simulation of hydrogen releases from fuel-cell vehicles in tunnels

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Houf, William G.; Evans, Greg H.; James, Scott C. [Sandia National Labs., Livermore, CA (United States); Merilo, Erik; Groethe, Mark [SRI International, Menlo Park, CA (United States)

2010-07-01

Simulation results for a hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle in a full-scale tunnel have been performed for the case where hydrogen gas is vented from the vehicle as a result of thermal activation of the pressure relief device (PRD). The same modeling approach used in the full-scale tunnel modeling was validated in a scaled model by comparing simulated results with measured results from a series of scaled-tunnel test experiments performed at the SRI Corral Hollow test facility. Results of the simulations were found to be in good agreement with the experimental data. Finally, a rudimentary risk analysis indicated that the level of potential risk from hydrogen vehicles accidents involving thermally activated PRDs in tunnels does not appear to significantly increase the current level of individual risk to the public from everyday life. (orig.)

Design of an Active Bumper with a Series Elastic Actuator for Pedestrian Protection of Small Unmanned Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Terumasa, Narukawa; Tomoki, Tsuge; Hiroshi, Yamamoto; Takahiro, Suzuki

2016-09-01

When autonomous unmanned vehicles are operated on sidewalks, the vehicles must have high safety standards such as avoiding injury when they come in contact with pedestrians. In this study, we established a design for preventing serious injury when such collisions occur. We designed an active bumper with a series elastic actuator, with the goal of avoiding serious injury to a pedestrian in a collision with a small unmanned vehicle. The series elastic actuator comprised an elastic element in series with a table driven by a ball screw and servo motor. The active bumper was used to control the contact force between a vehicle and a pedestrian. The optimal force for minimizing the deflection of the object of the collision was derived, and the actuator controlled to apply this optimal force. Numerical simulations showed that the active bumper was successful in improving the collision safety of small unmanned vehicles.

Test analysis and research on static choice reaction ability of commercial vehicle drivers

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Lingchao; Wei, Lang; Qiao, Jie; Tian, Shun; Wang, Shengchang

2017-03-01

Drivers' choice reaction ability has a certain relation with safe driving. It has important significance to research its influence on traffic safety. Firstly, the paper uses a choice reaction detector developed by research group to detect drivers' choice reaction ability of commercial vehicles, and gets 2641 effective samples. Then by using mathematical statistics method, the paper founds that average reaction time from accident group has no difference with non-accident group, and then introduces a variance rate of reaction time as a new index to replace it. The result shows that the test index choice reaction errors and variance rate of reaction time have positive correlations with accidents. Finally, according to testing results of the detector, the paper formulates a detection threshold with four levels for helping transportation companies to assess commercial vehicles drivers.

Vehicle Test Facilities at Aberdeen Proving Ground

Science.gov (United States)

1981-07-06

warehouse and rough terrain forklifts. Two 5-ton-capacity manual chain hoists at the rear of the table regulate its slope from 0 to 40 percent. The overall...Capacity at 24-Inch Load Center. 5. TOP/ HTP 2-2-608, Braking, Wheeled Vehicles, 15 Jav.&ry 1971. 6. TOP 2-2-603, Vehicle Fuel Consumption, 1 November 1977. A-1 r -. ’,’

Active control of turbulent boundary layer sound transmission into a vehicle interior

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Caiazzo, A; Alujević, N; Pluymers, B; Desmet, W

2016-01-01

In high speed automotive, aerospace, and railway transportation, the turbulent boundary layer (TBL) is one of the most important sources of interior noise. The stochastic pressure distribution associated with the turbulence is able to excite significantly structural vibration of vehicle exterior panels. They radiate sound into the vehicle through the interior panels. Therefore, the air flow noise becomes very influential when it comes to the noise vibration and harshness assessment of a vehicle, in particular at low frequencies. Normally, passive solutions, such as sound absorbing materials, are used for reducing the TBL-induced noise transmission into a vehicle interior, which generally improve the structure sound isolation performance. These can achieve excellent isolation performance at higher frequencies, but are unable to deal with the low-frequency interior noise components. In this paper, active control of TBL noise transmission through an acoustically coupled double panel system into a rectangular cavity is examined theoretically. The Corcos model of the TBL pressure distribution is used to model the disturbance. The disturbance is rejected by an active vibration isolation unit reacting between the exterior and the interior panels. Significant reductions of the low-frequency vibrations of the interior panel and the sound pressure in the cavity are observed. (paper)

Test experiences with the DaimlerChrysler: Fuel cell electric vehicle NECAR

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Friedlmeier Gerardo

2002-01-01

Full Text Available The DalmlerChrysler fuel cell electric vehicle NECAR 4, a hydrogen-fueled zero-emission compact car based on the A-Class of Mercedes-Benz, is described. Test results obtained on the road and on the dynamometer are presented. These and other results show the high technological maturity reliability and durability already achieved with fuel cell technology.

Test experiences with the DaimlerChrysler: Fuel cell electric vehicle NECAR

OpenAIRE

Friedlmeier Gerardo; Friedrich J.; Panik F.

2002-01-01

The DalmlerChrysler fuel cell electric vehicle NECAR 4, a hydrogen-fueled zero-emission compact car based on the A-Class of Mercedes-Benz, is described. Test results obtained on the road and on the dynamometer are presented. These and other results show the high technological maturity reliability and durability already achieved with fuel cell technology.

Wind and water tunnel testing of a morphing aquatic micro air vehicle.

Science.gov (United States)

Siddall, Robert; Ortega Ancel, Alejandro; Kovač, Mirko

2017-02-06

Aerial robots capable of locomotion in both air and water would enable novel mission profiles in complex environments, such as water sampling after floods or underwater structural inspections. The design of such a vehicle is challenging because it implies significant propulsive and structural design trade-offs for operation in both fluids. In this paper, we present a unique Aquatic Micro Air Vehicle (AquaMAV), which uses a reconfigurable wing to dive into the water from flight, inspired by the plunge diving strategy of water diving birds in the family Sulidae . The vehicle's performance is investigated in wind and water tunnel experiments, from which we develop a planar trajectory model. This model is used to predict the dive behaviour of the AquaMAV, and investigate the efficacy of passive dives initiated by wing folding as a means of water entry. The paper also includes first field tests of the AquaMAV prototype where the folding wings are used to initiate a plunge dive.

76 FR 55859 - Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards No. 121; Air Brake Systems

Science.gov (United States)

2011-09-09

... during road tests for the braking system, a vehicle equipped with an interlocking axle system or a front... vehicle braking systems, tire characteristics related to lateral force and longitudinal force generation... stopping distance without activating the ABS system by braking the vehicle so that the brake pressure is...

Lightweight electric-powered vehicles. Which financial incentives after the large-scale field tests at Mendrisio?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Keller, M.; Frick, R.; Hammer, S.

1999-08-01

How should lightweight electric-powered vehicles be promoted, after the large-scale fleet test being conducted at Mendrisio (southern Switzerland) is completed in 2001, and are there reasons to put question marks behind the current approach? The demand for electric vehicles, and particularly the one in the automobile category, has remained at a persistently low level. As it proved, any appreciable improvement of this situation is almost impossible, even with substantial financial incentives. However, the unsatisfactory sales figures have little to do with the nature of the fleet test itself or with the specific conditions at Mendrisio. The problem is rather of structural nature. For (battery-operated) electric cars the main problem at present is the lack of an expanding market which could become self-supporting with only a few additional incentives. Various strategies have been evaluated. Two alternatives were considered in particular: a strategy to promote explicitly electric vehicles ('EL-strategy'), and a strategy to promote efficient road vehicles in general which would have to meet specific energy and environmental-efficiency criteria ('EF-strategy'). The EL-strategies make the following dilemma clear. If the aim is to raise the share of these vehicles up to 5% of all cars on the road (or even 8%) in a mid-term prospect, then substantial interventions in the relevant vehicle markets would be required, either with penalties for conventional cars, or a large-scale funding scheme, or interventions at the supply level. The study suggests a differentiated strategy with two components: (i) 'institutionalised' promotion with the aim of a substantial increase of the share of 'efficient' vehicles (independently of the propulsion technology), and (ii) the continuation of pilot and demonstration projects for the promotion of different types of innovative technologies. (author) [de

A LQR-Based Controller with Estimation of Road Bank for Improving Vehicle Lateral and Rollover Stability via Active Suspension

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andres Riofrio

2017-10-01

Full Text Available In this article, a Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR lateral stability and rollover controller has been developed including as the main novelty taking into account the road bank angle and using exclusively active suspension for both lateral stability and rollover control. The main problem regarding the road bank is that it cannot be measured by means of on-board sensors. The solution proposed in this article is performing an estimation of this variable using a Kalman filter. In this way, it is possible to distinguish between the road disturbance component and the vehicle’s roll angle. The controller’s effectiveness has been tested by means of simulations carried out in TruckSim, using an experimentally-validated vehicle model. Lateral load transfer, roll angle, yaw rate and sideslip angle have been analyzed in order to quantify the improvements achieved on the behavior of the vehicle. For that purpose, these variables have been compared with the results obtained from both a vehicle that uses passive suspension and a vehicle using a fuzzy logic controller.

An Airborne Parachute Compartment Test Bed for the Orion Parachute Test Program

Science.gov (United States)

Moore, James W.; Romero, Leah M.

2013-01-01

The test program developing parachutes for the Orion/MPCV includes drop tests with parachutes deployed from an Orion-like parachute compartment at a wide range of dynamic pressures. Aircraft and altitude constraints precluded the use of an Orion boilerplate capsule for several test points. Therefore, a dart-shaped test vehicle with a hi-fidelity mock-up of the Orion parachute compartment has been developed. The available aircraft options imposed constraints on the test vehicle development and concept of operations. Delivery of this test vehicle to the desired velocity, altitude, and orientation required for the test is a di cult problem involving multiple engineering disciplines. This paper describes the development of the test technique. The engineering challenges include extraction from an aircraft, reposition of the extraction parachute, and mid-air separation of two vehicles, neither of which has an active attitude control system. The desired separation behavior is achieved by precisely controlling the release point using on-board monitoring of the motion. The design of the test vehicle is also described. The trajectory simulations and other analyses used to develop this technique and predict the behavior of the test vehicle are reviewed in detail. The application of the technique on several successful drop tests is summarized.

Computer simulation of ultrasonic testing for aerospace vehicle

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yamawaki, H [National Institute for Materials Science, 1-2-1, Sengen, 305-0047 Tsukuba (Japan); Moriya, S; Masuoka, T [Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, 1 Koganesawa, Kimigawa, 981-1525 Kakuda (Japan); Takatsubo, J, E-mail: yamawaki.hisashi@nims.go.jp [Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, AIST Tsukuba Central 2, 1-1-1 Umezono, 305-8568 Tsukuba (Japan)

2011-01-01

Non-destructive testing techniques are developed to secure reliability of aerospace vehicles used repetitively. In the case of cracks caused by thermal stress on walls in combustion chambers of liquid-fuel rockets, it is examined by ultrasonic waves visualization technique developed in AIST. The technique is composed with non-contact ultrasonic generation by pulsed-laser scanning, piezoelectric transducer for the ultrasonic detection, and image reconstruction processing. It enables detection of defects by visualization of ultrasonic waves scattered by the defects. In NIMS, the condition of the detection by the visualization is investigated using computer simulation for ultrasonic propagation that has capability of fast 3-D calculation. The simulation technique is based on finite-difference method and two-step elastic wave equations. It is reported about the investigation by the calculation, and shows availability of the simulation for the ultrasonic testing technique of the wall cracks.

Design and Testing for a New Thermosyphon Irradiation Vehicle

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Felde, David K. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Carbajo, Juan J. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); McDuffee, Joel Lee [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

2017-09-01

The High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) requires most materials and all fuel experiments to be placed in a pressure containment vessel to ensure that internal contaminants such as fission products cannot be released into the primary coolant. It also requires that all experiments be capable of withstanding various accident conditions (e.g., loss of coolant) without generating vapor bubbles on the surface of the experiment in the primary coolant. These requirements are intended to artificially increase experiment temperatures by introducing a barrier between the experimental materials and the HFIR coolant, and by reducing heat loads to the HFIR primary coolant, thus ensuring that no boiling can occur. A proposed design for materials irradiation would remove these limitations by providing the required primary containment with an internal cooling flow. This would allow for experiments to be irradiated without concern for coolant contamination (e.g., from cladding failure of advanced fuel pins) or for specimen heat load. This report describes a new materials irradiation experiment design that uses a thermosyphon cooling system to allow experimental materials direct access to a liquid coolant. The new design also increases the range of conditions that can be tested in HFIR. This design will provide a unique capability to validate the performance of current and advanced fuels and materials. Because of limited supporting data for this kind of irradiation vehicle, a test program was initiated to obtain operating data that can be used to (1) qualify the vehicle for operation in HFIR and (2) validate computer models used to perform design- and safety-basis calculations. This report also describes the test facility and experimental data, and it provides a comparison of the experimental data to computer simulations. A total of 51 tests have been completed: four tests with pure steam, 12 tests with argon, and 35 tests with helium. A total

Design of a New Integrated Structure of the Active Suspension System and Emergency Lane Change Test

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Jing-bo; Liu, Hai-mei; Zhang, Lan-chun; Bei, Shao-yi

2017-09-01

An integrated structure of the active suspension system was proposed in order to solve the problem of the individual control of the height of the body or the adjustable damping of the active suspension system of the electric vehicle, which improve the vibration reduction performance of the vehicle. The air bag was used to replace the traditional spiral spring, and the traditional shock absorber was replaced by the damping adjustable shock absorber, and the control module received the body acceleration sensor and the horizontal height sensor signal. The system controlled adjustable damping coefficient of shock absorber through the height of the car body the output of the air pump relay and the height control valve and the output of the electromagnetic valve of the adjustable damping shock absorber, and the emergency lane change test was carried out under different modes of speed of 60km/h. The experimental results indicated that the damping value was greater, average roll angle, yaw angle and average vehicle lateral acceleration were small when vehicle body was in the state of emergency lane change, which verified the feasibility of the integrated control strategy and structure design of the active suspension system. The research has important theoretical research value and engineering application prospect for designing and controlling strategy of vehicle chassis integrated control system.

Vehicle Animation Software (VAS) to Animate Results Obtained from Vehicle Handling and Rollover Simulations and Tests

Science.gov (United States)

1991-04-01

Results from vehicle computer simulations usually take the form of numeric data or graphs. While these graphs provide the investigator with the insight into vehicle behavior, it may be difficult to use these graphs to assess complex vehicle motion. C...

Electric and Plug-In Hybrid Electric Fleet Vehicle Testing | Transportation

Science.gov (United States)

Research | NREL Electric and Plug-In Hybrid Electric Fleet Vehicle Evaluations Electric and Plug-In Hybrid Electric Fleet Vehicle Evaluations How Electric and Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles plugging the vehicle into an electric power source. PHEVs are powered by an internal combustion engine that

Modeling and Closed Loop Flight Testing of a Fixed Wing Micro Air Vehicle

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Harikumar Kandath

2018-03-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the nonlinear six degrees of freedom dynamic modeling of a fixed wing micro air vehicle. The static derivatives of the micro air vehicle are obtained through the wind tunnel testing. The propeller effects on the lift, drag, pitching moment and side force are quantified through wind tunnel testing. The dynamic derivatives are obtained through empirical relations available in the literature. The trim conditions are computed for a straight and constant altitude flight condition. The linearized longitudinal and lateral state space models are obtained about trim conditions. The variations in short period mode, phugoid mode, Dutch roll mode, roll subsidence mode and spiral mode with respect to different trim operating conditions is presented. A stabilizing static output feedback controller is designed using the obtained model. Successful closed loop flight trials are conducted with the static output feedback controller.

Design of a Maglev Vibration Test Platform for the Research of Maglev Vehicle-girder Coupled Vibration Problem

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhou Danfeng

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The maglev vehicle-girder coupled vibration problem has been encountered in many maglev test or commercial lines, which significantly degrade the performance of the maglev train. In previous research on the principle of the coupled vibration problem, it has been discovered that the fundamental model of the maglev girder can be simplified as a series of mass-spring resonators of different but related resonance frequencies, and that the stability of the vehicle-girder coupled system can be investigated by separately examining the stability of each mass-spring resonator – electromagnet coupled system. Based on this conclusion, a maglev test platform, which includes a single electromagnetic suspension control system, is built for experimental study of the coupled vibration problem. The guideway of the test platform is supported by a number of springs so as to change its flexibility. The mass of the guideway can also be changed by adjusting extra weights attached to it. By changing the flexibility and mass of the guideway, the rules of the maglev vehicle-girder coupled vibration problem are to be examined through experiments, and related theory on the vehicle-girder self-excited vibration proposed in previous research is also testified.

Control of quality in the tests of systems of containment of vehicles. Intercomparison of the results of the tests

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lopez Ramos, S.

2009-01-01

This article tries to offer information on how Central Laboratory of Structures and Materials are made the tests for Marca N of AENOR of the systems of containment of vehicles and its control of external quality. (Author) 15 refs

Performance test of remote controlled engineering vehicle system for CBRN threat. Countermeasure performance for CBRN-environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Naruse, Masahiro; Uemura, Keisuke; Morishita, Masahiro

2015-01-01

A research of 'remote controlled engineering vehicle system for CBRN threat' was triggered by the nuclear accident that successively happened after the Great East Japan Earthquake. This project focuses on the remote controlled engineering system that can be used for multi purposes such as debris/obstacle clearing operation or various reconnaissance operation, under CBRN threat. For the remote-controlled engineering vehicle, we conducted a series of validation tests for countermeasure performance for CBRN-environment. As a result, it is proved that the vehicle possess required performances for CBRN threat. (author)

Vehicle Reference Generator for Collision-Free Trajectories in Hazardous Maneuvers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cuauhtémoc Acosta Lúa

2018-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a reference generator for ground vehicles, based on potential fields adapted to the case of vehicular dynamics. The reference generator generates signals to be tracked by the vehicle, corresponding to a trajectory avoiding collisions with obstacles. This generator integrates artificial forces of potential fields of the object surrounding the vehicle. The reference generator is used with a controller to ensure the tracking of the accident-free reference. This approach can be used for vehicle autonomous driving or for active control of manned vehicles. Simulation results, presented for the autonomous driving, consider a scenario inspired by the so-called moose (or elk test, with the presence of other collaborative vehicles.

Preventing passenger vehicle occupant injuries by vehicle design--a historical perspective from IIHS.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Neill, Brian

2009-04-01

Motor vehicle crashes result in some 1.2 million deaths and many more injuries worldwide each year and is one of the biggest public health problems facing societies today. This article reviews the history of, and future potential for, one important countermeasure-designing vehicles that reduce occupant deaths and injuries. For many years, people had urged automakers to add design features to reduce crash injuries, but it was not until the mid-1960s that the idea of pursuing vehicle countermeasures gained any significant momentum. In 1966, the U.S. Congress passed the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act, requiring the government to issue a comprehensive set of vehicle safety standards. This was the first broad set of requirements issued anywhere in the world, and within a few years similar standards were adopted in Europe and Australia. Early vehicle safety standards specified a variety of safety designs resulting in cars being equipped with lap/shoulder belts, energy-absorbing steering columns, crash-resistant door locks, high-penetration-resistant windshields, etc. Later, the standards moved away from specifying particular design approaches and instead used crash tests and instrumented dummies to set limits on the potential for serious occupant injuries by crash mode. These newer standards paved the way for an approach that used the marketplace, in addition to government regulation, to improve vehicle safety designs-using crash tests and instrumented dummies to provide consumers with comparative safety ratings for new vehicles. The approach began in the late 1970s, when NHTSA started publishing injury measures from belted dummies in new passenger vehicles subjected to frontal barrier crash tests at speeds somewhat higher than specified in the corresponding regulation. This program became the world's first New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) and rated frontal crashworthiness by awarding stars (five stars being the best and one the worst) derived from head

Cooperative sentry vehicles and differential GPS leapfrog

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

FEDDEMA,JOHN T.; LEWIS,CHRISTOPHER L.; LAFARGE,ROBERT A.

2000-06-07

As part of a project for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Sandia National Laboratories Intelligent Systems and Robotics Center is developing and testing the feasibility of using a cooperative team of robotic sentry vehicles to guard a perimeter, perform a surround task, and travel extended distances. This paper describes the authors most recent activities. In particular, this paper highlights the development of a Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) leapfrog capability that allows two or more vehicles to alternate sending DGPS corrections. Using this leapfrog technique, this paper shows that a group of autonomous vehicles can travel 22.68 kilometers with a root mean square positioning error of only 5 meters.

Update on the Vancouver Fuel Cell Vehicle Program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rothwell, B.

2004-01-01

'Full text:' The Vancouver Fuel Cell Vehicle Program (VFCVP) is a $5.8 million initiative designed to test four Ford Focus Fuel Cell Vehicles for three years in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. The project is the first of its kind in Canada and is led by Fuel Cells Canada (FCC), the Ford Motor Company (Ford), and the Governments of Canada and British Columbia. This presentation will provide program details and an update on activities leading up to currently planned delivery to Vancouver in November 2004. The VFCVP will test the performance, durability and reliability of the Ford fuel cell vehicle cars in real-world conditions and will examine fuelling issues and solutions, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and public acceptance of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. The program will generate data to help evolve the technology and develop international codes and standards E cents Epnd the implementation and adoption of fuel cell technology. (author)

Shock-tunnel combustor testing for hypersonic vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Loomis, Mark P.

1994-01-01

Proposed configurations for the next generation of transatmospheric vehicles will rely on air breathing propulsion systems during all or part of their mission. At flight Mach numbers greater than about 7 these engines will operate in the supersonic combustion ramjet mode (scramjet). Ground testing of these engine concepts above Mach 8 requires high pressure, high enthalpy facilities such as shock tunnels and expansion tubes. These impulse, or short duration facilities have test times on the order of a millisecond, requiring high speed instrumentation and data systems. One such facility ideally suited for scramjet testing is the NASA-Ames 16-Inch shock tunnel, which over the last two years has completed a series of tests for the NASP (National Aero-Space Plane) program at simulated flight Mach numbers ranging from 12-16. The focus of the experimental programs consisted of a series of classified tests involving a near-full scale hydrogen fueled scramjet combustor model in the semi-free jet method of engine testing whereby the compressed forebody flow ahead of the cowl inlet is reproduced (see appendix A). The AIMHYE-1 (Ames Integrated Modular Hypersonic Engine) test entry for the NASP program was completed in April 1993, while AIMHYE-2 was completed in May 1994. The test entries were regarded as successful, resulting in some of the first data of its kind on the performance of a near full scale scramjet engine at Mach 12-16. The data was distributed to NASP team members for use in design system verification and development. Due to the classified nature of the hardware and data, the data reports resulting from this work are classified and have been published as part of the NASP literature. However, an unclassified AIAA paper resulted from the work and has been included as appendix A. It contains an overview of the test program and a description of some of the important issues.

On-Track Testing as a Validation Method of Computational Fluid Dynamic Simulations of a Formula SAE Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Weingart, Robert

This thesis is about the validation of a computational fluid dynamics simulation of a ground vehicle by means of a low-budget coast-down test. The vehicle is built to the standards of the 2014 Formula SAE rules. It is equipped with large wings in the front and rear of the car; the vertical loads on the tires are measured by specifically calibrated shock potentiometers. The coast-down test was performed on a runway of a local airport and is used to determine vehicle specific coefficients such as drag, downforce, aerodynamic balance, and rolling resistance for different aerodynamic setups. The test results are then compared to the respective simulated results. The drag deviates about 5% from the simulated to the measured results. The downforce numbers show a deviation up to 18% respectively. Moreover, a sensitivity analysis of inlet velocities, ride heights, and pitch angles was performed with the help of the computational simulation.

Ares Launch Vehicles Lean Practices Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Doreswamy, Rajiv; Self, Timothy A.

2007-01-01

The Ares launch vehicles team, managed by the Ares Projects Office (APO) at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, has completed the Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle System Requirements Review and System Definition Review and early design work for the Ares V Cargo Launch Vehicle. This paper provides examples of how Lean Manufacturing, Kaizen events, and Six Sigma practices are helping APO deliver a new space transportation capability on time and within budget, while still meeting stringent technical requirements. For example, Lean philosophies have been applied to numerous process definition efforts and existing process improvement activities, including the Ares I-X test flight Certificate of Flight Readiness (CoFR) process, risk management process, and review board organization and processes. Ares executives learned Lean practices firsthand, making the team "smart buyers" during proposal reviews and instilling the team with a sense of what is meant by "value-added" activities. Since the goal of the APO is to field launch vehicles at a reasonable cost and on an ambitious schedule, adopting Lean philosophies and practices will be crucial to the Ares Project's long-term SUCCESS.

49 CFR 571.208a - Optional test procedures for vehicles manufactured between January 27, 2004 and August 31, 2004.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... with the vehicles brake or clutch pedal, rotate the test dummy's left foot about the leg. If there is... pedal in that position. S16.3.2.2.2 If the ball of the foot does not contact the pedal, change the angle... the vehicle's brake or clutch pedal, rotate the test dummy's left foot about the lower leg. If there...

A contribution to the investigation of the heat load of shock absorbers of semi-active suspensions in motor vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Miroslav D. Demić

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Dynamic simulation, based on modeling, has a significant role during the process of vehicle development. It is especially important in the first stages of vehicle design, when relevant vehicle parameters are to be defined. Shock absorbers as executive parts of vehicle semi-active suspension systems suffer thermal loads, which may result in damage and degradation of ther characteristics. Therefore,this paper shows an attempt to analyze converting of mechanical work into heat by using the dynamic simulation method. Introduction Shock absorbers are integral elements of semi-active suspension systems for vehicles (hereinafter SASS. They directly affect the active vehicle safety. The role of shock absorbers is to absorb mechanical vibrations transferred from the road and to ensure the safety of passengers in a vehicle. The kinetic energy of vehicle vibrations transforms into mechanical work or heat in shock absorbers. In practice, in the first stage of vehicle development, the shock absorber parameters are chosen from the condition of damping vibrations of vehicles, but their thermal shock loads should be also taken into account. Motor vehicles have complex dynamic characteristics manifested by spatial movement, parameters change during operation, a number of disturbing influences, backlash, friction, hysteresis, etc. The above-mentioned dynamic phenomena, especially vibration, lead to fatigue of driver and users, reduce the life of the vehicle and its systems, etc. The main objective of the system is to reduce the reliance of the above-mentioned negative effects, improving the vehicle behavior on the road and allow the exploitation of vehicles in a wide range of service conditions. Classical systems cannot satisfiy these conditions, so there was a need to introduce new suspension systems with controlled characteristics (briefly called "semi-active", or "active" systems. Oscillatory model of vehicle The differential equations of vibratory motion of

Uniform Foam Crush Testing for Multi-Mission Earth Entry Vehicle Impact Attenuation

Science.gov (United States)

Patterson, Byron W.; Glaab, Louis J.

2012-01-01

Multi-Mission Earth Entry Vehicles (MMEEVs) are blunt-body vehicles designed with the purpose of transporting payloads from outer space to the surface of the Earth. To achieve high-reliability and minimum weight, MMEEVs avoid use of limited-reliability systems, such as parachutes and retro-rockets, instead using built-in impact attenuators to absorb energy remaining at impact to meet landing loads requirements. The Multi-Mission Systems Analysis for Planetary Entry (M-SAPE) parametric design tool is used to facilitate the design of MMEEVs and develop the trade space. Testing was conducted to characterize the material properties of several candidate impact foam attenuators to enhance M-SAPE analysis. In the current effort, four different Rohacell foams are tested at three different, uniform, strain rates (approximately 0.17, approximately 100, approximately 13,600%/s). The primary data analysis method uses a global data smoothing technique in the frequency domain to remove noise and system natural frequencies. The results from the data indicate that the filter and smoothing technique are successful in identifying the foam crush event and removing aberrations. The effect of strain rate increases with increasing foam density. The 71-WF-HT foam may support Mars Sample Return requirements. Several recommendations to improve the drop tower test technique are identified.

Assessing the Macroeconomic Importance of Gasoline and Vehicle Spending

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Santini, Danilo J. [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Poyer, David A. [Morehouse College, Atlanta, GA (United States)

2016-05-01

Vector error correction (VEC) was used to test the importance of a theoretical causal chain from transportation fuel cost to vehicle sales to macroeconomic activity. Real transportation fuel cost was broken into two cost components: real gasoline price (rpgas) and real personal consumption of gasoline and other goods (gas). Real personal consumption expenditure on vehicles (RMVE) represented vehicle sales. Real gross domestic product (rGDP) was used as the measure of macroeconomic activity. The VEC estimates used quarterly data from the third quarter of 1952 to the first quarter of 2014. Controlling for the financial causes of the recent Great Recession, real homeowners’ equity (equity) and real credit market instruments liability (real consumer debt, rcmdebt) were included. Results supported the primary hypothesis of the research, but also introduced evidence that another financial path through equity is important, and that use of the existing fleet of vehicles (not just sales of vehicles) is an important transport-related contributor to macroeconomic activity. Consumer debt reduction is estimated to be a powerful short-run force reducing vehicle sales. Findings are interpreted in the context of the recent Greene, Lee, and Hopson (2012) (hereafter GLH) estimation of the magnitude of three distinct macroeconomic damage effects that result from dependence on imported oil, the price of which is manipulated by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The three negative macroeconomic impacts are due to (1) dislocation (positive oil price shock), (2) high oil price levels, and (3) a high value of the quantity of oil imports times an oil price delta (cartel price less competitive price). The third of these is the wealth effect. The VEC model addresses the first two, but the software output from the model (impulse response plots) does not isolate them. Nearly all prior statistical tests in the literature have used vector autoregression (VAR) and

International Conference on Heavy Vehicles HVParis 2008 : Heavy Vehicle Transport Technology (HVTT 10)

OpenAIRE

JACOB, Bernard; NORDENGEN, Paul; O'CONNOR, Alan; BOUTELDJA, Mohamed

2008-01-01

Sommaire : Heavy vehicles and WIM technology, testing and standards. Interactions between heavy vehicles or trains and the infrastructure, environment and other system users. Heavy vehicle and road management information: measurements, data quality, data management. Freight mobility and safety. Vehicle classification, size and weight evaluation, regulations and enforcement. Traffic and road safety. WIM of road vehicles, trains and aeroplanes.

Comparative Emissions Testing of Vehicles Aged on E0, E15 and E20 Fuels

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vertin, K.; Glinsky, G.; Reek, A.

2012-08-01

The Energy Independence and Security Act passed into law in December 2007 has mandated the use of 36 billion ethanol equivalent gallons per year of renewable fuel by 2022. A primary pathway to achieve this national goal is to increase the amount of ethanol blended into gasoline. This study is part of a multi-laboratory test program coordinated by DOE to evaluate the effect of higher ethanol blends on vehicle exhaust emissions over the lifetime of the vehicle.

40 CFR 86.1830-01 - Acceptance of vehicles for emission testing.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... shall have tires with appropriate tire wear. (b) Special provisions for durability data vehicles. (1... previous model year emission data vehicles, running change vehicles, fuel economy data vehicles, and...

A study of an active magnetic shielding method for the superconductive Maglev vehicle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nemoto, K.; Komori, M.

2010-01-01

Various methods of magnetic shielding have been studied so far to reduce magnetic field strength inside the passenger room of the superconductive Maglev vehicle. Magnetic shielding methods with ferromagnetic materials are very useful, but they tend to be heavier for large space. Though some passive magnetic shielding methods using induced currents in superconducting bulks or superconducting coils have also been studied, the induced current is relatively small and it is difficult to get satisfactory magnetic shielding performance for the passenger room of the Maglev vehicle. Thus, we have proposed an active magnetic shielding method with some superconducting coils of the same length as propulsion-levitation-guidance superconducting coils of the Maglev vehicle. They are arranged under the passenger room of the Maglev vehicle. Then, we studied the shielding effect by canceling magnetic flux density in the passenger room by way of adjusting magnetomotive-forces of the magnetic shielding coils. As a result, it is found that a simple arrangement of two magnetic shielding coils for one propulsion-levitation-guidance superconducting coil on the vehicle shows an effective magnetic shielding.

A study of an active magnetic shielding method for the superconductive Maglev vehicle

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nemoto, K., E-mail: nemoto@kamakuranet.ne.j [Kyushu Institute of Technology, Dept. of Applied Science for Integrated System Engineering, 1-1 Sensui, Tobata, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka 804-8550 (Japan); Komori, M. [Kyushu Institute of Technology, Dept. of Applied Science for Integrated System Engineering, 1-1 Sensui, Tobata, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka 804-8550 (Japan)

2010-11-01

Various methods of magnetic shielding have been studied so far to reduce magnetic field strength inside the passenger room of the superconductive Maglev vehicle. Magnetic shielding methods with ferromagnetic materials are very useful, but they tend to be heavier for large space. Though some passive magnetic shielding methods using induced currents in superconducting bulks or superconducting coils have also been studied, the induced current is relatively small and it is difficult to get satisfactory magnetic shielding performance for the passenger room of the Maglev vehicle. Thus, we have proposed an active magnetic shielding method with some superconducting coils of the same length as propulsion-levitation-guidance superconducting coils of the Maglev vehicle. They are arranged under the passenger room of the Maglev vehicle. Then, we studied the shielding effect by canceling magnetic flux density in the passenger room by way of adjusting magnetomotive-forces of the magnetic shielding coils. As a result, it is found that a simple arrangement of two magnetic shielding coils for one propulsion-levitation-guidance superconducting coil on the vehicle shows an effective magnetic shielding.

Focus group testing for the vehicle scrappage program : final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2008-03-15

Canada's national vehicle scrappage program was designed to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) and smog-forming emissions by removing personal vehicles with model years of 1995 and older from Canadian road systems. The program will also promote sustainable transportation alternatives and recycling programs to prevent the release of other toxic substances into the environment. Incentives designed to encourage Canadians to scrap older vehicles may include cash incentives and rebates towards the purchase of a new vehicle, free transit passes, and other options designed to support sustainable transportation. This paper discussed a research program conducted to assess target audience responses to the programs and its proposed incentives. The survey was conducted with a series of 20 focus groups located in major cities across Canada. Sessions were comprised of between 6 to 10 participants from lower-income and higher-income households. All groups responded negatively to both the overall policy as well as to specific program elements. The study showed that most participants were not aware that older vehicles emit significantly higher levels of harmful emissions. The research audience did not understand distinctions between smog-producing emissions and GHG emissions. Participants also believed that personal vehicles had a minor negative impact on the environment compared to trucks, industry, and vehicle fleets. Participants felt a sense of pride in the ways in which they had maintained their older vehicles, and also perceived them as safer than newer vehicles. It was concluded that many participants were resistant to facts presented to them about older vehicles, and felt that the incentives were insufficient to trigger action. The effectiveness of advertising materials designed to promote the program was also assessed. 3 tabs., 9 figs.

A novel magnetic lead screw active suspension system for vehicles

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Berg, Nick Ilsø; Holm, Rasmus Koldborg; Rasmussen, Peter Omand

2014-01-01

This paper encompasses a detailed study of the redesign of a novel Magnetic Lead Screw (MLS) active suspension system for possible regeneration of the energy dispatched in the suspension system and active control of vehicle body movement. The MLS converts a low speed high force linear motion...... of a translator into a high speed low torque rotational motion of a rotor through helically shaped magnets. The paper describes the drawback of the first MLS prototype v1.0 developed for active suspension system, which lead to a new design of the MLS prototype named v1.5. Furthermore the paper introduces detailed...

Active Vibration Control of a Railway Vehicle Carbody Using Piezoelectric Elements

Science.gov (United States)

Molatefi, Habibollah; Ayoubi, Pejman; Mozafari, Hozhabr

2017-07-01

In recent years and according to modern transportation development, rail vehicles are manufactured lighter to achieve higher speed and lower transportation costs. On the other hand, weight reduction of rail vehicles leads to increase the structural vibration. In this study, Active Vibration Control of a rail vehicle using piezoelectric elements is investigated. The optimal control employed as the control approach regard to the first two modes of vibration. A simplified Car body structure is modeled in Matlab using the finite element theory by considering six DOF beam element and then the Eigen functions and mode shapes are derived. The surface roughness of different classes of rail tracks have been obtained using random vibration theory and applied to the secondary suspension as the excitation of the structure; Then piezoelectric mounted where the greatest moments were captured. The effectiveness of Piezoelectric in structural vibrations attenuation of car body is demonstrated through the state space equations and its effect on modal coefficient.

Simulation modeling of wheeled vehicle dynamics on the stand "Roller"

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. O. Kotiev

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The tests are an integral part of the wheeled vehicle design, manufacturing, and operation. The need for their conducting arises from the research and experimental activities to assess the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the vehicles in general, as well as the individual components and assemblies. It is obvious that a variety of design features of wheeled vehicles request a development of methods both for experimental studies and for creating the original bench equipment for these purposes.The main positive feature of bench tests of automotive engineering is a broad capability to control the combinations of traction loads, speed rates, and external input conditions. Here, the steady state conditions can be used for a long time, allowing all the necessary measurements to be made, including those with video and photo recording experiment.It is known that the benefits of test "M" type (using a roller dynamometer include a wide range of test modes, which do not depend on the climatic conditions, as well as a capability to use a computer-aided testing programs. At the same time, it is known that the main drawback of bench tests of full-size vehicle is that the tire rolling conditions on the drum mismatch to the real road pavements, which are difficult to simulate on the drum surface. This problem can be solved owing to wheeled vehicle tests at the benches "Roller" to be, in efficiency, the most preferable research method. The article gives a detailed presentation of developed at BMSTU approach to its solving.Problem of simulation mathematical modeling has been solved for the vehicle with the wheel formula 8 × 8, and individual wheel-drive.The simulation results have led to the conclusion that the proposed principle to simulate a vehicle rolling on a smooth non-deformable support base using a bench " Roller " by simulation modeling is efficient.

Levitation characteristics in an HTS maglev launch assist test vehicle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang Wenjiang; Qiu Ming; Liu Yu; Wen Zheng; Duan Yi; Chen Xiaodong

2007-01-01

With the aim of finding a low-cost, safe, and reliable way to reduce costs of space launch, a maglev launch assist vehicle (Maglifter) is proposed. We present a permanent magnet-high temperature superconductor (PM-HTS) interaction maglev system for the Maglifter, which consists of a cryostat with multi-block YBaCuO bulks and a flux-collecting PM guideway. We obtain an optimum bulk arrangement by measuring and analysing the typical locations of HTSs above the PM guideway. We also measure the levitation abilities of the arrangement at different field cooled heights (FCHs) and different measuring distances (MDs), and find that the lower FCH and the lower MD both cause more magnetic flux to penetrate the HTSs, and then cause stronger lateral stability. A demonstration PM-HTS maglev test vehicle is built with four maglev units and two PM guideways with the length of 7 m. Its levitation characteristics in different FC and loading conditions are demonstrated. By analysing the maglev launch assist process, we assess that the low FC is useful for increasing the lateral stability of the Maglifter

Neighborhood electric vehicle market test development project: Sacramento electric transportation consortium Ra 93-23 program. Final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Warf, W.R.

1997-02-01

The neighborhood electric vehicle (NEV) niche is the object of this market and product test project. The project availed itself of a limited production three wheel, single passenger low performance NEV designed and produced in Denmark to determine the acceptability of the design for production and use in North America. This vehicle, as well as a prototype four wheel vehicle designed and constructed through this project, are entirely reinforced plastic chassis and body. Pacific Electric Vehicles was the primary participant in the Project. Included are the evaluation of drive system components, battery charging schemes, body and chassis and glazing material suitability. The project determined and/or verified many of the realities of motor vehicle development and usage in the U.S., which remain more restrictive than elsewhere. Statistical usage data, maintenance requirements, and user experiences are reported and analyzed.

Unified Brake Service by a Hierarchical Controller for Active Deceleration Control in an Electric and Automated Vehicle

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuliang Nie

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Unified brake service is a universal service for generating certain brake force to meet the demand deceleration and is essential for an automated driving system. However, it is rather difficult to control the pressure in the wheel cylinders to reach the target deceleration of the automated vehicle, which is the key issue of the active deceleration control system (ADC. This paper proposes a hierarchical control method to actively control vehicle deceleration with active-brake actuators. In the upper hierarchical, the target pressure of wheel cylinders is obtained by dynamic equations of a pure electric vehicle. In the lower hierarchical, the solenoid valve instructions and the pump speed of hydraulic control unit (HCU are determined to satisfy the desired pressure with the feedback of measured wheel cylinder pressure by pressure sensors. Results of road experiments of a pure electric and automated vehicle indicate that the proposed method realizes the target deceleration accurately and efficiently.

Road load simulator tests of the Gould phase 1 functional model silicon controlled rectifier ac motor controller for electric vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Gourash, F.

1984-01-01

The test results for a functional model ac motor controller for electric vehicles and a three-phase induction motor which were dynamically tested on the Lewis Research Center road load simulator are presented. Results show that the controller has the capability to meet the SAE-J227a D cycle test schedule and to accelerate a 1576-kg (3456-lb) simulated vehicle to a cruise speed of 88.5 km/hr (55 mph). Combined motor controller efficiency is 72 percent and the power inverter efficiency alone is 89 percent for the cruise region of the D cycle. Steady state test results for motoring, regeneration, and thermal data obtained by operating the simulator as a conventional dynamometer are in agreement with the contractor's previously reported data. The regeneration test results indicate that a reduction in energy requirements for urban driving cycles is attainable with regenerative braking. Test results and data in this report serve as a data base for further development of ac motor controllers and propulsion systems for electric vehicles. The controller uses state-of-the-art silicon controlled rectifier (SCR) power semiconductors and microprocessor-based logic and control circuitry. The controller was developed by Gould Laboratories under a Lewis contract for the Department of Energy's Electric and Hybrid Vehicle program.

Road load simulator tests of the Gould phase 1 functional model silicon controlled rectifier ac motor controller for electric vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Gourash, F.

1984-02-01

The test results for a functional model ac motor controller for electric vehicles and a three-phase induction motor which were dynamically tested on the Lewis Research Center road load simulator are presented. Results show that the controller has the capability to meet the SAE-J227a D cycle test schedule and to accelerate a 1576-kg (3456-lb) simulated vehicle to a cruise speed of 88.5 km/hr (55 mph). Combined motor controller efficiency is 72 percent and the power inverter efficiency alone is 89 percent for the cruise region of the D cycle. Steady state test results for motoring, regeneration, and thermal data obtained by operating the simulator as a conventional dynamometer are in agreement with the contractor's previously reported data. The regeneration test results indicate that a reduction in energy requirements for urban driving cycles is attainable with regenerative braking. Test results and data in this report serve as a data base for further development of ac motor controllers and propulsion systems for electric vehicles. The controller uses state-of-the-art silicon controlled rectifier (SCR) power semiconductors and microprocessor-based logic and control circuitry. The controller was developed by Gould Laboratories under a Lewis contract for the Department of Energy's Electric and Hybrid Vehicle program.

M109 Family of Vehicles, Paladin Integrated Management (PIM): Operational Assessment of the Initial Operational Test and Evaluation (IOT and E)

Science.gov (United States)

2017-01-01

Director, Operational Test and Evaluation M109 Family of Vehicles, Paladin Integrated Management (PIM) Operational Assessment of the... operational suitability, test adequacy, and survivability of the M109 Family of Vehicles (FoV), known as Paladin Integrated Management (PIM) Self...prevent the M109A7 SPH-equipped unit from completing its mission. The Paladin Integrated Management (PIM) Initial Operational Test and Evaluation

Length of Residence and Vehicle Ownership in Relation to Physical Activity Among U.S. Immigrants.

Science.gov (United States)

Terasaki, Dale; Ornelas, India; Saelens, Brian

2017-04-01

Physical activity among U.S. immigrants over time is not well understood. Transportation may affect this trajectory. Using a survey of documented immigrants (N = 7240), we performed simple, then multivariable logistic regression to calculate ORs and 95 % CIs between length of residence (LOR) and both light-to-moderate (LPA) and vigorous (VPA) activity. We adjusted for demographic variables, then vehicle ownership to assess changes in ORs. Compared to new arrivals, all four LOR time-intervals were associated with lower odds of LPA and higher odds of VPA in simple analysis. All ORs for LPA remained significant after including demographics, but only one remained significant after adding vehicle ownership. Two ORs for VPA remained significant after including demographics and after adding vehicle ownership. Immigrants lower their light-to-moderate activity the longer they reside in the U.S., partly from substituting driving for walking. Efforts to maintain walking for transportation among immigrants are warranted.

Rail Vehicle Vibrations Control Using Parameters Adaptive PID Controller

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muzaffer Metin

2014-01-01

Full Text Available In this study, vertical rail vehicle vibrations are controlled by the use of conventional PID and parameters which are adaptive to PID controllers. A parameters adaptive PID controller is designed to improve the passenger comfort by intuitional usage of this method that renews the parameters online and sensitively under variable track inputs. Sinusoidal vertical rail misalignment and measured real rail irregularity are considered as two different disruptive effects of the system. Active vibration control is applied to the system through the secondary suspension. The active suspension application of rail vehicle is examined by using 5-DOF quarter-rail vehicle model by using Manchester benchmark dynamic parameters. The new parameters of adaptive controller are optimized by means of genetic algorithm toolbox of MATLAB. Simulations are performed at maximum urban transportation speed (90 km/h of the rail vehicle with ±5% load changes of rail vehicle body to test the robustness of controllers. As a result, superior performance of parameters of adaptive controller is determined in time and frequency domain.

40 CFR 86.163-00 - Spot check correlation procedures for vehicles tested using a simulation of the environmental...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 18 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Spot check correlation procedures for... Complete Heavy-Duty Vehicles; Test Procedures § 86.163-00 Spot check correlation procedures for vehicles... running change approval, each model year for any manufacturer undergoing the spot checking procedures of...

Electric Vehicles at Kennedy Space Center

Science.gov (United States)

Chesson, Bruce E.

2007-01-01

The story of how the transportation office began by introducing low speed electric cars (LSEV) to the fleet managers and employees. This sparked and interest in purchasing some of these LSEV and the usage on KSC. Transportation was approached by a vender of High Speed Electric Vehicle (HSEV) we decided to test the HSEV to see if they would meet our fleet vehicle needs. Transportation wrote a Space Act Agreement (SAA) for the loan of three Lithium Powered Electric vehicles for a one year test. The vehicles have worked very well and we have extended the test for another year. The use of HSEV has pushed for an independent Electric Vehicle Study to be performed to consider ways to effectively optimize the use of electric vehicles in replacement of gasoline vehicles in the KSC vehicle fleet. This will help the center to move closer to meeting the Executive Order 13423.

Control of Multiple Robotic Sentry Vehicles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Feddema, J.; Klarer, P.; Lewis, C.

1999-04-01

As part of a project for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Sandia National Laboratories is developing and testing the feasibility of using of a cooperative team of robotic sentry vehicles to guard a perimeter and to perform surround and diversion tasks. This paper describes on-going activities in the development of these robotic sentry vehicles. To date, we have developed a robotic perimeter detection system which consists of eight ''Roving All Terrain Lunar Explorer Rover'' (RATLER{trademark}) vehicles, a laptop-based base-station, and several Miniature Intrusion Detection Sensors (MIDS). A radio frequency receiver on each of the RATLER vehicles alerts the sentry vehicles of alarms from the hidden MIDS. When an alarm is received, each vehicle decides whether it should investigate the alarm based on the proximity of itself and the other vehicles to the alarm. As one vehicle attends an alarm, the other vehicles adjust their position around the perimeter to better prepare for another alarm. We have also demonstrated the ability to drive multiple vehicles in formation via tele-operation or by waypoint GPS navigation. This is currently being extended to include mission planning capabilities. At the base-station, the operator can draw on an aerial map the goal regions to be surrounded and the repulsive regions to be avoided. A potential field path planner automatically generates a path from the vehicles' current position to the goal regions while avoiding the repulsive regions and the other vehicles. This path is previewed to the operator before the regions are downloaded to the vehicles. The same potential field path planner resides on the vehicle, except additional repulsive forces from on-board proximity sensors guide the vehicle away from unplanned obstacles.

Space and Missile Systems Center Standard: Test Requirements for Launch, Upper-Stage and Space Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

2014-09-05

Aviation Blvd. El Segundo, CA 90245 4. This standard has been approved for use on all Space and Missile Systems Center/Air Force Program...140 Satellite Hardness and Survivability; Testing Rationale for Electronic Upset and Burnout Effects 30. JANNAF-GL-2012-01-RO Test and Evaluation...vehicle, subsystem, and unit lev- els . Acceptance testing shall be conducted on all subsequent flight items. The protoqualification strategy shall require

Nationwide impact and vehicle to grid application of electric vehicles mobility using an activity based model

OpenAIRE

Álvaro, Roberto; González, Jairo; Fraile Ardanuy, José Jesús; Knapen, Luk; Janssens, Davy

2013-01-01

This paper describes the impact of electric mobility on the transmission grid in Flanders region (Belgium), using a micro-simulation activity based models. These models are used to provide temporal and spatial estimation of energy and power demanded by electric vehicles (EVs) in different mobility zones. The increment in the load demand due to electric mobility is added to the background load demand in these mobility areas and the effects over the transmission substations are analyzed. From t...

Impact of Solar Control PVB Glass on Vehicle Interior Temperatures, Air-Conditioning Capacity, Fuel Consumption, and Vehicle Range

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rugh, J.; Chaney, L.; Venson, T.; Ramroth, L.; Rose, M.

2013-04-01

The objective of the study was to assess the impact of Saflex1 S-series Solar Control PVB (polyvinyl butyral) configurations on conventional vehicle fuel economy and electric vehicle (EV) range. The approach included outdoor vehicle thermal soak testing, RadTherm cool-down analysis, and vehicle simulations. Thermal soak tests were conducted at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Vehicle Testing and Integration Facility in Golden, Colorado. The test results quantified interior temperature reductions and were used to generate initial conditions for the RadTherm cool-down analysis. The RadTherm model determined the potential reduction in air-conditioning (A/C) capacity, which was used to calculate the A/C load for the vehicle simulations. The vehicle simulation tool identified the potential reduction in fuel consumption or improvement in EV range between a baseline and modified configurations for the city and highway drive cycles. The thermal analysis determined a potential 4.0% reduction in A/C power for the Saflex Solar PVB solar control configuration. The reduction in A/C power improved the vehicle range of EVs and fuel economy of conventional vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.

Hierarchical Control Strategy for Active Hydropneumatic Suspension Vehicles Based on Genetic Algorithms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jinzhi Feng

2015-02-01

Full Text Available A new hierarchical control strategy for active hydropneumatic suspension systems is proposed. This strategy considers the dynamic characteristics of the actuator. The top hierarchy controller uses a combined control scheme: a genetic algorithm- (GA- based self-tuning proportional-integral-derivative controller and a fuzzy logic controller. For practical implementations of the proposed control scheme, a GA-based self-learning process is initiated only when the defined performance index of vehicle dynamics exceeds a certain debounce time threshold. The designed control algorithm is implemented on a virtual prototype and cosimulations are performed with different road disturbance inputs. Cosimulation results show that the active hydropneumatic suspension system designed in this study significantly improves riding comfort characteristics of vehicles. The robustness and adaptability of the proposed controller are also examined when the control system is subjected to extremely rough road conditions.

ROLLER RIG TESTING AT THE CZECH TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Kalivoda

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Purpose. Although the advancements in computer simulation technology have paved way to provide very reliable simulation results, track tests still play an essential role during the process of development and homologation of any railway vehicle. On the other hand, track tests depend on weather conditions, are difficult to organize and are not suitable for testing vehicles in critical situations. On a roller rig, the tested vehicle is longitudinally fixed and a track is replaced by rotating rollers. Such device offer testing of railway vehicle running dynamics in safe and stable laboratory environment. The purpose of an article is to investigate and describe roller rig testing at the Czech technical university in Prague (CTU. Methodology. In the paper it is shown the history of development of the scaled CTU roller rig from the earlier stages until the current projects for which the CTU roller rig is utilized for. The current design of the experimental bogie, roller rig, sensors instrumentation and types of experiments conducted at the CTU roller rig are described in more detail. Findings. Although the differences in vehicle behaviour on a track and a scaled model on a roller rig are not negligible, scaled roller rig experiments are found as a relatively inexpensive way for verification and demonstration of computer simulations results. They are especially useful for verification of multibody system simulations (MBS of entirely new running gear concepts. Originality. The CTU roller rig is currently used for the experiments with active controlled wheelset guidance. According to simulations results published in many papers such systems offer, in principle, better performance compared to conventional passive vehicles. However, utilization and testing of active controlled wheelset guidance on vehicles is still rare. CTU roller rig serves as a tool to verify computer simulations and demonstrate benefits of active wheelset guidance. Practical value

Severity of vehicle bumper location in vehicle-to-pedestrian impact accidents.

Science.gov (United States)

Matsui, Yasuhiro; Hitosugi, Masahito; Mizuno, Koji

2011-10-10

Pedestrian protection is one of the key topics for safety measures in traffic accidents all over the world. To analyze the relation between the collision site of the vehicle bumper and the severity of the lower extremity injuries, we performed biomechanical experiments. We compared the applied external force and the risks of subsequent injuries between the impact of the center and side positions of the front bumper. These comparisons were performed by practical impact tests with eight typical different types of cars which were typical of the current vehicle fleets. The tests were made using the TRL legform impactor which was a mechanical substitute of a pedestrian lower extremity. The TRL impactor is used all over the world for assessing the safety of car bumpers. It was found that the risks of lower extremity injuries in the impacts at the side positions, in front of the vehicle's side member, were significantly higher than those at the center. In the tests, we found that foam materials around the rigid front cross member had a significant effect on reducing the lower extremity injury risks and especially tibia fracture risk against vehicle bumper center collisions, but had little effect at the sides of the bumper over the vehicle's side members where the foam was thinner. We also found that the front shape of the vehicle affected the risk of ligaments injuries. According to these results, the information of impact locations of cars in vehicle-to-pedestrian traffic accidents is valuable for clinicians to diagnose patients with lower extremity injuries in traffic accidents and for forensic pathologists to analyze the accident reconstruction. Furthermore, the results suggest that testing of the bumper area in front of the main longitudinal beams should be included in the car safety legislation to require pedestrian safety. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Integrated vehicle-based safety systems (IVBSS) : heavy truck platform field operational test data analysis plan.

Science.gov (United States)

2009-11-23

This document presents the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institutes plan to perform : analysis of data collected from the heavy truck platform field operational test of the Integrated Vehicle- : Based Safety Systems (IVBSS) progra...

An automotive vehicle dynamics prototyping platform based on a remote control model car

OpenAIRE

SOLMAZ, Selim; COŞKUN, Türker

2013-01-01

The use of a modified remote control (RC) model car as a vehicle dynamics testing and development platform is detailed. Vehicle dynamics testing is an important aspect of automotive engineering and it plays a key role during the design and tuning of active safety control systems. Considering the fact that such tests are conductedi at great expense, scaled model cars can potentially be used to help with the process to reduce the costs. With this view, we instrument and develop a stand...

Electric and hybrid vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

1979-01-01

Report characterizes state-of-the-art electric and hybrid (combined electric and heat engine) vehicles. Performance data for representative number of these vehicles were obtained from track and dynamometer tests. User experience information was obtained from fleet operators and individual owners of electric vehicles. Data on performance and physical characteristics of large number of vehicles were obtained from manufacturers and available literature.

Smooth Sliding Mode Control for Vehicle Rollover Prevention Using Active Antiroll Suspension

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Duanfeng Chu

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The rollover accidents induced by severe maneuvers are very dangerous and mostly happen to vehicles with elevated center of gravity, such as heavy-duty trucks and pickup trucks. Unfortunately, it is hard for drivers of those vehicles to predict and prevent the trend of the maneuver-induced (untripped rollover ahead of time. In this study, a lateral load transfer ratio which reflects the load distribution of left and right tires is used to indicate the rollover criticality. An antiroll controller is designed with smooth sliding mode control technique for vehicles, in which an active antiroll suspension is installed. A simplified second order roll dynamic model with additive sector bounded uncertainties is used for control design, followed by robust stability analysis. Combined with the vehicle dynamics simulation package TruckSim, MATLAB/Simulink is used for simulating experiment. The results show that the applied controller can improve the roll stability under some typical steering maneuvers, such as Fishhook and J-turn. This direct antiroll control method could be more effective for untripped rollover prevention when driver deceleration or steering is too late. It could also be extended to handle tripped rollovers.

An effective means for damage detection of bridges using the contact-point response of a moving test vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Bin; Qian, Yao; Wu, Yuntian; Yang, Y. B.

2018-04-01

To further the technique of indirect measurement, the contact-point response of a moving test vehicle is adopted for the damage detection of bridges. First, the contact-point response of the vehicle moving over the bridge is derived both analytically and in central difference form (for field use). Then, the instantaneous amplitude squared (IAS) of the driving component of the contact-point response is calculated by the Hilbert transform, making use of its narrow-band feature. The IAS peaks serve as the key parameter for damage detection. In the numerical simulation, a damage (crack) is modeled by a hinge-spring unit. The feasibility of the proposed method to detect the location and severity of a damage or multi damages of the bridge is verified. Also, the effects of surface roughness, vehicle speed, measurement noise and random traffic are studied. In the presence of ongoing traffic, the damages of the bridge are identified from the repeated or invariant IAS peaks generated for different traffic flows by the same test vehicle over the bridge.

Virtual Drive Testing of Adaptive Antenna Systems in Dynamic Propagation Scenarios for Vehicle Communications

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fan, Wei; Hentilä, Lassi; Zhang, Fengchun

2018-01-01

Virtual drive testing (VDT) has gained great interest from both industry and academia, owing to its promise to replay field trials in a controllable laboratory condition. VDT is especially appealing for vehicle communication scenarios, where actual field trials can be difficult to carry out...

Development and testing of a bipolar lead-acid battery for hybrid electric vehicles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Saakes, M.; Kluiters, E.; Schmal, D.; Mourad, S.; Have, P.T.J.H. ten

1999-01-01

An 80 V bipolar lead-acid battery was constructed and tested using hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) drive cycles. Drive cycles with a peak power of 6.7 kW, equal to 1/5 of the total power profile required for the HEV studied, were run successfully. Model calculations showed that the 80 V module

Effects of Intermediate Ethanol Blends on Legacy Vehicles and Small Non‑Road Engines, Report 1 - Updated

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Knoll, Keith [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL); West, Brian H [ORNL; Clark, Wendy [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL); Graves, Ronald L [ORNL; Orban, John [Battelle, Columbus; Przesmitzki, Steve [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL); Theiss, Timothy J [ORNL

2009-02-01

In summer 2007, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) initiated a test program to evaluate the potential impacts of intermediate ethanol blends on legacy vehicles and other engines. The purpose of the test program is to assess the viability of using intermediate blends as a contributor to meeting national goals in the use of renewable fuels. Through a wide range of experimental activities, DOE is evaluating the effects of E15 and E20--gasoline blended with 15 and 20% ethanol--on tailpipe and evaporative emissions, catalyst and engine durability, vehicle driveability, engine operability, and vehicle and engine materials. This first report provides the results available to date from the first stages of a much larger overall test program. Results from additional projects that are currently underway or in the planning stages are not included in this first report. The purpose of this initial study was to quickly investigate the effects of adding up to 20% ethanol to gasoline on the following: (1) Regulated tailpipe emissions for 13 popular late model vehicles on a drive cycle similar to real-world driving and 28 small non-road engines (SNREs) under certification or typical in use procedures. (2) Exhaust and catalyst temperatures of the same vehicles under more severe conditions. (3) Temperature of key engine components of the same SNREs under certification or typical in-use conditions. (4) Observable operational issues with either the vehicles or SNREs during the course of testing. As discussed in the concluding section of this report, a wide range of additional studies are underway or planned to consider the effects of intermediate ethanol blends on materials, emissions, durability, and driveability of vehicles, as well as impacts on a wider range of nonautomotive engines, including marine applications, snowmobiles, and motorcycles. Section 1 (Introduction) gives background on the test program and describes collaborations with industry and agencies to date. Section 2

Grate Pallet 8232 (GP-8232) Vehicle Pallet, Evaluation Tests MIL-STD-1660, "Design Criteria for Ammunition Unit Loads" and TP-94-01 (REV 1), "Transportability Testing Procedures"

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Barickman, Philip

2003-01-01

.... The testing was conducted for informational purposes only. The GP-8232 Vehicle Pallet was evaluated by the testing procedures set forth in MIL-STD-1660 and TP-94-01 (Rev. 1) testing procedures...

Nonlinear Analysis and Intelligent Control of Integrated Vehicle Dynamics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. Huang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available With increasing and more stringent requirements for advanced vehicle integration, including vehicle dynamics and control, traditional control and optimization strategies may not qualify for many applications. This is because, among other factors, they do not consider the nonlinear characteristics of practical systems. Moreover, the vehicle wheel model has some inadequacies regarding the sideslip angle, road adhesion coefficient, vertical load, and velocity. In this paper, an adaptive neural wheel network is introduced, and the interaction between the lateral and vertical dynamics of the vehicle is analyzed. By means of nonlinear analyses such as the use of a bifurcation diagram and the Lyapunov exponent, the vehicle is shown to exhibit complicated motions with increasing forward speed. Furthermore, electric power steering (EPS and active suspension system (ASS, which are based on intelligent control, are used to reduce the nonlinear effect, and a negotiation algorithm is designed to manage the interdependences and conflicts among handling stability, driving smoothness, and safety. Further, a rapid control prototype was built using the hardware-in-the-loop simulation platform dSPACE and used to conduct a real vehicle test. The results of the test were consistent with those of the simulation, thereby validating the proposed control.

Evaluation of the ES-2re Dummy in Biofidelity, Component, and Full Vehicle Crash Tests.

Science.gov (United States)

Sutterfield, Aleta; Pecoraro, Katie; Rouhana, Stephen W; Xu, Lan; Abramczyk, Joe; Berliner, Jeff; Irwin, Annette; Jensen, Jack; Mertz, Harold J; Nusholtz, Guy; Pietsch, Hollie; Scherer, Risa; Tylko, Suzanne

2005-11-01

This technical paper presents the results from tests conducted with the ES-2re, a version of the ES-2 side impact dummy that was modified by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to improve its performance in crash tests. Through the series of biofidelity tests conducted on the ES-2re, described in International Standards Organization (ISO) Technical Report (TR)9790 (1999), the OSRP observed a final overall biofidelity ranking of 4.1 for the ES-2re, which corresponds to an ISO classification of "marginal." The biofidelity of the ES-2re is compared to that of the ES-2 and the WorldSID. Repeatability was also evaluated on the ES-2re based on the biofidelity test data. Additional pendulum tests were performed to assess the response of the dummy in oblique loading conditions, and results indicate that oblique loading from the front leads to significantly reduced rib deflections. To evaluate inconsistencies observed in the response of the ES-2, the OSRP analyzed the shoulder biofidelity via additional sled and drop tests. Due to the shoulder design of the ES-2 and ES-2re, the dummies appear to have significant sensitivity to initial conditions, potentially increasing variability in full vehicle tests. Finally, the responses of the ES-2re in full vehicle tests are compared to those of the ES-2 and the WorldSID.

40 CFR 86.430-78 - Vehicle failure.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 18 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Vehicle failure. 86.430-78 Section 86... Later New Motorcycles, General Provisions § 86.430-78 Vehicle failure. Any test vehicle which incurs major mechanical failure necessitating disassembly of the engine shall not be used as a test vehicle...

Testing activities at the National Battery Test Laboratory

Science.gov (United States)

Hornstra, F.; Deluca, W. H.; Mulcahey, T. P.

The National Battery Test Laboratory (NBTL) is an Argonne National Laboratory facility for testing, evaluating, and studying advanced electric storage batteries. The facility tests batteries developed under Department of Energy programs and from private industry. These include batteries intended for future electric vehicle (EV) propulsion, electric utility load leveling (LL), and solar energy storage. Since becoming operational, the NBTL has evaluated well over 1400 cells (generally in the form of three- to six-cell modules, but up to 140-cell batteries) of various technologies. Performance characterization assessments are conducted under a series of charge/discharge cycles with constant current, constant power, peak power, and computer simulated dynamic load profile conditions. Flexible charging algorithms are provided to accommodate the specific needs of each battery under test. Special studies are conducted to explore and optimize charge procedures, to investigate the impact of unique load demands on battery performance, and to analyze the thermal management requirements of battery systems.

Shielding factors for vehicles to gamma radiation from activity deposited on structures and ground surfaces

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lauridsen, B.; Hedemann Jensen, P.

1982-04-01

This report describes a measuring procedure for the determination of shielding factors for vehicles passing through areas that have been contaminated by activity released to the atmosphere from a reactor accident. A simulated radiation field from fallout has been approximated by a point source that has been placed in a matrix around and above the vehicle. Modifying factors are discussed such as mutual shielding by nearby buildings and passengers. From measurements on different vehicles with and without passengers shielding factors are recommended for ordinary cars and busses in both urban and open areas, and areas with single family houses. (author)

Evaluation of two transport aircraft and several ground test vehicle friction measurements obtained for various runway surface types and conditions. A summary of test results from joint FAA/NASA Runway Friction Program

Science.gov (United States)

Yager, Thomas J.; Vogler, William A.; Baldasare, Paul

1990-01-01

Tests with specially instrumented NASA Boeing 737 and 727 aircraft together with several different ground friction measuring devices were conducted for a variety of runway surface types and conditions. These tests are part of joint FAA/NASA Aircraft/Ground Vehicle Runway Friction Program aimed at obtaining a better understanding of aircraft ground handling performance under adverse weather conditions and defining relationships between aircraft and ground vehicle tire friction measurements. Aircraft braking performance on dry, wet, snow and ice-covered runway conditions is discussed as well as ground vehicle friction data obtained under similar runway conditions. For a given contaminated runway surface condition, the correlation between ground vehicles and aircraft friction data is identified. The influence of major test parameters on friction measurements such as speed, test tire characteristics, type and amount of surface contaminant, and ambient temperature are discussed. The effect of surface type on wet friction levels is also evaluated from comparative data collected on grooved and ungrooved concrete and asphalt surfaces.

Fractional Control of An Active Four-wheel-steering Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Tianting; Tong, Jun; Chen, Ning; Tian, Jie

2018-03-01

A four-wheel-steering (4WS) vehicle model and reference model with a drop filter are constructed. The decoupling of 4WS vehicle model is carried out. And a fractional PIλDμ controller is introduced into the decoupling strategy to reduce the effects of the uncertainty of the vehicle parameters as well as the unmodelled dynamics on the system performance. Based on optimization techniques, the design of fractional controller are obtained to ensure the robustness of 4WS vehicle during the special range of frequencies through proper choice of the constraints. In order to compare with fractional robust controller, an optimal controller for the same vehicle is also designed. The simulations of the two control systems are carried out and it reveals that the decoupling and fractional robust controller is able to make vehicle model trace the reference model very well with better robustness.

Sliding mode-based lateral vehicle dynamics control using tyre force measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Kunnappillil Madhusudhanan, Anil; Corno, Matteo; Holweg, Edward

2015-11-01

In this work, a lateral vehicle dynamics control based on tyre force measurements is proposed. Most of the lateral vehicle dynamics control schemes are based on yaw rate whereas tyre forces are the most important variables in vehicle dynamics as tyres are the only contact points between the vehicle and road. In the proposed method, active front steering is employed to uniformly distribute the required lateral force among the front left and right tyres. The force distribution is quantified through the tyre utilisation coefficients. In order to address the nonlinearities and uncertainties of the vehicle model, a gain scheduling sliding-mode control technique is used. In addition to stabilising the lateral dynamics, the proposed controller is able to maintain maximum lateral acceleration. The proposed method is tested and validated on a multi-body vehicle simulator.

Analysis and Test Correlation of Proof of Concept Box for Blended Wing Body-Low Speed Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Spellman, Regina L.

2003-01-01

The Low Speed Vehicle (LSV) is a 14.2% scale remotely piloted vehicle of the revolutionary Blended Wing Body concept. The design of the LSV includes an all composite airframe. Due to internal manufacturing capability restrictions, room temperature layups were necessary. An extensive materials testing and manufacturing process development effort was underwent to establish a process that would achieve the high modulus/low weight properties required to meet the design requirements. The analysis process involved a loads development effort that incorporated aero loads to determine internal forces that could be applied to a traditional FEM of the vehicle and to conduct detailed component analyses. A new tool, Hypersizer, was added to the design process to address various composite failure modes and to optimize the skin panel thickness of the upper and lower skins for the vehicle. The analysis required an iterative approach as material properties were continually changing. As a part of the material characterization effort, test articles, including a proof of concept wing box and a full-scale wing, were fabricated. The proof of concept box was fabricated based on very preliminary material studies and tested in bending, torsion, and shear. The box was then tested to failure under shear. The proof of concept box was also analyzed using Nastran and Hypersizer. The results of both analyses were scaled to determine the predicted failure load. The test results were compared to both the Nastran and Hypersizer analytical predictions. The actual failure occurred at 899 lbs. The failure was predicted at 1167 lbs based on the Nastran analysis. The Hypersizer analysis predicted a lower failure load of 960 lbs. The Nastran analysis alone was not sufficient to predict the failure load because it does not identify local composite failure modes. This analysis has traditionally been done using closed form solutions. Although Hypersizer is typically used as an optimizer for the design

Modernisation of a test rig for determination of vehicle shock absorber characteristics by considering vehicle suspension elements and unsprung masses

Science.gov (United States)

Maniowski, M.; Para, S.; Knapczyk, M.

2016-09-01

This paper presents a modernization approach of a standard test bench for determination of damping characteristics of automotive shock absorbers. It is known that the real-life work conditions of wheel-suspension dampers are not easy to reproduce in laboratory conditions, for example considering a high frequency damper response or a noise emission. The proposed test bench consists of many elements from a real vehicle suspension. Namely, an original tyre-wheel with additional unsprung mass, a suspension spring, an elastic top mount, damper bushings and a simplified wheel guiding mechanism. Each component was tested separately in order to identify its mechanical characteristics. The measured data serve as input parameters for a numerical simulation of the test bench behaviour by using a vibratory model with 3 degrees of freedom. Study on the simulation results and the measurements are needed for further development of the proposed test bench.

Protection against malevolent use of vehicles at Nuclear Power Plants. Vehicle barrier system selection guidance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nebuda, D.T.

1994-08-01

This manual provides a simplified procedure for selecting land vehicle barriers that will stop the design basis vehicle threat adopted by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Proper selection and construction of vehicle barriers should prevent intrusion of the design basis vehicle. In addition, vital safety related equipment should survive a design basis vehicle bomb attack when vehicle barriers are properly selected, sited, and constructed. This manual addresses passive vehicle barriers, active vehicle barriers, and site design features that can be used to reduce vehicle impact velocity

Research, development, and demonstration of lead-acid batteries for electric vehicle propulsion

Science.gov (United States)

1984-06-01

Research on electric motor vehicles is reported in the areas of active material utilization and active material integrity; design and fabrication of components, advanced cells, and modules; cell testing; and battery thermal management and electrolyte circulation subsystems.

Correlating Dynamometer Testing to In-Use Fleet Results of Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

John G. Smart; Sera White; Michael Duoba

2009-05-01

Standard dynamometer test procedures are currently being developed to determine fuel and electrical energy consumption of plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEV). To define a repeatable test procedure, assumptions were made about how PHEVs will be driven and charged. This study evaluates these assumptions by comparing results of PHEV dynamometer testing following proposed procedures to actual performance of PHEVs operating in the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) North American PHEV Demonstration fleet. Results show PHEVs in the fleet exhibit a wide range of energy consumption, which is not demonstrated in dynamometer testing. Sources of variation in performance are identified and examined.

Flight Testing a Real-Time Hazard Detection System for Safe Lunar Landing on the Rocket-Powered Morpheus Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Trawny, Nikolas; Huertas, Andres; Luna, Michael E.; Villalpando, Carlos Y.; Martin, Keith E.; Carson, John M.; Johnson, Andrew E.; Restrepo, Carolina; Roback, Vincent E.

2015-01-01

The Hazard Detection System (HDS) is a component of the ALHAT (Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology) sensor suite, which together provide a lander Guidance, Navigation and Control (GN&C) system with the relevant measurements necessary to enable safe precision landing under any lighting conditions. The HDS consists of a stand-alone compute element (CE), an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), and a gimbaled flash LIDAR sensor that are used, in real-time, to generate a Digital Elevation Map (DEM) of the landing terrain, detect candidate safe landing sites for the vehicle through Hazard Detection (HD), and generate hazard-relative navigation (HRN) measurements used for safe precision landing. Following an extensive ground and helicopter test campaign, ALHAT was integrated onto the Morpheus rocket-powered terrestrial test vehicle in March 2014. Morpheus and ALHAT then performed five successful free flights at the simulated lunar hazard field constructed at the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) at Kennedy Space Center, for the first time testing the full system on a lunar-like approach geometry in a relevant dynamic environment. During these flights, the HDS successfully generated DEMs, correctly identified safe landing sites and provided HRN measurements to the vehicle, marking the first autonomous landing of a NASA rocket-powered vehicle in hazardous terrain. This paper provides a brief overview of the HDS architecture and describes its in-flight performance.

Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Program

Science.gov (United States)

Freeman, Delma C., Jr.; Talay, Theodore A.; Austin, R. Eugene

1997-01-01

Industry/NASA reusable launch vehicle (RLV) technology program efforts are underway to design, test, and develop technologies and concepts for viable commercial launch systems that also satisfy national needs at acceptable recurring costs. Significant progress has been made in understanding the technical challenges of fully reusable launch systems and the accompanying management and operational approaches for achieving a low cost program. This paper reviews the current status of the RLV technology program including the DC-XA, X-33 and X-34 flight systems and associated technology programs. It addresses the specific technologies being tested that address the technical and operability challenges of reusable launch systems including reusable cryogenic propellant tanks, composite structures, thermal protection systems, improved propulsion and subsystem operability enhancements. The recently concluded DC-XA test program demonstrated some of these technologies in ground and flight test. Contracts were awarded recently for both the X-33 and X-34 flight demonstrator systems. The Orbital Sciences Corporation X-34 flight test vehicle will demonstrate an air-launched reusable vehicle capable of flight to speeds of Mach 8. The Lockheed-Martin X-33 flight test vehicle will expand the test envelope for critical technologies to flight speeds of Mach 15. A propulsion program to test the X-33 linear aerospike rocket engine using a NASA SR-71 high speed aircraft as a test bed is also discussed. The paper also describes the management and operational approaches that address the challenge of new cost effective, reusable launch vehicle systems.

Fuel-Efficient Road Vehicle Non-Engine Components

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2007-07-01

The need to address global energy issues, i.e. energy security and climate change, is more urgent than ever. Road vehicles dominate global oil consumption and are one of the fastest growing energy end-uses. This paper studies policies and measures to improve on-road fuel efficiency of vehicles by focusing on energy efficiency of automobile components not generally considered in official fuel efficiency test, namely tyres, cooling technologies and lightings. In this paper, current policies and industry activities on these components are reviewed, fuel saving potential by the components analysed and possible policies to realise the potential recommended.

Wing configuration on Wind Tunnel Testing of an Unmanned Aircraft Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Daryanto, Yanto; Purwono, Joko; Subagyo

2018-04-01

Control surface of an Unmanned Aircraft Vehicle (UAV) consists of flap, aileron, spoiler, rudder, and elevator. Every control surface has its own special functionality. Some particular configurations in the flight mission often depend on the wing configuration. Configuration wing within flap deflection for takeoff setting deflection of flap 20° but during landing deflection of flap set on the value 40°. The aim of this research is to get the ultimate CLmax for take-off flap deflection setting. It is shown from Wind Tunnel Testing result that the 20° flap deflection gives optimum CLmax with moderate drag coefficient. The results of Wind Tunnel Testing representing by graphic plots show good performance as well as the stability of UAV.

Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Determination of the Effect of Experimental Parameters on Vehicle Agent Speed Relative to Vehicle Intruder.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shahaboddin Shamshirband

Full Text Available Intelligent Transportation Systems rely on understanding, predicting and affecting the interactions between vehicles. The goal of this paper is to choose a small subset from the larger set so that the resulting regression model is simple, yet have good predictive ability for Vehicle agent speed relative to Vehicle intruder. The method of ANFIS (adaptive neuro fuzzy inference system was applied to the data resulting from these measurements. The ANFIS process for variable selection was implemented in order to detect the predominant variables affecting the prediction of agent speed relative to intruder. This process includes several ways to discover a subset of the total set of recorded parameters, showing good predictive capability. The ANFIS network was used to perform a variable search. Then, it was used to determine how 9 parameters (Intruder Front sensors active (boolean, Intruder Rear sensors active (boolean, Agent Front sensors active (boolean, Agent Rear sensors active (boolean, RSSI signal intensity/strength (integer, Elapsed time (in seconds, Distance between Agent and Intruder (m, Angle of Agent relative to Intruder (angle between vehicles °, Altitude difference between Agent and Intruder (m influence prediction of agent speed relative to intruder. The results indicated that distance between Vehicle agent and Vehicle intruder (m and angle of Vehicle agent relative to Vehicle Intruder (angle between vehicles ° is the most influential parameters to Vehicle agent speed relative to Vehicle intruder.

Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Determination of the Effect of Experimental Parameters on Vehicle Agent Speed Relative to Vehicle Intruder.

Science.gov (United States)

Shamshirband, Shahaboddin; Banjanovic-Mehmedovic, Lejla; Bosankic, Ivan; Kasapovic, Suad; Abdul Wahab, Ainuddin Wahid Bin

2016-01-01

Intelligent Transportation Systems rely on understanding, predicting and affecting the interactions between vehicles. The goal of this paper is to choose a small subset from the larger set so that the resulting regression model is simple, yet have good predictive ability for Vehicle agent speed relative to Vehicle intruder. The method of ANFIS (adaptive neuro fuzzy inference system) was applied to the data resulting from these measurements. The ANFIS process for variable selection was implemented in order to detect the predominant variables affecting the prediction of agent speed relative to intruder. This process includes several ways to discover a subset of the total set of recorded parameters, showing good predictive capability. The ANFIS network was used to perform a variable search. Then, it was used to determine how 9 parameters (Intruder Front sensors active (boolean), Intruder Rear sensors active (boolean), Agent Front sensors active (boolean), Agent Rear sensors active (boolean), RSSI signal intensity/strength (integer), Elapsed time (in seconds), Distance between Agent and Intruder (m), Angle of Agent relative to Intruder (angle between vehicles °), Altitude difference between Agent and Intruder (m)) influence prediction of agent speed relative to intruder. The results indicated that distance between Vehicle agent and Vehicle intruder (m) and angle of Vehicle agent relative to Vehicle Intruder (angle between vehicles °) is the most influential parameters to Vehicle agent speed relative to Vehicle intruder.

LOX/LH2 propulsion system for launch vehicle upper stage, test results

Science.gov (United States)

Ikeda, T.; Imachi, U.; Yuzawa, Y.; Kondo, Y.; Miyoshi, K.; Higashino, K.

1984-01-01

The test results of small LOX/LH2 engines for two propulsion systems, a pump fed system and a pressure fed system are reported. The pump fed system has the advantages of higher performances and higher mass fraction. The pressure fed system has the advantages of higher reliability and relative simplicity. Adoption of these cryogenic propulsion systems for upper stage of launch vehicle increases the payload capability with low cost. The 1,000 kg thrust class engine was selected for this cryogenic stage. A thrust chamber assembly for the pressure fed propulsion system was tested. It is indicated that it has good performance to meet system requirements.

JPL's electric and hybrid vehicles project: Project activities and preliminary test results. [power conditioning and battery charge efficiency

Science.gov (United States)

Barber, T. A.

1980-01-01

Efforts to achieve a 100 mile urban range, to reduce petroleum usage 40% to 70%, and to commercialize battery technology are discussed with emphasis on an all plastic body, four passenger car that is flywheel assisted and battery powered, and on an all metal body, four passenger car with front wheel drive and front motor. For the near term case, a parallel hybrid in which the electric motor and the internal combustion engine may directly power the drive wheels, is preferred to a series design. A five passenger car in which the electric motor and the gasoline engine both feed into the same transmission is discussed. Upgraded demonstration vehicles were tested using advanced lead acid, nickel zinc, nickel iron, and zinc chloride batteries to determine maximum acceleration, constant speed, and battery behavior. The near term batteries demonstrated significant improvement relative to current lead acid batteries. The increase in range was due to improved energy density, and ampere hour capacity, with relatively 1 small weight and volume differences.

A market systems analysis of the U.S. Sport Utility Vehicle market considering frontal crash safety technology and policy.

Science.gov (United States)

Hoffenson, Steven; Frischknecht, Bart D; Papalambros, Panos Y

2013-01-01

Active safety features and adjustments to the New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) consumer-information crash tests have the potential to decrease the number of serious traffic injuries each year, according to previous studies. However, literature suggests that risk reductions, particularly in the automotive market, are often accompanied by adjusted consumer risk tolerance, and so these potential safety benefits may not be fully realized due to changes in consumer purchasing or driving behavior. This article approaches safety in the new vehicle market, particularly in the Sport Utility Vehicle and Crossover Utility Vehicle segments, from a market systems perspective. Crash statistics and simulations are used to predict the effects of design and policy changes on occupant crash safety, and discrete choice experiments are conducted to estimate the values consumers place on vehicle attributes. These models are combined in a market simulation that forecasts how consumers respond to the available vehicle alternatives, resulting in predictions of the market share of each vehicle and how the change in fleet mixture influences societal outcomes including injuries, fuel consumption, and firm profits. The model is tested for a scenario where active safety features are implemented across the new vehicle fleet and a scenario where the U.S. frontal NCAP test speed is modified. While results exhibit evidence of consumer risk adjustment, they support adding active safety features and lowering the NCAP frontal test speed, as these changes are predicted to improve the welfare of both firms and society. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mobile robot vehicles for physical security

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McGovern, D.E.

1987-07-01

A fleet of vehicles is being developed and maintained by Sandia National Labs for studies in remote control and autonomous operation. These vehicles range from modified commercial vehicles to specially constructed mobile platforms and are utilized as test beds for developing concepts in the application of robotics to interior and exterior physical security. Actuators control the vehicle speed, brakes, and steering through manual input from a remote driving station or through some level of digital computer control. On-board processing may include simple vehicle control functions or may allow for unmanned, autonomous operation. communication links are provided for digital communication between control computers, television transmission for vehicle vision, and voice for local control. With these vehicles, SNL can develop, test, and evaluate sensors, processing requirements, various methods of actuator implementation, operator controlled feedback requirements, and vehicle operations. A description of the major features and uses for each of the vehicles in the fleet is provided

Mobile robot vehicles for physical security

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mc Govern, D.E.

1987-01-01

A fleet of vehicles is being developed and maintained by Sandia National Labs for studies in remote control and autonomous operation. These vehicles range from modified commercial vehicles to specially constructed mobile platforms and are utilized as test beds for developing concepts in the application of robotics to interior and exterior physical security. Actuators control the vehicle speed, brakes, and steering through manual input from a remote driving station or through some level of digital computer control. On-board processing may include simple vehicle control functions or may allow for unmanned, autonomous operation. Communication links are provided for digital communication between control computers, television transmission for vehicle vision, and voice for local control. With these vehicles, SNL can develop, test, and evaluate sensors, processing requirements, various methods of actuator implementation, operator controlled feedback requirements, and vehicle operations. A description of the major features and uses for each of the vehicles in the fleet is provided

Mobile robot vehicles for physical security

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McGovern, D.E.

1987-06-01

A fleet of vehicles is being developed and maintained by Sandia National Labs for studies in remote control and autonomous operation. These vehicles range from modified commercial vehicles to specially constructed mobile platforms and are utilized as test beds for developing concepts in the application of robotics to interior and exterior physical security. Actuators control the vehicle speed, brakes, and steering through manual input from a remote driving station or through some level of digital computer control. On-board processing may include simple vehicle control functions or may allow for unmanned, autonomous operation. Communication links are provided for digital communication between control computers, television transmission for vehicle vision, and voice for local control. With these vehicles, SNL can develop, test, and evaluate sensors, processing requirements, various methods of actuator implementation, operator controlled feedback requirements, and vehicle operations. A description of the major features and uses for each of the vehicles in the fleet is provided. 4 refs., 1 fig., 1 tab

Aerodynamic Drag Reduction Technologies Testing of Heavy-Duty Vocational Vehicles and a Dry Van Trailer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ragatz, Adam [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Thornton, Matthew [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2016-10-01

This study focused on two accepted methods for quantifying the benefit of aerodynamic improvement technologies on vocational vehicles: the coastdown technique, and on-road constant speed fuel economy measurements. Both techniques have their advantages. Coastdown tests are conducted over a wide range in speed and allow the rolling resistance and aerodynamic components of road load force to be separated. This in turn allows for the change in road load and fuel economy to be estimated at any speed, as well as over transient cycles. The on-road fuel economy measurements only supply one lumped result, applicable at the specific test speed, but are a direct measurement of fuel usage and are therefore used in this study as a check on the observed coastdown results. Resulting coefficients were then used to populate a vehicle model and simulate expected annual fuel savings over real-world vocational drive cycles.

Evaluation of the added mass for a spheroid-type unmanned underwater vehicle by vertical planar motion mechanism test

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Seong-Keon Lee

2011-09-01

Full Text Available This paper shows added mass and inertia can be acquired from the pure heaving motion and pure pitching motion respectively. A Vertical Planar Motion Mechanism (VPMM test for the spheroid-type Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV was compared with a theoretical calculation and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD analysis in this paper. The VPMM test has been carried out at a towing tank with specially manufactured equipment. The linear equations of motion on the vertical plane were considered for theoretical calculation, and CFD results were obtained by commercial CFD package. The VPMM test results show good agreement with theoretical calculations and the CFD results, so that the applicability of the VPMM equipment for an underwater vehicle can be verified with a sufficient accuracy.

Lane-Level Vehicle Trajectory Reckoning for Cooperative Vehicle-Infrastructure System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yinsong Wang

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a lane-level positioning method by trajectory reckoning without Global Positioning System (GPS equipment in the environment of Cooperative Vehicle-Infrastructure System (CVIS. Firstly, the accuracy requirements of vehicle position in CVIS applications and the applicability of GPS positioning methods were analyzed. Then, a trajectory reckoning method based on speed and steering data from vehicle’s Control Area Network (CAN and roadside calibration facilities was proposed, which consists of three critical models, including real-time estimation of steering angle and vehicle direction, vehicle movement reckoning, and wireless calibration. Finally, the proposed method was validated through simulation and field tests under a variety of traffic conditions. Results show that the accuracy of the reckoned vehicle position can reach the lane level and match the requirements of common CVIS applications.

Electric passenger and goods vehicles: A review of UK activities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Escombe, F.; Rawnsley, A.

1993-01-01

The production of electric-powered vehicles has been reduced to only a few hundred, after several thousand had been produced in Great Britain during the past five years. In the framework of this article, the different components of electric-powered vehicles are being examined regarding the economical situation: such as the vehicle itself, the batteries, the motor and the vehicle control. (BWI) [de

The charging security study of electric vehicle charging spot based on automatic testing platform

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Yulan; Yang, Zhangli; Zhu, Bin; Ran, Shengyi

2018-03-01

With the increasing of charging spots, the testing of charging security and interoperability becomes more and more urgent and important. In this paper, an interface simulator for ac charging test is designed, the automatic testing platform for electric vehicle charging spots is set up and used to test and analyze the abnormal state during the charging process. On the platform, the charging security and interoperability of ac charging spots and IC-CPD can be checked efficiently, the test report can be generated automatically with No artificial reading error. From the test results, the main reason why the charging spot is not qualified is that the power supply cannot be cut off in the prescribed time when the charging anomaly occurs.

Benchmarking promotion and deployment activities regarding intelligent vehicle safety systems in the EU

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kievit, M. de; Malone, K.M.; Zwijnenberg, H.; Arem, B. van

2008-01-01

This paper presents the results of a Benchmarking study performed in the European Union on Awareness and Promotion & Deployment activities related to Intelligent Vehicle Safety (IVS) systems (1). The study, commissioned by the European Commission under the Intelligent Car Initiative (a i2010

Stability Simulation of a Vehicle with Wheel Active Steering

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Brabec Pavel

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This paper deals with the possibility of increasing the vehicle driving stability at a higher speed. One of the ways how to achieve higher stability is using the 4WS system. Mathematical description of vehicle general movement is a very complex task. For simulation, models which are aptly simplified are used. For the first approach, so-called single-truck vehicle model (often linear is usually used. For the simulation, we have chosen to extend the model into a two-truck one, which includes the possibility to input more vehicle parameters. Considering the 4WS system, it is possible to use a number of potential regulations. In our simulation model, the regulation system with compound coupling was used. This type of regulation turns the rear wheels depending on the input parameters of the system (steering angle of the front wheels and depending on the output moving quantities of the vehicle, most frequently the yaw rate. Criterion for compensation of lateral deflection centre of gravity angle is its zero value, or more precisely the zero value of its first-order derivative. Parameters and set-up of the simulation model were done in conjunction with the dSAPACE software. Reference performances of the vehicle simulation model were made through the defined manoeuvres. But the simulation results indicate that the rear-wheels steering can have a positive effect on the vehicle movement stability, especially when changing the driving direction at high speed.

Battery control system for hybrid vehicle and method for controlling a hybrid vehicle battery

Science.gov (United States)

Bockelmann, Thomas R [Battle Creek, MI; Hope, Mark E [Marshall, MI; Zou, Zhanjiang [Battle Creek, MI; Kang, Xiaosong [Battle Creek, MI

2009-02-10

A battery control system for hybrid vehicle includes a hybrid powertrain battery, a vehicle accessory battery, and a prime mover driven generator adapted to charge the vehicle accessory battery. A detecting arrangement is configured to monitor the vehicle accessory battery's state of charge. A controller is configured to activate the prime mover to drive the generator and recharge the vehicle accessory battery in response to the vehicle accessory battery's state of charge falling below a first predetermined level, or transfer electrical power from the hybrid powertrain battery to the vehicle accessory battery in response to the vehicle accessory battery's state of charge falling below a second predetermined level. The invention further includes a method for controlling a hybrid vehicle powertrain system.

Setback distances as a conservation tool in wildlife-human interactions: testing their efficacy for birds affected by vehicles on open-coast sandy beaches.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas A Schlacher

Full Text Available In some wilderness areas, wildlife encounter vehicles disrupt their behaviour and habitat use. Changing driver behaviour has been proposed where bans on vehicle use are politically unpalatable, but the efficacy of vehicle setbacks and reduced speeds remains largely untested. We characterised bird-vehicle encounters in terms of driver behaviour and the disturbance caused to birds, and tested whether spatial buffers or lower speeds reduced bird escape responses on open beaches. Focal observations showed that: i most drivers did not create sizeable buffers between their vehicles and birds; ii bird disturbance was frequent; and iii predictors of probability of flushing (escape were setback distance and vehicle type (buses flushed birds at higher rates than cars. Experiments demonstrated that substantial reductions in bird escape responses required buffers to be wide (> 25 m and vehicle speeds to be slow (< 30 km h⁻¹. Setback distances can reduce impacts on wildlife, provided that they are carefully designed and derived from empirical evidence. No speed or distance combination we tested, however, eliminated bird responses. Thus, while buffers reduce response rates, they are likely to be much less effective than vehicle-free zones (i.e. beach closures, and rely on changes to current driver behaviour.

Quantifying the Effects of Idle-Stop Systems on Fuel Economy in Light-Duty Passenger Vehicles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jeff Wishart; Matthew Shirk

2012-12-01

Vehicles equipped with idle-stop (IS) systems are capable of engine shut down when the vehicle is stopped and rapid engine re-start for the vehicle launch. This capability reduces fuel consumption and emissions during periods when the engine is not being utilized to provide propulsion or to power accessories. IS systems are a low-cost and fast-growing technology in the industry-wide pursuit of increased vehicle efficiency, possibly becoming standard features in European vehicles in the near future. In contrast, currently there are only three non-hybrid vehicle models for sale in North America with IS systems and these models are distinctly low-volume models. As part of the United States Department of Energy’s Advanced Vehicle Testing Activity, ECOtality North America has tested the real-world effect of IS systems on fuel consumption in three vehicle models imported from Europe. These vehicles were chosen to represent three types of systems: (1) spark ignition with 12-V belt alternator starter; (2) compression ignition with 12-V belt alternator starter; and (3) direct-injection spark ignition, with 12-V belt alternator starter/combustion restart. The vehicles have undergone both dynamometer and on-road testing; the test results show somewhat conflicting data. The laboratory data and the portion of the on-road data in which driving is conducted on a prescribed route with trained drivers produced significant fuel economy improvement. However, the fleet data do not corroborate improvement, even though the data show significant engine-off time. It is possible that the effects of the varying driving styles and routes in the fleet testing overshadowed the fuel economy improvements. More testing with the same driver over routes that are similar with the IS system-enabled and disabled is recommended. There is anecdotal evidence that current Environmental Protection Agency fuel economy test procedures do not capture the fuel economy gains that IS systems produce in real

RESISTANCE TEST OF DEPOSITED ALUMINIUM LAYER ON PARABOLIC PARTS OF VEHICLE HEADLIGHT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michal ADAMIK

2014-10-01

Full Text Available This paper documents a basic quality measurement in an automotive light industry. The experiment is based on a verification of reflective aluminium layer resistance against 100% humidity and higher temperature. This simulates the lifetime of a headlight on vehicle. The goal of this test is to prove that the reflective aluminium layer is able to resist to this environment without any changes in its structure. If any change occurs, the modification of production process will be needed.

Actuator and sensor selection for an active vehicle suspension aimed at robust performance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wal, van de M.M.J.; Philips, P.P.H.H.; Jager, de A.G.

1998-01-01

A recently presented method for actuator and sensor selection for linear control systems is applied and evaluated for an active vehicle suspension control problem. The aim is to eliminate the actuator/sensor combinations for which no controller exists that achieves a specified level of robust

Enhancing roll stability of heavy vehicle by LQR active anti-roll bar control using electronic servo-valve hydraulic actuators

Science.gov (United States)

Vu, Van Tan; Sename, Olivier; Dugard, Luc; Gaspar, Peter

2017-09-01

Rollover of heavy vehicle is an important road safety problem world-wide. Although rollovers are relatively rare events, they are usually deadly accidents when they occur. The roll stability loss is the main cause of rollover accidents in which heavy vehicles are involved. In order to improve the roll stability, most of modern heavy vehicles are equipped with passive anti-roll bars to reduce roll motion during cornering or riding on uneven roads. However these may be not sufficient to overcome critical situations. This paper introduces the active anti-roll bars made of four electronic servo-valve hydraulic actuators, which are modelled and integrated in a yaw-roll model of a single unit heavy vehicle. The control signal is the current entering the electronic servo-valve and the output is the force generated by the hydraulic actuator. The active control design is achieved solving a linear optimal control problem based on the linear quadratic regulator (LQR) approach. A comparison of several LQR controllers is provided to allow for tackling the considered multi-objective problems. Simulation results in frequency and time domains show that the use of two active anti-roll bars (front and rear axles) drastically improves the roll stability of the single unit heavy vehicle compared with the passive anti-roll bar.

Hyperspectral Vehicle BRDF Learning: An Exploration of Vehicle Reflectance Variation and Optimal Measures of Spectral Similarity for Vehicle Reacquisition and Tracking Algorithms

Science.gov (United States)

Svejkosky, Joseph

The spectral signatures of vehicles in hyperspectral imagery exhibit temporal variations due to the preponderance of surfaces with material properties that display non-Lambertian bi-directional reflectance distribution functions (BRDFs). These temporal variations are caused by changing illumination conditions, changing sun-target-sensor geometry, changing road surface properties, and changing vehicle orientations. To quantify these variations and determine their relative importance in a sub-pixel vehicle reacquisition and tracking scenario, a hyperspectral vehicle BRDF sampling experiment was conducted in which four vehicles were rotated at different orientations and imaged over a six-hour period. The hyperspectral imagery was calibrated using novel in-scene methods and converted to reflectance imagery. The resulting BRDF sampled time-series imagery showed a strong vehicle level BRDF dependence on vehicle shape in off-nadir imaging scenarios and a strong dependence on vehicle color in simulated nadir imaging scenarios. The imagery also exhibited spectral features characteristic of sampling the BRDF of non-Lambertian targets, which were subsequently verified with simulations. In addition, the imagery demonstrated that the illumination contribution from vehicle adjacent horizontal surfaces significantly altered the shape and magnitude of the vehicle reflectance spectrum. The results of the BRDF sampling experiment illustrate the need for a target vehicle BRDF model and detection scheme that incorporates non-Lambertian BRDFs. A new detection algorithm called Eigenvector Loading Regression (ELR) is proposed that learns a hyperspectral vehicle BRDF from a series of BRDF measurements using regression in a lower dimensional space and then applies the learned BRDF to make test spectrum predictions. In cases of non-Lambertian vehicle BRDF, this detection methodology performs favorably when compared to subspace detections algorithms and graph-based detection algorithms that

Trends in Hydrogen Vehicles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hoevenaars, A.J.; Weeda, M. [ECN Hydrogen and Clean Fossil Fuels, Petten (Netherlands)

2009-09-15

This report intends to provide an update of the latest developments that have recently occurred within car industry within the field of Hydrogen powered fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) to date, October 2009. In attempts to provide a clear and logical overview, the report starts with an overview of the OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) that are actually active within the Hydrogen vehicle business, and provides an overview of the intensity of FCV activity per OEM. This overview shows that there is a pool of distinctively most active OEMs, and that others have tried to create exposure for themselves, but have not seriously been involved in in-house technology development in support of FCV manufacturing. Furthermore, some manufacturers chose a different path when it comes to using hydrogen for vehicle propulsion and use Hydrogen gas as a fuel for a conventional Internal Combustion Engine (ICE). In the field of FCVs, Most FCV activities are displayed by Honda, Daimler, Opel/GM, Hyundai/Kia, Toyota, Nissan and Ford. Volkswagen has given less priority to FCV development and has not been profiling itself as a very Hydrogen-prone OEM. Mazda and BMW chose to put their efforts in the development of Hydrogen fuelled ICE vehicles. Also Ford has put efforts in Hydrogen fuelled ICE vehicles. After the active OEMs are mapped, an overview is given on how active they have been in terms of cars produced. It appeared difficult to come up with reliable estimations on the basis of numbers available for public. The sum of vehicles produced by all OEMs together was estimated on about 515 vehicles. This estimation however was much lower than the figures published by Fuel Cell Today (FCT). FCT projects accumulated vehicles shipped in 2009 around 1100 units, the double of the numbers found for this study. Communication with FCT learned us that FCT has access to confidential information from the OEMs. Especially the Asian OEMs do not provide transparency when it comes to FCVs shipped, however

Trends in Hydrogen Vehicles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoevenaars, A.J.; Weeda, M.

2009-09-01

This report intends to provide an update of the latest developments that have recently occurred within car industry within the field of Hydrogen powered fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) to date, October 2009. In attempts to provide a clear and logical overview, the report starts with an overview of the OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) that are actually active within the Hydrogen vehicle business, and provides an overview of the intensity of FCV activity per OEM. This overview shows that there is a pool of distinctively most active OEMs, and that others have tried to create exposure for themselves, but have not seriously been involved in in-house technology development in support of FCV manufacturing. Furthermore, some manufacturers chose a different path when it comes to using hydrogen for vehicle propulsion and use Hydrogen gas as a fuel for a conventional Internal Combustion Engine (ICE). In the field of FCVs, Most FCV activities are displayed by Honda, Daimler, Opel/GM, Hyundai/Kia, Toyota, Nissan and Ford. Volkswagen has given less priority to FCV development and has not been profiling itself as a very Hydrogen-prone OEM. Mazda and BMW chose to put their efforts in the development of Hydrogen fuelled ICE vehicles. Also Ford has put efforts in Hydrogen fuelled ICE vehicles. After the active OEMs are mapped, an overview is given on how active they have been in terms of cars produced. It appeared difficult to come up with reliable estimations on the basis of numbers available for public. The sum of vehicles produced by all OEMs together was estimated on about 515 vehicles. This estimation however was much lower than the figures published by Fuel Cell Today (FCT). FCT projects accumulated vehicles shipped in 2009 around 1100 units, the double of the numbers found for this study. Communication with FCT learned us that FCT has access to confidential information from the OEMs. Especially the Asian OEMs do not provide transparency when it comes to FCVs shipped, however

Gelled-electrolyte batteries for electric vehicles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tuphorn, H. (Accumulatorenfabrik Sonnenschein GmbH, Buedingen (Germany))

1992-09-15

Increasing problems of air pollution have pushed activities of electric vehicle projects world-wide and in spite of projects for developing new battery systems for high energy densities, today lead/acid batteries are almost the single system, ready for technical usage in this application. Valve-regulated lead/acid batteries with gelled electrolyte have the advantage that no maintenance is required and because the gel system does not cause problems with electrolyte stratification, no additional appliances for central filling or acid addition are required, which makes the system simple. Those batteries with high density active masses indicate high endurance results and field tests with 40 VW-CityStromers, equipped with 96 V/160 A h gel batteries with thermal management show good results during four years. In addition, gelled lead acid batteries possess superior high rate performance compared with conventional lead/acid batteries, which guarantees good acceleration results of the car and which makes the system recommendable for application in electric vehicles. (orig.).

Gelled-electrolyte batteries for electric vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Tuphorn, Hans

Increasing problems of air pollution have pushed activities of electric vehicle projects worldwide and in spite of projects for developing new battery systems for high energy densities, today lead/acid batteries are almost the single system, ready for technical usage in this application. Valve-regulated lead/acid batteries with gelled electrolyte have the advantage that no maintenance is required and because the gel system does not cause problems with electrolyte stratification, no additional appliances for central filling or acid addition are required, which makes the system simple. Those batteries with high density active masses indicate high endurance results and field tests with 40 VW-CityStromers, equipped with 96 V/160 A h gel batteries with thermal management show good results during four years. In addition, gelled lead/acid batteries possess superior high rate performance compared with conventional lead/acid batteries, which guarantees good acceleration results of the car and which makes the system recommendable for application in electric vehicles.

Vehicle to grid: electric vehicles as an energy storage solution

Science.gov (United States)

McGee, Rodney; Waite, Nicholas; Wells, Nicole; Kiamilev, Fouad E.; Kempton, Willett M.

2013-05-01

With increased focus on intermittent renewable energy sources such as wind turbines and photovoltaics, there comes a rising need for large-scale energy storage. The vehicle to grid (V2G) project seeks to meet this need using electric vehicles, whose high power capacity and existing power electronics make them a promising energy storage solution. This paper will describe a charging system designed by the V2G team that facilitates selective charging and backfeeding by electric vehicles. The system consists of a custom circuit board attached to an embedded linux computer that is installed both in the EVSE (electric vehicle supply equipment) and in the power electronics unit of the vehicle. The boards establish an in-band communication link between the EVSE and the vehicle, giving the vehicle internet connectivity and the ability to make intelligent decisions about when to charge and discharge. This is done while maintaining compliance with existing charging protocols (SAEJ1772, IEC62196) and compatibility with standard "nonintelligent" cars and chargers. Through this system, the vehicles in a test fleet have been able to successfully serve as portable temporary grid storage, which has implications for regulating the electrical grid, providing emergency power, or supplying power to forward military bases.

Scaling Flight Tests of Unmanned Air Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

2006-09-01

wind tunnel experiments, the wind tunnel remains one of the most widely used, useful tools in the field of aerodynamics. Other Scaled Vehicles and...propensity of automobiles. In other research carried out at the University of Delft, Netherlands, the project DAVINCI was developed for

Aircraft and ground vehicle friction correlation test results obtained under winter runway conditions during joint FAA/NASA Runway Friction Program

Science.gov (United States)

Yager, Thomas J.; Vogler, William A.; Baldasare, Paul

1988-01-01

Aircraft and ground vehicle friction data collected during the Joint FAA/NASA Runway Friction Program under winter runway conditions are discussed and test results are summarized. The relationship between the different ground vehicle friction measurements obtained on compacted snow- and ice-covered conditions is defined together with the correlation to aircraft tire friction performance under similar runway conditions.

Examining accident reports involving autonomous vehicles in California.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francesca M Favarò

Full Text Available Autonomous Vehicle technology is quickly expanding its market and has found in Silicon Valley, California, a strong foothold for preliminary testing on public roads. In an effort to promote safety and transparency to consumers, the California Department of Motor Vehicles has mandated that reports of accidents involving autonomous vehicles be drafted and made available to the public. The present work shows an in-depth analysis of the accident reports filed by different manufacturers that are testing autonomous vehicles in California (testing data from September 2014 to March 2017. The data provides important information on autonomous vehicles accidents' dynamics, related to the most frequent types of collisions and impacts, accident frequencies, and other contributing factors. The study also explores important implications related to future testing and validation of semi-autonomous vehicles, tracing the investigation back to current literature as well as to the current regulatory panorama.

Examining accident reports involving autonomous vehicles in California.

Science.gov (United States)

Favarò, Francesca M; Nader, Nazanin; Eurich, Sky O; Tripp, Michelle; Varadaraju, Naresh

2017-01-01

Autonomous Vehicle technology is quickly expanding its market and has found in Silicon Valley, California, a strong foothold for preliminary testing on public roads. In an effort to promote safety and transparency to consumers, the California Department of Motor Vehicles has mandated that reports of accidents involving autonomous vehicles be drafted and made available to the public. The present work shows an in-depth analysis of the accident reports filed by different manufacturers that are testing autonomous vehicles in California (testing data from September 2014 to March 2017). The data provides important information on autonomous vehicles accidents' dynamics, related to the most frequent types of collisions and impacts, accident frequencies, and other contributing factors. The study also explores important implications related to future testing and validation of semi-autonomous vehicles, tracing the investigation back to current literature as well as to the current regulatory panorama.

Examining accident reports involving autonomous vehicles in California

Science.gov (United States)

Nader, Nazanin; Eurich, Sky O.; Tripp, Michelle; Varadaraju, Naresh

2017-01-01

Autonomous Vehicle technology is quickly expanding its market and has found in Silicon Valley, California, a strong foothold for preliminary testing on public roads. In an effort to promote safety and transparency to consumers, the California Department of Motor Vehicles has mandated that reports of accidents involving autonomous vehicles be drafted and made available to the public. The present work shows an in-depth analysis of the accident reports filed by different manufacturers that are testing autonomous vehicles in California (testing data from September 2014 to March 2017). The data provides important information on autonomous vehicles accidents’ dynamics, related to the most frequent types of collisions and impacts, accident frequencies, and other contributing factors. The study also explores important implications related to future testing and validation of semi-autonomous vehicles, tracing the investigation back to current literature as well as to the current regulatory panorama. PMID:28931022

Determining Damping Trends from a Range of Cable Harness Assemblies on a Launch Vehicle Panel from Test Measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Andrew; Davis, R. Ben; LaVerde, Bruce; Jones, Douglas

2012-01-01

The team of authors at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) has been investigating estimating techniques for the vibration response of launch vehicle panels excited by acoustics and/or aero-fluctuating pressures. Validation of the approaches used to estimate these environments based on ground tests of flight like hardware is of major importance to new vehicle programs. The team at MSFC has recently expanded upon the first series of ground test cases completed in December 2010. The follow on tests recently completed are intended to illustrate differences in damping that might be expected when cable harnesses are added to the configurations under test. This validation study examines the effect on vibroacoustic response resulting from the installation of cable bundles on a curved orthogrid panel. Of interest is the level of damping provided by the installation of the cable bundles and whether this damping could be potentially leveraged in launch vehicle design. The results of this test are compared with baseline acoustic response tests without cables. Damping estimates from the measured response data are made using a new software tool that employs a finite element model (FEM) of the panel in conjunction with advanced optimization techniques. This paper will report on the \\damping trend differences. observed from response measurements for several different configurations of cable harnesses. The data should assist vibroacoustics engineers to make more informed damping assumptions when calculating vibration response estimates when using model based analysis approach. Achieving conservative estimates that have more flight like accuracy is desired. The paper may also assist analysts in determining how ground test data may relate to expected flight response levels. Empirical response estimates may also need to be adjusted if the measured response used as an input to the study came from a test article without flight like cable harnesses.

Usability Analysis of Collision Avoidance System in Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication Environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hong Cho

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Conventional intelligent vehicles have performance limitations owing to the short road and obstacle detection range of the installed sensors. In this study, to overcome this limitation, we tested the usability of a new conceptual autonomous emergency braking (AEB system that employs vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V communication technology in the existing AEB system. To this end, a radar sensor and a driving and communication environment constituting the AEB system were simulated; the simulation was then linked by applying vehicle dynamics and control logic. The simulation results show that the collision avoidance relaxation rate of V2V communication-based AEB system was reduced compared with that of existing vehicle-mounted-sensor-based system. Thus, a method that can lower the collision risk of the existing AEB system, which uses only a sensor cluster installed on the vehicle, is realized.

Vehicle-dependent Effects of Sphingosine 1-phosphate on Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor-1 Expression

Science.gov (United States)

Takahashi, Chiharu; Kurano, Makoto; Nishikawa, Masako; Kano, Kuniyuki; Dohi, Tomotaka; Miyauchi, Katsumi; Daida, Hiroyuki; Shimizu, Tomo; Aoki, Junken

2017-01-01

Aim: Sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) has been suggested to be a positive regulator of plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1) in adipocytes, while some studies are not consistent with this prothrombotic property of S1P. Since S1P is bound to apolipoprotein M (apoM) on HDL or to albumin in plasma, we compared the properties of these two forms on the PAI-1 induction. Methods: We investigated the associations of S1P, apoM, and PAI-1 concentrations in the plasma of normal coronary artery (NCA), stable angina pectoris (SAP), and acute coronary syndrome (ACS) subjects (n = 32, 71, and 38, respectively). Then, we compared the effects of S1P with various vehicles on the PAI-1 expression in 3T3L1 adipocytes. We also investigated the modulation of the PAI-1 levels in mice infected with adenovirus coding apoM. Results: Among ACS subjects, the PAI-1 level was positively correlated with the S1P level, but not the apoM level. In adipocytes, S1P bound to an apoM-rich vehicle induced PAI-1 expression to a lesser extent than the control vehicle, while S1P bound to an apoM-depleted vehicle induced PAI-1 expression to a greater extent than the control vehicle in 3T3L1 adipocytes. Additionally, apoM overexpression in mice failed to modulate the plasma PAI-1 level and the adipose PAI-1 expression level. S1P bound to albumin increased PAI-1 expression through the S1P receptor 2-Rho/ROCK-NFκB pathway. Conclusion: S1P bound to albumin, but not to apoM, induces PAI-1 expression in adipocytes, indicating that S1P can exert different properties on the pathogenesis of vascular diseases, depending on its vehicle. PMID:28321011

Ride performance of a high speed rail vehicle using controlled semi active suspension system

Science.gov (United States)

Sharma, Sunil Kumar; Kumar, Anil

2017-05-01

The rail-wheel interaction in a rail vehicle running at high speed results in large amplitude vibration of carbody that deteriorates the ride comfort of travellers. The role of suspension system is crucial to provide an acceptable level of ride performance. In this context, an existing rail vehicle is modelled in vertical, pitch and roll motions of carbody and bogies. Additionally, nonlinear stiffness and damping parameters of passive suspension system are defined based on experimental data. In the secondary vertical suspension system, a magneto-rheological (MR) damper is included to improve the ride quality and comfort. The parameters of MR damper depend on the current, amplitude and frequency of excitations. At different running speeds, three semi-active suspension strategies with MR damper are analysed for periodic track irregularity and the resulting performance indices are juxtaposed with the nonlinear passive suspension system. The disturbance rejection and force tracking damper controller algorithms are applied to control the desired force of MR damper. This study reveals that the vertical vibrations of a vehicle can be reduced significantly by using the proposed semi-active suspension strategies. Moreover, it naturally results in improved ride quality and passenger’s comfort in comparison to the existing passive system.

The design of infrared laser radar for vehicle initiative safety

Science.gov (United States)

Gong, Ping; Xu, Xi-ping; Li, Xiao-yu; Li, Tian-zhi; Liu, Yu-long; Wu, Jia-hui

2013-09-01

Laser radar for vehicle is mainly used in advanced vehicle on-board active safety systems, such as forward anti-collision systems, active collision warning systems and adaptive cruise control systems, etc. Laser radar for vehicle plays an important role in the improvement of vehicle active safety and the reduction of traffic accidents. The stability of vehicle active anti-collision system in dynamic environment is still one of the most difficult problems to break through nowadays. According to people's driving habit and the existed detecting technique of sensor, combining the infrared laser range and galvanometer scanning technique , design a 3-D infrared laser radar which can be used to assist navigation, obstacle avoidance and the vehicle's speed control for the vehicle initiative safety. The device is fixed to the head of vehicle. Then if an accident happened, the device could give an alarm to remind the driver timely to decelerate or brake down, by which way can people get the purpose of preventing the collision accidents effectively. To accomplish the design, first of all, select the core components. Then apply Zemax to design the transmitting and receiving optical system. Adopt 1550 nm infrared laser transmitter as emission unit in the device, a galvanometer scanning as laser scanning unit and an InGaAs-APD detector as laser echo signal receiving unit. Perform the construction of experimental system using FPGA and ARM as the core controller. The system designed in this paper can not only detect obstacle in front of the vehicle and make the control subsystem to execute command, but also transfer laser data to PC in real time. Lots of experiments using the infrared laser radar prototype are made, and main performance of it is under tested. The results of these experiments show that the imaging speed of the laser radar can reach up to 25 frames per second, the frame resolution of each image can reach 30×30 pixels, the horizontal angle resolution is about 6. 98

The eco-driving effect of electric vehicles compared to conventional gasoline vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hideki Kato

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Eco-driving is attractive to the public, not only users of internal-combustion-engine vehicles (ICEVs including hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs but also users of electric vehicles (EVs have interest in eco-driving. In this context, a quantitative evaluation of eco-driving effect of EVs was conducted using a chassis dynamometer (C/D with an “eco-driving test mode.” This mode comprised four speed patterns selected from fifty-two real-world driving datasets collected during an eco-driving test-ride event. The four patterns had the same travel distance (5.2 km, but showed varying eco-driving achievement levels. Three ICEVs, one HEV and two EVs were tested using a C/D. Good linear relationships were found between the eco-driving achievement level and electric or fuel consumption rate of all vehicles. The reduction of CO2 emissions was also estimated. The CO2-reduction rates of the four conventional (including hybrid vehicles were 10.9%–12.6%, while those of two types of EVs were 11.7%–18.4%. These results indicate that the eco-driving tips for conventional vehicles are effective to not only ICEVs and HEVs but also EVs. Furthermore, EVs have a higher potential of eco-driving effect than ICEVs and HEVs if EVs could maintain high energy conversion efficiency at low load range. This study is intended to support the importance of the dissemination of tools like the intelligent speed adaptation (ISA to obey the regulation speed in real time. In the future, also in the development and dissemination of automated driving systems, the viewpoint of achieving the traveling purpose with less kinetic energy would be important.

A comparison of optimal semi-active suspension systems regarding vehicle ride comfort

Science.gov (United States)

Koulocheris, Dimitrios; Papaioannou, Georgios; Chrysos, Emmanouil

2017-10-01

The aim of this work is to present a comparison of the main semi active suspension systems used in a passenger car, after having optimized the suspension systems of the vehicle model in respect with ride comfort and road holding. Thus, a half car model, equipped with controllable dampers, along with a seat and a driver was implemented. Semi-active suspensions have received a lot of attention since they seem to provide the best compromise between cost (energy consumption, actuators/sensors hardware) and performance in comparison with active and passive suspensions. In this work, the semi active suspension systems studied are comfort oriented and consist of (a) the two version of Skyhook control (two states skyhook and skyhook linear approximation damper), (b) the acceleration driven damper (ADD), (c) the power driven damper (PDD), (d) the combination of Skyhook and ADD (Mixed Skyhook-ADD) and (e) the combination of the two with the use of a sensor. The half car model equipped with the above suspension systems was excited by a road bump, and was optimized using genetic algorithms (GA) in respect with ride comfort and road holding. This study aims to highlight how the optimization of the vehicle model could lead to the best compromise between ride comfort and road holding, overcoming their well-known trade-off. The optimum results were compared with important performance metrics regarding the vehicle’s dynamic behaviour in general.

How important is vehicle safety in the new vehicle purchase process?

Science.gov (United States)

Koppel, Sjaanie; Charlton, Judith; Fildes, Brian; Fitzharris, Michael

2008-05-01

Whilst there has been a significant increase in the amount of consumer interest in the safety performance of privately owned vehicles, the role that it plays in consumers' purchase decisions is poorly understood. The aims of the current study were to determine: how important vehicle safety is in the new vehicle purchase process; what importance consumers place on safety options/features relative to other convenience and comfort features, and how consumers conceptualise vehicle safety. In addition, the study aimed to investigate the key parameters associated with ranking 'vehicle safety' as the most important consideration in the new vehicle purchase. Participants recruited in Sweden and Spain completed a questionnaire about their new vehicle purchase. The findings from the questionnaire indicated that participants ranked safety-related factors (e.g., EuroNCAP (or other) safety ratings) as more important in the new vehicle purchase process than other vehicle factors (e.g., price, reliability etc.). Similarly, participants ranked safety-related features (e.g., advanced braking systems, front passenger airbags etc.) as more important than non-safety-related features (e.g., route navigation systems, air-conditioning etc.). Consistent with previous research, most participants equated vehicle safety with the presence of specific vehicle safety features or technologies rather than vehicle crash safety/test results or crashworthiness. The key parameters associated with ranking 'vehicle safety' as the most important consideration in the new vehicle purchase were: use of EuroNCAP, gender and education level, age, drivers' concern about crash involvement, first vehicle purchase, annual driving distance, person for whom the vehicle was purchased, and traffic infringement history. The findings from this study are important for policy makers, manufacturers and other stakeholders to assist in setting priorities with regard to the promotion and publicity of vehicle safety features

Control of Electric Vehicle

OpenAIRE

Huang, Qi; Chen, Yong; Li, Jian

2010-01-01

In this chapter, the modeling of electric vehicle is discussed in detail. Then, the control of electric vehicle driven by different motors is discussed. Both brushed and brushless DC (Direct Current) motors are discussed. And for AC (Alternative Current) motors, the discussion is focused on induction motor and permanent magnet synchronous motor. The design of controllers for different motor-driven electric vehicle is discussed in-depth, and the tested high-performance control strategies for d...

State-of-the-art assessment of electric and hybrid vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

1978-01-01

Data are presented that were obtained from the electric and hybrid vehicles tested, information collected from users of electric vehicles, and data and information on electric and hybrid vehicles obtained on a worldwide basis from manufacturers and available literature. The data given include: (1) information and data base (electric and hybrid vehicle systems descriptions, sources of vehicle data and information, and sources of component data); (2) electric vehicles (theoretical background, electric vehicle track tests, user experience, literature data, and summary of electric vehicle status); (3) electric vehicle components (tires, differentials, transmissions, traction motors, controllers, batteries, battery chargers, and component summary); and (4) hybrid vehicles (types of hybrid vehicles, operating modes, hybrid vehicles components, and hybrid vehicles performance characteristics).

F-15B ACTIVE with thrust vectoring nozzles on test stand

Science.gov (United States)

1995-01-01

This November 13, 1995, photograph of the F-15 Advanced Controls Technology for Integrated Vehicles (ACTIVE) at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, shows the thrust stand being used for ground testing of a new thrust-vectoring concept involving two new Pratt & Whitney nozzles that can turn up to 20 degrees in any direction. These nozzles give the aircraft thrust control in the pitch (up and down) and yaw (left and right) directions. This will reduce drag and increase fuel economy or range as compared with conventional aerodynamic controls, which increase the retarding forces (drag) acting upon the aircraft. These tests could lead to significant performance increases for military and commercial aircraft. The research program is the product of a collaborative effort by NASA, the Air Force's Wright Laboratory, Pratt & Whitney, and McDonnell Douglas Aerospace.

Vehicle Unsteady Dynamics Characteristics Based on Tire and Road Features

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bin Ma

2013-01-01

Full Text Available During automotive related accidents, tire and road play an important role in vehicle unsteady dynamics as they have a significant impact on the sliding friction. The calculation of the rubber viscoelastic energy loss modulus and the true contact area model is improved based on the true contact area and the rubber viscoelastic theory. A 10 DOF full vehicle dynamic model in consideration of the kinetic sliding friction coefficient which has good accuracy and reality is developed. The stability test is carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of the model, and the simulation test is done in MATLAB to analyze the impact of tire feature and road self-affine characteristics on the sport utility vehicle (SUV unsteady dynamics under different weights. The findings show that it is a great significance to analyze the SUV dynamics equipped with different tire on different roads, which may provide useful insights into solving the explicit-implicit features of tire prints in systematically and designing active safety systems.

New TA Index-Based Rollover Prevention System for Electric Vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiang Liu

2015-03-01

Full Text Available In addition to clean transportation and energy savings, electric vehicles can inherently offer better performance in the field of active safety and dynamic stability control, thanks to the superior fast and accurate control characteristics of electric motors. With the novel wheel status parameter TA for electric vehicles proposed by the authors in an earlier publication, a new TA index (TAI-based rollover prevention method is presented in this paper to improve the driving performance of EVs equipped with in-wheel motors. A three-level electric vehicle control structure is used to analyze the effective control steps for rollover prevention with the newly proposed TAI method. The simulation is conducted using an in-house developed electric vehicle dynamic model. The simulation results prove the feasibility of using TAI to detect rollover. The experiment uses an electric vehicle equipped with four in-wheel motors in the authors’ research lab. The vehicle parameter and performance data are imported to CarSim, which is industrial standard vehicle dynamic analysis software to run the rollover test. The experimental results also demonstrate that TAI is an effective method of rollover prevention.

Implementation of an Electric Vehicle Test Bed Controlled by a Virtual Power Plant for Contributing to Regulating Power Reserves

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Marra, Francesco; Sacchetti, Dario; Pedersen, Anders Bro

2012-01-01

and communication interfaces, is able to respond in real-time to smart grid control signals. The EV test bed is equipped with a Lithium-ion battery pack, a Battery Management System (BMS), a charger and a Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) unit for feeding power back to the grid. The designed solution serves......With the increased focus on Electric Vehicles (EV) research and the potential benefits they bring for smart grid applications, there is a growing need for an evaluation platform connected to the electricity grid. This paper addresses the design of an EV test bed, which using real EV components...... requests from the Danish TSO are used as a proof-of-concept, to demonstrate the EV test bed power response. Test results have proven the capability to respond to frequent power control requests and they reveal the potential EV ability for contributing to regulating power reserves....

40 CFR 80.52 - Vehicle preconditioning.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 16 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Vehicle preconditioning. 80.52 Section...) REGULATION OF FUELS AND FUEL ADDITIVES Reformulated Gasoline § 80.52 Vehicle preconditioning. (a) Initial vehicle preconditioning and preconditioning between tests with different fuels shall be performed in...

Benchmarking Promotion and Deployment Activities Regarding Intelligent Vehicle Safety Systems in the European Union

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Kievit, M.; Malone, K.M.; Zwijnenberg, H.; van Arem, B.

2008-01-01

This paper presents the results of a Benchmarking study performed in the European Union on Awareness and Promotion & Deployment activities related to Intelligent Vehicle Safety (IVS) systems (1). The study, commissioned by the European Commission under the Intelligent Car Initiative (a i2010

Male and female WorldSID and post mortem human subject responses in full-scale vehicle tests.

Science.gov (United States)

Yoganandan, Narayan; Humm, John; Pintar, Frank; Rhule, Heather; Moorhouse, Kevin; Suntay, Brian; Stricklin, Jim; Rudd, Rodney; Craig, Matthew

2017-05-29

This study compares the responses of male and female WorldSID dummies with post mortem human subject (PMHS) responses in full-scale vehicle tests. Tests were conducted according to the FMVSS-214 protocols and using the U.S. Side Impact New Car Assessment Program change in velocity to match PMHS experiments, published earlier. Moving deformable barrier (MDB) tests were conducted with the male and female surrogates in the left front and left rear seats. Pole tests were performed with the male surrogate in the left front seat. Three-point belt restraints were used. Sedan-type vehicles were used from the same manufacturer with side airbags. The PMHS head was instrumented with a pyramid-shaped nine-axis accelerometer package, with angular velocity transducers on the head. Accelerometers and angular velocity transducers were secured to T1, T6, and T12 spinous processes and sacrum. Three chest bands were secured around the upper, middle, and lower thoraces. Dummy instrumentation included five infrared telescoping rods for assessment of chest compression (IR-TRACC) and a chest band at the first abdomen rib, head angular velocity transducer, and head, T1, T4, T12, and pelvis accelerometers. Morphological responses of the kinematics of the head, thoracic spine, and pelvis matched in both surrogates for each pair. The peak magnitudes of the torso accelerations were lower for the dummy than for the biological surrogate. The brain rotational injury criterion (BrIC) response was the highest in the male dummy for the MDB test and PMHS. The probability of AIS3+ injuries, based on the head injury criterion, ranged from 3% to 13% for the PMHS and from 3% to 21% for the dummy from all tests. The BrIC-based metrics ranged from 0 to 21% for the biological and 0 to 48% for the dummy surrogates. The deflection profiles from the IR-TRACC sensors were unimodal. The maximum deflections from the chest band placed on the first abdominal rib were 31.7 mm and 25.4 mm for the male and female

Canadian high speed magnetically levitated vehicle system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Atherton, D L [Queen' s Univ., Kingston, Ont.; Belanger, P R; Burke, P E; Dawson, G E; Eastham, A R; Hayes, W F; Ooi, B T; Silvester, P; Slemon, G R

1978-04-01

A technically feasible high speed (400 to 480 km/h) guided ground transportation system, based on the use of the vehicle-borne superconducting magnets for electrodynamic suspension and guidance and for linear synchronous motor propulsion was defined as a future modal option for Canadian application. Analysis and design proposals were validated by large-scale tests on a rotating wheel facility and by modelling system components and their interactions. Thirty ton vehicles carrying 100 passengers operate over a flat-topped elevated guideway, which minimizes system down-time due to ice and snow accumulation and facilitates the design of turn-outs. A clearance of up to 15 cm is produced by the electrodynamic interaction between the vehicle-borne superconducting magnets and aluminum guideway strips. Propulsion and automatic system control is provided by the superconducting linear synchronous motor which operates at good efficiency (0.74) and high power factor (0.95). The vehicle is guided primarily by the interaction between the LSM field magnet array and flat null-flux loops overlying the stator windings in the guideway. The linear synchronous motor, electrodynamic suspension as well as levitation strip joints, parasitic LSM winding losses and limitations to the use of ferromagnetic guideway reinforcement were investigated experimentally on the test wheel facility. The use of a secondary suspension assures adequate dynamic stability, and good ride quality is achieved by optimized passive components with respect to lateral modes and by an actively controlled secondary suspension with respect to vertical motion.

40 CFR 86.532-78 - Vehicle preconditioning.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 18 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Vehicle preconditioning. 86.532-78... (CONTINUED) CONTROL OF EMISSIONS FROM NEW AND IN-USE HIGHWAY VEHICLES AND ENGINES Emission Regulations for 1978 and Later New Motorcycles; Test Procedures § 86.532-78 Vehicle preconditioning. (a) The vehicle...

Launch vehicle selection model

Science.gov (United States)

Montoya, Alex J.

1990-01-01

Over the next 50 years, humans will be heading for the Moon and Mars to build scientific bases to gain further knowledge about the universe and to develop rewarding space activities. These large scale projects will last many years and will require large amounts of mass to be delivered to Low Earth Orbit (LEO). It will take a great deal of planning to complete these missions in an efficient manner. The planning of a future Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle (HLLV) will significantly impact the overall multi-year launching cost for the vehicle fleet depending upon when the HLLV will be ready for use. It is desirable to develop a model in which many trade studies can be performed. In one sample multi-year space program analysis, the total launch vehicle cost of implementing the program reduced from 50 percent to 25 percent. This indicates how critical it is to reduce space logistics costs. A linear programming model has been developed to answer such questions. The model is now in its second phase of development, and this paper will address the capabilities of the model and its intended uses. The main emphasis over the past year was to make the model user friendly and to incorporate additional realistic constraints that are difficult to represent mathematically. We have developed a methodology in which the user has to be knowledgeable about the mission model and the requirements of the payloads. We have found a representation that will cut down the solution space of the problem by inserting some preliminary tests to eliminate some infeasible vehicle solutions. The paper will address the handling of these additional constraints and the methodology for incorporating new costing information utilizing learning curve theory. The paper will review several test cases that will explore the preferred vehicle characteristics and the preferred period of construction, i.e., within the next decade, or in the first decade of the next century. Finally, the paper will explore the interaction

System analysis of vehicle active safety problem

Science.gov (United States)

Buznikov, S. E.

2018-02-01

The problem of the road transport safety affects the vital interests of the most of the population and is characterized by a global level of significance. The system analysis of problem of creation of competitive active vehicle safety systems is presented as an interrelated complex of tasks of multi-criterion optimization and dynamic stabilization of the state variables of a controlled object. Solving them requires generation of all possible variants of technical solutions within the software and hardware domains and synthesis of the control, which is close to optimum. For implementing the task of the system analysis the Zwicky “morphological box” method is used. Creation of comprehensive active safety systems involves solution of the problem of preventing typical collisions. For solving it, a structured set of collisions is introduced with its elements being generated also using the Zwicky “morphological box” method. The obstacle speed, the longitudinal acceleration of the controlled object and the unpredictable changes in its movement direction due to certain faults, the road surface condition and the control errors are taken as structure variables that characterize the conditions of collisions. The conditions for preventing typical collisions are presented as inequalities for physical variables that define the state vector of the object and its dynamic limits.

Development and testing of electrical powered vehicles of the moped-class in spa and health resorts. Final report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Knoll, M.; Manthey, A.

1992-04-01

Aim of the project was to study which contribution electrical powered vehicles of the moped-class can make to reduce noise and air pollution. In the pilot towns Bad Reichenhall and Bad Duerrheim the vehicles were integrated into traffic plans by giving the users advantages. The testing procedure included the suitability for everyday use, the acceptance by users and an environmently balance concerning energy consumption and air pollution in comparison with the mopeds with combustion engines. Efforts of building a solar infrastructure were started. (orig./HW) [de

Monitoring of activity of the persons and vehicles at the exit from the NPP Bohunice

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dobis, L.; Kaizer, J.; Svitek, J.

1998-01-01

In this paper the technical description of the monitoring of activity of the persons and vehicles at the exit from the NPP Bohunice as well as the results of monitoring during last six months are described

Electric vehicle demonstration

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ouellet, M. [National Centre for Advanced Transportation, Saint-Jerome, PQ (Canada)

2010-07-01

The desirable characteristics of Canadian projects that demonstrate vehicle use in real-world operation and the appropriate mechanism to collect and disseminate the monitoring data were discussed in this presentation. The scope of the project was on passenger cars and light duty trucks operating in plug-in electric vehicle (PHEV) or battery electric vehicle modes. The presentation also discussed the funding, stakeholders involved, Canadian travel pattern analysis, regulatory framework, current and recent electric vehicle demonstration projects, and project guidelines. It was concluded that some demonstration project activities may have been duplicated as communication between the proponents was insufficient. It was recommended that data monitoring using automatic data logging with minimum reliance on logbooks and other user entry should be emphasized. figs.

Cartalk 2000: development of a co-operative ADAS based on vehicle-to-vehicle communication

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Morsink, P.L.J.; Hallouzi, R.; Dagli, I.; Cseh, C.; Schäfers, L.; Nelisse, M.W.; Bruin, D. de

2003-01-01

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) benefit from using vehicle-to-vehicle communication. In the 5th framework EC project CarTALK2000 co-operative ADAS are designed, tested and evaluated with respect to increasing traffic safety, efficiency and driving comfort. Communication based longitudinal

A theoretical and practical test of geographical profiling with serial vehicle theft in a U.K. context.

Science.gov (United States)

Tonkin, Matthew; Woodhams, Jessica; Bond, John W; Loe, Trudy

2010-01-01

Geographical profiling is an investigative methodology sometimes employed by the police to predict the residence of an unknown offender from the locations of his/her crimes. The validity of geographical profiling, however, has not been fully explored for certain crime types. This study, therefore, presents a preliminary test of the potential for geographical profiling with a sample of 145 serial vehicle thieves from the U.K. The behavioural assumptions underlying geographical profiling (distance decay and domocentricity) are tested and a simple practical test of profiling using the spatial mean is presented. There is evidence for distance decay but not domocentricity among the spatial behaviour of car thieves from the U.K. A degree of success was achieved when applying the spatial mean on a case-by-case basis. The level of success varied, however, and neither series length in days nor number of crimes could account for the variation. The findings question previously held assumptions regarding geographical profiling and have potential theoretical and practical implications for the study and investigation of vehicle theft in the U.K. 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Pneumatic vehicle. Research and design

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lokodi Zsolt

2011-12-01

Full Text Available This experimental vehicle was designed for an international competition organized by Bosch Rexroth yearly in Hungary. The purpose of this competition is to design, build and race vehicles with a fuel source of compressed gas. The race consists of multiple events: longest run distance, the smartness track and the best acceleration event. These events test to the limit the capabilities of the designed vehicles.

Vehicle Systems Engineering and Integration Activities - Phase 5

Science.gov (United States)

2012-08-31

payload, 10,300 lb gross vehicle weight. The Expanded Capacity Vehicle (ECV, 1993-present) has a 6.5 liter turbo diesel Bolt on armor required...installed by the maintenance unit. A proposed ECV2 (not currently in production) has an improved 6.5 liter turbo diesel engine, a new transmission...frame (3 piece welded), integral “A” armor with attachment points for “B” armor kit, increased cab space (14 cubic feet), enhanced 6500 turbo diesel

On the achievable performance using variable geometry active secondary suspension systems in commercial vehicles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Evers, W.J.; Besselink, I.G.M.; Teerhuis, A.P.; Nijmeijer, H.

2011-01-01

There is a need to further improve driver comfort in commercial vehicles. The variable geometry active suspension offers an interesting option to achieve this in an energy efficient way. However, the optimal control strategy and the overal performance potential remains unclear. The aim of this paper

Application of Novel Lateral Tire Force Sensors to Vehicle Parameter Estimation of Electric Vehicles.

Science.gov (United States)

Nam, Kanghyun

2015-11-11

This article presents methods for estimating lateral vehicle velocity and tire cornering stiffness, which are key parameters in vehicle dynamics control, using lateral tire force measurements. Lateral tire forces acting on each tire are directly measured by load-sensing hub bearings that were invented and further developed by NSK Ltd. For estimating the lateral vehicle velocity, tire force models considering lateral load transfer effects are used, and a recursive least square algorithm is adapted to identify the lateral vehicle velocity as an unknown parameter. Using the estimated lateral vehicle velocity, tire cornering stiffness, which is an important tire parameter dominating the vehicle's cornering responses, is estimated. For the practical implementation, the cornering stiffness estimation algorithm based on a simple bicycle model is developed and discussed. Finally, proposed estimation algorithms were evaluated using experimental test data.

Vehicle Dynamics and Control

CERN Document Server

Rajamani, Rajesh

2012-01-01

Vehicle Dynamics and Control provides a comprehensive coverage of vehicle control systems and the dynamic models used in the development of these control systems. The control system applications covered in the book include cruise control, adaptive cruise control, ABS, automated lane keeping, automated highway systems, yaw stability control, engine control, passive, active and semi-active suspensions, tire-road friction coefficient estimation, rollover prevention, and hybrid electric vehicle. In developing the dynamic model for each application, an effort is made to both keep the model simple enough for control system design but at the same time rich enough to capture the essential features of the dynamics. A special effort has been made to explain the several different tire models commonly used in literature and to interpret them physically. In the second edition of the book, chapters on roll dynamics, rollover prevention and hybrid electric vehicles have been added, and the chapter on electronic stability co...

Physiological demands of off-road vehicle riding.

Science.gov (United States)

Burr, Jamie F; Jamnik, Veronica K; Shaw, Jim A; Gledhill, Norman

2010-07-01

The purpose of this study was to characterize the physiological demands of recreational off-road vehicle riding under typical riding conditions using habitual recreational off-road vehicle riders (n = 128). Comparisons of the physical demands of off-road vehicle riding were made between vehicle types (all-terrain vehicle (ATV) and off-road motorcycle (ORM)) to the demands of common recreational activities. Habitual riders (ATV = 56, ORM = 72) performed strength assessments before and after a representative trail ride (48 +/- 24.2 min), and ambulatory oxygen consumption was measured during one lap (24.2 +/- 11.8 min) of the ride. The mean VO2 requirement (mL x kg(-1) x min(-1)) while riding an off-road vehicle was 12.1 +/- 4.9 for ATV and 21.3 +/- 7.1 for ORM (P = 0.002), which is comparable to the VO2 required of many common recreational activities. Temporal analysis of activity intensity revealed approximately 14% of an ATV ride and 38% of an ORM ride are within the intensity range (940% VO2 reserve) required to achieve changes in aerobic fitness. Riding on a representative course also led to muscular fatigue, particularly in the upper body. On the basis of the measured metabolic demands, evidence of muscular strength requirements, and the associated caloric expenditures with off-road vehicle riding, this alternative form of activity conforms to the recommended physical activity guidelines and can be effective for achieving beneficial changes in health and fitness.

Synergistic Development, Test, and Qualification Approaches for the Ares I and V Launch Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Cockrell, Charles E.; Taylor, James L.; Patterson, Alan; Stephens, Samuel E.; Tyson, Richard W.; Hueter, Uwe

2009-01-01

The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration is designing and developing the Ares I and Ares V launch vehicles for access to the International Space Station (ISS) and human exploration of the Moon. The Ares I consists of a first stage reusable five-segment solid rocket booster, a upper stage using a J-2X engine derived from heritage experience (Saturn and Space Shuttle External Tank programs), and the Orion crew exploration vehicle (CEV). The Ares V is designed to minimize the development and overall life-cycle costs by leveraging off of the Ares I design. The Ares V consists of two boosters, a core stage, an earth departure stage (EDS), and a shroud. The core stage and EDS use LH2/LO2 propellants, metallic propellant tanks, and composite dry structures. The core stage has six RS-68B upgraded Delta IV engines while the EDS uses a J-2X engine for second stage ascent and trans-lunar injection (TLI) burn. System and propulsion tests and qualification approaches for Ares V elements are being considered as follow-on extensions of the Ares I development program. Following Ares I IOC, testing will be conducted to verify the J-2X engine's orbital restart and TLI burn capability. The Ares I upper stage operation will be demonstrated through integrated stage development and acceptance testing. The EDS will undergo similar development and acceptance testing with additional testing to verify aspects of cryogenic propellant management, operation of sub-systems in a space simulation environment, and orbital re-start of the main propulsion system. RS-68B certification testing will be conducted along with integrated core stage development and acceptance testing. Structural testing of the Ares V EDS and core stage propellant tanks will be conducted similar to the Ares I upper stage. The structural qualification testing may be accomplished with separate propellant tank test articles. Structural development and qualification testing of the dry structure will be pursued as

Regenerative braking strategies, vehicle safety and stability control systems: critical use-case proposals

Science.gov (United States)

Oleksowicz, Selim A.; Burnham, Keith J.; Southgate, Adam; McCoy, Chris; Waite, Gary; Hardwick, Graham; Harrington, Cian; McMurran, Ross

2013-05-01

The sustainable development of vehicle propulsion systems that have mainly focused on reduction of fuel consumption (i.e. CO2 emission) has led, not only to the development of systems connected with combustion processes but also to legislation and testing procedures. In recent years, the low carbon policy has made hybrid vehicles and fully electric vehicles (H/EVs) popular. The main virtue of these propulsion systems is their ability to restore some of the expended energy from kinetic movement, e.g. the braking process. Consequently new research and testing methods for H/EVs are currently being developed. This especially concerns the critical 'use-cases' for functionality tests within dynamic events for both virtual simulations, as well as real-time road tests. The use-case for conventional vehicles for numerical simulations and road tests are well established. However, the wide variety of tests and their great number (close to a thousand) creates a need for selection, in the first place, and the creation of critical use-cases suitable for testing H/EVs in both virtual and real-world environments. It is known that a marginal improvement in the regenerative braking ratio can significantly improve the vehicle range and, therefore, the economic cost of its operation. In modern vehicles, vehicle dynamics control systems play the principal role in safety, comfort and economic operation. Unfortunately, however, the existing standard road test scenarios are insufficient for H/EVs. Sector knowledge suggests that there are currently no agreed tests scenarios to fully investigate the effects of brake blending between conventional and regenerative braking as well as the regenerative braking interaction with active driving safety systems (ADSS). The paper presents seven manoeuvres, which are considered to be suitable and highly informative for the development and examination of H/EVs with regenerative braking capability. The critical manoeuvres presented are considered to be

On-road emissions of light-duty vehicles in europe.

Science.gov (United States)

Weiss, Martin; Bonnel, Pierre; Hummel, Rudolf; Provenza, Alessio; Manfredi, Urbano

2011-10-01

For obtaining type approval in the European Union, light-duty vehicles have to comply with emission limits during standardized laboratory emissions testing. Although emission limits have become more stringent in past decades, light-duty vehicles remain an important source of nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide emissions in Europe. Furthermore, persisting air quality problems in many urban areas suggest that laboratory emissions testing may not accurately capture the on-road emissions of light-duty vehicles. To address this issue, we conduct the first comprehensive on-road emissions test of light-duty vehicles with state-of-the-art Portable Emission Measurement Systems. We find that nitrogen oxides emissions of gasoline vehicles as well as carbon monoxide and total hydrocarbon emissions of both diesel and gasoline vehicles generally remain below the respective emission limits. By contrast, nitrogen oxides emissions of diesel vehicles (0.93 ± 0.39 grams per kilometer [g/km]), including modern Euro 5 diesel vehicles (0.62 ± 0.19 g/km), exceed emission limits by 320 ± 90%. On-road carbon dioxide emissions surpass laboratory emission levels by 21 ± 9%, suggesting that the current laboratory emissions testing fails to accurately capture the on-road emissions of light-duty vehicles. Our findings provide the empirical foundation for the European Commission to establish a complementary emissions test procedure for light-duty vehicles. This procedure could be implemented together with more stringent Euro 6 emission limits in 2014. The envisaged measures should improve urban air quality and provide incentive for innovation in the automotive industry.

Improved Accelerated Stress Tests Based on Fuel Cell Vehicle Data

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Patterson, Timothy [Research Engineer; Motupally, Sathya [Research Engineer

2012-06-01

UTC will led a top-tier team of industry and national laboratory participants to update and improve DOE’s Accelerated Stress Tests (AST’s) for hydrogen fuel cells. This in-depth investigation will focused on critical fuel cell components (e.g. membrane electrode assemblies - MEA) whose durability represented barriers for widespread commercialization of hydrogen fuel cell technology. UTC had access to MEA materials that had accrued significant load time under real-world conditions in PureMotion® 120 power plant used in transit buses. These materials are referred to as end-of-life (EOL) components in the rest of this document. Advanced characterization techniques were used to evaluate degradation mode progress using these critical cell components extracted from both bus power plants and corresponding materials tested using the DOE AST’s. These techniques were applied to samples at beginning-of-life (BOL) to serve as a baseline. These comparisons advised the progress of the various failure modes that these critical components were subjected to, such as membrane degradation, catalyst support corrosion, platinum group metal dissolution, and others. Gaps in the existing ASTs predicted the degradation observed in the field in terms of these modes were outlined. Using the gaps, new AST’s were recommended and tested to better reflect the degradation modes seen in field operation. Also, BOL components were degraded in a test vehicle at UTC designed to accelerate the bus field operation.

Near-Term Electric Vehicle Program. Phase II: Mid-Term Summary Report.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

1978-08-01

The Near Term Electric Vehicle (NTEV) Program is a constituent elements of the overall national Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Program that is being implemented by the Department of Energy in accordance with the requirements of the Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Research, Development, and Demonstration Act of 1976. Phase II of the NTEV Program is focused on the detailed design and development, of complete electric integrated test vehicles that incorporate current and near-term technology, and meet specified DOE objectives. The activities described in this Mid-Term Summary Report are being carried out by two contractor teams. The prime contractors for these contractor teams are the General Electric Company and the Garrett Corporation. This report is divided into two discrete parts. Part 1 describes the progress of the General Electric team and Part 2 describes the progress of the Garrett team.

PASSIVE DETECTION OF VEHICLE LOADING

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Garrett, A.

2012-01-03

The Digital Imaging and Remote Sensing Laboratory (DIRS) at the Rochester Institute of Technology, along with the Savannah River National Laboratory is investigating passive methods to quantify vehicle loading. The research described in this paper investigates multiple vehicle indicators including brake temperature, tire temperature, engine temperature, acceleration and deceleration rates, engine acoustics, suspension response, tire deformation and vibrational response. Our investigation into these variables includes building and implementing a sensing system for data collection as well as multiple full-scale vehicle tests. The sensing system includes; infrared video cameras, triaxial accelerometers, microphones, video cameras and thermocouples. The full scale testing includes both a medium size dump truck and a tractor-trailer truck on closed courses with loads spanning the full range of the vehicle's capacity. Statistical analysis of the collected data is used to determine the effectiveness of each of the indicators for characterizing the weight of a vehicle. The final sensing system will monitor multiple load indicators and combine the results to achieve a more accurate measurement than any of the indicators could provide alone.

Passive detection of vehicle loading

Science.gov (United States)

McKay, Troy R.; Salvaggio, Carl; Faulring, Jason W.; Salvaggio, Philip S.; McKeown, Donald M.; Garrett, Alfred J.; Coleman, David H.; Koffman, Larry D.

2012-01-01

The Digital Imaging and Remote Sensing Laboratory (DIRS) at the Rochester Institute of Technology, along with the Savannah River National Laboratory is investigating passive methods to quantify vehicle loading. The research described in this paper investigates multiple vehicle indicators including brake temperature, tire temperature, engine temperature, acceleration and deceleration rates, engine acoustics, suspension response, tire deformation and vibrational response. Our investigation into these variables includes building and implementing a sensing system for data collection as well as multiple full-scale vehicle tests. The sensing system includes; infrared video cameras, triaxial accelerometers, microphones, video cameras and thermocouples. The full scale testing includes both a medium size dump truck and a tractor-trailer truck on closed courses with loads spanning the full range of the vehicle's capacity. Statistical analysis of the collected data is used to determine the effectiveness of each of the indicators for characterizing the weight of a vehicle. The final sensing system will monitor multiple load indicators and combine the results to achieve a more accurate measurement than any of the indicators could provide alone.

Autonomous Navigation for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles Based on Information Filters and Active Sensing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tianhong Yan

2011-11-01

Full Text Available This paper addresses an autonomous navigation method for the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV C-Ranger applying information-filter-based simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM, and its sea trial experiments in Tuandao Bay (Shangdong Province, P.R. China. Weak links in the information matrix in an extended information filter (EIF can be pruned to achieve an efficient approach-sparse EIF algorithm (SEIF-SLAM. All the basic update formulae can be implemented in constant time irrespective of the size of the map; hence the computational complexity is significantly reduced. The mechanical scanning imaging sonar is chosen as the active sensing device for the underwater vehicle, and a compensation method based on feedback of the AUV pose is presented to overcome distortion of the acoustic images due to the vehicle motion. In order to verify the feasibility of the navigation methods proposed for the C-Ranger, a sea trial was conducted in Tuandao Bay. Experimental results and analysis show that the proposed navigation approach based on SEIF-SLAM improves the accuracy of the navigation compared with conventional method; moreover the algorithm has a low computational cost when compared with EKF-SLAM.

Autonomous navigation for autonomous underwater vehicles based on information filters and active sensing.

Science.gov (United States)

He, Bo; Zhang, Hongjin; Li, Chao; Zhang, Shujing; Liang, Yan; Yan, Tianhong

2011-01-01

This paper addresses an autonomous navigation method for the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) C-Ranger applying information-filter-based simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM), and its sea trial experiments in Tuandao Bay (Shangdong Province, P.R. China). Weak links in the information matrix in an extended information filter (EIF) can be pruned to achieve an efficient approach-sparse EIF algorithm (SEIF-SLAM). All the basic update formulae can be implemented in constant time irrespective of the size of the map; hence the computational complexity is significantly reduced. The mechanical scanning imaging sonar is chosen as the active sensing device for the underwater vehicle, and a compensation method based on feedback of the AUV pose is presented to overcome distortion of the acoustic images due to the vehicle motion. In order to verify the feasibility of the navigation methods proposed for the C-Ranger, a sea trial was conducted in Tuandao Bay. Experimental results and analysis show that the proposed navigation approach based on SEIF-SLAM improves the accuracy of the navigation compared with conventional method; moreover the algorithm has a low computational cost when compared with EKF-SLAM.

Safety Performance Evaluations for the Vehicle Based Movable Barriers Using Full Scale Crash Tests

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jin Minsoo

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The present study aims to develop a prototype of large-size movable barriers to protect roadside workers from incoming vehicles to the road work area with the following functions: maximization of work space in the right and left directions, convenient mobility, and minimization of impact without modification of the inside of movable barriers into traffic lanes and perform safety performance assessment on passengers through full scale crash tests. The large movable barrier was divided into folder type and telescope type and the development stage was now at the prototype phase. A full scale crash test was conducted prior to certification test at a level of 90%. The full scale crash test result showed that both types of folder type movable barrier and telescope type movable barrier satisfied the standard of the passenger safety performance evaluation at a level of 90%.

Biomechanical effects of mobile computer location in a vehicle cab.

Science.gov (United States)

Saginus, Kyle A; Marklin, Richard W; Seeley, Patricia; Simoneau, Guy G; Freier, Stephen

2011-10-01

The objective of this research is to determine the best location to place a conventional mobile computer supported by a commercially available mount in a light truck cab. U.S. and Canadian electric utility companies are in the process of integrating mobile computers into their fleet vehicle cabs. There are no publications on the effect of mobile computer location in a vehicle cab on biomechanical loading, performance, and subjective assessment. The authors tested four locations of mobile computers in a light truck cab in a laboratory study to determine how location affected muscle activity of the lower back and shoulders; joint angles of the shoulders, elbows, and wrist; user performance; and subjective assessment. A total of 22 participants were tested in this study. Placing the mobile computer closer to the steering wheel reduced low back and shoulder muscle activity. Joint angles of the shoulders, elbows, and wrists were also closer to neutral angle. Biomechanical modeling revealed substantially less spinal compression and trunk muscle force. In general, there were no practical differences in performance between the locations. Subjective assessment indicated that users preferred the mobile computer to be as close as possible to the steering wheel. Locating the mobile computer close to the steering wheel reduces risk of injuries, such as low back pain and shoulder tendonitis. Results from the study can guide electric utility companies in the installation of mobile computers into vehicle cabs. Results may also be generalized to other industries that use trucklike vehicles, such as construction.

Vehicles in hostile environment and service robots

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marchal, P.; Villedieu, E.

1987-01-01

The article concerns the R. and D. activities of the French Atomic Energy Commission (C.E.A.) during the last years. The vehicles already in operation or still under study are described. Some for use in C.E.A.: VIRGULE, a wheeled vehicle of great mobility, CENTAURE and OSCAR, smaller tracked vehicles, VERI, derived from a commercial vehicle, MERITE, MIR and MAM, devised for the inspection of central parts of powerplants; others are devoted to various activities: PLA (Autonomous free pick-up) for collecting nodules in the bottom of oceans, autonomous cleaners for the tunnels, platforms and cars of underground railways. The constraints and various problems related to the design of such vehicles are then examined [fr

IEA Vehicle Efficiency Workshops Drive New Vehicle Policy Approaches

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2007-07-01

Fuel economy is not only about getting more performance from the engine. Components outside the engine are also large fuel consumers. If fuel-economy test methods always remembered that, vehicle manufacturers would optimise component performance. A number of initiatives addressing component test standards and related policies have been triggered by IEA's recent workshops.

Emission factor of ammonia (NH3) from on-road vehicles in China: tunnel tests in urban Guangzhou

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Tengyu; Wang, Xinming; Wang, Boguang; Ding, Xiang; Deng, Wei; Lü, Sujun; Zhang, Yanli

2014-05-01

Ammonia (NH3) is the primary alkaline gas in the atmosphere that contributes to formation of secondary particles. Emission of NH3 from vehicles, particularly gasoline powered light duty vehicles equipped with three-way catalysts, is regarded as an important source apart from emissions from animal wastes and soils, yet measured emission factors for motor vehicles are still not available in China, where traffic-related emission has become an increasingly important source of air pollutants in urban areas. Here we present our tunnel tests for NH3 from motor vehicles under ‘real world conditions’ in an urban roadway tunnel in Guangzhou, a central city in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region in south China. By attributing all NH3 emissions in the tunnel to light-duty gasoline vehicles, we obtained a fuel-based emission rate of 2.92 ± 0.18 g L-1 and a mileage-based emission factor of 229.5 ± 14.1 mg km-1. These emission factors were much higher than those measured in the United States while measured NO x emission factors (7.17 ± 0.60 g L-1 or 0.56 ± 0.05 g km-1) were contrastingly near or lower than those previously estimated by MOBILE/PART5 or COPERT IV models. Based on the NH3 emission factors from this study, on-road vehicles accounted for 8.1% of NH3 emissions in the PRD region in 2006 instead of 2.5% as estimated in a previous study using emission factors taken from the Emission Inventory Improvement Program (EIIP) in the United States.

Emission factor of ammonia (NH3) from on-road vehicles in China: tunnel tests in urban Guangzhou

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, Tengyu; Wang, Xinming; Ding, Xiang; Deng, Wei; Lü, Sujun; Zhang, Yanli; Wang, Boguang

2014-01-01

Ammonia (NH 3 ) is the primary alkaline gas in the atmosphere that contributes to formation of secondary particles. Emission of NH 3 from vehicles, particularly gasoline powered light duty vehicles equipped with three-way catalysts, is regarded as an important source apart from emissions from animal wastes and soils, yet measured emission factors for motor vehicles are still not available in China, where traffic-related emission has become an increasingly important source of air pollutants in urban areas. Here we present our tunnel tests for NH 3 from motor vehicles under ‘real world conditions’ in an urban roadway tunnel in Guangzhou, a central city in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region in south China. By attributing all NH 3 emissions in the tunnel to light-duty gasoline vehicles, we obtained a fuel-based emission rate of 2.92 ± 0.18 g L −1 and a mileage-based emission factor of 229.5 ± 14.1 mg km −1 . These emission factors were much higher than those measured in the United States while measured NO x emission factors (7.17 ± 0.60 g L −1 or 0.56 ± 0.05 g km −1 ) were contrastingly near or lower than those previously estimated by MOBILE/PART5 or COPERT IV models. Based on the NH 3 emission factors from this study, on-road vehicles accounted for 8.1% of NH 3 emissions in the PRD region in 2006 instead of 2.5% as estimated in a previous study using emission factors taken from the Emission Inventory Improvement Program (EIIP) in the United States. (letter)

Development and testing of bio-inspired microelectromechanical pressure sensor arrays for increased situational awareness for marine vehicles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dusek, J; Triantafyllou, M S; Kottapalli, A G P; Asadnia, M; Miao, J; Woo, M E; Lang, J H

2013-01-01

The lateral line found on most species of fish is a sensory organ without analog in humans. Using sensory feedback from the lateral line, fish are able to track prey, school, avoid obstacles, and detect vortical flow structures. Composed of both a superficial component, and a component contained within canals beneath the fish’s skin, the lateral line acts in a similar fashion to an array of differential pressure sensors. In an effort to enhance the situational and environmental awareness of marine vehicles, lateral-line-inspired pressure sensor arrays were developed to mimic the enhanced sensory capabilities observed in fish. Three flexible and waterproof pressure sensor arrays were fabricated for use as a surface-mounted ‘smart skin’ on marine vehicles. Two of the sensor arrays were based around the use of commercially available piezoresistive sensor dies, with innovative packaging schemes to allow for flexibility and underwater operation. The sensor arrays employed liquid crystal polymer and flexible printed circuit board substrates with metallic circuits and silicone encapsulation. The third sensor array employed a novel nanocomposite material set that allowed for the fabrication of a completely flexible sensor array. All three sensors were surface mounted on the curved hull of an autonomous kayak vehicle, and tested in both pool and reservoir environments. Results demonstrated that all three sensors were operational while deployed on the autonomous vehicle, and provided an accurate means for monitoring the vehicle dynamics. (paper)

Principles of topical treatment: advancement in gel vehicle technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Feldman, Steven R

2014-04-01

Topical treatment is a pillar of dermatologic practice. The delivery of drug by a topical vehicle is dependent on complex physical chemistry and on how well patients apply the product. The potency of topical agents is not solely dependent on the concentration of active drug in the vehicle. A corticosteroid molecule may have vastly different potency depending on what vehicle is used to deliver it. Similarly, a new gel vehicle is able to deliver considerably more active antifungal than an older vehicle technology and may represent a promising vehicle for other novel formulations. The use of new vehicles can provide more effective means for treating patients with skin disease.

Evaluation of On-Road Vehicle Emission Trends in the United States

Science.gov (United States)

Harley, R. A.; Dallmann, T. R.; Kirchstetter, T.

2010-12-01

Mobile sources contribute significantly to emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), fine particulate matter (PM2.5), and black carbon (BC). These emissions lead to a variety of environmental problems including air pollution and climate change. At present, national and state-level mobile source emission inventories are developed using statistical models to predict emissions from large and diverse populations of vehicles. Activity is measured by total vehicle-km traveled, and pollutant emission factors are predicted based on laboratory testing of individual vehicles. Despite efforts to improve mobile source emission inventories, they continue to have large associated uncertainties. Alternate methods, such as the fuel-based approach used here, are needed to evaluate estimates of mobile source emissions and to help reduce uncertainties. In this study we quantify U.S. national emissions of NOx, CO, PM2.5, and BC from on-road diesel and gasoline vehicles for the years 1990-2010, including effects of a weakened national economy on fuel sales and vehicle travel from 2008-10. Pollutant emissions are estimated by multiplying total amounts of fuel consumed with emission factors expressed per unit of fuel burned. Fuel consumption is used as a measure of vehicle activity, and is based on records of taxable fuel sales. Pollutant emission factors are derived from roadside and tunnel studies, remote sensing measurements, and individual vehicle exhaust plume capture experiments. Emission factors are updated with new results from a summer 2010 field study conducted at the Caldecott tunnel in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Constraint Embedding for Vehicle Suspension Dynamics

OpenAIRE

Jain Abhinandan; Kuo Calvin; Jayakumar Paramsothy; Cameron Jonathan

2016-01-01

The goal of this research is to achieve close to real-time dynamics performance for allowing auto-pilot in-the-loop testing of unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) for urban as well as off-road scenarios. The overall vehicle dynamics performance is governed by the multibody dynamics model for the vehicle, the wheel/terrain interaction dynamics and the onboard control system. The topic of this paper is the development of computationally efficient and accurate dynamics model for ground vehicles with ...

Application of Finite Element Based Simulation and Modal Testing Methods to Improve Vehicle Powertrain Idle Vibration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Polat Sendur

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Current practice of analytical and test methods related to the analysis, testing and improvement of vehicle vibrations is overviewed. The methods are illustrated on the determination and improvement of powertrain induced steering wheel vibration of a heavy commercial truck. More specifically, the transmissibility of powertrain idle vibration to cabin is investigated with respect to powertrain rigid body modes and modal alignment of the steering column/wheel system is considered. It is found out that roll mode of the powertrain is not separated from idle excitation for effective vibration isolation as well as steering wheel column mode is close to the 3rd engine excitation frequency order, which results in high vibration levels. Powertrain roll mode is optimized by tuning the powertrain mount stiffness to improve the performance. Steering column mode is also separated from the 3rd engine excitation frequency by the application of a mass absorber. It is concluded that the use of analytical and test methods to address the complex relation between design parameters and powertrain idle response is effective to optimize the system performance and evaluate the trade-offs in the vehicle design such as vibration performance and weight. Reference Number: www.asrongo.org/doi:4.2017.2.1.10

Application of theoretical vehicle dynamic results for experimental validation of vehicle characteristics in autonomous vehicle guidance; Aehnlichkeitstheoretische Modelluebertragung zur experimentellen Eigenschaftsabsicherung in der autonomen Fahrzeugfuehrung

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hilgert, J.; Bertram, T. [Univ. Duisburg (Germany). Fachbereich Maschinenbau

2002-07-01

The validation and verification of theoretical vehicle dynamic results for autonomous driving can be seen as a major challenge. The main reasons are the high cost of driving tests and the risk of damaging or destroying the test vehicle and the involved persons. One possibility for avoiding these problems and simultaneously to ensure good experimental results lies in the use of scaled model vehicles. Of special relevance is the transfer of relevant parameters to the full size vehicle. In this paper a method based on similitude analysis is developed for validation and verification of driving tests for autonomous vehicles. This method is described for a lane change manoeuvre for a 1:5 scaled vehicle belonging to the Institute of Mechatronics and System Dynamics at the Gerhard-Mercator-Universitaet Duisburg. (orig.) [German] In der autonomen Fahrzeugfuehrung stellt die experimentelle Verifikation und Validierung von theoretischen Ergebnissen hinsichtlich fahrdynamischer Eigenschaften eine grosse Herausforderung dar. Die Ursachen hierfuer liegen zum einen in den hohen Kosten, welche bei Fahrversuchen entstehen, und zum anderen im Unfallrisiko fuer den Versuchstraeger und die am Versuch beteiligten Personen. Eine Moeglichkeit diese Nachteile zu umgehen und gleichzeitig experimentelle Ergebnisse zu bekommen, besteht in der Verwendung massstabgetreuer Modellfahrzeuge. Von besonderer Bedeutung ist hier die Uebertragung relevanter Parameter auf das reale Fahrzeug. In diesem Beitrag wird daher mit Hilfe von aehnlichkeitstheoretischen Ueberlegungen ein Konzept zur experimentellen Verifikation und Validierung von Fahrversuchen auf Basis eines am Institut fuer Mechatronik und Systemdynamik der Gerhard-Mercator-Universitaet Duisburg vorhandenen Fahrzeugmodells (Massstab 1:5) anhand eines Spurwechselmanoevers vorgestellt. (orig.)

Research on Correlation between Vehicle Cycle and Engine Cycle in Heavy-duty commercial vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

lin, Chen; Zhong, Wang; Shuai, Liu

2017-12-01

In order to study the correlation between vehicle cycle and engine cycle in heavy commercial vehicles, the conversion model of vehicle cycle to engine cycle is constructed based on the vehicle power system theory and shift strategy, which considers the verification on diesel truck. The results show that the model has high rationality and reliability in engine operation. In the acceleration process of high speed, the difference of model gear selection leads to the actual deviation. Compared with the drum test, the engine speed distribution obtained by the model deviates to right, which fits to the lower grade. The grade selection has high influence on the model.

State estimation for integrated vehicle dynamics control

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zuurbier, J.; Bremmer, P.

2002-01-01

This paper discusses a vehicle controller and a state estimator that was implemented and tested in a vehicle equipped with a combined braking and chassis control system to improve handling. The vehicle dynamics controller consists of a feed forward body roll compensation and a feedback stability

Active and semi-active control of suspension systems for commercial vehicles based on preview

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kok, J.J.; van Heck, J.G.A.M.; Muijderman, J.H.E.A.; Veldpaus, F.E.

1997-01-01

The performance of a vehicle axle/wheel suspension system is primarily determined by the comfort of the occupants, the required working space, the handling properties and, for commercial vehicles in particular, the dynamic tire forces and the load on the chassis components and on the cargo. General

Optimized Method for Knee Displacement Measurement in Vehicle Sled Crash Test

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sun Hang

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This paper provides an optimized method for measuring dummy’s knee displacement in vehicle sled crash test. The proposed method utilizes completely new elements for measurement, which are acceleration and angular velocity of dummy’s pelvis, as well as the rotational angle of its femur. Compared with the traditional measurement only using camera-based high-speed motion image analysis, the optimized one can not only maintain the measuring accuracy, but also avoid the disturbance caused by dummy movement, dashboard blocking and knee deformation during the crash. An experiment is made to verify the accuracy of the proposed method, which eliminates the strong dependence on single target tracing in traditional method. Moreover, it is very appropriate for calculating the penetration depth to the dashboard.

The ParaShield Entry Vehicle Concept: Basic Theory and Flight Test Development

OpenAIRE

Akin, David

1990-01-01

With the emergence of microsatellite launch vehicle technology and the development of interest in space commercialization, there is a renewed need for entry vehicle technology to return mass from low earth orbit. This paper documents the ParaShield concept of the Space Systems Laboratory, which is an ultra-low ballistic coefficient (ULβ) entry vehicle. Trajectory simulations show that as the ballistic coefficient is lowered into the range of 100-150 Pa (2-3lb/ft2) the total heat load and peak...

Hyper-X Vehicle Model - Side View

Science.gov (United States)

1996-01-01

A side-view of an early desk-top model of NASA's X-43A 'Hyper-X,' or Hypersonic Experimental Vehicle, which has been developed to flight test a dual-mode ramjet/scramjet propulsion system at speeds from Mach 7 up to Mach 10 (7 to 10 times the speed of sound, which varies with temperature and altitude). Hyper-X, the flight vehicle for which is designated as X-43A, is an experimental flight-research program seeking to demonstrate airframe-integrated, 'air-breathing' engine technologies that promise to increase payload capacity for future vehicles, including hypersonic aircraft (faster than Mach 5) and reusable space launchers. This multiyear program is currently underway at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. The Hyper-X schedule calls for its first flight later this year (2000). Hyper-X is a joint program, with Dryden sharing responsibility with NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia. Dryden's primary role is to fly three unpiloted X-43A research vehicles to validate engine technologies and hypersonic design tools as well as the hypersonic test facility at Langley. Langley manages the program and leads the technology development effort. The Hyper-X Program seeks to significantly expand the speed boundaries of air-breathing propulsion by being the first aircraft to demonstrate an airframe-integrated, scramjet-powered free flight. Scramjets (supersonic-combustion ramjets) are ramjet engines in which the airflow through the whole engine remains supersonic. Scramjet technology is challenging because only limited testing can be performed in ground facilities. Long duration, full-scale testing requires flight research. Scramjet engines are air-breathing, capturing their oxygen from the atmosphere. Current spacecraft, such as the Space Shuttle, are rocket powered, so they must carry both fuel and oxygen for propulsion. Scramjet technology-based vehicles need to carry only fuel. By eliminating the need to carry oxygen, future hypersonic

Hyper-X Vehicle Model - Front View

Science.gov (United States)

1996-01-01

A front view of an early desk-top model of NASA's X-43A 'Hyper-X,' or Hypersonic Experimental Vehicle, which has been developed to flight test a dual-mode ramjet/scramjet propulsion system at speeds from Mach 7 up to Mach 10 (7 to 10 times the speed of sound, which varies with temperature and altitude). Hyper-X, the flight vehicle for which is designated as X-43A, is an experimental flight-research program seeking to demonstrate airframe-integrated, 'air-breathing' engine technologies that promise to increase payload capacity for future vehicles, including hypersonic aircraft (faster than Mach 5) and reusable space launchers. This multiyear program is currently underway at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. The Hyper-X schedule calls for its first flight later this year (2000). Hyper-X is a joint program, with Dryden sharing responsibility with NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia. Dryden's primary role is to fly three unpiloted X-43A research vehicles to validate engine technologies and hypersonic design tools as well as the hypersonic test facility at Langley. Langley manages the program and leads the technology development effort. The Hyper-X Program seeks to significantly expand the speed boundaries of air-breathing propulsion by being the first aircraft to demonstrate an airframe-integrated, scramjet-powered free flight. Scramjets (supersonic-combustion ramjets) are ramjet engines in which the airflow through the whole engine remains supersonic. Scramjet technology is challenging because only limited testing can be performed in ground facilities. Long duration, full-scale testing requires flight research. Scramjet engines are air-breathing, capturing their oxygen from the atmosphere. Current spacecraft, such as the Space Shuttle, are rocket powered, so they must carry both fuel and oxygen for propulsion. Scramjet technology-based vehicles need to carry only fuel. By eliminating the need to carry oxygen, future hypersonic

Space vehicle with customizable payload and docking station

Science.gov (United States)

Judd, Stephen; Dallmann, Nicholas; McCabe, Kevin; Seitz, Daniel

2018-01-30

A "black box" space vehicle solution may allow a payload developer to define the mission space and provide mission hardware within a predetermined volume and with predetermined connectivity. Components such as the power module, radios and boards, attitude determination and control system (ADCS), command and data handling (C&DH), etc. may all be provided as part of a "stock" (i.e., core) space vehicle. The payload provided by the payload developer may be plugged into the space vehicle payload section, tested, and launched without custom development of core space vehicle components by the payload developer. A docking station may facilitate convenient development and testing of the space vehicle while reducing handling thereof.

Mobility in Turkey. Electric Vehicles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yazgan, M. [Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Turan Gunes Bulvari, Hollanda Caddesi, No.5,06550 Yildiz-Ankara (Turkey)

2013-01-15

The purpose of this report is to provide information about electric vehicles (EVs) and e-mobility as an emerging market in Turkey. EVs receive attention from the Turkish government for a number of reasons: Turkey has a strong automotive industry and needs to follow the technological developments taking place regarding intelligent vehicles and intelligent transport systems, as well as electric transportation technologies. Secondly, a considerable amount of carbon emissions from motor vehicles is of great concern in relation to climate change. EVs might be an alternative which can break the dependence of Turkey on imported fuel that has a negative influence on its current account deficit (CAD). On top of these factors, the Prime Minister of Turkey has a desire to have a 'Local Brand Vehicle' before the 100th year of the establishment of the Republic in 2023 and preferably an 'EV'. EVs are included in the strategy documents and action plans of almost all ministries and public institutions. Among all ministries, the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology (MoSI and T) takes a leading position. It holds bi-annual meetings with stakeholders to monitor and evaluate progress about the level of actualization of the identified policies on e-mobility. MoSI and T's related institution of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) co-ordinates the R and D activities and provides generous R and D incentives. EVs have been put on sale in Turkey in 2012 and are still very limited in number. Public institutions are taking the lead by converting their vehicle fleet to EVs. EVs are also more suitable for businesses/ duties with a fixed/short route; therefore it is expected that the growth of the sector will mainly come from the vehicle fleet of the public organisations and institutions, followed by the private vehicle fleet of companies, e.g. freight companies. Although there are some on-going test drives, it is not yet proven

Automated Vehicles Symposium 2015

CERN Document Server

Beiker, Sven

2016-01-01

This edited book comprises papers about the impacts, benefits and challenges of connected and automated cars. It is the third volume of the LNMOB series dealing with Road Vehicle Automation. The book comprises contributions from researchers, industry practitioners and policy makers, covering perspectives from the U.S., Europe and Japan. It is based on the Automated Vehicles Symposium 2015 which was jointly organized by the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) and the Transportation Research Board (TRB) in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in July 2015. The topical spectrum includes, but is not limited to, public sector activities, human factors, ethical and business aspects, energy and technological perspectives, vehicle systems and transportation infrastructure. This book is an indispensable source of information for academic researchers, industrial engineers and policy makers interested in the topic of road vehicle automation.

40 CFR 86.1231-96 - Vehicle preparation.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... Emission Test Procedures for New Gasoline-Fueled, Natural Gas-Fueled, Liquefied Petroleum Gas-Fueled and... vehicles prepare the fuel tank(s) for recording the temperature of the prescribed test fuel, as described... drain at the lowest point possible in the tank(s) as installed on the vehicle. (c) For preconditioning...

Automating Test Activities: Test Cases Creation, Test Execution, and Test Reporting with Multiple Test Automation Tools

OpenAIRE

Loke Mun Sei

2015-01-01

Software testing has become a mandatory process in assuring the software product quality. Hence, test management is needed in order to manage the test activities conducted in the software test life cycle. This paper discusses on the challenges faced in the software test life cycle, and how the test processes and test activities, mainly on test cases creation, test execution, and test reporting is being managed and automated using several test automation tools, i.e. Jira, ...

Autonomous control of a locomotion vehicle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ichikawa, Yoshiaki; Senoh, Makoto; Miyata, Kenji

1984-01-01

A path planner and an execution system are proposed for autonomous vehicle control. The planner creates a near shortest path avoiding obstacles that are represented by combinations of circles and line segments on a two dimensional map. For realizing real time execution, path search procedures employ a heuristic pruning strategies in selecting a node to expand and in generating successor nodes. Nodes are selected for expansion in order, according to a cost assigned to each node. The cost is mainly evaluated by approximating a path length from the initial node to the goal node. In order to expand a node and to generate successor nodes, a specific search procedure is activated that finds positions avoiding obstacles in the direction of the goal, and creates successor nodes corresponding to the positions. The execution system, utilizing an ultrasonic range finder equipped to the vehicle performs a plan repair against unknown obstacles when echoes from the obstacles are observed. The plan repair is conducted by a map edition and replanning in such a way that new circles representing the echoes are added to the map. Obstacle avoidance tests with a vehicle controlled by microprocessors demonstrate the utility of heuristics just outlined. (author)

Ground Vehicle Power and Mobility Overview - Germany Visit

Science.gov (United States)

2011-11-10

the current and future force Survivability Robotics – Intelligent Systems Vehicle Electronics & Architecture Fuel, Water, Bridging ...Test Cell • Engine Generator Test Lab • Full Vehicle Environmental Test Cell • Hybrid Electric Reconfigurable Moveable Integration Testbed (HERMIT...Converter Conducted competitive runoff evaluations on Bridging Boat engine candidates Completed independent durability assessment of OEM

Estimation of tire characteristics by concerning test data of vehicles; Jidosha no senkai shiken data ni yoru dire tokusei no suisan

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nakamura, M; Sekine, T; Nagae, H [Nihon University, Tokyo (Japan)

1997-10-01

To study and/or develop the vehicle motion of a braking in turns theoretically, the cornering characteristics of the tire under the action of braking forces must be required. On the other hand, such data are very few to be published and also there be few tire testing machine to be able to use. The authors tried to derive such data from the vehicle behaviors in steady turns and braking in turns. Because each wheel loads are unknown factors, the two wheeled vehicle model are employed in analysis. The methodology of analysis and the reasonable results are presented in this paper. 5 refs., 10 figs., 2 tabs.

Virtual sensors for advanced vehicle stability control

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Leenen, R.; Schouten, H.

2010-01-01

Advanced vehicle control technologies provide a great potential to further improve vehicle handling, ride and safety. The goal of this research is to demonstrate the added value of the TNO Vehicle State Estimation module to integrated active safety. State-of-the-art Electronic Stability Control

An RFID-Based Intelligent Vehicle Speed Controller Using Active Traffic Signals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joshué Pérez

2010-06-01

Full Text Available These days, mass-produced vehicles benefit from research on Intelligent Transportation System (ITS. One prime example of ITS is vehicle Cruise Control (CC, which allows it to maintain a pre-defined reference speed, to economize on fuel or energy consumption, to avoid speeding fines, or to focus all of the driver’s attention on the steering of the vehicle. However, achieving efficient Cruise Control is not easy in roads or urban streets where sudden changes of the speed limit can happen, due to the presence of unexpected obstacles or maintenance work, causing, in inattentive drivers, traffic accidents. In this communication we present a new Infrastructure to Vehicles (I2V communication and control system for intelligent speed control, which is based upon Radio Frequency Identification (RFID technology for identification of traffic signals on the road, and high accuracy vehicle speed measurement with a Hall effect-based sensor. A fuzzy logic controller, based on sensor fusion of the information provided by the I2V infrastructure, allows the efficient adaptation of the speed of the vehicle to the circumstances of the road. The performance of the system is checked empirically, with promising results.

An RFID-Based Intelligent Vehicle Speed Controller Using Active Traffic Signals

Science.gov (United States)

Pérez, Joshué; Seco, Fernando; Milanés, Vicente; Jiménez, Antonio; Díaz, Julio C.; de Pedro, Teresa

2010-01-01

These days, mass-produced vehicles benefit from research on Intelligent Transportation System (ITS). One prime example of ITS is vehicle Cruise Control (CC), which allows it to maintain a pre-defined reference speed, to economize on fuel or energy consumption, to avoid speeding fines, or to focus all of the driver’s attention on the steering of the vehicle. However, achieving efficient Cruise Control is not easy in roads or urban streets where sudden changes of the speed limit can happen, due to the presence of unexpected obstacles or maintenance work, causing, in inattentive drivers, traffic accidents. In this communication we present a new Infrastructure to Vehicles (I2V) communication and control system for intelligent speed control, which is based upon Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for identification of traffic signals on the road, and high accuracy vehicle speed measurement with a Hall effect-based sensor. A fuzzy logic controller, based on sensor fusion of the information provided by the I2V infrastructure, allows the efficient adaptation of the speed of the vehicle to the circumstances of the road. The performance of the system is checked empirically, with promising results. PMID:22219692

An RFID-based intelligent vehicle speed controller using active traffic signals.

Science.gov (United States)

Pérez, Joshué; Seco, Fernando; Milanés, Vicente; Jiménez, Antonio; Díaz, Julio C; de Pedro, Teresa

2010-01-01

These days, mass-produced vehicles benefit from research on Intelligent Transportation System (ITS). One prime example of ITS is vehicle Cruise Control (CC), which allows it to maintain a pre-defined reference speed, to economize on fuel or energy consumption, to avoid speeding fines, or to focus all of the driver's attention on the steering of the vehicle. However, achieving efficient Cruise Control is not easy in roads or urban streets where sudden changes of the speed limit can happen, due to the presence of unexpected obstacles or maintenance work, causing, in inattentive drivers, traffic accidents. In this communication we present a new Infrastructure to Vehicles (I2V) communication and control system for intelligent speed control, which is based upon Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for identification of traffic signals on the road, and high accuracy vehicle speed measurement with a Hall effect-based sensor. A fuzzy logic controller, based on sensor fusion of the information provided by the I2V infrastructure, allows the efficient adaptation of the speed of the vehicle to the circumstances of the road. The performance of the system is checked empirically, with promising results.

Ground Processing Affordability for Space Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Ingalls, John; Scott, Russell

2011-01-01

Launch vehicles and most of their payloads spend the majority of their time on the ground. The cost of ground operations is very high. So, why so often is so little attention given to ground processing during development? The current global space industry and economic environment are driving more need for efficiencies to save time and money. Affordability and sustainability are more important now than ever. We can not continue to treat space vehicles as mere science projects. More RLV's (Reusable Launch Vehicles) are being developed for the gains of reusability which are not available for ELV's (Expendable Launch Vehicles). More human-rated vehicles are being developed, with the retirement of the Space Shuttles, and for a new global space race, yet these cost more than the many unmanned vehicles of today. We can learn many lessons on affordability from RLV's. DFO (Design for Operations) considers ground operations during design, development, and manufacturing-before the first flight. This is often minimized for space vehicles, but is very important. Vehicles are designed for launch and mission operations. You will not be able to do it again if it is too slow or costly to get there. Many times, technology changes faster than space products such that what is launched includes outdated features, thus reducing competitiveness. Ground operations must be considered for the full product Lifecycle, from concept to retirement. Once manufactured, launch vehicles along with their payloads and launch systems require a long path of processing before launch. Initial assembly and testing always discover problems to address. A solid integration program is essential to minimize these impacts, as was seen in the Constellation Ares I-X test rocket. For RLV's, landing/recovery and post-flight turnaround activities are performed. Multi-use vehicles require reconfiguration. MRO (Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul) must be well-planned--- even for the unplanned problems. Defect limits and

A novel technique for optimal integration of active steering and differential braking with estimation to improve vehicle directional stability.

Science.gov (United States)

Mirzaeinejad, Hossein; Mirzaei, Mehdi; Rafatnia, Sadra

2018-06-11

This study deals with the enhancement of directional stability of vehicle which turns with high speeds on various road conditions using integrated active steering and differential braking systems. In this respect, the minimum usage of intentional asymmetric braking force to compensate the drawbacks of active steering control with small reduction of vehicle longitudinal speed is desired. To this aim, a new optimal multivariable controller is analytically developed for integrated steering and braking systems based on the prediction of vehicle nonlinear responses. A fuzzy programming extracted from the nonlinear phase plane analysis is also used for managing the two control inputs in various driving conditions. With the proposed fuzzy programming, the weight factors of the control inputs are automatically tuned and softly changed. In order to simulate a real-world control system, some required information about the system states and parameters which cannot be directly measured, are estimated using the Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF). Finally, simulations studies are carried out using a validated vehicle model to show the effectiveness of the proposed integrated control system in the presence of model uncertainties and estimation errors. Copyright © 2018 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

40 CFR 86.531-78 - Vehicle preparation.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 18 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Vehicle preparation. 86.531-78 Section... (CONTINUED) CONTROL OF EMISSIONS FROM NEW AND IN-USE HIGHWAY VEHICLES AND ENGINES Emission Regulations for 1978 and Later New Motorcycles; Test Procedures § 86.531-78 Vehicle preparation. (a) The manufacturer...

40 CFR 86.160-00 - Exhaust emission test procedure for SC03 emissions.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... percent relative humidity), a solar heat load intensity of 850 W/m2, and vehicle cooling air flow....161-00. (ii) Turn on the solar heating system. (iii) All vehicle test phases of preconditioning, soak...) Exhaust Emission Measurement Activities. The following activities are performed, when applicable, in order...

Integrated vehicle control and guidance systems in unmanned ground vehicles for commercial applications

Science.gov (United States)

Kenyon, Chase H.

1995-01-01

While there is a lot of recent development in the entire IVHS field, very few have had the opportunity to combine the many areas of development into a single integrated `intelligent' unmanned vehicle. One of our systems was developed specifically to serve a major automobile manufacturer's need for an automated vehicle chassis durability test facility. Due to the severity of the road surface human drivers could not be used. A totally automated robotic vehicle driver and guidance system was necessary. In order to deliver fixed price commercial projects now, it was apparent system and component costs were of paramount importance. Cyplex has developed a robust, cost effective single wire guidance system. This system has inherent advantages in system simplicity. Multi-signal (per vehicle lane) systems complicate path planning and layout when multiple lanes and lane changes are required, as on actual highways. The system has demonstrated high enough immunity to rain and light snow cover that normal safety reductions in speed are adequate to stay within the required system performance envelope. This system and it's antenna interface have shown the ability to guide the vehicle at slow speeds (10 MPH) with a tracking repeatability of plus or minus 1/8 of an inch. The basic guide and antenna system has been tested at speeds up to 80 mph. The system has inherently superior abilities for lane changes and precision vehicle placement. The operation of this system will be described and the impact of a system that is commercially viable now for highway and off road use will be discussed.

Choice of teenagers' vehicles and views on vehicle safety: survey of parents of novice teenage drivers.

Science.gov (United States)

Hellinga, Laurie A; McCartt, Anne T; Haire, Emily R

2007-01-01

To examine parental decisions about vehicles driven by teenagers and parental knowledge of vehicle safety. About 300 parents were interviewed during spring 2006 in Minnesota, North Carolina, and Rhode Island while teenagers took their first on-road driving tests. Fewer than half of parents surveyed said teenagers would be the primary drivers of the chosen vehicles. Parents most often cited safety, existing family vehicle, and reliability when explaining the choices for their teenagers' vehicles. About half of the vehicles intended for teenagers were small/mini/sports cars, pickups, or SUVs - vehicles considered less safe for teenagers than midsize/large cars or minivans. A large majority of vehicles were 2001 models or earlier. Vehicles purchased in anticipation of adding a new driver to the family were more likely to be the sizes/types considered less safe than vehicles already owned. Few parents insisted on side airbags or electronic stability control, despite strong evidence of their safety benefits. Even when asked to identify ideal vehicles for their teenagers to drive, about half of parents identified less safe vehicle sizes/types. Most parents knew that midsize/large vehicles are safer than small vehicles, and at least half of parents said SUVs and pickups are not safe for teenage drivers, citing instability. The majority of parents understood some of the important criteria for choosing safe vehicles for their teenagers. However, parents actually selected many vehicles for teenagers that provide inferior crash protection. Vehicle safety varies substantially by vehicle size, type, and safety features. Many teenagers are driving inferior vehicles in terms of crashworthiness and crash avoidance.

Measurement of in-vehicle volatile organic compounds under static conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

You, Ke-wei; Ge, Yun-shan; Hu, Bin; Ning, Zhan-wu; Zhao, Shou-tang; Zhang, Yan-ni; Xie, Peng

2007-01-01

The types and quantities of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) inside vehicles have been determined in one new vehicle and two old vehicles under static conditions using the Thermodesorber-Gas Chromatograph/Mass Spectrometer (TD-GC/MS). Air sampling and analysis was conducted under the requirement of USEPA Method TO-17. A room-size, environment test chamber was utilized to provide stable and accurate control of the required environmental conditions (temperature, humidity, horizontal and vertical airflow velocity, and background VOCs concentration). Static vehicle testing demonstrated that although the amount of total volatile organic compounds (TVOC) detected within each vehicle was relatively distinct (4940 microg/m3 in the new vehicle A, 1240 microg/m3 in used vehicle B, and 132 microg/m3 in used vehicle C), toluene, xylene, some aromatic compounds, and various C7-C12 alkanes were among the predominant VOC species in all three vehicles tested. In addition, tetramethyl succinonitrile, possibly derived from foam cushions was detected in vehicle B. The types and quantities of VOCs varied considerably according to various kinds of factors, such as, vehicle age, vehicle model, temperature, air exchange rate, and environment airflow velocity. For example, if the airflow velocity increases from 0.1 m/s to 0.7 m/s, the vehicle's air exchange rate increases from 0.15 h(-1) to 0.67 h(-1), and in-vehicle TVOC concentration decreases from 1780 to 1201 microg/m3.

Improving Conceptual Design for Launch Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Olds, John R.

1998-01-01

This report summarizes activities performed during the second year of a three year cooperative agreement between NASA - Langley Research Center and Georgia Tech. Year 1 of the project resulted in the creation of a new Cost and Business Assessment Model (CABAM) for estimating the economic performance of advanced reusable launch vehicles including non-recurring costs, recurring costs, and revenue. The current year (second year) activities were focused on the evaluation of automated, collaborative design frameworks (computation architectures or computational frameworks) for automating the design process in advanced space vehicle design. Consistent with NASA's new thrust area in developing and understanding Intelligent Synthesis Environments (ISE), the goals of this year's research efforts were to develop and apply computer integration techniques and near-term computational frameworks for conducting advanced space vehicle design. NASA - Langley (VAB) has taken a lead role in developing a web-based computing architectures within which the designer can interact with disciplinary analysis tools through a flexible web interface. The advantages of this approach are, 1) flexible access to the designer interface through a simple web browser (e.g. Netscape Navigator), 2) ability to include existing 'legacy' codes, and 3) ability to include distributed analysis tools running on remote computers. To date, VAB's internal emphasis has been on developing this test system for the planetary entry mission under the joint Integrated Design System (IDS) program with NASA - Ames and JPL. Georgia Tech's complementary goals this year were to: 1) Examine an alternate 'custom' computational architecture for the three-discipline IDS planetary entry problem to assess the advantages and disadvantages relative to the web-based approach.and 2) Develop and examine a web-based interface and framework for a typical launch vehicle design problem.

Advancing Transportation through Vehicle Electrification - PHEV

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bazzi, Abdullah [Chrysler Group LLC, Auburn Hills, MI (United States); Barnhart, Steven [Chrysler Group LLC, Auburn Hills, MI (United States)

2014-12-31

FCA US LLC viewed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) as an historic opportunity to learn about and develop PHEV technologies and create the FCA US LLC engineering center for Electrified Powertrains. The ARRA funding supported FCA US LLC’s light-duty electric drive vehicle and charging infrastructure-testing activities and enabled FCA US LLC to utilize the funding on advancing Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) technologies for production on future programs. FCA US LLC intended to develop the next-generations of electric drive and energy batteries through a properly paced convergence of standards, technology, components and common modules. To support the development of a strong, commercially viable supplier base, FCA US LLC also utilized this opportunity to evaluate various designated component and sub-system suppliers. The original proposal of this project was submitted in May 2009 and selected in August 2009. The project ended in December 2014.

Advanced technology mobile robotics vehicle fleet

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McGovern, D.E.

1987-03-01

A fleet of vehicles is being developed and maintained by Sandia National Laboratories for studies in remote control and autonomous operation. The vehicles range from modified commercial vehicles to specially constructed mobile platforms and are utilized as testbeds for developing concepts in the areas of remote control (teleoperation) and computer control (autonomy). Actuators control the vehicle speed, brakes, and steering via manual input from a remote driving station or through some level of digital computer control. On-board processing may include simple vehicle control functions or may allow for unmanned, autonomous operation. Communication links are provided for digital communication between control computers, television transmission for vehicle vision, and voice for local control. SNL can develop, test, and evaluate sensors, processing requirements, various methods of actuator implementation, operator controlled feedback requirements, and vehicle operations. A description of the major features and uses for each of the vehicles in the fleet is provided

Vehicle in the Loop (VIL); Simulations- und Testumgebung fuer Fahrerassistenzsysteme

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bock, Th. [Lehrstuhl fuer Realzeit-Computersysteme, TU Muenchen (Germany); Siedersberger, K.H.; Zavrel, M.; Breu, A.; Maurer, M. [Audi AG, Ingolstadt (Germany)

2005-07-01

Up to now the reproducible and safe test of driver assistance systems proves to be very difficult. This is true especially for collision mitigation tests. In this article today's state of the art of test and simulation methods for driver assistance systems is summarised at first. Then a new simulation and test environment is presented: In future the function of driver assistance systems can be tested and evaluated economically, reproducibly and most important without danger for the test person and test vehicle. To achieve this the real test vehicle is integrated into a traffic simulation by means of a vehicle in the loop (VIL) configuration. The vehicle does not move in real traffic but on open spaces or blocked off roads. It resorts to synthetic sensor data of a partly simulated environment. Methods and instruments of the augmented reality integrate the test driver into the synthetic outside traffic. (orig.)

Impact of Distribution Feeders that do not have Voltage Regulators on the number of Charged Electric Vehicles using IEEE 34 Bus Test Feeder

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Allehyani, Ahmed [University of Southern California, Department of Electrical Engineering; Beshir, Mohammed [University of Southern California, Department of Electrical Engineering

2015-02-01

Voltage regulators help maintain an acceptable voltage profile for the system. This paper discusses the effect of installing voltage regulators to the system to fix the voltage drop resulting from the electrical vehicles loading increase when they are being charged. The effect will be studied in the afternoon, when the peak load occurs, using the IEEE 34 bus test feeder. First, only one spot node is used to charge the electric vehicles while a voltage regulator is present. Second, five spot nodes are loaded at the same time to charge the electric vehicles while voltage regulators are installed at each node. After that, the impact of electric vehicles on distribution feeders that do not have voltage regulators will appear.

Real-world emissions of in-use off-road vehicles in Mexico.

Science.gov (United States)

Zavala, Miguel; Huertas, Jose Ignacio; Prato, Daniel; Jazcilevich, Aron; Aguilar, Andrés; Balam, Marco; Misra, Chandan; Molina, Luisa T

2017-09-01

-road vehicles in emissions inventories. Measurements of off-road vehicles used in construction and agricultural activities in Mexico using on-board portable emissions measurements systems (PEMS) showed that these vehicles can be major sources of black carbon and NO X . Emission factors varied significantly under real-world operating conditions, suggesting the need for detailed vehicle operation data for accurately estimating emissions inventories. Tests conducted in a selected number of sampled vehicles indicated that diesel particle filters (DPFs) are an effective technology for control of diesel particulate emissions and can provide potentially large emissions reduction in Mexico if widely implemented.

INL Fleet Vehicle Characterization Study for the U.S. Department of Navy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bennett, Brion Dale [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Francfort, James Edward [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Smart, John Galloway [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

2015-09-01

Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC, managing and operating contractor for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory, is the lead laboratory for U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Vehicle Testing. Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC collected and evaluated data on federal fleet operations as part of the Advanced Vehicle Testing Activity’s Federal Fleet Vehicle Data Logging and Characterization Study. The Advanced Vehicle Testing Activity’s study seeks to collect and evaluate data to validate use of advanced plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) transportation. This report focuses on US Department of Navy's fleet to identify daily operational characteristics of select vehicles and report findings on vehicle and mission characterizations to support the successful introduction of PEVs into the agency’s fleets. Individual observations of these selected vehicles provide the basis for recommendations related to electric vehicle adoption and whether a battery electric vehicle or plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (collectively referred to as PEVs) can fulfill the mission requirements.

Application of Novel Lateral Tire Force Sensors to Vehicle Parameter Estimation of Electric Vehicles