This is a very thorough and detailed article explaining the function of the hybrid system of the Prius...43 pages, but quite impressive.
I wonder what the significance of the "alarming" sounding sentence in section 5.1 is: "Component-level testing at ORNL revealed that gearbox related friction losses were found to be significant." Not looking for a conspiracy theory here. I actually don't understand what they mean
It's a fairly large PDF file. It takes a couple of minutes to download and open Adobe Reader, even with a DSL connection.
The thing is I get a blank screen, the lower left hand corner says done, and the modem icon doesn't show any info being transferred back and forth. Having said that I wonder if it is me as you seem to have had success.
Jon, I, too, experienced a blank screen for a few minutes and the browser window appeared to be frozen. Since I was browsing other websites in separate windows, while I was waiting, I was not paying attention to the modem lights or the ZoneAlarm icon for traffic, as I was waiting. Try waiting for a few minutes. Here is the URL as shown on my computer: http://priuschat.com/forums/files/oakridge...elabsreport.pdf
Here is an HTML version of the same document, thanks to Google: http://216.239.57.104/search?q=cache:nFtIE...ota+Prius&hl=en And another URL for the original PDF version: http://www.ornl.gov/~webworks/cppr/y2001/r.../rpt/121813.pdf
I don't know if it's so much 'ominous' as maybe a noteable area for potential future improvement. There are lot of gears and thus a lot of contact and friction which will, obviously, result in losses. If an improved PSD (power split device) could be designed that could 1)Handle the torque and 2)lower frictional losses, you could have a marked improvement in efficiency.
interesting article .. but.. something bugs me already..why does our goverment have to pry into other peoples technologies. even worse.. a program that's funded the.. well.. not so big 3.
The "big three" didn't fund the "freedom car" program, you and I did. About one billion dollars of federal funds were funnelled into the "big three" (Larry, Curly, and Moe) to create nothing except jobs for some managers and automotive engineers, while Toyota did the real thing on it's own nickel. Kinda pathetic, really. Look for similar results from the DOE's on-going fuel cell car program.
V8CobraKid: <<i have to downloa any pdf file.. the service pack 2 of xp has caused nothing but problems >> I installed SP2 when it first came out and it seems to work fine for me. Is it a problem downloading or getting Adobe Acrobat to work?
There is a very interesting story referenced in this thread: http://www.priuschat.com/forums/original-h...ept-vt3371.html Here's a link to the beginning of the story: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/special...special.special A registration to Chicago Tribune Online is required, but it's free and I have never received any hassle or spam from them. I sent this link to a guy at work who is a true American Big 3 supporter and all he could say was 'holy sh*t, you mean they just dumped the cars?" He is now looking into the Highlander hybrid. Though the base story is only three pages long, they have links to additional content. I strongly recommend that you take the time to read all the content.
Evan, And maybe V8, I found the problem. Apparently, Adobe Acrobat 6 is not compatible with Firefox, my primary browser. This may be fixed with v. 7. Was able to download with IE but can't wait for a Firefox/ Acrobat patch.
In 2.2.1 of the article, re the gas engine, it states "supercharging is used" . This is the first I have heard about the ICE being supercharged! Any comment? kenmac
That was the first time I'd heard that mentioned too: From: http://www.gmpperformance.com/products/eng...perchargers.htm Supercharging is also known as forced induction. When an engine is normally aspirated (draws in air without assistance) it relies on atmospheric pressure (at sea level approx 14.7 pounds or 1 bar) to push the air into the manifold (running under vacuum) and into the combustion chambers (cylinders). Due to internal restrictions along the air path, the normally aspirated cylinder is never able to completely draw in a full charge of air/fuel mix. In general a supercharger is anything that will force more air, or air/fuel mixture, into the cylinders of an engine at a faster rate than would be drawn naturally by the suction of the pistons during the intake stroke (putting the engine into positive pressure). This process is used to increase power and torque of an engine. Types of supercharger? There are several fundamental designs of superchargers (roots, screw, vane, rotary, axial flow and centrifugal). Each design has its advantages and each are differently suited to different types of application. The most commonly used today for aftermarket supercharger kits are the roots and centrifugal. The roots units, ideally need to be mounted on the plenum chamber but the centrifugal type is not restricted in this way. However all supercharger units need to be mounted to take a drive from the engine crank pulley by a serpentine belt. Parameters of supercharging? Performance modifications /customization to a vehicle are termed as 'Aftermarket' or 'Retro-fitting'. When retro fitting a supercharger, an important factor is the natural compression ratio of an engine. Supercharging as an aftermarket technique is typically setup to create a 40% power increase. More power can be produced if the compression ratio is suitable. Why supercharge? Compressed air contains a greater amount of oxygen molecules which improves the fuel combustion cycle. However this requires that the fuel mixture and ignition cycles be altered / increased to suit the increased volume of oxygen. Retro-fitting a supercharger usually provides a much larger power gain compared to other aftermarket modifications such as capacity increasing which is also expensive. Supercharging with a centrifugal supercharger is less obtrusive to the vehicle and reversibility is simple to incorporate into its design. Fuel Efficiency A centrifugally supercharged engine will operate under vacuum until the ECU determines the motor is at wide open throttle (full throttle). At this point the engine goes into positive pressure (onto boost). Upto this point the fuel consumption is not affected. When driving hard and on full throttle the supercharged engine will be creating more power and hence using a greater amount of fuel. Fuel consumption usually increases in the region of about 10% depending upon how often you drive under boost and the type of supercharger you have fitted. Also, Adobe 6 IS completely compatible with FireFox, it's my browser and every pdf opens fine.
Evan, off topic but are you using firefox 1.0 and adobe acrobat 6.0.1 or 6.0.2. What I am currently running is 6.0.1 and think that is part of the problem as well as what is going on with V8 as well. There was a notation on CNNet that specfically mentioned the incompatibility although somewhat old. And as I was able to download a number of pdf's while in IE but none in Foxfire, I had to assume... (My Firefox is 1.0)
