Certificates in Automotive Engineering PG certificate

What you'll study

Loughborough University’s Department of Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering is an engineering specialist centre for teaching and research. With programmes dating back to 1919, the Department's reputation in the delivery of modules has been built on nearly 100 years of teaching excellence.

Modules

Certificate in Powertrain Simulation and Test Modules

The overall aim of this certificate is to develop the underlying skills you need to engineer, analyse and develop conventional, hybrid and electric powertrains in the context of the vehicle attributes and overall product development process. The Certificate in Powertrain Simulation and Test consists of three compulsory modules, each worth 20 credits.

Vehicle and Powertrain Functional Performance

Vehicle and Powertrain Functional Performance

This module covers:

• Systems Engineering Overview: Introduction to Systems Engineering, contrast to component engineering, relevance to the modern automotive industry.

Vehicle Performance and Economy: Subjective and objective measures of vehicle performance, time to speed calculation - transmission efficiency, equivalent mass, launch from rest, wheel spin, gear change time, design of gear ratios, fuel maps, use of CVT, steady state fuel consumption, effect of engine type, simulation study in Simulink.

• Transmission fundamentals: Drivetrain components; clutch, synchromesh, torque convertor.

Engines:

• Thermodynamics: gases and gas laws, thermodynamic processes in reciprocating IC engines, open and closed systems, engine cycles.
• Engine design and operating parameters, engine performance parameters.
• Combustion: fuel and chemical equations, combustion processes in SI engines, combustion processes in CI engines.
• Engine breathing and advanced valve-train-review of breathing theories, methods of characteristics.
• IC engines modelling techniques.
• Fundamentals of engine mechanics.
• Dynamometer measurements, engine dynamometers, chassis dynamometer.
• Supporting fundamentals: Review of Matrices, Laplace transforms, eigenvalues and eigenvectors.

Assessment

• Coursework (100%)

Sustainable Vehicle Powertrains

Sustainable Vehicle Powertrains

This module aims to provide an introduction to Advanced and Alternative Powertrain Technologies and future technology road map.

Advanced combustion engines:

• Turbocharger: Fundamental theory and applications
• Engine downsize: Performances and emission challenges
• Advanced engine combustion technologies: HCCI, Miller cycle and other potential combustion concepts
• In-cylinder formation of pollutant emissions: Fundamentals of the in-cylinder formation of pollutant emissions from Gasoline and Diesel IC engines.

Electrification:

• Batteries: Basic electrochemistry, charging and discharging, battery management for vehicle applications
• Electric Machines: Electromagnetism, electromotive force, back EMF, commutation, magnetic circuits and materials, conductors, principle sources of losses, motor types, emerging concepts, efficiency, operating characteristics
• Fuel cells: Chemistry, systems, management
• Hybrid and electric vehicle powertrain integration: architecture, optimisation, modelling case studies.

Assessment

• Coursework (100%)

Powertrain Calibration Optimisation

Powertrain Calibration Optimisation

This module covers:

Characterisation

• Principles of modelling: requirements, form of models, fitting and diagnostic methods; use of computer tools; methods for selecting appropriate modelling techniques; properties of algorithms and techniques used for model creation.
• Design of experiments (DOE): statistical principles and methods including normal and Student's t distributions, analysis of variance (ANOVA); the methods, structure and progression of DOE; factorial, response surfaces and optimal methods.

Optimisation

• Formulation of the optimisation requirement; principles of optimisation; selection of techniques and application of diagnostics; optimisation in practice.
• Operating modes for engine and powertrain and the associated modelling and optimisation techniques.

Emissions

• Overview of calibration tasks for both diesel and spark ignition including the application of DOE, modelling and optimisation methods; techniques used for in-vehicle optimisation.
• Application of optimisation to powertrain emissions including optimisation on the test bed and in the vehicle.
• Principles of diagnosis: methods and algorithms; use of embedded models; use of observers and Kalman-Bucy filters. Application of diagnosis methods to emissions controls systems and components.
• Emissions legislation (performance and diagnosis); the consequential demands placed on powertrain technical solutions; methods used to develop powertrain solutions from legislation

Assessment

• Coursework (100%)

Certificate in Intelligent Vehicle Systems modules

The overall aim is to develop the knowledge and skills to develop, analyse and implement intelligent features and autonomous functions on road vehicles. The certificate develops this in the context of the fundamentals of autonomous control, vehicle dynamic performance and simulation capability. The certificate consists of three compulsory modules, each worth 20 credits.

Vehicle Ride and Handling Dynamics

Vehicle Ride and Handling Dynamics

This module covers:

Vehicle Dynamics Analysis:

• Introduction to modelling in the vehicle context
• Modelling limitations
• Use of signal analysis tools
• Sources of ride excitation
• Quarter vehicle ride model
• Frequency response
• Powertrain component modelling
• Vehicle handling models
• Objective testing methods
• Vehicle test specification, data collection and analysis

Automotive Control:

• Introduction to autonomous vehicle systems
• Recent developments
• System integration (sensors, actuators, communications, etc.)

Vehicle Dynamics, Control and Simulation:

• Modelling vehicle dynamics and their environment
• Classical and state feedback control
• Computer based design and simulation in MATLAB/Simulink

Autonomous vehicle path planning/following:

• Path planning principles
• Path following algorithms

Sensor Fusion and Situation Awareness:

• Kalman filtering methods
• Vehicle localisation (position and orientation)
• External environment sensing (object detection and tracking)

Autonomous functions:

• Applications and case studies

Vehicle Systems Integration

Vehicle Systems Integration

This module covers:

Electrical Systems:

• Analysis of circuits
• Basic design for electromagnetic compatibility
• Introduction to vehicle electrical architecture
• Introduction to application of power electronics
• Controller Area Network (CAN bus)

Sensors:

• Basic sensors
• Principles and capability - GPS, IMU, Camera, Radar, Lidar

Safety and Risk:

• Risk assessment methods
• Reliability assessment methods
• Introduction to functional safety methods

Autonomous Vehicle Systems

Autonomous Vehicle Systems

This module covers:

• Introduction of autonomous vehicle systems

Techniques

• Control and optimization techniques
• Path planning and collision avoidance
• Path following
• Sensor error modelling
• Sensor fusion and Kalman filtering

Advanced topics/applications

• Autonomous emergency braking
• Moving object tracking
• Rapid mapping

Certificate in Body and Chassis Simulation and Test modules

The overall aim of this certificate is to develop the engineering skills required to analyse and develop body and chassis systems. The certificate develops this in the context of primary vehicle systems for example vehicle braking systems and core vehicle attributes, such as Vehicle NVH, body structures and crashworthiness. The Certificate in Body and Chassis Simulation and Test consists of three compulsory modules, each worth 20 credits.

Vehicle Systems Analysis

Vehicle Systems Analysis

By undertaking this module, you will cover:

Vehicle Noise Vibration and Harshness:

• Single and multi-degree of freedom systems
• Noise sources and transfer paths
• Basic acoustics
• Structural acoustics
• Noise path analysis
• Continuous systems
• Signal analysis
• Sound quality

Vehicle Braking Systems:

• Fundamentals of Braking Dynamics of single vehicles and vehicles with trailers.
• Braking systems: Drum brakes, Disc brakes, actuation
• Braking performance and friction material parameters
• Advanced braking systems: Anti-lock, traction control, electronic braking distribution, stability control, brake assist, electronic braking control

Introduction to Materials:

• Structures, processing, properties of metals, polymers and composites.
• Application of materials in vehicles.

Assessment

• Coursework (100%)

Body Engineering

Body Engineering

This module considers the latest design issues in the area of body engineering. Fundamentals are introduced of several related topics including: vehicle loading system, advanced mechanics of stress and strain analysis, failure and crash impact response, advanced Finite Element Methods, advanced techniques in nonlinear and time dependent analysis, fatigue and fracture analysis, Marc Mentat.

Vehicle Loading:

• Design load cases (maximum braking, cornering and traction)
• Lateral load transfer during cornering
• Role of body compliance in lateral load transfer and vehicle handling
• Suspension load calculations

Computational Continuum Mechanics:

• Fundamentals of continuum mechanics
• Plate and lamination theory
• Linear elastic finite element method
• Non-linear continuum mechanics
• The time dimension
• Fatigue
• Fracture

Vehicle Crashworthiness:

• Traffic injury statistics.
• Physics of crash injury causation and biomechanical tolerance of humans to crash forces.
• Principles of Passive Safety (occupant protection).
• General crash performance requirements for the car body structure. Structural crashworthiness for front and side impact
• Integration of vehicle restraints and body structure for crashworthiness.
• Real world challenges for structural crashworthiness

Assessment

• Coursework (100%)

Vehicle Aerodynamics

Vehicle Aerodynamics

On completion of the module, you should be able to:

• Explain the importance of vehicle aerodynamics in the vehicle development process
• Describe and discuss parameters affecting ground vehicle external aerodynamics
• Participate in vehicle aerodynamics experimentation including designing a wind tunnel test
• Analyse and interpret aerodynamic data for road car applications
• Communicate with other aerodynamicists in the field of ground vehicle aerodynamics
• Derive the fundamental partial differentiation equations for mass, momentum and energy
• Describe the important features of turbulence
• Apply a modern commercial CFD code to the analysis of a turbulent flow problem relevant to an automotive engineering applications
• Explain the alternative turbulence models currently available and their relative advantages
• Describe the influence of discretisation on the solution accuracy

This module covers:

Introduction to Vehicle Aerodynamics

• Relevance, systems engineering approach in aerodynamic development process, basic concepts, sign conventions, basic vehicle characteristics, aerodynamic design philosophies, Influence of aerodynamics on vehicle performance. Legislative considerations
• Origin of the aerodynamic forces: Pressure forces, skin friction, induced drag
• General flow field around bluff bodies, front end flow, rear end flow, characterisics of basic vehicle geometries
• Cooling heating and ventilation requirements, basic internal flows
• Cooling system optimisation
• Crosswind stability: Sources of instability, full scale and model test techniques
• Surface contamination

Experimental techniques

• Tunnel design, blockage correction, ground plane simulation, scale model testing .
• Methods of measuring vehicle drag on a test track: Coast-down and steady state test techniques.
• Wind tunnel test methodologies, wind tunnel instrumentation, pressure measurements, hot wire anemometry, flow visualisation, PIV

Computational methods

• Review of computational methods for vehicle aerodynamics
• Governing equations, Numerical discretisation, Introduction to turbulence and turbulence modelling, Boundary Condition Selection
• CAD representation and grid generation, Post processing

Supporting fundamentals

• Boundary layers and wakes, interpretation of aerodynamic data
• Origin of the aerodynamic forces: Pressure forces, skin friction, induced drag

Assessment

• Coursework (100%)