Collaborating to Commercialize
June / July 2009
Volume 7 Number 3
The Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR) is a 250-acre advanced-technology research campus located in Greenville, S.C., where academia, industry and government organizations collaborate to fill the gap between basic research and commercial application of automotive technologies. Located on the I-85 corridor between Atlanta and Charlotte, CU-ICAR is in the center of the Southeastern automotive and motorsports economy. With more than $220 million in commitments from the state of South Carolina and private industry partners such as BMW, Michelin, Timken and others, it is the ultimate in public/private partnership. The campus houses the Carroll A. Campbell Jr. Graduate Engineering Center, a combination of contemporary architecture, state-of-the-art facilities and staff, faculty and students who are leaders in innovative research. The master's and doctoral programs in automotive engineering focus on systems integration, design and development, manufacturing and vehicle electronics systems.
"CU-ICAR was designed with interdisciplinary interaction in mind," says Campbell Center Executive Director Imtiaz Haque. "We have created a place where science and technology interface and where innovation is both encouraged and expected. Our vision is to bring people from diverse technical backgrounds together to encourage collaboration to solve some of the toughest challenges facing the automotive industry today." The Campbell Center at CU-ICAR offers cutting-edge laboratory and test cell facilities for private clients and partners as well as for academic research. Four endowed chairs, world-class faculty members who have been recruited to lead key research areas, steer the academic program. The chairs have been endowed by BMW, Michelin and Timken, which have manufacturing facilities in the Greenville area.
This article offers a snapshot of CU-ICAR research of new technologies in the transportation arena and their commercial applications.
SUSPENSION
Successful, sustainable cars of the near future need to be lightweight and fuel-efficient and CU-ICAR researchers are working on a variety of projects to achieve this goal. Current research by John Ziegert and his group is aimed at designing a compliant, or flexible, link suspension concept for a high-performance car that is less complex, lighter weight and therefore less expensive than current designs. The suspension design uses compliant or flexible links in the suspension to eliminate the need for a separate spring, thus integrating the energy storage and wheel-motion guidance functions. The goal is to achieve similar stiffness and wheel motions when compared to a benchmark Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) suspension while using fewer components and having reduced mass and complexity.
"Reduction of vehicle weight is critical to higher fuel economy and lower greenhouse gas production," says Ziegert. "One way to accomplish this is by combining functions that were previously carried out by separate components into a single, lighter component. This compliant link suspension design can achieve equivalent performance to a conventional suspension with fewer parts and with reduced weight."
Ziegert's group used a computational model to simulate the suspension motions, as the dimensions and attachment point locations of the link were varied. The design was refined until the predicted performance closely matched the performance of the benchmark suspension. A mockup of the proposed suspension was built with an adjustable test fixture and experiments validated the results of the simulations.
AUTOMOTIVE PAINT
The automotive industry has been forced to reinvent itself to adapt to changes in its operating environment, which include customer base, competitors and governmental regulations. In the past, the trigger to such changes were the lack of product differentiation, the oil crisis and markets maturity. Now, however, the industry is seeking innovative ways and technologies to reinvent itself one more time, to be environmentally conscious while keeping its competitive edge through pricing and added features. Rethinking the current painting technology is a key innovation aiding automotive OEMs to tackle such a challenge. In energy consumption, American vehicle manufacturing facilities spend around $4 billion annually on energy, of which 60 percent is consumed in painting booths. Current painting booths are long, slow and cost an OEM an estimated $10,000 per square foot to build and $100,000 per square foot to operate annually.
Mohammad Omar, researcher and assistant professor of automotive engineering, and his research group are introducing innovations in the painting technology and booth design for a shorter, more efficient and flexible painting operation. This is achieved through investigating ultraviolet curing technologies that reduce the curing oven space from 200 feet to two feet, while reducing its energy consumption by 90 percent. Additionally, new overhanging robot designs with a new control scheme reduce the paint overspray and the cycle time, allowing one robot to paint a complete vehicle shell.
"We've also developed, patented non-intrusive inspection systems to monitor and control the paint quality and thickness in real time," says Omar. "This allows the painting booth to be self-controlled, thus reducing the repair and improving efficiency." Further research is being conducted to introduce new paint formulations to allow the consecutive paint layers to be applied wet-on-wet; such formulations also will reduce the amount of paint required, which ultimately reduces the vehicle weight by approximately 10 pounds.
AUTOMATION
Automation is a key component in the technology strategy of the automotive industry, not only for systems within the vehicle such as stability control and antilock braking systems, but also for value-added operations within the manufacturing environment. Therefore, a CU-ICAR course in factory automation focuses on fundamentals and migration strategies for the incorporation of automation approaches to previously manual systems.
Students design, build and program on a number of platforms, from traditional Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) to more flexible Programmable Automation Controllers (PACs), Computer Numerical Control (CNC) systems and robotic systems. Students are automation engineers learning systems integration in contacting hardware and software vendors, specifying components, and experimenting when less than 100 percent of the information is available.
"These future automotive engineers learn not just design and programming, but how components are integrated to subsystems and how subsystems are integrated to build manufacturing systems," says Laine Mears, CU-ICAR researcher and assistant professor of automotive engineering. Industrial partners such as Okuma America Corporation, a major machine tool manufacturer, and Automation Engineering, a systems integrator, support study in automation. These partners supply expertise, equipment, internships, real-world problems and real-world feedback.
Mears and his research group have numerous projects in advanced machine tool sensing and control for an improved machining process to support broader use of lightweight materials such as titanium alloys in vehicles. Improved communication and use of available information within and between operations are the basis of the approach, which is applied to robotic systems as well. Also being examined are new methods for sensing feedback to automation systems. A project sponsored by the National Science Foundation is testing a new sensor that uses a hybrid vision method in place of traditional position encoders to control motion. The benefit is that independent axis control systems are replaced by an automated "set of eyes" that correct for position error in real time without the need for complex error mapping. A new research area is in new ways for the human operator to interface with automation; one project in partnership with Okuma has demonstrated control of a CNC machine tool by voice command.
TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER
Similar to other academic research campuses, CU-ICAR is poised to transfer technology via the traditional portals of education, outreach and public/private research collaboration. In addition, it is anticipated that the outcomes of these traditional interactions will lead to the commercialization of generated intellectual property.
"The research activity at CU-ICAR is in the early stages of technology transfer," says Vincie Albritton, director of Clemson's Office of Technology Transfer. "As the program matures, Clemson expects increased disclosure of intellectual property in the automotive transportation research sector. Coupled with Clemson's technology transfer infrastructure, the CU-ICAR model is an improved opportunity for successful licensing and start-up activity."
Clemson has a solid history of technology transfer through intellectual property commercialization. Over the past 25 years, licensed technology has generated more than $55 million in gross royalty income. University technology also has been the foundation for 10 startup companies. Collectively, Clemson's strong research capability and success in technology transfer have been instrumental in recruiting emerging technology companies to South Carolina. As a land-grant institution without a medical college, Clemson technology transfer is succeeding in the fields of biomaterials, information technology, physical chemistry, advanced materials and now automotive transportation.
Susan Polowczuk is a writer for Clemson News Services.
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