// Virtu­al Drivetrain

From Vehic­le Concept to Development

Incre­asing comple­xi­ty and ever-shorter deve­lo­p­ment cycles: These are the two most important chal­lenges in the deve­lo­p­ment of future drive­trains. At APL, we meet these chal­lenges with targe­ted use of compu­ter simu­la­ti­on tools, models and appro­pria­te hard­ware. We combi­ne virtu­al and real test envi­ron­ments, careful­ly conside­red down to the smal­lest detail and very solu­ti­on-orien­ted. The big advan­ta­ge for our custo­mers: we not only use soft­ware packa­ges typi­cal for the indus­try, but also deve­lop our own tools. This way we crea­te comple­te­ly new opti­ons for model deve­lo­p­ments and special solu­ti­ons (as add-on or stand-alone).
Close coope­ra­ti­on with our custo­mers ensu­res fast, effi­ci­ent project coordination
Complex engi­ne compon­ents are inves­ti­ga­ted with the aid of simulation
Cost-Redu­cing Simu­la­ti­ons and Models

APL uses simu­la­ti­ons and models at every stage of the product deve­lo­p­ment process and life cycle. This not only redu­ces deve­lo­p­ment costs, but also opens up new possi­bi­li­ties for support­ing indi­vi­du­al subtasks or accom­pany­ing the enti­re deve­lo­p­ment process. Physi­cal, hybrid and empi­ri­cal models are used during this process.

Would you like to learn more about our compe­ten­ci­es in virtu­al drive­train deve­lo­p­ment? Then click here for an excerpt from our portfolio.

Disci­pli­nes of Virtu­al Drive­train Engineering
CAD

Complex 3D models are crea­ted with the latest CAD design tools. From new design concepts on a white sheet of paper to modi­fi­ca­ti­on and adapt­a­ti­on services and rever­se engi­nee­ring of exis­ting hard­ware, we design your and our ideas.

Struc­tu­ral Mecha­nics of Indi­vi­du­al Compon­ents and Assem­bly Units

APL covers all common fields of struc­tu­ral mecha­nics such as strength and stiff­ness analy­sis of single compon­ents as well as drive assem­blies of all kinds. Intel­li­gent topo­gra­phy opti­mi­sa­ti­on for weight reduc­tion as well as simu­la­ti­ons of NVH beha­viour comple­te our portfolio.

Ther­mo­me­cha­nics of Components

Ther­mo­me­cha­ni­cal calcu­la­ti­ons provi­de valuable infor­ma­ti­on on the expan­si­on and distor­ti­on beha­viour of drive compon­ents in opera­ti­on. In parti­cu­lar, the focus lies on ther­mal­ly high­ly stres­sed compon­ents such as crank­ca­ses and exhaust systems, but incre­asing­ly also on cooling systems (for exam­p­le in trac­tion batte­ries of elec­tric vehic­les or fuel cell-based systems).

Dyna­mic Simulation
Multi­bo­dy simu­la­ti­ons are used to inves­ti­ga­te force, acce­le­ra­ti­on and vibra­ti­on in complex, dyna­mic systems (such as the valve train of inter­nal combus­ti­on engi­nes). The tools are used both stand-alone and to gene­ra­te boun­da­ry condi­ti­ons for other simu­la­ti­on disci­pli­nes — for exam­p­le, for loads invol­ved in calcu­la­ting fric­tion in plain bearings.
Tribo­lo­gy — Fric­tion and Abrasion
An important deve­lo­p­ment goal for drive­trains of all kinds is the mini­mi­sa­ti­on of fric­tion and the asso­cia­ted increase in effi­ci­en­cy and service life. By combi­ning in-house soft­ware with powerful commer­cial soft­ware, APL offers solu­ti­ons up to and inclu­ding life­time predic­tion. This allows moving parts and bearings to be opti­mal­ly desi­gned with regard to mate­ri­al, lubri­cant and surface.
Fluid Mecha­nics

Where­ver liquids flow, CFD calcu­la­ti­on beco­mes part of the equa­ti­on. Issues such as gas exch­an­ge, carbu­re­ti­on, uniform flow distri­bu­ti­on, combus­ti­on and exhaust gas aftert­re­at­ment are dealt with, as well as the ther­mal manage­ment of trac­tion batte­ries and fuel cell-based systems – inclu­ding cavi­ta­ti­on-criti­cal areas on compon­ents around which liquids flow. Depen­ding on the opera­ti­on purpo­se, we use 2D or 3D models as well as single-phase or multi-phase simu­la­ti­on approaches.

Elec­tro­ma­gne­tics and Electronics
In the field of e‑drive, simu­la­ti­ons at compo­nent and system level also provi­de insight into elec­tric motors, power elec­tro­nics, batte­ries or conver­ters. The deve­lo­p­ment tasks include compo­nent design and func­tion optimisation.
Elec­tro­che­mis­try

Further opti­miza­ti­on of fuel cell drives requi­res a funda­men­tal under­stan­ding of the elec­tro­che­mi­cal proces­ses insi­de a fuel cell. Many years of expe­ri­ence gathe­red by specia­lists working at APL allow for a compre­hen­si­ve charac­te­riza­ti­on of func­tion­al and loss mecha­nisms that occur. Combi­ning the latest simu­la­ti­on and diagno­stic tools we daily gene­ra­te value for our custo­mers on the path to a dura­ble, high­ly effi­ci­ent and at the same time inex­pen­si­ve, emis­si­on free drive system.

Multi­phy­sics
If a pheno­me­non cannot be repre­sen­ted by one physi­cal disci­pli­ne alone, various simu­la­ti­on tools from diffe­rent subdi­sci­pli­nes are coupled. One exam­p­le are CHT (Conju­ga­te Heat Trans­fer) simu­la­ti­ons, in which the heating and expan­si­on of compon­ents can be calcu­la­ted depen­ding on the surroun­ding coolant flows.
System Simu­la­ti­on

APL uses 0D and 1D approa­ches to repre­sent the various subcom­pon­ents on a system basis. Examp­les are oil, cooling, battery and injec­tion systems on subsys­tem level or comple­te vehic­le models for inter­nal combus­ti­on, hybrid, fuel cell and elec­tric drives.

Real-Time Simu­la­ti­ons
APL uses simu­la­ti­on models in a repro­du­ci­b­le, real-time Power­train-in-the-Loop (XiL) test envi­ron­ment coupled with high-frequen­cy online measu­re­ment methods to analy­se the func­tion­al beha­viour of drive compon­ents and resul­ting emissions.
Syste­ma­tic Varia­ti­on and Optimisation
Simu­la­ti­ons enable deve­lo­pers to make design decis­i­ons in the early phase befo­re the proto­ty­pe is made available. This is why it’s so important to proceed intel­li­gent­ly when vary­ing and opti­mi­sing the para­me­ters and thus to keep the number of vari­ants and data volu­me controll­able. Here, APL reli­es on tools such as statis­ti­cal design of expe­ri­ments (DoE) and multi-objec­ti­ve optimisation.

// Loca­ti­ons 

Head­quar­ters Land­au
APL Auto­mo­bil-Prüf­tech­nik
Land­au GmbH
Am Hölzel 11
76829 Land­au

 

// Wolfs­burg
APL Auto­mo­bil-Prüf­tech­nik
Land­au GmbH
Gustav-Hertz-Stra­ße 10
38448 Wolfs­burg

 

// Bietig­heim-Bissin­gen
APL Auto­mo­bil-Prüf­tech­nik
Land­au GmbH
Robert-Bosch-Stra­ße 12
74321 Bietig­heim-Bissin­gen

// APL Group

APL Auto­mo­bil-Prüf­tech­nik Land­au GmbH

AIP GmbH & Co. KG

IAVF Antriebs­tech­nik GmbH

IAVF-Volke Prüf­zen­trum für Verbren­nungs­mo­to­ren GmbH

MOT GmbH

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