Dr Automotive Design and Tools

Cloncurry, a town of over 4000 people in north-west Australia, is gearing up to produce solar thermal power capable of supplying all of ts electricity needs, 24-hours a day. The technology used will ensure the 10 megawatt Cloncurry solar thermal power station will continue to generate electricity when the sun is not shining and will deliver about 30 million kilowatt hours of electricity a year. Up to 8000 mirrors will reflect sunlight onto graphite blocks through which water will be pumped to generate steam that will operate a conventional steam turbine electricity generator. Because heat stays in the graphite, the system will work through the night and on overcast days.

Cloncurry, which is the first town in the State of Queensland to go totally solar, is a perfect candidate for solar thermal power generation, having long claimed the title of having recorded Australia's hottest day - 53 degrees Celsius in the shade in 1889.

The design to be implemented by Lloyd Energy Storage is a solar power tower. Solar energy is collected by tacking heliostats (mirrors) totalling 60,000 square feet that focus the sun’s rays on to large 10 ton graphite block mounted at the top of a tower. A total of 54 towers of 18 m (59 ft) high will be constructed. The thermal energy is turned into electricity on demand by passing water through tubes embedded in the graphite to make steam that drives a steam turbine to generate electricity. Less water will be used in the turbine than falls in an average year on the power station's roof. Test sites using a single tower mounted graphite boiler have been constructed in Comma and Newcastle NSW.

Outback solar dish power stations

Solar power is well suited to small, isolated communities where access to the national electricity grid can be difficult or expensive. Solar dish power stations have been installed at three remote indigenous townships in Australia's Northern Territory. Thirty parabolic reflector dishes, each 14 meters (46 feet) in diameter, generate 24 Kw whenever the sun is 5 degrees above the horizon giving each township between 200 and 300kw providing 1.5 gigawatts per year in total.

Another type of solar technology has been proposed for Buronga in western NSW. A solar updraft tower would heat air in a very large circular greenhouse-like structure. The resulting convection causes the air to rise and escape through a tall tower. Moving air drives turbines, which produce electricity.

In Alice Springs, which lies in the country's red center, multiple installations of large solar dishes will track the sun to provide clean energy for the city in a project funded under the Australian Govenrment's Solar Cities scheme. The dishes will be connected to the grid and generate electricity for Alice Springs directly from the sun, offsetting some of the requirement to transport fossil fuels long distances.

The Queensland Government has committed $7 million towards the $30 million Cloncurry power station. This project will determine if this clean energy solution can be replicated in other rural and remote areas of Australia. It is a first for Australia and would generate enough electricity for about 3500 homes. It is expected to be running by early 2010.

Nel giorno in cui il governo di Berlino stacca il primo assegno da 300 milioni per garantire la sopravvivenza alla Opel, Angela Merkel mette le mani avanti sul futuro dell'azienda di Russelsheim. I dubbi del cancelliere affiorano all'indomani di una scelta reclamata a gran voce dai media tedeschi e criticata non appena è stata compiuta. "L'intesa con Magna non è vincolante", annuncia a sorpresa Merkel aggiungendo che "l'operazione presenta molti rischi". Una presa di distanza che si spiega anche con i dubbi espressi dal numero uno di Magna, Frank Stronach: "La salvezza di Opel non è ancora garantita anche se ho fiducia che non porteremo i libri in tribunale". Affermazioni che lasciano aperti molti interrogativi. Il piano di Magna dovrà assicurare il futuro di Opel dal momento in cui la casa tedesca, ormai sganciata da GM, avrà dato fondo al miliardo e mezzo di euro che il governo le garantisce per sopravvivere. Merkel annuncia che "il caso di Opel è un caso straordinario" e lo fa per evitare che altre aziende chiedano allo stato un prestito ponte sulla falsariga di quanto è avvenuto per la casa automobilistica. Il sostanzioso assegno per Opel passerà inevitabilmente all'esame del commissario europeo alla concorrenza, Neelie Kroes. Un'attenzione particolare agli aiuti di stato di Berlino è stata chiesta ieri dal ministro dell'Economia francese Christine Lagarde che in un'intervista al Financial Times ha osservato come "gli aiuti pubblici tedeschi potrebbero alterare la concorrenza". Il governo di Parigi, peraltro, aveva annunciato nei mesi scorsi che avrebbe finanziato con 6 miliardi di euro le case automobilistiche francesi. L'unico paese a non aver sostenuto direttamente la propria industria nazionale dell'auto è l'Italia che si è limitata a prevedere incentivi al mercato, sovvenzionando in questo modo sia la Fiat sia (in parte maggiore) le case straniere.
(Fonte: www.repubblica.it - 2/6/2009)

In una giornata storica per l'industria automobilistica americana, mentre General Motors fa bancarotta, la Fiat incassa il 20% di Chrysler: Arthur Gonzalez, il giudice del tribunale per la bancarotta di New York, ha dato il via libera alla vendita degli asset buoni di Chrylser a una nuova società controllata per il 20% dal Lingotto, per il 12% dai governi americano e canadesi e per il 68% dal sindacato, nonostante le oltre 300 obiezioni sollevate. La decisione spiana la strada "all'uscita della Chrysler dalla bancarotta come una società nuova, più forte e competitiva" afferma il presidente Barack Obama. "Solo un mese fa il futuro di Chrysler era in bilico: ora, grazie al significativo impegno del governo e ai duri sacrifici di tutti gli attori coinvolti, Chrysler può avere una nuova vita. Avevamo detto - aggiunge - che il processo sarebbe stato rapido ed efficiente e così è stato. Decine di migliaia di posti, che sarebbe andati persi con una liquidazione, sono stati salvati". Il processo "rapido, efficiente e giusto" della bancarotta di Chrysler evidenzia come - spiega Obama - chi riteneva che il processo sarebbe stato più lungo e con conseguenze sulle vendite, "si sbagliava". Chrysler "in maggio ha venduto più che in aprile", perché "i consumatori si sono sentiti confortati dal nostro straordinario impegno". In 47 pagine Gonzalez motiva la sentenza. "Nonostante gli importanti sforzi di Chrysler negli ultimi 2 anni per cercare un'alleanza, l'alleanza con Fiat è attualmente l'unica opzione attualmente perseguibile" spiega il giudice evidenziando come "la sola altra alternativa sarebbe stata la liquidazione". Chrysler "avrà dei vantaggi in ragione delle sinergie" con Fiat: "porterà la propria rete di concessionari e la sua capacità di produrre auto di taglia grandi mentre Fiat fornirà tecnologie per la produzione di vetture piccole, oltre all'accesso ad alcuni mercati internazionali". Tre fondi pensione dell'Indiana si oppongono e presentano appello. "Chrysler ha ora l'opportunità per una nuova partenza e per costruire qualcosa di speciale nell'alleanza globale con Fiat" osserva il presidente e a.d. della casa automobilistica U.S.A. Robert Nardelli in una lettera ai dipendenti. "E' stato un capitolo estremamente difficile nella storia della società per tutti quelli che ne sono rimasti coinvolti, sono stati richieste scelte difficili e dolorosi sacrifici da parte di tutti gli attori della vicenda" spiega Nardelli, mettendo in evidenza come la nuova Chrysler avrà una struttura più competitiva, una rete vendita "razionalizzata" e l'accesso a nuova tecnologia. Nardelli lascerà, per tornare come consulente a Cerberus, non appena l'accordo sarà decollato. Robert Kidder sarà il presidente della nuova Chrysler, mentre Sergio Marchionne dovrebbe diventarne a.d. . Di sicuro Marchionne, Alfredo Altavilla (ad di Fiat Powertrain Technologies) e Lucio Noto (ex vice presidente di Exxon Mobil) saranno i rappresentanti di Fiat nel consiglio di amministrazione della nuova Chrylser. Il Lingotto controllerà inizialmente il 20% della nuova Chrysler e avrà l'opzione di salire di un ulteriore 35%, in blocchi del 5%, se saranno rispettate alcune condizioni: Fiat potrà salire di un primo 5% quando avvierà la produzione in U.S.A. . Un altro 5% potrà essere acquistato all'introduzione sul mercato americano di auto in grado di percorrere 40 miglia al gallone (64,4 chilometri per ogni 3,8 litri). Fiat potrà ottenere un altro 5% quando Chrysler sarà in grado di generare oltre 1,5 miliardi di dollari di vendite fuori dagli U.S.A.
(Fonte: www.ansa.it - 1/6/2009)

KTM has started development for series production of a sports enduro with electric drive. The company has been testing a fully functional electric, zero local emissions enduro prototype motorcycle since mid 2008 and has now announced that mass production is set to begin in 2010.

The EV Enduro prototype has a 7 Kw (9.5 hp) electric motor that develops 40 Nm (29 ft/lb) of torque and carries lithium ion batteries capable of lasting one hour under full load. Full recharge takes one hour. The battery pack and electric motor together weigh 17kg, but this is offset by the removal of the motor/gearbox, cooling, fuel and exhaust systems, giving the bike a total weight of 90kg (198lbs).

KTM expects that price for such an electric motorcycle is not dramatically higher than the comparable KTM Sport Enduro with a combustion engine. As with most electric vehicles the motor acts as a generator during braking which returns energy to the battery that further extends running time.

KTM sees itself as an innovative market leader, so with the technological trend in vehicle technology so clearly heading in the direction of powertrain electrification, this means developing new forms of propulsion for its sports motorcycles. The company believes its Zero Emissions Electric Motorcycle products are a great opportunity to broaden the appeal of sports motorcycles to a wider audience and allow increased access to areas where noisy combustion engine bikes are currently banned.

A petrol powered Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) is approx 25-30% energy efficient at the flywheel and around 15% energy efficient at the wheels. There are many loses within the engine itself including friction and waste heat from the combustion process but Sweden's Cargine Engineering thinks that eliminating the parasitic losses of the camshaft by building a camless engine may help improve energy efficiency. Using pneumatically driven actuators to shoot the valve open the camless engine concept can provide fully variable valve lift and fully variable lift duration without a camshaft in sight.

The system runs on air pressure of 3-16 bar (44-232 psi) and can provide 8mm lift for 5 milliseconds of duration, with a maximum lift of 14mm, and can operate at engine speeds of up to 8000 rpm. The setup requires 50 percent less space than a conventional DOHC 4-valve layout and reduces mass by 30 percent.

The net power consumption of the air compressor needed to run the system is said to consume less power at low rpm but average out about the same as a camshaft over the entire driving range, consuming more power at high rpm (less than 4kW at 6000 rpm for a 2.0-liter 16-valve four). On a normal driving cycle it consumes less energy than a regular camshaft driven system.

Several development partners have signed on, including supercar-maker Koenigsegg and the Scuderi Group.

www.cargine.com

Norway may ban the sale of petrol powered cars by 2015 and every new car sold in Ireland could be electric by 2020.

Norway’s Socialist Left Party has proposed to outlaw all new sales of petrol only powered vehicles by 2015. The ban would not take existing fossil-fuel burners off the road, but would make it against the law to sell new cars that burn fossil fuels only. While at first it sounds like an off suggestion from the worlds sixth largest oil exporter, Norway doesn't have any special interest auto industry groups to oppose the ban and as the US EPA has finally officially listed CO2 a health hazard, the proposal could just be considered a socially responsible.

In similar news an Irish cross-party committee recommended that the countries target for 10pc of the car fleet to be electric by 2020 is not ambitious enough and are calling for every new car sold to be electric in 11 years time. The committee found the it only costs about one seventh to drive an electric car compared to a petrol car and the nobody in their right mind will want to buy a petrol or diesel car by 2020. They believe people will buy electric cars simply because they are cheaper to run -- not due to environmental considerations.

This is the first in a series of articles that will take a look at the worlds biggest electric vehicles in an effort to dispel the myth that EVs have to be low powered vehicles. The Liebherr T 282B, for example, is a 3650 hp (2700 Kw) Mine truck with a maximum operating weight of almost 600 tonnes that is not only the worlds biggest Diesel electric truck but is also the biggest AC drive truck in the world.

Unlike other Mine trucks in the 400 t class such as the Caterpillar 797B which use a torque converter with a 7 speed automatic gearbox, the T 282B takes advantage of high efficiency and maintenance free diesel-electric locomotive technology. Siemens provide the two AC induction motors for the rear axle, engine mounted generator and the solid state computer controlled power inverters that are proven over millions of operating hours in trains. Not only is the AC drive system lighter than either mechanical or DC transmission systems, they provide faster acceleration and a higher top speed.

The T 282B has electric retarders that can slow the truck to a stand still which provides precise speed control on descent using built in cruise control which works in both drive and retard modes. The electric retarders can apply over 6,000 hp (4,489 Kw) worth of braking effort. Unfortunately this in not a battery hybrid so the regenerated energy is not stored for later use but is burnt off through a stainless steel resistor grid. The AC system also has a solid state electronic differential that provides wheel independent traction and yaw control in both forward and reverse.

The Diesel engine that generates the drive electricity is a monster 90 liter (5,490 cubic inch) V20 twin turbo built by MTU that is big enough to be used as an emergency power generator for international airports. When running at the red line of 1800 rpm the 10 tonne lump of steel produces 2.7 Megawatts (3,650 hp)

As an option for significant fuel savings the AC drive in the T 282 has been designed to operate with an overhead trolley pantograph system. These overhead lines can often be seen on steep grades leading out of deep open cut mines.