José María López

Defining the ergonomic parameters of the driver's seat in a competition single-seater

This paper sets out a design methodology for the cockpit of a competition vehicle that applies ergonomic criteria. Through a practical design case of a Formula SAE single-seater, a methodology is proposed that ranges from taking anthropometric measurements of the comfort posture of a population of 22 possible drivers to the use of an ergonomic module of a three-dimensional (3D) design program and the construction of the chassis and the drivers seat. This methodology, which can be used in other different applications, is at all times documented with the results obtained from measurements, with the parameters used in the design and with photographs that capture the data collection and manufacturing process.

Simulation and testing of hybrid vehicle function as part of a multidisciplinary training

This article approaches a detailed analysis of hybrid vehicles and their components by using a mathematical model programmed in Matlab–Simulink. This model has been developed to enable students to adopt a global approach, tackling aspects of different subjects of Mechanical Engineering studies. The program is also used to supplement practical laboratory sessions.

Platform for on-board real-time detection of wet, icy and snowy roads, using tyre/road noise analysis

In this paper, a new approach capable of detecting water, ice and snow on the road surface is shown, focusing on the hardware needed for the practical implementation. Proposed platform uses a simple microphone and a general purpose microcontroller. The system is tightly integrated with vehicle ECUs (Electronic Control Units). A CAN bus allows it to read some of the variable dynamics provided by the sensors already installed in virtually every motor vehicle. Detector results are also published through the CAN bus to be displayed on the vehicle console and to be used by other ECLs. Proposed system is simple, cheap and easy to install. Initial tests for the wet/dry detector classes have shown a very high success rate.

Experimental characterization of the probability density function of the operating loads supported by urban buses in Madrid, Spain

In order to approach properly a wide variety of issues concerning urban large passenger transport vehicles, such as the design of the bus structure, the comfort of passengers, the non-collision injury risk and the operating characteristics of the bus, detailed knowledge of the loads that the buses support when operating is required. These loads depend on numerous factors such as the geographic and urban features of the city where they operate, the type of route and the driver. All these factors provide the nature of these loads with a wide variability, and so studies based on experimentally obtained data during representative periods of operation must be developed. The main objective of the present paper is to carry out a representative characterization of the operating loads supported by large passenger transport vehicles during normal operation. It is with this aim that a study of the longitudinal accelerations and lateral accelerations to which large passenger transport vehicles are subjected was conducted over urban routes by using the data collected by the Global Positioning System. An extensive assessment of recorded data was carried out to evaluate whether the precision and the sample rate of the Global Positioning System were sufficient to characterize these accelerations accurately. To ensure that the sample was representative, data for an operation time of more than 600 h were recorded using 10 different models of large passenger transport vehicles operating over 13 different urban routes. From all the position data recorded, the instant longitudinal accelerations were calculated using second-order central differentiation, and the lateral accelerations were obtained using first-order central differentiation and the curvature radius. All the calculated accelerations were then subjected to data processing developed on an ad-hoc basis to filter the information that did not refer to accelerating manoeuvres. After this data-processing procedure, it was verified that both the lateral accelerations and the longitudinal accelerations fit normal probability distributions with a minimum margin of error (maximum differences of 0.165 m/s2 for lateral accelerations and 0.038 m/s2 for longitudinal accelerations).

Analysis Approach of How University Automotive Competitions Help Students to Accelerate their Automotive Engineer Profile

Today, the world’s leading universities in the world not only are concerned about the importance of enhancing students personal and professional skills, but most of them are modifying their study’s programs to adapt them to these new requirements (Aparicio et al., 2005), (Bowen et al., 2005) and (Chadha & Nicholls, 2006). Eeven though different definition can be found, skills are “a combination of knowledge, abilities and attitudes that are suited to particular circumstances” (European Parliament, 2006). On the other hand, skills can be understood as “the set of knowledge, abilities, behaviour and attitudes that favour work being done properly and which the organisation is interested in developing or recognising in its co-workers when it comes to achieving the company’s strategic goals” (De Miguel et al., 2006). Many years before the major of these universities became fully aware of the importance of promoting personal and professional skills among their students, companies in different sectors recognised the gap existing between university and business, and on some occasions proposed activities to try to narrow it. For instance, in 1982 engineers from Ford, DaimlerChrysler and General Motors, grouped together in the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers), in the United States, being aware of how little newly graduated engineers were adapted to automotive companies, designed a competition for universities throughout the world, which involved conceiving, designing, manufacturing and competing with a single seat formula-type vehicle under some strict rules. This competition was called Formula SAE. These pioneers were of the opinion that this challenge would serve to accelerate engineering students’ professional profiles, forcing them to work as part of a team, with high levels of communication, responsibility and motivation, forcing them to use in their work a large part of the knowledge acquired in their degree. Today, more than 200 universities of five continents compete at some of the tests that Formula SAE has round the world. Since then, some other automotive competitions for engineering universities have come up, each of them with their specific objectives and rules. Shell Eco-marathon consists on the development of a vehicle able to cover the maximum distance with a litre of petrol. At Baja SAE, engineering students are tasked to design and build an off-road vehicle that must

The first Spanish Short Wave Stations: Development of radio & TV technology

In the thirties in Spain there were three big Short Wave Stations. One, belonging to Transradio Espanola in Aranjuez, 50 kilometers south of Madrid, which rendered radiotelegraphic services to the Canary Islands, Europe and America. Another, belonging to the Sociedad Anonima Radio Argentina (via Radiar), in Vallecas, on the outskirts of Madrid, also rendered radiotelegraphic services. The third belonged to the company Telefonica Nacional de Espana (CTNE), in Pozuelo del Rey, 50 kilometers east of Madrid provided radiotelephonic services to New York and Buenos Aires. In 1932, Aranjuez started broadcasting the programming of “EAQ-Madrid Radiodifusion Iberoamericana” directed to Spanish speaking countries. During the Civil War it became the Spanish Republican overseas broadcasting station. However, in 1937 as a result of the Battle of Jarama, Aranjuez became cut off from Madrid and the transmissions and call signs were transferred to the Vallecas transmitter EDZ using the call-sign EAQ-2.