3-D printed Shelby Cobra

This Shelby Cobra sports car, 3D-printed at Department of Energy's Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, will be on display this week at the Detroit Auto Show Technology Showcase. Credit: Image courtesy of Oak Ridge National Laboratory

With a 3-D printed twist on an automotive icon, the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory is showcasing additive manufacturing research at the 2015 North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

ORNL's newest 3-D printed vehicle pays homage to the classic Shelby Cobra in celebration of the racing car's 50th anniversary. The 3-D printed Shelby will be on display January 12-15 as part of the show's inaugural Technology Showcase.

Researchers printed the Shelby car at DOE's Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at ORNL using the Big Area Additive Manufacturing (BAAM) machine, which can manufacture strong, lightweight composite parts in sizes greater than one cubic meter. The approximately 1400-pound vehicle contains 500 pounds of printed parts made of 20 percent carbon fiber.
Recent improvements to ORNL's BAAM machine include a smaller print bead size, resulting in a smoother surface finish on the printed pieces. Subsequent work by Knoxville-based TruDesign produced a Class A automotive finish on the completed Shelby.

"Our goal is to demonstrate the potential of large-scale additive manufacturing as an innovative and viable manufacturing technology," said Lonnie Love, leader of ORNL's Manufacturing Systems Research group. "We want to improve digital manufacturing solutions for the automotive industry."

The team took six weeks to design, manufacture and assemble the Shelby, including 24 hours of print time. The new BAAM system, jointly developed by ORNL and Cincinnati Incorporated, can print components 500 to 1000 times faster than today's industrial additive machines. ORNL researchers say the speed of next-generation additive manufacturing offers new opportunities for the automotive industry, especially in prototyping vehicles.

"You can print out a working vehicle in a matter of days or weeks," Love said. "You can test it for form, fit and function. Your ability to innovate quickly has radically changed. There's a whole industry that could be built up around rapid innovation in transportation."

The Shelby project builds on the successful completion of the Strati, a fully 3-D printed vehicle created through a collaboration between Local Motors and ORNL.

The lab's manufacturing and transportation researchers plan to use the 3-D printed Shelby as a laboratory on wheels. The car is designed to "plug and play" components such as battery and fuel cell technologies, hybrid system designs, power electronics, and wireless charging systems, allowing researchers to easily and quickly test out new ideas.

Source: Oak Ridge National Laboratory

‘Fury’ tanks in safe hands

Fury Sherman. Credit: Image courtesy of Bournemouth University

BU research engineers have been working on military vehicles that feature in Brad Pitt's new movie.

Set in the Second World War and currently in UK cinemas, 'Fury' sees Pitt's character Wardaddy command a Sherman tank.

Scenes from the movie were filmed at the Tank Museum at Bovington, where the BU research team are investigating how to preserve these historic vehicles.

The team have worked on the Sherman and Tiger 1, which can be seen in the Fury movie trailer (2 minutes 26 seconds in). Researchers Adil Saeed, Dr Zulfiqar Khan, and Professor Mark Hadfield from BU's Sustainable Design Research Centre have published widely on these particular vehicles.

Dr Zulfiqar Khan said, "This movie reflects the importance of the research, which examines how we can preserve these vehicles for the benefit of society for lengths of time that far exceed the basis any normal design intent.

"The centenary of the First World War and the passing of the generation that fought in the Second World War, means the conservation of significantly degraded vehicle collections has taken on a new importance."

The Tank Museum at Bovington is one of the largest military vehicle museums in the world, boasting a collection of over 300 military vehicles with historic significance. Structural deterioration through corrosion, corrosion fatigue, stress corrosion cracking and mechanical failures are a threat to these vehicles in terms of conservation.

The only operational Tiger tank in the world is currently at The Tank Museum at Bovington. This and other vehicles had to be conserved sustainably, while operating modestly for the annual Tank Fest and other events.

Dr Khan concluded, "The opportunity of collaborative research with The Tank Museum at Bovington to develop sustainable methodology of conserving historic military tanks brought us face to face with the history. This research investigated the state of the structural integrity of vehicles used in WW1, WW2 and post war.

"The outcomes of the research informed the current design of control environment in The Tank Museum. In addition a separate research project looked into the cost implications of project management of The Tank Museum.

"This kind of activity is important in engaging new generations with science, technology, maths and mechanical engineering design solutions."

The research has led to further collaborations with Defence Science & Technology Laboratory Ministry of Defence to develop corrosion condition monitoring and predictive modelling techniques.

Source: Bournemouth University

Electric cars without drivers

Autonomous vehicle in the car-sharing operation: After the renter has called for the car, it navigates autonomously to the pick-up area. Credit: © Fraunhofer IPA

E-Mobile will park independently in the future and will also be able to find the next charging station without a driver. Researchers are working on electric cars that can travel short distances autonomously. On the basis of cost-effective sensors, they are developing a dynamic model that perceives the environmental situation.

Whoever got his driver's license twenty years ago and is back in a car for the first time is going to be rubbing his eyes in amazement. Electronic helpers warn of a possible collision when parking and keep the necessary distance to the car ahead during traffic. There are lane departure, crosswind, blind spot and high beam assistants, not to mention the anti-lock system. The car is taking over step by step in the cockpit. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA are one step ahead: They are dedicated to automated driving and are working on the vehicles of tomorrow, which can drive through traffic without human assistance. In this process, the Stuttgart engineers are particularly keeping an eye on electric cars.

The specialty of the researchers at the IPA is the development of robots. In the institute building, there is a prototype that independently finds its way on its four wheels through unknown territory. The challenges that are to be mastered are similar to those for automated driving. Here, as well, sensors need to recognize the environment so that the vehicle can navigate around obstacles and find its goal. Why not take advantage of that experience and apply it to the car, say the engineers in Stuttgart. That is why, one and a half years ago, an interdisciplinary team of computer scientists, mathematicians, electrical engineers and mechatronics engineers launched the project Afkar (a German abbreviation for "autonomous driving and intelligent chassis concept for an all-electric vehicle").

In a first step, the electric car is intended to learn to find a parking space and to park without a scratch. The idea behind this is that the car should be able to recharge itself with electricity without human help. This would be particularly important for car-sharing. Imagine the following scenario: The driver easily parks the car in a properly equipped parking garage on any randomly available parking space. The car takes care of everything else itself. It communicates via a wireless interface with the charging station and the parking garage management. In this process, it provides information about its charge level and its location. If the battery is empty and a charging station is free, it maneuvers in the corresponding parking bay and is charged inductively, without a cable. Then it makes room for the next electric car and rolls to a free parking space. In this way, the few existing charging stations can be used effectively.

Necessary technology is available

"The technology needed for this scenario is already available," says Afkar project manager Benjamin Maidel. He is referring to the robots of the institute that find their way easily in a known environment, such as a factory floor. Rebuilding a similar car does not take a lot of effort. Many modern cars already have most of the sensors that are required for this. The data that these devices collect just have to be combined and interpreted accordingly so that they provide a picture of the environment. The Fraunhofer experts are currently developing the necessary technology with the help of complex simulation programs. Soon, they want to test the results in practice on a demonstration vehicle.

It becomes more difficult when a car is intended to move autonomously in traffic. This requires sensors that can look hundreds of meters ahead as well as software that can react to any unforeseen events, whether that's a building site, a thunderstorm or snow. Maidel and his team are focusing on cameras, ultrasound, radar and laser scanners that perceive the surrounding area up to a distance of 200 to 300 meters.

The Afkar group will first go with their test car to a cordoned-off test area. For public roads, a special permit is required. "Whether autonomous driving makes a breakthrough will be decided, along with the right price, by customer acceptance and the legal framework. For example, the liability for accidents has to be re-regulated. The technology will probably conquer the market step by step," says Maidel. The advantages are obvious -- particularly for car-sharing vehicles. Any customer could use his smart phone to call a car, which would then drive to the desired location. Car-sharing companies could utilize their fleets more fully than they do today.

Source: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft

'Grimsel' electric racing car breaks world record

The record journey from the car driver's perspective. Credit: AMZ Racing

The 'grimsel' electric racing car today broke the previous world record for acceleration in electric cars. The vehicle accelerated from 0 to 100 km/h in 1.79 seconds in under 30 metres. The new record was set by students from ETH Zurich and Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, who also designed and built the vehicle.

The Formula Student team at the Academic Motorsports Club Zurich (AMZ) finally did it: its 'grimsel' electric racing car smashed the previous world record when it accelerated from 0 to 100 km/h in just 1.785 seconds. The previous record of 2.134 seconds was held by an electric car built by Delft University of Technology. The new record was set at the military airfield in Dübendorf, where the vehicle reached a speed of 100 km per hour in less than 30 metres.

The new record-breaking vehicle is a Formula Student electric car that was developed and built in less than a year by 30 students at ETH Zurich and Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. The 'grimsel' is the fifth AMZ electric car and the result of continuous development. The carbon fibre construction has a total weight of 168 kg and produces about 200 hp. A four-wheel drive is implemented with four specially designed wheel hub motors, which generate a total torque of 1630 Nm at the wheels. By means of traction control, torque distribution is controlled individually for each wheel to maximise vehicle acceleration. No other production vehicle in the world has reached a similarly strong acceleration.

AMZ's most successful car

The 'grimsel' celebrated numerous successes at the Formula Student international competition this summer. With more than 500 teams, Formula Student is the world's biggest competition for engineers and is held annually at various locations around the globe. With three overall wins and an average of 920 points out of a possible 1,000, the 'grimsel' is AMZ's most successful car. And with its victories in Austria and Spain, it achieved the two highest scores in the European history of Formula Student. These further strengthened AMZ's standing at the top of the Formula Student world rankings and demonstrated the potential in electric drive concepts.

Source: ETH Zürich