Investigation of new concepts of Active Shutters for Battery Electrical Vehicles

Abstract

Abstract Prior developments of Active Shutters focused on Internal Combustion Engine vehicles while the market of Battery Electrical Vehicles is raising. This project aims at selecting and weighting the requirements on the Spoiler Active Shutters in the case of the Battery Electrical Vehicles as well as investigating new concepts adapted for their powertrains. Moreover, it carries out the first House of Quality with two levels carried out at Volvo with an aim at testing the quality tool and its process to improve it. In the wake of a market, societal and technical analysis, the ranking of the requirements on the system has been done through the use of a House of Quality linking the Business requirements on the system which resulted in the prioritization of twenty requirements. Moreover, some feedback has been provided to the Hardware Quality Team of Volvo to present the process followed by the project team. The project was followed by a concept development phase, including a problem clarification step, and an iteration of the generation and selection of concepts. The concept generation led to three final concepts, which could represent different potential strategies for the system. The Classic is an optimization of the current shutters developed by Volvo, the Other bolsters the performance of the part by integrating it to the A-Surface of the bumper while the Synergy focuses on the cooling needs during the fast charging by adding hidden air inlets.