Maximizing fuel efficiency of a vehicle is one of the prime areas of focus in the highly competitive automotive industry which requires development of efficient and optimized vehicle designs. External aero analysis using Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) techniques is widely used in the accurate estimation of an automotive vehicle’s drag coefficient, often critical in determining [...]

The Energy Foundation funded Lotus Engineering to generate a technical paper which would identify potential mass reduction opportunities for a selected baseline vehicle representing the crossover utility segment. Lotus Engineering prepared this document in collaboration with a number of automotive and regulatory experts and submitted it to the ICCT. The 2009 Toyota Venza was selected [...]

Modern impact and test systems integrate video and data capture to provide a greater understanding of specimen failure modes. High rate tests, such as performed on servo-hydraulically powered and instrumented impact test apparatus have, become widely used as a method of investigating the properties of materials and structures. As technology moves forward, so does the [...]

In the Internet age, a company with limited funds and no track record can build a successful business with nothing more than a good idea and some powerful technology. It’s not easy, but it can be done. The same entrepreneurial spirit is coming to the auto industry. As cars become more and more like high-tech [...]

This is a case study of the working methods of one particularly successful designer in a highly competitive design domain, Formula One racing car design. Gordon Murray was chief designer for the very successful Brabham and McLaren racing car teams in the 1970s and 1980s. His record of success is characterized by innovative breakthroughs, often [...]

A numerical study has been performed to investigate the soot emission from a high-speed single-cylinder direct injection diesel engine. It was shown that the current KIVA CFD code with the standard evaporation model could predict the experimental trend, where at a low speed running condition a higher smoke reading is reached when increasing the injector [...]

Implementation of real-time combustion feedback for use in closed-loop combustion control is a technology that has potential to assist in the successful production implementation of advanced diesel combustion modes. Low-temperature, pre-mixed diesel combustion is presently of interest because it offers the ability to lower the engine-out emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and particulate matter [...]

A low-pressure direct injection fuel system for spark ignition direct injection engines engines has been developed, in which a high-turbulence nozzle technology was employed to achieve fine fuel droplet size at a low injection pressure around 2 MPa. It is particularly important to study spray characteristics in the nearnozzle region due to the immediate liquid [...]

The 1ZZ-FE engine is a newly developed in-line 4-cylinder, 1.8-liter, DOHC 4-valve engine mounted in the new Corolla. Abounding in new technologies including the laser-clad valve seat, high-pressure die-cast aluminum cylinder block, and the small-pitch chain drive DOHC, coupled with the fundamentally reviewed basic specifications, the new engine is compact and lightweight, offering high performance [...]

An on-demand air dam that deploys without mechanical assistance is just one example of an on-vehicle technology being put in motion through the use of a smart material. Temperature, stress, or a magnetic field can make a smart material change its shape, strength, and/or stiffness. That means a smart material can move without needing a [...]