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When a sexy silver Ferrari F430 Spider prints the bright green "biofuel" on the door, you know that the world has changed. However, this is a scene from a major auto show at the beginning of this year. As one industry commentator said, "Green is the new black."
Considering that Europe is not discussing whether to reduce the carbon emissions of vehicles, but only discussing when to do so and how much to reduce. Currently, new cars on European roads emit an average of about 160 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer; the European Commission last year proposed to reduce this to 130 grams per kilometer by 2012. However, European automakers seem to have failed to achieve the 2008 voluntary target of 140 g/km.
This problem makes French and Italian carmakers-which specialize in small, fuel-efficient cars-compete with German manufacturers, and German manufacturers may see problems with many of their luxury and sports car products. A set of staggered weight-based restrictions may now be established, and the deadline may be postponed until 2015.
Carbon emissions are becoming the standard car benchmark in parts of Europe and Asia, but North American car buyers are almost completely unaware of them. To reflect the global discussion, IEEE Spectrum includes any vehicle carbon dioxide emissions data that we can obtain from manufacturers.
Many innovations this year are focused on internal combustion engine technology-Ford's EcoBoost turbocharged gasoline direct injection engine, Mazda's micro Miller cycle engine, BMW's central installation of twin turbochargers. Then there is the diesel engine. After the fuel economy regulations promulgated by the United States at the end of last year, the diesel engine seems to be expected to revive. European and Japanese automakers are preparing to launch diesel vehicles in North America in the next two to five years. Although the engine requires complex and expensive emission control devices (such as the Mercedes-Benz Bluetec system) to capture the large amount of fine particulate matter emitted by the diesel engine, its low fuel usage and carbon dioxide emissions are beyond doubt.
Will American buyers buy diesel? no one knows. This may be the biggest unanswered question in the industry.
Plug-in hybrid vehicles are another problem. General Motors expressed confidence that lithium-ion batteries will clear the various obstacles required for the launch of the Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle at the end of 2010, and it is expected that it can travel 64 kilometers on electricity alone. The plug-in version of GM’s Saturn Vue dual-mode hybrid sports utility was launched on roughly the same schedule, with a range of 16 kilometers. At the same time, Toyota suddenly changed its attitude towards plug-ins and launched a Prius test fleet that was converted to plug-in operations. This is a conversion of private customers ordering one car at a time in small garages in the United States and other countries.
This trend even extends to China, where terrible air pollution and increasing dependence on imported oil threaten the country’s economic prosperity. BYD is a Chinese battery company that claims to supply two-thirds of the world’s nickel-cadmium batteries and 30% of lithium-ion mobile phone batteries. The company began producing cars in 2002. In January, it showed off a plug-in hybrid car with a purported electric range of 96 kilometers. The company said it will sell it in small batches by the end of this year, only in China. In other words, there are fewer than 200 plug-in hybrid vehicles in the world.
Finally, the industry is doing something about the weight of its products. For example, Ford's EcoBoost V6 engine provides greater power and torque of a V8 engine, with better fuel economy, lower emissions, and lighter weight. Even so, the weight of the fully equipped EcoBoost is about half of the entire Tata Nano from India, which is priced at US$2500, which is cheaper than many car option packages. The low price and the planned production of millions make Nano easily the most important release of the year. It is feared by the global automotive industry and expected by millions of Indian families, who now often travel in groups of four or five on a scooter.
Ferrari performance, the price is only one-third
In some ways, it runs counter to advanced sports car design. It has an engine with only two valves per cylinder. These valves are opened and closed with a push rod, just like they are in a lifetime engine. The body part is made of fiberglass. Compared with the aluminum, magnesium and carbon fiber used by Corvette's competitors, fiberglass is a distinctly old-fashioned material.
However, the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 does a good job: it can transport two people at the fastest speed, whether on a straight or winding road. Corvette is the only American production car with ceramic brake discs and polycarbonate windows. Its hood gives you a glimpse of the intercooler. Chevrolet’s goal is simple: maximize power and minimize quality.
ZR1 was developed under the code name Blue Devil and built around a 6.2-liter aluminum V8 engine that can generate 462 kilowatts (620 horsepower) and 807 Newton-meters (595 foot-pounds) of torque. The aluminum cylinder block has the size of the classic Chevrolet small cylinder block V8, but this is handmade in a dedicated engine workshop, and the craftsmanship is only used for racing engines. For example, before pressing the cast iron cylinder liner into the aluminum cylinder block, a deck was installed on the aluminum cylinder block to simulate the pressure generated by the cylinder head and the small size differences.
The Roots-type supercharger squeezes air into the engine through an intercooler to provide a higher density of oxygen, but can still be sufficiently cooled to prevent premature combustion and power consumption. Like most supercharged engines, it can provide near-peak power over a wide range of engine speeds, from approximately 2500 rpm to 6600 rpm.
To handle all this power, the clutch uses a pair of smaller discs instead of other Corvette single discs. This spreads the torque to a larger area and reduces the inertia by 25%, allowing the engine to accelerate or decelerate faster. Like the highest performance German cars, the brake discs of the ZR1 are made of carbon fiber-reinforced ceramic silicon carbide, which is not susceptible to changes caused by friction, which can cause the braking force to temporarily weaken after repeated high-speed braking.
The driving control on the ZR1 uses magnetic particles suspended in the fluid instead of mechanical shock. The viscosity of the fluid changes with the magnetic field, and the magnetic field changes with input from sensors every millisecond. These sensors provide data about speed, suspension, and road conditions.
The roof, hood, front fenders, door sills and some smaller parts are made of carbon fiber instead of steel, and the reduced weight offsets the heavier engine. The weight of this car is only 1520 kg (3351 lb).
As of press time, Chevrolet has not released performance data, but said that the ZR1 is expected to become the first mass-produced Corvette to exceed 320 km/h (200 mph). Rumor has it that the car accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in less than 3.5 seconds. The factory does confirm that the cornering grip is more than 1 gram-enough to make you feel twice the weight in a perfectly sloping curve. This is one of the highest gravity of any mass-produced vehicle today.
The price of the ZR1 is about $100,000, which is better than a car that is two to four times more expensive. It is the only American vehicle that often succeeds in the legendary 24 Heures du Mans race, which is better known as Le Mans-it is indeed a car company from Kentucky.
• Powerplant: 110 kW 1.4-liter turbocharged fuel stratified injection engine; 30 kW electric motor • Transmission: S-tronic 6-speed direct shift transmission, two manual transmissions paired • Declared fuel efficiency: in hybrid mode Fuel efficiency: 4.9 liters/100 km (48 miles/gallon) • Claimed carbon dioxide emissions: 112 g/km • More: Except for hybrid cars, Metroproject is likely to be a preview of Audi’s upcoming A2 subcompact car .
Plug-in hybrids with their own phones-and then some
This small and handsome Audi concept car contains a surprise that amazed gadget lovers at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show: a detachable "Audi Mobile Device" that combines an iPhone, remote control key, media player, and wireless security monitor Elements.
You can make calls, view maps, listen to music and watch videos on the bright red device, but you can also unlock the car, make sure the doors are locked, start the engine remotely (warm up on cold days), and use the internal camera Check what is happening in the car (in case children or thieves take it for a drive).
Metroproject is one of several European concept cars equipped with a plug-in hybrid system this year. Here, the lithium-ion battery pack provides an electric range of up to 100 kilometers (62 miles) at a top speed of more than 100 km/h. When the battery power is less than 20% of its maximum value, the 1.4-liter engine will start.
The porous injector delivers fuel directly to the combustion chamber, and the turbine is adjusted to provide power within the engine speed range. This arrangement minimizes "turbo lag", which usually occurs when the turbocharger rotates fast enough to compress the air it delivers to the intake manifold. Audi claims that at 1250 rpm, it can provide 80% of the engine's peak torque.
Metroproject's Quattro all-wheel drive is provided by a combination of engine and electric motor. An internal combustion engine that produces 240 Newton-meters (177 ft-lbs) of torque drives the front wheels; a 30-kilowatt (40 hp) electric motor adds 200 Nm (147 ft-lbs) to power the rear wheels.
Audi said that compared with using the engine alone, the fuel efficiency of the hybrid system has increased by 15%. Metroproject's top speed is 200 km/h (124 mph), and the acceleration time from 0 to 100 km/h (0 to 62 mph) is 7.8 seconds. Metroproject is a "performance hybrid" — A concept fact that has not yet existed proved that it is very popular in the United States, which is currently the largest market for various hybrid vehicles.
The driver can choose between "efficiency" and "dynamic" configurations, which will change the throttle mapping, shift points, suspension stiffness and other system control settings. This variable personality in the same car is another increasingly common feature in concepts (and some production cars). They provide the driver with a variety of configuration files to choose from, which combine the different settings of the various electronic control systems of the car, usually to maximize fuel economy on the one hand, and maximize performance on the other.
Completely reinterpret the new engine of Mercedes-Benz
This highly conceptually researched shape for the future full-size S-Class Mercedes-Benz is low and stylish, almost as eye-catching as its miniature powerplant: the 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine combines the advantages of diesel and spark- Ignite the engine while avoiding the shortcomings unique to each engine.
Let us first recap: a spark ignition engine uses a spark plug to ignite gasoline and air vapor compressed in a ratio of approximately 10:1 so that combustion starts at one end of the combustion chamber and spreads to the other. Diesel engines compress vapor to a higher ratio (for example, 25:1), causing it to self-ignite, starting from the edge and spreading inward.
The Mercedes design makes full use of the previously wasted product: the exhaust gas from the previous combustion cycle. This gas preheats the incoming fuel-air mixture, so it requires less compression to reach ignition temperature. There are two such injections per cycle, and both require very fine control of temperature and pressure.
When the piston reaches the top of its compression stroke, closer to the ratio of a spark ignition engine than a diesel engine, ignition will start spontaneously, not only at the edge of the chamber, but at many points throughout. The result is complete and efficient combustion at temperatures that are too low to form nitrous oxide (the Achilles heel of diesel engines). Although the combustion of a new engine produces lower torque than a diesel engine or a spark-ignition engine, you will never notice insufficient torque at part load—for example, when you are at cruising speed. When you really need that torque, the engine will behave like its spark-ignited engine.
This design is known in the industry as Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI), although Mercedes calls it DiesOtto to pay tribute to Rudolph Diesel and Nikolaus Otto who invented diesel and spark ignition engines in the 19th century. For many years, due to the lack of practical engine control, this idea was put on hold. As quantified by Moore's Law, continuous improvements in processing power have now solved this problem.
The engine of the F700 includes two turbochargers-a small turbocharger for lower engine speeds, and a large turbocharger for higher speeds-as well as starting from the electric motor integrated into the gearbox The additional torque generated at the time. The crankshaft was also modified, the manufacturer did not specify, which made it possible to change the compression ratio of the engine. (Other manufacturers that tried to use HCCI engines, especially General Motors, did not make such modifications.)
The results are quite amazing. The automaker claims that only a 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine can output 190 kilowatts (255 horsepower) at maximum load, while only using 5.3 liters per 100 kilometers (44 miles per gallon) at cruising speed-in a car weighing 1700 In a kilogram (3748 lb) vehicle.
shortcoming? First, each cylinder needs its own pressure sensor so that the engine controller can fine-tune the combustion cycle, and these sensors are still very expensive. Second, the large amount of data from these and other sensors makes the logic in the engine controller more challenging.
Over time, HCCI engines may be cheaper to manufacture than diesel engines because they do not require structural reinforcement, which makes high-compression diesel engines heavier than conventional engines of the same power. They can also eliminate the complex emission control systems required by diesel vehicles to meet California standards (such as Mercedes Bluetec).
The F700 concept car has many other fascinating features, from the rear hinged rear door to its Pre-Scan hydraulic active suspension, which can continuously process optical data from the road ahead to actively change its settings.
The industry expects that HCCI engines will be put into production sometime between 2015 and 2020. This concept car may be the basis of the least conservative model in the most prestigious Mercedes-Benz S-Class. Even in a world where oil prices are rising and carbon emissions are restricted by legislation, this bold vehicle shows that the internal combustion engine is still alive.
• Power plant: 298 kW (400 horsepower) 4.4-liter twin-turbocharged direct-injection V8 • Transmission: 6-speed automatic; paddle shifters mounted on the steering wheel • Declared fuel efficiency: information not available • Declared carbon dioxide emissions Volume: Information not available • More: The X6 series is likely to include hybrid electric and 197 kW 3.0-liter six-cylinder diesel models in the near future; the closely related BMW X5 sports utility vehicle will provide this diesel in 2009 .
Get to know FlexRay, a new high-speed automotive data bus
Remember how amazing the first anti-lock brakes looked in the 1980s, when they stopped your car smoothly, half of the wheels on the ice and the other half on the dry road? These systems process sensor data several times per second and provide the information to a dedicated brake controller. Compare it with today’s cars, which process data from dozens of on-board sensors—even external factors such as vehicle proximity—and immediately process the data through as many as a dozen control systems integrated by the vehicle controller . Now consider the car of tomorrow, which is nothing more than a local area network on wheels. For it, the relevant indicator will be bandwidth.
The BMW X6 is the first mass-produced car to adopt the next bandwidth order. It uses a scheme called FlexRay, a high-speed data bus developed by an alliance of car manufacturers and component suppliers. FlexRay provides two communication channels, each with a data rate of 10 megabits per second, which is 10 to 40 times higher than the current in-vehicle communication protocol, depending on the implementation of the system.
FlexRay transfers data between components of an adaptive drive, which is a greatly enhanced descendant of automatic braking in the past. Adaptive drive does not just detect wheel traction, but uses a central controller to interpret sensor data about speed, steering angle, longitudinal and lateral acceleration, body and wheel speed, damper position, and other standards. The system controls body roll and adjusts dampers to keep the vehicle stable in almost any operation.
The all-wheel-drive X6-what BMW calls a sports coupe-is not stingy with horsepower. It is equipped with a 4.4-liter aluminum V8, putting its twin turbocharger in a novel position. They are nestled between the V-shaped cylinder banks of the engine, rather than suspended from the exhaust manifold outside the V-shaped. This scheme is effective because BMW has switched the positions of the manifold and the air intake so that the exhaust gas flows inside the V-shape so that it only needs to move a few centimeters to reach the blades of the charger turbine. In this way, the exhaust gas can spin up the turbine, with less delay between stepping on the accelerator and getting an extra turbocharger.
To make this process possible, the company developed a turbocharger with materials that can operate in a hotter environment between banks, which is a virtual oven that can continuously bake a turbo system at a temperature of hundreds of degrees. .
Another innovation is what BMW calls Dynamic Performance Control, or DPC-an entry in the alphabet soup of electronic traction, suspension and engine control systems. The DPC controls the effect of the rear differential, which includes two planetary gear sets, each of which contains a central gear ("sun") that is rotated by engine torque. The sun is surrounded by planetary gears, and these planetary gears are mounted in a ring gear, which drives a single wheel through two clutch groups, allowing the controller to individually reduce or increase the torque of each rear wheel to enhance steering, stability and traction .
Probably the most practical ultra-high performance car in the world
Nissan GT-R always combines pulse acceleration performance with technological innovation. It provides all-wheel drive, four-wheel steering and twin turbochargers for many years, these features can only be used in small vehicles. This is the fifth-generation product since the GT-R was launched in 1969. It is the first-generation product to be offered on a global scale, including the very conspicuous U.S. market.
The car’s designers have always avoided the V8 or V12 engines used by many of its two-seater competitors, and instead used twin turbochargers to squeeze out all the power needed from six cylinders. However, this year, they are set in a "V" shape, which is a change from the inline six-cylinder of the previous model. The resulting 358 kilowatts (480 horsepower) of power and 583 Newton-meters (437 ft-lbs) of torque are even more impressive because the car also meets the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's ultra-low emission vehicle rating.
The engine is located at the rear of the center of the front wheels. Instead of driving a traditional connected gearbox, it drives a rear drive axle that includes a dual-clutch gearbox and a transfer case, and then distributes power among the four wheels. The dual-clutch transmission allocates separate clutches for odd and even gears, allowing it to preselect the next highest and lowest gears, almost instantaneously.
This unusual arrangement allows Nissan to achieve a weight distribution of 53% in the front and 47% in the rear-close to the ideal state of 50-50. The all-wheel drive system provides a smooth torque distribution from 100% rear wheels to 50/50 front wheels. The driver can choose between three settings-Normal, Comfort or R for ultimate control-for multiple systems, including engine and transmission mapping and suspension control. It is meaningless for a GT-R driver to choose a comfortable frequency.
Nissan said that the dashboard display is "inspired by video games," which is not a pure gain for those who like drivers to focus on driving. Like high-performance cars, the panel displays acceleration, brake pedal pressure, and steering angle; it even records a large amount of operating data, such as the black box on a jet airliner. When such data is not displayed, the panel also controls the navigation system, audio equipment, and mobile phone system.
• Power plant: 66 kilowatts (89 horsepower), 1.3 liters Miller cycle 16-valve four-cylinder • Transmission: Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) • Declared fuel efficiency: 4.3 liters/100 km (55 miles/gallon), Japan combined cycle • Claimed carbon dioxide emissions: 129 g/km • More: The "platform" or substructure will become the basis of the new Ford Fiesta in Europe, and Ford is considering selling it in the United States.
Newer, better equipped...lighter
The latest Mazda 2 (called Demio in some markets) has become more spacious, more powerful, better equipped, and has a weight reduction of 990 kg, while a 100 kg reduction. There is a model that offers both Mazda’s Miller cycle engine (this time in 1.3-liter form) and the company’s first continuously variable transmission, and it really starts to look like a very advanced small car.
The Miller cycle improves the efficiency of a four-stroke "Otto" engine with a fifth cycle by dividing the compression stroke into two parts. During the first 20% to 30% of the stroke, the intake valve remains open, so the piston can push some of the fuel-air mixture out of the door, just like it does. When the lever of the piston is the worst, this kind of leakage will reduce the load. Then the standard procedure is to use a supercharger (compressor driven by the crankshaft) to push the mixture back again until the piston reaches a mechanically more favorable position to complete the compression. Since the utilization of this mechanical advantage saves more energy than the supercharger, the overall efficiency is improved.
However, Mazda eliminated the supercharger, and instead used variable valve timing and clever adjustments to the combustion chamber to minimize fuel-air leakage. The company also minimized the low power and torque of the Miller cycle. Compared with the traditional version of the same engine, the power is only reduced by 1 kilowatt, and the torque is only slightly reduced, from 124 Newton-meters (89 foot-pounds) to 120.
Mazda said that in Japan's fuel economy cycle, the 1.3-liter Miller cycle model uses only 4.3 liters per 100 kilometers (55 miles per gallon) and reduces emissions to 75% lower than the old limit that took effect in 2005. (This is also available in Europe with a 1.5-liter engine and 1.4-liter diesel.) Mazda 2 is not sold in the United States.
Ford is part of the owner of Mazda, so the design of the car is an early indicator of an element in Ford's "sustainability blueprint" for improving energy efficiency: making it lighter. Even while meeting new crash safety standards and adding hardware (including entertainment equipment and navigation systems), Mazda has made cars slimmer. It uses ultra-high-strength tensile steel and stronger welds to reduce weight while increasing rigidity. It also increased the drag coefficient to 0.32, which is respectable for a car that is 3.9 meters long, 1.5 meters high, and 1.7 meters wide.
Stunning stereo with stunning design
This is an eye-catching and elegant departure. It is the first Jaguar to break away from the traditional styling clues in 40 years. It may be the most important car in Jaguar's history, and it must be proven that this legendary brand has a future after Ford sold it to Tata Motors, the world's lowest-priced Indian car manufacturer (see "2009 Tata Nano").
Of course, if XF is just eye-catching, you won't read this article-its technical certificate is also very reliable. Internal accessories will only be hidden when needed. When the driver gets in the car, the car will sense the proximity of the electronic key card, and its "start" button will emit a red pulse. Pressing the button causes the rotary gear selector to rise from the console to the driver's hand. In the first demonstration, you can almost hear Q in the James Bond movie say, "Really, 007, only once I want to return the entire car!"
Likewise, passengers cannot see the dashboard vents until they wave their hands, and then the sensor triggers the motor to rotate the vents into place. The top light and glove box cover operate in the same way. The goal is to reduce the mess in the cabin and increase the soothing and calmness of all occupants; the soft fluorescent blue "halo" lighting enhances the atmosphere.
The wizards of Bowers & Wilkins are the favorite of enthusiasts in Worthing, England, and they planned the acoustics of this high-speed concert hall. They worked with Jaguar's engineers to put 14 custom-designed speakers in the best positions. The larger speaker has a unique yellow Kevlar cone, which provides better linear response and reduces distortion; the four tweeters with aluminum transducer domes reduce the weight of a moving part and extend the tweeter response to An octave higher than the standard design.
The 440-watt surround sound system uses Dolby Logic in the remote amplifier. Of course, the necessary inputs for personal MP3 players and USB storage devices are controlled through the car’s touch screen display The system continuously monitors internal noise and adjusts its balance to compensate.
Not all technologies are moving in the direction of biological comfort. There is a system that uses radar to alert the driver to nearby vehicles that he or she cannot see. The optional adaptive cruise control system-quickly becoming a must-have for luxury cars-keeps the car at a safe distance from the car in front. Jaguar also provides an automatic speed limiter-very convenient for those who are already carrying some speeding tickets.
• Power plant: 24 kW (32 hp) 623 cc aluminum two-cylinder • Gearbox: Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) • Declared fuel efficiency: 4.7 liters/100 km (50 miles/gallon) • Declared carbon dioxide emissions: 120 g/km • More: Tata plans to sell high-end versions in Europe, the price may be only one-third of the current cheapest new car. European manufacturers are concerned about this.
Remake people's car
In January of this year, about 100 years after Henry Ford launched his Model T—the first car designed for middle-income people—Ratan Tata did it again. The chairman of Tata Motors of India drove a white Nano onto the stage of the New Delhi Auto Expo, fulfilling the promise of 100,000 cars (100,000 rupees, approximately US$2,500).
Just like the predecessor "People's Car" that put the entire country on wheels-Model T, Germany's Volkswagen Beetle, France's Citroen 2CV, Italy's Fiat 500-it only uses technology where it is needed.
The basic model abandoned air conditioning, power steering, central locking, power windows, radio, passenger side mirrors, even sun visors and a second windshield wiper. Its 623 cubic centimeter two-cylinder engine produces only 24 kilowatts (32 horsepower)—about the same as mid-range motorcycles in the United States—and uses only one balance shaft to reduce vibration. However, it does have multi-point fuel injection (rather than a less precise carburetor), its exhaust is cleaned by a catalytic converter, and it is said to comply with current European emission regulations. The top speed is about 100 kilometers per hour (62 miles per hour)-although an Indian automotive executive is quoted as saying that wheel bearings will wear out quickly above 75 kilometers per hour.
The 3.1-meter-long Nano breaks the classic economical car design and does not use a lateral front engine and front-wheel drive. Instead, the engine is located at the rear and under the floor, saving Tata Motors the cost of fancy constant velocity joints for the drive wheels, which must also be steered. Paradoxically, this allows structural engineers to create a deeper front squeeze zone. In a frontal collision, this area will gradually deform and transfer energy throughout the frame without pushing a large piece of metal into the knees of the front passenger.
The car uses an all-steel structure and includes safety features such as a controlled squeeze zone, door side intrusion barriers and seat belts-although it is not an airbag. Tata said the car is designed to pass international crash tests. However, its weight is approximately 510 kg (1124 lb), which means that an engineering team of 500 people must calculate very carefully to achieve this goal. In a collision between cars of different weights, the lighter the car almost always causes more damage.
So far, few reporters have even sat on the Nano, let alone drive it. But Tata Motors has ambitious goals, saying that it hopes to produce 250,000 Nanos at its plant in West Bengal in the first year of car production. Once the company starts selling in developing countries in Asia, Africa, and Africa, it may Produce 1 million vehicles or more. Latin America. Tata Motors recently announced that it will develop a car that can meet European emission regulations and sell it in Europe within four years.
Unlike Henry Ford, Tata must deal with the environmental impact of his car. Now only 7 out of every 1,000 Indians own a car; if this percentage is quadrupled, for example, it may severely increase air pollution and traffic congestion. Rejendra Pachauri, chairman of the Geneva Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, even said that Nano would interfere with his sleep. However, at the unveiling ceremony, Ratan Tata said that Pachauri "does not need to have nightmares." He pointed out that the Nano not only meets all current Indian emission standards, but in many cases it may replace the worse-emission two-stroke scooter.
The cost of the Nano is half of the current India's cheapest new car, the Maruti 800, but it provides millions-or can we say billions? ——The dream of personal travel. If the company can fulfill its promise, Tata's Nano may remain in the top 10 car list.
Extreme fuel economy, the old-fashioned way
Proving that diesel engines can indeed save fuel and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Volkswagen’s fuel economy champion burns only 3.8 liters per 100 kilometers (62 miles per gallon) and emits only 99 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer. This is much lower than the maximum fleet average of 130 g/km recommended by the European Community in upcoming regulations.
As Volkswagen often points out, it is also lower than the 104 g/km CO2 emissions produced by the Toyota Prius Hybrid Electric Vehicle. This comparison is a bit unfair, because the Prius is a bigger car, but it emphasizes how much a turbocharged diesel engine can screw out in a car weighing less than 1,100 kg (2,425 lb).
Starting from the standard 1.4-liter three-cylinder diesel engine, Volkswagen changed the direct injection mapping to inject fuel into each cylinder. It also takes advantage of the variable geometry of the turbocharger-an exhaust-driven turbine that squeezes air into the combustion chamber. At low engine speeds, the turbine output passes through a smaller port to provide higher pressure until the engine speed reaches full speed, when the port is expanded to keep the turbocharging consistent.
It is worth noting that even with a diesel particulate filter, the Polo does not meet the current form of North American emission standards. But the 59-kilowatt diesel engine's high torque of 195 Newton-meters (144 ft-lbs) and a top speed of 176 km/h (109 mph) make Polo suitable for all kinds of traffic. The gearbox uses a higher gear ratio than other Polos to reduce engine speed at a given road speed. Volkswagen has installed a unique front body panel-grille and front fascia-to reduce the wind resistance of the car at high speeds.
The first Polo BlueMotion was launched in the summer of 2006, consuming 3.9 liters/100 km (60 miles/gallon) and emitting 102 g/km of carbon dioxide. For the 2008 model year, Volkswagen added low rolling resistance tires and some further aerodynamic adjustments. The revised drag coefficient is reduced to 0.30-a challenge for such a small square car-and there are improvements in both numbers. And there is no need for an advanced battery pack or electric motor. (In order to hedge its bets, Volkswagen demonstrated a golf concept car equipped with a diesel engine and a full hybrid system at the Geneva Motor Show in March. It is said that its fuel consumption is only 3.4 liters/100 kilometers, or 69 miles per gallon. )
• Power plant: 2010 Model: 254 kW (340 horsepower) 3.5-liter turbocharged gasoline direct injection V6 • Transmission: 6-speed automatic • Declared fuel efficiency: Information not available • Declared CO2 emissions: Information not available • More: The EcoBoost engine was originally named TwinForce, but Ford renamed it to save fuel and reduce emissions, far from the image of high performance.
Ford and Microsoft team up to take over General Motors' OnStar
This full-size Lincoln sedan with a glass roof is equipped with Ford's latest entertainment and mobile communication system Sync, and will also create a new fuel-efficient engine technology.
Developed jointly by Microsoft and Ford (exclusively available in North America before the end of 2008), the current version of Sync uses English, Spanish, and French voice-activated commands to coordinate entertainment, navigation, and mobile phone systems. It is said that its Bluetooth wireless connection is suitable for almost any Bluetooth phone, including the transmission of ringtones and phone book contents. Therefore, Sync will play a ringtone associated with a specific caller, which can be heard through the car's speaker. Internet-equipped phones can even stream audio to the sound system.
Sync’s USB 2.0 port allows MP3 players and other devices to charge themselves and transfer files to the built-in hard drive and standard audio input jacks. It reads the received text messages and emails aloud, but cannot convert verbal responses back to text. Users can control the system by talking to the system so they can make calls without touching their mobile phones-this is essential for any place where it is illegal to use a handheld device while driving.
Ford said that the second version of Sync, which will be released this summer, will provide a lot of new information in its navigation system as a separate option. The Sirius Travel Link subscription service will provide real-time news on traffic conditions in 78 U.S. markets via satellite download, as well as five-day weather updates, local fuel prices, movie listings and other data.
Another feature called 911 Assist puts Sync in direct competition with General Motors' OnStar system. Whenever the vehicle’s airbag deploys, it will automatically make the driver’s mobile phone call the 911 emergency service dispatcher, unless the driver cancels the call within 10 seconds. By the end of this year, almost all Ford models will provide synchronization functions. It is expected that more than 1 million Sync-equipped cars will be on the road next year.
Within one year of its launch this summer, MKS will receive a second innovation: Ford's EcoBoost engine, using a 3.5-liter V6 engine. Combining gasoline direct injection with a turbocharger, the V6 provides at least the power and torque of the company's 4.6-liter V8, which breathes without any such breathing assistance. However, because it is much smaller, fuel efficiency will increase by 10% to 20%, and carbon dioxide emissions can be reduced by up to 15%.
Injecting gasoline directly into the cylinder produces a cooler, denser charge, which provides better performance than traditional port injection, which injects fuel into the air in the intake manifold. Adding a turbocharger specifically adjusted for direct injection can provide higher torque over a wide range of engine speeds-460 Newton-meters (339 ft-lbs), while the V8 engine has a torque of 365 to 420 Newton-meters. Provides power with fewer shifts when needed.
Ford is far from the first automaker to use direct injection and turbocharging, but this is the first time that this type of engine is available in bulk to American family car buyers. The company has an aggressive plan to launch EcoBoost on four-cylinder and six-cylinder designs and expects to manufacture 500,000 such engines within five years.
Please refer to our slideshow: Green Machine: This year's top high-tech car achieves higher performance with less fuel than ever before, leaving a smaller carbon footprint.
Listen to our audio demo, "Top 10 Tech Cars of 2008".
It provides courses on entrepreneurship, finance, etc.
Professionals who specialize in engineering and technical management must understand interdisciplinary concepts and contribute to multi-functional teams. Although technical expertise is important, it is not enough for long-term career development and success.
Many engineers and technical professionals lack important skills. With the recent shift to remote work, many organizations have not done enough to train them. According to LinkedIn Learning, the consequences are obvious. LinkedIn’s guide "How to Attract and Retain Top Talent in Learning Plans" states that employees who think their career goals have been put on hold are 12 times more likely to consider leaving.
By investing in employee leadership development programs, organizations can retain the best talent. In a CareerBuilder survey of employers on the impact of hiring people with advanced degrees, 32% thought the retention rate had increased. This is why IEEE cooperates with Rutgers School of Business to provide the only mini MBA course designed for engineers and technical professional teams.
"This course has a reasonable structure, allowing us to appreciate the world outside the engineering field."
Recently named as one of the top three mini-MBA courses by IEEE and Forbes | Rutgers Online Mini-MBA for Engineers is a completely virtual course that provides basic courses traditionally taught in the MBA program. Courses cover accounting, business communication, business ethics, entrepreneurship, finance, managerial economics, management, marketing, operations and strategic management.
Completing the plan allows learners to:
The following are the comments of some project graduates:
"The reason I took this course is to better understand the'other side'," said Sohaib Qamar Sheikh, a technical assistant at a large commercial real estate development and investment company in the UK and an IEEE senior member. "This course is well-structured and gives us a taste of the world outside of the engineering field. It helps me better understand other aspects related to our business products."
"I decided to participate in the program for the following reasons: it is cost-effective, rich in content, and flexible to adapt to my schedule," said IEEE member Anis Ben Arfi, a system engineer at ADI. "Through my Mini MBA course, I learned a variety of skills and improved my potential to easily handle business operations. I have a better understanding of trade secrets and patents, more familiar with product life cycles, different metrics for evaluating and measuring customer experience, and agility Project management process. My advice to aspiring applicants is: if you have the opportunity to participate in this journey, please seize it."
Registration is now open to individuals interested in attending next year’s conference. There are two sessions available. One starts in March; the other starts in September. The registration deadline for the March conference is February 4, and the registration deadline for the September conference is August 15. Individuals interested in registering can contact IEEE account experts.
IEEE | Rutgers Online Mini-MBA for Engineers is also available to organizations interested in gaining access to groups of 10 or more people. If you are interested in group access and pricing, including custom apex options designed for your organization's needs, please contact an IEEE account specialist.
Interested in learning more about leadership? Here are two free IEEE on-demand virtual events that can help future leaders bridge the gap between business and engineering as they prepare to grow into a managerial role:
Nvidia’s Earth-2 will use machine learning to improve model resolution, while the EU’s efforts take a different approach
Edd Gent is a freelance technology writer based in Bangalore, India. His work focuses on emerging technologies across computing, engineering, energy, and biological sciences. He is @EddytheGent on Twitter and emailed at edd dot gent at Outlook dot com. His PGP fingerprint is ABB8 6BB3 3E69 C4A7 EC91 611B 5C12 193D 5DFC C01B. His public key is here. DM signal information.
A powerful climate model helps eliminate any uncertainty about the scale of the climate crisis facing the world. But these models are large-scale global simulations and cannot tell us how climate change will affect our daily lives or how to respond at the local level. This is where the digital twin of the earth can help.
Digital twins are virtual models of real-world objects, machines, or systems that can be used to evaluate the performance of real-world objects, diagnose or predict failures, or simulate how future changes will change their behavior. Typically, digital twins involve digital simulation and real-time sensor data from real-world systems to keep the model up to date.
So far, digital twins have been mainly used in industrial environments. For example, a digital twin can monitor the power grid or manufacturing equipment. However, there is increasing interest in applying similar ideas to the field of climate simulation to provide a more interactive and detailed way to track and predict changes in the systems that drive the Earth’s climate (such as the atmosphere and oceans).
Now, the chip manufacturer NVIDIA is committed to building the world's most powerful supercomputer, specifically for simulating climate change. At the company's GPU technology conference, CEO Jensen Huang said that Earth-2 will be used to create a digital twin of the earth in Omniverse-this is a virtual collaboration platform and an attempt by NVIDIA in the meta universe.
"We may finally have a way to simulate the Earth's climate in 10, 20 or 30 years, predict the regional impact of climate change, and take action to mitigate and adapt before it is too late," Huang said.
The announcement did not disclose details. An Nvidia spokesperson said that the company is currently unable to confirm what the computer's architecture is or who can access it. But in his speech, Huang emphasized the company's belief that machine learning plays an important role in improving the resolution and speed of climate models and creating a digital twin of the earth.
Today, most climate simulations are driven by complex equations that describe the physics behind key processes. Many equations are computationally expensive to solve, so even on the most powerful supercomputers, models usually only reach a resolution of 10 to 100 kilometers.
Huang said that some important processes, such as the behavior of clouds that reflect solar radiation back into space, only operate on a scale of a few meters. He believes that machine learning can help here. While announcing Earth-2, the company also launched a new machine learning framework called Modulus, designed to help researchers train neural networks to simulate complex physical systems by learning from observation data or the output of physical models.
"The resulting model simulates physics 1,000 to 100,000 times faster than simulation," Huang said. "With Modulus, scientists will be able to create digital twin models to better understand large systems in unprecedented ways."
Bjorn Stevens, director of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, said that improving the resolution of climate models is a key factor in an effective digital twin of the earth. Today's climate models currently rely on statistical workarounds for assessing climate on a global scale, but it is difficult to understand local effects. He said that this is essential for predicting the regional impact of climate change so that we can better inform adaptation efforts.
But Steven suspects that machine learning is some kind of panacea to solve this problem. "There is an illusion that machine learning will replace problems we know how to solve physically, but I think it always has a disadvantage there."
He said that the key to creating a digital twin is to create a highly interactive system, and the beauty of the physical model is that it replicates all aspects of the process in an interpretable way. This is something that a machine learning model trained to mimic the process may not be able to do.
He added that this is not to say that there is no room for machine learning. In areas where we have a lot of data but little knowledge of physics (such as fouling mechanics), it may help speed up workflows, compress data, and potentially develop new models. But he believes that the rapid advancement of supercomputing capabilities means that running physical models at higher resolutions is more of will and resources than capabilities.
The EU hopes to fill this gap with a new program called Destination Earth, which was officially launched in January. The project is a joint effort of the European Space Agency, the European Meteorological Satellite Development Organization and the European Centre for Medium-Term Weather Forecast (ECMWF).
Peter Bauer, deputy director of ECMWF's research department, said that our goal is to create a platform that can bring together various models to simulate key aspects of climate such as the atmosphere and ocean, as well as human systems. "So you have to monitor and simulate not only precipitation and temperature, but also what this means for agriculture, water supply or infrastructure," he said.
Bauer said the result will not be a single homogeneous simulation of all aspects of the earth, but an interactive platform that allows users to introduce any necessary models and data to answer the questions they are interested in.
The project will be implemented gradually over the next ten years, but the first two digital twins they hope to deliver will include one designed to predict extreme weather events such as floods and forest fires, and the other designed to provide long-term forecasts to support climate adaptation and mitigation efforts.
Although Nvidia’s announcement of a new supercomputer dedicated to climate modeling is popular, Bauer said today’s challenges are more about software engineering than developing new hardware. Most key models are developed separately using very different methods, so letting them communicate with each other and find a way to connect data streams of different heights is a prominent problem.
"Part of the challenge of really hiding the diversity and complexity of these components away from users and making them work together," Bauer said.
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1 Manufacturing specifications and work instructions: FLARE (Laboratory Reconnection Experimental Facility) Project-Manufacturing of Magnetic Cores, FLARE-Spec-03-Rev.00, WP1995, Revision 0, Princeton University Plasma Physics Laboratory, 2015 3 On the 19th. flare. pppl.gov/Construction/FLARE FCSpec-03 19Mar15.pdf.
2 Li, David and others. The characteristics of optical fiber at low temperature. Monthly Bulletin of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 326, no. 2. September 11, 2001, pages 774-780. ResearchGate, doi: 10.1046/j.1365-8711.2001.04630.x. Visited on August 2, 2017.
4 Chen Bingqiang. 4 Numerical performance prediction of Mach mini-ramjet, Master's thesis, Naval Postgraduate School, 2012.
5 Xu Jingke. Research on underground source argon for direct dark matter detection. Thesis, Princeton University, 2013.
6 Hsu, Scott C. Experimental study of ion heating and acceleration during magnetic reconnection. NP June 2000. July 2016. http://www.osti.gov/scitech/servlets/purl/750977
7 Snow, David and others. "Equipment and method for improving vibration isolation, thermal damping, and optical path in low-temperature refrigerators." US Patent 8,756,941. June 24, 2014.
8 Walsh, Michael M. "Fuel cell assembly fluid flow plate with conductive fibers and hardened materials." US Patent 6,096,450. August 1, 2000.
9 Qing, Xinlin, etc. "Methods and equipment for structural health monitoring in a low-temperature and high-vibration environment." US Patent 8,347,722. January 8, 2013.
10 Chappell, Charles D. and Kara L. Warrensford. "System and method for controlling gas conversion in fiber optic gyroscopes." US Patent 9,182,230. November 10, 2015.
11 Tischler, Hadas. Wolfs, Shuxi. Friedman. Alexander. Perel, Eli. Pashut, Tamar. Ravido, Michal. Aaron Koengreen, Aaron. Jeshulen, Joseph. Bagad, Izar. "Miniature coils for magnetic stimulation of primates." Baylan University in Ramat Gan, Israel. June 12, 2010. Revised on September 28, 2010.
12 Alberts, SJ, Doehne, CJ and Johnson, WL "Low-temperature tensile and shear epoxy strength testing". https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20170009145.pdf. Visited in May 2020.