Automobiles: One Hundred Years of Dodge ball
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| Figure 1 - The internal combustion engine from a Ford Model T |
The undeniable
figurehead of the automotive industry’s choice of power has been the internal
combustion engine using gasoline as a fuel source. While other solutions have appeared throughout
the last century, none has been able to accommodate the demands which have been
made quintessential by gasoline. Now,
over one hundred years since consumer automobiles made their debut, we are
still looking for an alternative to fossil fuels which can meet our expectations
of what a car should be. The objective
of this research project is to delve deep into the true life cycle of the most prevalent automotive fuel systems, enabling a decisive, fact-based conclusion
as to which fuel system is the best. We
will then take a look into the cost of application for whichever system has proven
to be the most fruitful.
Due
to the lack of funding and time, this project will be derived from extensive
research and the deployment of several established methods for analyzing automobiles. One such method will be the GREET (Greenhouse
gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Transportation) system, developed
and published by Argonne National Laboratory.
This system looks at both the cradle-to-grave impact of the fuels
themselves, and the impact of the production, use, and eventual recycling of
the vehicles employing those fuels. With
the assistance of such methods, this projects’ goal will be to identify what fuel
system is the most realistic in a full-scale application.
Over
the remaining weeks, while pursuing the above-stated goal, our group will be
providing deliverables in the form of research and presentations amongst
ourselves. Since there are no physical
parts to be created with this project, our focus will be on researching and
compiling data from the GREET model and other sources. Because of this issue, we will be making
extensive use of our blog to post information and data that we are collecting
along the way. Each week deliverables that
are accomplished shall be posted to the blog page.
Our tentative schedule is outlined below:
Week 3 - 4:
Fuel
system group – researching GREET 1 to learn how to use it
Ross,
Tiancheng, Bryan
Automotive
group – researching GREET 2.7 to learn how it works
Dan,
Eric
Weeks 5-6:
Presentations
development – possible demonstrations…
Beginning
final report
Weeks 7-9:
Final
analysis will be completed.
Any
final research will be decided and done at this point
Week 10:
Final
preparations for presentation
Finishing
touches put onto blog
At
this time our group does not foresee any expenses applying to this
project. All of the data provide by the
GREET model, and all of the other resources we are expecting to use will be
free of charge.
Good stuff, but you might want to look at differnt types of configurations of engines, in-line vs. V6& V8's vs. a wankle rotary engine (mazda uses this one). Over all, all the work done has been superb.
ReplyDelete-Mike
Mike- we used a program called Argonne Greet to derive all numbers in our project. Greet uses an average of all cars in use, and also offers numbers that average SUV statistics. Greet is available to view, check it out.
Delete-Eric Schachtner