Automotive Technology News

User demand and environmental laws are keeping pressure on to develop more fuel-efficient, lower-emitting engines. The trend has OEMs exploring any changes that improve fuel consumption or reduce CO2 emissions by as little as 2-3%. Efforts start with downsizing, but broaden to reworking turbochargers — to boost output from smaller powerplants — and anything reducing internal friction losses. Mahle and SKF are among suppliers introducing innovations. Some elements benefitting SKF's turbocharger bearings: double-row bearings, ceramic rolling elements, aerospace steel, and a steel-and-polymer cage. Mahle improved engines with forged pistons, lighter valves, and several coatings — carbon on piston pins, Nikasil on cylinders, PVD on piston rings.

The HTS2030SMD temperature and humidity sensor is a dual-purpose miniaturized sensor designed for high volume, cost sensitive applications with tight space constraints. Employing a capacitive cell and a Negative Temperature Coefficient (NTC) thermistor, it is useful for applications where dew point, absolute humidity, or humidity compensation are required.

Pickering Interfaces has published a full catalog of LXI switching products, and it's available printed or downloadable from Pickering's Web site. The range of Ethernet controlled switching solutions compliant with the LXI Standard includes large crosspoint matrices, multiplexers, switching to 1000 Volts or 10A, and solutions to microwave frequencies.

Today's innovation is the Schaudt CamGrind. Increasing demand for more fuel efficient engines is leading to complex camshaft designs like assembled camshafts with concave lobes and re-entry profiles. The flexible, versatile, and productive CamGrind along with United Grinding's exceptional Customer Care will give you an edge in today's changing industry.

STACI Corporation announces their successful certification to TS 16949, which is an automotive quality standard that is required to serve the automotive market. The state-of-the-art facility is located in an industrial park in Dongkeng, Guangdong province, China.

A joint industry-based collaboration aims to develop a green technology enabling plug-in hybrid and electric vehicle consumers to charge their automobiles wirelessly in their garage or in a parking spot. Eliminating the need for plugs or charging cords, the novel wireless charging system can charge a vehicle in a similar amount of time as if it were plugged into a standard household outlet.

A new family of automotive-qualified MOSFETs is optimized for low on-state resistance and does not require an additional charge pump for gate drive, thus reducing board space and component count. The device family, comprising 55 V and 150 V standard gate drive N-Channel MOSFETs, and -55 V and -100 V standard gate drive P-channel MOSFETs, is AEC-Q101 qualified for automotive applications and aimed at high-side switch applications in internal combustion engine (ICE), hybrid, and full electric vehicles.

Cars and trucks are no longer just workhorses to get us from point A to point B; they are well-designed, feature-rich expressions of personal taste and lifestyle. Two industry experts discuss how the automotive coatings market is evolving to meet consumer demand for unique, environmentally-sound products. Some of the key trends include the continued expansion of green products, but also the use of coatings and surface technologies to create more tactile, responsive car interiors. Manufacturers are also experimenting with automotive coatings that are anti-microbial, glare-reducing, ice-resistant, and self-healing.

Popular Science reports that a chemistry professor at Queen's University in the UK has tested a new automotive lubricant infused with nanoscale polymer particles only tens of nanometers in size. Said to reduce engine friction by an astonishing 55%, the nano-lubricant could be used in all kinds of machines with metal-to-metal contact, not just automobile engines.

Bruel & Kjaer's simulator program accurately recreates the noise and vibration of a vehicle in a user-interactive environment. Ensuring the best use of customer preferences, satisfaction profiles, and specific differentiations towards competitors. Visit us at the SAE Noise & Vibration Conference, booth 403, for live demonstrations.

Kurt Manufacturing offers Turn Key Manufacturing Solutions to OEM's of mechanical and electro-mechanical components. Kurt has over 60 years of experience in complex CNC machining, aluminum die casting, precision assembly, and complex gears and gear boxes. Kurt Manufacturing Company is ISO9001:2000+AS9100B certified and recently achieved TS16949 status.

Dow Automotive Systems delivers cost-effective, usable answers to OEM and Tier suppliers' toughest interior, exterior, and powertrain challenges. Our solutions include polyurethanes, elastomers, films, fluids, adhesives, emissions solutions, and acoustic management materials.

We also serve the aftermarket through global glass replacement and body repair systems production and distribution networks.

The D-Series TINY-CLUTCH is a miniature cam and roller type one-way clutch assembly with no loose parts. The D-Series clutches can be used for overrunning, backstopping and indexing applications, as well as, converting oscillating motion to rotary motion. Clutches are available with bores from 3mm (1/8") to 13mm (1/2")."

In what they believe will revolutionize the automobile industry, Teijin has announced it has developed the first mass production technology for carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP). Three materials made of thermoplastic resin — unidirectional, isotropic, and long-fiber thermoplastic pellets — are found in their concept car. The researchers have introduced welding and bonding technologies and can mold CFRP in less than one minute.

This iconic London cab is anything but traditional: it's powered by a 30 kW fuel cell and 14 kWh lithium polymer battery pack. The first road legal zero-emission taxis are now cruising the streets, with the promise of a fleet to be delivered before the city hosts the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Pneumatic or air-hybrid vehicles, which store regenerative brake energy as compressed air, could be much cheaper to produce than electric and battery-electric-hybrid types and may halve fuel consumption of internal combustion engine (ICE) cars. The ICE is used as a 2-stroke compressor to generate compressed air during vehicle deceleration. On acceleration, the engine operates as an air-motor driven by the pressurized air connected to one of the engine inlet valves, which serve as the pneumatic tank valve. The hybrid concept, developed by a doctoral student at Sweden's Lund University using a Scania truck engine, is examined in a Gizmag article.

Recently patented in India, a constant speed drive system is claimed to turn an automobile engine at its point of maximum efficiency — reducing emissions by 90%. This speed is achieved by adjusting hydraulic fluid outflow from a planetary gear box connected to the engine. The accelerator pedal is connected to a fluid-control valve.

Vertimatic parts washers have 50 years of proven capability for high production cleaning of precision turned, CNC machined, stampings, and deep drawn components. Jenfab Vertimatic machines combine Agitated Immersion and Turbulation for optimal cleaning action to remove chips-lubricants and shop soils.

Lean Clean parts washers are used for cellular cleaning.

From automotive/marine, smaller silencers found on motorcycles, ATVs, snowmobiles, and in huge industrial process silencers, Silentex delivers. Discover new solutions at SAE 2011 Noise and Vibration Expo, May 16-19, Booth 523.

Generating nitrogen reduces costs by 75%-90%. The GN2 Nitrogen Generator from Central Air Compressor is a pressure swing adsorption system designed to supply a continuous source of nitrogen at a consistent grade and purity. The system is automatic and requires minimal maintenance.

Synergeering Group, LLC is a full service provider of large, fully functional RapidNylon-GF prototypes and niche series production parts. We are the only private company in the USA running three of the largest Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) machines available. Providing RapidNylon prototype parts with industry leading quality in just days!

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In this SAE 2011 World Congress commentary, Frank Sherosky of Torque News recounts a recent interview with Sal Scuderi, president of the Scuderi Group. Reading between the lines, Sherosky describes their conversation regarding development of the Scuderi Split-cycle engine.

In a world chock full of supercars, does 500+ horsepower, a 199 MPH top speed, and a 0-to-60 time of 3.1 seconds leave you yawning? What if that same car was a plug-in hybrid that could get 78 MPG? Porsche's 918 Spyder is now available for order with a V8 gas engine and two additional electric motors generating another 200+ horsepower. Which leaves one to ponder, at $845,000 a copy, will buyers care about saving money on gas?

When Will We See It on the Market?

The Scuderi split-cycle engine has received much positive press in recent years. Will the trend to electric plug-ins supersede this technology?