Archive for Technology

BMW is currently working on new technologies to better manage heat released from its vehicles. By improving heat management, fuel consumption and CO2 emissions can be reduced. Even a very fuel efficient engine can only convert about one-third of the energy contained in fuel to actually propel a car.

The rest is lost as waste heat via the car’s exhaust and radiator. To be more specific the auto maker is working on three systems including technologies to eliminate cold starts, convert heat from a car’s exhaust into electricity and use waste heat for interior heating.

To eliminate cold starts, BMW is working on improving heat insulation of engines (pictured below) that can help prevent them from cooling down quickly and retain as much residual heat as possible for the next start. With the technology that is being developed, the engine will take longer to cool down and even after 12 hours, engine temperature can still be figured at about 40 degrees Celsius.

BMW claims that each degree Celsius above the ambient temperature can help reduce fuel consumption by 0.2%. To help achieve better heating, a vehicle will be surrounded by fully clad walls and panels using materials that are normally used in the car’s underfloor for insulation.

Heat can also be converted into electric power. The automaker says that between 3 and 8% of the total fuel consumed by modern cars is due to the rising number of electricity-dependent features. BMW is testing a component called a thermoelectric generator (pictured below).

This generator uses the effect of the temperature gradient in thermoelectric semi-conductor elements generating electrical voltage (the Seebeck Effect). The bigger the difference in temperature, the higher the voltage generated. Exhaust gas temperatures, which are usually between 300 and 900 degrees Celsius, are on the hot side of the generator, and engine coolant is used for the cold side.

Basically up to 250 W of energy can be produced by integrating the component with the exhaust gas recirculation cooler. 250 W equals to about half the on-board electricity consumption in a BMW 5 Series. This can help reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by up to 2%.

The final technology of the heat management idea is an exhaust gas heat exchanger. This system can be placed close to the catalytic converter and it can convey heat to other components or areas like the interior. It can replace the need for electrical heating modules which consume additional fuel (by about 1 liter per 100 kilometers).

Furthermore, the feature can also be used to help warm up components like the transmission (example, oil in the automatic transmission). The above mentioned technologies are in testing stages hence it can take years before we can actually see them in production cars.

Alot are of the opinion that F1 technology rarely makes it into road cars because of the completely different way of doing things when it comes to racecars, but with F1’s budget cuts forcing components to last longer (i.e. more than just one race), R&D to improve durability can definitely benefit road car usage, or at least transmission maker Xtrac strongly thinks so.

Xtrac is a name that alot of you will probably be familiar with. They make the 4WD gearbox that goes into our Proton Satria Neo Super 2000 rally car. According to Xtrac’s chief metallurgist Steve Vanes, the latest specification of steel being required to significantly extend the life of a Formula One gearbox could be broadly applied to a wide range of vehicles to improve their driveline reliability and efficiency.

“From a cultural point of view the world of motorsport has changed considerably, and the costs and relevance of its technology to wider consumer markets has become more important. For example, the trend towards engine downsizing in road vehicles to improve fuel efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions can be complemented by the downsizing of transmissions, requiring the intervention of new technologies and manufacturing processes for stronger and more lightweight components,” says Vanes.

According to Vanes, the recent cost-cutting measures in F1 have lead to the development of a brand new specification of steel necessary to extend the service life of gears, shafts, bearings, dog rings, hubs, selector forks, final drives and other highly stressed driveline components. Vanes claims that until recently the typical life of a set of gears for a main shaft was approximately 350,000 cycles. To quantify the improvement that this new Xtrac steel development as the result of F1 R&D is an extension of typical service life to more than 2.5 million cycles.

For the longest time we’ve known the most common method of forced induction to be either supercharging or turbocharging. Supercharging uses a compressor that’s powered by the engine crank while a turbocharger uses the kinetic energy harvested from the flow of exhaust gas to do the same thing.

A company called Controlled Power Technologies is offering something new called a VTES, or Variable Torque Enhancement System. It’s basically an electric supercharger. There are alot of people who try to install fans in the middle of the car’s intake tract and try to call it a supercharger, but this is a proper compressor that can spin independently of crank speed at rotational speeds of up to 70,000rpm.

CPT has installed it on various test systems including a 1.2 liter turbocharged engine. The VTES electric supercharger is meant to complement the existing turbo. CPT reported an increase of over 50% in torque at engine speeds below 3,000rpm. I guess what it does is compensate for any turbo lag there is at low engine RPMs, allowing the turbocharger to be larger than it normally would have needed to be to spool up that quickly.

VTES electric supercharger on an AVL demo engine

One way that VTES has been positioned by CPT is an alternative to mild hybrid systems, like the units installed in the Honda Civic Hybrid and the Kia Forte LPI Hybrid. According to CPT senior engineering manager Mark Criddle, one method that car makers have been using to boost performance of downsized engines is integrating an electric motor between the engine and transmission to create a mild hybrid, but this is a costly exercise and can be difficult to package within a small car’s front wheel drive engine bay.

The VTES system can provide a viable low cost micro-hybrid solution, significantly increasing an engine’s air charge density over the critical first 10 combustion cycles of a low speed transient. The supercharger’s speed can increase from zero up to 70,000rpm in less than 1/3 of a second. Adding 25kW at the crank at low engine speeds via VTES costs significantly less than a 25kW assist electric motor. It uses standard 12V power.

Left: 1.2L turbo inline-3 direct injection engine
Right: 2.0 liter turbo inline-4 direct injection engine

It will be featured in the HyBoost system, a project led by Ricardo and supported by the UK government’s Technology Strategy Board. It will also be used in an engine project by AVL. AVL is an Austrian-based independent engine developer. The 1.6 liter engine that you can find in the Chery Tiggo here in Malaysia was developed by AVL and they are actually pretty good. Some time ago there was news that Fiat was interested in using Chery’s AVL-designed ACTECO family engines in Fiat cars in China.

AVL previously showcased a demonostrator engine using CPT’s electric supercharger. A 2.0 liter inline-4 direct injection engine was equipped with a regular single-scroll wastegated turbocharger, and CPT’s VTES electric supercharger. It resulted in 200 PS and 400Nm of peak torque. The engine also has auto stop-start and smart alternator control. They installed it into a Volkswagen Passat and the resulting CO2 emissions were 159g/km. Comparatively, the Passat’s original 200 PS 2.0 TSI petrol and 170 PS 2.0 TDI diesel engines gave out 194 g/km and 165g/km respectively.

Sparkplug (bottom) versus optical laser plug (top)

A Ford that shoots laser beams? No, we’re not talking about James Bond’s next Ford Fusion. Nor are we talking about Ford bringing back the Laser nameplate. Ford and the University of Liverpool have just received a £200,000 grant from UK government-funded Carbon Trust to develop a car ignition system that uses laser beams instead of spark plugs to ignite combustion.

A laser (that can be fired over 50 times per second) is directed through a lense towards a point in the combustion chamber where the fuel is most concentrated. It could also be split into multiple beams to give multiple ignition points.

Using a laser could result in better use of cylinder head space as the fiber optic cable that can be used to deliver this laser beam is much thinner than a relatively big spark plug. This will allow more space in the head to be used for other things such as larger valves. However, apparently tests showed that fiber optic cables were too affected by vibration in the engine bay, so the best would be via an “optical plug”.

If you want to read more about laser ignition, it’s best to hear it from the horse’s mouth themselves. Read the report by the University of Liverpool. Watch a video after the jump comparing a conventional spark with laser ignition.

Click here to read the rest of Lasers to replace sparkplugs in the future?

The US Government has loaned US$ 5.9 billion to Ford, for the development of fuel-saving technologies including hybrid-electric systems, alternative-fuel power plants, direct-injection as well as other developments that are related to help reduce fuel consumption such as dual clutch transmissions, vehicle weight reduction and aerodynamic efficiency.

On that note, Ford has revealed more information about its electric car programs. First on the list, is a ‘pure battery electric’, or (BEV) Transit Connect commercial van that would be introduced next year. Ford will be working hand in hand with Smith Electric U.S on the development of the electric Transit.

Next on the list is something that is more interesting, which is the production of a BEV Focus. The emissions-free Focus would be co-developed with Magna, and can hit the streets by 2011. Both the BEV Transit Connect and BEC Focus are expected to deliver up to anywhere between 160 and 257 kilometers in terms of driving range.

Ford’s CEO Alan Mulally revealed, “This green partnership between Ford and the U.S. Government will help accelerate the development of advanced technologies for even better fuel efficiency and emissions. Ford is absolutely committed to fuel economy leadership with every new model we introduce. In fact, we plan to invest nearly $14 billion in advanced technology vehicles in the next seven years.”

FoMoCo will also work on plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEV) as well as “next generation” hybrid electric vehicles (HEV). Both the PHEV and the HEV could be introduced by 2012.

Full details and photos of the new Mercedes-Benz ESF 2009 research vehicle have been unveiled. Based on the S 400 HYBRID, the Mercedes-Benz ESF 2009 essentially features 5 key new safety elements which are the following:

• PRE-SAFE Structure – The inflatable metal structures save weight or increase the stability of structural components. When at rest, the metal section is in a folded state to save space. If its protective effect is required, a gas generator builds up an internal pressure of 10 to 20 bar within fractions of a second, causing the section to unfold for significantly more stability.
• Braking Bag – If the car’s sensor system concludes that an impact is unavoidable, the Braking Bag located under the car is deployed shortly before the crash and stabilises the car on the road surface by means of a friction coating. The vehicle’s vertical acceleration increases the friction, and helps to decelerate the vehicle before the impact occurs.
• Interactive Vehicle Communication – The ESF 2009 is able to communicate directly with other vehicles, or via relay stations. Using “ad hoc” networks and Wi-Fi radio technology, it is e.g. able to receive and transmit warnings of bad weather or obstacles in the road.
• PRE-SAFE Pulse – It reduces the forces acting on the torsos of the occupants during a lateral collision by around one third. It does this by moving them towards the center of the vehicle by up to 50mm as a precautionary measure. As an active restraint system, it uses the air chambers in the side bolsters of the seat backrests.
• Spotlight lighting function – This partial LED main beam specifically illuminates potential hazards. If the infrared camera of Night View Assist PLUS e.g. detects animals like deer at the roadside or pedestrians on the road, these can be briefly illuminated beyond the normal area covered by the main beams, as if by a spotlight.

Look after the jump for full descriptions of the various technology.

Click here to read the rest of Mercedes-Benz ESF 2009 Safety Innovations

Mercedes-Benz has taken the new W221 Mercedes-Benz S400 Hybrid and modified it with experimental safety features. The new testbed is called the ESF 2009 Experimental Safety Vehicle.

The features are quite interesting – inflatable metal structures consisting of side impact bars that can be blown to pressure of between 10 to 20 bar, an “airbag brake” which is located below the car and inflates to create friction with the road to help reduce speed and raise the car up by 80mm to compensate for brake dive, seat bolsters that shift the passengers 50mm into the center of the cabin to reduce injuries from side impacts, and even seatbelts installed inside the airbags.

These are just a preview – the full press release has yet to be unveiled by Daimler. Stay tuned for full details on these experimental safety features.

Click here to read the rest of Preview: Mercedes ESF 2009 Safety Concept

BMW’s Emergency Stop Assistant project is part of The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research’s SmartSenior program, which aims to develop intelligent services to make the lives of senior citizens easier and safer. BMW’s system is of course designed to make it safer for senior citizens to drive.

As you know, as we get older more and more health problems start to appear. Some older people may develop intermittent cardiovascular problems, and this may also apply to young people if they are unlucky or live an unhealthy lifestyle. What if you get a heart attack while driving, something that really might just happen considering the kind of traffic and bandits you have to deal with on Malaysian roads on a daily basis.

The BMW Emergency Stop Assistant system automatically activates an autonomous driving mode when it detects that the driver has a serious medical problem (through the use of driver vital sensors), and carries out a controlled emergency stop. It uses sensors around the car to detect the traffic around it to maneuver carefully to the outer edge of the road with the hazard lights on before stopping. BMW ConnectedDrive then performs and emergency call for medical and traffic assistance.

BMW’s new N55 engine family’s 306 horsepower and 400Nm power and torque output figures reminds us of the original moment when BMW first announced it was bringing back forced induction into the BMW engine line-up. The N54 engine was factory rated to put out that exact same amount, and it did that via the use of gasoline direct injection and two turbochargers running together, fed gas from three cylinders each.

Three years later, we still have 306 horsepower and 400Nm of torque, but BMW has achieved it using only one turbocharger instead of two. The new N55B30 engine also churns out peak boost and torque faster than the N54, with 400Nm hit at the 1,200rpm point instead of the N54B30’s 1,3000rpm mark.

The single turbocharger uses twin scroll technology. A twin scroll turbine housing uses dual side by side exhaust gas inlets into the housing, fed by two sources of exhaust pulses. A single path is also not able to take advantage of all the exhaust gas pulses effectively. Since there are two passages, each has a smaller overall volume than a single scroll turbo path, thus the exhaust velocity of each pulse can be maintained.

The N55B30 is not the first BMW engine to use a twin scroll turbocharger, as the BMW Prince engine in the MINI Cooper S also uses one. In the Cooper S, the turbocharger’s twin-scroll principle is fed by two sets of two cylinders each, while in this N55 inline-6 engine it is two groups of 3 cylinders each.

The N54 did not feature Valvetronic because in a turbocharged engine, throttle losses can be countered by the positive pressure of the turbocharged air being blown into the engine. But the main reason there was no Valvetronic is because the complexity of designing a cylinder head that could fit Valvetronic mechanisms as well as direct injection. It is because of this reason that the N53 normally aspirated direct injection engines also do not feature Valvetronic.

BMW engineers probably finally managed to cram all that technology into the engine and make it possible for them to work all together. The new N55B30 has both a new generation Valvetronic variable valve management system and High Pressure Injection (direct injection at up to 200 bar). Valvetronic replaces the throttle butterfly functions with a control unit infinitely varying the valve stroke on the intake valves. This means the intake is not obstructed by a partially closed throttle during low load operations. The new N55 also features a map-controlled oil pump which takes up less energy, which BMW says is a first in a turbocharged engine.

One of the variations of the Volkswagen EA888 engine also features variable valve management combined with direct injection but the EA888’s valvelift system is only fitted on the exhaust valves of the engine and works in two stages – a high cam and a low cam, unlike Valvetronic which is continuously variable.

Fitted in the newly unveiled BMW 535i GT, the new N55B30 engine takes the machine from 0 to 100km/h in just 6.3 seconds, up to a top speed of 250km/h.

I have a few friends (me included) who frequently log onto Twitter with Twibble on the Nokia smartphones (like my highly recommended Nokia E90) and gripe about the traffic jam they are stuck in. Apparently the many Twitter users who do this around the world has ignited a lightbulb somewhere in GM’s OnStar subsidiary.

GM OnStar is a subscription-bsaed information service for GM cars that provide communications, vehicle security, GPS turn-by-turn navigation and various other features in the US and Canada. You can say it’s similiar to BMW’s BMW Assist and BMW ConnectedDrive.

The OnStar service will reportedly soon add the ability to update your Twitter status from inside your car via a voice to text conversion feature. You can also listen for responses to your tweet via a text to voice feature.