A system and method in a building or vehicle for an actuator operation in response to a sensor according to a control logic, the system comprising a router or a gateway communicating with a device associated with the sensor and a device associated with the actuator over in-building or in-vehicle networks, and an external Internet-connected control server associated with the control logic implementing a PID closed linear control loop and communicating with the router over external network for controlling the in-building or in-vehicle phenomenon. The sensor may be a microphone or a camera, and the system may include voice or image processing as part of the control logic. A redundancy is used by using multiple sensors or actuators, or by using multiple data paths over the building or vehicle internal or external communication. The networks may be wired or wireless, and may be BAN, PAN, LAN, WAN, or home networks.

A traction battery for a vehicle includes a plurality of cells stacked in an array and having a dielectric material surrounding at least a portion of each of the cells. The cells are spaced apart to define a plurality of pockets interleaved with the cells. A manifold is connected to the array and is configured to circulate liquid coolant to each of the pockets such that the coolant directly contacts the dielectric material of each of the cells.

Systems and methods for providing cooling to vehicle systems on an autonomous vehicle from a plurality of cooling sources are provided. A cooling system can include a thermal interface configured to provide cooling to one or more vehicle systems of the autonomous vehicle, a plurality of cooling sources coupled to the thermal interface, and a controller configured to control each cooling source to provide a respective cooling to the thermal interface to meet a total cooling parameter for the one or more vehicle systems. Each cooling source can be configured to provide a respective cooling capacity to the thermal interface. The thermal interface can be configured to receive the respective cooling provided by each of the cooling sources. The thermal interface can be further configured to provide the respective cooling received by each of the cooling sources to the one or more vehicle systems to meet the total cooling parameter.

An electrical machine has a rotor with a hollow shaft which in its interior delimits a hollow shaft axial channel that extends in the axial direction and into which a cooling fluid can flow during operation of the electrical machine. A laminated rotor core is fitted radially to the outside of the hollow shaft and has two axial end sides. An axial channel which is delimited by the laminated rotor core extends in the axial direction from one of the two end sides of the laminated rotor core to the other of the two end sides of the laminated rotor core and is connected in a fluid-conducting manner to the hollow shaft axial channel, so that, during operation of the electrical machine, the cooling fluid can flow from the hollow shaft axial channel to the end sides via the axial channel and can flow radially to the outside downstream of the axial channel owing to centrifugal force.

An electric drive axle assembly and a vehicle having the same are provided. The electric drive axle assembly includes: an electric powertrain, an axle housing assembly, and a central parking module. The electric powertrain includes a power motor, a transmission and a differential with an input end and two output ends; and the power motor is connected to the input end of the differential through the transmission. The axle housing assembly includes an axle housing component and two half axles; the two half axles and the differential are disposed in the axle housing component; the two half axles are connected to the two output ends of the differential respectively; and the electric powertrain is installed on the axle housing component. The central parking module is installed on the axle housing component and used for braking the input end of the differential.

The invention involves a system and method for controlling the movements of a multi-axis robot to perform a surgery at least on the spinal area of a human in vivo. The system includes controls and software coding to cause the robot to move in desired patterns to complete the surgery, which may include bone, disc and tissue removal, and may also include insertion of hardware for fusing adjacent bony structures.

An exemplary vehicle assembly includes, among other things, inner and outer panels of a cargo bed, and a heat exchange module that manages thermal energy levels of a traction battery. The heat exchange module is disposed within a chamber between the inner and outer panels. An exemplary thermal management method includes, among other things, managing thermal energy within a traction battery by exchanging thermal energy between a first fluid and a second fluid at a heat exchange module. The heat exchange module is disposed within a chamber between inner and outer panels of a cargo bed.

Some embodiments are directed to a drive configuration for a skid-steered vehicle that has a pair of traction motors for rotationally driving opposite outputs of the drive configuration. The traction motors are operatively connected to the outputs via respective gearing arrangements for selectively varying gear reduction between each of the traction motors and the corresponding output. The drive configuration also has a steer differential in a torque connection with the first and second outputs of the drive configuration. The drive configuration additional has a steer motor operatively connected to the steer differential for selectively varying the rotational speed of the first and second outputs in use. Also, the traction and steer motors define a volume in which the gearing arrangements and steering differential are at least partially located.

An electronic control module, particularly for a transmission, includes a first circuit board element and a sensor unit carrier fastened to the first circuit board element. The sensor unit carrier has a sensor unit receptacle configured to receive a sensor unit. The sensor unit has a sensor element fastened and electrically connected to a second circuit board element so as to detect at least one measured value. The sensor unit is fastened in the sensor unit receptacle. The second circuit board element has a flexible region that separates a first sub-region of the second circuit board element from a second sub-region of the second circuit board element. The first sub-region has a predetermined angle to the second sub-region. The sensor element is electrically connected to the first circuit board element by the second sub-region of the second circuit board element.

Methods and systems are provided for aging a new plastic fuel tank in a vehicle. In one example, during a plug-in event to recharge a battery of the vehicle, the fuel tank is isolated and the fuel pump is actuated to agitate fuel within the tank and increase fuel vapors until the plastic fuel tank becomes aged to a predetermined degree by fuel vapors generated therein. In this manner, the fuel tank is aged more rapidly, resulting in more accurate fuel level readings and less noise and vibration.