Hybrid

Automotive
The future
of Automobile


Presented By: Purab Ranjan Sutradhar, EEE (Sec.
A) # 1106054
Date of Presentation: 18 March, 2014


Introduction

Technologies do emerge out to meet the need of time, to solve the unsolved crises,
limitations and problems. And so did emerge environment pollution and energy crisis
on this very uprising days of civilization. Hence one of the most intriguing concepts
that have come out along with the beginning of the 21st century is being Green
which, in a less informal linguistic, would mean being more environment and eco-
friendly in nature. So it is no surprise that the automobile industries also would head
that way, that is, would try to be more environment friendly. And the term that can
be called synonynous to being environment and nature friendly in the automotive
world is Hybrid because hybrid cars are the ultimate nature friendly cars. They emit
incredibly low amount of carbon dioxide and other harmful gaseous emissions into the
environment and they are utterly energy efficient. All these together make Hybrid the
technology for future.

What Hybrid Means

The word hybrid actually refers to incorporating more than one distinct technologies
into one single thing which hybrid automotive is not an exception to. The formal
definition of Hybrid Automotive Technology is:
Hybrid vehicle is a vehicle that uses two or more different power
sources for wheel propulsion.
So in simple term, a hybrid vehicle is not something that runs only on engine.


Technically this technology is termed as Hybrid Electronic Automotive( HEM). Here
the wheels are directly propelled by an electric motor, instead of the internal
combustion (IC) engine like that in a conventional vehicle. Now the electric motor
requires power supply which is performed by using the engine of the vehicle as an
electric generator. This engine will produce power to run the motor which will propel
the wheels instead of the engine itself propelling the wheels in a conventional car.


History

The technology itself is not a twenty-first century brand-spanking-new one. Actually
this technology was implemented effectively a century ago. The first complete working
series hybrid vehicle was made in 1905 by a very famous German inventor named
Ferdinand Porsche, also the inventor of Porsche Automobil Holding SE, the world famous
automobile manufacturing brand.



The Lohner-Porsche Mixte Hybrid, 1905
Ferdinand Porsche

The first commercial production of hybrid cars, however, was initiated in 1997 in
Japan. It was Toyota Prius and was followed by Honda Insight released two years
later.




These hybrid cars actually did not meet initial success in the market. The concept of
energy efficiency or environment friendliness were not that much appealing to people
back then. Soon, however, the menacing rise in the fuel price across the globe along
with the global warming problems and awareness campaigns motivated people to
embrace this ride. Now a days hybrids constitue a handsome portion of the worlds
automobile market. All the leading motoring brands produce a handful models of hybrid
cars including Toyota Prius which has still remained to be the best selling hybrid car
ever.


The Working Principle

This process can be demonstrated by the flow chart presented below:






8
Toyota Prius Hybrid, 1997






figure: The Hybrid Powertrain Workflow

Here as we can see, The IC engine draws fuel from the fuel reservoir and combust
the fuel to run the engine. Now the engine krank shaft runs a generator whereas it
would run the wheels in a conventional vehicle. Now the generator produces current
which is partially stored inside the battery and partially is supplied to the electric
motor through an DC to AC current converter. The motor then runs the wheels.

Now this diagram itself actually opens two different ways of operation for hybrid
vehicles. We can 1) use the engines power totally to produce power in the
generator. 2) partially power the generator and use rest to directly power the wheels.
And these two ways actually give birth to two different types of hybrid vehicles named
Series Hybrid and Parallel Hybrid. Both of thes technologies have met recognition in
the industries both occupying distinct field of uses.


Whats Ingenious About it


Smaller Engine:
The best feature of hybrid technology is that it dramatically reduces the size of the
engine without any compromise in power. The secret lies in the fact that the engine
is merely the generator in a hybrid car. And these are facilitated with a huge battery
storage which, while running, supplies power to the wheels constantly. So the engine
only requires to partially supply instant power through the generator.

The outcome of the engines being smaller is the ultimate fuel efficiency. As smaller
engines burn less fuel and produce less heat, they are thermodynamically much more
energy efficient than a larger one. Also the carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide
emissions are surprisingly low.

Also another benefit is that the engine does not directly need to provide torque to the
wheels in a hybrid car. So there is no fuel waste that arises while trying to supply
extra torque to the wheels by burning more fuel in case of a conventional car.


Regenerative Braking:

When brake is applied to pull a vehicle to a stop. All the energy consumed to set
the vehicle into motion is totally lost in case of a conventional car. But thanks to the
battery storage facility in a hybrid car, this kinetic energy can be restored while
braking in a hybrid car. While braking, the electric motors actionsis reversed and it
then performs as a generator to store the power back to the battery. This is how a
hybrid car reuses energy. This facility is very effective in busy driving situations where
frequent braking and accelerating is a necessity.

Start-Stop Assist:

Hybrid cars are very much electronically assisted. They have integrated on board
computers to manage every mechanical process and hence they are smart and
intelligent. One of the exposure of this smartness is start-stop assist. When a car is
pulled to stop, for example, on atraffic signal, the engine turns off automatically. Again
when the car is needed to run, the electric motor supplies instant torque to run the
wheels. This actually saves the waste of vast amount of energy that happen everyday
due to unnecessary idling of engines on traffic signals and traffic jams.


Conclusion

Because of its energy efficiency and environment friendliness, hybrid technology has
not only drawn the attention of mass production cars, but also the sport-oriented ones
and even the supercars. The supercar moguls across the world are now embracing
this technology to combine performance and efficiency together. Few of these would
include the BMW i3, Mclaren P1 Supercar, Porsche 918 and ofcourse the Concept car
by Ferrari known as the Laferrari. Even high load trucks, SUVs and pickup trucks are
being transformed into hybrids in the recent years.