TSB Funds Emissions-Reducing Vehicle Projects

More than GBP12m is to be invested by the government-backed Technology Strategy Board (TSB) to develop technology that will speed up the reduction of CO2 emissions from road vehicles. The investment will be made in 16 proof-of-concept studies, which will last up to one year, and six longer-running full research-and-development projects. The total value of the research will be in the region of GBP25m, with the remaining funding provided by the UK organisations taking part in the work.

John Laughlin, the TSB's Low Carbon Vehicles programme manager, said: 'We are funding innovative projects in a number of key areas, which include internal-combustion-engine technologies, energy storage and management, lightweight structures and new propulsion technologies. 'The work will help to accelerate the reduction of carbon emissions and deliver mass-market low-carbon road vehicles within five to 15 years. 'In addition to helping to meet UK and EU [European Union] climate-change targets, we anticipate that this research-and-development work will create significant market opportunities for UK-based companies,' he added.

Ball-Screw Drives Improve Vehicle Fuel Consumption

Schaeffler's energy-efficient ball-screw drive is being utilised on the electromechanical steering system for the Volkswagen Tiguan. Schaeffler supplies the ball-screw drive to Volkswagen, as well as a toothed rack, which is partly designed as a spindle on which the drive is located. Ball-screw drives are used to transform rotary motion into linear motion through a direct coupling between the drive element and the output element.

In the Tiguan, the ball nut is driven by a servomotor, which is linked to the ball-screw drive via a belt. These low-friction, low-noise ball-screw drives play a role in helping to improve a vehicle's fuel consumption and reduce CO2 emissions. As well as offering the driver optimised handling, the latest electromechanical steering systems can also reduce fuel consumption by as much as three per cent compared to conventional hydraulic steering systems.

An advantage of an electromechanical steering system over a hydraulic one is that the servomotors require energy only when specific steering manoeuvres are carried out, while hydraulic pumps need to maintain hydraulic pressure at all times. This means that pumps and feeds are no longer required on an electromechanical system, which reduces the space required for operating the steering system. Other customers of Schaeffler's ball-screw drives include automotive supplier TRW. The ball-screw drives are also used on vehicles manufactured in the US by Volkswagen, Ford and BMW. The aerospace sector is another user of high-precision ball-screw drives, which are often found in an aircraft's tail-steering system.

Northwire Introduces All-Electric Vehicle Cables

Northwire, Technical Cable, has announced the availability of bulk cable, Coilboss Retractile Cords and complete cable solutions for the charging of electric and hybrid vehicles and equipment. All-electric vehicle (EV) cables can be designed to ship in five days with no minimum order length or quantity requirements. Northwire's EV cable exceeds industry standards for performance, is UL 62 approved and compatible with SAE J1772 connectors, UL 2594 and NEC 625 charging systems.

All EV cable options are available in standard or custom configurations. Customisation includes hybrid designs, colours, labelling and more. Northwire provides free design and prototyping services and has a team to help navigate automotive and EV standards. 'EV cable products are engineered for high performance in severe temperature extremes and harsh mechanical environments, including exposure to oil, chemicals, abrasion, crushing and more,' said Kevin DePratter, director of research and development.

EV cable solutions from Northwire include 600V EVE (TPE) and 600V EVT (PVC) cables available from 2AWG to 18AWG and 300V EVJE (TPE) and 300V EVJT (PVC) cables in 12AWG to 18AWG. Standard jacket materials are exposed-run (ER) rated TPE or PVC with nylon. These cables may contain hybrid data, signal and communication in any AWG size. All materials are RoHS compliant for EV charging stations in wet locations.

EV cables from Northwire are designed for use in electric vehicles (EV), neighbourhood electric vehicles (NEV); battery electric vehicles (BEV), hybrid vehicles, low-speed vehicles (LSV), personal electric vehicles (PEV), plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVS). Cables are designed to be compatible with charging applications, whether at residences, commercial establishments, parking facilities or dedicated charging stations.

Light-Vehicle Weigher Ideal For Vans And Forklifts

Weightron Bilanciai has launched the low-profile SPF light-vehicle weigher. The robust, weights-and-measures approved SPF is said to provide a cost- and space-effective solution for weighing vehicles up to 10 tonne capacity, making it ideal for vans, forklift trucks, skip lorries and agricultural vehicles. The scale features adjustable levelling feet and a 6mm durbar deck plate measuring 4.7m by 2.4m.

The optional steel pit frame facilitates ground-level installation, while the optional steel ramps complete the surface-mount version. The SPF can be used with a range of Weightron Bilanciai weight terminals, software packages and printers. Additional operational peripherals, including driver-operated terminals, control barriers and automatic number plate recognition systems are also available.

Aaeon Introduces Fanless Vehicle Computer

Aaeon has announced the launch of the AEC-6811 low power consuming and fanless vehicle computer. For enhanced performance, Aaeon has included features such as the AMD Geode LX 800 processor in a compact embedded controller to cultivate the vertical market of transportation.

The AEC-6811 features the AMD Geode LX 800 500MHz processor and accompanies it with DDR400 RAM SODIMM (up to 512MB) system memory. This mini embedded controller also provides one Mini-PCI expansion, which makes it suitable for Industrial PC applications.

The AEC-6811 includes one SATA/IDE hard disk and one Type II Compactflash slot for storage (Compactflash slot is only for AEC-6811 Rev.B). It accommodates four COM ports and four USB 2.0 ports for flexible expansions. The AEC-6811 equips two 10/100Base-TX Ethernet ports for network connection. The user-friendly network function makes the AEC-6811 suitable for mobile and network applications.

WorkNC Software Plays Role In Vehicle Development

Sescoi's WorkNC CAM/CAD software is helping in the design and development of a vehicle concept that addresses traffic congestion and the overall CO2 impact produced during the lifecycle of a car. Designed and developed in the UK by Gordon Murray Design, which is based in Shalford, Surrey, the T.25 City Car and the Istream manufacturing process started from an idea first conceived by Gordon Murray in 1993.

Gordon Murray, who formed the company, designed a series of Brabham Formula 1 (F1) racing cars that enabled Nelson Piquet to win the world championship in 1981 and 1983. Within two years of moving to McLaren as technical director, his Honda-powered McLaren had won 15 out of 16 grand-prix races and gave Ayrton Senna his first driver's championship. Subsequently, as head of McLaren Cars, he designed road-going supercars - the McLaren F1 and the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren - before forming Gordon Murray Design in 2007.

The key design elements for the T.25 and the Istream are for a very small vehicle that protects personal mobility, that is economical and safe to own, that is fun and stylish to drive and that has a low lifecycle carbon footprint. To achieve these aims and to make the car as spacious as possible inside required considerable effort on vehicle packaging, with many design iterations. This was further complicated by the principles of Istream, which demanded the flat packing of the vehicle for transportation, ready for final assembly in end-user markets.

Jon Ingleby, prototyping applications manager, uses WorkNC to produce the body panels for the styling studio model as well as for the seating buck, which is used to evaluate the space inside the vehicle. Machining the models and moulds, which can be full size, is carried out using the company's ITP overhead gantry CNC mill. He said: 'We have a wide range of responsibilities in the design studio so the software's ease of use is very important to us. 'WorkNC is sometimes not used for a few weeks, but because it is so simple to operate we can jump onto it again and start programming immediately,' added Ingleby.

A range of rapid-prototyping methods is used in the styling studio, including conventional pattern making, fused deposition modelling, CNC milling and composite panel production. To compress development times, engineers need to be skilled in all these areas and have the means of working on several tasks simultaneously. Ingleby added: 'There are three cycles of body design during the vehicle development program, from wind-tunnel models to a full-size model, which we can machine on the ITP gantry mill using 3+2 machining techniques.

'In WorkNC, it takes about one to two hours to program the roughing toolpaths and, while cutting is under way, we program the finishing paths,' he said. Gordon Murray Design uses Catia V5 to model the T.25. 'A'-class surfaces are imported into WorkNC ready for machining. Ingleby said: 'The CAD interface is very reliable and WorkNC is tolerant of small imperfections in the model, saving the considerable amount of time it can take to repair these.

'Once machining has been completed, we inspect the part with a touch probe and compare it with the original model,' he added. Having these facilities in house enables Gordon Murray Design to ensure the confidentiality of the project and produce new prototypes within one or two days. Ingleby said: '[WorkNC] has enabled us to compress two months' work into one week.'.

SEMS Uses Braking Energy For Vehicle Systems

Parker's latest stored energy management system (SEMS) has been developed especially for use with vehicles such as refuse trucks and short-haul delivery lorries, that frequently stop and start. SEMS uses Parker hydraulic and electronic technology to capture the kinetic energy converted by vehicle braking systems, with the energy then being made available to power on-board equipment.

This considerably reduces demand on the engine, which in a typical application in a refuse vehicle can translate into fuel savings of up to 5 per cent, with a corresponding decrease in emissions. In addition, the use of stored energy from the accumulator eliminates the need to run the engine at high speeds while the vehicle is stationary in order to drive systems such as the compacting and crushing units found on refuse vehicles.

As a result, operating noise can be significantly reduced, by as much as 50 per cent depending on the application; this is of considerable benefit for vehicles that have to be used in built-up residential areas, allowing them to be used at quieter times of day or night when there is less traffic congestion. SEMS incorporates a conventional Parker hydraulic accumulator, which is automatically charged every time the vehicle brakes; alternatively, the accumulator can be powered by an electronically controlled pump attached to a power take-off (PTO) point.

The accumulator is normally linked to a hydraulic converter that reduces the stored high-pressure energy to the exact level required by the different items of ancillary equipment on each vehicle. Overall system management is then achieved by Parker's IQAN software-based hydraulic control technology, which combines in-cab HMI units and joysticks with specialised sensors, I/O and interfaces, to create a powerful yet flexible method of monitoring and controlling hydraulic systems.

SEMS is supported by Parker's worldwide network of manufacturing and customer support centres, with the company working in partnership with vehicle OEMs to develop hydraulic systems that add to vehicle performance, efficiency and productivity.