Ford Motor Company

About: Ford Motor Company is a company organization based out in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Internal combustion engine & Signal. The organization has 36123 authors who have published 51450 publications receiving 855200 citations. The organization is also known as: Ford Motor & Ford Motor Corporation.

On-road vehicle detection using optical sensors: a review

Abstract: As one of the most promising applications of computer vision, vision-based vehicle detection for driver assistance has received considerable attention over the last 15 years. There are at least three reasons for the blooming research in this field: first, the startling losses both in human lives and finance caused by vehicle accidents; second, the availability of feasible technologies accumulated within the last 30 years of computer vision research; and third, the exponential growth of processor speed has paved the way for running computation-intensive video-processing algorithms even on a low-end PC in realtime. This paper provides a critical survey of recent vision-based on-road vehicle detection systems appeared in the literature (i.e., the cameras are mounted on the vehicle rather than being static such as in traffic/driveway monitoring systems).

Eutectic nucleation and growth in hypoeutectic Al-Si alloys at different strontium levels

Abstract: The effects of different levels of strontium on nucleation and growth of the eutectic in a commercial hypoeutectic Al-Si foundry alloy have been investigated by optical microscopy and electron backscattering diffraction (EBSD) mapping by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The microstructural evolution of each specimen during solidification was studied by a quenching technique at different temperatures and Sr contents. By comparing the orientation of the aluminum in the eutectic to that of the surrounding primary aluminum dendrites by EBSD, the eutectic formation mechanism could be determined. The results of these studies show that the eutectic nucleation mode, and subsequent growth mode, is strongly dependent on Sr level. Three distinctly different eutectic growth modes were found, in isolation or sometimes together, but different for each Sr content. At very low Sr contents, the eutectic nucleated and grew from the primary phase. Increasing the Sr level to between 70 and 110 ppm resulted in nucleation of independent eutectic grains with no relation to the primary dendrites. At a Sr level of 500 ppm, the eutectic again nucleated on and grew from the primary phase while a well-modified eutectic structure was still present. A slight dependency of eutectic growth radially from the mold wall opposite the thermal gradient was observed in all specimens in the early stages of eutectic solidification.

Phase stability and structure of spinel-based transition aluminas

Abstract: Using first-principles total energy calculations, we have investigated the structure and phase stability of spinel-based transition aluminas $(\ensuremath{\gamma},\ensuremath{\delta},\ensuremath{\eta}),$ both in the presence and absence of hydrogen. The spinel-based structures (formed from dehydration of aluminum hydroxides) necessarily must have vacant cation positions to preserve the ${\mathrm{Al}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{3}$ stoichiometry, and may have residual hydrogen cations in the structure as well. In the absence of hydrogen, we find the following: (i) Vacancies in octahedral sites are energetically preferred (or, Al cations prefer tetrahedral positions). (ii) There is a strong Al-vacancy ordering tendency, with widely separated vacancies being lower in energy than near-neighboring vacancies. Upon incorporation of hydrogen into the structure: (iii) The strong cation-vacancy ordering tendency vanishes, and ``clusters'' of near-neighbor vacancies are slightly energetically preferred. (iv) The hydrogen spinel $({\mathrm{HAl}}_{5}{\mathrm{O}}_{8})$ proposed in the literature as a structural candidate for $\ensuremath{\gamma}$-alumina, is thermodynamically unstable with respect to decomposition into the anhydrous defect spinel plus boehmite $(\ensuremath{\gamma}$-AlOOH). (v) The temperature range for transforming boehmite into $\ensuremath{\gamma}\ensuremath{-}{\mathrm{Al}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{3}$ is calculated from first-principles energetics plus measured thermochemical data of ${\mathrm{H}}_{2}\mathrm{O},$ and is in excellent agreement with the observed transformation temperatures. Finally, we comment on the possible implications of this work on the porous microstructure of the transition aluminas.