VTE Magazine September 2018

VEHICLE TECHNOLOGY ENGINEER

CSIRO transports us to the future with hydrogen cells

Where are we going with automobiles in the future: hydrogen, electric, autonomous, or all of the above and more?

Holden needs you: CAD, auto, mechantronic, mechanical, electronic...

Auto & Specialty Vehicles: From AVs to EVs and more Altair Conference: The technical conference for students DAF: Truck manufacturing ramps up in Australia

September 2018 Issue 17 Representing mobility engineers since 1927 www.saea.com.au

VTE | Contents

Contents

SEPTEMBER 2018

FSAE Technical Conference

5

PACCAR Hall of Fame

11

Auto &  Special Vehicles

14

Safety through connectivity

25

Tyre Failure Analysis

23

Special Features 14

Holden Engineering -150 jobs in Advanced Vehicle Development

15

Auto & Specialty Vehicles - From autonomous to hydrogen

21

Altair Conference - A must for all engineering students

23

Tyre Failure Analysis - Alumina ceramic balancing beads

20

iMOVE CRC - Safety through connectivity

VTE News 6

International News

7

Rail News

8

Aerospace News

9

Defence News

10

General News

11

Truck News

13 Auto News

Society News 4

Notes from the Chair - Welcome from Adrian Feeney

5

SAE News - CAMS signs MOU with SAE-A

5 VALE - Ray Brown 19

Tram Seat Design - submission MEAA

Products 26

New Products - for engineering

On the Cover CSIRO powers Toyota Mirai with ultra-high purity hydrogen

About the SAE-A SAE-A was founded in 1927 to address the need for further education for all facets surrounding Automotive Engineering, and now encompasses all mobility engineering industries in the Australasian region. The SAE-A is a non-profit organisation that works to serve the needs of its members and to promote the relevance of mobility related technologies to governments, industry and the community in general.

The editor, publisher, printer, the Society of Automotive Engineers – Australasia (SAE-A) and their employees, directors, servants, agents and associated or related entities (Publishing Entities) are not responsible for the accuracy or correctness of the text, pictures or other material comprising the contributions and advertisements contained in this publication or for the consequences of any use made of the products, services and other information referred to in this publication. The Publishing Entities expressly disclaim all liability of whatsoever nature for any consequences arising from the use or reliance on material contained in this publication whether caused to a reader of this publication or otherwise. The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the Publishing Entities. The responsibility for the accuracy or correctness of information and other material is that of the individual contributors and the Publishing Entities do not accept responsibility for the accuracy or correctness of information or other material supplied by others. To the extent permissible by law, the Publishing Entities exclude all liability pursuant to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) or other applicable laws arising from statute or common law.

Readers should make their own inquiries prior to the use of, or reliance on, any information or other material contained in this publication, and where necessary seek professional advice. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without the written permission of SAE-A is strictly prohibited.

www.saea.com.au

VTE | 3

Introduction | Secretary, CEO and Chairman Society of Automotive Engineers

VTE Published By: Society of Automotive Engineers - Australasia

Adrian Feeney

ABN: 95 004 248 604

Secretary, CEO and Chairman Society of Automotive Engineers – Australasia

Address: PO Box 103, Werribee Vic 3030 Phone: 0403 267 166 Email: info@sae-a.com.au Web: www.saea.com.au

Board of Directors: Chairman CEO & Secretary Adrian Feeney Committee:

Kai Morganti Mounir Kiwan Membership & Subscriptions Name: Rose De Amicis Email: rose@sae-a.com.au

Magazine Production: Editor Mandy Parry-Jones Trading Terms Media Email: mandypj@optusnet.com.au Mobile: 0409 806 986 Design Brigid Fraser Email: fraseram@optusnet.com.au Mobile: 0413 009 122 Advertising Jill Johnson Jill Johnson Media Email: jj@jilljohnsonmedia.com.au Mobile: 0409 217 624

VTE Industry Partner: Excellerate Australia

Dear members, welcome to the third edition for 2018 of our magazine Vehicle Technology Engineer. Our small but enthusiastic board remains focused on strengthening the Society so that we remain strong and sustainable. We have employed an accounting company to complete the financial report for 2017, a task that has proved more challenging than first thought, but we are almost there.

Once the report is available I will call for a General Meeting firstly to report back to the members on both our current and future situation and then to call for nominations for the next board. It is the opinion of the current board that we need to remain small and vibrant at this stage in order to ensure our long term future, hence our proposal is to call for one additional board member with appropriate skills to move SAE forward, I will articulate that requirement further when the meeting is called.

Our premier event, Formula SAE is fast approaching and thanks to our amazing organising committee, our plans are well advanced. The dates have been locked in for some time, December 6th - 9th but more importantly we are moving it to Central Victoria, specifically Winton Raceway.

For those of you familiar with that racetrack, given that it hosts a round of the V8 Supercars,

its facilities and level of comfort is world class and certainly lends itself to an aesthetically pleasing event. Moving so far from Melbourne has created its own logistical challenges, but nothing insurmountable and in fact we now have a record number of teams registered, 40 in total, a number we have never achieved previously. Of those, nearly half are electric powered, again an amazing result and something that is very much in line with our long term plans.

Another positive in the decision to move to Winton has been the interest and involvement of the local community, from The Wangaratta Tafe College to local secondary schools and community organisations. Formula SAE has certainly captured the imagination of the community and we are confident of putting on a great show for all.

I encourage all members and readers of this magazine to become involved, preferably as a volunteer, if not, at least add this event to your calendar and come and watch tomorrow’s best engineers ply their skills in this our world class event. I sincerely hope you take advantage of this opportunity and join us in Central Victoria.

Please refer to the link below to register as a volunteer, alternatively refer to the SAE website for the appropriate information and links http://www.saea.com.au/volunteer

Intern joins the SAE-A team Denish Kardani has joined the SAE-A as an intern after completing a Bachelor of Automobile Engineering and then a Master of Management for Engineers.

Mr Kardani was looking for professional employment in the engineering Industry being an automotive engineer and realized that to improve his employment prospects he had to gain meaningful experience in the field.

SAE-A was able to offer him this as an intern.

He has been working with CEO Adrian Feeny and with Rose De Amicis we look forward to his valuable input into our many projects over the 12 weeks he will work with SAE-A.

4 | September 2018

SAE | News

Vale: Raymond (Ray) Brown Raymond Brown, a former Executive Vice President of Toyota Motor Corporation Australia (TMCA) has passed away Ray started as a cadet engineer with Toyota in 1967, then in the mid 1970s moved to product development & product planning. He then moved into manufacturing and in the mid 1980s was made GM of manufacturing and then director of manufacturing in the new established TMCA which was the unification of AMI Toyota, TMA & Thiess Toyota.

He was a part of the growth of Toyota Manufacturing from low volume CKD assembly to high volume manufacturing that led to major exports to the middle east.

He was promoted to Executive Vice President responsible for manufacturing, engineering,

production engineering, purchasing, ISD & HR – a considerable portfolio.

He was employed by Toyota for an impressive 36 years when he moved on in 2002. After leaving Toyota, Ray went on to work with Davies Craig Pty Ltd as an engineering consultant for three years from 2000 before joining the team full-time in 2003 for five years as its technical and marketing director.

Ray was a Fellow of the Institute of Engineers, Australia; a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management; and a member of SAE-A since 1976. He was a past secretary and

chairman SAE-A’s technical board and served as president from 1989 to 1991.

In remembrance of Raymond Brown, TMCA will be making a donation to a charity of the family’s choosing.

CAMS signs MoU with SAE-A

The SAE-A has signed a MoU with Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) for its partnership and involvement in the Formula SAE-A 2018 competition

FSAE Technical Conference

Altair Australia co-hosted the 2019 FSAE Technical Conferences at RMIT and at the UTS Protospace Laboratory. These were held on 12 and 27 July with Danny Nolan of ChassisSim, Brett Longhurst of Bremar Automotion, Riccardo Pagliarella and James Slaughter of Aero One. Altair is a global leader within the realm of delivering high-end engineering simulation software and product design expertise. The company’s tools and solutions are used widely across many and varied industries to enable engineers and designers to create fast optimized designs that are able to be manufactured in reduced time.

The company has a put a lot of focus on engagement within the education industry working with faculties and students, which is why these technical conferences were set up.

Altair has been working and listening to students across Australia and New Zealand and from this engagement it was evident that students were ‘left in the dark’ when it came to understanding the correct implementation of CAE design and input/results.

The Altair technical conferences are about more than showing students how to click buttons, but rather to begin to help them focus on understanding the principles of design and how industry incorporates these with the use of simulation solutions like Altair HyperWorks and ChassisSim. www.saea.com.au

The conference day was a lot of fun for the students and instructors and everyone was able to learn and take something new away to enhance their knowledge.

Altair was able to reach teams across Australia and New Zealand via live streaming platforms as it was important to allow all teams and students the ability to engage with the conferences, not just the Melbourne and Sydney teams.

The feedback gained by students and attendees was fantastic and it was obvious that what was created was of importance.

From this experience, Altair and the other presenters agreed that it was something special and there was a need for a substantial regular experiential learning series. What it is hoped to achieve with these conferences is to truly drive home the importance of correct design understanding and hopefully open students up to more engineering opportunities and help industry connect with its next generation of engineers.

CAMS has been the custodian of motorsport in Australia since 1953 and the organisation is the Australian delegated national sporting authority by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA). The FIA is the governing body for world motor sport and the federation of the world’s leading motoring organisations; a responsibility CAMS has held since 1958.

Formula SAE-A has benefitted over the past couple of years from the support it has received from CAMS, which has led to a mutual partnership. Through the partnership, CAMS will continue to provide Formula SAE permits and continued support to develop the event in future years.

“We are really excited to be able to provide support to this program for another three years,” CAMS CEO Eugene Arocca said.

“The experiences and opportunities Formula SAE offers students is invaluable with graduates often highly sought after from industry employers.Hopefully CAMS’ continued support of Formula SAE – A can inspire the next generation of future stars within motor sport.”

The partnership agreement comes off the back of Monash Motorsport’s recent success in European competitions, winning Formula SAE – UK and placing second in Formula SAE – Austria.

While the team has been successful in combustion and electric cars categories, plans are already underway to release a third program in driverless cars for 2019.

VTE | 5

News | International

Schaeffler heads into Space Drive

ARRB talks to the world on road safety

The Schaeffler Group in cooperation with Roland Arnold and Paravan GmbH confirmed an agreement for the formation of a joint venture company

The Australian Road Research Board’s (ARRB) work on Safe Systems has been featured internationally at an important road safety conference in Europe

The object of the joint venture company, which will be called Schaeffler Paravan Technologie GmbH und Co. KG, is the further development of Paravan’s SPACE DRIVE drive-by-wire technology and the development and sale of mobility systems.

SPACE DRIVE was developed by Paravan GmbH to help drivers with physical disabilities by replacing cumbersome mechanical vehicle control systems with fully electronic systems.

Alongside electronic accelerator and brake activation, SPACE DRIVE features steer-bywire functionality, which enables safe and reliable vehicle steering by purely electronic means, thereby eliminating the need for a steering wheel, steering column and associated mechanical linkages.

Steer-by-wire is a key enabling technology for self-driving cars. Even in part-time autonomous passenger cars with steering wheels, the space saved by eliminating the steering column opens up completely new possibilities for vehicle and cab interior design. SPACE DRIVE is the only system of its kind to be licensed for on-road use in multiple countries worldwide, while at the same time having the potential for technical and commercial viability in large-series automobile production.

Dr Blair Turner, Principal Technology Leader, Safe Systems and Human Factors at ARRB recently attended and presented at the fifth meeting of Technical Committee C.1 “National Road Safety Policies and Programs” of the World Road Association (PIARC) in Lisbon, Portugal.

The meeting was held in conjunction with the International Conference on Road Safety. This year’s theme was, “A commitment to the present and a challenge for the future”.

The conference was held over two days, with four paper sessions.

Dr Turner presented a paper at the international conference entitled ‘Safe System – State of the Art’ and contributed to a panel discussion on new technology.

As a result of this meeting, the WG is on schedule to deliver an update to the Road Safety Manual and a report on Implementation of the Safe System approach later next year.

The next proposed meeting will be held in Beijing, China from 15 - 19 October 2018.

Export growth shows ongoing strength for Australian trade Australia’s total goods and services exports have reached a record $401 billion for the first time, bolstered by strong export growth to China International Trade in Goods and Services data for 2017-18, released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, demonstrates an ongoing strength in Australia’s overall trade performance.

The figures confirm the value of Australian exports reached a new high of $401 billion in 201718, the first time annual exports have exceeded $400 billion. Australia’s annual trade surplus was $6.3 billion over the same period.

Machinery, other manufactures and gold increased over the past year.

MAHLE takes over thermostat products company The MAHLE Group acquired all the shares in the former joint venture Behr Thermot-tronik Italia which has been renamed MAHLE Behr Grugliasco.

At its headquarters in Grugliasco near Turin in northern Italy, the company develops and produces a broad range of thermostat products for use in all vehicle classes.

“We are delighted that the employees of BTTI will now belong fully to MAHLE. Their skills and experience will secure the successful development of MAHLE Behr Grugliasco and therefore also of MAHLE,” said Bernd Eckl, Member of the Management Board and responsible for the Thermal Management business unit at MAHLE. “Aside from the technological aspect, MAHLE also benefits from the BTTI team’s excellent reputation, extensive expertise, and 6 | September 2018

outstanding customer relationships in the Italian market. This applies both to the original equipment and the spare parts businesses,” said Arnd Franz, Member of the Management Board and responsible for Automotive Sales and Application Engineering as well as for the Aftermarket business unit at MAHLE. MAHLE is expanding its thermal management product portfolio. Efficient thermal management is becoming increasingly important, irrespective of the powertrain configuration. In internalcombustion drives, the cooling system plays an important part in making vehicles even more efficient.

For electric vehicles, the economical use of hot and cold flows is the basis for performance, crusing range and service life.

Integrated, efficient, and intelligent thermal management is a prerequisite for e-mobility.

Rail | News

Australasian rail industry achievers announced

Individuals and organisations from across the Australasian rail industry were awarded for outstanding achievements and innovations at the Australasian Rail Industry Awards Gala Dinner Close to 500 representatives from across the rail industry gathered at Melbourne’s Crown Palladium to acknowledge the contributions of 13 category winners.

The award categories and winners are as follows: Career Achievement Award – Peter Hands, Pacific National Customer Service Award – Sydney Trains, Customer Service Transformation Employee Engagement Award – Laing O’Rourke, Hunter Valley Operations, Next Gear Implementation and Tactics Freight Rail Excellence Award – TasRail, A Journey to Safety, Performance and Operational Excellence Innovation and Technology Award – Metro Trains Melbourne – Uninterruptible Power Supply for Melbourne Signalling Network IRSE Systems Engineering Award – Trevor Moore, Australian Rail Track Corporation Permanent Way Institution Young Achiever Award (PWI) – Abdul Karim Jamal, John Holland Group Rail Sustainability Award – Byron Bay Railroad Company, Modification of Diesel Multiple Unit Rail Cards to solar powered electric operation.

RTAA Frank Franklyn Young Rail Specialist Award – Andrew Kelly, CPB Contractors RTSA Young Rail Professional Award – Joint Winners: Ryan Holt, Australian Rail Track Corporation and Laura Edwards, Metro Trains Melbourne

Manufacturing begins on 65 new trains

Manufacturing has started on Victoria’s largest train project at the Newport manufacturing facility in Melbourne’s west, paving the way for more trains, more often and creating hundreds of local jobs

Safety Award Australian Rail Track Corporation, Pathway to Zero Safety Program TrackSAFE Award – NSW TrainLink, Trauma Management Program Workforce Diversity Award – Level Crossing Removal Authority, Training for the Future and the Rail Academy Newport Australasian Railway Association (ARA) Chief Executive Officer, Danny Broad congratulated all of the winners for their outstanding achievements and contributions to the rail industry.

“It is inspiring to see young rail professionals recognised for their work within our industry, including Ryan Holt for his commitment to driving ARTC towards a data driven culture where employees use data in their decisionmaking and Laura Edwards of Metro Trains Melbourne for transforming the experience of passengers with disability travelling by rail in Melbourne,” Mr Broad said.

The bigger trains are being manufactured and assembled by 175 local workers in Newport, with the project creating hundreds of additional local jobs, and dozens of local businesses supplying components for the 65 new trains.

Built with 60 percent local content, the trains are made with more local content than any other project of this kind in Australia – with bogie frames being built in Bendigo, traction and electrical systems made in Morwell and key electrical components and pantographs from Hallam.

PWI Young Achiever – Abdul Karim Jamal ‘Let’s Make Some Noise’ provides an insight into the ground-breaking work undertaken by Northwest Rapid Transit to develop a Noise and Vibration Specification for a metro system in Australia.

It describes how real-world testing of noise and vibration were modelled at an early design stage for the purpose of determining the location of the noise attenuating track from and the required design inputs.

While certain challenges had to be overcome, such as ensuring the design timeframes could be met and proving compliance with the project’s requirements, the final design of the track form system ticked all the right boxes on noise levels, durability and maintenance. This project also represents the team’s dedication and commitment to innovation. www.saea.com.au

The project will create opportunities for a range of Victorians with at least 15 percent of hours to be worked by apprentices, trainees or cadets and other opportunities for Victorians who face barriers to employment and transitioning auto workers.

Michael, a former employee at Toyota is an electrical trade assistant with the project. His skills have transferred across easily and will continue to develop as he works on the latest technology in the fleet of new trains.

Michael says that the longevity of the rolling stock industry is a big bonus for him, together with the location of the Newport manufacturing facility, close to his home.

VTE | 7

News | Aerospace

Additional technicians for Joint Strike fighter needs TAE Aerospace will develop a Turbine Engine Maintenance Facility (TEMF) in Bundamba, south-east Queensland, which will support in-country sustainment of Australia’s fifth-generation F-35 Joint Strike fighter jets The TEMF will enable deeper-level maintenance, where JSF F135 engine modules are disassembled, repaired and reassembled for testing.

The Minister for Defence, the Hon Christopher Pyne MP, said the new facility is a testament to the strength of Australia’s defence industry and the contribution we make to the global F-35 Program.

“TAE Aerospace’s new facility will support maintenance, repair, overhaul and upgrade (MRO&U) activities for not only Australian F135 engines but also engines from around the Asia Pacific region and the world,” Minister Pyne said.

“TAE Aerospace is 100 percent Australian-

owned with 237 employees at several sites across Australia, with contracts to support Classic Hornet, Super Hornet, Growler and M1 Abram tank engines.

“The addition of the F135 engine MRO&U activities will add a minimum of 15 aerospace technician jobs to its workforce and up to 85 additional jobs as part of the future F-35 Global Support Solution.”

The Australian Government has approved the acquisition of 72 F-35A JSF aircraft to replace the current fleet of 71 ageing F/A-18A/B Classic Hornets.

“The global F-35 Program has had a positive impact on Australia’s growing defence industry, which has collectively been awarded in excess of $1 billion in production contracts and will support up to 5000 Australian jobs by 2023,” Minister Pyne said.

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Defence | News

Request for Tender open for LAND 400 The multi-billion dollar project to replace Army’s M113 Armoured Personnel Carriers has taken another step forward with the formal release of the Request for Tender for LAND 400 Phase 3 – Mounted Close Combat Capability The project will see Army’s capability significantly enhanced with a fleet of up to 450 modern Infantry Fighting Vehicles and 17 Manoeuvre Support Vehicles.

Minister Pyne indicated that during this tender process, Defence will work closely with industry to optimise Australian Industry Capability content.

“I actively encourage Australian small and medium sized enterprises to take advantage of the significant opportunities arising from this project,” Minister for Defence, Christopher Pyne said.

“This project is another exciting opportunity for Australian industry to deliver leading edge technology in support of the Army,” he said.

Just as with the LAND 400 Phase 2 Combat Reconnaissance Vehicles, Australian industry involvement and Australian workers will be critically important to this project.

Defence is placing greater emphasis on a coordinated and programmatic approach to Army’s biggest project ever.

Replacement and LAND 8160 – Enhanced Gap Crossing Capability into a programmatic ‘mega project’.

Submissions will close at 5.00pm AEST on Friday 1 March 2019.

A new Armoured Vehicle Division will been created to consolidate large programs like LAND 400, LAND 907 – Main Battle Tank

The full tender can now be downloaded from the AusTender website at www.tenders.gov.au

Australian Industry Capability defence plans Australian Industry Capability (AIC) public plans set out plans and forecast opportunities contracted Defence suppliers provide for involvement in major Defence projects and sustainment activities The level of detail incorporated into each public AIC plan is expected to vary in content ranging from brief high-level summaries to detailed statements depending upon the scope and complexity of the Australian industry component of the procurement.

The level of detail published will depend on security, commercial restrictions or caveats that apply to the information and the likelihood of any requirement to amend contracts and associated AIC plans.

The implementation of this reform in Defence

is consistent with the broader Australian Industry Participation initiative in force to strengthen opportunities for Australian industry to compete for work.

Under the AIC program, it is a requirement that tailored versions of AIC plans be prepared for public release. Plans published to date can be accessed via links below.

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MG Independent Assessing VTE | 9

News | General

ARC Linkage Projects awarded funding

Australian Research Council (ARC) Chief Executive Officer, Professor Sue Thomas, said five successful innovative research projects totalling $2.4 million were announced by Minister for Education and Training, Senator the Hon. Simon Birmingham, under the ARC Linkage Projects scheme “The Australian Research Council’s Linkage Projects scheme supports university based researchers to engage in essential collaborations with other parts of the innovation system, including industry partners and community organisations,” said Professor Thomas.

“These important collaborations with their research partners allow researchers in Australian universities to work towards practical solutions to ‘real world’ industry and community challenges, in practical settings.

“These five projects, to be carried out over the next five years, will involve cash and in-kind support of a further $6.8 million from 12 partner community and industry organisations, in addition to this substantial Australian Government funding support.”

Two projects of significance are: • $824,948 for Professor Evgueni Jak at The University of Queensland— collaborating with Nyrstar Port Pirie Pty Ltd; Umicore NV; Aurubis AG; Kazzinc Ltd; and Boliden Group—to generate advanced chemical thermodynamic models and tools to develop novel processes for the efficient recovery and recycling of metals from complex sources such as electronic components and hazardous wastes.

• $460,000 for Professor JianFeng Nie at Monash University—collaborating with Baosteel Company; and Magontec Limited—to develop novel alloys and processing technologies that can produce more lightweight, more fuel efficient and better performing magnesium products and consumer goods with lower processing costs.

10 | September 2018

Stronger than steel

An Australian company making a revolutionary material claimed to be 100 times stronger than steel has been granted Government funding to establish an advanced manufacturing facility in Melbourne SupraG Energy, which develops high-value graphene products, is one of six recipients to share in $3.2 million of funding under the Government’s Accelerating Commercialisation initiative.

Minister for Small and Family Business, the Workplace and Deregulation Craig Laundy announced the grants for the six Australian businesses to undertake commercialisation activities.

The latest funding offers will assist: • SupraG Energy to establish an advanced manufacturing facility in Melbourne to accelerate the development of its high-

value graphene products • Ailytic in Adelaide to further develop its artificial intelligence software platform for the manufacturing sector that analyses manufacturing processes and optimises production scheduling • Aurtra in Brisbane to launch its transformer condition monitoring system into the international energy market, • Loadpro also in Brisbane to commercialise its Loadpro X60 truck to fill a product gap for off-highway trucks in the mining and construction industries for extended hauls with less fuel burn.

Okuma Australia appoints new managing director With the retirement of longstanding and highly respected managing director Philip Hayes, Okuma Japan has appointed general manager Dean McCarroll to replace Mr Hayes A toolmaker by trade Mr McCarroll has more than 40 years in the machine tool business with the last 30 years in management roles.

Okuma Australia and New Zealand are wholly owned subsidiaries of Okuma Japan.

Engineers encouraged to apply for Churchill Fellowships

A Churchill Fellowship offers any Australian citizen the opportunity to travel overseas to investigate inspiring or innovative practices in any field and return to share that knowledge for the benefit of the community The high international regard for Churchill Fellowships literally ‘opens doors’, granting access to expertise from around the world, expanding a Churchill Fellows’ knowledge and experience for the benefit of Australian society.

Churchill Fellowships are intended for people from all walks of life from across all sectors and interests. No academic qualifications are necessary. More than 100 Fellowships are awarded every year.

More than 4000 Churchill Fellowships have been awarded since The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust was established in 1965.

They differ from many other scholarships available in Australia. Most notably, there are no limits on topic or field of interest and no

requirement for academic qualifications which results in a rich and diverse applicant field.

The overseas travel component of a Churchill Fellowship can be between 4-8 weeks.

Applications open in February 2019 and close towards the end of April 2019, with interviews typically held over June-July in the year of application. Engineers are encouraged to apply for a Churchill Fellowship in 2019.

Given the open nature of topics that can be applied for, it will come as no surprise that Churchill Fellowships have been awarded to people from, and on topics relevant to the automotive sector in Australia.

For more information about Churchill Fellowships visit www.churchilltrust.com.au/

Truck | News

PACCAR builds DAF in Australia

Coinciding with the handover of the 60,000th locally-manufactured Kenworth, DAF Trucks Australia (DTA) announced that some DAF trucks for the Australian market will be assembled at the PACCAR Australia production facility in Bayswater, Victoria commencing in the second half of 2018 In 2015, DAF delivered its one millionth truck globally.

DAF manufactures trucks in Eindhoven (The Netherlands), Westerlo (Belgium), Leyland (United Kingdom) and Ponta Grossa (Brazil).

DAF’s engine factory, component plant, press shop and final assembly line for CF and XF models are located in Eindhoven, and the axles and cabins are produced in Westerlo.

The start of DAF assembly in Australia represents a watershed event for DTA and is an outstanding vote of confidence in PACCAR Australia and Australian manufacturing.

“As DAF’s volumes have increased over the past few years, local assembly of DAF trucks has been a discussion point in PACCAR, and

we recently received approval to go ahead with plans to assemble DAF trucks on a dedicated line in the same factory where we build Kenworth,” PACCAR Australia’s Managing Director, Andrew Hadjikakou said.

“We are delighted to now be able to use the skills and facilities of Bayswater and its people to invest in DAF’s future here too. This is a great indication of the foresight and faith of our parent company.

“It makes sense to do this, to employ the skills and quality workmanship of our employees and further use the world-class engineering and production facilities of our Bayswater plant.”

The manufacturing facility in Bayswater,

Melbourne uses ISO9001:2008 quality systems and highly sophisticated assembly processes featuring numerous innovations in plant layout, tooling, component design and robotics.

Over the next three years, PACCAR Australia will double the size of its Bayswater plant.

PACCAR Australia has been importing DAF trucks since 1998, and has sold more than 4500 trucks in that time.

PACCAR Manufacturing Hall of Fame

PACCAR Australia has been awarded the 2018 Victorian Manufacturing Hall of Fame Award for Leadership in Workforce Skills PACCAR Australia was inducted into the Victorian Manufacturing Hall of Fame in 2012 and this is now the third time.

The Manufacturing Hall of Fame Awards, established in 2001, showcases and recognises the breadth and depth of companies and individuals involved in manufacturing and innovation within Victoria.

This award recognises the investment undertaken by PACCAR Australia in skills development of its employees, suppliers and dealer network associated with the design, launch, manufacture and aftermarket support of the Kenworth T610.

The Manufacturing Hall of Fame also

recognised PACCAR Australia’s milestone achievement of having manufactured 60,000 Kenworth trucks in Australia.

PACCAR Australia employs more than 1100 people directly, and many thousands more through its independent dealer and supplier networks.

Cummins acquires hybrid and electric solutions Cummins has announced that it is acquiring Efficient Drivetrains Cummins is acquiring Silicon Valley-based Efficient Drivetrains (EDI), which designs and produces hybrid and fully electric power solutions for commercial markets.

Adding EDI to the Cummins portfolio is the latest step forward in Cummins’ efforts to become a global electrified power leader.

“Cummins began developing its electrification capabilities more than a decade ago.

During the past nine months, it accelerated investment in this business when it undertook strategic efforts to build capabilities across the entire range of electric storage, as evidenced by the acquisitions of UK-based www.saea.com.au

Johnson Matthey Battery Systems and North America-based Brammo.

Upon the addition of its fully-electric and unique four-mode hybrid powertrains, EDI will broaden Cummins’ electrification expertise and products. EDI’s hybrid system is one of the most versatile, able to switch, in real time, between fully electric, series and parallel modes. “...the combination of Cummins and EDI represents a tremendous opportunity for growth and category leadership,” said Joerg Ferchau, EDI’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

“EDI’s advanced portfolio of plug-in-hybrid and full electric technologies paired with Cummins’ industry leadership and focus on innovation will allow us to deliver best-in-class products, service and support worldwide.

Vehicle OEMs and fleets evaluating new electric and hybrid technologies prefer to work with well-established companies that have the depth and resources to provide the support that’s needed to scale into high volume mass production. Together, we can lead the electrification category, and provide exciting new options that the market will embrace.”

VTE | 11

News | Truck

Additive manufacturing adds to the bottom line

Additive manufacturing is beginning to transform operations from early development through fulfilling requests for obsolete components. Integrating 3D printing into the design and manufacturing operations can be a slow process, since a broad range of parameters must be examined, sometimes on a case-by-case basis

Additive processing has already altered many fields, but it’s still fairly new in the world of commercial vehicles. The technology is often used for prototypes since production times are far shorter than for parts made with conventional manufacturing techniques. Companies are striving to understand the nuances of components and expand their usage of additive processes.

“We are piloting six 3D-printed plastic, non-safety critical parts,” said Angela Timmen, Manager of Interior/Exterior Cab and Major Components at Daimler Trucks North America. “DTNA partnered with the 3D printing service bureau, Technology House, to produce the parts via selective laser sintering.

The pilot parts were selected based on their long lead times and their lack of tooling. They also provide a safe way to explore and learn the 3D printing process.”

Additive processes have become more common in the last few years, so many companies are expanding their capabilities to produce a broader range of prototypes. They’re also looking to see how additive parts can be put into production machines.

Caterpillar opened its Additive

Manufacturing Factory in 2015 to focus on changing manufacturing environments. This operation helps Caterpillar understand the many different 3D printing technologies and explore how they can be used in conjunction with other manufacturing technologies.

Interest is not just from OEMs. Engineering and technical consulting groups are quite interested, since they’re often designing a number of different solutions for OEM projects.

When they can make a range of different options without taking the time to set up conventional manufacturing equipment, design engineers can try out far more options, often using creative concepts.

There are many factors to be understood. There are a range of different manufacturing technologies, including selective laser sintering, stereo lithography, direct metal laser sintering, multi-jet fusion, fused deposition modeling and continuous liquid interface production.

Additionally, the properties of components made with powdered raw materials can be different depending on the selected production technology.

To read the full article visit www.sae.org/news/2018/09/3d-printing-in-heavy-duty-vehicles 12 | September 2018

Auto | News

Robot CT installed at BMW

Fraunhofer EZRT has developed “RoboCT,” a robot-assisted computed tomography (CT) system that comprehensively analyzes vehicle quality in the early development phase of automotive production – without disassembling the vehicle – and thus shortens development cycles. As part of a collaboration with automaker BMW, this system has now been installed in the production environment Fraunhofer Development Center X-ray Technology EZRT has developed “RoboCT,” a robot-assisted computed tomography (CT) system that comprehensively analyzes vehicle quality in the early development phase of automotive production – without disassembling the vehicle – and thus shortens development cycles. As part of a collaboration with automaker BMW, this system has now been installed in the production environment.

small as a human hair. With this technology, objects can be analyzed in detail with extreme precision and without damaging them.

Compared with conventional CT systems, the advantage of using RoboCT in the production environment is the ability to reach test positions on objects with complex shapes, such as a car body, or in a particularly large workspace.

X-ray CT systems commonly used in industry are capable of scanning objects of about 30 centimeters in diameter to acquire 3D information on all their structures, whether these are superficial or hidden in the object’s interior. These CT images can be virtually sliced into any desired sectional views on a computer and analyzed. Ultraprecise hardware components are needed in order to achieve resolutions of sometimes less than one micrometer.

In close cooperation with engineers from the BMW Group at the Research & Innovation Centre (FIZ) in Munich, the CT system was installed directly at the interface between development and production, and was put into operation in July 2018.

Four cooperating robots manipulate imaging components, such as the X-ray source and detector, travel around the car, enabling RoboCT to reach all positions on the vehicle.

In this way, the system can produce threedimensional CT images showing details as

Until now, performing this level of analysis required the relevant components to be disassembled or even cut out and analyzed in a separate CT system. The shorter development cycles mean that users can take a product from the idea stage to market launch much faster.

Large industrial robots with ranges of three meters or more let users reach regions of interest (ROI) on much larger objects and objects with complex shapes. The particular challenge involved is the use of algorithms to correct the robots’ geometric inaccuracies directly from the recorded measurement data.

The most precise industrial robots of this size achieve accuracies of just ½ to ¼ millimeter over their entire working area but depending on the application, at least 1/20 millimeter is needed for CT. Solving this problem is the key to using this technology in today’s production environments.

The long-term goal is not to simply measure material data at random or in bulk, but rather to acquire only the relevant data. As for which data is relevant, the cognitive sensor system itself will determine that.

The robot activates an X-ray system, an air ultrasound system or a thermography system to complete a specific, precisely defined task.

By using artificial intelligence, the RoboCT will assist users with various tasks by functioning as a black box to recommend optimum parameterizations in terms of accessibility and acquisition.

Schaeffler’s garage of tomorrow at Automechanika Schaeffler celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Automechanika Frankfurt this year by presenting the garage of tomorrow In line with its digital agenda, Schaeffler’s Automotive Aftermarket division focused on digital displays that combine the everyday garage work of the future with virtual knowledge transfer using mixed and augmented reality.

In addition, augmented reality was used to present the company’s core competencies of transmission, engine and chassis. With the use of tablets, these technologies were presented clearly and in a way that was easy to understand.

With its LuK, INA and FAG brands, the Automotive Aftermarket division is a system specialist for transmission, engine and chassis.

Visitors were able to get information at different levels of detail, depending on what they were interested in. When visitors held their tablets in front of one of the three augmented reality displays (transmission, engine and chassis), virtual information about the intelligent repair solutions and special tools from Schaeffler appeared on screen.

Schaeffler’s trade fair stand looked into the future and a highlight was a look through mixed-reality glasses. Live at the stand, technical experts demonstrated how the replacement of a dual-mass flywheel (DMF) and a timing chain can be possible in real time using interactive support. www.saea.com.au

As part of the “Tomorrow’s Service und Mobility” theme of this year’s trade fair, Schaeffler also offered an exciting look

with its “Schaeffler Glass Car”. This exhibit is outfitted with about 40 products and technologies from the Schaeffler world including the E-Clutch, the electromagnetic roll stabilizer, the thermal management module and the electric axle.

VTE | 13

News | Auto & Special Vehicles

150 engineers to join GM Holden in global Advanced Vehicle Development GM Holden’s statement that it needs to recruit 150 engineers back into its ranks is no doubt a welcome announcement particularly for Australia’s young up-and-coming engineers. This would mean the company would bring its local engineering workforce up to 500 – in its heyday it was around the 900 mark.

This is part of a $28 million investment by parent company General Motors. The investment comes after Holden posted its lowest sales since it was established as General Motors Holden in 1948.

The company has said that it is in need of electronic, CAD designers, and mechanical and mechatronic engineers but is happy to broaden its perspective and look at a wide range of engineering graduates.

Previous Holden engineers have also been welcomed back into the fold with a number already re-employed but the company is looking for a mix of experienced and graduate engineers because graduates bring energy, enthusiasm and new ideas.

Since restructuring there has been a tight demographic with the average length of service around 18 years with few under the age of 30 and few over the age of 50.

Holden needs the new engineers to work on its global advanced vehicle development program. The company said that it is to be spending up to $120 million annually on automotive research and development in Australia and the new engineers will work to help fast-track the autonomous vehicles and electric powertrains of the future and will be

14 | September 2018

integrated into GM’s global Advanced Vehicle Development (AVD) team.

In North America, the AVD program has 350 employees with other centres in China and South Korea.

These new recruits will be based mainly at Fishermans Bend with a small number at the Lang Lang testing ground. At this stage, none will be based overseas but since it is a global company the opportunities are there.

Holden has plans to bring at least 20 new all-electric models to market by 2023 with Australia featuring as one of the key sites outside of North America. The first fully autonomous rideshare vehicle to come from the company is expected in 2019 but will be for North America not Australia.

The company has also upgraded its Lang Land Proving Ground having spent $15.9 million on refurbishment.

The announcement regarding the new engineering recruits comes on the heels of the company appointing Dave Buttner as chairman and managing director of Holden following the retirement of Mark Bernhard.

Mr Buttner has had a long career in the automotive industry having spent 40 years

in the industry most recently as president of Toyota Motor Corporation in Australia (TMCA) from May 2014 to December 2017. At TMCA he held senior roles in manufacturing, sales and marketing, corporate affairs, product planning and development.

GM Holden also recently announced that it would introduce GM Financial to the Australian market in early 2019 to allow Holden to offer customers more flexible finance products and services in its bid to gain more sales.

Auto & Special Vehicles | News

CSIRO powers its way into hydrogen vehicles CSIRO Chief Executive Larry Marshall was one of the first to ride in the Toyota Mirai and Hyundai Nexo vehicles powered by ultra-high purity hydrogen, produced in Queensland using CSIRO’s membrane technology The CSIRO launched its hydrogen fuel program in 2017 to support the development of the technology as a new energy export for Australia and invested around $7 million in creating a hydrogen-focused Future Sciences Platform.

This technology will pave the way for bulk hydrogen to be transported in the form of ammonia, using existing infrastructure, and then reconverted back to hydrogen at the point of use.

It has the potential to fill the gap in the technology chain to supply fuel cell vehicles around the world with low-emissions hydrogen sourced from Australia.

The membrane separates ultra-high purity hydrogen from ammonia, while blocking all other gases.

It links hydrogen production, distribution and delivery in the form of a modular unit that can be used at, or near, a refuelling station.

This means that the transportation and storage of hydrogen – currently a complex and relatively expensive process – is simplified, allowing bulk hydrogen to be transported economically and efficiently in the form of

liquid ammonia.

Recent advances in solar and electrochemical technologies mean renewable hydrogen production is expected to become competitive with fossil fuel-based production, providing an opportunity to decarbonise both the energy and transport sectors while creating new export opportunities.

CSIRO Chief Executive Dr Larry Marshall is excited by the prospect of a growing global market for clean hydrogen, and the potential for a national renewable hydrogen export industry, to benefit Australia.

“This is a watershed moment for energy, and we look forward to applying CSIRO innovation to enable this exciting renewably-sourced fuel and energy storage medium a smoother path to market,” Dr Marshall said.

“I’m delighted to see strong collaboration and the application of CSIRO know-how to what is a key part of the overall energy mix.”

BOC Sales and Marketing Director Bruce Currie congratulated CSIRO on the successful refuelling of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles, which proves the effectiveness of CSIRO’s

membrane technology from generation, right through to point of use.

“BOC’s innovative engineering team are proud to be collaborating with CSIRO researchers on this technology breakthrough, as we focus on advancing the hydrogen economy and global transition towards clean hydrogen for mobility and energy,” Mr Currie said.

Following this successful demonstration, the technology will be increased in scale and deployed in several larger-scale demonstrations, in Australia and abroad.

The project received $1.7 million from the Science and Industry Endowment Fund (SIEF), which was matched by CSIRO. In addition to its membrane technology, CSIRO is applying its expertise to all stages of the hydrogen technology chain (including solar photovoltaics, solar thermal, grid management, water electrolysis, ammonia synthesis, direct ammonia utilisation via combustion and/or fuel cells, as well as hydrogen production).

Mahle e-motors for light duty passenger cars With a portfolio that includes traction drive motors for 2 and 4-wheel drive off-road vehicles, Mahle will soon add 48-volt drive motors for light-duty passenger electric vehicles “The technology is really not drastically different than some of the traction drive motors that we have in the marketplace today for other industries,” JD Kehoe, Mahle’s director of Product Development Filtration and Engine Peripherals for Mahle Filter Systems North America, said.

Mahle’s first electric motor for a light-duty passenger vehicle application is coming in the 2020/2021 timeframe, said Kehoe, adding that the company’s electric motors also will be used on hybrid-electric vehicles.

“Vehicle manufacturers need larger, morepowerful, highly-efficient electric motors for 48-V and high-voltage applications to power the next generation of vehicles,” Kehoe said.

Engineers are developing products that meet specific functional safety and other automotive requirements.

“We’re taking our basic traction motors that www.saea.com.au

we’ve done for the off-road and utility sectors and scaling those up for higher output [48V], increasing the kW that the drive motor can produce. It’s really about optimizing the power-to-weight ratio of the motors,” he said.

Synchronous electric motors, operating in the range of 42-52 volts, are designed for hybrid-electric vehicles. These Mahle-made liquid-cooled motors provide a peak 20 kW (27 hp) output and a continuous output of 13 kW (17 hp) while delivering up to 60 N·m (44 lb·ft) of torque. In re-generation mode, up to 25 kW (34 hp) can be recaptured.

Mahle’s 48-V electric drive systems will be supplied with integrated electronics. Mahle’s acquisitions of Kokusan Denki, Letrika and Nagares will provided additional expertise in electric motors and controllers.

“These three entities give us a good production footprint along with great historical

technology to help us provide a complete system,” Kehoe said.

Operating in the 400-800 volt range, Mahle’s high-voltage motors feature Imbedded Permanent Magnet (IPM) technology.

“We expect to see our high-voltage motor on a fully electric vehicle as early as the 2022 timeframe,” Kehoe said.

These liquid-cooled motors are targeted to have a peak power output of up to 180 kW (2401hp). The motors will use Mahle’s patented liquid-cooled controllers.

VTE | 15

Feature | Auto & Special Vehicles

McLaren 720S Proactive Chassis Control II Following its 2017 launch at the Geneva International Motor Show, the McLaren 720S has received adulation and awards, garnering particular praise for its ride quality, handling and driver engagement. The heart of the suspension control system, called Proactive Chassis Control II, was the result of a collaboration between McLaren Automotive and the University of Cambridge.

The Proactive Chassis Control II suspension system features hydraulic cross-linking (lead image) and “semi-active” dampers. The dampers’ rates are continuously adjustable by means of a needle valve and solenoid which are controlled by a computer in real time (Fig. 2). Although semi-active systems are not new in themselves, there has been a big advance in performance through use of a new algorithm developed in a PhD project at the University of Cambridge to simultaneously optimize the car’s ride and handling response.

The ride behavior is the car’s response to undulations in the road, whereas the handling behavior is the response to driver inputs such as steering, accelerating and braking. These can be viewed as two types of exogenous (external) input acting on the vehicle. It is the purpose of the algorithm to control the car under arbitrary and simultaneous excitation from both types of input.

Solving the control algorithm The first challenge in developing such a system is that the ride and handling inputs have different character and affect the vehicle in different ways. The road inputs were modeled stochastically (i.e., in a statistical manner) taking account of typical road profiles. The driver inputs were treated deterministically. A simplifying modelling assumption was adopted to consider the driver inputs as inertial loads acting on the sprung mass to be estimated in real time.

The second challenge was to pose and solve a suitable stochastic optimal control problem. A performance measure was selected consisting of a weighted average of squared quantities (accelerations, velocities, suspension and tire deflections of the vehicle).

Minimization of this measure would result in control of the quantities relevant for ride comfort, tire grip and body control for both exogenous inputs at once.

The main difficulty in solving the optimal control algorithm is that the control input (the adjustable damper rate) enters the problem

Figure 2

16 | September 2018

non-linearly. The force provided by the damper obeys a relationship of the form F(t) = c(t) v(t) where c(t) is the adjustable damper rate, which can be varied in real time between a minimum and maximum value, and v(t) is the velocity of the piston. This means that the control input multiplies a system state rather than entering the dynamics additively—which makes the resulting Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation complicated to solve.

Nevertheless, it proved possible to derive a control law in the form of a nonlinear static map (see “A clipped-optimal control algorithm for semi-active vehicle suspensions: theory and experimental evaluation,” by P. Brezas, M.C. Smith and W. Hoult, Automatica, vol. 53, 2015, p.188-194).

The third challenge arose because the algorithm relied on “state feedback,” but not all components of the car’s state are directly measurable. A dynamic observer of special type had to be developed to take account of the two types of disturbance on the vehicle.

This gave rise to the final control architecture shown in Fig. 3.

Achieving the fusion of comfort and control It took years of effort working on prototype vehicles and subsequent road testing to get to the stage when the algorithm was finally ready for a production vehicle. The algorithm was first tested in McLaren’s driver-in-the-loop vehicle simulator, with positive results. This led to the commissioning and development of a prototype test vehicle, which confirmed the findings from the simulator and paved the way to production approval. The 720S was tested by McLaren in a wide range of motoring conditions including Death Valley, California, the western U.S. state of Colorado and the European Alps.

Fig. 4 shows the algorithm’s superior performance (black line) compared to fixed damper settings when negotiating a bumpy roundabout near the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, U.K. The roundabout provides a combination of demanding handling and an uneven road surface, demonstrating the algorithm’s ability to simultaneously optimize comfort and control.

The integrated nature of the control of ride and handling responses gives the impression

Figure 3

of a car which is rather softly sprung, yet delivering tight handling behavior. Such a combination would normally only be found in a stiffly-sprung vehicle with a harsh ride. The system demonstrates how active suspension (albeit semi-active in this case) can reduce or eliminate the trade-off between ride and handling performance that is inevitable in conventional suspensions.

Explained Simon Lacey, head of advanced engineering at McLaren Automotive: “The biggest leap has come in the software that controls the suspension system. It’s an intelligent system that successfully balances the requirements of ride comfort, body control and handling, dealing with road surface changes and challenging corners in a way that we’ve never seen before.”

Following its 2017 launch at the Geneva International Motor Show, the McLaren 720S has received adulation and awards, garnering particular praise for its ride quality, handling and driver engagement. The heart of the suspension control system, called Proactive Chassis Control II, was the result of a collaboration between McLaren Automotive and the University of Cambridge.

How does this system deliver a leap forward in ride and handling behavior? Engineers who led its development offered Automotive Engineering insights into their approach and the method they employed for its implementation.

The Proactive Chassis Control II suspension system features hydraulic cross-linking (lead image) and “semi-active” dampers. The dampers’ rates are continuously adjustable by means of a needle valve and solenoid which are controlled by a computer in real time (Fig. 2). Although semi-active systems are not new in themselves, there has been a big advance in performance through use of a new algorithm developed in a PhD project at the University of Cambridge to simultaneously optimize the car’s ride and handling response.

The ride behavior is the car’s response to undulations in the road, whereas the handling behavior is the response to driver inputs such

Auto & Special Vehicles | Feature

as steering, accelerating and braking. These can be viewed as two types of exogenous (external) input acting on the vehicle. It is the purpose of the algorithm to control the car under arbitrary and simultaneous excitation from both types of input.

Solving the control algorithm The first challenge in developing such a system is that the ride and handling inputs have different character and affect the vehicle in different ways. The road inputs were modeled stochastically (i.e., in a statistical manner) taking account of typical road profiles. The driver inputs were treated deterministically. A simplifying modelling assumption was adopted to consider the driver inputs as inertial loads acting on the sprung mass to be estimated in real time.

The second challenge was to pose and solve a suitable stochastic optimal control problem. A performance measure was selected consisting of a weighted average of squared quantities (accelerations, velocities, suspension and tire deflections of the vehicle).

Minimization of this measure would result in control of the quantities relevant for ride comfort, tire grip and body control for both exogenous inputs at once.

The main difficulty in solving the optimal control algorithm is that the control input (the adjustable damper rate) enters the problem non-linearly. The force provided by the damper

Figure 4

obeys a relationship of the form F(t) = c(t) v(t) where c(t) is the adjustable damper rate, which can be varied in real time between a minimum and maximum value, and v(t) is the velocity of the piston. This means that the control input multiplies a system state rather than entering the dynamics additively—which makes the resulting Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation complicated to solve.

Nevertheless, it proved possible to derive a control law in the form of a nonlinear static map (see “A clipped-optimal control algorithm for semi-active vehicle suspensions: theory and experimental evaluation,” by P. Brezas, M.C. Smith and W. Hoult, Automatica, vol. 53, 2015, p.188-194).

the way to production approval. The 720S was tested by McLaren in a wide range of motoring conditions including Death Valley, California, the western U.S. state of Colorado and the European Alps.

Fig. 4 shows the algorithm’s superior performance (black line) compared to fixed damper settings when negotiating a bumpy roundabout near the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, U.K. The roundabout provides a combination of demanding handling and an uneven road surface, demonstrating the algorithm’s ability to simultaneously optimize comfort and control.

Achieving the fusion of comfort and control

The integrated nature of the control of ride and handling responses gives the impression of a car which is rather softly sprung, yet delivering tight handling behavior. Such a combination would normally only be found in a stiffly-sprung vehicle with a harsh ride. The system demonstrates how active suspension (albeit semi-active in this case) can reduce or eliminate the trade-off between ride and handling performance that is inevitable in conventional suspensions.

It took years of effort working on prototype vehicles and subsequent road testing to get to the stage when the algorithm was finally ready for a production vehicle. The algorithm was first tested in McLaren’s driver-in-the-loop vehicle simulator, with positive results. This led to the commissioning and development of a prototype test vehicle, which confirmed the findings from the simulator and paved

Explained Simon Lacey, head of advanced engineering at McLaren Automotive: “The biggest leap has come in the software that controls the suspension system. It’s an intelligent system that successfully balances the requirements of ride comfort, body control and handling, dealing with road surface changes and challenging corners in a way that we’ve never seen before.”

The third challenge arose because the algorithm relied on “state feedback,” but not all components of the car’s state are directly measurable. A dynamic observer of special type had to be developed to take account of the two types of disturbance on the vehicle.

This gave rise to the final control architecture shown in Fig. 3.

Watch the trend to electric vehicles

The electric vehicle is one of four themes, along with the connected car, autonomous driving technology and transportas-a-service, that is disrupting the legacy automotive industry, according to GlobalData a data and analytics company The company’s latest report ‘Electric vehicles – Thematic Research’ states that there are currently 3 million electric vehicles globally, but this could rise to 300 million by 2040.

“Over the next five years, we expect stress, strain, margin evaporation, and shake out across much of the legacy automotive industry and its Tier-1 parts suppliers as a slow growth industry incurs the expense of conversion to electric vehicle and autonomous driving www.saea.com.au

technology,” Cyrus Mewawalla, Head of Thematic Research at GlobalData said.

GlobalData predicts that the proportion of electric vehicles as new registrations will rise from barely 1% of global passenger vehicles in 2017 to more than 15% by 2030. However, large scale commercial production of electric vehicles by the big car makers is unlikely to take off until 2025.

auto industry is in for a period of rising capital expenditure, increased M&A activity, tougher regulations, shrinking margins and unprecedented technological disruption. Many car makers will not survive this turmoil.

“We are at the very beginning of the cycle, but over the next decade the automotive value chain will be transformed by the electric vehicle theme,” Mr Mewawalla said.

Between now and then, most of the legacy VTE | 17

Feature | Auto & Special Vehicles

Sage transport alternative trials in South Australia A new wave of transportation is being trialed at the former Mitsubishi car manufacturing plant in South Australia, with the launch a driverless shuttle A driverless electric shuttle will transport Flinders University students and the public around the old car production line, now the Tonsley Innovation District, as part of a five-year trial of autonomous vehicle (AV) technology set to encompass public roads in South Australia for the first time.

The Flinders University and RAA autonomous shuttle trial, aptly named Flinders Express (FLEX), will initially provide ‘first and last mile’ shuttle services on roads within the Tonsley site, then connections to bus stops on South Road, Clovelly Park Train Station and businesses within the Tonsley precinct.

Within a year the shuttle will run to the Flinders Medical Centre and the University’s Bedford Park campus before using main arterial roads around the entire Bedford Park precinct.

The three-stage, $4 million driverless shuttle project – for which Flinders University, the RAA and Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure have partnered with industry supporters Cohda Wireless,

Renewal SA, SAGE Automation, Telstra, UPG, ZenEnergy and public transport operator Keolis Downer, has received $1 million from the State Government’s $10 million Future Mobility Lab Fund.

Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government Stephan Knoll said trials like this would allow feedback into improving public transport services now and in future.

The minister said the real question was how the state would keep up with AV technology, and said companies like SAGE Automation and Cohda Wireless were helping this advancement.

Australia is moving quickly to master AV technologies and regulation. As a key technology partner for FLEX, SAGE delivered the devices for remote monitoring, tracking and communications that connect the shuttle with the Tonsley Precinct infrastructure.

In September, SAGE and US-based Local Motors will trial the world first autonomous shuttle and smart shuttle stop solution at the Glenelg foreshore.

Meanwhile SAGE’s Bluetooth passenger and car detection technologies are feeding into future smart city public transport planning, and AV communication methods.

“The future of autonomous vehicles, and indeed smart cities, is very much reliant on fast, secure, and highly responsive communication networks and devices, and that’s how SAGE fits into this picture,” SAGE Automation CEO Adrian Fahey said.

“Communicative data technologies and open data will be a key enabler to successful autonomous vehicle rollout across our cities.”

Like SAGE, the Tonsley Precinct is no stranger to autonomous vehicle trials. The Argo autonomous shuttles have been operating on the grounds for a number of months.

How ‘green’ is an EV?

Exactly how environmentally friendly electric vehicles (EVs) are as alternative to fuel-burning vehicles may actually depend on where you live, according to a new study from Case Western Reserve University in the US The “green” value of EVs can vary dramatically across the United States due to climate differences, whether producing the electricity to recharge them relies on fossil fuels, and how far the vehicles are driven each day, the researchers found.

In fact, EVs can sometimes contribute as much in greenhouse-gas emissions as their conventional counterparts—even if indirectly from the electricity consumed by the battery in powering the vehicle.

“EV batteries degrade so differently in each state that the battery life and the greenhousegas emissions should both factor in EV incentives,” said lead researcher Chris Yuan, an associate professor in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Case Western Reserve.

“This research provides the facts for our policymakers to think about the strategies to do it better,” he said.

The combustion of fossil fuels for transportation generates more than a fourth of greenhouse-gas emissions nationally. A host of federal agencies, including the Environmental Protection 18 | September 2018

Agency and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, have set regulatory standards to increase the use of EVs to offset those emissions.

In fact, EVs are expected to comprise about 24 percent of all vehicles sold in the US in the next 12 years, according to some estimates.

And the trend is worldwide. Multiple countries including Germany, India, France and the United Kingdom have passed laws banning the sale of conventional fossil-fuel vehicles between 2030-40.

The new research by Case Western Reserve and its partners however, analyzes a host of data to conclude that not all EVs have desired results.

Recharging EV batteries in states which rely heavily on coal or natural gas to generate electricity produces more greenhouse-gas emissions. Conversely, batteries recharged in states with a large share of hydropower or renewable energies—such as wind and solar energy—produce less greenhouse-gas emissions.

Further, warmer weather and more driving miles wear out EV batteries faster, requiring

more frequent recharging, which gradually increases an EV’s energy consumption and greenhouse-gas emissions.

In this research, the scientists developed mathematical models to quantify the battery degradation and its effects on increasing energy consumption and greenhouse-gas emissions from a mid-size EV in average driving conditions in all 50 states.

They factored in a host of technical and environmental parameters for the vehicle operations from hourly ambient temperature to average driving distance to predict the life of a typical battery pack.

They found the life expectancy of EV batteries ranges nationally, from about five years in Florida to more than 13 years in Alaska. The average life expectancy in Ohio is eight years.

Replacing an EV battery is also costly and the discarded batteries become environmental hazards because of toxic and flammable materials contained in the battery.

MEAA | Feature

Mobility Engineering Excellence Awards 2017 Submission

Driver’s Seat Redesign for Improved Ergonomics and Reduction in RSI-Related Incidents

Bombardier – Carrie Stevenson

Product Description The driver seat in the Melbourne FLEXITY E-Class tram includes a seat-mounted master controller for tram operation. The master controller (as well as several control buttons) are mounted to the armrest consoles of the driver seat, and must be held down at all times during driving. Standard rail industry seats in the market do not include armrest adjustability to allow for different occupant dimensions, resulting in some drivers not being able to maintain optimal arm ergonomics (eg, straight wrist, 90º elbow) over long periods of time. PTV, Yarra Trams and Bombardier consulted with tram drivers to develop a set of requirements for a seat upgrade to address this issue, allowing for adjustability up/down and fore/aft of the armrest console, relative to the seat reference point (also H-Point).

Figure 1: Underside view of new armrest console

Product Concept An additional carrier plate bracket has been mounted underneath the seat cushion slide rails, to provide for the mounting of slide rails for fore/aft adjustment of the armrest consoles, without noticeably affecting the seat package envelope. The fore/aft adjustment is achieved via a towel bar style grab rod at the front of the console, with 11 locking positions, spaced 15mm apart (to give a total of 150mm of adjustment). See Figure 1.

For up and down adjustment, a gas strut is placed within the armrest console, to avoid the need for any ‘lifting’ of the console. It adjusts upwards automatically when the locking pin is released, and downwards using the weight of the occupant leaning on the armrest. It has 6 different locking positions, spaced 20mm apart, providing a total of 100mm upward adjustment. The mechanisms are contained either within the console (fully serviceable via removable access panels) or between the console and seat, so they are out of reach of the occupant. An energy chain is also used inside the console to protect the wiring during console adjustment.

See Figure 2. www.saea.com.au

Figure 2: Side view of new armrest console with panels removed for clarity

Finally, the armrest pad has been upholstered (previously plastic) and extended to allow for elbow contact for drivers with longer forearms. The original seat only provided console rotation downwards (20º) to allow for arm extension, but this is not an optimal solution from an ergonomic perspective. The new seat has rotation both up (10º) and down (15º), which helps to align better with the tilt adjustability of the seat cushion. See Figures 3 and 4.

Market Demographic and Needs Ordinarily, seats may be designed to cater for all occupants from a 5th percentile female to a 95th percentile male. In this case, there are

drivers employed by Yarra Trams up to 2.1m tall, whose occupational health and safety is just as important as every other driver.

With this in mind, the new seat allows for greater adjustability, without compromising comfort for smaller drivers. The intention is that the seat will be comfortable and provide ergonomic support for any size driver.

Environmental Benefits and Sustainability The added adjustment mechanisms on the seat are fully manual so that no added energy is consumed during operation of the seat.

In addition, the new seat will have increased modularity, by way of removeable and fully VTE | 19

Feature | MEAA

Driver’s Seat Redesign for Improved Ergonomics and Reduction in RSI-Related Incidents - continued

serviceable consoles. This means that in the case of sub-component failure, the full seat need not be replaced, reducing material usage and maintenance time. The removal of the consoles also helps to reduce lifting weight of the seat during install and removal, which is better for both production and maintenance OH&S. The discrete adjustment positions in both axes would also allow for studies to be done on the optimum anthropometric range for armrest height (based on driver height range), rather than just providing a single ideal position for armrest design. This information could be useful to seating design across a wide range of industries.

Product Availability An initial concept seat (with full mechanical functionality) has been received from the seat supplier and reviewed by key stakeholders.

Over the next two months it will be installed in a stationary driver’s cab, for static assessment from all drivers at the Preston and Southbank depots (around 300 drivers).

The results of the static assessment will be used (via a questionnaire) to feed into a design optimization cycle, if necessary.

Adjustments that may be required include;

Figure 3: New seat with armrests horizontal

tuning of the gas strut to ensure weight is acceptable to 5th percentile female drivers, modifying shape or position of adjustment controls for better ergonomics, modification of lengths of adjustment range etc. After key performance testing, a dynamic trial will be conducted, roughly 6 months after the static trial is completed, where drivers will have real-life usage of the seat in operating trams.

Following this stage, the production solution would be implemented. Lead time to receive new seats at design freeze is four months.

Figure 5: Seated worker arm ergonomics

20 | September 2018

Figure 4: Current FLEXITY E-Class seat with armrests rotated downwards

Product Life Cycle The FLEXITY E-Class tram (and all its fittings) have a service life of 35 years and this seat would be expected to remain in use during that time. The design concept itself straightforward enough that it could easily be adapted to other seating applications, allowing for controls to be mounted on the seat, within rail, or potentially other industries as well.

Altair Conference | Feature

Altair technical conference aims to teach all engineering students Altair Australia co-hosted the 2019 FSAE Technical Conferences at RMIT & UTS Protospace Laboratory on 12 and 26 July 2018 aimed at students and student teams at universities across Australia and New Zealand According to Altair, when embarking on their involvment with the universities and students they needed to understand not only what the students were wanting, but also what was missing in their former engagements with industry and software providers.

Joel Kennedy (Altair), Danny Nolan of ChassisSim, Brett Longhurst of Bremar Automotion, Riccardo Pagliarella of Aero One and James Slaughter post graduate researcher at the University of Wollongong came together to deliver these conferences after realizing that it was time for a change in how practical engineering knowledge and understanding was being delivered to young engineers.

The training to students focused on experiential knowledge sharing and also letting them know that the team was there to guide and coach them along their FSAE program engagements rather than being left to explore it all on their own.

www.saea.com.au

By enabling the students to have greater access to industry involvement, Altair was able to imprint the importance of understanding the ‘First Principles’ of design and how important this launch pad is as they prepare to moving into commercial industries or research engagements in their careers.

the presenters were able to really see that this was unfortunately, an area that needed improvement. As they progressed to instruct and demonstrate how these hand calculations transferred over to the use-cases within CAE, it was an enlightenment to the students of why hand calculations are so important.

Through the interactive engagement of getting the students to perform direct hand calculation

Altair wanted to show the students that with hand calculation you were able to give quick

VTE | 21

Feature | Altair Conference

Altair technical conference - continued

At the end of the day students were saying: “You’ve turned my ideas of where to start for design inside-out” and “I actually never thought of seeing it like that, it is so simple now”.

The intent was to deliver content as adults and to also inspire students to try new ways of thinking. When this was coupled with programs such as HyperWorks and ChassisSim you could see the enthusiasm and what they would be able to do for next year’s designs, not only in the students but with the presenters who were equally keen to see what could be delivered for 2019.

The conference catered to all levels, with a mixed room from 1st to 5th year students and everyone of them was able to take something useful away.

Altair is keen to run the conferences again at the start of 2019 and each will have a different focus, but still cater to all abilities and the diversity of student teams.

ball park figures for engineering design and analyses, that would in-turn leverage understanding while working with tools such as HyperWorks and ChassisSim.

22 | September 2018

Tyre | Feature

Report on evaluation of the feasibility of a tyre failure analysis theory 1. Introduction Alumina ceramic balancing beads seem to be gaining in popularity as an alternative to more traditional wheel balancing techniques, in particular for truck and bus wheels. In a recent case the in-service failure of a steer tire was attributed to inner liner penetration by one of these beads, prompting the author to objectively evaluate the feasibility of the claim.

2. Background Operating conditions A 385/65R22.5 160K/158L highway pattern steer axle truck and bus tyre produced in the 16th week of 2017 failed suddenly and catastrophically after 3 months in service, causing the driver to lose control of the vehicle. The tyre had been in linehaul service on the left steer axle position of a Mack Superliner for approximately 3 months, during which time it had traversed approximately 71,000km.

Tire inspection The author conducted a detailed inspection of the failed tyre, during which the following observations were made: - An average remaining tread depth of approximately 9mm, equating to ~40% worn.

- The third belt, fourth belt and tread had become detached for approximately 50% of the tyre circumference, and were unavailable for inspection.

- The belt ends remaining immediately adjacent one end of the location from which the missing tread and belt portion had become detached were frayed and tangled. Several intercord fractures of the radial body ply were also evident at this location.

- The gauge of the detached inner liner at the fracture sites consistently measured 1.6mm to 1.7mm.

- The tread and belt assembly remaining on the tyre had separated between the first belt and body ply, and between the tread and third belt, for a substantial distance - The detachment textures were variable, with interfaces between manufactured components visible to various degrees.

The majority of the detachment textures were consistent with rapid tearing.

- Belt edge pecking (socketing) was visible to a moderate degree in the cord ends of the second and third belts.

- What appeared to be a single spherical ceramic bead, approximately 4mm in diameter, was lodged in a small inner liner www.saea.com.au

crown fracture, in an area adjacent the intercord fractures (see photograph 1) - Save for damage associated with having been operated in an uninflated state for a short distance immediately following the catastrophic failure, the beads, sidewalls and inner liner were in sound and unblemished condition.

Photo 1

- The identical tyre on the right steer axle position was found to be inflated to 110psi.

The tyre was photographed in detail.

Ceramic balancing beads Ceramic balancing beads had been used in the tire from the day it was fitted to the subject prime mover as a new tire. The mass of beads required for a given size tire (in the instant case 454g) had been supplied prepackaged in a thin polyethylene bag, which was in turn packaged in a thicker zip-lock bag (see photograph 2).

Photo 2

Photo 3

The fragile inner bag was designed to be placed into the tire cavity at the time of tyre fitment, with its subsequent rupture inside the inflated tyre during the first few service revolutions, releasing the beads.

3. The proposition to be tested One tire failure analyst postulated that the balancing bead had been “drilled” into the inner liner, leading to intra-carcass pressurisation and subsequent catastrophic tyre failure. The analyst proposed that the double-bagged beads had been inadvertently placed inside the tyre (rather than just the thin inner bag of beads), and that a single bead had been impacted by the full bag of beads at a rotational speed corresponding to 100km/h. This impact was said to be sufficient for the single bead to fracture the tyre inner liner where it became lodged, initiating the failure sequence.

The theorising analyst relied for support for the proposition on two other pieces of evidence, namely (a) a regular pattern of inner liner “indents” evident in the failed tyre, and (b) a fragment of a thicker zip-lock bag that was found in a separate, out-of-service, partially worn steer tyre at the transport operator’s premises.

Photo 4

Photo 5

Explanations of the conditions under which they were supposedly made, and why they are isolated in nature, were also absent from the analyst’s proposition.

4. Evaluation of the proposition As no evidence of a thicker zip-lock bag was found in the subject tyre, the author considers that factor to be of no support to the proposition.

As can be seen in photograph 3, the pattern identified by the analyst is highly regular, with the “indents” forming a grid pattern.

This pattern was compared with the pattern into which beads arrange themselves when allowed to come freely to rest inside a tyre (photograph 5), and with the pattern formed at the outer surface of the packaging (photograph 6). There is very limited, if any, similarity between the regular “indent” pattern on the inner liner and the random patterns formed under the comparison conditions.

The “indents” were then considered. The theorising analyst did not indicate whether they considered the pattern had been formed when the beads remained packaged or after they had been released from the packaging.

Both possibilities were therefore considered.

The author then designed and conducted a

Significantly, a pattern identical to that identified by the theorising analyst was also found to be present in several other worn but perfectly intact steer tyres in use at the same fleet (see photograph 4 and 5).

VTE | 23

Feature | Tyre

Report on evaluation of the feasibility of a tyre failure analysis theory - continued test to evaluate the probability of the analyst’s proposition having actually occurred.

5. Test design Critical factors Several factors were identified as being important to ensuring the test condition replicated as closely as possible the conditions under which the liner penetration was said to have occurred. The way in which those factors would be controlled was then considered, with the results being provided in the following table:

A vinyl bag with a base dimension of 70mm x 150mm was designed and fabricated, the underside of which was attached to one side of an outer zip-lock bag containing a 450g (thin) bag of ceramic beads. Lead shot - which instantly conforms to the random surface arrangement of the bead bag without imparting concentrated impact loads - was selected as the ballast, and was added to the upper vinyl bag until the mass of the assembly was 4.97kg (see photograph 8).

The test assembly was suspended at a height of 4m directly vertically above the centre of the test piece, with confirmation of its location relative to the single ceramic ball made using a plumb line (see photograph 9).

Video cameras were set up to record the tests.

The velocity, energy, angle and other calculations are provided in the Appendix.

Test methodology Supplies of pre-packaged ceramic balancing beads, identical to those used in the subject tyre, were sourced. A random sample of statistically significant size (n=30) was taken from the population of beads, and their diameters measured in order to determine the distribution of bead sizes.

The results are presented in the Appendix.

The data was found to be approximately normally distributed with a mean of 4.04mm, a standard deviation of 0.22mm, and a minimum of 3.69mm.

A worn tyre of the same brand, size, pattern and production plant was sourced. A 200mm x 160mm section of the crown was excised from the tyre, which was to be used for the testing. A single ceramic balance bead (diameter 3.7mm) was centrally attached with a single layer of Sellotape to the surface of the inner liner of the test piece (see photograph 6).

The test piece was set up on a timber support inside an open-top enclosure with the inner liner surface inclined by 25 degrees from the horizontal (see photograph 7).

Photo 6

Photo 7

24 | September 2018

The bag assembly was released and allowed to free-fall under gravitational force, impacting the single ball on the inner liner of the tyre test piece. The test was repeated 6 times, 3 times with the large side of the bag striking the liner, and 3 times with the end of the bag striking the liner.

Photo 8

6. Results On none of the tests did any of the balls penetrate the liner. In every case both the inner and outer bags ruptured on impact. The single ball was dislodged from the Sellotape on 5 occasions. On one occasion it remained in situ. The liner was unblemished on every occasion (see photograph 10).

Photo 9

7. Analysis It is clearly not possible for a flexible bag of ceramic beads to impart a force on a single bead sufficient to cause that bead to fracture the inner liner of the truck tire. Almost selfevidently the beads in the bag will move on impact such that the surface of the bag deflects to envelope the single bead.

In an attempt to understand the type and magnitude of the force required to “drill� a ceramic bead through the inner liner, a 3.7mm bead was placed on the test piece and repeatedly struck approximately perpendicularly with a 3kg hammer, using as much force as the author could muster.

The bead did not penetrate the liner. This process was also videotaped. Video footage of the tests described herein is available upon request from tyrexperts.au@gmail.com.

Given the lack of correlation with patterns formed by both loose and packaged beads, it appears to be unlikely also that the patterns identified on the inner liner were associated with use of ceramic beads. A more likely explanation for their existence is that they are an artefact of the external surface of the curing bladder used in tyre manufacture, or of materials present in the underlying body ply or squeegee.

Photo 10

8. Conclusions The proposition that a bag of beads had impacted a single bead causing it to fracture the inner liner, is highly improbable, bordering on impossible. There is no credible basis for the proposition offered.

Tyrexperts www.tyrexperts.com.au is an independent Australian company specialising in tyre consulting and failure analysis.

iMOVE CRC | Feature

Improving safety on our roads through connectivity Any engineer knows safety is a critical consideration when designing and manufacturing vehicles. Connectivity of vehicles provides a whole new raft of options for improving safety on our roads. iMOVE partner, the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR), is actively evaluating this through several initiatives with the support of research partner the Queensland University of Technology (QUT).

In 1969 fatalities in Queensland were more than 30 per 100,000 people. The implementation of technological advances, road and safety changes, have reduced fatalities to five in 100,000 people in 2017.

While this reduction in fatalities is a positive result, TMR is looking at implementing a variety of programs and initiatives to drive this figure to zero.

One way TMR aims to do this is through the department’s forward-thinking Connected and Automated Vehicle Initiative (CAVI).

This initiative aims to understand connected and automated vehicles in a way that will significantly improve road safety for Queenslanders. It will also help other states and territories implement similar projects by sharing its findings.

What is CAVI? CAVI is being delivered by TMR to help prepare for the arrival of new vehicle technologies that will bring safety, mobility and environmental benefits to Queensland roads.

This initiative will lay the technical foundations for the next generation of smart transport infrastructure, focusing on developing policy to support positive outcomes; supporting www.saea.com.au

regulation, legislation, licensing and possible certification and testing; managing infrastructure, data and system integration, and conducting pilot projects and feasibility studies.

The largest component of CAVI is the Ipswich Connected Vehicle Pilot – Australia’s largest trial of cooperative intelligent transport systems (C-ITS) technologies. The pilot will include about 500 public and fleet vehicles being retrofitted with C-ITS devices in the city of Ipswich, Queensland, from late 2019.

As part of this pilot, TMR will evaluate a Security Credential Management System (SCMS). The role of a SCMS is to ensure reliable and accurate messages are transferred between vehicles and infrastructure. This digital management system will essentially form trust for the connected vehicles and infrastructure ecosystems within the pilot.

Level 4 automated vehicle trial Another component of CAVI is to test vehicles with automated driving capabilities through the Cooperative and Highly Automated Driving (CHAD) Pilot.

In early 2019, Queensland will receive a Renault ZOE EV, a Society of Automotive Engineers Level Four automated vehicle.

TMR has partnered with QUT and iMOVE to explore the safety impacts of automated vehicles on our roads and to allow road users to see and experience them.

Through QUT’s partnership with VEDECOM, a French collaborative research centre, the CHAD Pilot will receive a single cooperative and highly automated vehicle (CAV) prototype and explore CAV safety across five areas – roads, roadsides, vehicles, road users and speeds.

This will be the fourth vehicle prototype built

by VEDECOM. It will be both cooperative and be able to operate in an autonomous mode under certain conditions. This will enable TMR to be prepared for when vehicles with these capabilities are widely available for Queensland road users to buy.

TMR is only one example of an iMOVE partner aiming to have long-term positive impacts on Australian transport systems.

Watch this space for more updates on iMOVE partner activities. In the meantime, find out more about all our projects and Australia’s smart transport future at www.imovecrc.com VTE | 25

Products | New Products

Artec 3D and Geomagic Freeform Artec 3D has announced the integration of its handheld scanner with 3D systems’ Geomagic Freeform Geomagic Freeform is an organic design software which features a rich set of hybrid modeling tools to rapidly create organic models with fine, intricate details and prepare the models for manufacturing.

Integration of the two technologies creates a streamlined workflow from reverse engineering an existing object to the creation of a manufacturing-ready design.

With Artec 3D scanners, organic objects can easily be captured directly into Freeform, where users can access a variety of advanced design capabilities including touch-based 3D sculpting, surfacing, design-intent modeling, 3D scan processing, mold making and CAD interoperability.

“The new integrated bundle of our professional, handheld 3D scanners and the Geomagic Freeform platform delivers an extremely efficient workflow,” Artyom Yukhin, president and CEO of Artec 3D said.

“Whether you want to capture and replicate

Economic solderless PCB connectors up to 70 GHz For a variety of standard applications up to 70 GHz Rosenberger now offers cost-effective, economic solderless PCB connectors which can be easily assembled to printed circuit boards by using screws (standard screws included) The product range consists of RPC-3.50 (up to 26.5 GHz), RPC-2.92 (up to 40 GHz), RPC-2.40 (up to 50 GHz) and RPC-1.85 (up to 70 GHz) straight female connectors characterized by low return loss values and high mating cycles (≥ 500).

Typical test & measurement applications are semiconductor chip testing fixtures or PCB-characterization.

an existing object as-is or use it as the basis for an entirely new design, our scanners can provide a high-quality detailed 3D model to use as a starting point. This eliminates the time, cost and possibility of error associated with digitally recreating the geometry of organic objects from scratch.”

Artec’s 3D scanners can quickly capture the texture, size and geometry of an object with high accuracy.

The easy-to-use devices are also engineered with advanced tracking systems to eliminate the need for an object to be covered with targets when scanning.

These features make Artec’s scanners a popular solution for various professional industries, including manufacturing, automotive and aerospace, and more.

“We are continually looking for ways to streamline our customers’ workflows and provide them with advanced design to manufacturing tools that they can use in

the most intuitive way,” Carol Zampell, VP Software Solutions, 3D Systems said.

“Freeform software together with Touch X or Touch haptic devices creates a hands-on design experience. By combining our offering with Artec’s 3D scanners, designers can take a physical object and, within minutes, be able to feel and manipulate it as if it was made of clay.”

Built-in features detect and correct potential manufacturing issues early in the design process, saving the time, cost and the headache of dealing with avoidable design flaws. The software also includes robust interoperability tools to handle the import and export of 3D file formats like STL, OBJ, PLY, IGES, STEP, other neutral formats, and additional CAD formats through Geomagic Freeform Plus.

CANbus rotary position sensor for specialty vehicle applications Curtiss-Wright’s Industrial division has announced the launch of the NRH27C, a non-contact rotary position sensor which is suitable for use on specialty on- and off-highway vehicles utilizing CANbus communications Developed by Curtiss-Wright’s legacy brand of Penny & Giles, the NRH27C extends the company’s recently-introduced NRH271 and NRH272 family and shares many similar features and benefits.

These include a low-profile sensor body, small footprint, CANbus J1939 communications and a fully encapsulated, IP69K-rated design that offers exceptional performance against water, dust, shock, vibration and temperature.

This makes the range ideal for use by OEMs of on- and off-highway vehicles that are destined for use in challenging environments, and as a cost-effective solution for medium volume applications where a degree of customization may be required.

Within the CAN messaging structure of the vehicle, the NRH27C’s two independent Hall-effect sensing signals allow for error checking of the positional data, which addresses the needs of safety-critical applications.

Additionally, an on-board diagnostic function means predefined error messages can be sent to define the present state of the sensor. The versatile, factory-programable electronics can also be easily set to different Baud rate, Node ID and Frame rates according to system requirements.

Contained in a 9.5mm low-profile housing and available with industry-standard AMP Superseal, Deutsch DT04 series connectors, or simple 18AWG flying-leads for customer termination, the NRH27C can be powered from a 5Vdc regulated or 9-30Vdc unregulated supply and provides a full 360° output range.

26 | September 2018

CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS 201 8 Formula SAE- A Competition 6 - 9 D e c e m b e r, 2 0 1 8 , W i n t o n M o t o r R a c e w a y, V I C

Be part of Formula SAE-A as a volunteer official Volunteers required for Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday Formula SAE-Australasia is the region’s premier student design competition. The event requires teams to design and build small open-wheel racing cars. Teams are judged not only on speed, but also on energy efficiency, cost and a business presentation. Formula SAE graduates are highly sought after because they possess industryrelevant skills and can create immediate value for employers.

We are excited to announce this year’s event will be held at Winton Motor Raceway, and will feature 40 teams from 12 different countries.

This represents the largest and most diverse field in our 20 year history.

To run such a large event, we rely on the generous support of our volunteers. Volunteering offers you the opportunity to see new ideas at work, and share the experience with 750+ university students.

Volunteers receive daily meals, and a commemorative Formula SAE-A polo shirt.

Event Partners

To learn more, please visit www.saea.com.au/formulasae Complete the volunteer form at www.saea.com.au/volunteer Volunteer Coordinator Geoff Pearson geoffpearson@y7mail.com 0431 754 739 Formula SAE-A is proudly organised

by SAE-Australasia