TU Delft Done with Nuna Solar; Moving on to Superbus

18 October 2005

The proposed Superbus in action.

TU Delft, which had started the initiative and remained one of the major sponsors of the Dutch Nuna solar team (the winners of the last three World Solar Challenge races in Australia—earlier post), is pulling its support from the solar project to apply it to other research areas such as the Superbus—a 250km/h (155mph) Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project designed to connect Schiphol/Amsterdam with Groningen.

The Nuna project will continue under the sponsorship of Dutch energy firm Nuon—the main sponsor for the project this year.

Every year it [the solar race] requires a considerable effort. But it’s now time for us to go in a different direction, to develop a different type of vehicle and design. We certainly have enough ideas for this.

—Ben Droste, dean of TU Delft Aerospace Faculty (TU Delta)

The Superbus research project, for which TU Delft received a €300,000 (US$ 358,000) development grant from the Dutch Ministry of Finance in July, is being seen as a potential replacement for a 200-km (185-mile) high-speed rail link between Amersterdam and Groningen that is a major part of the proposed Zuiderzeelijn (Zuiderzee Line).

The Dutch cabinet is developing a Zuiderzee Line Structural Vision, which will form the basis for discussion on the project’s costs and benefits and added value of the various project alternatives. The Structural Vision will be ready for public consultation by early 2006.

So far, the major transportation options under consideration are a magnetically levitated track, high-speed line and intercity line. To this mix, TU Delft will add its Superbus.

Proposed by TU Delft Faculty of Aerospace Engineering professor (and Dutch astronaut) Wubbo Ockels, the Superbus would use an electric or hybrid powertrain combined with a wide range of advanced avionics-like support systems to enable it to run alongside the highway:

• Position determination of the vehicle by use of navigation technology with a sub-centimeter level of accuracy. Inertial navigation and satellite navigation, such as the Ground Positioning System (GPS) and the future Galileo system.

• Separation techniques, safety measures necessary to avoid collision of vehicles. Use of Communication, Navigation and Surveillance (CNS) system.

• Audio/video communication inside the Superbus, and from the Superbus to the public infrastructure.

• Sensor technology for navigation using radio/radar technology and optics

• Visualization of information on the navigation sensors

• “Pre-viewing” sensors to interpret the condition of the road and atmospheric circumstances.

Along with the research and development required to build those types of support systems, the Tu Delft team will be working on:

• Electrical drives, optimization of durability and low-energy systems, emission-free driving, rechargeable and replaceable batteries at charging stations, and the use of the supercapacitor as a better energy-saving alternative.

• Hybrid drives, low-energy combustion engine, batteries designed to reduce energy surpluses and shortages.

• Electromotors, applications of powerful permanent magnets, attaining high capacity and light weight, and high efficiency.

All of which could prove quite useful even for applications that don’t require speeding a bus alongside a highway at 155 mph.

(A hat-tip to Daniel Johnston!)

Resources:

• Zuiderzee Line Structural Vision

• Fresh Automotive