Engine, transmission and chassis are the three cores of the car, of which the development of the chassis is many times more complex than the previous two, many famous international automobile companies have done a good job in engine power and transmission, but only in the chassis has been planted, so that the car that could have become a classic has to withdraw from the market. Chasing the reckless wasteland, you have to be quick. For example, Mercedes-Benz launched a civilian hatchback in 1998, but because of chassis problems, it had to regrettably withdraw from the market.

There are also new car development costs are extremely high, such as Ford's Focus and Montigio series, each car development cost more than 6 billion US dollars, and the chassis development cost stands at half of the total research and development cost.

Why is the development cost of modern car chassis so high? This is related to the structure of the chassis itself.

Whether it is a bridge car, a truck, or an off-road vehicle, the chassis of the car is composed of four parts: the drive train, the driving system, the steering system and the brake system. The role of the chassis is to support and install the automobile engine and its various components and assemblies, form the overall shape of the car, and accept the power of the engine, so that the car can move, and ensure the safe and normal driving of the car.

Among them, the drive train is the core mechanism of the chassis, you must know that the power emitted by the automobile engine is transmitted to the driving wheels by the drive train, which has the functions of deceleration, speed change, reversing, interrupting power, inter-wheel differential and inter-axle differential, etc., and works with the engine to ensure the normal driving and good power and economy of the car under various working conditions.

What are the components of the drive train? It contains clutches, transmissions, universal drives, final drives, automobile chassis, differentials, and half shafts, among others. The drive train can be divided into mechanical transmission, hydraulic transmission, hydraulic transmission, electric transmission, etc. according to the different energy transmission methods.

Let's see, this is just an introduction to the simplicity of the car chassis is so complicated, it can be seen how complex the development of the car chassis is, and its difficulty is no less than the development of a jet aircraft, or even more difficult.

If the aircraft is the crown of modern industry, and the aero engine is the crown jewel, then the chassis is the crown of the automobile industry.

Because whether the chassis is good or not is not only related to the performance of the car, but also related to the safety of the members of the car. A car with a good chassis, especially when cornering at high speed, will not float up, but the four tires are tightly gripping the ground; And a car with a bad chassis will easily roll over when cornering at high speeds. It was a tragedy, and before it even turned a corner, the car was still running in a straight line, and the car was flying. In later generations of self-owned brand cars, such examples abound. It's all caused by the bad chassis.

Later, in order to ensure the driving safety of the car, automotive engineers invented the automotive electronic stability control system (ESP) to ensure the driving safety of the car.

ESP is an active safety system widely used by a large number of automobiles in later generations, and is a further extension of the functions of automobile anti-lock braking system (ABS) and traction control system (TCS), and on this basis, it adds a slew rate sensor, a lateral acceleration sensor and a steering wheel angle sensor when the vehicle is steering, and controls the driving force and braking force of the front and rear, left and right wheels through ECU to ensure the lateral stability of the vehicle.

Although ESP is good, in Ling Shizhe's view, if it only relies on ESP to ensure the safety of the car, it is not a good car chassis. Ling Shizhe's definition of a good chassis is: A really good car chassis is a good car chassis that can better ensure the safety of the car even if it is not installed with ESP.

Yang Fawei is the chief engineer of automobile chassis design, and was formerly the deputy chief engineer of the chassis of Chrysler Automobile Group, like all Chinese, when he arrives in this position, he will encounter a glass ceiling, seeing that there is no room for growth, coupled with the economic recession caused by the oil crisis in 73, so he simply resigned and joined the automotive chassis laboratory of Ambrera.

The automotive chassis laboratory was set up by Bombardier, and Ambrera did not have such an institution, after Bombardier was merged by Ambrera. Yang Fawei has been designing the chassis according to Ling Shizhe's understanding of the chassis since he joined last year, but Ling Shizhe's requirements for the automobile chassis are too high. Until now, he hadn't come up with a decent design, so Ling Shizhe came over.

"This chassis is not what I want, it has to be made from scratch." In Mr. Yang's office, Mr. Ling overturned Mr. Yang's team's preliminary design draft of the chassis.

"The chairman of this chassis structure is our reference to Alpha. Romeo's experience in chassis construction for high-end sports axles has also absorbed the excellent chassis design experience of other companies. I think this chassis is suitable and excellent. Yang Fawei said-for-tat.

"Excellent p, long outdated, I said that I would design a new chassis based on the strengths of Ambrera." Ling Shizhe is uncompromising, Yang Fawei's team designed the chassis is not bad, but outdated, the biggest disadvantage of this chassis is that the versatility is extremely poor, want to make a variety of different shapes of deformation cars on this chassis is not to think about it, to launch a new model, must be designed from the new car chassis, and the development of automobile chassis is a very complex system engineering, research and development costs are extremely high, it takes so much effort can only be used in a shape of the car, Ling Shizhe if he is willing to agree to hell.

Now is no longer the era of relying on only one model to be the world, in today's fierce competition in the automobile market, multi-variety, multi-series is the way for automobile companies to win. The automobile chassis designed by Yang Fawei obviously cannot meet the development needs of future automobiles.

Yang Fawei was stunned after listening to Ling Shizhe's words, with an expression of being defeated by you, he felt that his boss was simply car blind, but he couldn't say that, otherwise the boss couldn't stand it, so he was silent for a while before saying, "My big chairman...... This is the car chassis, the company's strengths are semiconductor chips and computers, you say we want to combine the company's strengths to design the chassis? This...... What is the design logic of this? I've never heard that computers can have anything to do with cars. ”

"Why doesn't it matter? Don't you see that the ECU launched by our company has something to do with cars? ”

Yang Fawei ......

"Don't be confused, the chassis I'm talking about is different from the traditional car chassis, this is a new chassis design idea."

Yang Fawei felt a little dazed in his head, a chairman who didn't know anything about cars heard a new car chassis design idea, which made him not know what to say. So he said with a smile: "I want to hear the chairman's new car chassis design ideas." ”

Ling Shizhe couldn't hear his counter-words, so he didn't pay attention to him, but took out a piece of information and put it in front of him, and said, "I envision the future car chassis." It is an intelligent chassis with high flexibility that can be used in all kinds of automobiles...... This chassis will apply a large number of electronic technology and new manufacturing processes, the new chassis technology includes the following components: brake-by-wire system, steering control system, active suspension control system, chassis drive-by-wire system and continuous control chassis system, and at the same time the use of high-speed LAN technology to connect the various control systems into one, concentrated on the ECU driving computer, to form an overall control system. Used to improve the active safety, maneuverability and comfort of the car......

"Let me talk about the concept and function of each system separately, the first one, the line control system, brake-by-wire, abbreviated as bbw. This is a new type of intelligent braking system being developed by the Ambre Electronics Laboratory, which includes an electric brake, a brake-by-wire control unit, sensors, and ...... Compared with the traditional automobile braking system, the structure of BBW is very simple, eliminating the brake oil tank, brake master cylinder, hydraulic valve and complex pipelines in the traditional braking system. Not only does it reduce the overall weight of the car, but it also improves the quality and performance of the whole vehicle.

The BBW transmits electricity, not hydraulic oil or compressed air from conventional braking systems. He uses embedded bus technology. It can work in coordination with anti-lock braking system (ABS), traction control system (TCS), body electronic stability system (ESP), active collision avoidance system (ACC) and other automotive active safety systems, and adjust the working process of the system accurately and controllably by optimizing the control algorithm in the ECU processor, lock the corresponding braking time, and improve the braking effect of the vehicle, so as to strengthen the braking safety performance of the car...... The BBW system is also simpler and more convenient than the traditional vehicle control system in terms of installation and maintenance, which can save the owner a lot of maintenance costs......"

"The steering control system is designed to improve the user's transformation joystick, reduce the user's physical exertion and improve the steering performance of the car. The EPAS electric power steering and ACC adaptive cruise control that our company is developing belong to one of the subsystems. Cars are equipped with EPAS and ACC to reduce the amount of steering force acting on the steering wheel at low speeds. When the car is driving at high speeds. Moderate steering force can be fed back to the user via the steering wheel. Thus reducing the driving burden of the user. It consists of several parts, such as the body electronic stability system (ESP), active front-wheel steering system (AFS), and rear-wheel steering system (RWS). ”

"The active suspension control system consists of two parts: Stability Control (ABC) and Continuity Damping Control (CDC) ......"

As the old saying goes, as soon as the connoisseur makes a move, he will know if there is one, with Ling Shizhe's step-by-step description and explanation. A future car chassis was shown in Yang Fawei's mind, although he didn't understand computers, but judging by his years of experience in car chassis, Yang Fawei was 100% sure that Ling Shizhe was not talking nonsense, and the technologies he said were very feasibility. It is really possible that the smart territory in Ling Shizhe's mouth will be made by him. At the same time, he was also pessimistic to find that even if Yang Fawei left him, Ling Shizhe could also figure it out, such as what line control system, steering control system, active suspension control system and a series of systems, aren't they all composed of computers? And isn't that what Ambrera is all about? He now understands what Ling Shizhe said, according to the company's strengths to design the real connotation of the new chassis, what kind of car is this, it is more appropriate to call it a car robot.

Putting the entire car under the control of the computer is not what a car robot is, especially what Ling Shizhe went on to say, the unmanned car driving system, which made Yang Fawei believe that Ling Shizhe was not engaged in a car, but a computer robot with the shape of a car.

"The development trend of automobiles in the future, I think, is to integrate electronics, informatization, integration and intelligence, which can greatly improve the safety performance and comfort of automobiles, so that users can enjoy a very high riding experience." Three hours later, Ling Shizhe finally finished expounding the idea of intelligent car chassis, and his throat was smoking. I took the water on the table and drank it all, and after drinking a total of three glasses of water, my throat felt better.

Yang Fawei looked at Ling Shizhe quietly, after a long time. He said, "Chairman of the board, how many of the technologies you said, how many have you completed?" ”

"Except for the unmanned part, which is still an idea, the rest has been completed by half and thirty. Brake systems like ABS and EBD have been developed; The TPMS "Tire Pressure Monitoring System" has also been developed and is now installed on the company's newly developed inverted three-wheeled motorcycle. TCS traction control system

Eighty percent of the work is done, and in a few months it will be ready for practical testing. Ling Shizhe came one by one. Since the success of the ECU, he has been thinking about how to expand the scope of application of the ECU, as long as the various subsystem technologies on the car are broken one by one, he will completely stand at the top of the future automobile manufacturing field, those car giants do not install these things on the car, if you want to press, how can not bypass the patent barriers set up by Ling Shizhe.

He is not afraid that the car companies will join forces to sue him for monopoly, because these technologies are all peripheral technologies in the field of computers, and in his memory, only a very small number of companies in the world will engage in these things. And it is still very fragmented, no company has ever thought of integrating these technologies together and installing them in the car, all of which require the integration and tuning of the automobile companies themselves little by little, spending countless time and money, and then the call of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the Republic of China to finally integrate these technologies together, providing technical support for the hard-pressed domestic car companies, so as to get rid of the technical blackmail of Western countries on domestic cars.

Ling Shizhe's integrated intelligent chassis overall system solution is copied from the Republic's "Technical Development Standards for Future Automobiles".

The 70s were the initiation stage for the development of personal computer technology, and 30% was already a lot. According to Ling Shizhe's estimate, in addition to the too high-end technology of the unmanned driving system, he will be able to complete all the systems of the intelligent car in ten years at most. And the intelligent chassis can be made in five years at most.

That's right, he is ready to open the gold finger in a big way, the gold finger is not used, and it will be invalid after expiration. If you don't take advantage of the most favorable time window for yourself to climb the technology tree and occupy the highest point of technology, will you let those Western companies occupy it?

"Chairman. Have you ever thought about how big your ECU will be with the current level of computer technology? Can a car fit on? Yang asked a key question.

"Hehehe," Ling Shizhe smiled, "If you can't pretend to be able to do it for the time being, you can wait a little longer, and occupy the pit first." You must know that it has only been 15 years since the birth of semiconductor chip technology, but in this short period of 15 years, how fast the progress of computer technology is, you don't know, right? Think about what computers were like ten years ago, and look at the present, PCs and PCs are coming out. Take the PC personal computer as an example, when the PC first appeared, the price was $3,500 a PC, but after only a year, you can buy a PC for less than $3,000. Ten years later, do you know what computer technology has become? ”

"Even if you get it out now, these systems can't be installed, and ten years from now, won't they? Ten years can't be installed, what about fifteen years, is twenty years enough? Also, I didn't say that I have to wait until all the technology is completed before applying it to the car, can the technology that has already come out be used now? For example, the company is trying to reverse a three-wheeled motorcycle on the road, isn't it applied a lot? ”

"The biggest advantage of this system is that it has a high degree of modularity, which can be disassembled for use separately, and several subsystems can be combined for use, which is convenient for users to the greatest extent."

Ling Shizhe continued unsatisfactorily: "Also, you see that the structure of these systems is very simple, eliminating a lot of cumbersome paving accessories installed on traditional cars, so that the weight of the car is greatly reduced. There are also a lot of shop aids that have been canceled, how much space can be left for the car? Even if the ECU is huge, I can re-optimize the results of the ECU according to the blade server structure, a small blade is an ECU, each blade tube has a subsystem, and the space saved by the car can be transformed into a miniature on-board central computer room, and the ECU combination module is pressed on the chassis of the car, which reduces the center of gravity of the car and improves the performance of the car. People came up with the solution. ”

"Have you ever thought about how expensive a car would be?"

Ling Shizhe lame and said: "What's the matter, you can install it on a high-end car first, those rich people will care about this money, what they buy is enjoyment, high-tech enjoyment." You should have heard of Moore's Law, right? After the computer technology advances and the price drops, it will be transplanted to the terminal car and the resistance car step by step!! ”

Yang Fawei couldn't smile bitterly, he suddenly realized that he had made a mistake, he shouldn't have a computer with Ling Shizhe, what people eat is the bowl of rice, can you talk about him? Unless it's IBM Thomas. Watson or DEC Olsen came in person.

After realizing his own problem, Yang Fawei stopped theorizing with Ling Shizhe on this, and changed the topic: "Chairman, each subsystem on your intelligent chassis is closely related to the computer. I'm not a computer expert, just a chassis designer, and I suddenly feel redundant! ”

"What kind of foolish words, who said that you are redundant, can I spend such a lot of money to invite you over?" Ling Shizhe's tone softened slightly, "No matter how advanced this intelligent chassis is, it is always based on traditional automobile chassis technology, how can you be redundant?" I'm going to use your chassis design experience to help me realize this intelligent chassis as soon as possible! ”

Yang Fawei put his mind at ease, he was really afraid that he was dispensable, thought about it and sorted out his thoughts and said: "Intelligent chassis system, good high-end things, chairman from the situation you explained to me, the traditional automobile chassis design ideas can no longer be used, and we must find new design ideas, which is a great challenge for me." I promised to go crazy with you. ”

"Hahahaha......" Ling Shizhe patted Yang Fawei on the shoulder, "I've already found the idea for you, so you don't need to grope for it little by little." Well, see what this is? ”

A chassis design diagram appeared in front of Yang Fawei's eyes.

"This ...... This is...... Structural diagram of the intelligent chassis? You got it? Yang Fawei was stunned, he never thought that the intelligent chassis, which was still in the stage of thought, had really appeared on the drawings, and this was still a mature car intelligent chassis.

"Take a good look at this picture, maybe you will become the father of the world's intelligent chassis!" (To be continued.) )xh118