One of the charges of the US Department of Energy (DOE) is to decrease the dependence of the United State economy on fossil fuels. Alternative fuels are available, but until put into wide use, they are not generally cost-effective. As a result, the DOE seeks to help in the development of products that use alternative fuels.

One agency participating in this effort is the Center for Transportation Technologies and Systems (CTTS). The center works with the transportation industry in developing alternative fuel vehicles and "related technologies." Under the auspices of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the CTTS helps firms, regulators, and other interested parties with the engineering and assessment of new vehicles and ancillary products.

The Vehicle Systems Analysis Team (VSAT) works on automotive projects. One tool developed by the team is Advisor, an "advanced vehicle simulator." Using Advisor, the design of a workable alternative fuel automobile can be accomplished with a few mouse clicks. If you go to the VSAT site, you will see the link to Advisor.

If you click on the "download now" link, you'll see that the system has some related software requirements (MATLAB and Simulink) that you are unlikely to have. You can still get a sense of the capabilities of the simulator by going back to the VSAT homepage and clicking through the "view demo" link. Note that the buttons on the demo do not work, you will need to click "next" on each page to proceed through the demo.

Notice the choices you can (must) make in designing an alternative fuel vehicle. You can play with the fuel choices, placement of the engine and transmission, and other factors. The simulation takes into account the power capabilities of your auto, as well as the weight. You can specify performance options such as top speed and acceleration, and the simulator automatically adjusts the vehicle specifications for you. It does the same for other goals such as minimal mass and maximum fuel efficiency. The simulation goes through a number of combinations until you have a solution that fits all the requirements you have specified (if a solution is feasible). Finally, you can take the finished vehicle on a test drive in Colorado to check on its performance. Note all the different performance measures that are evaluated by this simulation.

1. In terms of developing a new product, at what stage would you classify the types of activities performed by Advisor?
2. Explain how Quality Function Deployment can be used to help with this type of design process (in fact, it seems as if QFD is implicit in the simulation).
3. This simulation is also a good example of how Computer Aided Design (CAD) can contribute to the new product development process. Given what you see here and all the variations you could try in designing a car, what is the benefit of CAD?
4. Advisor has aspects of linear programming (LP) within it. Discuss how LP might be employed in a process such as designing a car. Use what you saw in the simulation as a guide.
5. After you are done designing your car, Advisor provides an opportunity to "test drive" your vehicle, running multiple simulations over a stretch of road near VSAT's Colorado facility. What information does this simulation provide?

- Scott Erickson