Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Scientists develop new composite material that could revolutionise
car design and manufacturing.
|
| A photo of the composite material releasing
electrical energy to power a small light- image courtesy of
Imperial College London |
Parts of a car's bodywork could one day double up as its
battery, according to the scientists behind a new €3.4 million
project announced today.
Researchers from Imperial College London and
their European partners, including Volvo Car Corporation, are
developing a prototype material which can store and discharge
electrical energy and which is also strong and lightweight enough
to be used for car parts.
Ultimately, they expect that this material could be used in
hybrid petrol/electric vehicles to make them lighter, more compact
and more energy efficient, enabling drivers to travel for longer
distances before needing to recharge their cars.
In addition, the researchers believe the material, which has
been patented by Imperial, could potentially be used for the
casings of many everyday objects such as mobile phones and
computers, so that they would not need a separate battery. This
would make such devices smaller, more lightweight and more
portable.
The project co-ordinator, Dr Emile Greenhalgh, from the
Department of Aeronautics at Imperial College London, says:
"We are really excited about the potential of this new
technology. We think the car of the future could be drawing power
from its roof, its bonnet or even the door, thanks to our new
composite material. Even the Sat Nav could be powered by its own
casing. The future applications for this material don't stop there
- you might have a mobile phone that is as thin as a credit card
because it no longer needs a bulky battery, or a laptop that can
draw energy from its casing so it can run for a longer time without
recharging. We're at the first stage of this project and there is a
long way to go, but we think our composite material shows real
promise."
In the new project, the scientists are planning to develop the
composite material so that it can be used to replace the metal
flooring in the car boot, called the wheel well, which holds the
spare wheel. Volvo is investigating the possibility of fitting this
wheel well component into prototype cars for testing purposes.
The team says replacing a metal wheel well with a composite one
could enable Volvo to reduce the number of batteries needed to
power the electric motor. They believe this could lead to a 15 per
cent reduction in the car's overall weight, which should
significantly improve the range of future hybrid cars.
Current hybrid cars consist of an internal combustion engine,
which is used when the driver accelerates the car, and an electric
motor powered by batteries, which turns on when the car is
cruising. The cars need a large number of batteries to power the
electric motor, which makes the vehicle heavier, meaning that the
car uses up more energy and the batteries need regular recharging
at short intervals.
The researchers say that the composite material that they are
developing, which is made of carbon fibres and a polymer resin,
will store and discharge large amounts of energy much more quickly
than conventional batteries. In addition, the material does not use
chemical processes, making it quicker to recharge than conventional
batteries. Furthermore, this recharging process causes little
degradation in the composite material, because it does not involve
a chemical reaction, whereas conventional batteries degrade over
time.
The material could be charged by plugging a hybrid car into
household power supply. The researchers are also exploring other
alternatives for charging it such as recycling energy created when
a car brakes.
For the first stage of the project, the scientists are planning
to further develop their composite material so that it can store
more energy. The team will improve the material's mechanical
properties by growing carbon nanotubes on the surface of the carbon
fibres, which should also increase the surface area of the
material, which would improve its capacity to store more
energy.
They are also planning to investigate the most effective method
for manufacturing the composite material at an industrial
level.
The 3-year European Union funded project includes researchers
from the Departments of Chemistry, Aeronautics and Chemical
Engineering and Chemical Technology at Imperial College London.
European academic and industrial partners include Swerea SICOMP,
INASCO Hella, Chalmers, Advanced Composites Group, Nanocyl, Volvo
Car Corporation, Bundesanstalt Fur Materialforschung undprufung,
ETC Battery and Fuel Cells Sweden.
SOURCE