Next
year will be particularly busy for Flybrid Automotive Ltd, the Silverstone-based
company that has pioneered flywheel-based kinetic energy recovery systems (KERS)
for use in road vehicles.
The first production
application of a KERS-based hybrid is likely to appear in the Wrightbus
StreetLite product range that appears in 2014.
This activity will mark
a breakthrough for Flybrid Automotive Ltd of Silverstone which has developed
mechanical flywheel kinetic energy recovery systems (KERS) using either
clutched flywheel transmissions (CFT) or continuously variable transmissions
(CVT) of the type designed and developed by Torotrak Ltd.
“We will be making pre-production systems for
Wrightbus in 2014,” said Jon Hilton, managing director of Flybrid Automotive
Ltd, this week. “But we will be making units for another as-yet secret low-volume
client.”
Hilton declined to reveal
the client or indicate its sector of industry.
“The client is very
secretive I am afraid,” said Hilton.
Earlier this month, at
Engine Expo 2013 in Stuttgart, Germany, Flybrid Automotive Ltd. demonstrated
its work with Volvo Car which could provide the British company with additional
work.
“Anything for Volvo would
be 'made' by the Tier 1 supplier, even though in practice we might actually do
the work on a sub contract basis,” added Hilton.
Flybrid is working with
Wrightbus, Voith Turbo, Productiv and Arriva to optimise the hybrid power
solution for the StreetLite mid-bus range. Productiv is examining the production
aspects of the flywheel hybrid system.
With Wrightbus, Flybrid
has a unique opportunity to demonstrate KERS technology in action. Both Voith
and Wrightbus, for example have many customers in Europe. For this reason it is
important for Flybrid that Wrightbus is fully up to speed and into production.
That is Flybrid Automotive’s first target.
The project, which is
part-funded by the UK’s innovation agency, Technology Strategy Board (TSB),
aims to have the system ready for new vehicle introduction in 2014. The aim is
to design the system for both new vehicle applications as well as for retrofit.
Flybrid will manufacture units in-house.
‘For the volumes we are
looking at for the Wrightbus application, we think we can cope with that within
Flybrid Automotive. We are looking at expanding our facilities,’ a spokesman
said earlier this year. ‘It is on our internal wish list of how we want to
grow. We think that the volumes that will be required for the bus and truck
market can be achieved within Flybrid.’
Flybrid’s KERS can be
used in many different applications. For example, it could be used in off-highway
applications in dump trunks or wheeled shovel loader. These operate a ‘Y duty
cycle’; that is, they are driven repeatedly forward and backwards into a pile
of earth.
The vehicles are heavy
but the travel speed is low so the kinetic energy available is low compared with
other applications. The main benefit of KERS comes through improved fuel
economy – the main driver – and engine downsizing.
There are multiple occasions when such trucks
require high energy, such as driving into a pile of dirt. Power and torque
levels are high and need a large engine. However, most of the time the maximum
power of the engine is not being used. KERS could be used as a power boost in
conjunction with a smaller engine that covers basic use.
The bus, truck and
off-highway sector represents one leg of Flybrid’s business activity, and
accounts for about 20% of turnover. Another 20% is accounted for by motorsport
interests and the balance is made up by road-car applications for OEMs.
Truck applications of
flywheel hybrids are likely to follow on from bus and off-highway applications.
The off-highway use has roughly the same timing as the Wrightbus applications.
In terms of time to
production, motorsport is always the quickest, followed by bus, truck and
off-highway. These three are quite similar in terms of flywheel hybrid
requirements and in terms of how quickly they can enter production.
Road-car applications take
longer to implement; programs move more slowly – many more people are involved
in the decision-making and therefore they require a longer time to put into
production.
However, it is in
motorsport where the main impetus for development is found. Within motorsport,
timescales are short and new programs must be developed quickly. However, while
production volumes are low, the intellectual effort is high and it is important
not to develop a system specific to motorsport. It must be one from which
technology can be transferred across to road-cars or even bus, truck and
off-highway applications.
In a motorsport
application, the system has to fulfill near identical road-car requirements,
for example controllability, reliability, durability and refinement, but with
one exception: while durability is shorter, performance aspects are higher.
This aspect further assists in the development of bus, truck and off-highway
applications. ∎
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