World's First Affordable Diesel Hybrid Powertrain

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01-02-2007, 09:21 PM

Johnc73

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World's First Affordable Diesel Hybrid Powertrain

Quote:

When the vehicle pulls away, torque is delivered only from the electric traction motor. As speed increases, electric and diesel drive blend seamlessly until torque from the electric drive is reduced to zero.

http://www.businessweek.com/autos/co...x+page_hybrids

Okay this is a business Journal so I'm sorta skeptical. Although the article goes quite into a bit more detail than I expected. The quote is on page 2 of a 4 page deal. Actually quite a bit of detail starts on page 2. I don't know how they get away from propriety as it sounds just like what a Prius does (43kW DC starter/generator, 50kW AC Traction motor) [Engineers please explain why not all DC or all AC?) Also near the end it mentions it's also Plugin to boot (Lion batteries too) so it's a Diesel/Hybrid/Plugin car.

01-02-2007, 09:52 PM

bwilson4web

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Re: World's First Affordable Diesel Hybrid Powertrain

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johnc73

. . .what a Prius does (43kW DC starter/generator, 50kW AC Traction motor) [Engineers please explain why not all DC or all AC?) . . .

Batteries are only DC. The only AC energy storage I know of is a flywheel but there hasn't been much recent work in that area of note. Funny, flywheels were all the rage back in the late 60s and 70s. Regardless, modern power semiconductors easily convert DC to AC. The nice thing with AC is you can easily modulate the power to the motors and back to DC when they work as generators.

Bob Wilson

01-03-2007, 04:34 AM

bwilson4web

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Re: World's First Affordable Diesel Hybrid Powertrain

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johnc73

The article was slow to load so I didn't really read it until this morning but they have done an excellent job!

They use 'clutch-less' shifting, a very neat trick! This means you can use an ordinary, light weight, manual transmission and shift from gear-to-gear without a clutch. This is a very good solution that beats both CVT and eCVT in efficiency. What is especially important is use of the traction motor to avoid any clutch. . . . very clever!

If I read the article correctly, the traction motor solves the problem of starting from a 'dead stop.' BTW, this system will work with non-diesel engines too.

Bob Wilson

01-03-2007, 07:51 AM

Earthling

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Re: World's First Affordable Diesel Hybrid Powertrain

Sounds very promising.

On a related subject, I still can't figure out why New York State won't allow the sale of diesel cars, when there are no restrictions on the sale of diesel pickup trucks.

That is all the more ironic, since Corning, Inc. is now building and expanding a plant to manufacture catalytic converters not only for medium and large diesel engines, but also for diesel cars:

http://www.corning.com/environmental...005072002.aspx

Harry