Doing away with dirty diesel

Air pollution is a problem and one from the main culprits in metropolitan environment is the bus. Cleanser buses are therefore essential and one company has developed the hybrid solution that could cleanup dirty diesels.

There are around 8, 700 buses within London and 47, 000 public service buses round the UK. Buses, in fact , contact form the backbone of transportation infrastructure networks in cities all over the world. However , their diesel powered engines are also responsible for giving out vast quantities of contaminants, such as carbon monoxide, nitrous o2 and particulate matter in to the air.

While hybrid busses help to reduce emissions as well as cut fuel costs, the only way to get a mixed bus is to buy a brand new one. With new crossbreed buses costing at least half more than the diesel equivalent, this particular choice has not proven well-known. This challenge was exactly what inspired Alex Schey and also Toby Schulz to develop a simple solution that ultimately led to Advantage Power being founded.

These people understood that to have a substantial but affordable impact on decreasing bus emissions, they would have to develop a product which could become retrofitted to buses currently on the road.

Schey and Schulz met while studying mechanised engineering at Imperial University, and both shared an enthusiastic desire to develop hybrid automobile technology. After graduation these people designed and built the actual world's longest range electrical car and drove this from Alaska to the southernmost tip of Argentina. The actual success of this project influenced them to found Vantage Energy and develop an energy effective transport solution on a larger scale.

Setting the tires in motion

Vantage came up with the B320 System - any self-contained hybrid powertrain which is designed to retrofit the most common diesel-powered double-deckers on the road. Current focus is actually on the two most popular tour bus models - the Volvo B7/B9TL and ADL E400.

The system is designed to be robust along with reliable while at the same time reducing energy consumption and emissions through over 40%. "A coach powered by our B320 system can be thought of as an electrical vehicle with on-board getting capabilities, " said Schey, who is CEO of Advantage Power.

The hybrid technologies is based on a series architecture. Which means that the engine is mechanically decoupled from the wheels, that are instead powered by the motor. This motor will be powered by a battery pack, which is charged by a power generator. This generator is usually turned by the diesel motor. Schey continued: "This general architecture is well known in the industry, however it's the design and performance of the numerous subsystems that make it unique. Crucial technologies that have been developed in one facility include the battery pack, control program and cooling system. It has all been designed from the beginning up. "
As well as becoming Euro 5 (and quickly Euro 6) compliant, every B320-powered double-decker bus helps you to save operators about £20, 000 per year in fuel expenses. Schey commented: "The expense of replacing a conventional powertrain along with similar components is typically £20k-£40k depending on whether new or used elements are used. Our B320 method compares very favourably with this particular considering that our product provides the operator a brand new warranty within the entire driveline alongside a set of new technologies including zero-emissions geo-fencing and 24/7 reside data monitoring and signing. "

The existing engine in addition to gearbox are removed, and also the B320 is installed simply by connecting it into the current body electronics, hydraulics, pneumatics and chassis mounting factors, but designing for re-fit has its problems.

"The biggest challenges for our software was packaging all the aspects of the hybrid system right into a standard engine bay, inch said Schey "We you do not have the luxury of packaging our bodies around the bus as one might when building a new car - we have to make do using the space we have. This affects the second challenge that pertains to cooling of the engine, energy electronics and battery. In contrast to in cars where radiators can be positioned in line together with high-speed airflow, the buses' engine bays are located associated with the vehicle without access to air flow. This makes cooling a particularly difficult problem given that engine these types of temperatures can reach up to 90°C! "

Temperature control was obviously a limiting factor in the electric battery design. Each of the 1, 760 cells - each one somewhat larger than a standard AA cellular - within the battery should stay within 2°C of every other in order to promote the particular longevity of the pack and also to reduce degradation. To do this Advantage designed a liquid cooling technique to bring cool fluid with each of the cells, and to make sure that the temperature of the liquid was as uniform as you can. This is a demanding requirement, yet made particularly challenging considering the fact that one side of the group is located next to a very hot engine, and the other part next to a fan drawing within cool air. Consequently, Advantage had to conduct detailed computational fluid dynamics calculations in order to visualise the fluid circulation, and the cooling effect it might have on each cell.

Setting up with CAD

Although just founded in January year 2011, the first design was total by early 2013. Consequently, the first prototype was prepared by the end of 2013 as well as the first model was offer the test in early 2014. "We achieved our target gas savings and also demonstrated technology such as geo-fencing and cloud-based remote control and telemetry, inches observed Schey.

Right from the start typically the Autodesk Product Design Collection played an important role, because Schey explained: "When i was starting out we were very reference stretched. We found that certain of the biggest expenses inside starting up an engineering organization was the CAD packages -- up to £12, 000 for each person for all the required software program. However , Autodesk was generally there to support small businesses like our bait, and allowed us to buy over £100, 000 really worth of professional CAD application for a few hundred pounds. This particular level of support is a correct enabler, and gave all of us the resources to design our item and build our business considerably faster than alternative options. very well

Two systems have been made to date, and the manufacture associated with 6-10 pre-production units is going to be underway shortly now that the style is proven. Both representative models were fully designed as well as FEA simulated on Autodesk's Inventor prior to any parts being built or put together.

"Simulation in such a diverse and also multifaceted system is a big problem, and typically can't be completed with a single piece of software, " additional Schey. "Inventor is great for simulating mechanical components from a limited element point of view e. gary the gadget guy. stress analysis, computational smooth dynamics and thermal ruse. However , for performance feinte software like MATLAB along with LabVIEW needs to be used. micron

Vantage Power has now combined with Ensignbus Company : the UK's largest utilized bus dealer. The company's four decades of industry expertise is definitely helping Vantage Power use the concept of retrofitting buses with all the B320 System to a worldwide client base. The company's mission would be to manufacture 1000+ units annually by 2018. Once the process has been rolled out to a selection of bus operators, Vantage Strength will also look to the rest of the weighty goods vehicles market.
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