Patent Application
20100288569
President Obama's emphasis on green technology as a means to revive the economy and move toward energy independence is laudable, but to the extent it is focused on wind and solar technologies to generate electricity and upon weatherization of houses, it somewhat misses the mark. Fifty percent of our electricity is generated from coal and that mostly comes from the US. Very little of our electricity is generated by oil fired plants.
Seventy percent of the oil we consume (most of which is imported) goes for transport via cars, trucks and planes. Expanding wind and solar and other electricity generating technologies won't immediately ease our dependence upon foreign oil until the transportation fleet becomes electric powered.
There is a great deal of waste now in our fuel consumption. Most cars are four or more passenger vehicles and 99% of the drivers driving them are alone at least during commute time. That means a great deal of extra weight is being moved around by fossil fuel engines. Each acceleration of that extra weight wastes energy and each time all that extra weight is stopped by conventional brakes, more energy is wasted.
The problem with existing EV/plug-in hybrid technologies is they do not address the issue of increased demand for recharging power that will be placed on the electric power generation and transmission grid, and they do not address the problem of increasing traffic congestion as the population grows. Nor do they address the problem of what happens when gasoline becomes very scarce or non existent. A single passenger, electrically powered with a backup flex fuel engine to give the car infinite range is needed.
The preferred embodiment contemplates a single or two passenger (F18 tandem cockpit style) carbon fiber composite body plug-in hybrid for commuters which has a flex-fuel backup fossil fuel engine to drive a generator that can drive the electric motor and charge the batteries when they are in need of charge. The electric drive train will have a swappable Lithium-Ion battery pack that weighs about half that of current plug-in hybrids. The car will only be half the size of the typical hybrid being only half the width of a traffic lane and about half the length of a Formula One car. The car, in the preferred embodiment, is a single passenger or two passenger tandem (F18 style) cockpit in a Formula One form factor. It is projected to have a range of at least 80 miles on one charge and a top speed of 85 MPH with “gas” mileage which is expected to be over 100 MPG depending upon the commute distance traveled. If the commute distance traveled is less than the 80 mile range, the flex fuel engine will never have to run and the vehicle with have extremely high gas mileage.
The swappable battery packs allow one battery pack to be charged by a solar and/or wind powered charger during the day with a computer controller controlling the charge and finishing the charge from the power grid at night if necessary.
The multi-fuel engine can be any of the multi-fuel engines currently available such as the Fiat Siena Tetrafuel engine which is commercially available in the Brazilian market. This engine is a 1.4 L FIRE motor that runs on E100 (pure ethanol), E25 (standard Brazilian gasoline which has a percentage of ethanol in it), gasoline and compressed natural gas (CNG). The driver chooses the fuel the engine runs on using a switch in the cockpit. Peugot, Honda, Toyota and Volkswagen also make bi-fuel engines that run on CNG and other fossil fuels like gasoline. It is not necessary that the engine 12 run on more than two fuels. Any flex fuel engine that can burn both CNG and gasoline or CNG and ethanol or ethanol mixtures will suffice for engine 12. In the preferred embodiment, the multi-fuel engine will run on CNG, gasoline, ethanol mixtures or diesel fuel manufactured from coal via a process identical to or similar to the process invented by Sasol of South Africa. America is the Saudi Arabia of coal, and when gasoline becomes scarce, this coal-to-liquid fuel could be manufactured in abundance.
A CNG tank 14 is welded or otherwise affixed such as by bolting flanges on the sides of the tank to an internal safety cage/chassis (not separately shown) which serves both as a crash cage and as the chassis of the car. In one embodiment, the CNG tank is located in the nose of the car as is the multi-fuel engine 12, but in other embodiments, they could be located in the rear of the car or anywhere else since their position need not be related to the position of any of the wheels of the car.
It is this chassis to which the suspension and running gear, transmission, electric motor 20 and modular Lithium-Ion battery pack 22 are mounted. Putting the CNG tank 14 in front of the car and making it part of the chassis makes the car lighter since the tank is strong and can supplant part of the chassis material. Other tanks 61 for storage of ethanol and gasoline (or just gasoline or just ethanol or ethanol blends in some embodiments) combined into one tank in some embodiments) are located at 16 and 18 in
In some embodiments, tanks 16 and 18 may be mounted above the battery pack bay that receives the rechargeable battery pack and which extends across the width of the car under the passenger compartment in the embodiment shown in
The flex fuel engine 12 drives a generator (not separately shown but part of engine 12 in
Regenerative braking like in conventional hybrids like the Toyota Prius is used so that when the car is being braked, the electric motor is turned into a generator to supply charging current to the swappable battery pack 22 to provide a partial recharge. The battery pack 22 may be a 16 kWh battery pack like is used in the Chevy Volt or it may have more or less capacity. Such batteries are commercially available from Compact Power Incorporated of Detroit, Mich., a subsidiary of a Korean company, LG Chem. In some embodiments using the same battery pack as the Chevy Volt, the battery pack weighs 375 lbs. But in other embodiments, a battery pack weighing half that much can be used. The battery pack 22 needs a minimum temperature of between 32° F. to 50° F. (0° C. to 10° C.) to be used and when the car disclosed herein is plugged in, the battery will be kept warm enough so that it can be used immediately when the car is unplugged. If the car is kept unplugged and the temperature of the battery is below the minimum temperature, the multi-fuel engine will run until the battery warms up. This temperature regulation is done since electro-chemical batteries have degraded performance when they are very cold
The electric motor drive train 20 can be any commercially available electric motor drive train like the one in the Tesla electric cars or the Voltec drive train which is soon to be commercially available in the Chevy Volt. Infinitely variable ratio transmissions are generally used, but any type of transmission 21 suitable for the weight of the car and the torque of the electric motor 20 may be used. The horsepower of the electric motor can be less than used in the Tesla or the Chevy Volt since the car will weigh substantially less than either of these prior art vehicles.
Referring to
The swappable battery pack is lifted into the car by a mechanical lift and swap mechanism 42 which may be hydraulic jacks, electrically driven scissor mechanisms, jack screws, etc. Any kind of mechanism that can lift the weight of the battery pack into the car and out of the car will suffice. The alternate battery pack 25 is stored in a battery pack carousel or swapping mechanism that works linearly or rotates. There is one slot in the carousel or linearly operating swap mechanism for battery pack #1 which is in the car and one slot for alternative battery pack #2 which is charging while the car is being driven on battery pack #1. The carousel or linear swapping mechanism functions to move up and attach to battery pack #1 and lower it down into its charging slot, and then rotate or slide alternative battery pack #2 into place beneath the battery pack bay on the underside of the car. The carousel or linearly operating swapping mechanism then uses mechanical lift and swap mechanism 42 to lift battery pack #2 up into the battery pack bay until it latches and is mechanically secure. Typically the battery pack in the battery pack bay engages latches which latch the battery pack to the chassis (not shown). Electrical connection 44 between the battery pack in the battery pack bay and the electric motor drive train 20 is by surface contacts on the battery pack like are used for rechargeable battery packs some digital cameras or by a cable that the operator of the car plugs into a receptacle on the battery pack after it has been latched into the car.
The battery pack weighs about half (200 lbs typically) of the battery pack in a conventional full size hybrid. This is because the car will only be half the size of the typical hybrid being only half the width of a traffic lane and about half the length of a Formula One car and will be very light since the body 10 is made of carbon fiber composite. The Tesla roadster will even weigh more than the car shown in
The car is a single passenger or two passenger tandem (F18 style) cockpit in a Formula One form factor. A bubble canopy 24 either slides back on rails or is lifted up from rear hinges like a jet fighter canopy with gas struts or hydraulic assistance in some embodiments. The canopy mates with a windscreen 26, and is removable in some embodiments. In other embodiments, a conventional four passenger hybrid form factor like the Prius or Honda Insight for 2009 is used for the body, but the propulsion, multi-fuel engine charging system and swappable, modular Li-Ion battery pack system of
The car is designed to have a range of at least 80 miles on one charge and a top speed of 85 MPH with “gas” mileage which is expected to be over 150 MPG depending upon the commute distance traveled. If the commute distance traveled is less than the 80 mile range, the flex fuel engine will never have to run and the vehicle with have extremely high gas mileage. The Chevy Volt, which is a much bigger and heavier car, gets 50 MPG if the battery is discharged and gets 150 MPG if the battery is re-charged every 60 miles. For the car disclosed herein, efficiency of greater than 150 MPG with no long down times for recharging (8 hours for the Chevy Volt batteries if 115 VAC is used, 3 hours for 240 VAC charging if the battery is fully depleted) if the battery pack is swapped every 60 miles or thereabouts depending upon size and capacity and the range of the battery pack versus the weight of the car.
A multi-fuel engine 12 will be used to drive a generator that both can run the electric motor and charge the batteries. The multi-fuel engine can run at constant speed for efficiency and mechanical simplicity. There is no need for any throttle linkage or electronic control system since the engine 12 is not connected to the wheels. Electronic mixture control and spark advance is used in some embodiments where necessary because of the fuels the driver can select. The ECU 71 will monitor the state of charge of the battery and maintain it within a range of charge, preferably between 30% and 80%. The ECU 71 in
In some embodiments, the flex fuel engine 12 will run on pure ethanol or some mixture of ethanol and gasoline, compressed natural gas or gasoline. Such an engine for some embodiments has already been designed and will be commercially available in a year or so in the Obvio, a flex fuel sports car to be exported by Brazil. Compressed natural gas proved to be the lowest cost per mile in a cross country race of green cars from Chicago to the west coast which I read about in Popular Mechanics a couple of years ago. The CNG car beat out all the other types of cars including a hydrogen powered car, a hybrid, a pure electric car, gas powered car and a diesel powered car in a cross-country race in terms of cost per mile. Refueling the flex fuel engine with CNG will be easy and can be done in the owner's garage. Honda Motors already has a pure CNG Civic and sells a wall unit that refuels the car from the natural gas pipelines in the homeowner's home.
The vehicle shown in
Electric motors have excellent torque at all RPM levels so the car will accelerate very fast and reach cruise speed quickly.
Reliability and unlimited range will be provided by the flex fuel backup engine. Convenience will be provided by the home charging station which provides the ability to recharge the vehicle with CNG when it is parked overnight in the owner's garage. Additional convenience will be provided by enabling the car's backup flex fuel engine to run on gasoline or ethanol. Good gas mileage will be provided by the electric drive train and the long range provided by the lightness and smallness of the car.
Negative impact on the grid from overloading if many of these cars and other plug in hybrids are sold will be avoided by using swappable battery packs, and a solar/wind/grid charger for the battery pack not in use. In
The charging/swapping system 40 can sit on the floor in a user's garage or can be in a charging/swapping station deployed at a company or throughout a city. User's can pay a fee for every swap. The particular design shown in
The design of a solar/wind powered charging system backed up by the grid that has hydraulics or mechanical mechanism to handle the heavy battery packs (estimated at 200 lbs) to take a discharged battery pack out, connect it to the charger and put a charged pack back in can take many forms. The form shown in
The CNG storage tank 14 can be charged overnight by a wall charger 72 which is connected to the home natural gas supply 74. A pressure hose 76 takes pressurized natural gas and guides it into the tank 14. Such wall chargers are already designed and commercially available when a natural gas powered Honda Civic is purchased.
Safety issues will be handled by using a steel or titanium tube chassis roll cage inside the hull and a four point restraint seat belt if the carbon fiber composite hull alone is insufficient to provide crash protection. A helmet-based NASCAR head movement restraint that activates in a crash to prevent whiplash injuries and includes the car's radio and Bose noise cancelling headsets is used in some embodiments. Airbags will not be necessary with such a design, and this should make the car cheaper to build.
Two of these cars will be able to fit side by side in one lane, and drag, which is proportional to the wetted fuselage area will be reduced by making the car about half the length of a Formula One car. The aerodynamic wings of the F1 hull will be extended (not shown) on the front and back to cover the open wheels and the strut/steering and shock absorbing mechanisms 9 and 11 in
This car is distinguishable from all other plug in hybrids of which I am aware because of the flex fuel backup engine, the carbon fiber composite hull and the half lane width of the car.
Impact on Energy Independence
Substantial savings in consumption of oil for transportation are expected if many of these cars are sold.
Impact on Jobs
Millions of jobs will be created in manufacturing of the cars, parts for it, solar panel manufacture and installation, CNG charging stations, battery handling equipment, computer controllers, kit construction by contractors, etc. Factory versions of the car will be built by displaced auto company workers in the US. Design may be in Michigan or by telecommuters from Michigan or Japan depending upon who partners with me. Demand for grid power will also create millions of jobs in the utilities and in construction trades to build new solar, hydro, wind, gas-fired or nuclear power plants and transmission lines. I justify my assertion that millions of jobs will be created by the fact that millions of jobs have existed for decades stemming from the SUVs and trucks Detroit is currently selling (well, actually, not selling right now) These jobs exist in many sectors of the economy in building, selling, servicing, fueling, selling repair parts and modification parts, painting and customizing. It has been said that ⅓ of the jobs in America depend directly or indirectly on the auto industry. The fleet needs to be replaced with higher efficiency cars if we are to survive as a nation and a world. We only have about 38 years of oil left, not counting the continued growth of China and India. We actually only have about 28 years left before major disruptions of the world's markets occur resulting from energy shortages (James Kunstler, “The Long Emergency” 2005 Grove Press, NY, ISBN 0-0821-4249-4)
Impact on Traffic Congestion and the Existing Highway Infrastructure
Substantial easing of traffic congestion is expected by doubling each lane's capacity.
Impact on the Environment
Substantial improvements in greenhouse gas emissions expected especially if solar recharge works well
