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Comfy cars
One of the more significant obstacles to automotive start-stop systems is how to keep the car comfy with the engine off. Saving fuel is great, but not if the infotainment system, HVAC et al were to shut down at every red light.
At the SAE World Congress in Detroit last week, Delphi Automotive introduced a Phase Change Material (PCM) Evaporator that it said will keep start/stop vehicle cabins cooler longer and also extend the electric range of hybrid/electric vehicles.
Delphi Thermal Systems president James Bertrand says the PCM Evaporator is less complex and less expensive than an electric air conditioning compressor, but also more efficient.
Delphi’s system integrates a reservoir of paraffin-based phase change material within the air-conditioning evaporator. During normal operation, thermal energy is removed from the material, which solidifies or freezes. When the air conditioning system is stopped, the material gradually liquefies or melts, drawing heat from the air to keep passengers comfortable. The system can typically maintain target air temperature for one to two minutes – long enough to keep occupants comfy during the “stop” portions of start/stop driving.
Besides the PCM, Delphi introduced an HPAC (heat pump air conditioner) and an EGHX (exhaust gas heat exchanger). The HPAC, which integrates a refrigerant heat pump and a coolant distribution system, draws heat from ambient air and “scavenges” waste heat for the cabin. It’s said to reduce battery drain and thus extend the range of hybrid and electric vehicles. The EGHX recovers heat normally lost in the exhaust system. Hybrid vehicles typically run their engines longer in cold weather to keep the cabin warm, but recovering heat from the exhaust system could allow engines to operate in electric mode sooner, reducing CO2 emissions, improving fuel economy, and reducing the need for electric heating, which protects the battery charge.
Tags: Delphi, Delphi automotive, Delphi Thermal Systems, exhaust gas heat exchanger, fuel economy, heat pump air conditioner, HVAC, hybrid vehicles CO2 emissions, phase change material evaporator, SAE World Congress, start-stop systems
Where would you like to charge your EV?
It stands to reason that range anxiety would lessen – at least a little – among current and prospective owners of electric vehicles (EV) if charging stations were ubiquitous as gas stations are today. Since they are not, there is value in the ability to locate charging stations and reserve time on them via smartphone.
At the SAE World Congress, GE Energy Industrial Solutions introduced WattStation™, an electric vehicle (EV) charging station, and WattStation Connect, a software platform to support it. The software platform serves not only vehicle owners but also entrepreneurs who see the benefit of installing and operating charging stations, including retailers, commercial property managers, and business managers who want to provide an additional benefit for their employees. Fleet managers are also prospects.
Industrial Solutions says charging station owners can set pricing, provide access control, and generate reports, all remotely. It’s working with an online payment company to enable drivers to pay for charging through a WattStation Connect mobile app. The WattStation pedestal uses smart grid technology to help utility companies manage the impact of electric vehicles on power grids.
EV charging still takes quite a bit of time versus pumping gas, but that investment could be mitigated if charging stations were available at restaurants, shopping malls, office parks, other places of employment, or any other appropriate place where people spend time.
Where besides home would you most like to see a charging station and how much difference would it make, if any, in your decision to purchase an EV?
Your answer might interest another exhibitor at the SAE World Congress, Ecotality, which manages the EV Project sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and partner organizations. The Project collects and analyzes data on EV use – 24 million miles worth so far, which equates to nearly one million gallons of gas not consumed and some 8,700 metric tons of CO2 not emitted.
The goal of The EV Project is to apply the lessons learned from deployment of the first few thousand EVs and the current charging infrastructure to streamline deployment of the next EV generation. Are you ready to buy, or, as was said of color televisions decades ago, waiting for them to be perfected?
Tags: Ecotality, electric vehicles (EV), EV charging station, EV Project, GE Energy Industrial Solutions, SAE World Congress, smartphone, WattStation, WattStation Connect
Gigabit Ethernet is coming to cars
The ubiquitous CAN bus – a staple of automotive electronics for a long time now – runs at a snail’s pace by today’s standards. Automakers are already using much faster Ethernet for diagnostics and would like to use it for in-vehicle applications, but not with four pairs of wires, which would be required to achieve Gigabit Ethernet networking speeds via 1000BASE-T. Reducing the number of wire pairs – possibly from four to two – would cut the size and weight of Ethernet wiring in a vehicle.
The IEEE recently announced the formation of an 802.3™ Reduced Twisted Pair Gigabit Ethernet PHY study group. “With a tremendous expansion in the number of Ethernet nodes in automobiles forecasted, the efficiencies to be realized in reducing wire pairs to achieve Gigabit Ethernet networking speeds will be of growing importance,” says Steve Carlson, president of High Speed Design, Inc. and chairperson of the study group.
“For everything that automakers want to put in cars between now and 2020, there has to be a high-performance communications backbone, and that backbone is Ethernet,” Carlson says. “Electronic content in cars is going through the roof, and if nothing is done, wiring harnesses could be three times more complex and weigh three times more than they do now.” Carlson and others hope that by 2020 wiring harnesses will weigh about what they weigh today despite all of the anticipated additional functionality.
“It’s possible to do Gigabit Ethernet over fewer than four pairs. What we have to do is look at the different possible solutions and pick the one that is most optimum for performance and cost,” Carlson says.
Persons interested in high bandwidth for future automotive networks are invited to contribute to the study group, which is scheduled to meet at the IEEE 802.3 Ethernet Interim Session, May 14-18, 2012, at the Hilton Minneapolis. For more information visit http://www.ieee802.org/3/RTPGE/index.html.
Tags: 1000BASE-T, 802.3, CAN bus, Gigabit Ethernet, High Speed Design Inc., IEEE, PHY, reduced twisted pair gigabit Ethernet
Driverless cars?
How close are we to the reality of autonomous driving? Is it closer than we might think, still years away and dependent on the widespread deployment of V2X technology, or both?
Tier one supplier Continental completed a two-week, 6,000-mile automated driving endurance test on public roads in Nevada. It credited knowledge gained from the car that won the DARPA Urban Challenge in 2007 and from HAVEit, an EU-funded research project. GM recently touted the numerous safety features in the 2013 Cadillac XTS (http://johndayautomotivelectronics.com/?p=9585).
Continental said its test included different driving scenarios and “close-to-production” technologies for monitoring immediate surroundings. It cited among those technologies a stereo camera with sensors that can measure the distance and size of potential obstacles, the MK 100 electronically controllable braking system, and electric power steering (EPS).
The test also served to investigate possible use cases, and to determine the acceptable operating range for the vehicle’s fully automated mode. In situations that exceeded the current capabilities of highly-automated driving, such as where road markings could not be detected or if the bends were too tight, the system switched itself off and the driver had to resume control of the vehicle. If the driver failed to react, the vehicle’s speed was gradually reduced until it came to a stop.
Continental noted that driver mistakes were found to be the cause of over 80 percent of all accidents involving personal injuries in Germany in 2010, according to the German Federal Statistical Office. Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) can support drivers in demanding and difficult situations as well as in monotonous driving situations in which a driver’s attention can lag.
Continental said it will use the experience gained in the Nevada test to improve its ADAS technology and added that the results “represent an important step on the road toward realizing the vision of accident-free driving.”
Tags: 2013 Cadillac XTS, Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), autonomous driving, Continental, DARPA Urban Challenge, electric power steering (EPS), GM, HAVEit, MK 100 electronically controlled braking system, V2X
Mercedes opts for Autonet in-vehicle entertainment
You may have noticed that Mercedes-Benz dealers can now install the new Mercedes-Benz In-Vehicle Hot Spot powered by Autonet Mobile, so folks riding in cars equipped with Autonet’s Wi-Fi router can not only bring connectable devices into those cars but actually use those devices (up to four) – inside the car when it’s moving or outside when it’s stopped.
The in-vehicle Wi-Fi connection supports laptops, smartphones, game devices, tablets and whatever else; especially iPads. “Combined with the Mercedes-Benz iPad docking station, the new Mercedes-Benz In-Vehicle Hot Spot system will allow each passenger to have their own Wi-Fi connection and screen holder for a whole new in-car entertainment capability,” says Willi Goossen, general manager, after-sales business development, Mercedes-Benz USA.
“The Mercedes-Benz customer is looking for entertainment options beyond the traditional DVD player,” adds Autonet Mobile chief executive officer Sterling Pratz. “(Mercedes) puts a quality stamp on our product,” he says. “They vetted it really hard and made an effort to put it on a fast track.” Autonet Mobile routers are also available for Chrysler vehicles; Chevrolet and Cadillac, and the Subaru Outback. Pratz says other car models will soon join the list, and the router is available from Amazon, Car Toys, and other aftermarket sources.
“(In-vehicle Wi-Fi) is a better way to be entertained,” says Pratz. “Better than DVD. When people have the Internet, they never use their DVD player. We have customers who are three-years-old watching YouTube educational videos. Parents take Eye-Fi pictures of their kids outside the car and upload the pictures immediately over the Internet.
Pratz says Autonet Mobile has worked hard to make its router more rugged and easier to use, since many connectable devices don’t include a browser. “Mom and Dad don’t want to have to be tech support reps for their kids. They just want to have devices turn on and connect.”
Besides providing Internet connectivity in cars, Pratz says Autonet Mobile is working with small fleet operators, providing driver report cards among other services. The company is also readying an applications platform for launch later this year.
Tags: Autonet Mobile, DVD player, in-vehicle hot spot, iPad, Mercedes-Benz, Wi-Fi router
Collaborating on automotive software development tools
Last July the Eclipse Foundation announced an open source initiative to define and implement a standard platform for software development tools used in the automotive industry. BMW, Bosch, Continental, and itemis AG were founding members of the Eclipse Automotive Industry Working Group, the results of which will be made available under the open source Eclipse Public License (EPL). Validas AG and the Virtual Vehicle Competence Center recently joined the working group.
In a statement issued when the Working Group was formed, BMW referred to Eclipse as a de-facto standard in developing software development tools and an integrated development environment for programming automotive software. BMW said it will use the Eclipse platform developed by the Working Group as a strategic development environment.
“Creating a standard platform for automotive tools will help us to faster innovate without compromising quality,” noted Harald Mackamul, Senior Expert, Corporate Sector Research and Advance Engineering, Robert Bosch GmbH. “Collaborating with an open source community will allow us to share the costs and best practices for building new tools with other companies in the automotive industry. We see this open innovation as the future for our software tools strategy.”
Ignacio Garro, head of IT PLM Systems and Software at Continental Automotive, said the automotive working group’s initial objective is the definition of an automotive development platform for systems engineering as well as software development.
“The final aim of the Eclipse Automotive Working Group is to set up an automotive ecosystem for Eclipse that will help to improve the standard Eclipse platform in the areas that need further development to perfectly match the requirements of the automotive industry,” he added. “We are planning, for example, to be active in the area of memory management for huge models, in the area of functional safety, and also in the area of access to executable memory information from CDT (C/C++ Development Tooling).”
Garro suggests that the definition of an automotive platform will make it easier for OEMs and automotive suppliers to integrate different tools into an integrated environment and provide an advantage for tool suppliers that support the platform.
Tags: BMW, Bosch, Continental, Eclipse Automotive Industry Working Group, Eclipse Foundation, Eclipse Public License (EPL), itemis AG, open source initiatve, software development tools, Validas AG, Virtual Vehicle Competence Center
About John Day
News and commentary on automotive EE trends and topics
Latest Posts
- Tracking telematics in China
- The value of MISRA-compliant software
- Comfy cars
- Where would you like to charge your EV?
- Don’t miss IESF Detroit – the annual automotive E/E design forum
- Keeping connected cars secure