Future Cars , Loremo EV: Green Egg Omelette

Future Cars
Loremo EV: Green Egg Omelette
Bavarian-based Loremo AG began in 1993 as an idea for an extremely lightweight vehicle by engineer and automotive component developer Uli Sommer. Thirteen years later the diesel-driven Loremo LS was a surprise hit at the Geneva car show

Specs:

Type: Dedicated electric vehicle

Class: 2+2 sports car

Manufacturer: Loremo AG Propulsion

system: Central electric motor

Top Speed: 106 mph (170 km/h) .

Zero-to-63: 15 seconds

Vehicle range: 95 miles

Fuel(s) : Electric

Battery system: 20 kWh Lithium-ion

Time to full battery recharge: NA Tailpipe emissions: No

Price: €30,000 ($42,900)

Availability: 2011 in Europe
The manufacturer says

"You need to crack eggs to make an omelette."

Overview.

A portmanteau for ‘low resistance mobile’, Bavarian-based Loremo AG began in 1993 as an idea for an extremely lightweight vehicle by engineer and automotive component developer Uli Sommer.

Thirteen years later, the diesel-driven Loremo LS was one of the surprise hits at the 2006 Geneva car show, despite presenting little more than the body. Although the EV represents the next stage in development for Loremo, ostensibly nothing about it beyond powertrain is supposed to change from the LS, leaving in place, among other aspects, the patented lightweight steel structure and brilliant body design.

What we like

The wing door. This is the most dynamic aspect of the vehicle's design, the so-called "gate" or wing door, which swings upward and to the front, what we ordinarily recognize as the hood. Opening the wing door also reveals a compartment for baggage or whatever else you might need to transport.
The dashboard

love minimalist cockpits and dashboards, and Loremo has crafted a work of art here, featuring nothing more than a single combined instrument panel and an optional touch screen PC.

The vehicle weight

At a mere 1,300 pounds (590 kg), the Loremo EV is just the kind of ultra-lightweight vehicle that Loremo is trying to pioneer—although it's a little strange that the EV could weigh no more than 100 lbs more than the diesel Loremo LS.

The seating configuration.

The 2+2 seating doesn't mean that four adults can fit–it's more like 2 adults in front, 2 kids in back (facing the back window); those rear seats can be folded to create trunk space. Additionally, the two bucket seats in front only adjust vertically–there's no horizontal adjustment. Rather, the driver can make adjustments to the pedals and to the steering wheel to better suit him.
What we don’t

The cost:Fast-forward to 2011; the Loremo EV is available at a local dealership. The economy has improved. There are a handful of dedicated EV's either on the market already or coming very soon. Would you drop over $40,000 on this neat little vehicle? This is double the estimated price for the company's diesel-only vehicle, and ideally needs to come down a bit to be competitive.
The provincial ambition: Loremo has all but ruled out introducing their modest line of vehicles into the US market. Right now they're only targeting Germany and the EU.

Conclusions
Loremo's participation in the Automotive X-Prize should help to raise the company's profile (they're bringing the diesel-driven Loremo LS to the challenge), and attract a whole new fan base. I hope so.
With the exception of its price, the Loremo EV has so much going for it: good performance specs, great styling, a sportscar profile with more than a measure of practicality. In short, she's attractive on almost every level. But could she be a little too innovative? As a vehicle with the potential to be one of the few mass-market ultralight vehicles that's neither an NEV nor a 3-wheeler, you have to wonder about potential competition. Without competition, Loremo may have no incentive to lower their price or increase performance. Consequently they may also have no buyers.

Mechatronics

Mechatronics

Mechatronics is concerned with the design automation and operational performance of electromechanical systems. Mechatronics engineering is nothing new; it is simply the applications of latest techniques in precision mechanical engineering, electronic and computer control, computing systems and sensor and actuator technology to design improved products and processes.

The basic idea of Mechatronics engineering is to apply innovative controls to extract new level of performance from a mechanical device. It means using modem cost effective technology to improve product and process performance, adaptability and flexibility.

Mechatronics covers a wide range of application areas including consumer product design, instrumentation, manufacturing methods, computer integration and process and device control. A typical Mechatronic system picks up signals processes them and generates forces and motion as an output. In effect mechanical systems are extended and integrated with sensors (to know where things are), microprocessors (to work out what to do), and controllers (to perform the required actions).

The word Mechatronics came up describing this fact of having technical systems operating mechanically with respect to some kernel functions but with more or less electronics supporting the mechanical parts decisively. Thus we can say that Mechatronics is a blending of Mechanical engineering,Electronics engineering and Computing. These three disciplines are linked together with knowledge of management, manufacturing and marketing.

Mechatronics design

Mechatronics design covers a wide variety of applications from the physical integration and miniaturization of electronic controllers with mechanical systems to the control of hydraulically powered robots in manufacturing and assembling factories.

Computer disk drives are one example of the successful application of Mechatronics engineering as they are required to provide very fast access precise positioning and robustness against various disturbances.

An intelligent window shade that opens and closes according to the amount of sun exposure is another example of a Mechatronics application.
Mechatronics engineering may be involved in the design of equipments and robots for under water or mining exploration as an alternative to using human beings where this may be dangerous.
In fact Mechatronics engineers can be found working in a range of industries and project areas including
• Design of data collection, instrumentation and computerized machine tools.

• Intelligent product design for example smart cars and automation for household transportation and industrial application.

• Design of self-diagnostic machines, which fix problems on their own.

• Medical devices such as life supporting systems, scanners and DNA sequencing automation.

• Robotics and space exploration equipments.

• Smart domestic consumer goods

•Computer peripherals.

• Security systems

Mechatronic goals

The multisensory concept

The aim was to design a new generation of multi sensory lightweight robots. The new sensor and actuator generation does not only show up a high degree of electronic and processor integration but also fully modular hardware and software structures. Analog conditioning, power supply and digital pre-processing are typical subsystems modules of this kind. The 20khz lines connecting all sensor and actuator systems in a galvanically decoupled way and high speed optical serial data bus (SERCOS) are the typical examples of multi sensory and multi actuator concept for the new generation robot envisioned.

The main sensory developments finished with these criteria have been in the last years: optically measuring force-torque-sensor for assembly operations. In a more compact form these sensory systems were integrated inside plastic hollow balls, thus generating 6-degree of freedom hand controllers (the DLR control balls).
The SPACE-MOUSE is the most recent product based on these ideas.
• stiff strain-gauge based 6 component force-torque-sensor systems.
• miniaturized triangulation based laser range finders.
• integrated inductive joint-torque-sensor for light-weight-robot.

In order to demonstrate the multi sensory design concept, these types of sensors have been integrated into the multi sensory DLR-gripper, which contains 15 sensory components and to our knowledge it is the most complex robot gripper built so far (more than 1000 miniaturized electronic and about 400 mechanical components). It has become a central element of the ROTEX space robot experiment.

BY-WIRE-STEERED SYSTEM

BY-WIRE-STEERED SYSTEM

By-wire-steered system is integration of electronic devices and mechanical systems in order to improve the performance of the steering system.Recent advances in dependable embedded system technology, as well as continuing demand for improved handling and passive and active safety improvements, have led vehicle manufacturers and suppliers to actively pursue development programs in computer-controlled, by-wire subsystems. These subsystems include steer and brake-by-wire, and are composed of mechanically decoupled sets of actuators and controllers connected through multiplexed, in-vehicle computer networks.A steer-by-wire system replaces the traditional mechanical linkage between the steering wheel and the road wheel actuator (e.g., a rack and pinion steering system) with an electronic connection. This allows flexibility in the packaging and modularity of the design. Since it removes the direct Kinematic relationship between the steering and road wheels, it enables control algorithms to help enhance driver input.There is no mechanical link to the driver.

Steer- and brake-by-wire provide a number of packaging and assembly advantages over conventional subsystems. For instance, electromechanical brake-by-wire subsystems require no hydraulic fluid to store or load at the assembly plant and permit more modular assembly, thus reducing the number of parts to be handled during production. Steer-by-wire systems have no steering column and may also eliminate cross-car steering assemblies such as racks. Arguments for ‘by-Wire’ systems include production costs, packaging and traffic safety . The ‘by-Wire’ technology as in drive, brake and steer is gaining ground and is undoubtedly an automotive solution of the future.

The arguments to support such ‘by-Wire’ systems include reduced production costs and packaging advantages and improved traffic safety. Emerging drive-by- wire technologies offer new possibilities for designing the steering characteristics of road vehicles. When the mechanical link between the steering wheel and the front wheels is replaced by sensors, controllers and actuators, enormous flexibility is achieved in terms of the control device applied and in terms of the transfer function of the steering system. This offers new possibilities for optimizing the steering system for mass-produced vehicles. However, the flexibility is of even greater advantage in the area of car adjustment for drivers with physical disabilities.The transition to purely electrical steering systems will take place step by step via systems with mechanical or hydraulic backup. Development and production of the next generations of electrical steering systems up to purely electrical steering systems create high safety demands on components and systems. Reliable and safe electrical steering systems can be realized by using appropriate safety techniques for these new systems and their components combined with the know-how of safety relevant vehicle systems.

The main limitations of by-wire-steered system are the requirement of a 42 Volts car supply, high output alternator and new generation batteries.The steer-by-wire principle becomes absolutely necessary when Future innovative steering functions, such as vehicle dynamic interventions, collision avoidance, individual wheel steering, tracking assistance, automatic lateral guidance, and finally autonomous driving functions have to be implemented in a system compound of various vehicle systems.

INTRODUCTION

By-wire-steered system is an application of ‘MECHATRONICS’, which is the integration of electronic devices and mechanical systems in order to improve the performance of the system .Recent advances in dependable embedded system technology, as well as continuing demand for improved handling and passive and active safety improvements, have led vehicle manufacturers and suppliers to actively pursue development programs in computer-controlled, by-wire subsystems. These subsystems include steer and brake-by-wire, and are composed of mechanically decoupled sets of actuators and controllers connected through multiplexed, in-vehicle computer networks. There is no mechanical link to the driver.

Steer- and brake-by-wire provide a number of packaging and assembly advantages over conventional subsystems. For instance, electromechanical brake-by-wire subsystems require no hydraulic fluid to store or load at the assembly plant and permit more modular assembly, thus reducing the number of parts to be handled during production. Steer-by-wire systems have no steering column and may also eliminate cross-car steering assemblies such as racks. Arguments for ‘by-Wire’ systems include production costs, packaging and traffic safety.The ‘by-Wire’ technology as in drive, brake and steer is gaining ground and is undoubtedly an automotive solution of the future.

The arguments to support such ‘by-Wire’ systems include reduced production costs and packaging advantages and improved traffic safety (a boon for everybody involved). Emerging drive-by- wire technologies offer new possibilities for designing the steering characteristics of road vehicles. When the mechanical link between the steering wheel and the front wheels is replaced by sensors, controllers and actuators, enormous flexibility is achieved in terms of the control device applied and in terms of the transfer function of the steering system. This offers new possibilities for optimizing the steering system for mass-produced vehicles. However, the flexibility is of even greater advantage in the area of car adjustment for drivers with physical disabilities.

A steer-by-wire system replaces the traditional mechanical linkage between the steering wheel and the road wheel actuator (e.g., a rack and pinion steering system) with an electronic connection. This allows flexibility in the packaging and modularity of the design. Since it removes the directKinematic relationship between the steering and road wheels, it enables control algorithms to help enhance driver input.The transition to purely electrical steering systems will take place step by step via systems with mechanical or hydraulic backup. Development and production of the next generations of electrical steering systems up to purely electrical steering systems create high safety demands on components and systems.

Reliable and safe electrical steering systems can be realized by using appropriate safety techniques for these new systems and their components combined with the know-how of safety relevant vehicle systems.‘Steer-by-Wire’ (SbW) there exists a legislation obstacle as European regulations require a mechanical connection between the steering wheel and the wheels. The column electric power steering (C-EPS) in the Opel Astra is therefore only an electric

hybridization at steering level: the steering torque levels will increase when the car picks up speed. The “Dual drive” system in the Fiat Punto has an EPS with dual settings: the driver can activate the “city” mode and obtain gentler steering when parking. The main limitations of by-wire-steered system are the requirement of a 42 Volts car supply, high output alternator and new generation batteries.The steer-by-wire principle becomes absolutely necessary when Future innovative steering functions, such as vehicle dynamic interventions, collision avoidance, individual wheel steering, tracking assistance, automatic lateral guidance, and finally autonomous driving functions have to be implemented in a system compound of various vehicle systems

GRID COMPUTING

GRID COMPUTING

Grid Computing is a technique in which the idle systems in the Network and their “wasted” CPU cycles can be efficiently used by uniting pools of servers, storage systems and networks into a single large virtual system for resource sharing dynamically at runtime.- High performance computer clusters.-share application, data and computing resources.

IMPORTANCE OF GRID COMPUTING
 Flexible, Secure, Coordinated resource sharing.
 Virtualization of distributed computing resources.
 Give worldwide access to a network of distributed resources.

GRID REQUIREMENTS
 Security
 Resource Management
 Data Management
 Information Services
 Fault Detection
 Portability

TYPES OF GRID
 Computational Grid-computing power
 Scavenging Grid-desktop machines
 Data Grid-data access across multiple organizations

ARCHITECTURAL OVERVIEW

• Grid’s computer can be thousands of miles apart and connected with internet networking technologies.
• Grids can share processors and drive space.

Fabric : Provides resources to which shared access is mediated by grid protocols.

Connectivity : Provides authentication solutions.

Resources : Connectivity layer, communication and authentication protocols.

Collective : Coordinates multiple resources.

Application : Constructed by calling upon services defined at any layer.

GRID COMPONENTS

In a world-wide Grid environment, capabilities that the infrastructure needs to support include: Remote storage

 Publication of datasets

 Security

 Uniform access to remote resources

 Publication of services and access cost

 Composition of distributed applications

 Discovery of suitable datasets

 Discovery of suitable computational resources

 Mapping and Scheduling of jobs

 Submission, monitoring, steering of jobs execution

 Movement of code

 Enforcement of quality

 Metering and accounting

GRID LAYERS

 Grid Fabric layer

 Core Grid middleware

 User-level Grid middleware

 Grid application and protocols

OPERATIONAL FLOW FROM USER’S PERSPECTIVE

• Installing Core Gridmiddleware
• Resource brokering and application deployment services

COMPONENT INTERACTION

- Distributed application

- Grid resource broker

- Grid information service

- Grid market directory

- Broker identifies the list of computational resources

- Executes the job and returns results

- Metering system passes the resource information to the accounting system

- Accounting system reports resource share allocation to the user

PROBLEM AND PROMISESPROBLEMS

- Coordinated resource sharing and problem solving in dynamic, institutional organizations

- Improving distributed management

- Improving the availability of data

- Providing researchers with a uniform user friendly environmentPROMISES

- Grid utilizes the idle time

- Its ability to make more cost effective use of resources

- To solve problems that can’t be approached without any enormous amount of computing power.

CONCLUSION

- Grid Computing is becoming the platform for next generation escience experiments

- By Intranet Grid it is very easy to download multiple files

RECENT TRENDS IN AUTOMOBILE ENGINEERING

RECENT TRENDS IN AUTOMOBILE ENGINEERING
Use Of Hydrogen as Alternative Fuel To Power Vehicles

Depleting fossil fuel reserves and increasing vehicular emission have forced the attention of various petroleum industries to find and alternate fuel that will power the vehicle in future based on the present day internal design as the deposits of crude oil is expected to last for another 50 years at the minimum utilization level .the proposed fuel should suitably replace the existing fuel and at the same time it should be renewable Hydrogen is one such fuel that has been proposed for the purpose which was suitable for spark ignition engines .hydrogen combines the properties of higher calorific value ,higher velocity of flame propagation ,non toxicity as well as lowest possible emission levels that do not affect the balance of the water of the hydrosphere.

More over the by product of combustion are devoid of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide which is the major advantage of vehicles powered by fuel cell vehicles.

Fuel cell vehicles represent one of the emerging technologies of the innovation age. An efficient, combustion less, virtually pollution free, free power source capable of being sited down town urban areas or in remote regions, that runs almost silently, and has few moving parts but these vehicles are more reality than dreams. Fuel cells are one of the cleanest and most efficient technologies for generating electricity. In the quest of environment friendly energy generation researchers have come up with comparatively much safer fuels. It is truly a green technology. Fuel cell is the practical, feasible and marketable solution to the energy crisis. The technology is extremely intersecting to people in all walks of life because it offers a mean of making power more efficiently and without pollution.

World automakers seem to believe that low emissions, high efficiency fuel cell will eventually deliver the power and the performance that users expect. Despite difficult technical and market challenges to over come, the latest crop of fuel cell powered concept car appears to exhibit many basic feature required for the success of this concept.

Fuel cell or ZEV’S as they are called are vehicles to look up for as future vehicles. The topic on fuel cell vehicles deals with all the issues and signs related to fuel cell vehicles and their future that is sometimes questioned. However the answers to these questions have been successfully dealt with in the following sub-topics:

INTRODUCTION:-

Another type of Zero-Emission Vehicle is the fuel cell powered vehicle. When the fuel cells are fueled with pure hydrogen, they are considered to be zero emission vehicles. Fuel cells have been used on spacecraft for many years to power electric equipment. These are fueled with liquid hydrogen from the spacecraft's rocket fuel tanks.
What Is a Fuel Cell?

A fuel cell produces electricity directly from the reaction between hydrogen (derived from a hydrogen-containing fuel or produced from the electrolysis of water) and oxygen from the air. Like an internal combustion engine in a conventional car, it turns fuel into power by causing it to release energy. In an internal combustion engine, the fuel burns in tiny explosions that push the pistons up and down. When the fuel burns, it is being oxidized. In a fuel cell, the fuel is also oxidized, but the resulting energy takes the form of electricity .
The Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell is the focus of vehicle-power research. The following are the major different types fuel cells:
• Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM -- sometimes also called "polymer electrolyte membrane") - Considered the leading fuel cell type for passenger car application; operates at relatively low temperatures and has a high power density. • Phosphoric Acid - The most commercially developed fuel cell; generates electricity at more than 40 percent efficiency. • Molten Carbonate - Promises high fuel-to-electricity efficiencies and the ability to utilize coal-based fuels. • Solid Oxide - Can reach 60 percent power-generating efficiencies and be employed for large, high powered applications such as industrial generating stations

Alkaline - Used extensively by the space program; can achieve 70 percent power-generating efficiencies, but is considered too costly for transportation applications. • Direct Methanol - Expected efficiencies of 40 percent with low operating temperatures; able to use hydrogen from methanol without a reformer. (A reformer is a device that produces hydrogen from another fuel like natural gas, methanol, or gasoline for use in a fuel cell

PRINCIPLE
Hydrogen & fuel cell vehicles: Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, but it currently is not be a practical transportation fuel by itself because of storage problems. Hydrogen is normally a gas at room temperature, and storage as a gas requires large containers. Storing it as a liquid requires super-cold temperatures. And because hydrogen is the simplest element, it can even "leak" through the strongest container walls.

One of the most widely suggested sources of electricity for a hybrid electric vehicle is a fuel cell powered by hydrogen. By chemically combining hydrogen and oxygen, rather than "burning a fuel," electricity is created. Water vapor is the by-product.
The fuel cell power system involves three basic steps. First, methanol, natural gas, gasoline or another fuel containing hydrogen is broken down into its component parts to produce hydrogen. This hydrogen is then electrochemically used by the fuel cell. Fuel cells operate somewhat like a battery. Hydrogen and air are fed to the anode and cathode, respectively, of each cell. These cells are stacked to make up the fuel cell stack. As the hydrogen diffuses through the anode, electrons are stripped off, creating direct current electricity. This electricity can be used directly in a DC electric motor, or it can be converted to alternating current.
To carry gaseous hydrogen on a vehicle, it must be compressed. When compressed (usually to a pressure of about 3000 pounds per square inch). Hydrogen is stored under great pressure, 3600 and 5000 PSI in the big tanks, 7000 PSI in the smaller distribution tanks.
The other way to provide hydrogen gas to the fuel cell is to store it on the vehicle in liquid form. To make hydrogen liquid, it is chilled and compressed. Liquid hydrogen is very, very cold--more than 423.2 degrees Fairenheit below zero! This super-cold liquid hydrogen is the kind used in space rockets. The containers are able to hold pressure, but they are also insulated to keep the liquid hydrogen from warming up. Warming the liquid, or lowering the pressure, releases gas (like boiling water), and the gas can go to the fuel cell.

NICKEL HYDROGEN:-
Another way to get hydrogen to the fuel cell is to use a "reformer". A reformer is a device that removes the hydrogen from hydrocarbon fuels, like methanol or gasoline. . A reformer turns hydrocarbon or alcohol fuels into hydrogen, which is then fed to the fuel cell. Unfortunately, reformers are not perfect. They generate heat and produce other gases besides hydrogen. They use various devices to try to clean up the hydrogen, but even so, the hydrogen that comes out of them is not pure, and this lowers the efficiency of the fuel cell
When a fuel other than hydrogen is used, the fuel cell is no longer zero-emission, but it

Use of battery unit:- Small test batteries made under the technology department are stored in one unit to form a single module model of ten batteries.This unit is then used to power the vehicle through the power train and motor as well as the controller which are installed accordingly and this method proves useful in special cases where the fuel cell stack is not work properly due to technical difficulties

The only real problem is the pressure that's involved, and that's not a problem with proper tanking systems and in all these test cases the hydrogen tank did not explode, in spite of being under pressure. the tanks are designed to blow up, not out. If, for example, that tank back there exploded 90% of the debris would fall within the fence around it.

Hydrogen is a very clean fuel, it would ignite easier than gasoline, but the likelihood of it igniting is still slim . If it did ignite, the flame doesn't put out much heat. Gasoline fires usually consume.

Fuel cell design issues: At the same time many other variables must be juggled, including temperature throughout the cell (which changes and can sometimes destroy a cell through thermal loading), reactant and product levels at various cells. Materials must be chosen to do various tasks which none fill completely. In vehicle usage, many problems are amplified. For instance, cars must be required to start in any weather conditions a person can reasonably expect to encounter: about 80% of the world's car park is legally subject to the requirement of being able to start from sub-zero temperatures. Fuel cells have no difficulty operating in the hottest locations, but the coldest do present a problem.. Operational Performance : Fuel cell vehicles are being developed to meet the performance expectations of today's consumers. These vehicles are expected to be extremely quiet and have very little vibration. Safety: The goal is to develop fuel cell vehicles with levels of safety and comfort that are comparable to those of conventional vehicles. If used, high-pressure hydrogen tanks will be designed for maximum safety to avoid rupture. Additionally, manufacturers are perfecting sensors that will immediately detect impact in the case of collision and additional sensors that will detect any leakage from the hydrogen tanks. In both cases, the sensors will instantly shut the valves on the tanks. Benefits: Using pure hydrogen to power fuel cell vehicles offers the distinct advantage of zero emissions, but only on the vehicle, not at the hydrogen production source. However, emissions created at a single point of production are often easier to control than those produced by a moving vehicle. A fuel cell vehicle that runs on pure hydrogen produces only water vapor—using any other fuel will produce some carbon dioxide and other emissions, but far less than what is produced by a conventional vehicle. Fuel cell vehicles are expected to achieve overall energy conversion throughput efficiencies around twice that of today's typical gasoline internal combustion engines. The fuel cell system is being targeted by DOE to achieve 60% efficiency by 2010. Fuel cell vehicles can run on any hydrogen-rich liquid or gas, as long as it is suitably processed. Gasoline is one possibility, but in addition to pure hydrogen, alternative fuels such as ethanol, methanol, natural gas, and propane can also be used. Why fuel cells for vehicles? The advantages of fuel cells for transport are both environmental and economic. The only emissions from a fuel cell vehicle come from the generation of hydrogen. These emissions are hardly measurable, making fuel cell vehicles virtually equivalent to zero-emission vehicles. Fuel cell cars will have similar range and performance to cars with internal combustion engines, but the superior energy efficiency of fuel cell engines will bring a significant reduction in carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, for every mile travelled. If fuelled directly by hydrogen, there will be no carbon dioxide emissions at all. Portable fuel cells: Fuel cells can compete with batteries and generators for portable use, from a few kilowatts to power a mobile home down to a few watts to power a laptop computer. Prototypes have been publicly shown of this type of technology and fuel cell powered mobile phones and laptops are being exhibited at the World Expo 2005 in Japan. NEW BICYCLE POWERED BY FUEL CELL: Manhattan Scientifics Inc. has developed a fuel-cell-powered mountain bike that uses hydrogen and air as fuel and emits only water vapor as a waste product. According to its developers, the "Hydrocycle" has a top range of 40 to 60 miles (70-100 km) along a flat surface and can achieve a top speed of 18 mph (30 km/h). Because a fuel cell stack powers its electric motor, the Hydro cycle is extremely quiet and does not need to be recharged like existing electric bicycles; it only needs to be refueled. This would come as a welcome advancement for electric-bike riders frustrated with waiting hours to recharge their battery-powered bicycles Efficiency of Fuel Cells: Pollution reduction is one of the primary goals of the fuel cell. By comparing a fuel-cell-powered car to a gasoline-engine-powered car and a battery-powered car, you can see how fuel cells might improve the efficiency of cars today. Since all three types of cars have many of the same components (tires, transmissions, etc.), we'll ignore that part of the car and compare efficiencies up to the point where mechanical power is generated. Let's start with the fuel-cell car. (All of these efficiencies are approximations, but they should be close enough to make a rough comparison.)

Fuel-Cell-Powered Electric Car: If the fuel cell is powered with pure hydrogen, it has the potential to be up to 80-percent efficient. That is, it converts 80 percent of the energy content of the hydrogen into electrical energy. But, as we learned in the previous section, hydrogen is difficult to store in a car. When we add a reformer to convert methanol to hydrogen, the overall efficiency drops to about 30 to 40 percent. We still need to convert the electrical energy into mechanical work. This is accomplished by the electric motor and inverter. A reasonable number for the efficiency of the motor/inverter is about 80 percent. So we have 30- to 40-percent efficiency at converting methanol to electricity, and 80-percent efficiency converting electricity to mechanical power. That gives an overall efficiency of about 24 to 32 percent TINY FUEL CELL TO POWER SENSORS IN VEHICLES: A cell phone, for example, needs about 500 watts. The first use will be in sensors for the military. The prototype micro fuel cell uses an electrochemical process to directly convert energy from hydrogen into electricity. The fuel cell works like a battery, using an anode and cathode, positive and negative electrodes (solid electrical conductors), with an electrolyte. The electrolyte can be made of various materials or solutions. The hydrogen flows into the anode and the molecules are split into protons and electrons. The protons flow through the electrolyte, while the electrons take a different path, creating an electrical current. At the other end of the fuel cell, oxygen is pulled in from the air and flows into the cathode. The hydrogen protons and electrons reunite in the cathode and chemically bond with the oxygen atoms to form water molecules. Theoretically, the only waste product produced by a fuel cell is water. Fuel cells that extract hydrogen from natural gas or another hydrocarbon will emit some carbon dioxide as a byproduct, but in much smaller amounts than those produced by traditional energy source. Gasoline and Battery Power Gasoline-Powered Car : The efficiency of a gasoline-powered car is surprisingly low. All of the heat that comes out as exhaust or goes into the radiator is wasted energy. The engine also uses a lot of energy turning the various pumps, fans and generators that keep it going. So the overall efficiency of an automotive gas engine is about 20 percent. That is, only about 20 percent of the thermal-energy content of the gasoline is converted into mechanical work. Battery-Powered Electric Car : This type of car has a fairly high efficiency. The battery is about 90-percent efficient (most batteries generate some heat, or require heating), and the electric motor/inverter is about 80-percent efficient. This gives an overall efficiency of about 72 percent. But that is not the whole story. The electricity used to power the car had to be generated somewhere. If it was generated at a power plant that used a combustion process (rather than nuclear, hydroelectric, solar or wind), then only about 40 percent of the fuel required by the power plant was converted into electricity. The process of charging the car requires the conversion of alternating current (AC) power to direct current (DC) power. This process has an efficiency of about 90 percent. So, if we look at the whole cycle, the efficiency of an electric car is 72 percent for the car, 40 percent for the power plant and 90 percent for charging the car. That gives an overall efficiency of 26 percent. The overall efficiency varies considerably depending on what sort of power plant is used. If the electricity for the car is generated by a hydroelectric plant for instance, then it is basically free (we didn't burn any fuel to generate it), and the efficiency of the electric car is about 65 percent. Surprised? Maybe you are surprised by how close these three technologies are. This exercise points out the importance of considering the whole system, not just the car. We could even go a step further and ask what the efficiency of producing gasoline, methanol or coal is. Efficiency is not the only consideration, however. People will not drive a car just because it is the most efficient if it makes them change their behavior. They are concerned about many other issues as well. They want to know: Is the car quick and easy to refuel? Can it travel a good distance before refueling? Is it as fast as the other cars on the road? How much pollution does it produce? Fuel cell cars are a long way off: Hybrid cars already exist as commercial products and are available to cut pollution now. On the other hand, fuel-cell cars are expected on the same schedule as NASA's manned trip to Mars—and have about the same level of likelihood. Hydrogen fuel cells cost more: Hydrogen fuel cells in vehicles are about twice as efficient as internal-combustion engines; however, hydrogen fuel cell costs are nearly 100 times as much per unit of power produced. Hydrogen fuel cells are dirtier:- Fuel-cell cars emit only water vapor and heat, but the creation of the hydrogen fuel (via burning coal, for example) can be responsible for more overall greenhouse gas emissions than conventional internal combustion engines. Hydrogen fuel is harder to transport: Moving large volumes of hydrogen gas requires compressing it. Hydrogen compression rates mean that 15 trucks are required to power the same number of cars that could be served by a single gasoline tanker. Liquid hydrogen would require less (about three trucks), but would require substantially more effort and energy to liquefy. Hydrogen is much more dangerous:-As dangerous as a leak of natural gas is, a hydrogen leak is worse because hydrogen ignites at a wider range of concentrations and requires less energy to ignite. And hydrogen burns invisibly. "It's scary—you cannot see the flame.”

Suspension Systems

Suspension Systems

Introduction

The vehicle suspension system is responsible for driving comfort and safety as the suspension caries the vehicle body and transmits all forces between the body and the road. - In order to positively influence these properties, semi-active and/or active components are introduced. These enable the suspension system to adapt to various driving conditions. - By adding a variable damper and/or spring, driving comfort and safety are considerably improved compared to suspension setups with fixed properties.
This strategy requires that the control behavior of these components is known and that laws on how to adapt the free parameters depending on the driving excitations are known. - This also requires the identification and fault detection of the involved components resulting in a mechatronic design.
• Vehicle Suspension System - The vehicle suspension system consists of wishbones, the spring, and the shock absorber to transmit and also filter all forces between the body and road. - The spring carries the body mass and isolates the body from road disturbances and thus contributes to drive comfort.
The damper contributes to both driving safety and comfort. Its task is the damping of body and wheel oscillations, where the avoidance of wheel oscillations directly refers to drive safety, as a non-bouncing wheel is the condition for transferring road-contact forces.
Driving Safety • Driving safety is the result of a harmonious suspension design in terms of wheel suspension, springing, steering, and braking, and is reflected in an optimal dynamic behavior of the vehicle. Tire load variation is an indicator for the road contact and can be used for determining a quantitative value for safety.
- Driving Comfort • Driving comfort results from keeping the physiological stress that the vehicle occupants are subjected to by vibrations, noise, and climatic conditions down to as low a level as possible. The acceleration of the body is an obvious quantity for the motion and vibration of the car body and can be used for determining a quantitative value for driving comfort.

In order to improve the ride quality, it is necessary to isolate the body, also called the sprung mass, from the road disturbances and to decrease the resonance peak of the sprung mass near 1 Hz, which is known to be a sensitive frequency to the human body.
- In order to improve the ride stability, it is important to keep the tire in contact with the road surface and therefore to decrease the resonance peak near 10 Hz, which is the resonance frequency of the wheel, also called the unsprung mass.
- For a given suspension spring, the better isolation of the sprung mass from road disturbances can be achieved with a soft damping by allowing a larger suspension deflection.
- However, better road contact can be achieved with a hard damping preventing unnecessary suspension deflections.
- Therefore, the ride quality and the drive stability are two conflicting criteria, as shown below.

As can be seen from the diagram, the fixed setting of a passive suspension system is always a compromise between comfort and safety for any given input set of road conditions and a specific stress.
- Semi-active / active suspension systems try to solve or at least reduce this conflict.
- The mechanism of semi-active suspension systems is the adaptation of the damping and/or stiffness of the spring to the actual demands.
- Active suspension systems in contrast provide an extra force input in addition to possible existing passive systems and therefore need much more energy The figure also clarifies the dependency of a vehicle suspension setup on parameter changes as a result of temperature, deflection, and wear and tear. These changes must be taken into account when designing a controller for an active or semi-active suspension to avoid unnecessary performance loss.
- In order to prevent this, a robust or an adaptive controller has to be implemented. The adaptive controller results in a parameter-adaptive suspension system that refers to a control system which adapts its behavior to the changing settings of the system to be controlled and its signals.
- Suspension systems are classified as passive, semi-active, active and various in-between systems.
- Typical features are the required energy and the characteristic frequency of the actuator.
This diagram points out the conflict that automotive manufacturers face in their endeavor to improve drive safety and comfort as high-performing suspension systems can only be achieved by high-energy demand and mostly expansive and complex actuation systems.

Car Suspension Systems

Car Suspension Systems
When people think of automobile performance, they normally think of horsepower, torque, and 0-60 acceleration. But all of the power generated by a piston engine is useless if the driver can't control the car. That's why automobile engineers turned their attention to the suspension system almost as soon as they had mastered the four-stroke internal combustion engine.The job of a car suspension is:
- to maximize the friction between the tires and the road surface - to provide steering stability with good handling - to ensure the comfort of the passengers • If a road were perfectly flat, with no irregularities, suspensions wouldn't be necessary. But roads are far from flat. Even freshly-paved highways have subtle imperfections that can interact with the wheels of a car. It's these imperfections that apply forces to the wheels that result in wheel acceleration.
Without an intervening structure, all of wheel's vertical energy is transferred to the frame, which moves in the same direction. In such a situation, the wheels can lose contact with the road completely. Then, under the downward force of gravity, the wheels can slam back into the road surface.
• What you need is a system that will absorb the energy of the vertically-accelerated wheel, allowing the frame and body to ride undisturbed while the wheels follow bumps in the road
The study of the forces at work on a moving car is called vehicle dynamics. Most automobile engineers consider the dynamics of a moving car from two perspectives:
- Ride - a car's ability to smooth out a bumpy road - Handling - a car's ability to safely accelerate, brake, and corner
• These two characteristics can be further described in three important principles: - road isolation - road holding - cornering

Car Suspension Parts

Car Suspension Parts
- A car's suspension, with its various components, provides all of the solutions described. - The suspension of a car is actually part of the chassis, which comprises all of the important systems located beneath the car's body.

Frame - structural, load-carrying component that supports the car's engine and body, which are in turn supported by the suspension - Suspension System - setup that supports weight, absorbs and dampens shock, and helps maintain tire contact - Steering System - mechanism that enables the driver to guide and direct the vehicle - Tires and Wheels - components that make vehicle motion possible by way of grip and/or friction with the road
• So the suspension is just one of the major systems in any vehicle.
• Springs
- Today's springing systems are based on one of four basic designs.
• Coil springs - This is the most common type of spring and is, in essence, a heavy-duty torsion bar coiled around an axis. Coil springs compress and expand to absorb the motion of the wheels.

• Leaf Springs - This type of spring consists of several layers of metal (called "leaves") bound together to act as a single unit. Leaf springs were first used on horse-drawn carriages and were found on most American automobiles until 1985. They are still used today on most trucks and heavy-duty vehicles.

Torsion Bars - Torsion bars use the twisting properties of a steel bar to provide coil-spring-like performance. One end of a bar is anchored to the vehicle frame. The other end is attached to a wishbone, which acts like a lever that moves perpendicular to the torsion bar. When the wheel hits a bump, vertical motion is transferred to the wishbone and then, through the levering action, to the torsion bar. The torsion bar then twists along its axis to provide the spring force.

Air Springs - Air springs, which consist of a cylindrical chamber of air positioned between the wheel and the car's body, use the compressive qualities of air to absorb wheel vibrations. The concept is actually more than a century old and could be found on horse-drawn buggies. Air springs from this era were made from air-filled, leather diaphragms, much like a bellows; they were replaced with molded-rubber air springs in the 1930s

Springs: Sprung and Un-sprung Mass - The sprung mass is the mass of the vehicle supported on the springs, while the un-sprung mass is loosely defined as the mass between the road and the suspension springs. The stiffness of the springs affects how the sprung mass responds while the car is being driven.
- Loosely-sprung cars, such as luxury cars, can swallow bumps and provide a super-smooth ride; however, such a car is prone to dive and squat during braking and acceleration and tends to experience body sway or roll during cornering.
- Tightly- sprung cars, such as sports cars, are less forgiving on bumpy roads, but they minimize body motion well, which means they can be driven aggressively, even around corners.
- So, while springs by themselves seem like simple devices, designing and implementing them on a car to balance passenger comfort with handling is a complex task.
- And to make matters more complex, springs alone can't provide a perfectly smooth ride. Why? Because springs are great at absorbing energy, but not so good at dissipating it. Other structures, known as dampers, are required to do this.

Dampers: Shock Absorbers
- Unless a dampening structure is present, a car spring will extend and release the energy it absorbs from a bump at an uncontrolled rate. The spring will continue to bounce at its natural frequency until all of the energy originally put into it is used up. A suspension built on springs alone would make for an extremely bouncy ride and, depending on the terrain, an uncontrollable car.
- Enter the shock absorber, or snubber, a device that controls unwanted spring motion through a process known as dampening. Shock absorbers slow down and reduce the magnitude of vibratory motions by turning the kinetic energy of suspension movement into heat energy that can be dissipated through hydraulic fluid.

A shock absorber is basically an oil pump placed between the frame of the car and the wheels. The upper mount of the shock connects to the frame (i.e., the sprung weight), while the lower mount connects to the axle, near the wheel (i.e., the un-sprung weight). In a twin-tube design, one of the most common types of shock absorbers, the upper mount is connected to a piston rod, which in turn is connected to a piston, which in turn sits in a tube filled with hydraulic fluid. The inner tube is known as the pressure tube, and the outer tube is known as the reserve tube. The reserve tube stores excess hydraulic fluid.
- When the car wheel encounters a bump in the road and causes the spring to coil and uncoil, the energy of the spring is transferred to the shock absorber through the upper mount, down through the piston rod and into the piston. Orifices perforate the piston and allow fluid to leak through as the piston moves up and down in the pressure tube. Because the orifices are relatively tiny, only a small amount of fluid, under great pressure, passes through. This slows down the piston, which in turn slows down the spring.
- Shock absorbers work in two cycles -- the compression cycle and the extension cycle.
• The compression cycle occurs as the piston moves downward, compressing the hydraulic fluid in the chamber below the piston.
• The extension cycle occurs as the piston moves toward the top of the pressure tube, compressing the fluid in the chamber above the piston. A typical car or light truck will have more resistance during its extension cycle than its compression cycle. With that in mind, the compression cycle controls the motion of the vehicle's un-sprung weight, while extension controls the heavier, sprung weight.
- All modern shock absorbers are velocity-sensitive --the faster the suspension moves, the more resistance the shock absorber provides. This enables shocks to adjust to road conditions and to control all of the unwanted motions that can occur in a moving vehicle, including bounce, sway, brake dive, and acceleration squat.

Electromagnetic Linear Actuators in Suspension Systems

Electromagnetic Linear Actuators in Suspension Systems

The use of electromagnetic linear actuators in automobile suspensions is under development. - The reliability of electrical drives and the unconstrained integration with electronic control systems are factors that justify their use.
-> Rotational electromagnetic actuators have been proposed, however, their use requires a gearbox to convert the rotational movement into linear movement and to increase the force value. Linear actuators do not require a gearbox

The main objective of ground vehicle suspension systems is to isolate the vehicle body from road irregularities in order to maximize passenger ride comfort and to produce continuous road-wheel contact, improving the vehicle handling quality.
- Today, three types of vehicle suspensions are used:
passive, semi-active, and active. All systems implemented in automobiles today are based on hydraulic or pneumatic operation. However, these solutions do not satisfactorily solve the The main objective of ground vehicle suspension systems is to isolate the vehicle body from road irregularities in order to maximize passenger ride comfort and to produce continuous road-wheel contact, improving the vehicle handling quality.
- Today, three types of vehicle suspensions are used:
passive, semi-active, and active. All systems implemented in automobiles today are based on hydraulic or pneumatic operation. However, these solutions do not satisfactorily

Suspension Types

Suspension Types: Rear
Dependent Rear Suspensions• Leaf spring - If a solid axle connects the rear wheels of a car, then the suspension is usuallyquite simple -- based either on a leaf spring or a coil spring.
• In the former design, the leaf springs clamp directly to the drive axle. The ends of the leaf springs attach directly to the frame, and the shock absorber is attached at the clamp that holds the spring to the axle. For many years, American car manufacturers preferred this design because of its simplicity.
• The same basic design can be achieved with coil springs replacing the leaves. In this case, thespring and shock absorber can be mounted as a single unit or as separate components. Whenthey're separate, the springs can be much smaller, which reduces the amount of space thesuspension takes up.
Independent Rear Suspensions• If both the front and back suspensions are independent, then all of the wheels are mountedand sprung individually, resulting in what car advertisements tout as "four-wheel independentsuspension."
• Any suspension that can be used on the front of the car can be used on the rear, and versions ofthe front independent systems previously described can be found on the rear axles.
• Of course, in the rear of the car, the steering rack -- the assembly that includes the pinion gear wheel and enables the wheels to turn from side to side --is absent. This means that rear independent suspensions can be simplified versions of front ones, although the basic principles remain the same

Suspension Types: Front
The four wheels of a car work together in two independent systems -- the two wheels connected by the front axle and the two wheels connected by the rear axle. That means that a car can and usually does have a different type of suspension on the front and back. Much is determined by whether a rigid axle binds the wheels or if the wheels are permitted to move independently.
The former arrangement is known as a dependent system, while the latter arrangement is known as an independent system.
Dependent Front Suspensions
• Dependent front suspensions have a rigid front axle that connects the front wheels. Basically, this looks like a solid bar under the front of the car, kept in place by leaf springs and shock absorbers. Common on trucks, dependent front suspensions haven't been used in mainstream cars for years.
Independent Front Suspensions
• In this setup, the front wheels are allowed to move independently. The MacPherson strut, developed by Earle S. MacPherson of General Motors in 1947, is the most widely used front-suspension system.
• The MacPherson strut combines a shock absorber and a coil spring into a single unit. This provides a more compact and lighter suspension system that can be used for front-wheel drive vehicles.

Specialized Suspensions: Formula One Racers

Specialized Suspensions: Formula One Racers Specialized Suspensions: Formula One Racers
The Formula One racing car represents the pinnacle of automobile innovation and evolution. Lightweight, composite bodies, powerful V10 engines, and advanced aerodynamics have led to faster, safer, and more reliable cars.
To elevate driver skill as the key differentiating factor in a race, stringent rules and requirements govern Formula One racecar design. For example, the rules regulating suspension design say that all Formula One racers must be conventionally sprung, but they don't allow computer-controlled, active suspensions. To accommodate this, the cars feature multi-link suspensions, which use a multi-rod mechanism equivalent to a double-wishbone system.
Recall that a double wishbone design uses two wishbone shaped control arms to guide each wheel's up and down motion. Each arm has three mounting positions two at the frame and one at the wheel hub and each joint is hinged to guide the wheel's motion.
In all cars, the primary benefit of a double wishbone suspension is control. The geometry of the arms and the elasticity of the joints give engineers ultimate control over the angle of the wheel and other vehicle dynamics, such as lift, squat, and dive.
Unlike road cars, however, the shock absorbers and coil springs of a Formula One racecar don't mount directly to the control arms. Instead, they are oriented along the length of the car and are controlled remotely through a series of pushrods and bell cranks. In such an arrangement, the pushrods and bell cranks translate the up and down motions of the wheel to the back and forth movement of the spring and damper apparatus.

The Bose Suspension System

The Bose Suspension System
While there have been enhancements and improvements to both springs and shock absorbers, the basic design of car suspensions has not undergone a significant evolution over the years. But all of that's about to change with the introduction of a brand new suspension design conceived by Bose the same Bose known for its innovations in acoustic technologies. Some experts are going so far as to say that the Bose suspension is the biggest advance in automobile suspensions since the introduction of an allindependent design.

The Bose system uses a linear electromagnetic motor (LEM) at each wheel in lieu of a conventional shock-and-spring setup. Amplifiers provide electricity to the motors in such a way that their power is regenerated with each compression of the system.
The main benefit of the motors is that they are not limited by the inertia inherent in conventional fluid-based dampers. As a result, an LEM can extend and compress at a much greater speed, virtually eliminating all vibrations in the passenger cabin. The wheel's motion can be so finely controlled that the body of the car remains level regardless of what's happening at the wheel. The LEM can also counteract the body motion of the car while accelerating, braking, and cornering, giving the driver a greater sense of control.