Wayne M. Brehob, Ph.D. brings a great deal of vehicle engineering experience to Mobile Intelligence. After finishing his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University, Dr. Brehob worked at Ford Motor Company for 19 years, starting as a Principal Engineer Associate and being promoted successively to Manager during his tenure. He then worked a full Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Lawrence Technological University in Southfield, Michigan. His tenure at Lawrence Tech included 11 years as the Department Chairman. Most recently before joining Mobile Intelligence, Dr. Brehob was employed as a contractor for General Motors in their truck division. He is now Director of Advanced Mechanical Systems at Mobile Intelligence and is spearheading research and development of advanced robotic vehicles. Dr. Brehob is a licensed Professional Engineer.

Dr. Brehob's experience at General Motors was in the Advanced Truck group. He was responsible for modeling and testing various wind drag and rolling resistance factors to estimate and improve fuel economy in new on/off-road trucks. He also worked on traction control devices and systems. More recently Dr. Brehob was assigned to evaluate energy losses and efficiencies in General Motors trucks. One of Dr. Brehob's GM efforts was with their "High Energy Field Testing" program based on GM sponsorship of 2 trucks in SCORE-sponsored off road competitions such as the Baja 1000. As part of his work Dr. Brehob participated actively in extreme weather and off-road testing of many of General Motors’ stock and modified trucks. The effects of basic vehicle design, operating technique, drivetrain, and tires were all part of the testing considerations

Dr. Brehob had many accomplishments while at Lawrence Technological University. Departmental achievements included leading a large ME department with as many as 1600 students-the largest engineering department at the university during his tenure. He maintained a lean, efficient department that taught more classes and had more student contact hours per faculty member than any other department on campus while maintaining faculty morale. In addition, his leadership helped the ME department develop the highest level of industry-sponsored research of any department at the university. Dr. Brehob also taught undergraduate engineering courses in thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, kinematics and dynamics of machines, and vehicle dynamics.

In addition to his responsibilities as department chairman and professor, Dr. Brehob advised many teams of mechanical engineering students in developing vehicles for two different competitions. The Mini Baja is an SAE-sponsored student off-road, manned vehicle competition. With Dr. Brehob's help, the Lawrence Tech teams had many top 5 finishes in fields of 50 to 70 teams, and won the competition in 1990. The Formula SAE is a design competition for manned open-wheel race cars. Lawrence Tech had several top 5 finishes and finished 6th in a field of about 80 entries in 1995.

Dr. Brehob also had major input into a senior design sequence (capstone design course) that was praised by ABET (college accreditation) reviewers. This design sequence allowed an interdisciplinary team of electrical and mechanical engineering students to compete successfully with much larger schools in the Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) Challenge. The Lawrence Tech car was the only college-developed HEV shown on the White House lawn in 1995. He served on the ABET accreditation committee and as an evaluator.

Dr. Brehob's years at Ford Motor Company provided him with many research opportunities. He co-authored one of the early seminal papers on the mechanisms leading to formation of pollutants from SI engines. He supervised the construction of a fleet of eight vehicles modified to show the fuel economy potential of various combustion and calibration alternatives. Dr. Brehob discovered the absorption/desorption secondary effect of lubricating oil on hydrocarbon (HC) emissions. He ran tests to show the importance of bore distortion and ring gap on HC emissions and explained the mechanisms involved. He developed a complete energy balance for the fuel input to an automotive engine. Via engine and chassis dynamometer testing, Dr. Brehob invented and demonstrated that the staged combustion concept could reduce the three exhaust emissions.

As an environmental regulation liaison with Ford Motor Company Dr. Brehob made an impact on emissions regulations. He developed presentations that were successful in persuading California to enact a less stringent NOx standard. Dr. Brehob testified before the EPA hearing panel in opposition to the allowance of Gasohol as an alternative to unleaded gasoline. Dr. Brehob also prepared and presented sworn testimony to the Federal Hearing Board on the implications of the original 1975 emission standards. He helped develop and present a Monte Carlo probability technique for predicting achievable emission levels that has been widely used by others.

Dr. Brehob's product development accomplishments while at Ford Motor Company were also noteworthy. From 1980-1982 he was responsible for completing the development and transferring technology to production for many systems in the fuel metering, exhaust treatment and controls areas. He also developed a central fuel-injection system for application to six-cylinder engines, the first U.S. design using two injectors in a single-bore throttle body. Dr. Brehob developed and transferred to the production group a fourth generation electronic engine control module, which included a novel custom-designed, integrated circuit chip that greatly increased calculation speed and accuracy. Dr. Brehob saved a projected $12 per vehicle by developing and transferring to production the first Ford low-pressure electronic fuel-injection system. And he achieved a savings of $5 per vehicle by developing and transferring a revised catalytic exhaust treatment system.

While at Ford Motor Company, Dr. Brehob also developed advanced testing techniques. He used a recently developed technique of measuring instantaneous engine speed to discover an ignition system malfunction in a high-volume production vehicle. He also brought the company's first control system diagnostic test facility to operational status. The chassis dynamometer-based system identified numerous control strategy errors and component malfunctions.

Dr. Brehob is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and the Readers Committee of SAE. He is also a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). During his M.S. studies at Purdue University he was a recipient of the Ole Evinrude Fellowship. He was also a member of the Tau Beta Pi and Pi Tau Sigma honorary engineering fraternities. Some relevant publications by Dr. Brehob follow:

1. W.M. Brehob and D.D. Brehob. Fuel Efficiency and Response of Load Control Methods for Premixed Charge Engines. SAE Paper 910389, 1991.
2. W.M. Brehob. The 1986 National Intercollegiate Formula SAE Competition, SAE Paper 861304, 1986.
3. R.H. Borcherts, H.L. Stodler, W.M. Brehob, and J.E. Auiler. Improvements in Automotive Fuel Economy, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1978.
4. R.E. Baker, W.M. Brehob, and E.E. Daby, Engine Calibration Strategies for Emission Control, Presented at TSC, D.o.T., 1975.
5. W.M. Brehob. Comparison of Computed to Actual Airflow and IMEP for Single Cylinder Engines, Ford Report PRM 66-18, 1966
6. W.M. Brehob and C. Chambers. Computer Simulation of a Four-Stroke Cycle Single-Cylinder Engine, Ford Report PR 65-11, 1965.