Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The Hy-Wire Car Report
The Hy-Wire Car Report
Chapter I
INTRODUCTION
Cars are immensely complicated machines, but when you get down
to it, they do an incredibly simple job. Most of the complex stuff in a car is
dedicated to turning wheels, which grip the road to pull the car body and
passengers along. The steering system tilts the wheels side to side to turn the
car, and brake and acceleration systems control the speed of the wheels.
Given that the overall function of a car is so basic (it just needs to
provide rotary motion to wheels), it seems a little strange that almost all cars
have the same collection of complex devices crammed under the hood and the
Why do cars necessarily need a steering column, brake and acceleration pedals,
more to the point, in the near future, they won't. Most likely, a lot of us will be
driving radically different cars within 20 years. And the difference won't just
be under the hood -- owning and driving cars will change significantly, too.
General Motor's remarkable concept car, the Hy-wire. GM may never actually
sell the Hy-wire to the public, but it is certainly a good illustration of various
Chapter- II
HY-WIRE BASICS
Two basic elements largely dictate car design today: the internal
looked under the hood of a car, you know an internal combustion engine
else they do with a car, designers always have to make room for this
equipment.
The same goes for mechanical and hydraulic linkages. The basic idea
of this system is that the driver maneuvers the various actuators in the car (the
pinion steering system, for example, turning the steering wheel rotates a shaft
connected to a pinion gear, which moves a rack gear connected to the car's
front wheels. In addition to restricting how the car is built, the linkage concept
also dictates how we drive: The steering wheel, pedal and gear-shift system
predecessor, the Autonomy) is that it doesn't have either of these two things.
Instead of an engine, it has a fuel cell stack, which powers an electric motor
drive by wire system -- a computer actually operates the components that move
the wheels, activate the brakes and so on, based on input from an electronic
controller. This is the same control system employed in modern fighter jets as
and a very different driving experience. There is no steering wheel, there are no
that actually moves the car along the road is housed in an 11-inch-thick (28
cm) aluminum chassis -- also known as the skateboard -- at the base of the car.
passenger comfort.
This means the driver and passengers don't have to sit behind a mass
of machinery. Instead, the Hy-wire has a huge front windshield, which gives
passenger compartment can be totally flat, and it's easy to give every seat lots
of leg room. Concentrating the bulk of the vehicle in the bottom section of the
car also improves safety because it makes the car much less likely to tip over.
But the coolest thing about this design is that it lets you remove the
entire passenger compartment and replace it with a different one. If you want
to switch from a van to a sports car, you don't need an entirely new car; you
The Hy-wire has wheels, seats and windows like a conventional car, but the
similarity pretty much ends there. There is no engine under the hood and no
steering wheel or pedals inside.
Chapter III
POWER
The "Hy" in Hy-wire stands for hydrogen, the standard fuel for a fuel
cell system. Like batteries, fuel cells have a negatively charged terminal and a
connected to each end. They are also similar to batteries in that they generate
electricity from a chemical reaction. But unlike a battery, you can continually
recharge a fuel cell by adding chemical fuel -- in this case, hydrogen from an
into two H protons (H+, positively charged single hydrogen atoms) and two
electrons (e-). Oxygen on the cathode (positively charged) side of the fuel cell
draws H+ ions from the anode side through a proton exchange membrane, but
blocks the flow of electrons. The electrons (which have a negative charge) are
attracted to the protons (which have a positive charge) on the other side of the
membrane, but they have to move through the electrical circuit to get there.
The moving electrons make up the electrical current that powers the various
loads in the circuit, such as motors and the computer system. On the cathode
side of the cell, the hydrogen, oxygen and free electrons combine to form water
anode into protons and electrons. The protons move through the exchange
membrane, toward the oxygen on the cathode side, and the electrons make
their way through a wire between the anode and cathode. On the cathode side,
the hydrogen and oxygen combine to form water. Many cells are connected in
One fuel cell only puts out a little bit of power, so you need to combine
many cells into a stack to get much use out of the process. The fuel-cell stack
peak power. The compact cell stack (it's about the size of a PC tower) is kept
themselves.
depending on the load in the circuit. The motor controller boosts this up to 250
motor that rotates the wheels (this is similar to the system used in conventional
electric cars).
The electric motor's job is to apply torque to the front wheel axle to
spin the two front wheels. The control unit varies the speed of the car by
increasing or decreasing the power applied to the motor. When the controller
applies maximum power from the fuel-cell stack, the motor's rotor spins at
stage planetary gear, with a ratio of 8.67:1, steps up the torque to apply a
maximum of 1,375 pound-feet to each wheel. That's enough torque to move the
4,200-pound (1,905-kg) car 100 miles per hour (161 kph) on a level road.
Smaller electric motors maneuver the wheels to steer the car, and electrically
three cylindrical tanks, weighing about 165 pounds (75 kilograms) total. The
tanks are made of a special carbon composite material with the high structural
strength needed to contain high-pressure hydrogen gas. The tanks in the current
model hold about 4.5 pounds (2 kg) of hydrogen at about 5,000 pounds per
square inch (350 bars). In future models, the Hy-wire engineers hope to
increase the pressure threshold to 10,000 pounds per square inch (700 bars),
which would boost the car's fuel capacity to extend the driving range.
hydrogen-storage tanks small enough that they can reduce the chassis thickness
from 11 inches to 6 inches (15 cm). This more compact "skateboard" would
Chapter IV
CONTROL
the chassis. It sends electronic signals to the motor control unit to vary the
speed, the steering mechanism to maneuver the car, and the braking system to
At the chassis level, the computer controls all aspects of driving and
power use. But it takes its orders from a higher power -- namely, the driver in
the car body. The computer connects to the body's electronics through a single
universal docking port. This central port works the same basic way as a USB
command signals from the car controller to the central computer, as well as
the electric power needed to operate all of the body's onboard electronics. Ten
The driver's control unit, dubbed the X-drive, is a lot closer to a video
game controller than a conventional steering wheel and pedal arrangement. The
controller has two ergonomic grips, positioned to the left and right of a small
LCD monitor. To steer the car, you glide the grips up and down lightly -- you
don't have to keep rotating a wheel to turn, you just have to hold the grip in the
turning position. To accelerate, you turn either grip, in the same way you
would turn the throttle on a motorcycle; and to brake, you squeeze either grip.
joysticks, translate this motion into a digital signal the central computer can
recognize. Buttons on the controller let you switch easily from neutral to drive
to reverse, and a starter button turns the car on. Since absolutely everything is
hand-controlled, you can do whatever you want with your feet (imagine
sticking them in a massager during the drive to and from work every day).
displays all the stuff you'd normally find on the dashboard (speed, mileage,
fuel level). It also gives you rear-view images from video cameras on the sides
console beside the driver, shows you stereo, climate control and navigation
information.
Since it doesn't directly drive any part of the car, the X-drive could
sedan model, the X-drive swings around to either of the front two seats, so you
can switch drivers without even getting up. It's also easy to adjust the X-drive
One of the coolest things about the drive-by-wire system is that you
vehicles, you will most likely be able to configure the controls exactly to your
liking by pressing a few buttons, just like you might adjust the seat position in
a car today. It would also be possible in this sort of system to store distinct
no physical connection between the driver and the car's mechanical elements,
an electrical failure would mean total loss of control. In order to make this sort
of system viable in the real world, drive-by-wire cars will need back-up power
supplies and redundant electronic linkages. With adequate safety measures like
this, there's no reason why drive-by-wire cars would be any more dangerous
than conventional cars. In fact, a lot of designers think they'll be much safer,
because the central computer will be able to monitor driver input. Another
The other major hurdle for this type of car is figuring out energy-
efficient methods for producing, transporting and storing hydrogen for the
producing the hydrogen fuel can generate about as much pollution as using
gasoline engines, and storage and distribution systems still have a long way to
assuming it can resolve the major fuel and safety issues. But even if the Hy-
wire team doesn't meet this goal, GM and other automakers are definitely
highway will see some major changes within the next few decades.
Chapter -V
back
peak
motor
CONCLUSION
2010, assuming it can resolve the major fuel and safety issues. The life on the
high way will see some major changes within the next few decades.
REFERENCES
• www.howstuffworks.com
• www.generalmoters.com
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First of all I thank the almighty for providing me with the strength and
courage to present the seminar.
I am also indebted to all the teaching and non- teaching staff of the
department of mechanical engineering for their cooperation and suggestions,
which is the spirit behind this report. Last but not the least, I wish to express
my sincere thanks to all my friends for their goodwill and constructive ideas.
RIJIL K.P.
ABSTRACT
Instead of these it contain a fuel cell stack and a drive by wire system. It is
fully automated car it is a future car. In future it will have a wide application.
The problem with fuel consumption and pollution can be minimize to certain
level.
CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION 1
2. HY-WIRE BASICS 3
3. POWER 6
4. CONTROL 11
6. CONCLUSION 19
7. REFERENCES 20