There is a lot left to do it. Mechanically, it is fair condition. The body is pretty much shot up.
Posted on 03/04/2008 7:46:53 AM PST by SouthernBoyupNorth
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Sometimes the cliché fits: It looks like a bomb went off—not necessarily in this lab, but somewhere, with the aftermath seemingly carted here. The gutted remains of a sedan, its engine exposed, the seats ripped out of the frame, sits encased in cables. At other workstations the focus is a single part—an isolated camshaft, an alternator hooked up to test apparatus. It would be easy to misinterpret this place and think that researchers at MIT’s Lab for Electromagnetic and Electronic Systems (LEES) are either piecing back together some shattered car or entering the Automotive X Prize. In fact, each of these experiments has different methodologies, but many have the same goal: automotive efficiency, by any means necessary.
The wired car, for example, is an effort to test more detailed diagnostic systems, with sensors that detect changes in the system’s electrical signature—and maybe even warn you before the starter motor fails. And the modifications made to the alternator would let it run at 30 percent greater efficiency, with a smoother electrical system translating to about 1 mpg in improved mileage. Researchers estimate that the increased cost for the manufacturer would be about $5.
One of the most promising experiments here is tucked away in what appears to be the messiest part of the entire lab, a small room littered with hand tools and testing gear. Joel Schindall, the associate director of LEES, pulls a tray out of a cabinet and flips it open. Inside are four black squares, like overturned tiles from a Magnetic Poetry set. If my job was to clean out this lab, I would probably take one look at these unassuming little things and fling the entire tray into the nearest trash can.
(Excerpt) Read more at popularmechanics.com ...
How about windows that people who 1,800 on their SAT’s won’t fall out of?
Dude. It’s not the windows. You gotta blame gravity for that.
A worthy goal indeed..... however Mr. Murphy has a law about that.... “it is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious.”
No more electronics in cars. This is why I’d prefer to get used.
Just as I thought. Issac Newton, another dead, White guy.
Pretty well sums it up!!!!
Haven't heard much more about that, guess it got filed away with the flying cars Popular Science promised us by the end of the century back in the 60's.
If you find a car without electronics it would be an antique, not used. Even my 78 Buick LaSabra had electronic ignition.
Electronics? I think you mean digital lock-downs that are common in modern car parts to prevent ‘unauthorised’ repairs, and the like.
Even the oldest cars probably atleast had an electricity-based sparking system.
There is a lot left to do it. Mechanically, it is fair condition. The body is pretty much shot up.
Capacitors would be much more practical on a large scale taking into account cost and materials available then batteries. Also, capacitors have a longer life.
I had a 49’. It was a jewel.
Me Driving It Around:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=bTatSi-lvNg
I still have my old 73 and plan to keep it, period. Besides it has so many quirks, most people would not want to fool with it.
I sold mine to a an Air Cav officer from Ft. Campbell Ky. In an unusual moment of clarity I realized that a 4WD vehicle with no seatbelts and no roll bar wasn’t really cool for my style of driving.
PING!
Up until then, people assumed gravity was a "terrestrial" property that didn't apply to stuff in the sky.
Looks like a fun project. Even has a generator instead of an alternator. You need to find an air cleaner, the original probably was one that was oil filled.
I don’t see the ultra cap working out in the long run. The one flaw is the voltage swing from the cap. It may start out at 15,000V and discharge to 300 volts.
All this electric has to be inputed to a inverter to make around 300 volts A/C for an electric drive motor. There is almost no semiconductors that will run at that voltage.
You want a mostly stable input voltage to the inverter.
There is some new nano LI batteries coming on line that will have all the performance necessary for electric autos without 15 years of development.
With the flaming laptop problem and so many small electronic devices there is a built in market for a much better battery. They are on the way right now.
Look at A123 systems.
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