AUTOMOBILE

ENGINEERING
 AUTOMOBILE
ENGINEERING
 Automobile engineering is the study of
motor bikes, mopeds, scooters, cars,
trucks, buses, tractors and such
vehicles.

 An automobile may be defined as a self

propelled steerable device capable of
moving on land.

 Trains and Trams do not come under

automobiles as they do not have a
steering system.
 Petrol/Diesel
Engine / Power Mechanical Parts
system Fuel System
Cooling System
Lubrication

Clutch
Gearbox
Transmission Propeller Shaft
Differential
Drive Shafts

Wheels
Springs
Suspension
Dampers/Shock absorbers
Chassis Links

Automobile Ackerman System

Rack and Pinion
Steering Pitman Arm
Body

Hydraulic
Vacuum Booster
Air Brakes
Brakes

Battery
Charging
Electrical / Starting Motor
Electronics Ignition
Lighting
Engine Management
 Cars are called light motor vehicles and
trucks are called heavy vehicles.

 Automobiles are manufactured either as an

integral unit (Monocoque construction) as in
the case of cars or as Chassis over which a
body is built. The chassis will have all the
required systems of the vehicle.
 Engine / Power system

 The engine provides the motive power

for the vehicle.

 These engines are multi-cylinder petrol

or diesel engines.

 These days LPG and CNG are also used

as fuels in the automotive engines.
MAIN PARTS OF AN ENGINE
EXPLODED VIEW OF AN ENGINE
Automobile Engine
 Transmission system
 The engine power is to be connected to
the drive wheels with suitable
modifications of torque and speed by the
transmission system.

 The main elements in the transmission

system are clutch, gear box, propeller
shaft, differential and drive axles.
Transmission system
 The automotive clutch is used to disconnect
the engine from the transmission system by
pressing a pedal by the left foot and for
gradually connecting the engine to the
transmission.

 This ability to gradually connect the engine

to the transmission is a very important
function of the clutch and without that the
vehicle cannot be moved from rest.
 The next subsystem in the transmission system is a
multi speed gear box which modifies the torque –
speed characteristics of the engine to suite the
requirements at the wheels to move the vehicle at
various speeds (slow or fast) on roads that are
plane or with an incline (hills).

 It also helps to move the vehicle in the reverse

direction.

 The gears are selected by a lever which is mounted

on the floor of the vehicle.
Manual Transmission Gearbox
● Gear Types: spur/helical gears
● 3 Shafts
○ Input shaft – connected to the engine through the clutch
○ Output shaft – connected to the differential
○ Counter/ lay/ intermediate shaft – transits torque from input
shaft to output shaft
● Gear ratio/ Transmission ratio, Nt = ωin/ ωout

Tin , ωin Gear Box, Nt Tout , ωout

• Underdrive: driver gear is smaller than the driven gear
→ speed of driven gear < speed of driver gear → gear
ratio > 1 (typically, gear 1, 2, 3, and reverse gear).

• Overdrive: driver gear is larger than the driven gear →

speed of driven gear > speed of driver gear → gear ratio
< 1(typically, gear 5, 6).

• Direct drive: Input shaft is directly connected to output

shaft → speed of driven shaft = speed of driver shaft →
gear ratio = 1 (typically, gear 4)
Gear Box (L – Input shaft; R – Output shaft)
 Sliding/Crash type Gearbox
Reverse gear – an idler
gear is needed between
the lay shaft and the
output shaft to reverse the
direction of revolution of
the output shaft.

Sliding gears

Splined
●Also known as ‘Unsynchronized transmission’. shaft
●Sliding mesh gearbox is a transmission system that consists of various sets of gears and
shafts that are arranged together in an organized fashion and the shifting or meshing of
different gear ratios is done by the sliding of gears towards right and left over the splined
shaft with the help of a gear lever operated by the driver.
●More Noise is produced during Operation.
 Constant Mesh Gearbox

Collar/Dog
clutch
●Gears on the output shaft are
mounted on bearings and can
only be engaged using a
collar/dog clutch.

● One collar can be used to engage

2 gears on the output shaft.
 Synchromesh Gearbox
Synchronizer – Input for gear change is given to the outer sleeve, which has teeth
on its internal surface, and slides on the hub, which is mounted on the output shaft.
Conical cavity of blocking ring is pushed onto the cone on the output gear and the
speed difference is gradually reduced. Outer sleeve is further displaced due to
which it travels past the blocking ring and the teeth on the inner surface of the
sleeve will then engage with the teeth on the output gear.
 Sequential Manual Transmission
• It is a type of non-synchronous manual
transmission (uses dog clutches).
• Used mostly for motorcycles and
racing cars.
• Operated either via electronic paddle-
shifters mounted behind the steering

wheel or with a sequential shifter.

○ It produces faster shift times than traditional
synchronized manual transmissions.
●It restricts the driver to only selecting
either the next or previous gear, in a
successive order.
○ This restriction avoids accidentally selecting
the wrong gear; however, it also prevents the
driver from deliberately "skipping" gears.
 Another important subsystem in the
transmission system is the differential.

 The function of the differential is to provide

different speeds for the drive wheels.

 When the vehicle moves in a curved road the

inner wheels will run at a slightly slower rate.

 In the absence of a differential, the vehicle will

lose its stability and the tires will wear out
much faster during turns.
Differential
 The drive shafts connect the differential to the wheels.
 The power and transmission system comes in two
common layouts.
 They are the front transverse engine with front wheel
drive and the front longitudinal engine with rear wheel
drive as shown in the figure.
 A transverse engine is one whose axis of rotation (crank
shaft axis) is perpendicular to the length of the vehicle.
 A longitudinal engine is one whose axis of rotation is
along the length of the vehicle
 The front transverse engine with front wheel
drive is used in most of the cars and the front
longitudinal engine with rear wheel drive is
used in all heavy vehicles.
Front Longitudinal Engine with Rear Wheel Drive

Front wheel Star board

Rear wheel

Steering
Drive axle / shaft

Clutch
Propeller shaft
Differential
Fore
Aft

Universal Coupling
Gear box

port
Front Longitudinal Engine with Rear wheel drive

Port & Star board – Nautical terms, means left & right sides respectively
Aft – Naval term, meaning towards the rear of ship
Front Transverse Engine with Front Wheel Drive

Front wheel Rear wheel

Engine

Differential

Clutch

Gear box

Front Transverse Engine with Front wheel drive

 The major factor which decides whether the front
wheels are to be driven or the rear wheels is the
load (weight) acting on these wheels for better
traction.

 In cars the front wheels are loaded more and

hence front wheel drive is provided. For trucks the
load on the rear wheel is more and hence rear
wheel drive is used.

 In this case the gear box is connected to the rear

axle by a long propeller shaft.
 Steering system

 The direction of movement of the vehicle is

controlled by turning the front wheels with the
help of the steering wheel by the driver.
 The steering wheel is connected to the front
wheels through some gears and linkages.
 Steering system may be manual or power assisted.
 The power assisted steering system reduces the
force required to turn the steering wheels
especially while parking and on hilly roads with
lots of sharp turnings.
Steering System
 Suspension system

 The rubber tired wheels are attached to the

vehicle frame through a system of springs, shock
absorbers (dampers) and links which will reduce
the road shocks as the wheel run over little pits
and projections on the roads.

 A good suspension system is a must for a

comfortable ride.

 Tractor is the only vehicle without suspension

system.
Suspension System
Different Types of Suspension
Systems

1. Leaf Springs
2. Coil Springs
3. Torsion bars/tubes
● Leaf springs
○ Semi-elliptic leaf springs are
universally used for suspension in
light and heavy commercial vehicles.
○ Helper springs, provided on many
commercial vehicles, don’t come into
operation under lighter load but they
take their appropriate share when load
is increased.
● Coil springs
○ The energy stored per unit volume is almost double in coil spring when compared to leaf
springs.
○ No noise problem or static friction causing harshness of ride.
○ Helper spring is often used to provide progressive stiffness against increasing load.
● Torsion bars/ tubes
○It is simply a rod/ tube acting in torsion. When the wheel strikes
a bump, it starts vibrating up and down, thus exerting torque on the
torsion bar.
○The energy stored per unit volume is nearly the same as for in coil
springs.
 Braking system
 This system is to slow down, stop and to hold on the vehicle.

 The brake used to slow down and to stop is the service

brake, which is operated by pressing a pedal with the right
foot.

 The brake used to hold on is the parking brake which is

operated by pulling a lever.

 To reduce the force required to push the brake pedal, power

and power assisted brakes are used. Modern braking system
includes Antilock Braking System (ABS).
 Braking System

Shoe Brake

Disk Brake
ABS-brakes
 Electrical and Electronics systems

 This includes starting motor, battery, alternator

for charging the battery and lighting system.
 It also includes wiper motor and ignition system.
These days, lots of electronic devices are used in
the car.
 The engine is managed by an electronic engine
management system with a number of sensors
and actuators.
 The ABS also is managed by electronic devices
Cut section of electrical
system of a car
 FORCED INDUCTION
 Forced induction is a way of
easily adding large amounts of
power to your motor.
 Typically, there are 3 main types
of forced induction, and all other
types come from these three
main types.
 They are
 Superchargers
 Turbochargers
 Nitrous oxide
Supercharger
 A supercharger is an air compressor used for
forced induction of an internal combustion
engine.
 The greater mass flow-rate provides more
oxygen to support combustion than would be
available in a naturally-aspirated engine, which
allows more fuel to be provided and more work
to be done per cycle, increasing the power output
of the engine.
 A supercharger can be powered mechanically by
a belt, gear, shaft, or chain connected to the
engine's crankshaft.
 Turbocharger
 A turbocharger is an air compressor used for forced
induction of an IC engine powered by an exhaust gas
turbine.
 Turbochargers are driven by the pressure of the exhaust
gases. A turbocharger is essentially a supercharger.
However, there are many advantages and disadvantages
between the two. For example, a turbocharger uses "free"
energy provided by the exhaust of an engine. This can
actually help improve gas mileage.
 A supercharger, however, is belt driven and uses some of
the engine's power to make more power. This harms gas
mileage.
Turbocharger basics
Working of Turbocharger
 The turbocharger is consisted of many parts.
A manifold, blow off valve, waste gate (to
regulate gas flow for turbine speed control) , intercooler,
and down pipe are essential parts of a turbo
system.
 You will also need various, specific forms of
air piping, fittings, and oil lines for a turbo
system.
 Because there are so many parts involved,
there are many more ways for a turbo
system to cause a problem.
 Nitrous oxide
 Nitrous oxide, is a chemical
compound with the chemical
formula N2O.
 At room temperature, it is a
colorless non-flammable gas,
with a pleasant, slightly sweet
odor and taste. It is known as
"laughing gas" due to the
euphoric effects of inhaling it.
 It is also used as an oxidizer in
rocketry and in motor racing to
increase the power output of
engines.
 In vehicle racing, nitrous
oxide allows the engine to
burn more fuel and air,
resulting in a more
powerful combustion.

 The gas itself is not

flammable, but it delivers
more oxygen than
atmospheric air by
breaking down at
elevated temperatures.
 One of the major problems of using nitrous oxide in a
reciprocating engine is that it can produce enough power to
damage or destroy the engine. Very large power increases are
possible, and if the mechanical structure of the engine is not
properly reinforced, the engine may be severely damaged or
destroyed during this kind of operation. It is very important
with nitrous oxide augmentation of internal combustion
engines to maintain proper operating temperatures and fuel
levels to prevent pre ignition or detonation (knocking).

 No street car to date has been equipped with Nitrous from

the factory. This is largely due to the fact the you must
replenish it as you do with gasoline and extended use of
nitrous is harmful to an engine. However, nitrous is more
commonly used in naturally aspirated engines (NA). This
means that they do not have a supercharger or turbo of any
kind.
Electric and Hybrid
Vehicles
 Alternative Powertrains
● Classification of automotive powertrains:
○ IC engines (gasoline/diesel/gas)
○ Electric vehicle (EV) / Battery electric vehicle (BEV)
• Pure electric
• Extended range electric vehicle (EREV) / EV with range extender (EV ReX)
○ Hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) – two or more prime movers
• Degree of hybridization
o Micro hybrid
o Medium hybrid
o Full hybrid
• Type of power train
o Series
o Parallel
o Series-parallel
○ Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV)
○ Fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV)
Alternative Powertrains
 BEV
● Pure electric
○ Advantages:
• No fossil
fuel →
no tail
pipe
emission
• Efficienc
y is
higher as
compare
d to ICE
• Faster
accelerat
ion due
to higher
starting
torque
(more
reliable)
EREV
 HEVs by Degree of Hybridization
● Mild/Micro hybrid (saves fuel ~ 10%)
○ Limited and automatic usage of the electric motor as a combination of the starter and
alternator to provide a fast start/stop operation preventing IC engine activity when the
vehicle stops.
○ Regenerative braking.
○ The movement of vehicle is by IC engine as the electric motor alone cannot drive the
vehicle.
○ The Batteries are 42 Volts or less
● Medium hybrid (saves fuel ~ 10-20%)
○ It enjoys a powerful electric propulsion system using an electric motor to reinforce the
IC engine acceleration.
○ More powerful batteries as compared to Micro-HEVs; still the electric motor alone
cannot drive the vehicle.
○ The Batteries are 144 to 158 Volts
● Full hybrid / Strong hybrid (saves fuel ~ 50%)
○ The vehicle that can run only on an IC engine; only on an electric motor; or a
combination of both.
○ A large, high-capacity battery pack is needed for battery-only operation.
○ Battery Voltages are about 200-300 Volts.
HEVs by Type of Powertrains
 HEVs by Type of Powertrains
● Series hybrid
○ The electric/traction motor drives the wheel.
○ Engine driven generator can charge the battery as well as can power the electric motor.
○ Advantages:
• Simpler transmission and control of torque when compared with other HEVs.
• Well suited for slow speeds and for frequent start-stop driving.
○ Issues: Larger and heavier traction motor
● Parallel hybrid
○ The wheels are driven by both the IC engine and the traction motor.
○ Sometimes, the IC engine can also be used to recharge the battery.
○ Advantages:
• Smaller traction motor.
• Can work well in cruising.
○ Issues: Transmission and control of torque is relatively complex.
 HEVs by Type of Powertrains

Series-parallel hybrid
○ This type also called Power-split hybrids.
○ Increased flexibility
○ Complex and expensive