AUTOMOBILE TECHNOLOGY

Figure 1: A motor Car TITLE: AUTOMOBILE TECHNOLOGY AIMS: 1. Identification of basic systems in an automobile. 2. To study the advantage and concepts of automobiles. 3. To gain exposure on automobile engineering. OBJECTIVES: 1. Students should be able to identify at least 10 out of 15 sub-systems in a motor car. 2. Identify modern technology used. 3. Practice proper use of basic tools in dismantling and assembling of an engine.

INTRODUCTION: Since the auto mobile originated in the late 1800s it has changed and developed in response to customer wishes, economic conditions and advancing technology. The Cugnots three wheel vehicle is considered as the first automobile and it was a steam-powered vehicle carrying four persons. Designed to move artillery pieces, it had a top speed of a little more than 3.2 km/h (2 mph) and had to stop every 20 minutes to build up a fresh head of steam. Today after lots of improvements and changes it is driven by a combustion engine and used for transportation of goods and passenger on ground. In general the modern automobile is made up of a frame supporting the body and certain power and transmission units. These are further supported by tires and wheels through springs and axels. An engine supplies power which is delivered by the transmission dampers to the wheels through the clutch or fluid coupling. Automobiles are classified based on their purpose, load capacity number of wheels, fuel used, the body system and drive system(4 wheel engine etc.) of the vehicles.
Major components of the automobile

1. Engine: The engine is a power or a motor, which provides power to drive the auto mobile. In almost automobile engines, the explosive power of the mixture of air and gasoline drives the pistons. The ideal mixture is 14.7 parts of air to one part of gasoline (by weight). The piston turns a crankshaft to which they are attached. The torque delivered to the crankshaft makes the automobiles wheels turn. Automotive engines can be classified according to the number of cylinders, arrangement of cylinders, arrangement of vales and valve trains, type of cooling, number of strokes per cycle, type of fuel burned, method of ignition and firing order. Engines have at least two valves per cylinder, one intake valve and one exhaust valve. Many newer engines are using multiple intakes and exhaust valves per cylinder for increased engine power and efficiency. The valves are opened and closed by means of camshaft. A camshaft is a rotating shaft that has individual lobes for each valve.

Figure 2: Inside the Piston Cylinder 2. Fuel System: The main function of the fuel supply is to provide the carburetor or injection system at a sufficient rate and pressure to meet engine demands under all conditions of load, speed and gradients encountered by the vehicle. 3. The starting System:

Figure 3: Starting system Starting system is the heart of the electrical system in the car. When the key is turned to the start position, a small current passes through the neutral safety switch to a starter relay or starter solenoid which allows high current to flow through the battery cables to the starter motor. The starter motor then cranks the engine so that the piston, moving downward, can create a suction that will draw the air/fuel mixture into the cylinder. During the next half cycle, this volume of mixture is compressed with upward motion of the piston and a spark created by the ignition system will ignite this mixture. If this happens at the right time, the engine will start and continue to run on its own. 4. Ignition system: The purpose of the ignition system is to create a spark that will ignite the air-fuel mixture in the cylinder of an engine. It must do this at exactly the right instant and do it at the rate of up to several thousand times per minute for each cylinder in the engine. 5. Cooling system: Due to the combustion of fuel with air inside the cylinder, the temperature of the engine parts increases. This increment of temperature directly affects the engine performance and the engine parts. The cooling system keeps the engines operating at an optimum temperature. Basically there are two types of cooling systems found on motor vehicles: Liquid cooled and Air cooled. Liquid coolant is circulated through the engine block in the case of liquid cooling.

6.

7.

8.

9.

Figure 4: Liquid cooling System Lubrication System: An engine has many moving parts which eventually develop wear, as they move against each other. The engine circulates oil among these moving parts to prevent the metal contact that results in wear. The secondary function of a lubricant is to act as a coolant and also as sealing medium. Electric System: The electrical system provides energy to operate a starting motor and to power all accessories. The main components of the electrical system are a battery, an alternator, a starting motor, ignition coil and heater. Frame: The frame provides a foundation for the engine and the body of the vehicle. The engine is mounted on the frame with rubber pads. The frame is supported on wheel axels by means of springs. The whole assembly is called the chassis. Power Train: The power train carries the power that the engine produces to the car wheels. It consists of clutch(for manual transmission) or toeque converter (for automatic transmission), transmission, drive shaft, differential and real axle.

Figure 5: Power Transmission System(Automatic) 10. Transmission: The mail function of the transmission is to provide the necessary variation to the torque applied by the engine to the wheels. This is achieved by changing the gearing ratio between the engine output and the drive shaft. 11. Clutch: A clutch is required with the manual transmission system to temporarily disconnect the engine from wheels. Such disengagement of the

power train from the engine is essential while gear shifting or before stopping the vehicle. 12. Differential: The function of differential to split the power received from the propeller shaft to the rear axle shafts, it allows the rear wheel to be driven at different speeds when the vehicle takes a bend or flash into a ditch. 13. Torque Converter: On automatic transmission, the torque converter takes the place of the clutch and it allows the engine to continue running when the vehicle comes to stop. It is a large doughnut shaped device that is mounted between the engine and the transmission. It consists of three internal elements that work together to transmit power. The three elements are the pump, turbine and the stator.

Figure 6: cross Section of a Torque Converter. 14. Suspension System: The suspension system has the following main functions; y Absorb road surface irregularities (shocks) to give a comfortable ride. y Keep the tires in contact with the road surface. y Resist braking and steering forces.

y Allow for different loads of passengers and luggage. 15. Braking System: brakes are required to slow down or to stop a moving vehicle. The braking system may be operated mechanically or hydraulically. Most of the braking systems in use today are of the hydraulic type. The typical brake system consists of disk brakes in front and either disk of drum breaks in the rear connected by a system of tubes and hoses that link the break at each wheel to the master cylinder. Other systems that are connected with the break system include the parking brakes, power booster and the anti-lock system.

Figure 7: Braking System of an Automobile. 16. Wheel Alignment: In its most basic form, wheel alignment is a way of adjusting the angels of the wheels so that they are perpendicular to the ground and parallel to each other. The purpose of these adjustments to realize maximum tire life and a vehicle that tracks straight and true when driving along a straight and level road. 17. Wheel balancing: if a wheel is out of balance, it will cause vibration at highway speeds that can be felt in the steering wheel and/or to the seat. 18. Air Conditioning System: Vehicles are found to have primarily three different types of air conditioning systems. While each of the three types differs, the concept and design are very similar to one another. Basically it consists of compressor, condenser, evaporator, orifice tube or thermal expansion valve and receiver-drier or an accumulator.

Figure 8: Automotive Air conditioning System. y Compressor- This is commonly referred as the heart of the system; it is a belt driven pump that is fastened to the engine. It is responsible for compressing and transferring refrigerant gas. y Evaporator- Located inside the vehicle, the evaporator serves as the heat absorption component. It provides several functions. The evaporators primary duty is to remove heat from inside of your vehicle. A secondary benefit is dehumidification. y Condenser- This is the area in which heat dissipation occurs. It is very much similar to the appearance of the radiator. The condenser is designed to radiate heat. Its location is usually in front of the radiator. Some Advance Features of Modern Automobiles y EFI (Electronic Fuel Injection): The air-fuel mixture is electronically calculated and controlled by the engines electronic control unit (ECU). This contains a computer which takes information

from sensors and controls the amount of fuel injected by operating the injectors for the fight amount of time ABS (Antilock Brake System): The most efficient braking pressure takes place just before each wheel lock up. So anti-lock brake systems solve this lockup problem by rapidly pumping the brakes whenever the system detects a wheel that is locked up. In most cases, only the wheel that is locked will pumped, while full braking pressure stays available to the other wheels. The effects allow you to stop in the shortest amount of time maintaining full steering control even if one or more wheels are on ice. TCS (Traction Control System): The basic idea behind the need of a traction control system is the difference between the sleeps of different wheels or an apparent loss of road grip that may result in loss of steering control over the vehicle. Difference in slip may occur due to turning of a vehicle or differently varying road conditions for different wheels. Typically, the traction control system shares the electro-hydraulic brake actuator and the wheel speed sensors with the anti-lock braking system (ABS). CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission): Unlike traditional automatic transmission, continuously variable transmissions dont have a gear box with a set of gears. The most common type of CVT operates on an ingenious pulley system that allows an infinite variability between highest and lowest gears with no discreet steps of shifts. PS (Power steering): Steering a slow moving havier vehicle when there is little room can be tiring. This is where power steering comes into its own. Most vehicles use a belt driven hydraulic pump to supply fluid under pressure for use in the system. AS (Air suspension): The air suspension is a reinforced rubber below fitted between the axle and the chassis or vehicle body. An air compressor is used to increase or decrease the pressure depending on the load in the vehicle. VTEC (Variable Valve Timing and Lift Electronic Control): This is an electronic and mechanical system in some engines that allows

the engine to effectively have multiple camshafts. As the engine moves into different rpm ranges, the engines computer can activate alternate lobes on the camshaft and change the cam shaft timing. In this way, the engine gets the best features of low speed and high speed camshafts in the same engine. Air Bag: The air bag is a safety device that consists of an instantly inflatable cushion housed in a special compartment in the center of the steering wheel and in the dashed board on the passenger side. If there is a collision of such magnitude that it exceeds the setting of the acceleration sensor, the mechanism is activated and the cushion inflates instantly and acts as a soft protecting barrier between the passenger and the structures in front of then that could cause injury. Turbocharger: It is a gas compressor that is used for forcedinduction of an internal combustion engine. A form of super-charger, the purpose of a turbocharger is to increase the volume of air entering the engine to create more power. However, a turbo charger has the compressor powered by a turbine, driven by the engines own exhaust gases, rather than direct mechanical drives as with many other super charges. Intercooler: An intercooler is an air-to-air or air-to-liquid heat exchange device used on turbocharged and supercharged(forced induction) internal combustion engines to improve their volumetric efficiency by increasing intake air charge density trough nearly isobaric (constant pressure) cooling. A decrease in air intake temperature provides a denser intake charge to the engine and allows more air and fuel to be combusted per engine cycle, increasing the output of the engine. VVT-I (Variable Valve Timing with intelligence): This technology varies the timing of the intake valves by adjusting the relationship between the camshaft drive and intake camshaft. Engine oil pressure is applied to an actuator to adjust the camshaft position. Adjustments in the overlap time between the exhaust valve closing and intake valve opening result in improved engine efficiency. The older version of

this technology is VVT and now there are several other improved versions engines namely VVTK-I, Dual VVT-I and VVT-iE. Research and Developments in the Automobile Industry Active safety systems: This includes radar and cameras to watch for danger. Keyless Entry: Car key will be replaced by a credit card style system. Wi-Fi hook-ups: This will provide weather, news and other information. Onboard Cameras: This will detect blind spots, while helping parents watch their kids. Satellite-aided Global Positioning System (GPS): This enables the driver to locate the vehicle, map its location, and find route direction and other data. Voice commands: Voice commands are used to operate various functions in the car. Electronic Pedals: This will disconnect the physical connection to the engine and brakes by using electronic signals. Automatic Parking: This is a system to detect the space big enough for the car when driving along a row of parked cars. Saab Alco Key: With this device driver has to blow into a wireless hand held unit before driving the car to prevent alcohol related road incidents. New directions in Automobile industry Today, automobile manufacturers are focusing on nagging problems like fuel shortages, air pollution and improved safety. So they are looking for alternative power sources to replace the fossil fuels. So far they have developed solar power cars and electric cars. But none of the above could rival the power and efficiency of the internal combustion piston engine, fed by fossil fuels. Today engineers have found some solution for the above problems in the form of an innovative technologies and research are being

y y y y y

y y y y

continued. The hybrid technology is one such development that uses existing fuel supplies more efficiently. This promising technology combines gasoline engine with an electric motor to stretch a gallon of gas further than ever before possible. Another solution is the fuel cells technology. Fuel cells convert hydrogen and oxygen to electricity without going through a combustion process; thereby virtually eliminating emissions. They also operate at much higher efficiencies that internal combustion engines, producing double the amount of energy.