Nobody can see it, but it is a factor in a car’s fuel consumption, safety and comfort. It’s called aerodynamics, or the study of how air moves around solid objects. In the automotive world, its application is very practical: reducing a car’s resistance to wind. And all this is tested in its ‘temple’, the wind tunnel. This is how it works.
A hurricane in the room
Typically, prototypes are placed in the middle of a chamber, securely kept to the floor. Huge fans generate airflow and the vehicles can face winds of up to 300 km/h while sensors study their individual surfaces.
The air travels in a circular motion, depending on the size of the rotor and blades. Needless to say, when it’s blowing at full power, no one will be allowed inside the chamber as they would literally get blown out of it.
The car’s resistance data is displayed on the computer screens. Hundreds of numbers to be interpreted and compared to even the smallest variable to improve aerodynamics. Every millimetre of each part is key, since it is not only possible to reduce consumption, but also to increase stability, comfort and safety.
Shaping to go faster
Wind tunnels, while primarily used for development of future models, are also valuable for racing cars. While the goal in aerodynamic efficiency for production models is to lower fuel consumption and improve stability, when it comes to racing cars, optimising the bodywork to achieve higher speeds is the aim.
The performance of rear wings, for example, can be optimised for the best downforce.
CUPRA Racing’s Head of Technical Development, Xavi Serra, explains: “We want the new CUPRA Leon Competicion to have less air resistance and more grip when cornering. First, they will have to compete against the wind. Here we measure the parts on a 1:1 scale with the real aerodynamic loads and we can simulate the real contact with the road. This gives us the result of how the car will perform on the track.”
235 km/h standing still
The facilities where the CUPRA engineers test their prototypes are among the most complete and innovative. They have a special feature that makes the tests seem as if they are made in near-real conditions. However, instead of the car travelling at up to 235 km/h, the same effects are achieved by making the air travel at those speeds.
“The most important thing is that we can simulate the road. The wheels turn thanks to electric motors that move belts under the car,” said Wind Tunnel engineer Stefan Auri.
After hundreds of measurements, the results are compared with the car’s previous generation. “In this sense we’re satisfied; we’ve lowered the drag and improved the downforce, so it’s more efficient than the previous model, which will give us better lap times on the track,” said Xavi, adding that the data obtained will also be used to improve the new CUPRA models.
Supercomputer crunches numbers
The wind tunnel is not the only tool for improving aerodynamics. Supercomputing also plays a key role. When a model is in the early stages of development and there is not yet a prototype to study in a wind tunnel, 40,000 laptops working in unison are put to the service of aerodynamics. This is the MareNostrum 4 supercomputer, the most powerful in Spain and the seventh in Europe. Scientists around the world use it to carry out all kinds of simulations, and in the case of a collaboration project with SEAT, its computing power is used to battle the wind.
On its way to being ready for production, the BMW iNEXT is completing additional vehicle testing under particularly demanding conditions. Intensive test runs in the freezing cold at the polar circle are now being followed by a contrasting program in the Kalahari in southern Africa.
In addition to extreme heat and solar radiation, permanent dust formation and off-road terrain with its sand, pebble and gravel tracks pose exceptional challenges for the BMW Group’s technology flagship.
The test drives through the desert and savanna regions in the northwest corner of South Africa are in temperatures that would drain any mobilephone battery in no time at all. This puts a severe test on the integrated cooling concept for the high-voltage battery, the electric motor and the vehicle electronics.
During extensive heat tests, the car is repeatedly exposed to the heat of the sun for hours and later cooled down. In this way, the developers test not only the operability of the electrical systems but also the temperature stability of the materials used in the interior.
Moreover, the interior air conditioning, which operates by means of thermal pump technology, its control system and all further components of the electronics, are subjected to the extreme conditions of the desert climate.
Every part and system stress-tested
In this literally hot phase of the product development process, not only do the drive and suspension components of the iNEXT – a car designed for all-electric mobility – have to provide proof of their functional safety, durability and reliability, but also the car’s bodywork, interior, driver assistance systems and digitalisation technology.
The ‘hot climate’ tests are an integral part of a both extensive and varied development and test program. Prototypes are subjected virtually in time-lapse to the stress of an entire car’s service life.
Real-world conditions
Like every new BMW model, the prototypes are also driven at the proving ground at Miramas in southern France, the Nurburgring Nordschleife and other racetracks as well as the Winter Centre in Sweden.
With high-speed operation, stop/go traffic, extreme temperatures below and above zero, testing on ice and snow as well as desert sand and gravel, the pre-production cars are put through a concentrated form all of the challenges an automobile may face in everyday traffic over a period of many years.
Fifth generation BMW eDrive technology
Featuring fifth-generation BMW eDrive technology, the iNEXT is said to set new benchmarks in sportiness, efficiency and range in a battery-powered automobile. The car’s suspension control and driver assistance systems pave the way for a further step towards autonomous driving. Current innovations in the field of operation and digitalisation also underscore the future-oriented character of the iNEXT.
Production of the iNEXT will commence at the BMW Dingolfing plant in 2021. Designed as a modern Sports Activity Vehicle, the new model combines the latest innovations defined by the BMW Group in its corporate NUMBER ONE > NEXT strategy for the future fields D-ACES (Design, Autonomous, Connected, Electrified und Services).
Some of the most secret areas in a car company are those where future products are planned and new technologies developed. These are the R&D facilities where, in some cases, even the employees are subjected to security checks every day. At one company, they are allowed to bring in handphones but these must be very old models that have no cameras and recording capability.
So it’s a surprise move that Maserati has opened the doors of its Innovation Lab which is usually off-limits. Of course, this look inside the Innovation Lab is not going to be on the list of tourist tours in Modena!
The brand’s engineering hub, inaugurated in September 2015 and located in Modena, Italy, has the fundamental role of driving research technology, development and planning. At this facility, the digital processes support the product development, applying the exclusive Maserati formula which, by means of an integrated approach, prioritizes the human factor right from the initial phases. Concern with customer needs has been scrupulously incorporated into the virtual simulation process thanks to an exclusive mix of hardware and software.
The Product Development hub (or Technical Department) employs more than 1,500 technicians (including those at other locations in Italy). The majority are engineers of some 17 different nationalities and it is a very young and dynamic workforce with an average age of around 37 years. Almost half of the employees are under 35 and 20% are under 30. The organization has grown considerably in recent years, attracting top graduates from the best Italian universities, including those that collaborate with Maserati.
Static Simulator
The Static Simulator is the starting point for every experience in the Maserati realm of simulation. The system is composed of a cockpit, three projectors and high computational power. It is a simple system that helps engineers, from the very initial phase of the development process, obtain immediate feedback from the driver, and makes a major contribution to new model validation.
In particular, Maserati engineering ensures a driver-centred strategy even during virtual development, by creating a link between the Hardware In the Loop (HiL) methodology and the simulator. Using this approach, real subsystems such as steering and braking, ABS and ESC can be added in, to create tests that connect physical and simulated components to provide a test-bed for developing all the characteristics of a new vehicle.
Last, but not least, driver assist systems can be developed, trialled and validated in a safe environment by reproducing the complex scenarios which may arise anywhere in the world.
DiM (Driver-in-Motion) technology
The Dynamic Simulator featuring latest generation DiM (Driver-in-Motion) technology is the most modern and advanced found in Europe. It is extremely valuable in the development of all the new models. The Dynamic Simulator incorporates state-of-the-art technology and enables full exploitation of systems’ integration thanks to the evolution of proprietary control strategies, cutting development times and costs. It also helps to reduce the number of prototypes and ensures that the Virtual Sign-Off is very close to the final product.
With various directions of movement, this tool generates an effective driving experience in a virtual environment that emulates the driving dynamics of a car in the real world. Numerous environments can be programme with a wide variety of road surfaces or contexts, including the world’s top international racing circuits. The simulator makes it possible to test cars on various racetracks on the same day. Modifications to the vehicle can be made with a few simple clicks and this greatly simplifies the analysis of the data gathered.
The majority of simulators utilize six actuators in order to offer six “degrees of freedom”. The innovative dynamic simulator used at the Innovation Lab takes full advantage of 9 actuators, thanks to which it can utilize 3 degrees of freedom with the lower platform and 6 with the upper one. In this way, it can offer in total 9 degrees of freedom to accurately reproduce the driving characteristics of a car. All of this enables the engineers to precisely analyse the dynamics of the car, in addition to driving performance and comfort, all on the same moving platform.
Another particularly interesting characteristic is a very thin cushion of air which makes the entire platform float over the pavement, enabling dynamic, silent and continuous movement thanks to the electric actuators.
The Dynamic Simulator featuring latest generation DiM (Driver-in-Motion) technology offers tried and tested technology that makes it possible to achieve a 50% reduction in time-to-market for new cars, to carry out 90% of all development on the simulator and to reduce by 40% the use of physical prototypes.
Using the simulator makes it possible to study and emulate the electrified vehicles included in Maserati’s future plans even before physical tests become possible. Thus, the new opportunities offered by this different propulsion method can be analysed and explored in ways that keep the Maserati DNA absolutely intact.
The User eXperience development labs
These labs are fundamental in the design of the human-machine interfaces, one of the major challenges of the latest Maserati development projects. The rapid evolution of connectivity and the use of driver assist systems, combined with electrification, generate a vast number of scenarios for multisensorial interaction with the vehicle.
The Maserati driver simulator hub includes a lab dedicated to vehicle ergonomics, enabling accurate reproduction of driving posture, visibility and interactions with the on-board controls and displays, and where the vehicle under development can be driven in any scenario with the utmost realism.
The skylight simulator, for example, is designed to reproduce lighting conditions at all times of day, at any point in the year and at any latitude. Here there is an in-depth focus on reflection problems, to avoid disturbance at the wheel while still providing solutions with attractive shapes, materials, finishes and colours.
The new Jaguar Design Studio at the company’s redeveloped Design and Engineering Centre in the UK lay claim to being the most technologically advanced design studio in the world. Built around a ‘Heart Space’, it puts people at the centre of the design journey, supporting a seamless workflow between creative and engineering teams.
How Jaguar achieves its design leadership has always been a closely guarded secret with work happening behind closed doors. But with Jaguar Design moving into this new purpose-built studio, a unique insight has been into the entire process of creating new models.
Across 6 stages of the design journey, the Exterior and Interior teams collaborate throughout a well-defined process that can move from inspirational first sketch to finished car in around 4 years. From start to finish, each project is overseen by a programme management team that ensures integration with all business functions at each of the 6 stages: Sketching – Clay Sculpting – Digitalisation – Colour and Materials – Design Technical – Model Manufacture.
Sketching done typically 4 years before reveal
Jaguar designers never stop sketching. Pen, pencil or tablet, the studio team is constantly generating new interior and exterior ideas for future products. Hundreds of sketches are produced each day. The design process for a future Jaguar starts with an internal competition. Designers – from across the studio – are tasked with producing their best sketches and creative ideas before entries are gradually whittled down through shortlist reviews.
On each project, up to 8 exterior key sketches will be taken through to the next stage, each demonstrating a different theme and approach to convey their own unique blend of Jaguar creativity and innovation. Computer-Aided Surfacing (CAS) specialists then create a digital version of the initial renders. This data is then used to accurately mill the clay models.
In the new Jaguar Design Studio, the teams can go from a sketch to a full-size clay model in only 2 weeks. Moving quickly into a physical 3-dimensional model is very important, because Jaguar Design has always had proportion and sculpture at its heart.
The designers who sketch the ‘winning’ initial ideas stay with the project from the first sketch to the production car, ensuring the creative spark behind the original vision is maintained and refined throughout the process.
During the sketching stage, one design is selected as the ‘vision’ which is used by the design and engineering teams to outline the feasibility of the proposal, its planned dimensions, aerodynamic requirements and any regulatory conditions. These constraints are then fed back to the other design disciplines to help progress the ‘vision’.
Clay sculpting
Clay sculpting is the lifeblood of the design studio with the sketches and engineering data turned into physical assets at this stage. An expert team of 46 sculptors, ranging from long-term employees to new talent coming through apprenticeships, add the human touch – quite literally – to bring the sketches to life.
The 6 to 8 projects that have been brought forward from the sketching phase, including the ‘vision’ proposal, have clay models created. Each of the designers is given half of a full-size exterior and is paired up with a clay team to bring their vision to reality. One sculptor will focus on the front, two on the side and another on the rear, though all sculptors are capable of working on any aspect of an exterior design. Following review, three different themes will be continued into a full clay with one final design signed off for further refinements to be made. Alongside the exterior models, individual parts like seats and steering wheels, and even full-size interiors, are also sculpted from clay.
Each full-scale clay model comprises an aluminium chassis, foam core and, finally, up to 90 mm of clay. The only part that is ‘real’ at this stage are the wheels. The clay is milled by machine using data from the CAS team before being ‘slicked’ and refined by the clay sculptors – this process can take as little as 2 weeks. Using carbonfibre and sprung steel splines, the tools used to precisely shape the clay, the team handcraft each clay to perfect their designs.
As designs are perfected, the clay models can be wrapped and painted to bring them to life. Jaguar Design utilises Virtual Reality to stitch a real-life 3D clay interior model into a digital world so designers and ergonomics experts can experience the look and feel simultaneously. On both exterior and interior clays, 3D rapid printed parts can be produced to help bring some of the beautiful details to life quickly and at an early stage.
Digitalisation throughout the design process
Digitalisation plays a pivotal role in Jaguar Design, and is integrated to every stage of the process from sketching through to launch animations. From the early conceptual stage, the Computer-Aided Surfacing (CAS) team convert the design sketches into digital 3D models, gradually evolving the designs as engineering and packaging data is released by the Design Technical team. This data is then used to create the clay models with real world refinements then scanned back into the CAS team for further mathematical adjustments. The CAS team then exports the surface data ready for the model to go into production.
The Jaguar Design Studio also has an in-house Design Visualisation and Animation (DVA) team, made up of experts from the world of television, film, advertising and gaming. These specialists work closely with designers and data teams to animate the 3D models into immersive films that help bring the design concepts to life in real-world environments.
Colour and materials
The car design process extends beyond exterior and interior appearance, with tactility of materials vital to Jaguar Design. Sitting between the Interior and Exterior studio is the Colour and Materials team – a position that reflects its significance to both disciplines. Its role is focused on developing innovative new interior and exterior materials and finishes and is made up of experts from the world of automotive, fashion, jewellery and product design.
The team is involved throughout the design process – from sketching all the way to engineering –and continuously works to innovate and bring new, exciting and relevant design solutions into future vehicles. They touch every customer-facing surface to deliver a true Jaguar user experience.
At the heart of its work sits Jaguar’s interpretation of ‘Britishness’ – an overwhelmingly positive and differentiating brand attribute – with the Colour and Materials team constantly evolving how this is woven into new vehicles. Individual members of the team hail from countries such as Sweden, Latvia, France and Italy, helping Jaguar to communicate what contemporary ‘Britishness’ means to customers across the world. ‘Britishness’ is a dynamic concept and Jaguar Design embraces the innovative elegance and merging of past and future crafts and technologies to give its vehicles their unique character.
Design technical
Design Technical looks at creative ways to deliver the team’s vision by developing design-enabling technologies and solutions from the very beginning of the process. This group of creative engineers sits at the centre of the design function to support the entire studio – helping to make even the most ambitious design a production reality.
The Advanced Design Technical (ADT) team work on whole vehicle layouts and architecture planning and form a key part of any project from the very outset. Their job is to make sure the designs are feasible, identifying physical and legislative challenges and finding creative solutions to them with the aim of making the transition from sketchpad to production a smooth one.
With the entire design function under one roof, within the same facility as the wider engineering team, the new studio is making the development process more fluid and organic at every step.
Model manufacture
Jaguar Design doesn’t just rely on clay sculpting to develop its vehicles; other full-scale models are created by the studio throughout the process. These interior and exterior models are used to evaluate size and proportion and are developed from initial concept sketches in the first six to 12 months.
The final model is the incredibly detailed Customer Design Reference Model – a full inside/outside driveable (low-speed) model created ahead of launch to showcase the vehicle before a full production version is available. It is built on a bespoke chassis with a body structure made up of a mix of carbon fibre and glass fibre, with fully functioning lamps, one-off machined aluminium wheels, and a fully trimmed interior complete with functioning displays.
“Jaguar has a unique heritage as a design-led brand and this will always to be a central pillar of our DNA. The new facility brings the entire design team together in one hugely creative space. We truly believe that inspiration comes from interaction and collaboration. Our studio is fitted with the latest technologies but, just as important, is the diversity of human expertise and our passion for Jaguar which helps us design the extraordinary,” said Julian Thomson, Jaguar’s Design Director.
New car assessment programs (NCAPs) in most countries focus mainly on safety which is a high priority to consumers these days. Since the 1970s, these NCAPs – which typically include crash tests that provide data for analysis and evaluation – have constantly evolved and set tougher demands. Although passing them is not required by government agencies, most carmakers strive to achieve the best results (5 stars) as this can influence a purchase decision. As such, the organizations managing the NCAPs have contributed to pushing safety standards upwards and making motoring safer.
Assessing ecological design
China, which only began active automobile development from the mid-1980s, also has its own NCAP (C-NCAP) which has also focused on safety since being formulated in 2006. Now, a new type of NCAP has been added – the China Eco-Car Assessment Program (C-ECAP) which is considered the most stringent vehicle assessment test in China to date. Unlike the C-NCAP, it evaluates a vehicle’s ecological design.
The program studies in-vehicle air quality, noise, materials used, combined fuel consumption, exhaust emissions, end of life recyclability, whole lifecycle greenhouse emissions, and component life cycle. Only 1% of vehicles put forward so far have received a high passing score. In a recent test, Geely’s first MPV, the Jia Ji, scored 101.24 out of 105 points, including a perfect score for interior noise quality.
The Jia Ji MPV is currently the highest scoring model in the 2019 C-ECAP and only one to receive a platinum certification for eco-friendliness.
Bringing NVH down
When developing the Jia Ji, Geely engineers paid meticulous attention to the levels of NVH (Noise, Vibration, and Harshness) and aimed to limit external noises to a maximum of 38.1 decibels at idle. To do so, 150 noise-reduction elements were installed throughout the vehicle and Active Noise Reduction (ANC) technology was used.
NVH characteristics define a manufacturer’s capability, an indicator of quality in automotive manufacturing and a reflection of the car’s overall quality. As recently as 6 years ago, knowledge of NVH and how to address it was still lacking within the Chinese automotive industry. This was why there was a big gap in quality between cars of the Chinese brands and those of established global players. Foreign models had much development in sound insulation aspects, leading to a higher perception of quality.
Measuring NVH is extremely difficult because it’s subjective to each user’s feelings. This ‘metaphysical’ nature of NVH performance also makes R&D extremely difficult. The first stage is reducing the noise and vibration of the whole vehicle to a minimum. Then comes sound quality because lowering NVH is not just about eliminating all sounds as certain characteristics are desirable. For example, enthusiasts want the louder and more assertive engine sound for sportscars while those in luxury models want quietness at even high speeds. The third stage builds upon the second and aims to integrate specific NVH qualities into the DNA of different vehicles customized according to the models positioning and desired user experience.
To reach the third stage of integrating desirable NVH qualities into the vehicle’s DNA, Geely has been developing a whole new generation of advanced vehicle architectures with NVH in mind from the very beginning. The CMA Compact Modular Architecture is one example of this.
Only NVH lab of its kind in China
The importance of NVH to Geely can be seen in their investment of a NVH laboratory at the Geely Research Institute. The NVH lab is the only one in China with a dedicated abnormal noise and vibration testing room with sound isolation and environmental controls. The lab can conduct road simulation tests in various simulated environments, evaluate the structural durability of the whole vehicle, and accurately identify abnormal noise from anywhere in the vehicle.
For NVH testing, road simulation in closed room is preferred to outdoor road testing because results can easily be replicated in a controlled environment; however, the technical and space requirements are immense, making this kind of lab uncommon in the industry.
In 2018, the Geely Auto Group released their iNTEC suite of technologies which includes G-Blue, Geely’s focus on eco-friendly technologies. The Group has obtained quite a number of patents for new technologies in the field of environment friendly materials, ecological designs, odour management systems, and intelligent air quality management systems. No doubt, many of these technologies will also be shared with Proton and provide Malaysians with even better vehicles.
Ever since the 1990s, when increasingly intense competition forced carmakers to bring their production costs down as much as possible, one of the approaches taken was to create common platforms which could be used for a variety of models. Before, each model might have its own platform with unique or different parts and systems but this gave poor economies of scale and higher costs. Thus from what might have been 10 platforms, the entire range would use perhaps 6, on which would sit models for different size and bodystyle segments.
The use of common platforms meant that many engineering items and electronics systems could be shared. Customers didn’t really care anyway: they didn’t see platforms and architecture; they saw what was on top of the platforms and that was where talented designers earned their money. Their experience of the model was how it drove and how it felt to them, so the engineers worked hard on driving dynamics.
Toyota New Global Architecture
Toyota, like the other carmakers, rationalised its platform strategy and over the past decade, its new platforms under the Toyota New Global Architecture (TNGA) philosophy has delivered a step-change in the ride, handling and styling of a series of recent new models.
The first, the GA-C platform for mid-sized cars – is the foundation for advances in the driving character and appeal of the latest generation Prius, the C-HR and the latest 12th generation Corolla. Similarly, the TNGA philosophy has demonstrated its capability for larger sedans and SUVs, with the GA-K platform underpinning the new Camry and the new RAV4 to great effect. It is also used for the newer Lexus models.
GA-B for smaller cars
Now, Toyota is preparing to apply the philosophy and technology of TNGA to elevate the design and driving performance of its small cars with the GA-B platform. In common with the GA-C and GA-K platforms, the new GA-B platform is designed to deliver better driving dynamics with more comfort.
This is achieved through a number of techniques. First of all, the platform features advanced joining technologies that contribute to high levels of underbody rigidity whilst maintaining a focus on weight and cost.
Secondly, the MacPherson strut front suspension features low friction dampers and a variety of spring types. The rear suspension can be specified as either torsion beam or multi-link design, depending on vehicle character and type. This gives the chassis engineers a degree of flexibility which they didn’t have before.
Last, but not least, the GA-B platform also positions the driver’s seat low and back towards the centre of the car, helping to lower the vehicle’s centre of gravity. This also creates an engaging driving position with a steering wheel that can be set close to the driver at an optimised angle.
Smart packaging
The new GA-B platform has also been designed to maximise interior space through its approach to smart packaging delivering a spacious and comfortable interior. The TNGA philosophy positions non-visible components to simplify vehicle design in key areas. As a result, vehicle designers will have the freedom to give each new GA-B model a visually distinctive and individual look with a low stance and appealing proportions.
In addition, the upper body hard points and the driver’s hip point are positioned low to give designers further freedom to create vehicles with a low height and wide stance. This kind of visual appeal is aided by the positioning of the wheels at the platform corners, with very short overhangs. And the combination of a long wheelbase architecture and a smart approach to packaging ensures that interior space is not compromised despite possible compact exterior dimensions.
Future small models from Toyota will have better interior packaging with the new architecture
Modular system
The new GA-B platform offers a great deal of modularity, with a variety of wheelbase lengths, vehicle heights and track widths, allowing designers and engineers to create vehicles of different sizes and body types. This is important since consumers like to have variety, and it can be achieved without having to engineer separate platforms at extra cost.
