Air Hybrid vehicles a much better option for future hybrids?

Hybrid Engine technology is now almost available in all combinations, we have the popular Electric Hybrids,  Kinetic Hybrids (KERS), Hydraulic Hybrid and now we also have Pneumatic Hybrids. All Hybrids work in the same way i.e. they harness and store energy while braking and use it when needed, the difference is they use different methods to store that energy. Researchers from the University of Lund, Sweden in collaboration with a Swedish company Cargine are working on the development of Pneumatic hybrids for practical usage.

Urban traffic is slow and jerky, thats when hybrids prove to be beneficial. Constant acceleration and braking causes a great loss of energy. Electric Hybrids involve a lot of electronics and electrical component thus costs a lot and are heavy on maintenance, this has been a negative factor for electrical hybrid's popularity so far.

Sasa Trajkovic a doctoral student in Combustion Engines is the man behind the project, his calculations suggests that 48 percent of the brake energy, which is compressed and saved in a small air tank connected to the engine could be reused later. What this means is that the degree of reuse for air hybrids could match that of today’s electric hybrids. The major advantage of using a compressed air hybrid is that they are a lot cheaper to manufacture and lighter on maintenance.

Ann Arbor gets its Hydraulic Hybrid Garbage Trucks and How they work

Most of you know that hybrid engine use a combination of an engine and an electric motor. They work by charging batteries while braking, through a process called regenerative braking. But another hybrid technology called the Hydraulic Hybrid System uses pressurized fluid instead of batteries to store energy as an alternative power source. It was developed by The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and its partners which include Army’s National Automotive Center, Hannifin Corporation, Eaton Corporation and Ford Motor Company back in 2004.

The technology wasn't much in focus for a long time, it has become more refined over the years. Around a weeks ago the city of  Ann Arbor, Michigan got its first four garbage trucks powered by HLA (Hybrid  Launch Assist) which is a type of Parallel Hydraulic Hybrid System developed by Eaton Corporation, it promises to be 30% more fuel efficient than conventional trucks. Ann Arbor was among the first to receive funding through the U.S. Department of Energy's Clean Cities Program for these Hybrid trucks. It's great news for Hydraulic Hybrid Systems and for its future.

New Technologies from Nissan

Leading Japanese car manufacturer Nissan announced Two new technologies World-First Electro-hydraulic Power Steering system and a new Intelligent Braking Technology.

Electro-hydraulic Power Steering system 

There are two technologies for power assisted steering which are generally used, one is the hydraulic power steering which is used in most of the cars in the world, it utilizes hydraulic pressure generated by a rotary vane pump driven by the engine to assist the driver for steering and the other is the Electric power steering which uses an electric motor to assist the driver, it works on complex electronics. It has more advantages than a Hydraulic one but can be less reliable at times. It is generally used in sports cars luxury cars and hybrids. Electric power steering is considered to be more fuel efficient of the two.

Porsche GT3 R Hybrid to be unveiled at Geneva

Did you know that the first hybrid in the world was developed by Porsche almost 110 years ago.Well I never knew that before. Now following Ferrari hybrids unveil News, Porsche too is going to unveil its new hybrid at the Geneva Motor show in march.

Unlike a normal hybrid which uses heavy batteries the Porsche Hybrid uses a flywheel technology which was developed  by Williams F1 called Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS). In this Technology the fly wheel rotates at high RPM thus storing energy. This technology is quite innovative a may find a lot of application in the future hybrid cars.

Ferrari Hybid to be unveiled at Geneva motor show 2010

Sports cars are the meanest automobiles but not the greenest, But that’s about to change. The hugely popular Italian sport car manufacturer, Ferrari is set to unveil a new Hybrid sports car for the first time at the Geneva Motor show in March.
There were report last year in June about Ferrari filing for a patent based on a new 4WD Hybrid propulsion technology at the European Patent office, at the time Ferrari confirmed about the hybrid technology and hinted a release within a year’s time. Seems like the time has come.
The car will be based on the popular Ferrari 599 GTB which debuted in the 2006. It will be a great step in sports car history.

Lotus's True Hybrid Engine

What is a Hybrid engine??

Hybrid engine's are a special type of engines which have two sources of power.The most popular hybrid engines these days are gas electric. They combine the power of non polluting  electric motor with gas engine.The gas engine and brakes (regenerative braking) help keep the batteries charged.
Generally, in a full hybrid, the electric motor takes control of the car when its cruising, or when slowly accelerating. When more power is necessary , the gas engine comes in to give the acceleration expected.By giving the electric motor to take control hybrids are able to a get better fuel economy than their standard counterparts with only gas engines. But since a lot of the energy is conserved when the car is braking, hybrid cars  give better mileage in city driving. Which is just opposite case in gas cars.

Lotus's Hybrid Engine

Lotus has come up with a new engine which they will setup a in a hybrid vehicle. The  engine made its debut in a concept segment that was at the biggest motor show the Frankfurt Motor Show. The engine features include all aluminum 1.2L engine and has 3-cylinders, It will be used in the Range Extender unit.

The new series hybrids are being developed with special technology, it makes sense that one important part of the power train—the engine is been designed and engineered for the purpose, isnt’t it?

It’s a fact that most of the Hybrid cars make use of regular existing engines with adaptation and minor tweaks. As a result the efficiency is compromised. But lotus has considered this point and has made a special engine for its new Range extender unit. The engine weighs just around 56kg in mass which is really great thanks to its all aluminum body.

It has an optimized twin-valve port-fuel injection,combustion system that has high thermal efficiency, low fuel consumption, multi-fuel capability [methanol  or ethanol] and a 35KW peak output from a 1.2L ,low-cost architecture. This was said by Lotus Engineerings Technical Director Simon Wood  in an interview.


Technical specs of the Engine

General – 1.2 L, 2 valves,3-cylinder,SOHC

* Belt drive

* All aluminum

* Balance shaft

Bore and Stroke                       –   75.0 x 90.0(Millimeter)

Engines Compression ratio        –  10:1

Maximum power produced        –  35 KW (47 BHP) @ 3500 RPM

Maximum Speed of the Engine  – 3500 RPM 
Construction                           – Mono block with Exhaust Manifold Integrated

Fuel System                             – Lotus EMS,Port fuel injection system

Fuel                                        – methanol/ethanol

Weight                                    – 56 kg

The engine can runs either on alcohol-based fuels or gasoline. No word yet from Lotus on a possible production vehicle, Lotus also helped develop the Tesla Roadster's chassis and it builds on a contract basis in the past.