Bridgestone unveils its Non Pneumatic (Airless) tire concept

The concept of pneumatic or inflatable tires dates back to 1888 when 'John Dunlop' invented the first air-filled tire for bicycles. Since then pneumatic tires have been put to use in a wide variety of automobiles and vehicles with varying sizes and capacities. However with the benefits comes the problem of maintenance and age. Add to that the accidents that happen around the world due to tire bursting in moving vehicles.

This past week at the 2nd Tokyo Motor Show 2011 in Japan, Japanese tire manufacture Bridgestone Corporation unveiled its new puncture-less air-free tires concept. Although the concept is not something very new, back in 2005 Michelin had showcased a similar kind of technology named TWEEL (i.e. Tyre/WhEEL). Since then there hasn't been any significant development until this one from Bridgestone.

The main difference that sets Bridgestone's airless tire different from Michelin's TWEEL is the kind of materials used for the development and the design.

Wave Disc Engine the next step in Combustion Engines

Internal Combustion Engines more or less have had the same basic design since the first time they were created, except for the Wankel engine also called the rotary engine which did not gain a lot of popularity in the auto industry due to its short coming of inefficiencies. With the new generation of Hybrid cars which utilize a combination of electric motors and combustion Engines there is a need to develop a new design of engines and move away from the of concept of piston cylinder and valves.

Researchers at Michigan State University have built a model prototype gasoline engine design that's unlike any other engine design seen before. It works on the principle of shock waves and utilizes what is called a 'shock wave generator', which is basically a disc/rotor having precisely designed wave-like pattern carved into channels.

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.