Archive for Technology

Volkswagen currently has a few futuristic engine projects running concurrently - one is a diesel engine that uses some petrol engine properties and another is a petrol engine that uses some diesel engine properties.

It calls its experimental diesel engine a “Combined Combustion System”. It’s a diesel engine that can run on synthetic fuels, uses air-fuel mixing style of a gasoline engine, 70% exhaust gas recirculation to reduce NOx emissions, low CO2 output and virtually no soot. This will be road ready within the next 10 years.

The petrol-powered engine uses a special compression ignition system at low engine speeds to help improve fuel economy and emissions. It ignites the air-fuel mixture through high compression using the piston alone, without any spark.

Fuel economy could improve by 17% using this method compared to a conventional spark-ignition system, but at medium to high engine speeds conventional spark ignition is used. This is similar to Honda’s Activated Radical Combustion technology, which also works at relatively lower engine speeds of below 4,000rpm.

Volkswagen is also working on a hybrid engine as well as a fuel cell engine, but it’s executive director for group research Jürgen Leohold did not comment on that matter, instead preferring to focus on the new enhancements to both petrol and diesel technology. “Diesel and petrol engines have had long evolutions, but there is more to be gained,” he said.

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The new Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution will have an updated version of Mitsubishi’s S-AWC (Super All Wheel Control) all-wheel drive system. An improvement over the old system is the new addition of ASC (Active Stability Control), which adds to the existing ACD (Active Center Differential), AYC (Active Yaw Control) and Sport ABS (Sport Antilock Brake System) components, as well as yaw rate feedback control.

All four systems work together to provide the Lancer Evolution driving experience, managing torque and braking force to each of the four wheels with precision. There are three operating modes - TARMAC for dry and paved surfaces, GRAVEL for wet and gravel surfaces and SNOW for snow-covered surfaces. Most will probably drive it in TARMAC mode most of the time.

ACD (Active Center Differential)

This system uses an electronically-controlled hydraulic multi-plate clutch which optimizes clutch cover clamp load for different driving conditions, regulating the differential limiting action between free and locked states to optimize front/rear wheel torque split. This produces the best balance between traction and steering response.

AYC (Active Yaw Control)

Active Yaw Control adjusts torque in the rear planetary gear differential to limit yaw movement. This enhances cornering performance. AYC also has an LSD-like effect on the rear diff, suppressing rear wheel slip to improve traction. This new version of AYC improves on the version in the Lancer Evolution IX by adding a yaw rate sensor as well as brake force control.

ASC (Active Stability Control)

As I’ve mentioned before, this is something new in the S-AWC system. It manages torque and brake force at each wheel, and has a brake pressure sensor at each wheel to allow more precise control. It’s basically the new Lancer Evolution’s version of stability control systems like DSC and ESP. The system can increase braking force on the inside wheel during understeer and on the outer wheel during oversteer situations in concert with torque transfer management for better cornering performance.

Sport ABS (Sport Anti-lock Braking System)

This is a special ABS system tuned for sporty driving, serving a function similiar to any other ABs system - it prevents the wheels from locking under heavy braking.

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Click here to read the rest of Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution’s new S-AWC system

Mitsubishi Motors has unveiled two of the technologies that will go into the upcoming 10th in it’s generation Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, but let’s talk about them one at a time. We’ll have a look at Twin Clutch SST (Sport Shift Transmission) first - an automated manual transmission with twin clutches much like Volkswagen’s DSG, the current benchmark for dual clutch automated manual transmission.

Much like DSG, Mitsubishi has upt the odd gears (1st, 3rd and 5th) on one clutch and the even gears (2nd, 4th, and 6th) on the other clutch. Under precise system control, the gearbox swaps between gears much faster on the upshifts as the next gear is preselected.

The Twin Clutch SST system has three shift programs - Normal, Sport and S-Sport. Normal mode like it’s namesake is for normal driving around town and highways. It uses low shift points for better comfort and fuel economy.

The Sport mode is to be used in situations like mountain driving, or whenever you need lots of engine braking, keeping the gears in lower ones for longer than normal. Shift points are also higher for more power. S-Sport mode is the mad, rapid, rev to redline mode with the fastest possible shifting.

Mitsubishi did not release the shift times for the Twin Clutch SST so we don’t really know at this moment whether it is faster or slower or equal to Volkswagen’s DSG.

Toyota’s newly developed Active Headrest system promises to reduce the possibility of neck injury during low-speed, rear impacts. A sensor built into the seat’s backrest recognizes when the occupant’s lower back presses against the backrest, thus triggering the upper unit to activate the head restraint. The head restraint activates diagonally 30mm upwards and 25mm forwards to quickly catch the back of the head. This can reduce severity of whiplash injury by 10-20%.

Piezo fuel injectors are all the rage for turbodiesel engines these days for the superior performance they have. Pieze injectors (graphic shown) can inject fuel using multiple jets and multiple injections per cycle, and is the key to reduce in-cylinder emissions, boost performance, and reduce noise. This comes at a cost however - piezo injectors are expensive as the piezo crystal that gives it it’s name is expensive to produce.

Robert Bosch GmbH says it has succeeded in developing a solenoid valve injector that can handle up to 29,000 pounds per square inch of pressure and will launch it later this year. This new solenoid valve injector comes very close to the performance of piezo injectors.

While high end manufacturers like Mercedes Benz would likely still go for piezo instead for benefits of better refinement and reduced engine noise, Bosch targets the mid-range customers for this new solenoid valve injector.

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Fiat Powertrain Technologies has unveiled the latest revision of it’s 1.9 liter JTD MultiJet 16 valve inline-4 turbodiesel engine, which uses twin stage turbocharging to produce high power and massive torque in a wide RPM range at the same time.

Low end torque has improved by 50% over current JTD MultiJet models, with 300Nm available from just 1,250rpm going up to peak torque of 400Nm at 2,000rpm. The new engine is available in two stages of tune - 177 horsepower and 188 horsepower at 4,000rpm. The higher 188 horses version is exclusively for Fiat and Fiat Group companies like Alfa Romeo and Lancia, while the 177 horsepower version will be made available for purchase to customers. Nanjing as one of the first customers comes to mind - they were reported to be sourcing a powerful turbodiesel for it’s MG 7 sedan from an European manufacturer.

The new engine uses a 16.5 compression ratio, low-voltage metallic glow plugs, an improved EGR cooler, and a new inlet port design. It complies with projected Euro 5 emission standards. It has a cast iron block and an aluminium alloy head.

The 177hp version will be available in July 2007 onwards, while the 188hp version is set to be launched in June 2008. The engines will be produced at Pratola Serra in Italy.

Toyota has something new up it’s sleeves - Valvematic, an evolution of the VVT-i mechanism which now incorporates continuous valve lift control together with VVT-i’s existing valve timing control. Valvematic also eliminates the need for a throttle valve, instead controlling the volume of intake air using valve lift instead.

According to Toyota, an improvement of 5% to 10% can be seen with fuel efficiency, as well as an improvement of 10% with the power output on a similiar engine displacement comparison. Toyota also mentions reduced CO2 emission as well as improved acceleration responsiveness.

The first Valvematic-equipped engine will be a 2.0 liter model, most likely a replacement for the 145 horsepower 1AZ-FE engine which has been pretty much slotted with different tune levels into all Toyota cars in the C-segment and above. The trademark “Valvematic” was registered by Toyota a few months ago, so alot of people have been expecting this. One of the first few cars to get the new Valvematic 2.0 liter engine are the 2.0 liter versions of the recently launched twin sedans Toyota Allion and Toyota Premio. The 2.0 liter variants are set to debut in Winter 2007.

The new Toyota Valvematic 2.0 liter engine will most likely be christened the 3ZR-FAE, and will put out 158hp at 6,200rpm and 196Nm at 4,400rpm. Being part of the new ZR engine family, variable valve timing features will be the same as the 2ZR-FE’s Dual VVT-i system - valve timing on both intake and exhaust valves.

Honda also recently announced an engine with continuous valve lift control combined with variable valve timing, a technology it calls AVTEC.

Check out a patent application filed by Toyota in March 2007 by clicking here - I think it is the patent for Valvematic. Be warned though, it’s pretty long.

Volkswagen produced this infomercial for the Volkswagen TSI Series of engines. Volkswagen aimed to produce a motor that both offered fuel economy as well as performance, together with driving comfort in the sense that driving will not be a tiring process that requires you to rev your engine to high revs all the time to get decent pickup. Cruising around with city driving under 2,500rpm without feeling the engine is lacking in torque offers a more relaxing drive.

Recently, Volkswagen added a 1.4 liter turbocharged engine to it’s TSI family, joining the existing 1.4 liter twincharged engine. Interesting to note that the intercooler for this engine is water-cooled, and is integrated into the intake manifold. The use of a single turbocharger in this TSI-badged engine means TSI does not refer to the twincharging method of using both a turbocharger and supercharger for forced induction anymore, instead referring to small displacement, low fuel consumption, and high power Volkswagen engines.

This video focuses on the new 1.4 liter single turbocharger TSI engine, and differences with it’s twincharged sibling.

Check out the video after the jump.

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Click here to read the rest of Volkswagen’s TSI Engine

BorgWarner and Volkswagen has developed a new DSG (Direct Shift Gearbox) gearbox codenamed DQ200 which will succeed it’s current DG250 6-speed DSG gearbox from BorgWarner. One major difference relevant to the consumer would be it’s 7-gears compared to the first generation DSG’s 6-speeds.

The new 7-speed DSG now uses twin dry clutches, while the 6-speed DSG uses oil-submerged clutches. The new gearbox uses a pair of dry, organic bonded friction linings that do not require cooling, making the drivetrain more efficient through the extra ratio and the fact that less power is required for the gear selection and clutch servo system. The new 7-speed DSG weighs 79kg, compared to 75kg for the 6-speed unit, however despite being heavier, it is smaller. Oil volume has been reduced by 75% from 7 liters to 1.7 liters, thanks to the new dry clutches. This oil travels in two different circuits - one for the gear teeth, and the other feeds the gear actuators.

Since there are now more ratios to play with, the first gear of the new 7-speed DSG has had it’s ratio increased to provide stronger acceleration from a standstill, while the 7th gear acts as a high ratio overdrive to help ease on the fuel consumption on highway drives. Another feature would be the ability for the DSG gearbox to be mounted transversely. Thanks to it’s compact size, the DSG gearbox can now be mounted into smaller Volkswagens like the Polo as well as it’s larger siblings.

The new gearbox will first debut in 1.4 liter TSI and 1.9 liter TDI equipped Volkswagens. It only handles power outputs up to 170 PS and 250Nm of torque, so don’t expect it to appear in the more high performance models such as the Golf GTI.

In other Volkswagen news, the staple 1.6 liter FSI engine will be replaced by the recently announced 1.4 liter Turbo FSI engine. This is not the same as the 1.4 liter TSI engine - it only has a turbocharger without a supercharger and produces 122 PS maximum power and 200Nm of torque from as low as 1,500rpm, compared to the 1.4 liter TSI’s 140 PS and 170 PS ratings. All models using the 1.6 FSI engine will be replaced with a 1.4 Turbo FSI model, including the Golf, Golf Plus, Golf Estate, Jetta, Passat, and others.

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Click here to read the rest of Volkswagen announces new 7-speed DSG gearbox

Ever heard of the Caparo T1? Well, now you have. It’s what you might consider calling a two-seater F1 car for the road. It’s powered by a 2.4 liter high revving V8 engine, similiar to an F1 car, and it makes up to 700 horsepower (only after some extra tuning though - some say only around 500hp at stock levels) at an astronomical 10,200rpm. Now that is a huge amount of horsepower for a car expected to weigh just under 470kg.

It can also corner almost like an F1 car - 3Gs of cornering force is achievable compared to an F1 car’s 4.5Gs. 0-100km/h takes only 2.5 seconds, but the most impressive feature is it’s braking ability - 0kmh to 160kmh and back to 0kmh in 8.5 seconds. That’s only 3.5 seconds to brake from 160kmh to a stand still, thanks to it’s 6-piston billet machined race calipers on steel brakes for the front, and 4-piston calipers for the rear.

The Caparo team consists of engineering legends like Gordon Murray, whom some of you might know as he is a columnist of Evo magazine. He was responsible for the McLaren F1. And that is enough to make you an engineering legend. The other team members are mostly ex-McLaren employees

A video after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Caparo T1 - an F1 car for the streets