AUTO RESEARCH EXCELLENCE IS DONE THE ‘WINDSOR WAY’
Even the most basic vehicles being built today contain impressive features that were once futuristic.
Helping the auto industry to advance new technologies and materials is a group of leadingedge researchers at the University of Windsor. Their work is being supported in large measure by manufacturers eager to secure greater vehicle efficiency, alternative metal forming, vehicleto-vehicle communication and other enhancements.
Conducting research in the Automotive Capital of Canada is a natural fit for the University of Windsor, which has enjoyed a long, productive relationship with the local automotive industry.
At the university’s Centre for Automotive Research and Education, “how we run our research platforms, half the labs in the world are copying our way. It’s called the Windsor Way,” says engineering professor Ming Zheng. He is researching and making significant headway on clean combustible engines and a new spark plug concept, with the aims of improving fuel consumption while reducing emissions from a variety of fuel sources.
“We can control and improve the burning of fuel. We’re among the front-runners in that in the world,” Zheng told the Windsor Star in August. “It costs millions of dollars to do this testing and the university hasn’t had to pay anything. We’ve been fortunate to get millions of dollars from the [auto] industry.”
Nearby is the Ed Lumley Centre for Engineering Innovation, a complex of state-of-the-art labs collaborating with Original Equipment Manufacturers in analyzing and refining parts and materials needed for the auto industry’s evolution.
Lightweight materials could improve fuel efficiency. But their lower-density composition often makes them difficult to form into the curves and angles used in shaping a vehicle’s metal components.
Associate professor Dr. Daniel Green is engaged in developing forming processes, including highstrain rate forming of sheet metal. “With high-speed forming, we can get 100 per cent more formability than we can with conventional stamping,” he says.
Dr. Narayan Kar’s lab, the Centre for Hybrid Automotive Research and Green Energy (CHARGE), is focused on the challenges that engineers encounter in making electric motors lighter and more compact to increase vehicles’ driving range.
In the Wireless Communication and Information Processing Lab, Dr. Kemal Tepe leads his team in researching autonomous driving through vehicle-to-vehicle communication, connected vehicles and network security. One key task is improving the function and safety of self-driving vehicles that sense the surrounding environment and navigate without the driver’s assistance.
“The problem,” Dr. Tepe says, “is running the algorithms, or the car’s brain, fast enough to do these calculations in real time and to interact with other vehicles.”
As the intriguing outcomes of these and other ongoing research projects are shared, global automakers are closely watching the University of Windsor.