NUS to take part in marathon with fuel cell car
23 Apr 2009|4,085 views
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This urban concept eco-car project typifies the approach that will be taken in the Design-Centric Engineering Curriculum (DCC), an alternative learning pathway offered for the first time by a university in Asia. This will be available to freshmen at the Faculty of Engineering in this coming academic year.
Named as KRUCE (Kent Ridge Urban Concept Ecocar) by its creators, it is expected to outlast its predecessor, NUS-ECO1. Able to travel longer and faster, KRUCE's aerodynamic structure and power source was built from scratch by students from NUS' Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering.
The body of the car was also designed and fabricated in NUS by the team in collaboration with the Design Incubation Centre (DIC) of the School of Design and Environment. Aesthetically, it was conceptualised to resemble a "cell". When viewed from the top, the car wending through roads of a busy city would connote the imagery of a blood cell coursing through branching veins. It was also designed for a lower aerodynamic drag, allowing easy access to the mechanical components for troubleshooting.
Working closely with Gashub Technologies, the team began the design phase in August 2008. Customising a hydrogen fuel cell power plant that drives an electric wheel hub motor, they were able to ensure that the single-seater achieves twice the energy efficiency of conventional internal combustion engines.
Slated to compete in the Urban Concept category against 66 teams from some 37 different countries, the team will represent NUS in the world-renowned Shell Eco-marathon Europe competition (7th to 9th May) at EuroSpeedway Lausitz, Germany. The purpose is to travel seven laps of a circuit with a total of 22 km distance in less than 53 minutes.
The winner is determined not by speed but by the least amount of fuel used to complete this test. The Urban Concept class also simulates urban driving conditions where a vehicle must stop and start three times during the race. The team hopes to improve on their overall 18th ranking with 91 km/l fuel performance, achieved in Nogaro, France in 2008.
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KRUCE measures 2.70 metres long, 1.20 metres wide and 1.18 metres high. Using lightweight materials such as aluminium and carbon fibre reinforced polymers, as well as optimising for structural weight; the vehicle achieves a kerb weight of only 130 kilogrogams. Computational Fluid Dynamic simulations reveal a drag area1 of 0.38m2, which compares favourably against 0.56m2 on the Nissan GT-R and 0.57m2 on the Toyota Prius.
Clean and Efficient Powertrain
The heart and soul of KRUCE is its powertrain, which consists of a hydrogen fuel cell paired with an electric direct drive wheel hub motor. The customised hydrogen fuel cell can deliver up to 1200 Watts of power and is at least two times more efficient than a comparable internal combustion engine. It is also a zero-carbon emission "engine", generating only water as exhaust material.
The wheelhub motor is a reliable and efficient motor that develops the one horsepower required to propel the eco-friendly urban concept car up to speeds of over 30 km/h. Weighing in at only six kilogrammes, the motor combines well with the fuel cell to create a near silent running vehicle. A comparable diesel engine would weigh considerably more and generate over 79 decibels of noise at a distance of seven metres.
Fuel cell system
The fuel cell built by the team is rated at 1.2 kilowatts and has a system weight of just 15 kilogrammes. It is able to allow the urban concept car to achieve a 40 km/h top speed. Due to its inherent high efficiency, using a fuel cell as the energy source in the urban concept car gives the team an advantage in terms of fuel efficiency compared to other teams operating on internal combustion engines. Current testing has shown that this system will allow the car to reach an equivalent of 350 kilometres with one litre of petrol.
Fuel cell technology represents a possible solution to our automotive energy needs of the future for the following reasons:
Efficiency
Fuel cells are generally more than twice as efficient as internal combustion engines. Internal combustion engines have an energy efficiency of around 18 per cent, which means that more than three quarters of the energy produced goes to waste. For fuel cell systems, the efficiency is about 50 percent.
Low or zero emissions
Fuel cells operating on hydrogen generate only water and unused air at the exhaust. This is an extremely clean energy technology making it very attractive for automotive use.
Simplicity
Fuel cells are extremely simple mechanically, with very few moving parts. They have the potential to be more durable than internal combustion engines. Due to this simplicity, there is also potential for mass production at very low costs.
Quiet
The energy conversion process in fuel cells is silent and free from vibration, which will lead to vast improvements in the NVH (Noise Vibration and harshness) of vehicles, leading to near silent running.
In-house Design and Fabrication of Bodyshell
The body shell took three months to design, another three months to manufacture and one month for its finishing and integration onto the eco-friendly urban concept car. The manufacturing process involves milling of expanded polystyrene foam using a 3D CNC foam carving router, fabrication of chopped strand fibreglass female mould and finally production of the positive fibreglass panels for the body shell.
The in-house fabrication of the body shell allowed the team to have better control over the tolerances and surface finishing of the final product. It is also composed of multiple panels to allow greater accessibility to the innards of the urban concept car for easy maintenance.
|
This urban concept eco-car project typifies the approach that will be taken in the Design-Centric Engineering Curriculum (DCC), an alternative learning pathway offered for the first time by a university in Asia. This will be available to freshmen at the Faculty of Engineering in this coming academic year.
Named as KRUCE (Kent Ridge Urban Concept Ecocar) by its creators, it is expected to outlast its predecessor, NUS-ECO1. Able to travel longer and faster, KRUCE's aerodynamic structure and power source was built from scratch by students from NUS' Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering.
The body of the car was also designed and fabricated in NUS by the team in collaboration with the Design Incubation Centre (DIC) of the School of Design and Environment. Aesthetically, it was conceptualised to resemble a "cell". When viewed from the top, the car wending through roads of a busy city would connote the imagery of a blood cell coursing through branching veins. It was also designed for a lower aerodynamic drag, allowing easy access to the mechanical components for troubleshooting.
Working closely with Gashub Technologies, the team began the design phase in August 2008. Customising a hydrogen fuel cell power plant that drives an electric wheel hub motor, they were able to ensure that the single-seater achieves twice the energy efficiency of conventional internal combustion engines.
Slated to compete in the Urban Concept category against 66 teams from some 37 different countries, the team will represent NUS in the world-renowned Shell Eco-marathon Europe competition (7th to 9th May) at EuroSpeedway Lausitz, Germany. The purpose is to travel seven laps of a circuit with a total of 22 km distance in less than 53 minutes.
The winner is determined not by speed but by the least amount of fuel used to complete this test. The Urban Concept class also simulates urban driving conditions where a vehicle must stop and start three times during the race. The team hopes to improve on their overall 18th ranking with 91 km/l fuel performance, achieved in Nogaro, France in 2008.
|
KRUCE measures 2.70 metres long, 1.20 metres wide and 1.18 metres high. Using lightweight materials such as aluminium and carbon fibre reinforced polymers, as well as optimising for structural weight; the vehicle achieves a kerb weight of only 130 kilogrogams. Computational Fluid Dynamic simulations reveal a drag area1 of 0.38m2, which compares favourably against 0.56m2 on the Nissan GT-R and 0.57m2 on the Toyota Prius.
Clean and Efficient Powertrain
The heart and soul of KRUCE is its powertrain, which consists of a hydrogen fuel cell paired with an electric direct drive wheel hub motor. The customised hydrogen fuel cell can deliver up to 1200 Watts of power and is at least two times more efficient than a comparable internal combustion engine. It is also a zero-carbon emission "engine", generating only water as exhaust material.
The wheelhub motor is a reliable and efficient motor that develops the one horsepower required to propel the eco-friendly urban concept car up to speeds of over 30 km/h. Weighing in at only six kilogrammes, the motor combines well with the fuel cell to create a near silent running vehicle. A comparable diesel engine would weigh considerably more and generate over 79 decibels of noise at a distance of seven metres.
Fuel cell system
The fuel cell built by the team is rated at 1.2 kilowatts and has a system weight of just 15 kilogrammes. It is able to allow the urban concept car to achieve a 40 km/h top speed. Due to its inherent high efficiency, using a fuel cell as the energy source in the urban concept car gives the team an advantage in terms of fuel efficiency compared to other teams operating on internal combustion engines. Current testing has shown that this system will allow the car to reach an equivalent of 350 kilometres with one litre of petrol.
Fuel cell technology represents a possible solution to our automotive energy needs of the future for the following reasons:
Efficiency
Fuel cells are generally more than twice as efficient as internal combustion engines. Internal combustion engines have an energy efficiency of around 18 per cent, which means that more than three quarters of the energy produced goes to waste. For fuel cell systems, the efficiency is about 50 percent.
Low or zero emissions
Fuel cells operating on hydrogen generate only water and unused air at the exhaust. This is an extremely clean energy technology making it very attractive for automotive use.
Simplicity
Fuel cells are extremely simple mechanically, with very few moving parts. They have the potential to be more durable than internal combustion engines. Due to this simplicity, there is also potential for mass production at very low costs.
Quiet
The energy conversion process in fuel cells is silent and free from vibration, which will lead to vast improvements in the NVH (Noise Vibration and harshness) of vehicles, leading to near silent running.
In-house Design and Fabrication of Bodyshell
The body shell took three months to design, another three months to manufacture and one month for its finishing and integration onto the eco-friendly urban concept car. The manufacturing process involves milling of expanded polystyrene foam using a 3D CNC foam carving router, fabrication of chopped strand fibreglass female mould and finally production of the positive fibreglass panels for the body shell.
The in-house fabrication of the body shell allowed the team to have better control over the tolerances and surface finishing of the final product. It is also composed of multiple panels to allow greater accessibility to the innards of the urban concept car for easy maintenance.
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