James Gover

Optimizing the Hybridization Factor for a Parallel Hybrid Electric Small Car

ADVISOR simulations of 75,100 and 125 kW total power, parallel hybrid small cars show that the hybridization factor (HF) giving maximum fuel efficiency (termed optimal HF) for the 75 kW small car is 0.49. For the 100 kW small car the optimal HF is 0.58. For the 125 kW small car, the optimal HF is 0.6. At these hybridization factors, vehicles had the greatest increase in fuel economy over the conventional vehicle without sacrificing performance

Design of a hybrid electric vehicle education program based on corporate needs

The needs of companies in the hybrid and electric vehicle business have been used to define a BS specialty in hybrid vehicles for electrical engineers at Kettering University. Two of the courses in this specialty are new courses whose development is sponsored by the US Department of Energy. Each course will be complemented by a laboratory that is also supported by the US Department of Energy. Both of the new courses will be developed into continuing education courses for delivery to company employees. The development of the new courses and laboratory will be completed at the end of 2011 and the continuing education versions will be available in 2012.

A model to estimate the effect of DC bus voltage on HEV powertrain efficiency

The efficiency of the electric drive system in a Hybrid Electric Vehicle plays a significant role in overall hybrid propulsion system efficiency and influences design choices for other mechanical components in the system. Increasing the DC bus voltage is thought to improve overall powertrain efficiency. In this paper, models are developed to predict the effect of DC bus voltage on the power loss in a PWM inverter motor drive and a brushless DC electric machine. The models indicate that a higher bus voltage will improve powertrain efficiency in some, but not all, operating conditions.

Circumventing the Challenges of Fuel Cell Powered Automobiles

The purposes of this paper are (1) to examine the realities of fuel cell development to determine the economic potential of fuel cell applications to transportation and (2) to identify the major challenges as well as the public policies that could lead to the automobile becoming a mobile electric power source that is used to power homes and industry. Several technical and cost issues were identified to have the potential to pose development challenges; however, none are likely to be show-stoppers. If the fuel cell powered vehicle can offer the consumer additional uses for the automobile, e.g., a source of electric power for businesses or it can permit a rapid style change in the automobile by easily replacing the passenger compartment at costs the consumer finds acceptable, the consumer will be willing to spend more on the fuel cell powered vehicle than it spends on combustion engine powered vehicles. If the fuel cell stimulates design changes that makes major contributions to the safety of automobiles and results in substantial reductions in the cost of insurance, that will also promote consumer interest. Of equal importance to these technical issues are public policies that could promote fuel cell power use in automobiles. For example, a desire to reduce our dependence on foreign sources of oil or rapid growth in oil prices could lead to pubic policies that would accelerate the adoption of fuel cells in automobiles.Copyright

Modeling of magnetic field diffusion phenomena in a CVT

In a current viewing transformer (CVT), current flows through a wire that is surrounded by a toroid-shaped core on which a secondary is wound. The magnetic field associated with this primary current propagates as a wave and can couple into the secondary circuit; however, it moves as a diffusion front through the core material. Modeling of the diffusion of the magnetic field through the core determined that it affects the magnitude and time signature of the voltage induced in the secondary winding when the primary current is produced by a capacitor discharge. During the quarter cycle rise time (227 ns) of the current pulse in the primary, a step response to an incident magnetic field would yield 95.57 percent of the steady state magnetic flux. Since the voltage induced in the CVT secondary is proportional to the time derivative of the magnetic flux, time delay would further distort the CVT current measurement

The engineer's role in averting the pending health care cost crisis

The cost of health care in the US has grown to 15 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). As a fraction of GDP, our health care costs are between 1.5 and 2 times that of the rest of the industrialized world. We are annually spending almost four times as much on health care as we spend on national defense and about 1.5 times what we spend on education. The average US expenditure on health care is over

Modeling of capacitive and electromagnetic field shielding effects in a CVT

4000 per person. On average, those over 65 years of age were charged

Two policies that will achieve engineering education reform

12000 per person for services and those over 85 years of age were charged about

Recommendations for science and technology organizations

20000 per person. Cost projections suggest that when the baby boomers reach their late 70s and 80s prior to the middle of the 21st century, US health care costs will soar to 25 percent of GDP. Health care spending is slowly eroding national savings, and as the population ages, this problem will continue to escalate. Unless the US Health care cost problem is solved, it can become the albatross that will bring our economy to its knees. ABET has set an objective for the future education of students that engineers should be aware of social problems and should assume a responsibility for their role in solving those problems. We propose here a series of remedies the engineering community should initiate to solve our largest looming crisis: the cost of health care.

Effect of Magnetic Field Diffusion on the Time Response of Current Viewing Transformers

In the discharge of a capacitor the current was measured with a current viewing transformer (CVT). In addition to measuring the current flowing through the CVT primary, a 51 MHz noise signal was added to the primary current. When the CVT was covered with a gold shield, the noise was eliminated. Analysis of the measured results indicate that the gold layer reflected the electromagnetic that was generated by current flowing in the primary and that the capacitance between the shield and the CVT secondary had no measurable effect on the CVT output