Previous Projects and Publications

A second driving project, closely related to the Low Mass Vehicle project, was begun in the Fall of 2002. It is called "Reconfigurable Vehicles for the Emerging Market." Reconfigurable Vehicles are a family of affordable B-Class vehicles for emerging markets, such as station wagons and SUVs, appealing to those markets' desire for comfort, safety and styling while maintaining a low price and cost of ownership.

UM-Dearborn's Parametric Model is a design tool that can be used in automotive advance engineering. Its purpose is to reduce greatly the time needed for new vehicle advance design. The model consists of modules to perform advance design and analysis of the following: 

• Occupant Packaging and Ergonomics 
• Mechanical Packaging 
• Body Structural Analysis 

The model allows the user to design and evaluate a new vehicle with certain input characteristics (e.g. vehicle class, body type, potential market). A new vehicle is described by assigning a number of parameters such as wheelbase, driver position, and windshield height. The model was developed using OpenGL to provide graphics functionality, C++ to incorporate required computations, and FLTK to build the user interface.

The U.S. Army Tank Automotive Command (TACOM) awarded a multi-million-dollar project under principal investigator Pravansu Mohanty, assistant professor of mechanical engineering. Also participating in the project are professors and researchers from the Computer Information Systems and Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering and Mechanical Engineering departments.

The project's approach involves layered manufacturing - making a component one layer of material at a time. Successive layers are laid over the previous layer to build the entire component. The project uses thermal spray technology for use in rapid prototyping, tooling, and field replacement of broken equipment.

Thanks to the generosity of Visteon, IAVS now has a driving simulator, one designed and built by FAAC of Ann Arbor. Its temporary home is in the Engineering Complex until it can be permanently installed in the new IAVS building. The ceilings in its temporary quarters are too low to allow the driving simulator's base to move. The high ceilings in the new IAVS building will accommodate the driving simulator's moving base, which can raise the simulator up and down by several feet.

The driving simulator was originally created to teach advanced emergency driving skills. It will be used in IAVS as a research tool. Instead of providing multiple, slightly different driving events, the driving simulator will be programmed to reproduce the same event repeatedly in order to acquire statistical data.

The LMV is intended to be an affordable but appealing vehicle similar to the Toyota Echo in price, features, space, and performance but with 30% less mass. It is intended to be profitable in low volumes with low piece cost and investment. The purpose for choosing this "driving project" with its extremely aggressive targets is to stimulate break-through, cross-disciplinary approaches to vehicle design and engineering.

The body of the low mass vehicle was designed in a student competition at the College for Creative Studies (CCS). A panel of industry experts chose the design created by CCS student Herain Patel. His design was chosen because the judges felt it had the highest potential of achieving the stringent weight, cost, and investment objectives while not sacrificing occupant comfort. The LMV body was designed with 14 body panels compared to 32 for similar vehicles. It requires only 3 glass molds compared to 8 in similar vehicles.

The LMV interior design was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, co-sponsored by IAVS and the American Plastics Council, each student in a CCS Senior Interior Design Class created an interior design for the LMV. In addition to being aesthetically pleasing, each design needed to minimize weight, cost, and investment. Designs also had to conform to engineering standards. A panel of industry experts evaluated all of the students' designs and chose Jeff Bonner's design to be the LMV interior design. In the second phase CCS student Jeff Bonner and UM-Dearborn student Huzefa Mamoola worked with UM-Dearborn and CCS faculty as well as with industry professionals completed the design and advance engineering of the LMV interior

Since then a progression of projects was conducted to advance the design and engineering of the LMV. Over thirty LMV research projects have been conducted including four still in process. Research areas include body and interior design and engineering, powertrain performance and emissions simulation, supply chain management, ergonomics, vehicle electronics, and hybrid electric vehicle power management.

The Model T Challenge greatly enhanced the ability for the University of Michigan-Dearborn to provide students with outstanding, real-world experiences.  The university is privileged to have been chosen as one of the participants by the Model T Challenge’s sponsor, Ford Global Technologies LLC. The Model T Challenge was a wonderful opportunity for the college to come full circle.  It is really a tribute to Henry Ford to revive the values he articulated in the design of his original Model T and inculcate them in our students and faculty. 

The Summer Automotive Engineering Experience was a four-month long student project in the College of Engineering and Computer Science (CECS) at the University of Michigan-Dearborn (UM-Dearborn). The first student project, conducted during the summer of 2008 was entitled the Model T Challenge, sponsored by Ford Motor Company. The feedback from the students on the first project was so enthusiastic and positive that we just had to find a way to do it again. With Ford Motor Company’s help again, we did.

Nearly half a million new jobs have been created in the United States by this booming economy that was non-existent just five years ago. No, it’s not the Healthcare Economy, but the newly-created App Economy. Much like the famous California Gold Rush, the App Economy has made many early participants a fortune in tough times. With an exponentially-increasing number of apps entering the economy daily, some might think this is another bubble much like the one experienced during the Dot-Com era (1995-2000). Before giving a synopsis of the current state of mobile software development and how it relates to the higher education community, it would be helpful to give an overview of the focus of this book, the 2011 University of Michigan-Dearborn Summer Automotive Engineering Project.

This book was written because of the interests and initiatives of Hussain Tajmahal and Shantanu Ranadive to study the Tata Nano and answering the question -- "Can the Tata Nano or a similar low cost vehicle be developed for the U.S. Market?" This work began as a term project in AE 500, a required course in our masters program in Automotive Systems Engineering. The course prepares the students to understand Systems Engineering and its implementation in automotive product development. Download the complete book.

In the late 1990’s Heinz Prechter  -  the founder and head of ASC Incorporated, along with Dr. Tom Weber – a close friend and associate of Heinz, and I had a series of discussions about the problems facing American manufacturing enterprises.  We agreed that the competitiveness of American industry could be improved if new methods could be developed for product development and manufacturing.  We also agreed that the problems were so universal that only by creating partnerships among universities, industry, and government could we hope to tackle them.  Finally, we agreed that in order for American industry to compete, it had to compete on a global scale. Download the complete book.