I read ALOT of technical articles. Websites like Slashdot, Inventorspot, Engadget, Gizmodo, etc, you name it I read alot. Often I see trends in what we'll be buying or using in the future. So I'd like to start a thread on here called "Future..." in which I point out a future trend that will effect us all. I may end up being right or I may be way off base but at least you'll hear it first.
My first "prediction"... hybrid powertrains. What are those you ask? Basically, the method by which diesel locomotives have been running on since they were invented. An internal combustion engine drives a generator. The electricity from the generator then powers an electric motor that's connected to the wheels. It's just that simple.
Now why is that a big deal? In many of the world's vehicles be they a motorcycle, car, trailer truck, farm tractor, or whatever they most all get propelled by the same method. You have an engine which the driver throttles the speed throughout a range of RPM's. Then using a transmission this range of RPM's can be multiplied to provide either alot of power in the form of torque at low speed (ie - a trailer truck with a diesel) or great speed at high RPM's (ie - a sports bike or F1 race car). You have to pick one or the other depending on what you're trying to build. A racecar isn't going to be a good choice at pulling your boat out of the lake and a diesel F350 isn't going to make it to 150+ MPH. Transmissions suck power themselves. The other main concern is generally, internal combustion engines make torque at a narrow band of their RPM's. This power falls off when the engine is running slower or faster. Alot of this is dependent on the design of the intake, combustion chamber, and exhaust among many other factors. It's impossible to design an engine that a totally flat power curve across its RPM range. That's where electric motors come in. Electric motors generate their maximum torque from 0 RPM up to whatever their maximum RPM is for any particular model. This works great for trains. There's no way a train could be built like a car or truck is now with a traditional transmission. Just trying to get it to move out of the station would burn up a clutch into a mass of molten metal. Being electric, motors also have the advantage of being extremely controllable when it comes to RPM speed. Even the best gas engine has a delay between when you press the gas petal making the combination of opening valves or squirting fuel injectors start doing work to make the power you requested.
But electric motors have a big downside... they run on electricity. Battery technology just isn't there yet to provide the "juice" for the power and distance we all want our vehicles to go. It's getting there but not quite yet. And then there's the chicken and egg situation of not having a place to plug in your electric car. Until we have a system of "gas stations" providing extension cords and cars which can take a full charge in 5 minutes, electric only cars aren't where it's at.
That's where generators come in. The idea is again simple... You have a basic electric car, it's got a set of batteries and those power the electric motors that power the wheels. Depending on the vehicle's task there may or may not be a need to have a simple transmission between the motor and the wheels. Of course the batteries will run down so you either plug it in to your house every night or bring along an electric generator that runs on gasoline to charge the batteries. And what do you have?... A Chevy Volt.
That's it folks. It's called a "serial hybrid" in that the power flows to the wheels through a series... gas engine to battery to electric motor to wheels. A Chevy Volt is basically designed like a diesel powered train but with a set of batteries so the gas powered engine can shut off when not needed. Or you can think of it like a Tesla sports car but with a little emergency style generator in the trunk for when the batteries die.
Other companies are making cars in which electric motors ASSIST the gas engines which are still connected directly to wheels via a traditional transmission setup. These are called "parallel hybrids" because the engine and motor work in parallel together. Toyota Prius I'm looking at you. These work fine but still have the inefficiency of the gas engine.
Why do I think the Chevy Volt is a sign of things to come? Because other vehicles are being designed with the diesel train style powertrains. For example, Catapillar has announced their D7E model. Yes, a hybrid bulldozer. Protecting the enviroment while bulldozing it over. Gotta love the irony. And ya heard it here first.
No comments:
Post a Comment