Cummins Selects VanDyne Transmission-Driven SuperTurbocharger for DOE Super Truck Program
16 August 2010
VanDyne SuperTurbo, Inc. has signed a contract with Cummins Inc. to develop a VanDyne SuperTurbocharger (earlier post) for a Class 8 truck application using a Cummins engine. The agreement is part of the Super Truck program, a cost-sharing initiative between the Department of Energy (DOE) and the private sector.
Cummins was awarded $39 million under the SuperTruck program to develop more fuel efficient Heavy Duty Class 8 trucks. The goal is to improve vehicle freight efficiency by 50% through advanced and highly efficient engine systems and vehicle technologies that meet prevailing emissions and safety requirements.
The VanDyne SuperTurbocharger combines a turbocharger with its own CVT transmission to increase fuel efficiency and horsepower while reducing CO2 emissions. The SuperTurbocharger offers the low-end torque of a supercharger, higher power than a conventional turbocharger, together with the efficiency gains of turbo-compounding, in one device.
The Super Truck program is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act designed to ensure innovation and technology development in America at both small and large companies.
VanDyne SuperTurbo was spun out of Industrial and Aircraft company Woodward Governor Company in September of 2009.
What if they used betabatt.com nuclear batteries and electric motors?...... driverguy7.wordpress.com
Posted by: Driverguy7 | 16 August 2010 at 03:29 PM
oh...where to start?
First challenge will be keeping it from crashing without excessively large clearances as rotordynamics will not be trivial. Next challenge will be keeping bearing losses to a minimum to avoid losing whatever aerodynamic benefit they have through ideal wheel size and speed matching. Final and most difficult issues will be CVT durability. Making it work for a short period should be possible as this demonstrator won't see significant hours of use, however, making it reliable for 500k miles or more exceeds state of the art for traction drive CVT technology. At a bare minimum, it will likely require that the traction fluid will need to be replaced regularly since it will be contaminated with exhaust gas leaking past the turbine seal. Assuming they best these hurdles at least for the short term, it will be great to see if they can can demonstrate a performance benefit. Turbocompounding is quite sensitive to turbomachinery efficiency. Performance at the design condition may be acceptable, but managing off design peformance will take more than a few guys at a startup to tackle.
I wish them the best and look forward to the DOE report. Good Luck Ed!!
Posted by: UnnaturallyAspirated | 16 August 2010 at 08:59 PM