For the last century, the automotive industry has been dominated by internal combustion engines. Their flexibility of application, driving range, performance and sporty characteristics has resulted in several generations of this technology and has formed generations of engineers. But that is not the end of the story. Stricter legislation and increased environmental awareness have resulted in the development of new powertrain technologies in addition and parallel to the highly optimized internal combustion engine. Hybrid powertrains systems, pure battery electric systems and fuel cell systems, in conjunction with a diverse range of applications, have increased the spectrum of powertrain technologies. Furthermore, automated driving together with intelligent and highly connected systems are changing the way to get from A to B. Not only is the interaction of all these new technologies challenging, but also several different disciplines have to collaborate intensively in order for new powertrain systems to be successfully developed. These new technologies and the resulting challenges lead to an increase in system complexity. Approaches such as systems engineering are necessary to manage this complexity.
To show how systems engineering manages the increasing complexity of modern powertrain systems, by providing processes, methods, organizational aspects and tools, this book has been structured into five parts.
Starting with Challenges for Powertrain Development, which describes automotive-related challenges at different levels of the system hierarchy and from different point of views.
The book then continues with the core part, Systems Engineering, in which all the basics of systems engineering, model-based systems engineering, and their related processes, methods, tools, and organizational matters are described. A special focus is placed on important standards and the human factor.
The third part, Automotive Powertrain Systems Engineering Approach, puts the fundamentals of systems engineering into practice by adding the automotive context. This part focuses on system development and also considers the interactions to hardware and software development. Several approaches and methods are presented based on systems engineering philosophy.
Part four, Powertrain Development Case Studies, adds the practical point of view by providing a range of case studies on powertrain system level and on powertrain element level and discusses the development of hybrid powertrain, internal combustion engines, e-drives, transmissions, batteries and fuel cell systems. Two case studies on a vehicle level are also presented.
The final part, Outlook, considers the development of systems engineering itself with particular focus on information communication technologies.
Even though this book covers systems engineering from an automotive perspective, many of the challenges, fundamental principles, conclusions and outlooks can be applied to other domains too. Therefore, this book is not only relevant for automotive engineers and students, but also for specialists in scientific and industrial positions in other domains and anyone who has to cope with the challenge of successfully developing complex systems with a large number of collaborating disciplines.
Hannes Hick studied mechanical engineering at the Vienna University of Technology with a special focus on mobility systems. He obtained his doctorate in material science during a research assistantship with a thesis on fracture mechanics at the Institute for Material Science and Testing, Vienna University of Technology. Prof. Hick started his industrial career as a designer of powertrain systems in the German Industry and joined AVL Powertrain Engineering in 1997, where he held a range of positions such as head of mechanical development and head of methodology for powertrain system development. Since 2015, Prof. Hick has been full professor and head of the Institute of Machine Components and Methods of Development at Graz University of Technology, and head of the AVL TU Graz Transmission Center.
Klaus Küpper studied mechanical engineering at the Technical University of Darmstadt and at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. After a scientific assistantship, he received a Ph.D. from Gerhard-Mercator University in Duisburg in the area of control theory, focusing on neural networks and fuzzy logic. Dr. Küpper started his professional career at LuK in Bühl in 1995, holding several positions, finally as a department manager for software and function development for transmission automation. In 2007, he joined AVL Powertrain Engineering in Graz as head of software development, and since 2014, he has held the position of executive chief engineer, where he is globally responsible for electrified powertrains, software, and transmissions.
Helfried Sorger studied mechanical engineering and business at Graz University of Technology. He joined AVL Powertrain Engineering in Graz in 1996 and held positions of designer, project manager, and skill team leader for the volume production design of passenger car engines before being promoted in 2004 to head of design with global responsibility. He received a Ph.D. from the Institute for Internal Combustion Engines and Thermodynamics, Graz University of Technology, focusing on a unique design methodology for internal combustion engines. Since 2010, Dr. Sorger has held the position of executive chief engineer for base powertrain development and is globally responsible for the areas of design, simulation, mechanical development, product quality, and production engineering as well as simultaneous engineering approaches.
