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Let's compare what happens when three types of cars
pull up to an intersection, stop for a light, sit around,
and drive away.
For simplicity, let's assume they all have automatic
transmissions. Thus, in all three cases, the driver brings
the car to a halt with the brake, keeps his foot on
the
brake for a minute or two, then puts his foot on the gas
to drive away.
In the case of a conventional car, the efficiency of the
engine drops off sharply as demand on the engine
decreases. When slowing down or idling, the only load
on the engine is from the accessories, which are a few
hundred watts at most. Thus, the efficiency as the
driver slows to a halt and idles is very low. As long as
the car sits still, it consumes fuel and spews out exhaust.
The only positive thing is that when the driver
accelerates away, no external energy is needed to get
the engine going, since it was idling the whole time.
Next, consider a Micro Hybrid Car, also known as a
Stop/Star Car. When the car is moving, the accessories
are powered electrically, from the engine's alternator.
When the driver is slowing down the car, or when the
car is off, the engine is automatically turned off. When
the driver puts his foot on the accelerator, the engine
is automatically restarted. In between stopping and
starting the engine, all power for the accessories comes
from the batteries.
While Micro Hybrids obviously use less gas and produce
less emissions, they are very hard on their batteries. In
part, this is because in the time between an automatic
engine stop and the following restart, the car's
accessories consume about ten times as much energy as
what's needed for engine restart alone.
Overall, they are approximately one hundred times
harder on their batteries than conventional vehicles.
Next generation car batteries, such as Axion's Lead-
Carbon cells, can merely withstand about ten times as
many charge/discharge cycles as a conventional battery.
So even though Micro Hybrids are the least expensive of
all hybrid technologies, they will, apparently, be really
bad for their batteries.
Now we consider a Micro Hybrid Car, with a very tiny
Auxiliary Power Unit. At the same time as the car is
being brought to a halt, the APU automatically starts. As
soon as the APU reaches its operating speed, it takes
over powering the vehicle accessories, after which the
main engine shuts off.
When the traffic light turns green, and the driver hits
the gas, the APU's throttle is fully opened, and power
from either the APU alone, or the APU and battery
together are used to start the main engine.
When the main engine's rpms are above some threshold,
the APU shuts off.
Since size of the APU is carefully matched to the
amount of power needed for running the accessories, it
does it's primary task fuel efficiently.
And while the APU might not be able to completely
cover the energy needs of the main engine's starter, it
will reduce it significantly.
By eliminating drain on the battery from the
accessories, and reducing drain during engine restarting,
the battery life should very much extended... at least
compared to a conventional Micro Hybrid Car's battery.
PS: I almost forgot to state the size! I expect that one
or two horsepower ought to suffice to run all of the
typical accessories, except perhaps the A/C.
Small model gas turbine powers a model train
http://www.youtube....watch?v=w1UVvWiHqvE [Sunstone, Feb 23 2013]
Model airplane jet turbines could be converted to direct drive
https://www.google....al&client=firefox-a Model airplanes jets are readily availble and could be modified to a gear drive for car engine accessories [Sunstone, Feb 23 2013]
Micro turbine engines
http://en.wikipedia...rbine#Microturbines [Sunstone, Feb 23 2013]
Horsepower required to run engine accessories
http://mechanics.st...-belt-generally-use [Sunstone, Feb 23 2013]
Patent for hybrid engine accessory power system
http://www.google.com/patents/US7975465 [Sunstone, Feb 23 2013]
APU for powering accessories on commercial trucks
http://www.comfleet.../APU/WillisAPU.html [Sunstone, Feb 23 2013]
[link]
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[+] I think we can dispense with the A/C at stop-lights, so the only high-draw must-have is headlights. Apart from that I doubt a vehicle's needs would take more than a few tens of watts. |
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Provided the car won't be bouncing around too much, I can
reccomend a type of metal halide HID bulb that draws just
over two watts and will outshine any conventional
headlight. |
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[Alterother] Are you sure? If a 55 watt headlamp is 5% efficient, then 2.75 watts of that is converted to light. It's hard to outshine that using just over 2 watts. |
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Interesting idea. Although I tend to think that battery technology is improving enoughto deal with this, this does offer an alternative approach. |
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Of couse if you're gong to go this far, why not try and eliminate the battery all together? My wife talked about a bulldozer her dad had when she was a kid that had something they called a pony engine to start it. Basically it was a small engine that was started with a pull curd like a lawn mower. Once that was running, that engine was used to turn over the big engine: no batteries needed. |
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When you get in the car, just pull start ther APU. Maybe have it rigged to the door, so you press some lever or pedal, then pull the door closed hard, since a pull cord on the dash would look funny. Now why does the image of a pull-cord in the dash seem familiar? Did that get discussed here before? I can't imagine where else I would have seen a discussion of such a thing. |
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[Bigsleep], I think you should check a little more... :) |
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Well, the link refers to a 3ph ac induction motor and
soft starter.
But, you are right that the dc series wound motor does
have a large current at stall (start up)...could be 200A;
even higher for Diesels. |
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[scad]: yeah, I'm sure. As long as you can rig the car to
produce 240VAC. |
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Metal halides are significantly more effecient than
halogens, but it was actually kind of a joke. The first
pothole would kill the thing anyway. |
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Are you sure you didn't mean 2 amps instead of 2 watts? 2 watts from a 240V supply would be just 8 milli-amps. I couldn't find any metal halides that drew that little current. It looks like 400W metal halides that say they draw 2A at 240V are pretty common. |
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I agree, it's too bad those aren't suitable for automotive use. |
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After re-thinking things and checking the back of my
ballast, yes, I did mean 2
amps. 2.14, specifically. Came back here to correct
myself. Please pardon my gaff. |
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It is indeed too bad, because (if my resource-verified math
is correct) MH bulbs are between 7-12% effecient @ 100'.
The right kind of glass reduces the effeciency by a fraction
of a percent, rather than the 1-2% loss of halogens or
automotive xenons. For my purposes the effective range is
typically measured in inches, and the effeciency gain over
incandescents or CFLs is amazing. |
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Still, a 15w MH, if such a thing existed, could probably
outshine the equivalent
conventional automotive headlight, at least until somebody
slammed the door too hard. My HID bulbs expect dinner
and a movie before they even light up, and will conk out if
somebody sneezes. |
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LED headlights, gentlemen. A bit more pricey but
largely the trend. |
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How much headlight do you need while stopped at a stoplight? |
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The starter needn't be electric, it could run on
compressed air, filled with a direct-drive engine-
powered mechanical air compressor as the engine
is running. |
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If the electric starter motor is eliminated, the
remaining accessories could be powered by a
deep-cycle marine-type battery that need not be
constantly charged by the car's alternator; in fact,
the alternator could be eliminated entirely and the
battery charged while the vehicle is parked. |
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Then the battery will draw off very quickly, especially if
we're running 1000w metal halide headlights. |
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//How much headlight do you need while stopped at
a stoplight?// |
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Enough to see when to go again? Or enough to
engage in illicit consummating activities in rural
locations? |
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Model jet turbine engine(s) might work if converted to a power take off type gear drive rather than thrust, quieted enough and pedestrians and animals were protected from jet blast. I recall a car air conditioner can use 5 to 7 horsepower. Power steering pumps, alternators under a high electrical load driving a super sound system, emission control accessories, superchargers,and such could demand 20 horsepower or more gas turbine. JP4 Kerosene jet fuel may also have to be onboard in additional to auto fuel. I hope all things fall into place and somebof=dy can develop one. See links (+) |
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Forget scale model turbines. Jay Leno has a full-size
turbine motorcycle that gets better mpg than my jeep. |
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