Total Vehicle Technology: Challenging Current Thinking

Citation

(2002), "Total Vehicle Technology: Challenging Current Thinking", Industrial Robot, Vol. 29 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.2002.04929fae.002

Total Vehicle Technology: Challenging Current Thinking

Total Vehicle Technology: Challenging Current Thinking

P.R.N. Childs and R.K. Stobart (Eds.)Professional Engineering Publishing2001289 pp.ISBN 1-86058-324-5£119.00 (Hardback)

Keywords: Vehicle, Automotive

This book comprises the proceedings of the 1st IMechE Automobile Division Southern Centre Conference on Total Vehicle Technology – Challenging Current Thinking. The conference was held at the University of Sussex, Brighton, UK from the 18-19th September 2001 and focused on the integration of technologies in vehicle and automotive engineering.

Twenty six papers are presented related to seven key subject areas. Section 1, Safety System, includes three papers which discuss “X-by-wire technology”, “Strategies and technologies for advanced airbag regulations” and “The influence of EuroNCAP on frontal impact safety”. “Issues in the development of fuel cell systems for vehicles”, “Low CO₂ per kW engine concept” and “Digital road maps for intelligent transport systems” are amongst the papers presented in Section 2, Transport and Energy. The following three sections address Analysis and Calculation, Simulation and Testing, and Modelling, respectively. “More analysis, less vehicle testing–the management of risk” and “A numerical and experimental investigation into improving vehicle windshield defrosting and demisting” are amongst the four papers presented in Section 3, while papers discussed in Section 4 include “The re-engineering of specifications expressed in terms of Finite State Machines through simulation and testing techniques”, “Visual noise investigation of a four-piston, opposed-type caliper” and “Analysis of data derived from a real disc brake system generating noise”. “CAE optimisation tools for developing vehicle ride comfort”, “New approaches to analytical and numerical modelling of fuel sprays” and “Physical versus neural network models of automotive clampers” are presented in Section 5.

The two remaining sections of the book address Production and Design. They contain three papers discussing “The use of distributed intelligence within advanced production machinery for design application”, “An automatic system for simple spot welding tasks” and “The styling process”.

“Total Vehicle Technology–Challenging Current Thinking” is a balanced discussion of the engineering and design tasks required to build a vehicle. The book will be of interest to both engineers and managers as it addresses ways in which the automotive industry must continue to improve vehicle technology in response to changing market demands.