Automotive Telematics Deliver A (honda auto parts) Brave New Ride
No commentsBy Mike Trudel
It’s Saturday, which means you have chores to do. You jump in your minivan and turn the ignition. Without being told, your favorite song is cued, your seat is automatically heated to your preferred temperature, and you are reminded of about how many miles you can drive until you need gas. “Oh,” you think, “I’ll get gas first.” With the touch of a button, your navigation system shows your current location and the price of gas at the five nearest gas stations.
Welcome to the world of telematics and the new wave of automotive in-car technology that’s quickly finding its way into our vehicles.
Telematics is deeply embedded hardware, software and telecommunications systems that provide an increasingly wide range of applications that serve our vehicles. These applications can enable safety, security, monitoring of vehicle health and remote diagnostics services. For the driver and passengers, telematics systems can provide dynamic location-based services such as navigation, traffic information, emergency assistance and a suite of other driver services based on two-way connectivity.
The icing on the cake is the idea of bringing the Internet to your vehicle. Automakers are working with Web companies to devise ways of connecting this technology intelligently, and advertisers are ready to jump on board and make it cost-effective, all to integrate your vehicle into the connected world.
Today’s vehicles are already providing a glimpse of what lies ahead. Many already have their own personal computer, their own cell phone and a display monitor. Add a keyboard or touch pad in-dash and the possibilities are endless. It all depends on how much information about yourself you are willing to provide. Data such as your blood type, favorite restaurants and even the stocks you own can prove useful. Ultimately, you will be able to tell your vehicle what you want it to do and when. Want an alert sent to your cell phone if your vehicle alarm goes off? Want to let your significant other know if your airbag has been deployed? Want to know when you’re driving by your favorite coffee shop? Easy to do; your vehicle will be as smart as you let it be.
Global automakers are working toward making telematics the core of the connected vehicle, and they have a strong incentive to integrate this technology as quickly as possible. The competition from connected mobile devices has clearly acted as a very powerful stimulant. Personal Navigation Devices (PNDs) and smart phones are grabbing the consumer’s fancy, and navigation systems are on a lot of wish lists.
PND manufacturers are heavily reliant on sales and are aiming their brand of navigation as a service product. As more devices have navigation capabilities, it won’t be about the hardware but about the service - something that provides two-way communication and lends itself to the consumer’s lifestyle.
Even automakers are realizing that it’s the suite of services that will help them achieve success. The wireless mobile and wireless automotive communities are fighting tooth and nail to win consumers’ hearts and minds.
One industry that is highly interested in telematics is the insurance industry. As more in-car technologies become available, automotive insurers have the opportunity to collect driver data with as much or as little granularity as they desire. They can monitor vehicle location, speed and driving times, or they can collect data on specific, narrowly defined events, such as hard braking. With better underlying data and the accompanying ability to price risk more accurately, insurers can roll out new types of products, often targeted at customers previously considered uninsurable. Information collected in the vehicle can also be used during the claims process. The overwhelming obstacle is the business issue of cost.
This is where advertisers are chomping at the bit to jump on board. Enabling these systems in your vehicle carries a cost, whether it’s a monthly subscription based on usage or a flat fee, and bringing advertisers into your vehicle can lower the cost considerably. So whenever you download a movie into your vehicle for the kids to watch on the next trip, it’s likely to be sponsored by an online movie provider. A major quick lube company will gladly make arrangements for your next scheduled oil change.
Advertisers also see the value of “knowing where you’re going” as a valuable customer relationship management tool. Remember those Saturday chores? Heading to a home improvement store? A telematics- equipped vehicle offers advertisers sophisticated, location-based options never before available. It’s all about capturing a consumer when they’re ready to make a decision. Let your system know you’re going to a home improvement store, and you get a quick glimpse at a discount being offered by one of the major chains. Once your vehicle is detected going to that location, the incentive is activated. You get something in return for sharing your data. Advertisers love that.
Mike Trudel, Freelance Writer.
Delphi Corp. is poised to apply its expertise and know-how to provide vehicle manufacturers and consumers with in-vehicle entertainment and connectivity. To learn more about Delphi Corp, please visit www.Delphi.com/4Innovation or www.Delphi.com/4Connected
Grinding Valves in Antique Cars
By Peter Salmonford
Owing to the fact that the inlet valve is not subjected to the temperatures which the exhaust valve reaches, it is very rarely necessary to grind it in. The period at which valve grinding becomes necessary varies with different engines and the care of driving, etc. Roughly, with a water-cooled engine, the exhaust valve should be ground in after 3,000 miles and the inlet after 6,000. No harm can be done by grinding in a valve, so that if an engine loses power before it has run this distance it is well to examine the valves and give them a slight grinding. After the valve is replaced the cotter should be readjusted, and locked by means of the nut.
If a valve is badly burnt examination will show whether it is better to fit a new valve rather than grind in the old one. Very often a badly burnt valve can be recut and trued, and to replace the whole process of valve grinding, a process of valve truing and an apparatus for carrying it out has been evolved by the Southern Automobiles, Ltd. The apparatus consists of a pair of cutters, one of which recuts the valve face after it has been removed, whilst the other has the same effect on the valve seating. Into the respective merits of the two processes it is not proposed to enter, but valve grinding is the more common practice, and it can be applied not only to the main engine valves, but to other valves when the need arises. Thus a petrol or water tap sometimes leaks slightly, when it should be removed and the removable part ground in with some fine emery powder.
It will have been gathered that grinding-in of valves is done to restore loss of compression, but this weakness is sometimes due to other causes. For instance, any one of the cylinder joints may be leaking. The sparking plug washer and that upon the valve cap which screws into the opening sometimes leak, and to ascertain if this is the case some paraffin should be squirted round these washers and the engine turned round just to come on to the compression stroke. When pulled slowly over the compression stroke the presence of bubbles will indicate if there is any leakage at these points. If there is leakage new washers must be used. On no account should any adhesive mixture, such as boiled oil or gold size, be put on the screw threads. This is sometimes done to obtain good compression, but it is inadvisable, on account of the extreme difficulty in separating the parts later.
Peter Salmonford is a keen fan of cars, and likes to write about antique and modern vehcles. Take a look at his other articles on hydrogen conversion, the benefits of an electric car kit and using browns gas in your own car.
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Handling Wear and Tear in Antique Car Engines
By Peter Salmonford
Loss of compression is also due to wear set up between the piston and cylinder. In engines that have done a considerable amount of running the cylinders may have worn slightly oval, and they should be carefully examined to see if this is the case, and if so, should be rebored. The trouble is usually, however, confined to the piston rings, and new rings are generally required on a water-cooled engine after 10,000 to 20,000 miles.
In good engines carefully looked after perhaps they will not be necessary until 30,000 miles have been run. To fit new rings is, though not a difficult matter, one that requires a certain amount of care. It is very easy to put a ring into the top slot, but to get it into one of the middle ones is not so easy. To do so the adjacent grooves should be temporarily filled up with some packing or, what is better, some strips of sheet metal or whalebone should be employed and the ring slid over these until the proper groove is reached. These strips will prevent the ring from fouling the adjacent groove.
Each ring after being in use must be bright the whole way round ; if this is not the case it shows that contact is not made throughout the whole length of the ring, and a new ring should be fitted. Piston rings should fit comparatively tightly in the grooves, and when compressed so as to lie nearly flush with the piston the slots should be closed.
The weak point in piston rings, as regards holding compression, is the slot, as a slight leakage is bound to take place along it. Consequently when two or more rings are fitted the slots should be arranged alternately on opposite sides of the piston, so that as long a path as possible is made for the escaping gas and leakage reduced. Thus when the cylinders are removed care should be taken to turn the piston rings into this position. In some cases the piston rings are pegged to prevent their taking up wrong positions.
After a water-cooled engine has run a considerable distance, say anything from 5,000 to 10,000 miles, it may be found that power is falling off, in spite of the compression being good, that when going up a hill with the throttle wide open the engine knocks and does not seem to run so well as when new, or that the engine preignites or continues to run when switched off. These are definite signs that the inside of the cylinders and the piston heads require cleaning.
Peter Salmonford is a keen fan of cars, and likes to write about antique and modern vehcles. Take a look at his other articles on hydrogen conversion, the benefits of an electric car kit and using browns gas in your own car.
Sunday, November 16th, 2008 at 7:25 am and is filed under automotive. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
