Vehicle dynamics is a science and equally an art, Anand Bhangaonkar, Executive Vice President, Piaggio Vehicles, has said.
At a panel discussion on Vehicle Dynamics in Future vehicles and its impact on road safety, conducted as part of the event - ‘Motion in Control 2021 – Indian Vehicle Dynamics Conference,’ organised by SAENIS (Society of Automotive Engineers Northern India Section) in association with Mobility Outlook, and supported by iCAT and Maruti Suzuki, Bhangaonkar said, this is because there are multiple systems that determine the dynamic performance of the vehicle while also considering subjective evaluation.
Talking from the two-wheelers' perspective, Gavin Hardman, Head - Chassis Design, Center for Innovative Technologies, Hero MotoCorp, said vehicle dynamics is a critical element in two-wheeler design, and there are opportunities in future vehicles with a lot more electronic interventions. However, the key is to ensure safety and offer an improved experience for the users. While many new technologies are talked about with respect to the developed markets, he said they are not ready for Indian road conditions. Therefore, the trick for the developers in India is to take the lessons learnt and apply them to local conditions, as technologies at what cost is critical.
M U B Rao, Head Engineering, Mahindra Truck & Bus Division, said that vehicle dynamics in CVs must ensure a good trade-off between safety and customer satisfaction. The onus is on the OEMs to bring out frugal solutions, as the severe complexities have to be addressed owing to several variables. The most recent e-commerce developments and their less turnaround have had a significant impact on the vehicle dynamics in CVs. As a result, future CVs will have a comparable dynamic element of passenger vehicles. This will be a considerable difficulty, particularly for tractor-trailers, he added.
Amardeep Singh, Head-Chassis Design Validation, Maruti Suzuki India, said that the industries are different, but vehicle dynamics' language remains the same. The requirements and challenges in India are unique, and therefore, the solutions should be unique as well. The way forward is to be inter-disciplinary with a combination of mechanical and electronics engineering.
Prashant Vijay, DGM, ICAT and Convenor, Motion in Control, said that with the power of vehicles increasing, there is a need for better control that comes under dynamics engineering. There must be challenges for engineers, which will enable them to come out with better solutions, he added.
Talking on the e3W, Bhagaonkar said the tyres are still cross-ply, which in itself is a major deterrent from the EV perspective as it would create a greater loss. Hence, the evolution of green tyres and tyres with low rolling resistance coefficients are in vogue, though he said there are challenges from the performance of brakes. Moreover, with changes in weight distribution in EVs, the handling characteristics will be different, and the challenge is to consider these changes as well.
On the rider assistance systems, Hardman said, though there is a long way to go, it is necessary to start somewhere, considering the road conditions. Rather than taking an already developed technology, he suggested starting with a clean sheet focusing on Indian customers’ needs.
From the evaluation of EVs and autonomous vehicles with respect to readiness perspective, Singh said, the challenges posed on Indian engineers are much more interesting than those worldwide. However, adaptability and transformation will always be the key stamp for engineers. “We should increase the understanding of the customers, maintain the understanding of the technologies and try to improvise the solutions for what we face today as challenges,” he said.
Talking about changes coming to CVs, Rao said the key is to identify those low-cost solutions that can give similar controls in the Indian scenario. In developed markets, the CV drivers go by the rule, but they drive with the skill in India, expecting the unexpected. The typical issue is with brakes in trailers as it tends to jack-knifing, which can be addressed with ABS. He said it is better to use the technologies available with connected systems.
Vijay said that India's automotive industry has to evolve initially by adopting the technologies available and subsequently looking at localisation. However, the lack of a database on Indian conditions hampers the prospects, he said. Therefore, all the OEMs must generate data to evolve suitable guidelines for Indian conditions, he added.
On how vehicle dynamics can be an enabler to improve road safety, Rao said safety is a major concern during the vehicle's lifecycle as lack of proper replacements of parts, especially for suspension and handling systems, can make the vehicle unsafe. He asked the engineers to design the vehicle for life concerning load and handling characteristics to avoid these issues.
Hardman said connected systems could make a huge difference in India, while Singh said that vehicle dynamics is the base of the entire pyramid when it comes to safety. Quoting SAE’s definition – handling is safety in motion, and braking is safety in stopping, he said vehicles have to be designed to be highly predictive and enable the driver to control it.
The panel discussion was followed by two technical presentations by Renji Issac, VP and Head of R&D and Technology India, CEAT and Prof Pim Van Der Jagt, Technical Director, AB Dynamics Europe GmbH.
Earlier, on day-1, Dinesh Tyagi, Director, ICAT, C V Raman, CTO & Member of Executive Board of Maruti Suzuki, Dr N Saravanan, President & CTO, Ashok Leyland, Avinash Chintawar, Managing Director, Robert Bosch Chassis Systems India, Dr Jabez Dhinagar, Senior Vice President (Advanced Engineering Group), TVS Motor Company, Renji Issac, Vice President & Head of R&D, CEAT, and Anand Kulkarni, Vice President and Product Line Head for Passenger Electrics and the Alfa Arc Architecture, Tata Motors, spoke at the inaugural session.
The day-1 of the event also had technology presentations by Vivek Lakhera, General Manager, Tata Motors and Andreas Pfister of Pfister Driving Dynamics, Germany.
There were technical presentations on the second and the third day of the event. Preceding the virtual conference were two days of track days held at ICAT.
Proposing a vote of thanks, S Ramanathan, Vice Chairman, Technical, SAENIS and Managing Director, ATS, said, the second edition of the event, which is slated to take place sometime in 2022, promises to pack in more of such presentations and panel discussions along with track days at a bigger scale.
The event was supported by Axis Bank as the Banking Partner, Bosch and CEAT as Technology Demonstration Partners. ATS as Technology Partner, ABDynamics as Platinum Sponsor and OXTS as the Gold Sponsor.