Gas SOFC auxiliary power unit; 10,000 hours service life, weighs 10 kgs per kw ...
NTERNATIONAL GRANDS PRIX FOR TECHNICAL INNOVATION ... Tuesday 16th to Sunday 21st
October 2001
DELPHI AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS
Contact: Gérard Rulleau - +33 (0)1 46 52 71 80 - gerard.rulleau@delphiauto.com
Grands Prix : ditto
Solid oxide fuel cell
The solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is an auxiliary generator that can supply additional power to
existing electrical consumers such as lights, window controls, fuel pump, fan etc. and also
subassemblies that are currently still mechanically driven but could be electrically driven in the
future, such as the air-conditioning compressor, the water pump, distributor, brakes and so on.
The SOFC battery, which Delphi envisages bringing onto the market in about 2005, can produce 14
volts or 42 volts dc or 110 or 220 volts ac on demand and can operate when the engine is not
running.
Its (net) output is 5kW, it weighs less than 50kg and has a service life of the order of 10,000 hours.
The SOFC system is designed to run on petrol or gasoil with a very high output and practically no
toxic gas emissions.
The integral reformer generates hydrogen which can be added to the motor mixture during the cold
start stage to reduce polluting emissions.
equipauto.com ... EQUIP AUTO will run from
Tuesday 16th to Sunday 21st October 2001 at the Paris Nord Exhibition Centre, where 215,000 m²
of exhibition space will be occupied by 2,400 exhibitors from 64 countries. More than 140,000
visitors from 140 countries are expected. There will be about fifty group stands from 33 countries,
including 3 new countries this year: Finland, Iran and Switzerland. ... scroll down to Delphi and click
This next report is translated from German that was posted sometime in July 2001 ... zurück zur
Rubrik Wissen
In the car the tension rises
The current consumption on board grows. The industry wants to therefore equip vehicles with an
additional net
By Wolfgang Blum
More than hundred electric motors do today in an upper class sedan their service, from the
windshield wiper at the headlight over the away-hinged head restraints in the rear up to the electrical
seat verse plate. In continuous operation all customers suck together between 800 and 1500 Watts.
An electric cooker does not need also more juice. In order to make this energy available, the engine
up to 1,5 litres gasoline burns on 100 kilometers additionally. However a heatable catalyst, which
could reduce the output of pollutants with the cold weather starting strongly, would show further 1.5
kilowatts in the books.
Thicker cables would be too heavy
In the case of the heatable catalyst would be called for the conventional electrical system with 12
V: Half of the connected load would be lost approximately on the way to the Kat. In order to hold
the line losses within limits, there are two possibilities: thicker cables - which are substantially
heavier - or a higher on-board tension. With a trebling of the on-board tension and the same cable
diameter only a Neuntel of the energy on the distance remains. Therefore world-wide
autocompanies and suppliers agreed to treble the tension of the automotive battery of 12 to 36 V.
(the necessary charging voltage would rise from today 14 to 42 V, why usually from the
42-Volt-Bordnetz the speech is.)
The higher tension will permit, hydraulics and mechanics of pumps, to valves, to replace brakes and
steering element by elektromaschinen. That would simplify the assembly of the cars and would
lower its gasoline consumption. Because electrical devices can be steered more effectively. The
hydraulic power steering about uses exactly to most energy if it is used to few: on the motorway.
The water pump must be designed for hot days and city traffic. For most travels it is meanwhile
oversized. At high speed about the wind can contribute to the cooling. An electrical aggregate in
place of the mechanical water pump could be gone back as required. The valves at the engine can
be led with electromagnets more exactly - and thus sprit more saving - than across the cam shaft.
Even purposeful switching of individual cylinders off becomes possible. Besides design-same
electrical components can be built into different fahrzeugklassen. The necessary adjustment takes
place over the software.
In two years the first cars with increased tension of the volume could already roll. So that each
manufacturer its own ideas of an electrical system does not develop, before seven years the forum
electrical system architecture had been already based, to which in the meantime approximately 60
companies belong. According to the forum - at least first - the 12-Volt-Bordnetz to remain parallel
preserved. Particularly Stromfresser such as seat heating and air conditioning system are to run
with 36 V. Lighting and a part of electronics remain with the old tension. So the complete electrical
connection in the car does not have to be replaced.
And there is a further advantage of two parallel, independent electrical systems: Future "drive by
wire" systems need for safety reasons anyway a redundant electrical system. With this in aviation
already for a long time did not spread technology the driver desire any longer mechanically or
hydraulically over the steering wheel or the gas and brake pedal to the appropriate aggregates are
passed on. The signals go "over wire" first to the on board computer, which works
on them, before it passes her on likewise electronically at wheels and engine. With drive by wire
hope to prevent engineers in the future for example of accidents, by with a vollbremsung of the
computers calculates the optimal brake pressure from the outset. With two electrical systems
electronics could fall back in an emergency to the other one, if this should fail.
A power station instead of the battery
Weak point of the electrical equipment of vehicle is however still the battery. It consists the spirit of
lead disk segments, weighs nearly 20 kilograms and gives up much too fast and without preliminary
warning. In the breakdown statistics General German Automobile Association stands anyhow the
defective battery with distance on place one of the sources of error. That will not different be also
with the new 36-Volt-Batterien. In order to make lead batteries at least longer durable, the German
Varta wants to fix AG to the liquid electrolytes in a fleece from micro glass fiber. The French
enterprise juice develops however high-quality nickel cadmium and lithium ion batteries for the
36-Volt-Bordnetz. With those Peugeot and Renault want to go 2003 into series. The residents of
Munich company iQ power wants the "first intelligent car battery of the world" to have devised. A
software supervises the charge of the lead acid accumulator and heats it, if necessarily, forwards.
Yokes Mueller, Sprecher of BMW, declines meanwhile: "the system did not develop yet." The
battery functions only, if it is preheated before the start. Who must for example surprisingly one
morning at six o'clock loosely instead of around eight, has a checking.
On a long-term basis BMW wants to replace the battery by a small power station. Thus those
presented a half year ago prototypes, whose 36-Volt-Bordnetz supplies a gas cell operated with
gasoline with electricity to Bavaria. A solid gas cell in such a way specified (solvently oxides fuel
cell) evaporates the sprit with approximately 800 degrees and wins river, by letting the
abgespaltenen hydrogen react with the oxygen from air.
According to BMW the cell can work twice as efficiently like the combination of engine, generator
and battery. Besides offer it more comfort. So for instance disks before start of the trip could be
defrosted and seats be heated. Sufficient juice for the starter would be available nevertheless. In the
summer the air conditioning system could provide while stationary for pleasant temperatures. Up to
for the year 2006 the announced series start that must abspecken 100 kilograms heavy High Tech
package however still strongly.
(CC) THE TIME 37/2001
zeit.de ... original German report
Attention Business Editors:
Global Thermoelectric Inc.
TSE STOCK SYMBOL: GLE
Web site: www.globalte.com
CALGARY, Feb. 22 /CNW/ - Further to a news release issued by Delphi
Automotive Systems (delphiauto.com) on February 16, 2001 with respect to the
unveiling of the first development vehicle to be equipped with a solid oxide
fuel cell (SOFC), Global Thermoelectric Inc. wishes to clarify that the SOFC
stacks used in the project were supplied by Global Thermoelectric Inc.
Global Thermoelectric Inc. is a world leader in the development of solid
oxide fuel cell technology. The Calgary-based company is also the world's
largest manufacturer and distributor of thermoelectric generators and produces
advanced air heaters for use by the defence industry. The Company is listed on
The Toronto Stock Exchange (stock symbol: GLE).
%SEDAR: 00002531E
globalte.com ... GLE's news releases |
