Range Extenders for Inherent Electricity Generation, Physicists Seek Elegant Solution

July 19, 2011 - PRLog -- Global Information, Inc. would like to present a new market research report, “Range Extenders for Electric Vehicles 2011-2021 “ by IDTechEx. (For more information, please visit: http://www.the-infoshop.com/report/ix204523-range-extenders-electric-vehicles-2011-2021.html)
Hybrid cars are equipped with piston engine range extenders, which continuously charges the hybrid vehicle’s battery. The range extender serves as an additional power source and distinguishes hybrid cars from pure electric cars. Approximately eight million hybrid cars, each equipped with a range extender, will be manufactured in 2021. First generation range extenders are characterized by an extended shaft with a separate generator attached to produce electricity.
Physicists now “seek a more elegant solution where the power source is its own generator,” according to a recent article by Dr. Peter Harrop, Chairman at IDTechEx. In December 2010, Dr. Herbert Hüttlin of Innomot AG, in Germany and Switzerland, revealed a new range extender that does not have a shaft and separate electrical generator. The aim of producing the 3-dimensional, spherical Hüttlin-Kugelmotor® range extender was to deviate from the forms and shapes of conventional aggregates to create smaller, lighter, more efficient, less costly, and more economical devices. The Hüttlin Range-Extender transfers power exclusively as electrical energy through buffer batteries to two to four wheel hub motors.
Integral electricity generation is also being pursued by the German Aerospace Center and others in developing the free piston internal combustion engine which has coils around the unattached piston that generate electricity directly. In the U.S., Clarian Laboratories has created a Wankel-like rotary piston engine with no shaft that inherently generates electricity through its windings.
The fuel cell is perhaps the most integral form of electricity generation as energy is produced directly from a chemical reaction as opposed to windings. Reaching the mainstream vehicle market has been a difficult journey for the fuel cell mainly due to high costs. Mercedes says it will soon have a fuel cell car in production, which is claimed to be the world’s first. Both the German and Korean governments plan to deploy 500,000 on-road vehicles with fuel cell range extenders by the end of the decade. However, Dr. Harrop notes that no one wants to pay the huge cost of installing the necessary hydrogen fueling infrastructure in advance “so the coming decade may see fuel cells in volume produced vehicles confined mainly to fleets where hydrogen distribution is not a problem.”
According to the new IDTechEx report, “There will definitely be huge sales of hybrid vehicles in the next decade and most will be series hybrids with range extenders. A high proportion of those range extenders will consist of piston and turbine combustion engines designed to purpose, with a generator attached. The more radical approach of power sources that integrally generate electricity should also see some volume production later in the decade – maybe as much as 10% of hybrid sales by then.”

For more information, please visit: http://www.the-infoshop.com/report/ix204523-range-extende... or e-mail Press@gii.co.jp    
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