Ideas for ICBC

New year , Gas prices up and second commuter car ? Insurance Up :-(

Thought may propose some ideas to ICBC to reduce the carbon foot print and using things efficiently.

First thing i looked at my office cars. 95% comprised of midsize cars, minivans / suv/ crossovers ,

All of them coming to office with one person on morning and one person back home. So why they need big cars - because they work for family and for family they want big cars. If they go for a 2 seater commuter car, insurance will be greater than adding extra gas on a big car.

So increase insurance cost on big vehicles ? already we pay double than US.

Another idea ?

Allow people to register multiple cars on same plate ( ex: a commuter car and a minivan), with say an increase of storage insurance cost .

Advantage : when people are going alone or only carrying one person with them, the commuter cars will be used. So normal office less cost drive , less gas, less pollution and no compromise on convenience.

Ok, so what should define a commuter car : This is a the key : Set 70 mpg (US) combined mileage for ICE , Hybrids etc. Add range extenders/EV from 60 kms EV kms (say 40 mile EV range ). No other qualifies for commuter car. Make the mpg and EV miles a moving standard , so this is for 2011 and 2012, 2013 standards will be announced nearing to that time and so on . Similarly emission restrictions, 4x4 class ( as we are a snow belt ) etc also other than mpg can be added.

This will force automakers to bring fuel efficient technologies and cars from different parts of the world as well as produce new (ex: japan - kei cars ) .

Wondering on the inputs.

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Range extender : thoughts

Back to cars and technology which are of my very basic interests.

Last day i was in search for what is the difference between a low rpm engine and a high rpm engine. A big of Google search reveled that low rpm engines are very efficient. The problem with them are when they are used in applications which requires higher rpm output the gear design gets complicated. So there is more chances of transmission failures and more complex transmission control is required.

One solution people used in locomotives was the Diesel-electric transmission. The idea was to power electric motors are electric motors are 70+% efficient and run a diesel generator to power the electric motor. This save a lot on transmission design and was efficient because the diesel generator was designed to run and its peak efficiency all times.

As we are now running for series hybrids like Chevy volt. I think this technology may fit to trucks better than cars.

Reasons :

Trucks need better torque and electric motors provide this.

We have more control over electricity and we have more control.

Trucks doesn't need full power all times. They need power when they work. All other times it runs mostly in a commuter mode.

So if a truck is equipped with a range extender EV technology the advantage are

• Better torque
• We can use the generator at work sites when we are out of power
• Can scale on power out put of generators for power required for a work ( ex: can have profiles like commuter, work - light, medium and heavy etc - The idea on the above is replacing transmissions with generating only the power required for a profile and save the energy by running at sweet spots for max efficiency and power outputs.
• Less complexity in design and less wear and tear.
• More efficiency as we use only required power for a situation.
• Can use the most efficient designs ( ex: use low rpms, high efficiency constant rpm / multiple sweet spot designs and in case of electric motors newer designs with multiple on demand windings to get max efficiency and power on demand )
• As are using electricity as we can make use of the regenerative mechanisms to generate electricity and use them.
• We can use buffer mechanisms like ultra capacitors to store energy as

a) Store regenerated energy
b) As a supplement energy for peak energy needs.
c) As a buffer to keep energy
d) As an abstraction to cover the start stop nature vehicle application and can use technologies which doesn't have the start stop nature support.

So Lets expect new applications which is based on the range extender applications which are energy efficient.

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Taking for Granted

Last day i was browsing through YouTube and a farm scene got my attention.



It was a very familiar scene from my childhood. Then i started thinking of how that pump works.

The motor produces rotary motion and that motion need to converted to a flow and finally move water from one place to another.


It was fun to think like a child. I started thinking i have 2 buckets, one placed down with water and second one placed above me which does not have water. I have straws from both in my hand. Its nice to imagine, I suck from on straw and then spit to second. so in total the actions i need is use my both thumps to close ends of straws to avoid air entering/water coming out and then suck and spit.

The action in a procedural way

1) Close both ends of straws with thumps
2) Open thump1 and suck from the straw which is from the bucket with water.
3) Close thump1 and open the other thump
4) Spit water to that straw and close thump2.
5) Repeat step 2,3,4 again and again till the water finishes.

So we found 2 valves, one chamber, a Piston and rad can covert rotatory motion to water flow. May be one design for a pump ( seems this was invented in late 1800s ) and we never think how things works.


Just taking the comforts for granted. Never thinking ...

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The power of abstractions

Child is the father of man :- its a great saying because while playing with my kid , lot times, i learn a lot.

I work with computers for a long time, but never thought how the art of typewriting came in. Last day while playing with kid, he was asking me to do stamping, and then we did it on different patterns. Then i was talking to wife about Chinese and English languages where Chinese consists of words and not alphabets. I told they have a problems with new words. Wife told it may be really tough to remember all the words.

Then i started thinking, all the key board may started as stamping in a sequence. But what may be the requirement ? different hand writing ?, standardizing the handwriting ? may be. But i am sure people wont be able to do sequence stamping faster than a person writing.

Then somebody came up with an abstraction for sequence stamping - which is called as a key board - Some blog told key board was invented 52 times to reach the current state. Now who needs to think of sequence stamping ?

Time changed, the underlying mechanisms changed still the abstraction remained and found place in the new generation devices like computers.

Same is the case of world. Almost all primary skills changed but the abstractive skills remained. People learned the new abstractive skills and relayed on them for the existence. Then we create derivate abstractions from primary abstractions and the derivate abstraction creates new skills and we learn them and move ahead. Always news skills born then specializations happened and the derivative abstractions occurred. We found design patterns and new abstractions and created new skills. The cycle continues and we move ahead creating/learning and abstracting new skills.


The power of Abstraction leads us to development and new ways of life.

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hybrid concept ?? -cont ... fixed gears ( was 14 mode hybrid )

Decided the change the title of the from 14 mode hybrid ?? to hybrid concept as now we are going beyond the a 14 mode concept.

Today i was thinking on it a bit more and introduction of a fixed gears to hybrid system.

Use case ? Lets say we want to increase the tow capacity on a particular profile. The same Electric motor + ICE works but if the truck is going a steep - as per the previous theory , the entire load will shift to electric motors as speed decreases. So by introducing a fixed gear system, the load requirement gets supported by ICE and Electric motors which helps to add more weight capability.

So this can work across all profiles. The control system/software needs to decide which one is more efficient on below
1) to use another cylinder
2) a fixed gear.


So finally we are getting more clear to have a hybrid system concept where we use only required optimal energy for a particular use which helps to increase the overall efficiency.

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14 mode hybrid ?? -cont ... profiles

One of the major concern for a hybrid buyer is fuel economy. I found a nice way to tackle it in our hybrid concept by introducing profiles.

example:

• Commuter Profile
• Auto profile

The commuter profile makes the 5 cylinder engine to operate only 3 (or even 2 ) of its cylinders and use electric motors to support at extra power needs (similar to HSD/ BAS+ hybrid of GM ) which uses electric motor for low speeds, ICE at optimal rpm - gen, ICE at optimal rpm and ICE + electric motor for acceleration /up hills and regeneration at breaking.

The other idea is to support this profile with an aerodynamic canopy ( factory designed with canopy to have max aero effect on the optimal rpm /speed ) for better fuel efficiency.

So this takes off the worry daily commuter to have the truck or if truck is running long one side without any load and use the power only when its needed than running all cylinders all time. ( example a 3.7 ltr 5 cylinder engine, operating with 3 cylinder mode will have almost 2.22 ltr + electric motor power available - so it should offer better power and fuel economy than a 2.4 ltr 4 cylinder engined equinox ) . This should be good power for even 4 people drive + some loads ( remember equinox 2.4 ltr has a tow capacity of 1500 pounds.)

The Auto profile is to choose the ICE and electric motor combinations only according to the pre-programmed logic.

Its better to have more profiles to optimize the use resources more effectively ( like a medium mode ( 4 people / light load ) , tow mode ( fully loaded / tow ) etc.
1500

The base idea is like electric grid communication , use only optimal resources for any situation and save the rest. Organize the profiles in such a way to get maximum efficiency and allow to force to stick to some settings if needed.



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14 mode hybrid ??

Again thoughts on the above rendering

What engine option may be the best

I would love to have 3.7 ltr 5 cylinder direct injection rwd/4x4 hybrid - Only one ?? Yep Only one

When i say hybrid if you ask, - i don't know but i know it should have below modes

1) Electric only
2) 3 Cylinder
3) 3 Cylinder + electric motor
4 3 Cylinder + Generator
5) 3 Cylinder + electric motor + Generator
6) 4 Cylinder
7) 4 Cylinder + electric motor
8) 4 Cylinder + Generator
9) 4 Cylinder + electric motor + Generator
10) 5 Cylinder
11) 5 Cylinder + electric motor
12) 5 Cylinder + Generator
13) 5 Cylinder + electric motor + Generator
14) Regenerative mode ( on all times above modes and breaking etc )

so is it a 14 mode hybrid ?? ( 1+ 4 = 5 and 5 cylinder, so numerology matches ). May its better to put something like an 3 or a 5 (for numerology sake) letter acronym which can be pronounced easier.

One question may be why 5 cylinder : look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straight-five_engine for more details.


In practical tests may be "'x' Cylinder + electric motor + Generator" mode need to be reconsidered based on the efficiency it can achieve. But its all depends on the control logic which is programmed by a firmware to activate and use the mode. On a transmission design point, all the modes should be possible without further hardware change.

The ICE should be optimized for peak efficiency and fixed rpm range and rest all should be handled with the Electric motor/Generator . The transmission need to designed so that it can have a trans output as a function of ice rpm, Electric motor and Generator. The existing technologies which is used in the 2 mode system (like active fuel management ,variable valve timing,direct injection etc) should make this.


One update is to make more modes with introduction of turbo charging . The modes will be increased to around 23 modes (2 + 3 = 5 again another numerology works) - which should be able to reduce the 3.7 ltr engine to a 2.5 ltr engine ( still 5 cylinder )

If this can be done, i am sure the design can achieve a very high fuel economy without sacrificing any power and will be good in emissions as it runs in optimal way all the time/modes.


How GM can do it ? Optimizing the 2 mode system and use the existing 3.7 ltr engine which goes in H3/Colorado. What is takes its only some time ,experiment spirit and test. Its all existing resources and only what it takes is incremental update of system.


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2011 chevrolet colorado ??

Was looking for a colorado in craigslists. Found some models and them started search for user review comments.

To be true i saw a lot 2006 model comments which has problems. didnt get much comments on 2007 onwards. then i started wondering why. I went to wikipedia and check the below page.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Colorado

Looked on the sales numbers ,

Calendar Year	Colorado	Canyon	Total U.S. sales
2004[7]	117,475	27,193	144,668
2005[7]	128,359	34,845	163,204
2006[8]	93,876	23,979	117,855
2007[9]	75,716	20,888	96,604
2008[9]	54,346	14,974	69,320
2009[10]	32,413	10,107	42,520

It clearly showed me,why there impact of the reviews and sales numbers reflected it very well. If somebody from GM looked on this well, i am sure they would have understood what needed to be done and how they should have done incremental updates to it.

Finally i spend a bit time reading IIHS Crash tests and Chevolet colorados performace ( hits bottom ). I believe the new GM should have learned to have quality vehicles than cheap vehicles. So i decided to do a small contribution for a 2011 Chevolet colorado design. Its completely derived from the 2010 Equinox which will really help them to

1) Reduce costs by sharing parts with Equinox
2) Use Existing resources better than spending money for a full redesign ( old GM way was never update any vehicle, design, sell, again redesign sell - finally loose money and market ).
This will be a great incremental update for the Colorado.
3) As they can use the parts of Terrain for the GMC counter part
4) As This is derived they can use parts of existing platforms ( GMT 355 and use exterior and engine from Theta .Both are known ones they can minimize the test time and concentrate on tests than design.
5) It looks really better.

The rendered pic below :-)





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The foldable display concept explained

Thought i will explain a bit more on the fold able display concept with couple more pictures.
The display concept consists of a display gloves, extender stem (fold able ) and the display

The fold able display consists is stored at the display glove which is between the front seats when the display is not used or the back seats are folded. This keeps the display safe when you are carrying stiff with seats folded.

when you need them, they need to take out and moved to a position comfortable for the user. once done the user can move the display back to the glove.

When combining with the personal zone concept, the display can be used in below modes.

1) Folded/not in use
2) Unfolded independent
3) Unfolded Combined mode H
4) Unfolded Combined mode U
5) Unfolded Combined mode E
6) Unfolded Combined mode I

H means Horizontal combined
U means UP down combined
E means Extended screen mode
I means Independent screen mode

A picture do better than 1000 words ( true ? Pic follows ). Click on the picture to see details.



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Foldable displays and Perzonal zones for car

I was going through the GMC granite design and found its nice to have 2 more additions

1) Fold-able displays for back seat.



Example is 2 display screens which are fold-able on on the sides of storage space between the front seats. This will help to have person sitting on back to have there on display screens and it does not harm when the seats are folded to cargo purposes. The backside of the storage space can have interfaces for the devices to connect ( ex: HDMI ) and power outlets

At some time when a big screen is need the screens can be place in a way so that they will act as a single screen which allows people to watch big screen stuff.

A more details explination of the concepts is at http://yankandpaste.blogspot.com/2010/01/foldable-display-concept-explained.html


Personal Zone concept :

This concept is an extension of the dual zone. With this concept all 4 seats in a car get one personal zone each. A personal zone consists of a multi touch display, and HDMI port to connect , A smart phone connector , a Bluetooth connection to a head set, HVOC controls ( software ) and setting etc. The car can have 2 personal zones at back and this can be extended to one front seat also without personal display ( he can use the centre console and share with driver as a display can distract the driver ). Other than the display all other comforts can be extended to the front seats. So every one can listen to the music they want and use the apps they like and have the HVOC setting they want without disturbing the other. Same time they should be able to use
the display as one and can watch/ use bigs creen. From every zone the people should be able to access the installed apps and control HVOC and other comforts.

Technically this is very feasible as new operating systems like Android/linux find place in the car systems.


I would like to keep the rights of personal zone idea ;-) as i didn't find this in any concepts/cars.

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My- Aero car thoughts and insperations

Seems i am using my time on vacation to draw pics :-) and getting the level of my kid. He seems to be drawing better too.

Today i was able to get a clear picture of an aero design from existing size requirements from a normal car.

Picture follows :-)




Even its easy to swap the engine space and boot space so that a RR (Rear-engine, rear-wheel drive) layout can be made from the above design. On other thoughts , Putting a hybrid power train may increase the fuel economy and EV ranges.

The basic idea is the reduce the frontal area - for CdA (mostly airfoiled frontal area and reduced the back area ) and increase/optimize the curves over top,down and sides to that they can contribute forward pull using aerodynamics. The top,sides and bottom curves seems much important as they can give resulting forward moving forces. The bottom (down part ) curve may help more to push to front and same time balance the extra down (vertical component ) of the force made by the top curve. Its also very important to optimize curves for max advantage of those parts without affecting the passenger comfort and utility space.

I took the base height, width and other ratios from a Volvo S70 (my current car which i like the space inside ) for the above model so that it can seat 5 comfortably and have enough space ( its not a small car now - its a 5 seat modern hatchback bigger than Toyota Prius).



To my wonder, Its really great to see some old models , Let me upload them also to get a pic of how people were thinking in old days.



1937 Pillsbug : CD of 0.13 6 -7 Passenger






1937 Maybach





Don't know the model info but looks EV1 was taken from this one.




1984 Chevrolet Citation IV concept





GM EV1






Mercedes-Benz bionic car

Links :

Ecomodder : 65+ tips : http://ecomodder.com/forum/fuel-economy-mpg-modifications.php


Cars to Emulate and Study: http://neilblanchard.vox.com/library/post/cars-to-emulate-and-study.html

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An HHR replacer ?

A bit paint, base picture of an ev innovations Wave and here we go

A Ute and a 5 passenger hybrid crossover ? .








My wife was saying the first name came to mind after seeing the pics is "AirBus" .Second name she told was "Rino".

Intial comments came : Proportions are not proper, The CUV looks like more a stretched limo. the UTE looks good other need proportions adjustments :-)


Wondering this suites well to replace the HHR than an Orlando :-)

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Hybrid Auto rickshaw

Was wondering what may really help the world. One idea found was a Hybrid Auto rickshaw.

Auto rickshaw is a very popular common man travel in India. I think its popular in all developing world where there is more man power available.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto_rickshaw

Looks its a very good use case for a Hybrid power train as

1) it has a lot of possibility for regenerative breaking as its runs more in city traffic and low speeds

2) An electric motor for low speeds can make the efficiency improvement

3) Most important : less pollution

4) Millage increase as ICE works more on optimized conditions

I am not sure why companies like bajaj is not considering a hybrid powertrain for an auto rickshaw




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What is common ?

Check what is common on below pictures :-)

The 2 vehicle shapes are using same curves ( cut the fish, put black color and add 2 wheels )

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Another high MPG IDEA : use water with Gas

Reading on some new innovations, from school. One looked interesting for increasing the mpg of a gas engine.

Use water also. No this is not to use steam for another stroke.

In this idea separate hydrogen and oxygen using a small battery and feed both also with the petrol to the engine. This enhances the firing and produces more output. so less gas is only required to have the same output. As its said that this reduces the emissions also.

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NP Stroke engine and Active Stroke cycle management

Was thinking on how to increase the efficiency of an ICE engine. 

Searched on different engines  and got one idea.

We are not even using any heat energy generated by the internal combustion engine. Lets first explain a four stroke engine 

Four stoke engine consists of 

  Intake stroke

  Compression stroke

  Power stroke

  Exhaust stroke

In intake stroke, the air is taking in then compress the air ,fuel gets injected to the compressed air and then ignited results in the power stroke and after the compression stroke the exhaust gases will be removed in the exhaust stroke. Its all fine and give 35-37% efficiency.

One of the problem is the heat is never utilized for any purpose.  So the idea of six stroke engine came in.

 

The six-stroke engine is a type of internal combustion engine based on the four-stroke engine, but with additional complexity to make it more efficient and reduce emissions. 

Two different types of six-stroke engine have been developed since the 1990s:

In the first approach, the engine captures the heat lost from the four-stroke Otto cycle or Diesel cycle and uses it to power an additional power and exhaust stroke of the piston in the same cylinder. Designs use either steam or air as the working fluid for the additional power stroke. As well as extracting power, the additional  stroke cools the engine and removes the need for a cooling system, making the engine lighter and giving an estimated efficiency of 40%. The pistons in this type of six-stroke engine go up and down six times for each injection of fuel.

 There are two power strokes: one with fuel, the other with steam or air.

The second approach to the six-stroke engine uses a second opposed piston in each cylinder that moves at half the cyclical rate of the  main piston, thus giving six piston movements per cycle. Functionally, the second piston replaces the valve mechanism of a conventional  engine but also increases the compression ratio. 

I started thinking more in this direction and found another way called NP Stroke engine and Active Stroke cycle management for a better solution.. 

The theory i propose always gives variable  efficiency optimal according the  circumstance of operation.  

Lets go to the first proposal of NP  stroke engine. 

N is a number where this can be 1 to any number. P denotes Power stroke, Lets explain how NP stroke engine works when N is equal to 3.

The additional requirements/changes in the design is an additional  closed hot air chamber, Air injector , Heat transfer agent and injector ( ex water).

Once the 4 strokes of 4 stroke engine is over , the exhaust stroke will push the air to the air chamber. Once the exhaust stroke is over, instead of another intake stroke,  1/3rd of the hot exhaust air stored in the air chamber is released to the intake .After this a  compression stroke of this air occurs. Once its compressed, a heat transfer agent is injected (ex: water ). This agent will utilize the heat in the exhaust gas and convert to a vapour form results in a power stroke. Once the power stroke is over another exhaust stroke occurs and the exhaust is send out. Again in another intake stroke the air injector injects another 1/3 of the exhaust gas and same 4 strokes occurs. Lets call these strokes as thermal energy transfer strokes. Once the 4 strokes are over, the last 1/3 is utilized t make another 4 strokes. which results in total of 12 strokes.

Which means the engine gets 3 times efficient than the normal 4 stroke engine. 

Here a number of  questions arises : 

Is 3 an optimal number ? 

What happens in a cold place

What happens when i drive a lot

What happens when i start the car where engine is cool.

Here the second theory comes in effect. Active Stroke cycle management:

This consists of a temperature sensor, a decision making logic and a control to the air injector attached to the hot air chamber

The temperature sensor senses the temperature and decides the optimal number of heat exchange cycles which can be performed on the current temperature.

ex: In a cold condition starting , the engine can work as normal 4 stroke, while its running heat increases and it can increase the number of thermal cycles based on the   temperature and other deciding parameters.

So in a long ride, according to the temperature readings, it can control and decide N of the NP cycle engine.This will result in high efficiency engine which is according to the operating conditions

By the implementation its possible to have 120mpg engines using attaching proper thermal conversion cycles to a 40 mpg capable engine. Once its tuned to run ,  the efficiency will be increased heavily according to the operating conditions.

tail piece: This is to make sure this idea is fresh and intellectual property rights of this idea is for me as i didn't find anybody have the idea published. The intellectual property rights includes,idea,rights of implementations , decisions of different control parameters, heat transfer agent, agent recovery methods  etc and  the trade marks of  Active Stroke cycle management/ Active cycle management.

Thanks Wikepedia to understand the prior art for this idea.

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