Automobile design

You want to find the wind drag on a new automobile design at various speeds. To do this, you test a 1/30 scale model of the car in the lab. You must design an experiment whereby the drag force measured in the lab can be scaled up directly to find the force on the full-scale car at a given speed. 

Just as their counterparts rejuvenated the aircraft industry decades ago, modem epoxy structural adhesives are providing automobile designers and manufacturers with innovative possibilities that could not have been considered only a short time ago. As a result, structural automotive adhesives will have an average annual growth rate of greater than 7 percent over the next 5 years.15 This growth rate is additive to any growth that will occur in the automotive industry itself. 

Automobiles—Materials. 2. Chemistry, Technical. 3. Automobiles—Design and construction. I. Title. 

Obviously, a battery can only be acceptable in any given application if it is capable of delivering an adequate service-life. As indicated in Table 17.2, the life-limiting processes (failure modes) for the conventional SLI battery (first a 6-V unit, then a 12-V unit) are well known, and the reliability of the battery has been progressively improved to keep pace with advancements in automobile design over the better part of a century. 

Taking into account that the automobile industry is a typical mass-production industry, it is deemed worthwhile to draw the attention of automobile designers to the FC technology and performances. 

The Diamler Chrysler ESX3 represents a new generation of automobile design and incorporates a rear torsional axle system, sprung by elastomeric elements on a splined shaft housed inside a square carbon fiber tube, the shaft connecting to a carbon fiber and A1 trailing arm that holds the wheel assembly. 

The automotive industry has also directed efforts toward improving the recyclahUity of automotive plastics by change in automobile design. Efforts include designing components for ease of disassembly, as well as efforts to minimize the use of different resins and to ensure that all resins in a component are compatible with one another. One of the reasons for these changes, in addition to voluntary actions by manufacturers, is requirements in Europe that mandate that the auto industry provide a system for collection and recycling of vehicles at the end of their life. Currently, 74 to 80 percent of the weight of a typical vehicle is reused or recycled the End of Life Vehicle Directive requires that this amount be increased to 80 percent by 2006 and 85 percent by 2015. Furthermore, vehicles must increase their use of recycled materials. ... 

FIG. 5—Critical areas and use of galvanized steel on automobile designed for corrosion resistance (courtesy of L. L. Peipho, General Motors Corporation, Milford Proving Grounds). 

This is a great place to start whether trying to determine the cause of a problem, find a solution to one, or explore ways to pursue an opportunity. Invite a wide variety of participants. For example, if the problem at hand is how to reduce the drag on an automobile component invite representative engineers, scientists, technologists, technicians, and administrative personnel seek representatives of all functions that are involved in any aspect of automobile design and manufacture. 

TABLE 23.21 Features Requiring Power for Present and Future Automobile Designs (Exclusive of SLI Function). 

Harata, H. (1993) Automobile design and recycling. Recycle 93, Maack Business Services, Zurich, paper 15/4. 

Simplification can sometimes be achieved through seeking greater commonality of components or sub-assembly across a family of products. For example, in automobile design these days it is increasingly the case that several different models of car are built on the same platform and under the skin share common components and sub-assemblies. 

Simultaneously there have been changes in automobile design that have modified the performance requirements. For example, cleaner but higher-temperature engines have shifted the priorities from chemical resistance to heat resistance. 

In short, it was an era in which individuals were considered to be to blame for their own crashes. As a by-product, the blameworthiness explanation of crashes proved an excellent justification for road and traffic institutions and for automobile designers to avoid scrutiny over the level of safety in their designs. It is not suggested that they embraced the blame the victim conception consciously, but it certainly was the most cost-effective position for them at a time when infrastructure demands were high and funds scarce. 

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