INHALE, EXHALE.

Vehicle air handling systems are coming under greater scrutiny from the supplier community, particularly Visteon and ArvinMentor. Increased performance is just one of the goals these companies are pursuing.

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Greg Green, supervisor, Air Induction System Engineering at Visteon, sees three problems and one solution facing automakers on the induction side: "First," he says, "there is less and less room available in the vehicle due to increased content. Second, further reductions in evaporative emission levels will require automakers to prevent the release of the unburned gas that remains in the manifold and cylinders when the vehicle is shut off. And third, non-luxury vehicle buyers are concerned about the cost of servicing and repairing their vehicles." The solution? A long-life air filtration unit that virtually eliminates the need to change filters over the life of the vehicle.

"If you don't have to change the filter, you can mount it just about anywhere you want to," says Green. "And this can be very helpful on platforms with different powertrains where underhood packaging is a problem." For example, the filter assembly is placed between the open area between the front bumper and wheel. This keeps it outside of the engine compartment, near the grille opening, and accessible for each powertrain combination.

The key to the filter's long life is multi-layer reticulated foam covered by a mesh screen. Visteon claims it is designed to last more than 150,000 miles (some filters have seen more than 300,000 miles in fleet testing), is 97% porous for greater filtering capability, and can be molded to fit most any shape.

"Because the intake system is the main entry for dirt," says Green, "we also think the filter will support longer service intervals for oil changes, and reduce warranty costs on high-mileage vehicles by reducing wear.

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"Air 2 Air" is built on ArvinMeritor's work in tuning exhaust systems in response to changes in intake manifold design during the development process. "We can act as a conduit between powertrain [intake] and chassis [exhaust]," says Craig Stinson, senior vice president at ArvinMeritor and president of its Exhaust Systems division, "and get better performance out of the system, often without adding content." He cites one example in which the company was able to remove three intake resonators and one muffler while reaching the OEM's sound targets for an unnamed four-cylinder vehicle.

"Currently," says Stinson, "vehicles are sent to the intake supplier for development, then to the exhaust supplier. Yet each system affects the design of the other, which means vehicle prototypes bounce back and forth as we try to fix the problems caused by changes the other guy made in his system. Of ten you run out of time before you hit the optimal solution."

Rod Cain, account manager, New Product Development, put the costs associated with this process in perspective. "If a prototype costs $1 million and can be used 200 days in a year, every day lost to this back-andforth nonsense costs $5,000. If I can take four weeks out of the process, I've saved the OEM $100,000 on just one prototype. It adds up." And it doesn't hurt that it opens the door to selling more product (filters, CFD work, etc.) as well. Says Cain, "It's good for consumers, good for our customers, and good for ArvinMeritor. "-CAS X