High Performance Wastegate Range
One of Australia's longest established turbocharger specialists, Melbourne-based Australian Turbo Sales (ATS), has launched a new range of high performance wastegates ranging in size from 32mm to a massive 65mm.
Designed for mild street to extreme race, the Australian-made ATS wastegates offer a super large capacity, resulting in fast gas dumping and absolute optimum efficiency. What's more, they look great in any engine bay. Extremely compact, certainly in relation to their capacity, all ATS wastegates are installed using two V-band clamps for full 360-degree rotation.
Priced from AUS$1100 and topping out at AUS$1650, ATS wastegates are being used on some of the fastest rotaries in the country including Craig Dyson's 8.2 second RX-7. Importantly, all models are available 'off-the-shelf'.
ATS is located at 20 Assembly Drive, Tullamarine, Melbourne. Ph 03 335 1254.
New Audi A4 is Shaken, Rattled and Jarred at Birth
A world first in vehicle production, AUDI AG has invested around DM 130 million in a new assembly shop with the first combined ESP test rig and shaker.
It is a first because up to now only separate test rig systems have been employed in the automotive sector. The equipment used for the new A4 combines both technologies together in one test rig for the first time. Once its assembly is completed, every Audi A4 must pass through this stationary "torture chamber". This process, which practices a modern-day 'cruelty to cars' policy sees each vehicle jarred, rattled and shaken, without moving even a metre from its starting point. AUDI AG has filed for patents on the combined test system. The concept was put into practice by Siemens.
The Electronic Stability Program (ESP) is standard on all Audi models. Contrary to the practice of other car manufacturers, Audi subjects every completed vehicle to an ESP test on a test rig at the end of the production line.
Karl Unger, Head of Production Planning - Superstructure/Structure Planning - Assembly at Audi, explains the advantages of active ESP testing; "During the test, transverse-acceleration, longitudinal-acceleration, and yaw-rate sensors are checked by moving a vehicle about its transverse, longitudinal, and yaw axes.
"The complete test is fully automatic. For one minute the rig runs fixed profiles, and for one minute it runs free. The parameters of the test program run through a universal proving system (UPS) with communication to the control unit. We achieve reproducible test results with it, and so replace a "double-S" run on the test track that would otherwise be necessary."
This saves a great deal of time, adds Karl Unger.
"For logistical reasons, it would hardly be possible at the moment to take every new A4 from production to the test track on the company's site and have the double-S run carried out there," he said. Around 1,300 new A4 models come off the Ingolstadt assembly lines every day, making previous testing processes impractical and time-consuming.
The computer-monitored vibration test incorporates three tracks with three different surfaces. An A4 fresh from the production line is subjected to a rough-track test over cobblestones, bumps and through potholes. During this time, customer-relevant creaks and rattles are assessed which may occur, for example, in the region of the glove box, centre console or instrument panel. Since the vibration test takes place before suspension tuning, the shaking encourages the early settling of body and suspension. The result is a better long-term suspension setup in the subsequent operation.
IMA System for Hybrid Civic
Honda Motor Co has announced further technological improvements to its Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) system developed for a new Civic Hybrid the company plans to launch in Japan this year.
The more efficient hybrid system will incorporate Honda's i-DSI lean-burn combustion technology and a newly-developed cylinder idling system that adapts VTEC to significantly increase the amount of electrical energy recovered during deceleration. Honda has also improved the performance of its motor assist system and increased the efficiency of the Power Control Unit (PCU).
The Civic Hybrid will be equipped with Honda's Multimatic S continuously variable automatic transmission and achieves 3.44 litres per 100km - class-leading figures for a five-passenger petrol-powered production vehicle.
The Civic Hybrid meets domestic fuel consumption figures for 2012 and is recognised by the Japanese Ministry of Transport as an Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle.
The new, more efficient IMA System uses a petrol engine as its main power source and is assisted by an electric motor. It is based on Honda's original IMA system that was used in the Insight - the world's most efficient petrol/electric hybrid production vehicle.
During acceleration and times of heavy engine load, the motor assist system generates increased torque, resulting in lower fuel consumption and boosting acceleration. At cruising speeds when engine load is lower, the motor assist system shuts down.
During deceleration, the motor converts the dissipated energy into electricity - called regenerative braking. The newly developed cylinder idling system reduces engine resistance during deceleration - once a problem with regenerative braking - greatly improving the vehicle's electrical regenerative efficiency.
Once stopped, the engine shuts off automatically and restarts immediately when the driver uses the accelerator pedal. This auto idle stop system contributes to both greater fuel efficiency and lower emissions.
Honda's 1.3-litre i-DSI engine features the basic i-DSI configuration of two spark plugs per cylinder. This allows the fuel-air mixture to be made even leaner for improved fuel economy. The rocker arms that open and close the intake and exhaust valves are designed for dual operation in either valve-lift mode or idle mode. In normal use, the rocker arms are engaged via a synchronizing piston. During deceleration, the synchro piston is housed inside the idle-mode rocker arm, disengaging the lift-mode rocker arm so that the valve remains at rest, effectively sealing off the cylinder. Three of the four cylinders can be shut down, achieving 50 per cent less engine resistance during deceleration than the present IMA System. The new system uses both a 900-cell three-stage catalytic converter and a lean burn-compatible absorption-type NOx catalytic converter.
The motor assist system combines an ultra-thin DC brushless motor, a Nickel Metal Hydride battery and a Power Control Unit (PCU). The new system employs a higher-output motor, a more efficient battery and a lighter, more compact PCU that results in greater packaging freedom. Improvements to the internal magnetic coils of the ultra-thin DC brushless motor - which boasts the world's highest output density and practical efficiency - achieve 30 per cent greater assistance and regenerative torque than the previous model, without increasing size.
A sintering diffusion bonding process is used to firmly fuse different metals together, allowing the most appropriate materials to be used in construction of the rotor to meet the different demand criteria for its inner section - which transmits torque - and the outer section, which is in contact with the magnetic coils. Strengthening the section that transmits the torque and increasing the magnetic-flux density results in higher torque output.
Honda has combined the inverter and the pre-driver, reducing the weight of the PCU by around 30 per cent, and its volume by approximately 40 per cent when compared to the present system. The efficiency of the battery modules has been increased, resulting in reduced energy losses. The battery's storage box and peripheral equipment have been made more compact, for an approximate 30 per cent reduction in volume.
The lighter, more compact, more efficient PCU and battery have been integrated into a single Intelligent Power Unit (IPU) that can be stored behind the rear seat of a passenger sedan. By integrating the IPU, Honda has reduced the two cooling circuits to just one unit. Total volume of the PCU and battery has been reduced by 50 per cent.
Quickies
- Mitsubishi Motors has shipped its first volume consignment of Magna sedans to the Middle East. The 3.5 litre Magna sedans were loaded on the NYK car carrier, "Pacific Leader", at Port Adelaide last week and are scheduled to arrive in the Middle East in late September. The first shipment of 250 cars will be supplemented by further shipments over the next few weeks. Mitsubishi Motors is targeting to sell over 4000 Magnas into the Middle East over the next 12 months.
- Nissan's Maxima sedan has received a significant specification update for the new 2002 model year range. The updated Maxima range receives improvements including new 16-inch five-spoke alloy wheels across the range, state-of-the-art Drive Computer, new look steering wheel and cruise control and an in-dash 6-stacker compact disc player in the ST and Ti variants. Pricing on all variants remains unchanged.
- Goodyear has entered a partnership to develop urethane tyres. A joint development agreement with Amerityre - the company that developed the raw material Goodyear will use in its new endeavour - was signed last week.
- The Mazda Motor Corp said last week that it will launch a new open sports car in December, aiming to attract motor sports beginners. The two-seat, 1600 cc Roadster NR-A is designed to be a registered vehicle, enabling drivers to use the car in their daily lives and race on weekends.
- On the heels of XM Satellite Radio's debut on Cadillac Sevilles and DeVilles, General Motors Corp. will offer XM in more than 20 '03 models, making it one of the fastest technology roll-outs in GM history. Beginning next autumn, the start of the '03 model year, the XM option will expand to more than 20 models throughout the GM lineup. XM will transform radio, an industry that has seen little technological change since FM, almost 40 years ago. XM will offer 100 channels of digital-quality sound coast-to-coast: 71 music channels, more than 30 of them commercial-free, and 29 news, sports and talk channels, all for US$9.99 a month. Supported by a US$100 million multi-media ad campaign, XM will launch commercial service in San Diego and Dallas/Fort Worth on Sept. 12, throughout the Southwest in mid-October and across the nation in November. Sony, Alpine and Pioneer XM radios will be distributed through major electronics retailers including Best Buy, Circuit City, Sears and Crutchfield.
- And in further satellite radio news, Sirius Satellite Radio and rival XM Satellite Radio said last Thursday that they signed distribution agreements with Porsche Cars North America. Under the deals, the two companies will offer their satellite radio service as an option to customers in the United States. The companies said satellite radios will be offered in 2003 as an option for Porsche's 2004 model year vehicles
- Holden's two-door Monaro Coupe will not be sold in the North American market. A pre-production Monaro Coupe displayed at GM's Detroit headquarters drew many admirers and enthusiastic company personnel, but Holden engineers say too many changes are required for the vehicle to conform to US regulations, especially in meeting anti-corrosive requirements.
- Australian new motor vehicle sales fell 4 percent in August on a daily rate basis compared with the previous month, the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries said on Thursday. The Chamber said August had one selling day more than July. In unadjusted terms, sales fell by 187 vehicles or 0.3 percent to 65,998 new vehicles in August. However, excluding the GST impact on results of last year, this was the highest August sales on record.
- An American car dealership has been fined for selling seven cars in one month to a senior citizen suffering from Alzheimer's disease.....
- DaimlerChrysler has said internet access should not become part of standard car equipment. The US/German car manufacturer has slammed its rivals' attempts to sell vehicles with internet connections and said drivers do not want to use the internet while they're inside a car.
|