Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Energy Conversion Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jacq who wrote (3386)	3/24/1999 9:22:00 AM
From: jacq	Respond to of 8393

The link for the solar hybrid car is evworld.com Denmark's Toria 2001 Hybrid Solar Car By Borge Christensen The Toria Connector 2001 Solar Hybrid Car is equipped with an electric motor and solar cells for short trips and a plant oil engine for the longer trips. The prototype is constructed of plastics materials and consequently is lighter than todays cars.The combination of low weight, less air resistance and lower rolling resistance allows 5-8000 Km transportation on the harvested solar energy. The car is a 3+3 passenger caravan with measurements as a large sedan.It is judged to be safer and more luxurious than a usual sedan. Most driving under 20 km/day is possible completely without pollution on solar cell energy. The plant oil engine is used outside urban areas up to a top speed of 120Km/h. Background and Purpose Mankinds need for transport is focused around the car.Few other inventions have had an equally pronounced effect on our technical and cultural development.The demand for cars is large and rapidly growing.If all of planet earths almost 6 billion people are going to use cars for transportation we will face an enormous rise in pollution. It is obvious that we must do something radical to the increasing pollution from cars.One way of facing the problems is to turn to increasing use of renewable resources such as wind,solar,plant oil etc.One of the most attractive sources for our purpose are solar cells because they may be mounted directly on top of the cars thus avoiding the losses that would otherwise occur when you move energy from one place to another. As a consequence of legal initiatives a global niece market for vehicles with low or no pollution will emerge.But the customers will still demand a high level of safety,good comfort and excellent economy. This could mean electrical cars but their range is limited because the batteries are too large and too heavy.Equipping the car with solar cells and a small plant oil engine makes it possible to get away with fewer batteries and at the same time get range and top speed as a usual car. A development project with multiple supporters The solar hybrid car is a demonstration project developed by TORIA aps in Ebeltoft,Denmark and supported by a number of public boards ,the board for the environment,the board for industrial development,the energy board and the board of transport. Several private companies and institutions have rendered support in various ways. The prototype has been developed over a period from march 96 until September 98.The work has partly been carried out at TORIA and partly at sub-contractors,these occasionally having sponsored the work. The work at TORIA has been coordinated by a full time project engineer,Alastair M.H. Persson. Many Engineering students at the Engineering High Schools in Sonderborg and Arhus have contributed with theoretical investigations and a larger group of students at the Technical University of Alborg has performed calculations on the reinforced plastic body of the car. Main conclusions: 90% of all trips are shorter than 10 Km and it is especially on these trips the conventional cars generate most of its pollution because it seldom warms up sufficiently. Consequently large environmental premiums are feasible by utilizing solar energy from solar cells directly mounted on the cars. The efficiency of solar cells is increasing and we can therefore expect to go father and father. This fact and the decreasing prices on the solar cells makes the perspectives for large environmental premiums within the transport area very good. Project Conclusions: * It is realistic to exploit solar cells directly mounted on the cars for powering cars,especially for covering energy for the shorter trips in urban areas.This assumes that the cars are optimized for lowest possible enrage consumption i.e. lowest possible weight,air resistance,rolling resistance and transmission losses. * In order to utilize the car for longer trips and in order to heat it in the cold season the most realistic option is to equip it with a small internal combustion engine.Batteries suited for electric mode alone seem to be too large,too heavy and too expensive today and in the immediate future to present a real alternative. * The exploitation of modern plastic materials makes it possible to build a car that is much lighter,more corrosion free and more safe than todays cars.The materials used can give the car a lifetime of at least 20 years after which they can be reused in new items. * Although the solar cells essentially are flat it has been possible to integrate about 6 m2 on the surface of the car without affecting the look and the usability in a negative way..The area of the solar cells dictates that the car must have a certain size.However this proves out to cause significant advantages for as well safety as comfort. * With the selected motors The Solar Hybrid Car will get performance data largely comparable with todays conventional cars.Initial manufacturing price will be somewhat higher than a conventional car.Over time and with mass production and continuos falls in the solar cell prices the cost is anticipated to fall to a level just above conventional cars. The results of the project: The car is designed with as low an air resistance as possible with the limitations presented by the plane solar cells. Each panel of tempered glass holds 10 monokrystalline solar cells with a 14% efficiency.The total of 49 panels has a gross power of 684 Watts at full sun. In the summer months one may drive up to 30-40 Km per day on solar energy if one exploits it fully and that one can drive only a few kilometers in the worst month. Excess power in the summer time may be fed back to the power grid and thus be a source of income. The batteries are sealed and maintenance free and they have capacity enough to allow a complete charge on a normal work day when you park your car at a sunny parking place. The condition of the batteries is monitored continuously and a special charge equalizer assures that the batteries maintain equal charges. The car is built up of an entirely self supported bottom section in a reinforced sandwich plastic construction.To this is fixed a front section roof and a rear lid in the same material. The front section is hinged out front and may be swinged forward thus allowing easy access till the electric motor,the diesel engine,steering,gearbox and electronics. The car has front wheel drive and the motors are coupled to the wheels via a special developed automatic transmission. The suspension system is based on air with integrated shock absorbers and height and angle may be adjusted. During braking the braking energy may be sent back to the batteries. The car has a large free height,the bottom is very slippery and the tires have a low rolling resistance. From a safety point of view the car has been constructed with very strong side members and long deformation zones.During frontal collisions the mechanical parts will be forced down under the strong sandwich bottom and this will then glide up and over the opponent. Future plans: By the beginning of 99 a share holding company has been formed-TORIA auto A/S.The mother group has transferred the prototype,tools and rights to the new company without cash return. . We are in the process of collecting shareholders for a production as soon as possible. Author's Email Mailing Address: TORIA aps, Erhvervsparken 4, 8400 Ebeltoft, Denmark Helpful Links Toria Homepage (Danish Only) Is This Information of Value To You ? If so, please consider becoming a supporter of EV World. Learn how you can help keep EV World free to spread the word about EV technology. How To Become A Supporter. AltaVista Translator Language translation available through AltaVista. Click Translator button to launch application. To listen to EV World interviews you will need a computer capable of audio and equipped with the RealAudio 5.0 plugin or better. Corporate computers behind firewalls may not be able to accept streaming media. Click here to download FREE RealPlayer for both Windows and Macintosh. Windows '95/98 users can also listen to EV World interviews using Microsoft's new Windows Media Player Technical data for the prototype: Size 2x5,2 m Empty weight 700 kg Solar cells 6 sq meters, 684 watt brutto Passengers 3 + 3 Body: 6 major components, glasfiber and epoxy Electric Motor: Asynchronous, 14 kw, 20 kw max. Diesel Engine: 2 cylinder, plant oil fuel Batteries: Lead gel-type 3,7 kWh (120 kg) Acceleration: 0-100 kmh under 15 sec. 120 km.h top speed, For The Latest News, Interviews and Previews of Electric Vehicles... Read EV World:This Week © Copyright 1997-98 Digital Revolution. All rights reserved. P.O. Box 461132, Papillion, NE 68046 Telephone: (402) 339.9877 FAX: (402) 597.6183 E-mail: editor@evworld.com