How does fuel economy work?

In all automobiles there is a speed range for the fuel economy run. Do you know how exactly it works?

First lets see what air fuel ratio is. As from Wikipedia Air–fuel ratio (AFR) is the mass ratio of air to fuel present in a combustion process such as in an internal combustion engine or industrial furnace. The AFR is an important measure for anti-pollution and performance-tuning reasons.

If exactly enough air is provided to completely burn all of the fuel, the ratio is known as the stoichiometric mixture, often abbreviated to stoich.

AFR numbers lower than stoichiometric are considered "rich". Rich mixtures are less efficient, but may produce more power and burn cooler, which is kinder on the engine. AFR numbers higher than stoichiometric are considered "lean." Lean mixtures are more efficient but may cause engine damage or premature wear and produce higher levels of nitrogen oxides.

For precise AFR calculations, the oxygen content of combustion air should be specified because of possible dilution by ambient water vapor, or enrichment by oxygen additions.

Your vehicle get maximum fuel economy when the engine is using the right amount of gas. Fuel for automobile is a mixture of air and petrol/ diesel. So for the perfect fuel economy, you vehicle should be running at  a particular speed where the engine gets the right ratio of air and gas mixture. Lets say the economy range is 45kph to 60kph.

1. When the speed is less.

When the vehicle speed is less than the economy range there is less air passing in through the intake so to compromise to the ratio more gas is consumed.

2. When the speed is more.

When the speed is more than the economy more air is passed in through the intake and in order to prevent lean mixture more fuel is supplied.

3. Economy range.

In the economy speed range right amount of air is supplied into the engine and thus right ratio of fuel with the best fuel efficiency is provided.

Driving in the fuel economy range is good for not just the engine, its good for the future, its good for environment and its good for your bank account.

Supercharger and Turbocharger

What is Supercharging and Turbocharging?

A supercharger is a turbine that compresses the air supplied to the ICE ( Internal Combustion engine) and thus increases the pressure and density of air supplied to the engine. Therefore more oxygen is supplied to the engine during each intake cycle, letting more fuel burn and there by increasing the power output. The power for the working of turbine is obtained from the working of engine via a belt, gear, shaft or chain.

Supercharger

There are mainly two types of supercharger, namely, Positive displacement and Dynamic compressor .

Positive displacement compressor provides a constant and a fixed amount of air at all speeds. Therefore the power is available during every revolution.. Whereas Dynamic compressors rely on accelerating the air to high speed and then exchanging that velocity for pressure by diffusing or slowing it down. That means, dynamic compressors do not provide pressure at low speeds. As speed increases above a certain rpm the power get delivered( usually called as power lagging).

Whereas, the key difference between turbocharger and supercharger is that the power for the turbine in turbocharger is obtained from the exhaust from the ICE

Turbocharger

A turbocharger is more efficient, provides more power and produce less emission than a naturally aspirated engine. The turbocharger is less responsive than a supercharger. Turbocharger is commonly used in Petrol and Diesel engines but they are also found useful in fuel cells. Because they are smaller in size and less complicated, they are more preferred. 

Apart from these, a twin-charger refers to an engine using both supercharger and turbocharger. 

Supercharging and turbocharging are widely used these days as they are fuel efficient, provides more power and produce less emission.

AMT transmission

Ever wondered what AMT Gear shift is? We often see this in many new car and most of the people think its just a term referred for Automatic Gear Transmission. Well, its not.

AMT or Automated Manual Transmission is transmission that's mechanically similar to a stick-shift, except a computer performs the clutch work. In AMT you can either shift it to the D-mode and it will pretty much work as an Automatic Transmission. And then you have the second choice where you can do the transmission manually but you don't have to worry about the position of the gear knob because you have only '+' and '-' positions. The '+' position is when you want a higher gear and '-' is when  you want a lower gear. There are mainly two types of AMTs, namely, single clutch and dual clutch AMT transmissions.

Single-clutch AMTs are older, lurch-prone and generally unpleasant. Dual-clutch AMTs, on the other hand, are designed to eliminate lurching, and the best units provide incredibly quick yet perfectly smooth shifts. Most AMT-equipped cars use dual-clutch technology.

Pros: Better fuel economy, acceleration and responsiveness are better when compared with an Automatic Transmission. The magic of the AMT lies in its ability to combine the fuel economy and performance of a true manual with the everyday convenience of an automatic.The cons for AMT are few but notable. Its expensive because the technology is complex.It would also need an expensive repair if anything goes wrong. All engines haven't still worked out low speed AMT behavior yet.

Overall AMT vehicles are like a car with manual transmission without a clutch and is a huge victory for automotive progress.

V2V Technology

V2V is the short for Vehicle To Vehicle. This is also knowen as Vehicular communication systems and are a type of network in which vehicles and roadside units are the communicating nodes, providing each other with information, such as safety warnings and traffic information. This technology  can be more effective in avoiding accidents and traffic congestions. The system uses a 5.9GHz band width for communication. The main mission behind this operation is reduce or eliminate road accidents and achieve safety and intelligent transportation.

WiTricity

WiTricity

 

Wireless Electricity Transmission is the latest technology. Yes, as the name suggests it is now possible to transfer electricity without the help of a wire. Now you can recharge your phone, laptops etc and even use electronic items without the help of any wires. This technology was made possible by WiTricity Corporation.  The term WiTricity was used for a project that took place at MIT, led by Marin Soljačić in 2007. And so now it is possible to transfer electricity without wire.