This has been a very serious discussion. Now, let us go to simple trivia.
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| This is the first stage of the development of the prototype - the mechanical skeleton. You will see the general purpose engine, that is often used by farmers in the farms for transport, for powering small boats, for plowing the fields and for other uses. Alongside the engine is the 3-phase squirrel-cage induction motor. You will also see the sheaves/pulleys and the belts that produce the required "mechanical advantage". Directly in front of the seat are two levers for changing the vehicle's speed, and a foot-pedal brake. At the handle-bar is a mechanical device that allows the driver to manually adjust the power output of the engine. |
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| Fr Jett Villarin, SJ, currently, the President of the Ateneo de Manila University shows his hands-on commitment to innovative approaches to energy. |
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| This picture shows the arrangement of the v-belt sheaves. A couple of mechanically interlocked tensioner rollers transfer driving power from one sheave to another to change the mechanical advantage. This is an inexpensive way of building a transmission system for the purpose of the prototype. |
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Visible here are the three major components. On the extreme left is the 3-phase motor. Next to it is the general-purpose gasoline engine. At the extreme right is a second-hand 14-volt 3-phase automotive alternator. We opened this up and took the terminals of one of the coils and connected them to our design of a single-phase transformer with a primary rating of 90-ampere 10-volt AC and a 12-ampere 120-volt AC secondary. This is the source of the charging current for the 84-volt battery. This scheme has been adopted to be able to demonstrate that the prototype at the shortest possible time and at the least cost.
By design, the ratings of the high side fit in perfectly well with the power mains. A couple of power diodes are provided to make this HEV an already PLUG-IN vehicle. |
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| This is how the vehicle and the AC mains perform the charging process as a PLUG-IN Hybird-Electric Vehicle. The extra power diodes are placed there as redundant protective devices. Notice that there is NO need for change-over switches from the vehicle or the AC mains. Disconnects/Breakers are, however, provided for safety reasons as provided by the Codes. |
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On the picture is Niño (left). He stuck with this research through thick and thin. At right is Mang Cally. He machined, welded, cut an ground any machine element we asked him to.
They are standing in front of a dynamometer that was designed specifically for this HEV. It's role is to develop the family of curves for the Efficiency Map.
On the left is a weight cradle that applies normal pressure to the pulley attached to the shaft of the engine. The pressure between the surface of the pulley and the pad on the rod will generate a force to pull the rod to our left. The weight on our right counters that force. We have the value of the torque when we multiply this force by the radius of the pulley. Our tachometer measures the RPM. Knowing the torque and the RPM, we are able to compare the "brake horsepower" with the manufacture's rated horsepower, giving us "percent load."
We also measure the amount of fuel consumed per unit time. The final quantity that this exercise will yield is "grams per kilowatt-hour."
Get grams/kWh for many speeds and for many torques an you have a family of curves, similar to the one shown for the Ford engine.
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| This is Niño driving the HEV from the Physics Laboratory to its new home, the Manila Observatory. Believe it or not, it is being pushed by Mang Cally, at the back, because we did not finish our work on the engine and have not completed the reassembly of our 3-phase inverter. |
