"Powertrain development always involves interdisciplinary teamwork"
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C OVER STORY Intervie w
“Powertrain development always involves interdisciplinary teamwork” Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary approach that allows complex systems to be developed more efficiently. Hybrid drives in cars are complicated systems of this kind and their subsystems, which include a gasoline engine, an electric motor and a battery, require careful coordination during the testing process. In the ATZ interview, Dr. Gerald Eifler from ElringKlinger Motortechnik explains how the complexity of these systems can be managed. He describes the benefits that his company’s new powertrain test rig offers when taking RDE measurements for plug-in hybrids and looks at why all of this depends to a large extent on how well the interfaces are defined.
ATZ _ Dr. Eifler, at the recent annual meeting
of the ATZ Advisory Board there was a call for the more effective application of holistic systems engineering in the field of vehicle and engine development. As an engineering
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service provider, what do you think should be done to make the complexity of current systems more manageable?
_ We have already reached the point with combustion engines where EIFLER
mechanical engineers, combustion process experts, injection specialists and NVH engineers are working closely together. The development process always involves interdisciplinary teamwork. The
situation is of course similar for gearbox and chassis development. However, in the case of projects involving the powertrain, the gearbox and the chassis, it is important to understand that at the moment when the systems are brought together there is no need to investigate everything in great depth, as is normally the case in development work. Which systems are you referring to here?
In this case, I am referring to the combustion engine, the electric motor, the gearbox, the battery and the chassis. The individual systems are developed in advance up to a certain level. Then they reach the point where the developers need to finalize the system boundaries and to begin evaluating everything from the perspective of the overall system. It is all about the interfaces between the subsystems and systems. The challenge in projects of this kind is that while you are developing an individual system, you need to make use of tools to prepare for the subsequent interaction of all the systems. In this case, HiL and SiL solutions, simulation programs and simulations on test rigs have to be introduced in order to represent the environment that the system will later be operating in as accurately as possible. A good example of this is hybrid drives, where the combustion engine developers only come together with the electric motor experts and battery specialists relatively late in the day. Then the focus of the work shifts to improving the interfaces between the systems. ATZ worldwide 12|2020
© ElringKlinger Motortechnik
Dr. Gerald Eifler (born in 1957) has been Managing Director of ElringKlinger Motortechnik GmbH in Idstein (Germany) since 1997. After successfully completing a me
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