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Hello Paul

I am happy to have met you in Oxford and enjoyed talking with you.
I also just went through your website and enjoyed it very much too.
I like your copyright statements  :-)
But ehhh...  How about ?????????? ?????????? ?

And then for the humorists note of today a saying from Karl Lagerfeld ,
a German living in France
/The reason American cars don't sell anymore is that they have forgotten
how to design the American Dream.
What does it matter if you buy a car today or six months from now,
because cars are not beautiful.
That's why the American auto industry is in trouble: no design, no desire.
/
Very true today.

Kind regards

Randolph

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Randolph Toom
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heat2power SARL
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This is typical of the response I received from the engineers attending
the
symposium.
They immediately understood the advantages of turbo compounding and jumped
on it.
I would not be a bit surprised if Porsche, Renault and Audi have not
already
started work.
Those are the three engine R&D  types I know about that attended the
symposium. You could see
light bulbs lighting up on faces all over the place.

This reminds me of the enthusiastic response the Wright brothers received
in
Europe compared to
the tepid response they received in the U.S.. Europeans tend to be more
receptive to innovation.
I can't figure it out. Are Europeans better educated in technical matters?
I can see they have a lot more to gain as the price of fuel in Europe is a
lot higher than
it is in the US.

I am now working on a turbo compound  article to submit to Race Tech
magazine.

Paul Lamar


Paul,

The main problem is inherent with many (not all) of our higher education
institutions. You take a new kid, send him through 4 to 8 years of
college,
then hire him and give him a job designing an engine mount for a new car.
The kid has never even worked on his own car, let alone worked in a dealer
service department as a tech or on the assembly line putting things
together. He may not even be sure which end of a screwdriver to use. And
we
expect him to have the insight to be able to design a part that not only
functions well, but is easy to service. The problem is he doesn't have the
practical background to fall back on.
I firmly believe that our education system needs to change. The intern
program is very short sided.
If you want to be an Automotive Engineer, do your first 2 years getting
your
general education stuff and some preliminary engineering classes. Then go
spend a year or two in the trenches of repair, manufacturing and even
racing. Now go back to school and finish the engineering degree. All of a
sudden you have engineers who are thinking and relating to what the class
is
all about, instead of trying to find the next beer party.....
Do the same thing for Aerospace, Electronics....
Just my 2 cents,
Larry

I agree Larry. I started working on dirt track race cars when I was 12
years old.
Here are some shots of the facilitates that Brookes U here in Oxford uses
to train
race car engineers. That includes four complete sound proof dyno rooms and
a four
poster car shaker. They are in the process of adding a wind tunnel. I
might add
that this has paid off handsomely because Brit engineers dominate
world wide car racing organizations and that includes Ferrari.


Paul Lamar

Larry, Paul,

It  seems Japan Inc. recognize this as well, because the real training
starts when the newbie enters the company.

 " A recent graduate of a MIT made his appearance at the corporate
office and upon meeting the president received a mop with the
instructions to clean the hallway floor.   He complained "I can't do
this  work, I was hired as an engineer."   "Right," says the
president, "I forgot... you are a college grad." "Let me show you
how."

One thought on turbo compounding and dynamic energy recovery.  Why not do
both? The race car
would have some lower BSFC  and/or power merits on the straights and
coming out of  curves but the T.C system does nothing to recover energy
upon braking.  Looking at the compound rotary turbine and its connected
mass as a flywheel however, then perhaps braking could accelerate it
even more.

The flywheel becomes the energy source and braking and a downsized
computer controlled engine the power sources.  Brake wear is almost
eliminated,  engine is way downsized and
run at its most efficient speed. The connection to the flywheel/turbine
from the engine could be mechanical with an over running clutch.

And what would be the connection between the wheels and the flywheel?

Hydraulics or electric?  My bet would be on electric in-wheel motors.
The race car is a complicated study in total efficiency and not the
least of the challenges is overcoming air resistance, and maintaining
traction.   In-the-wheel air cooled motors are a big plus for delivering
power and weight exactly were it is needed.   Yes wire efficiency is not
as great as direct mechanical shaft connection but the car is not
battery powered, it is flywheel powered.

Doug in Japan

Adding unsprung weight is horrible for vehicle handling in bumps.  Big
hp electric motors are very heavy compared to light weight race
wheels/tires.  I think there's some multiplier that's commonly used
for the evaluating the cost of unsprung weight - like 3:1
unsprung:sprung.  I suppose brakes could be made somewhat
lighter/smaller if the motor reliability is good enough.  I don't know
what the offset would be.

And then, you propose using another electric motor to transfer energy
to-from the flywheel?

Haven't we had this conversation?


Matt-