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Numerical Study Of The Impact Of Dme Blending On Emissions From A Compression Ignition Engine, Hongwei Lei

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

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Compression ignition (CI) engines and diesel fuel are commonly used for long-distance transportation, marine transportation, and construction equipment due to their high thermal efficiency and relatively low cost. Meanwhile, compression ignition (CI) engine emissions such as CO, NOx, and soot cause human health issues, climate change, and pollution problems. To reduce emissions, especially by restraining the formation of soot, some new energy resources are researched for replacing diesel fuel.

Dimethyl ether (DME) is one kind of new energy resource with four main advantages: high cetane number, low auto-ignition temperature, simple chemical structure, and high oxygen content. A wide range …

Efficient Design Of Integrated Underbody And Battery Pack For Battery Electric Vehicles, Gabriele Rosso

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Climate change and the consequent more restrictive regulations are pushing the industry towards higher efficiency and lower emissions means of transport. The road transport sector is deeply affected, leading the main Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to start the transition to alternative powertrains, among which Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) are the faster-growing.

The large, heavy, and safety-critical battery pack asks for a specific optimized solution for a lightweight and high-performance vehicle platform.

In this research, a first benchmarking analysis is presented to study the current state-of-the-art for BEV underbody and battery pack designs. Following this investigation, a classification scheme was designed …

Mixed Reality Application For Inspection And Validation In Industrial Environments: Human Performance And Brain-Computer Interface Advantages Over Gestures, Silvio Da Col

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Shortening product development cycles demand increasingly efficient methods and tools for the planning of complex production systems. Recently, augmented reality (AR) technologies have been introduced in manufacturing planning functions. Working in augmented environments, users usually select virtual objects with hand gestures that are associated with arm fatigue.

In the first study, a mixed reality (MR) application for inspection and validation of a production line has been developed. The application allows to show the virtual environment in Augmented/Mixed Reality, and it allows to import three-dimensional (3D) CAD with information and structure in a specific position. The application makes the user interacting …

Modelling And Control Of Non-Glare Zone Width Of Adaptive Driving Beam (Adb) In Different Driving Scenarios, Yihing Chen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Adaptive driving beam (ADB) is an advanced vehicle forward lighting system that automatically adapts its beam patterns to create a non-glare zone around vehicles, providing good long-range visibility for the driver without causing an uncomfortable glare for other road users. The performance of the ADB system is affected by the non-glare zone width. A narrow non-glare zone could create indirect glare in the side rear-view mirrors of preceding vehicles during sharp turns, while widening it results in poor road illumination. This research studies the trade-off relationship between glare and road illumination when altering the width of the non-glare zone in …

Quantification Of Velocity At The Sparkplug In A Lab Scale Combustion Chamber, Mayur Panduranga Kodikal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Lean burn has been considered an effective strategy to improve the thermal efficiency of spark-ignition engines. Under lean or diluted conditions, however, the combustion speed is reduced. Therefore, to speed up the combustion, in-cylinder turbulence is induced which may impede the spark initiation. This research aims to quantify the turbulence in a constant volume optical combustion chamber.

An Improved Delayed Detached Eddy Simulation (IDDES) study was done to understand the turbulence characteristics of the flow in the optical chamber. Spark anemometry was used to obtain a relationship between the spark plasma evolution and freestream velocity. Finally, this technique has been …

Subjective Evaluation Of Vehicle Semi-Active Suspension For Improved Ride And Handling, Zachery Sinasac

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The number of passenger cars currently equipped with semi-active suspensions has been steadily increasing in recent decades. These suspension systems provide an improvement in ride and handling when compared to passive suspensions. Currently, the approach to evaluating and tuning semi-active suspensions has been limited to objective methods or time-consuming alterations made on physical components. To alleviate the time and costs and improve the fidelity of such methods, a novel solution to subjectively evaluating vehicle semi-active suspensions is presented. The subjective evaluation method herein involves the use of a state-of-the-art dynamic driving simulator with drivers to subjectively evaluate and tune virtual …

The Impact Of High Voltage Electrode Diameter On Spark Discharge Process, Jiaming Zhang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The ever-growing demands to meet the exhaust emission regulations and fuel economy requirements, drive the development of modern spark ignition (SI) engines towards lean or diluted conditions at boosted intake pressure and with intensified charge motions. Boosted in-cylinder pressure conditions require additional energy to initiate the spark discharge, thereby challenging the ignition system. Additionally, the geometry of the spark plug has a profound influence on the spark discharge characteristics. The main objective of this research is to study the impact of high voltage electrode diameter on breakdown voltage and equivalent spark gap resistance at elevated background pressures (1-25 bar abs.). …

Correlation Between Microstructure And Mechanical Properties Of Press-Hardenable Steels For Various Quenching Rates, Radha Thakkar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Manufacturing structural automotive components by hot stamping advanced high strength steel sheets with tailored mechanical properties helps to reduce vehicle weight and improve crashworthiness. The purpose of this research work is to establish a relationship between the die temperature in hot stamping, the corresponding as-quenched microstructural features and mechanical properties. A series of experiments were carried out in which 1.4 mm 22MnB5 and 1.4 mm 37MnB4 steel sheet specimens were austenitized to 930°C and quenched between dies preheated to different temperatures. The mechanical properties were determined from tensile tests and hardness measurements and the corresponding microstructures were analyzed. It was …

Interfacial Heat Transfer In Squeeze Casting Of Cast Al Alloy A380 And Mg Alloy Az91 And Wrought Alloy Az31, Luyang Ren

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The weight reduction of vehicles and airplanes in the automotive and aerospace industries is urgently needed due to the government regulation and market demand. To satisfy engineering performance of lightweight auto and aero components, high strength light alloys such as aluminum (Al) or magnesium (Mg) alloys are usually adopted. This study was intended to explore a solution for casting high strength cast and wrought Al and Mg alloys. Before light alloys can be utilized for mass production, critical processing parameters need to be accurately determined. The interfacial heat transfer coefficient is one of the most important factors in casting processes. …

Mechanical Properties Of Nanomodified Hybrid Gfrp Composite Materials, Micah Rop Kimutai

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The mechanical behavior of the nanomodified hybrid epoxy matrix was investigated in glass fiber reinforced plastics (GFRP). In this study, five nanocomposites enriched with as received halloysite, nanomer I.28E, HNT-APTES, and the hybrid combinations of the two HNTs with the nanomer I.28E were successfully fabricated. To evaluate the effects and morphological characteristics of the individual fillers and the hybrid configurations on the epoxy resin matrix, TGA, DSC, and DMA were analyzed. To understand the effect of the five configurations on the neat GFRP laminate, mode I interlaminar fracture toughness, tensile, and vibration properties were investigated. Electron microscopy testing techniques were …