From: Mike Macedonia Subject: APPS: VR at Auto Show Date: January 9, 1996 From: Mike Macedonia FRAUNHOFER INSTITUTE FOR COMPUTER GRAPHICS DEMONSTRATES VOLKSWAGEN'S ADVANCED TDI ENGINE USING VIRTUAL REALITY AT THE 1996 DETROIT AUTO SHOW The Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics (IGD) of Darmstadt, Germany is helping Volkswagen demonstrate its new, advanced diesel technology at this year's Detroit Auto show. Fraunhofer developed a virtual reality (VR) "walkthrough" for the VW Cyberdrome exhibit that immerses show participants into downtown Frankfurt, Germany and then transports them through the heart of the turbo direct-injection diesel engine. The use of VR dramatically demonstrates the unique features of the new TDI engine which performs on par with a comparable gasoline engine, is cleaner than most gas engines and provides significantly better fuel economy. The Volkswagen TDI employs major innovations and advancements. With TDI, Volkswagen is the first to combine a direct-injection process with electronic diesel control. Instead of using a mechanically controlled injection system, as found in previous diesels, Volkswagen's TDI technology uses a sophisticated electronic control system that manages fuel injection, turbocharging boost pressure, exhaust gas recirculation and glow plug time. IGD was represented by Dirk Reiners, Gabriel Zachmann, and Dr. Wolfgang Felger who participated in the development of the simulation. Dr. Michael Macedonia from the Fraunhofer Center for Research in Computer Graphics (CRCG), IGD's affiliate in the US, was also on hand. Technical Details The simulation runs on a four-processor Silicon Graphics Reality Engine 2 Onyx workstation. A "Cybernaut" wearing a head-mounted display and data-glove navigates through the engine using hand-gestures. The view of the Cybernaut is projected in stereo onto a large-screen display while the audience observes the scene wearing polarized glasses. The model of the TDI engine was extracted from CAD data. The visualization that demonstrates the efficient operation of the combustion process is based on a finite element grid constructed by VW engineers during the optimization of the shape of the piston in flow simulations. The finite element data included velocity, temperature, and pressure at each point. The flows were pre-processed in order to be represented in real-time. The injection of the diesel particles as well the ignition of the gases during combustion were also pre-calculated. Algorithms were developed to calculate the flow lines and particle traces which enable the cybernaut to interactively visualize the flow field of the turbulent gases in the TDI cylinder and exhaust. More information about the exhibit can be found at the following WWW sites: http://www.igd.fhg.de/www/igd-a4/projects/vw/vw3.html#WORK http://www.vw.com/roadmap.htm Information about IGD and CRCG can be found at: http://www.igd.fhg.de http://www.crcg.edu ---------------------------------------------------------- Michael R. Macedonia, Ph.D. Vice President Fraunhofer Center for Research in Computer Graphics, Inc. 167 Angell Street phone : (+1) 401 453-6363 Providence, RI 02906 fax : (+1) 401 453-0444 USA