Mar

18

Super Efficient Truck From Improved Aerodynamics and Engine

March 18, 2013 | 2 Comments

Cummins Inc. and Peterbilt Motors Company have released their test results showing their demonstration SuperTruck tractor-trailer achieved a 54% increase in fuel economy.  Cummins, the prime contractor leading one of four vertical teams under the Department of Energy’s SuperTruck project shows nearly 10 mpg US (23.5 l/100 km) under real world driving conditions. The SuperTruck [...]

Feb

28

New Understanding for Oxygen Fuel Cells and Zirconia

February 28, 2013 | Leave a Comment

K. L. Ngai, from the University of Pisa in Italy, and colleagues from the Complutense University in Madrid, Spain, devised a model of the oxygen-ion dynamics that contribute to the conductivity of Yttria Stabilized Zirconia (YSZ).  This is significant because of the movement of oxygen within a fuel cell and for devices we are already [...]

Feb

18

Is a Fuel Cell Without Platinum in Your Future?

February 18, 2013 | 2 Comments

Researchers have reported a new iron based catalyst. It’s the first iron-based catalyst that converts hydrogen directly to electricity. The development puts chemists and engineers one step closer to widely affordable fuel cells. Chemist R. Morris Bullock, who leads the research at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) begins the explanation, “A [...]

Jan

24

The Four Motor Electric Car Experiment

January 24, 2013 | Leave a Comment

Junmin Wang, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and Director of the Vehicle Systems and Control Laboratory at Ohio State leads a team of bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral students as well as a few local high school students to make a whole traction and motion control system energy-efficient and fault-tolerant, so if one wheel, motor or [...]

Dec

19

A Higher Mileage Airplane

December 19, 2012 | Leave a Comment

Things in flight do entrance some of us.  So news of a way to enhance the fuel economy is welcome news.  Whether it’s the joy of watching the maneuvers in mid air or simply getting somewhere at lower cost to just cutting the effluent produced – more distance per fuel unit is a good thing. [...]

Nov

29

A New Cheap and Abundant Thermoelectric Material Found

November 29, 2012 | 2 Comments

A team of Michigan State University researchers have developed a new thermoelectric material based on natural minerals known as tetrahedrites, the most widespread sulfosalts on Earth. So where are these tetrahedrites?  They’re found pretty much anywhere there is dirt, common ordinary dirt. The researchers, led by Donald Morelli, a professor of chemical engineering and materials [...]

Nov

5

Getting Ready for a Rotating Detonation Engine

November 5, 2012 | Leave a Comment

U.S. Navy is always looking for ways to improve the fuel consumption of gas-turbine engines for propulsion and electric power generation.  Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), scientists are studying the complex physics of Rotating Detonation Engines (RDEs) which offer the potential for high dollar savings by way of reduced fuel consumption in gas-turbine engines. Current gas-turbine [...]

Nov

2

Making Platinum in Fuel Cells Go Further and Last Longer

November 2, 2012 | Leave a Comment

Fuel cells are for some the nirvana of portable or mobile energy production.  But the problem of a catalyst that tears the hydrogen atom into the parts needed to generate electricity still bedevils the progress to widespread commercial marketability. The best catalyst for efficiency is platinum, the rare, expensive, and beautiful silvery metal.  Other ideas [...]

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