LMS International, the engineering innovation company, has extended its strategic partnership with Toyota for full vehicle thermal management analyses. The LMS engineering team will provide Toyota with three vehicle energy management flow simulators for three different vehicles: the Toyota Corolla, the hybrid Toyota Prius, and the micro-four-seater Toyota IQ. With these dedicated simulators, Toyota will be able to investigate heat management strategies and architectures using one-dimensional simulation extremely early in the development cycle. This will let Toyota study the direct influence of design changes on fuel consumption as well as CO2 emissions and, in the end, significantly reduce the number of physical prototypes.
Engineering ideas can be easily visualised within LMS Imagine.Lab AMESim to create straightforward multi-functional one-dimensional vehicle thermal mock-ups that are readily available for various engineering teams.
Based on a project modelling full vehicle energy management flow for the Toyota Avensis in 2007, the current project includes a post-processing tool to create an energy flow distribution chart, and interface development with Toyota database TEPS.
'LMS' strong position and professional expertise in vehicle thermal management simulation definitely helps us design innovative vehicles that fit market demands and match Toyota's brand value,' stated Mr Yamada, assistant manager of vehicle system engineering, R&D group 1 at Toyota. 'Thanks to LMS Imagine.Lab AMESim, Toyota can gain a competitive advantage in regards to energy management issues and create real innovative engineering approaches.'