New Suspension Improves Fuel Efficiency as well as Speed and Handling

The Center for Electromechanics and the U.S. Army Tank, Automotive, and Armaments Command collaborated in a test of an active suspension approach reported at the meeting of the Society of Automotive Engineers in early March. This suspension had already been shown to significantly improve ride and handling, permitting speeds up to three times faster over rough terrain. These tests, conducted using an Army test driver at the Yuma test track, showed that the active suspension also had lower rolling resistance on the off-road track. This means it is smoother, faster, and more fuel-efficient than a similar vehicle equipped with conventional springs and shock absorbers. The team developing these results included J. Beno, D. Weeks, D. Bresie, A. Guenin, and J. Wisecup from CEM and W. Bylsma from the Army.

For further information, please contact Dr. Joe Beno.

Test Methods for Composite Strength Evaluated

R. Thompson, R. Pak, and B. Rech of the Center for Electromechanics are presenting an evaluation of hydroburst test methodology for the evaluation of composite strength at the March ASTM conference. This work documented potential sources of error in hydroburst testing, particularly the effects of residual strain. A key finding of this work was the approach is useful in manufacturing quality control as it can be used to examine, strength, modulus, to evaluate fatigue, and to identify flaws.

For further information, contact Richard Thompson.

Talk Explores the Development of Science and Technology in the Public Arena

Bob Hebner, Director CEM, presents a talk to the Lone Star Mensa at a meeting in Austin on January 14, 2002. The talk titled “How the Public Judges Technology” highlights the role of the technical establishment, politics, the media, and our legal system in areas of science and technology that can make an immediate difference in the lives of people. He examines how examples as diverse as the testing of electrical generators, the health effects of cell phones, and global warming underscore proper roles for all of these participants in unresolved significant issues of public policy.

For further information, please contact R. Hebner.

New Cooperative Research Program with Schlumberger

The Center for Electromechanics has started a cooperative research program with Schlumberger through one of its affiliates. Schlumberger brings world-class knowledge and experience in oilfield services to this program. The Center has expertise in the conversion, transmission, and storage of electrical and mechanical energy exploiting advances in electronics, materials and computing. The project is expected to bring new capability to oilfield services and other related fields. The key Center staff members in this program are John Uglum and Ray Zowarka.

Accelerated Testing of Composite Rotors

Richard Thompson collaborated with a team of researchers at the NASA Glenn Research Center to develop accelerated tests to determine the durability of the high strength composite rotors used in advanced energy storage flywheels. A paper describing this work was presented at the ASTM conference in March 2002. Over the regimes tested, the time-temperature superposition principle appeared to be valid for creep and for stress relaxation. That is, short time behavior at high temperature can be used to predict longer time behavior at lower temperature. A remaining challenge, however, is that tensile and compression compliance data taken under different conditions do not coincide.

Composite Flywheels Can Survive Sudden Vacuum Loss

Richard Thompson and Richard Hayes of CEM have worked with J. Kramer of the Argonne National Laboratory to determine how a composite flywheel responds to rapid loss of vacuum. Composite flywheels are typically operated in vacuum to minimize windage losses. This work focused on a flywheel like one that will be used to replace the battery pack in a hybrid transit bus. The investigation showed that the flywheel survived the event and subsequent retesting suggested that the transient temperature rise did not significantly degrade structural integrity. The work will be presented at the 2002 Congress of the Society of Automotive Engineers, in Detroit, MI, March 4 – 7, 2002.

For further information, contact Richard Thompson .

Research at CEM Contributes to a Master of Science in Engineering

Vincent Petit, who was affiliated with the Center for Electromechanics for some of his graduate research, earned a Master of Science in Engineering degree in December 2001. The title of his thesis is “Improving the Inductive Loop Detectors for High-Bed Trucks and Light Vehicles”. The research focused on modeling the interaction between vehicles and inductive loops, validation of the models with field data, and the use of the validated model to simulate the responsiveness of various loop geometries under a wide range of practical conditions. Mr. Petit has accepted a position with Schneider Electric in Grenoble, France.

Successful ARP / ATP Proposal Technology Development and Transfer Grant Active Suspension for Improved SUV Safety

The University of Texas Center for Electromechanics (CEM) in cooperation with UT Pan American (Pan AM), the Sealy Texas division of Stewart and Stevenson (SS), and Litton Industries (a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman) proposes to expand on previous electromagnetic suspension (EMS) work, and transfer that technology to industry for eventual integration into sport utility vehicles (SUV). The combined TDT and industry funding will be used to exploit a window of opportunity where, due to increased concern about the stability of off road vehicles, interest in commercializing CEM’s patented active suspension is high with industrial sponsors, military customers and the automotive market. Litton will provide cash and in-kind support and SS will provide in-dink cost sharing for this first phase of the project. Both General Motors (GM) and SS have offered additional engineering support and the use of production military vehicles for testing during the follow on effort.

Under the combined funding, Litton and CEM will design a complete active suspension system, with Litton focusing on reducing manufacturing costs while maintaining the reliability required for a military application. To reduce production costs prior to entering the SUV market, CEM and Litton will initially develop the system for a production run of military vehicles. One actuator (complete with power supplies and a system controller) will be fabricated and tested on a single wheel test rig. Based on those test results, and Litton’s recommendations, a second generation design will be completed and transferred to Litton for production as a beta test unit and integration on a military vehicle.