Automotive innovation : The science and engineering behind cutting-edge automotive technology

Automotive Innovation

Automotive Innovation

The Science and Engineering behind

Cutting-Edge Automotive Technology

Patrick Hossay

CRC Press

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Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data

Names: Hossay, Patrick, 1964- author.

Title: Automotive innovation : the science and engineering behind

cutting-edge automotive technology / Patrick Hossay.

Description: First edition. | Boca Raton, FL : CRC Press/Taylor & Francis

Group, [2020]

Identifiers: LCCN 2019009155 | ISBN 9781138611764 (hardback)

Subjects: LCSH: Automobiles—Technological innovations—Popular works. |

Automobiles—Design and construction—Popular works.

Classification: LCC TL240 .H655 2020 | DDC 629.2—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019009155

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v

Contents

Preface..............................................................................................................................................ix

Author........................................................................................................................................... xiii

1. Bringing the Fire.....................................................................................................................1

What Is Gasoline? ....................................................................................................................2

The Engine................................................................................................................................3

The Four Strokes ......................................................................................................................4

The Engine Comes Together..................................................................................................8

Valve Train .............................................................................................................................. 11

Defining the Combustion Chamber.................................................................................... 13

Pistons ..................................................................................................................................... 16

The Head................................................................................................................................. 19

Ignition ....................................................................................................................................23

Knocking................................................................................................................................. 24

Fuel Delivery ..........................................................................................................................27

Low-Temperature Combustion............................................................................................34

2. The End of Compromise .....................................................................................................39

Advanced Digital Control.....................................................................................................39

Sensor Technology.................................................................................................................40

Engine Control .......................................................................................................................42

Variable Valve Actuation ......................................................................................................45

Induction................................................................................................................................. 52

Forced Induction....................................................................................................................55

Compression Ratio.................................................................................................................58

3. Getting Power to the Pavement .........................................................................................65

What Do We Need a Drivetrain to Do? ..............................................................................65

Manual Transmission Coupler.............................................................................................72

Manual Transmission............................................................................................................ 74

Automated Manual................................................................................................................ 76

Automatic Transmission Coupler........................................................................................80

Automatic Transmissions .....................................................................................................82

Transmission Control............................................................................................................86

Continuously Variable Transmissions ................................................................................88

Differentials, AWD, and Torque Vectoring ........................................................................92

Advanced Tires and Control................................................................................................96

4. Electric Machines..................................................................................................................99

The Principles of the Electric Motor.................................................................................. 100

Making an Electric Machine .............................................................................................. 102

Motor Performance.............................................................................................................. 108

Torque and Power................................................................................................................ 110

Cooling .................................................................................................................................. 112

vi Contents

Induction Motor................................................................................................................... 113

Permanent-Magnet Machines ............................................................................................ 118

Magnets ................................................................................................................................. 121

BLPM Control.......................................................................................................................122

Reluctance Machines........................................................................................................... 124

Advanced Motor Possibilities ............................................................................................ 126

5. Electrified Powertrains...................................................................................................... 131

Gas versus Electrons?.......................................................................................................... 131

Hybrid Drive......................................................................................................................... 133

Baby Steps ............................................................................................................................. 135

Mild Hybrid.......................................................................................................................... 137

Full Hybrid ........................................................................................................................... 141

Adding a Plug....................................................................................................................... 148

Power..................................................................................................................................... 148

Electric Vehicle ..................................................................................................................... 151

Electric Car Viability ........................................................................................................... 155

Using Energy Effectively .................................................................................................... 160

6. The Electric Fuel Tank....................................................................................................... 165

What’s a Battery?.................................................................................................................. 166

Battery Performance............................................................................................................ 171

Battery Management........................................................................................................... 172

Cell Balancing....................................................................................................................... 175

Cooling Systems................................................................................................................... 176

Battery Chemistry................................................................................................................ 179

Nickel-Based Batteries......................................................................................................... 181

Lithium.................................................................................................................................. 184

Future Possibilities............................................................................................................... 190

7. Automotive Architecture .................................................................................................. 195

General Chassis Design ...................................................................................................... 195

Frames ................................................................................................................................... 197

Crashworthiness ..................................................................................................................200

Materials................................................................................................................................203

Alternative Metals ............................................................................................................... 210

Manufacturing Metal.......................................................................................................... 216

Plastics ................................................................................................................................... 218

Suspension............................................................................................................................ 224

Chassis Control ....................................................................................................................226

Bringing It All Together......................................................................................................229

Modularity............................................................................................................................230

8. The Power of Shape............................................................................................................233

The Nature of Drag..............................................................................................................234

The Power of Shape .............................................................................................................235

Boundary Layer.................................................................................................................... 237

The Shape of a Car...............................................................................................................238

The Front of the Car............................................................................................................. 240

Contents vii

Addressing the Rear Wake................................................................................................. 243

Three Dimensional Flow .................................................................................................... 247

Vortex Generators ................................................................................................................250

Lift.......................................................................................................................................... 251

The Ground...........................................................................................................................253

Wheels ................................................................................................................................... 257

Bringing the Body Together...............................................................................................259

Active Aerodynamics.......................................................................................................... 261

9. Smarter Cars ........................................................................................................................265

Smarter Driving ...................................................................................................................266

Perception..............................................................................................................................272

Radar...................................................................................................................................... 273

Lidar....................................................................................................................................... 275

Optical ...................................................................................................................................277

Sensor Fusion ....................................................................................................................... 281

Driver Monitoring................................................................................................................ 282

Localization ..........................................................................................................................283

Mapping ................................................................................................................................286

Communication....................................................................................................................288

Decision-Making..................................................................................................................290

The Road Ahead................................................................................................................... 293

Index ............................................................................................................................................. 295

ix

Preface

Cars have changed radically over the past few decades, and the pace of change is only

accelerating. Innovations in engine design, fuel systems, digital control, advanced trans￾missions, and a range of other technologies have fundamentally redefined the powertrain.

And advanced electronic control systems, active chassis control, driver assistance systems,

not to mention electrified drivetrains, advanced batteries, and new lightweight materials

are allowing us to profoundly reimagine what is possible. It can be tough to keep up. And

that’s the point of this book.

These exciting changes and innovations in automotive technology are complex, but

they don’t need to be intimidating. Fundamentally, the same basic principles are at work,

whether you’re looking at a Model T or a Tesla. The laws of science and mechanical

principles haven’t changed. Admittedly, the engineering particulars have become more

involved, and there are a lot more of them. But, in the end, all of the technology in the most

advanced vehicles can be understood in principle by anyone with a basic grasp of science

and mechanics.

So, think of this book as a primer, a basic survey of the new automotive landscape with

an eye toward a timely orientation to the most interesting innovations and the most prom￾ising technological advances out there. One aim of this work is to provide a solid intro￾ductory text for an undergraduate course. In particular, the idea is to fill the gap between

a vocational-based automotive repair text and an advanced engineering text. In fact, this

book grew out of an undergraduate survey course on automotive technology and design.

Finding a useful text for this sort of course has always been difficult, as nearly all introduc￾tory texts in automotive technology focus on vocational training for mechanics; and the

only other alternative is often a technically dense engineering text, a rather intimidating

introduction to the field. This text is aimed at the midpoint: a true introductory survey of

the science and engineering in automotive technology that allows a generally informed

reader to develop an understanding of the principles, trends, and challenges in automotive

technology and the possible directions of future developments.

With this in mind, the aim is to keep this work accessible and engaging. A useful orien￾tation to the field should be readable and stimulating for students, mechanics, automotive

enthusiasts, and anyone else who may have an interest in cars, technology, innovation,

or engineering. This stuff is really amazing, exciting, and frequently ingenious; but

all-too-often, the amazing stuff is buried under layers of engineering terminology and

daunting computations that can thoroughly snuff out the flame of enthusiasm in the

uninitiated. Cars can be really exiting; a book on them should be too.

So, this book will be useful for students of automotive engineering and technology that

need an orientation to the field. This book should also be useful to a seasoned automotive

technician trying to stay on top of a rapidly changing field, or a newly minted mechanic

who needs a general orientation to the near future of the automobile, and even an auto￾motive enthusiast who just wants to better understand how recent technological changes

come together.

With luck this text will inspire budding engineers and maybe even motivate a few

mechanics and gear heads to dig deeper, continue to explore the field, and perhaps even

choose to take the next step and select a career that allows them to contribute to redefin￾ing the future of the automobile. This is truly a golden age in automotive design, a time

x Preface

when the future seems up for grabs, and a new possibilities have become not just feasible

but likely.

Remember, this book is intended as a primer. You don’t need a deep background in

automotive technology to keep up. But a basic understanding of science and the funda￾mentals of mechanics won’t hurt. Each topic and each chapter begin at the beginning,

the basic principles that underpin the technology. Subsequently, the chapters move on to

the ideas and engineering that define some of the most exciting innovations in the field;

and in the end, each chapter addresses some of the most promising advances for the near

future. In sum, the chapters offer a basic lay of the land, an orientation to the technology

that is reshaping that field and plenty of real-world examples of remarkable automotive

innovations.

Since the idea is to keep this book accessible, approachable, and short, this text has

defined limits. It is fundamentally about cars, the current cars on the road now, and

the likely changes that will define the cars on the road tomorrow. It’s not about the

automotive industry more generally, or the future of transportation infrastructure, manu￾facturing, or policy. Nor is it a detailed examination of research in science or engineer￾ing. So, automotive-related innovations that could one day reshape vehicles by remaking

transportation infrastructure, such as alternative fuels, fuel cells, or intelligent transpor￾tation systems (ITS), are interesting, but that’s really not what this book is about. Likewise,

this is a primer; so, for a complete presentation of the advanced engineering techniques

and computations needed to design these systems, you’ll need to look elsewhere. In short,

both the scope and depth of this text are intentionally focused. This is an introductory

survey of contemporary automotive innovations for readers with a basic mechanical and

science background.

With all of this in mind, this book addresses four principle areas: first, the technology

of the combustion-based automobile on the road now and in the near future, addressed in

the first three chapters; second, the technology of the electrified drivetrain that’s increas￾ingly present now and very likely to become dominant in the near future, addressed in

the subsequent three chapters; third, innovations in chassis and body design, which are

covered in Chapters 7 and 8; and lastly, a basic introduction to the sensor and navigation

technology that enables advanced driver assistance systems and the possibilities for self￾driving cars, addressed in the final chapter.

So, within this broad framework, Chapter 1 begins with the basics of the internal com￾bustion engine and quickly moves on to review recent innovations in ignition manage￾ment, advanced fuel delivery, combustion chamber design, and moves through to the

basic principles of advanced low-temperature combustion possibilities and ingenious

new engine designs. Chapter 2 then builds on this foundation with an examination of the

digital control technology that has redefined the internal combustion engine, from vari￾able valve timing and lift to variable intakes, as well as promising developments in more

advanced active control mechanisms that enable precise on the fly changes in just about

every aspect of the engine, defying the tradeoffs and limits engineers once faced when

designing automotive engines. Chapter 3 then connects these technologies to the road by

examining the rest of the powertrain, beginning with the basic principles of gearing and

moving through to advanced innovations in transmission design including continuously

variable transmissions, automatic manual transmission, dual-clutch systems, torque vec￾toring, and even advances in future tire design, where the rubber literally meets the road.

This then paves the way for an exploration of electrification of the drivetrain. Chapter 4

begins with a general introduction to electric motors and their performance advantages and

challenges, with a particular focus on brushless DC and induction AC motors and control

Preface xi

technology. It ends with an introduction to some of the more promising advances in motor

design that may represent the electric machines of future automobiles. Chapter 5 examines

the electrified powertrain, beginning with hybrid vehicle engineering, discussing varying

hybrid drive architectures as well as the nature of regenerative braking and recent energy

recovery innovations. It also explores electric vehicle technology, and the challenges and

possibilities for future EVs. Energy storage technology is examined in Chapter 6, from basic

battery science to promising developments in advanced battery chemistry and design.

The subsequent two chapters explore advanced vehicle design beyond the powertrain,

beginning with a basic discussion of vehicle structure and handling and moving onto

advanced suspension, active chassis control, new materials, and crashworthiness. Vehicle

aerodynamics is examined in Chapter 8, again beginning with basic concepts of airflow

and bluff bodies and moving onto an examination of recent applications such as air

curtains, active shutters, ground effect management, and other advanced aerodynamic

innovations.

The last chapter examines advanced driver assistance systems. This includes a discus￾sion of sensing technology now in use, such as LIDAR, SONAR, and RADAR, as well as

the benefits and challenges of applying these technologies to advanced vehicle control and

driver assistance features, such as lane keeping, active cruise control, and crash avoid￾ance. The chapter moves on to discuss the potential for a more extensive incorporation of

advanced vehicles into roadway control technology, exploring V2X possibilities, the chal￾lenges of advanced driver assistance and autonomous vehicles, as well a basic introduction

to the artificial intelligence needed for such systems.

In the end, the hope is that this book will help get the reader up to speed, oriented to

the basic science and technology that defines the modern automobile, and its likely future.

Like any book that dares to offer a sweeping survey of a field, it’s likely that a few points

have been missed. Reader’s comments are very welcome and can help improve possible

future versions of this text. It is also certain that this book benefited greatly from the

advice of my colleagues. In particular, I’d like to thank Justine Ciraolo, Jason Shulman,

Marc Richard, and most especially Kristina Lawyer for their very helpful and thought￾ful suggestions. Of course, any errors are entirely my own. I would also like to thank the

array of component suppliers and carmakers that agreed to provide images and insights

for this text and supporting materials. They are identified thorough the text, and I am

most grateful.

xiii

Author

Professor Patrick Hossay heads the Energy Studies and Sustainability programs at

Stockton University where he teaches courses in automotive technology, green vehi￾cle innovations, and energy science. He is also an experienced aircraft and automotive

mechanic, and enjoys restoring classic cars and motorcycles.