Alternate fuel vehicles (AFVs), such as hybrid electric vehicles, are set to replace those powered by the traditional internal combustion engine. Recently, Honda and Toyota introduced AFVs. The car designers have turned to advanced carbon fibre composites for critical elements of the structure. However, lighter cars are often perceived as being unsafe. This is not true. Vehicle size, material characteristics and overall structural design play more significant roles. Nominal wall thickness of the composite lay-up is 10 mm. The entire safety cell is bonded using a simple joint design that enables the components to self-locate during assembly, and maximises the joint strength and reliability. A front sub-frame, comprising welded aluminium tubes, is bonded and mechanically attached to this ring-frame structure. The sub-frame absorbs the majority of impact energy in a frontal impact, and has suspension, power electronics, and battery attached to it. Carbon fibre-epoxy storage tanks for fuel cell's onboard gaseous hydrogen are integrated into the propulsion layout. Carbon-carbon brakes also contribute to reducing the mass. The exterior body panels are primarily cosmetic, except for the roof and hood, and are made with an un-reinforced blend of polycarbonate and polybutylene terephthalate. To date, components have been fabricated only to represent the structural and assembly design detail, using hand lay-up and oven curing with low-temperature moulding (LTM) prepreg. New processes (by Hypercar) work with either thermo-stamping or resin transfer moulding (RTM) to deliver products with high levels of fibre alignment. The retail price for such a car would be USD 35000 - 46000.
Hybrid vehicle integrates carbon fibre composite structure
Hybridfahrzeug integriert Kohlenstofffaserverbundstoffstruktur
Technical Textiles International ; 11 , 3 ; 26-28
2002
3 Seiten, 3 Bilder
Article (Journal)
English
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