Alcoa doubling high-tech coating capacity in Michigan for aerospace; new electron beam PVD machine

12 December 2014

Alcoa Power and Propulsion, a unit of lightweight, high-performance metals leader Alcoa, is doubling its high-technology coating capacity at its Whitehall, Michigan facility. Alcoa will install a new electron beam physical vapor deposition machine, which enables faster production by combining two important processes: the bond coat and the top coat. The $16.7-million investment will position the company to further capture growing demand for advanced jet engine parts.

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The 7,700 sq. ft. building expansion will be located at the Thermatech plant in Whitehall where it produces thermal coated parts that enable engines to run at higher temperatures, boosting engine efficiencies. The coating also extends the operating life of jet engine parts by protecting against oxidation and corrosion.

Construction will begin this month, with first production expected to begin in 2016. The expansion will create 25 new full-time jobs. Customer agreements underpin the new capacity.

The combination of advanced coatings and internal cooling schemes make it possible for investment cast airfoils to operate in an environment that reaches temperatures much greater than the airfoils’ melting point. In addition to jet engines, the coating process is applied to parts used to build industrial gas turbines.

The expansion supports Alcoa’s strategy of profitably growing its aerospace business, which achieved revenues totaling $4 billion in 2013 and is in line with company strategy to build its value-add businesses to capture profitable growth in high-growth industries. The Company projects a compounded annual commercial jet growth rate of 7% through 2019 and sees a current 9-year production order book at 2013 delivery rates.

Demonstrating its support for the expansion, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation awarded a state business development grant to Alcoa totaling $285,000.

Renault previews new production-bound EV motor and dual-fuel gasoline/LPG engine

12 December 2014

Renault’s new, more compact electric motor with integrated Power Electronic Controller. Click to enlarge.

Renault has previewed a new electric vehicle motor, designed by its engineers and manufactured at its Cléon plant in France, as well as a new dual-fuel gasoline/LPG combustion engine. Both are slated to enter production in 2015. Rémi Bastien, Renault’s Director of Innovation Engineering, noted that “The future of mobility calls for the same command of electric motor technology as it does of internal combustion engines. We are consequently active on every front, from internal combustion engines to electric motors and alternative energies.”

New Renault electric motor. The synchronous electric motor with wound rotor develops 65 kW and peak torque of 220 N·m (162 lb-ft), and features an integrated Chameleon charger (earlier post).
Integration, miniaturization and simplification were the three objectives that guided the design of this motor.

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• Integration: switching from macro-module stacking to fully integrated modules.

• Miniaturization: the design of smaller modules, assembled closely (i.e., minimization of space between the modules, doing away with external power supply cables). The junction box, power electronics and Chameleon charger are all contained within a single system entitled Power Electronic Controller, enabling a 25% reduction in the size of this group of functions. Overall, Volumes have been reduced by 10% for the same level of performance, opening up new opportunities to use it for smaller vehicles.

• Simplification: switching to air cooling for the electric motor (removal of inter-module ducting). Only the Power Electronic Controller continues to be cooled by water, adapted to its specific needs.

The designers have improved the electronic management of the charging process in order to reduce charging times using low-power infrastructure (flexi-charger cable for domestic networks, 3kW and 11kW electric charging points). With this comprehensive redesign of the inverter system, the designers have been able to improve efficiency, thereby reducing the consumption of electric energy.

Turbocharged dual-fuel gasoline/LPG engine. The new engine is a current-generation three-cylinder gasoline unit with LPG dual-fuel capability. It integrates turbocharging, StopStart, energy recovery under braking, and eco-mode is compliant with Euro 6b emissions legislation. The gains achieved in terms of fuel consumption in comparison with an LPG engine of the previous generation are around 20%.

Renault said that the technical challenge in development of the dual-fuel engine was striking the right balance between turbo boost and LPG pressure and in optimizing the engine management strategy to permit maximum use of the LPG mode with no need for input for the driver.

The entire powertrain will be factory-fitted.

Turbocharged dual-fuel gasoline/LPG engine. Click to enlarge.

New BMW 218i Coupe to offer new 3-cylinder gasoline engine

12 December 2014

New BMW 3-cylinder turbo gasoline engine for the 218i. Click to enlarge.

With the market launch of the new BMW 218i Coupe, BMW will offer a new a three-cylinder gasoline engine from the BMW Group’s latest engine family (earlier post) for the first time in the compact model. With a displacement of 1.5 liters, the newly developed power unit delivers a maximum output of 100 kW/136 hp and a maximum torque of 220 N·m (162 lb-ft) available at 1,250 rpm.

The car’s BMW TwinPower Turbo technology comprises a supercharger that is integrated into the exhaust manifold; a further developed gasoline direct injection system; the latest version of the variable valve control system VALVETRONIC; and Double VANOS variable camshaft control. The new power unit is conventionally positioned lengthwise in the engine compartment under the hood. Its low weight benefits the well-balanced load distribution of almost 50:50 between the front and rear axle.

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BMW 2 Series Coupe. Click to enlarge.

The new BMW 218i Coupe accelerates from 0-100 km/h in 8.8 seconds (automatic: 8.9 seconds). Top speed is 212 km/h (132 mph) in each case. In terms of vibration behaviour, the engine shows parallels to BMW’s straight six-cylinder power unit and features a forged steel roller-bearing supported balancer shaft in order to reduce vibration.

A further developed transmission also contributes towards the efficiency of the new model variants. Equipped with the standard 6-speed manual transmission, the new BMW 218i Coupe has an average fuel consumption of 5.6 to 5.1 liters per 100 km (42 to 46 mpg US), with CO₂ emission levels of 130 to 118 grams per km.

In conjunction with the 8-speed Steptronic transmission, the corresponding figures are between 5.5 and 5.1 liters (43 to 46 mpg US) and 129 and 118 grams respectively (figures as per EU test cycle, depending on selected tire size).

Starting in the spring of 2015, there will be a choice of four gasoline and three diesel engines, including the new entry-level power unit. The new engine family also includes the 2-liter four-cylinder diesel power unit with BMW TwinPower Turbo technology featured in the BMW 220d Coupe. From March 2015, the system BMW xDrive will be available for this model as an alternative to rear-wheel drive.

The 140 kW/190 hp four-wheel drive model accelerates from 0-100 km/h in 6.8 seconds. Average fuel consumption is between 4.7 and 4.3 liters per 100 km (50 to 55 mpg US) and CO₂ emissions are between 124 and 113 grams per km (figures as per EU test cycle, depending on selected tire size).

Ioxus introduces high-temperature ultracapacitors with Titan technology; targeting automotive and transport

12 December 2014

Ioxus, a manufacturer of premium performance ultracapacitor technology for use in transportation, industrial and energy applications, has introduced high-temperature 1250 Farad (F) cells with Titan high-temperature technology. Titan follows Ioxus’ earlier release of the results of an extensive durability test of its flagship hybrid bus product, the 48V / 165F module. (Earlier post.)

Ioxus’ Titan technology meets a key automotive industry requirement: a system with a wider operating range that meets both cold and high temperature standards. Ioxus’ newest line of cells, designed with novel chemistry solutions for this market, function properly at temperature ranges of -40 to 85 °C, and deliver 2.7 volts at these temperatures.

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Ioxus draws a direct comparison to Maxwell’s DuraBlue technology, which cannot survive under the same conditions, Ioxus claims. Maxwell underperforms at 65°C when compared to Titan at 80°C, which has lower equivalent series resistance (ESR) and capacitance fade, higher initial capacitance, and far lower leakage current than Maxwell.

Top. Ioxus vs. Maxwell, capacitance and ESR endurance. Bottom. Ioxus vs. Maxwell, comparison endurance testing 2.7V at 85 ˚C. Click to enlarge.

Conventionally, increasing temperature shortens ultracapacitor design life and performance. Numerous research groups have explored technology to enable higher temperature supercapacitors, with a particular focus on the electrolyte and separator. (In 2013, a team from Rice University reported designing supercapacitor reliable at temperatures of up to 200 ˚C by using a novel clay-based membrane electrolyte.)

This 85°C performance benchmark required us to make significant advances in the fundamental science behind ultracapacitor performance. Titan encompasses the fields of electrochemistry, surface chemistry and physical chemistry, just to name a few. Our innovations have allowed us to achieve one of the biggest technological advances in ultracapacitor technology since commercialization.

New anode for direct ethanol fuel cells enables peak power and current densities approaching H2 PEM fuel cells

12 December 2014

A team of researchers in Italy has developed a new palladium-doped anode for direct alcohol fuel cells that produces peak power and current densities (using ethanol at 80 °C) approaching the output of hydrogen-fed proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). A paper on their work is published in the RSC journal ChemSusChem.

Direct alcohol fuel cells (DAFCs), which belong to the family of alkaline fuel cells, are electrochemical devices that continuously convert the chemical energy of an alcohol fuel to electricity. Ethanol is becoming a desirable target fuel for use in DAFCs (i.e., a DEFC) because it offers higher energy density compared to methanol; less crossover rate (from the anode to cathode); and can be produced from agriculture and biomass products. In a 2006 paper (Mann et al.), researchers at Princeton observed that:

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The direct 12-electron oxidation of ethanol to carbon dioxide and water in a fuel cell reactor offers a potentially attractive energy resource. In contrast to the much studied hydrogen−oxygen fuel cell, ethanol provides a volumetric energy density that approaches that of gasoline (21 MJ L^-1 for ethanol vs 31 MJ L^-1 for gasoline). As a liquid fuel, ethanol also avoids issues of storage associated with proposed hydrogen systems. Assuming that ethanol is bioderived, this materials is considered to be carbon neutral. The direct ethanol fuel cell’s (DEFC) primary disadvantage is the lack of a catalyst that can initiate complete oxidation at a high rate. In the absence of an electrocatalytic system that can efficiently deliver 12 electrons per ethanol molecule, the optimistic picture suggested above vanishes.

The electrochemical oxidation of ethanol is a difficult task because of the substantial increase in the number of reaction intermediates associated with this 12-electron process. More troublesome is the presence of the C−C bond, which is between two atoms with little electron affinity or ionization energy, thus making it difficult to access electrochemically.

Key to the success of the DEFC is the catalyst. Many catalysts have been developed and demonstrated electrochemically to oxidize small alcohols, but with varying degrees of oxidation.

To avoid the drawbacks of carbon-supported nanoparticle (NP) electrocatalysts, the team ICCOM CNR (Institute of Organometallic Chemistry, National Research Council) in Italy prepared anodes consisting of palladium (Pd) NPs supported on 3 D TiO₂ nanotube arrays.

A 2 μm thick layer of TiO₂ nanotube arrays was prepared on the surface of the Ti fibers of a nonwoven web electrode. After it was doped with Pd nanoparticles (1.5 mg Pd  cm⁻²), this anode was employed in a direct alcohol fuel cell. Peak power densities of 210, 170, and 160 mW  cm⁻² at 80 °C were produced if the cell was fed with 10 wt % aqueous solutions of ethanol, ethylene glycol, and glycerol, respectively, in 2 m aqueous KOH.

The Pd loading of the anode was increased to 6 mg  cm⁻² by combining four single electrodes to produce a maximum peak power density with ethanol at 80 °C of 335 mW  cm⁻². Such high power densities result from a combination of the open 3 D structure of the anode electrode and the high electrochemically active surface area of the Pd catalyst, which promote very fast kinetics for alcohol electro-oxidation.

Resources

• Chen, Y., Bellini, M., Bevilacqua, M., Fornasiero, P., Lavacchi, A., Miller, H. A., Wang, L. and Vizza, F. (2014), “Direct Alcohol Fuel Cells: Toward the Power Densities of Hydrogen-Fed Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells,” ChemSusChem doi: 10.1002/cssc.201402999

• A. M. Sheikh, Khaled Ebn-Alwaled Abd-Alftah, C. F. Malfatti (2014) “On reviewing the catalyst materials for direct alcohol fuel cells (DAFCs),” Journal of Multidisciplinary Engineering Science and Technology Vol. 1 Issue 3

• Jonathan Mann, Nan Yao, and, and Andrew B. Bocarsly (2006) “Characterization and Analysis of New Catalysts for a Direct Ethanol Fuel Cell” Langmuir 22 (25), 10432-10436 doi: 10.1021/la061200c