Comments on: Automotive Gas Turbines – Then & Now http://www.drobnxs.com/2009/10/24/automotive-gas-turbines-then-now/ Thoughts on cars and other things Mon, 07 Jun 2010 14:16:21 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Tim Nelson http://www.drobnxs.com/2009/10/24/automotive-gas-turbines-then-now/comment-page-1/#comment-65 Tim Nelson Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:44:16 +0000 http://www.drobnxs.com/?p=100#comment-65 Hey Matt, Great story. Serial hybrids with turbines for power have seemed a natural thing to me for a long time and I have been perplexed (without having the time to dig for answers) at the lack of developments in this direction. Let's hope one of these efforts gets lucky. Cheers, Tim Hey Matt,

Great story. Serial hybrids with turbines for power have seemed a natural thing to me for a long time and I have been perplexed (without having the time to dig for answers) at the lack of developments in this direction. Let’s hope one of these efforts gets lucky.

Cheers,
Tim

]]> By: Dr Obnxs http://www.drobnxs.com/2009/10/24/automotive-gas-turbines-then-now/comment-page-1/#comment-63 Dr Obnxs Sun, 25 Oct 2009 20:55:38 +0000 http://www.drobnxs.com/?p=100#comment-63 Richard, there were a lot of gas turbines in racing, some successfull (like the ones you mentioned) and some not. The reason I didn't include them is that race cars tend to be very expensive, hand fed beasts, and the racing environment (usually always going fast and at relatively high load) is in the turbine sweet spot, as opposed to public driving, with lots of starts and stops where the delay in power delivery is more problematic. As far as development cars, pretty much every car company had some sort of turbine program at one point or another. But none made it into public hands other than the Chrysler effort. What was neat in the Mercedes feature in Popular Mechanics was that it was from the early 80s anticipating a launch date of 2000. I wonder if instead of a direct drive system that all the companies had been working on, they had realized the natural coupling of a simple small turbine with an electric drivetrain, that we'd have seen serial hybrids on the road in really significant numbers already! And while I was researching this, I did find that GM had made a few different serial hybrid versions of the EV-1, one even had a small turbine in it! I hadn't know about these prototypes that GM had made. When I read about them, I realized that GM had screwed the alternative drivetrain pooch much more than I'd belived before. Matt Richard, there were a lot of gas turbines in racing, some successfull (like the ones you mentioned) and some not. The reason I didn’t include them is that race cars tend to be very expensive, hand fed beasts, and the racing environment (usually always going fast and at relatively high load) is in the turbine sweet spot, as opposed to public driving, with lots of starts and stops where the delay in power delivery is more problematic.

As far as development cars, pretty much every car company had some sort of turbine program at one point or another. But none made it into public hands other than the Chrysler effort. What was neat in the Mercedes feature in Popular Mechanics was that it was from the early 80s anticipating a launch date of 2000. I wonder if instead of a direct drive system that all the companies had been working on, they had realized the natural coupling of a simple small turbine with an electric drivetrain, that we’d have seen serial hybrids on the road in really significant numbers already!

And while I was researching this, I did find that GM had made a few different serial hybrid versions of the EV-1, one even had a small turbine in it! I hadn’t know about these prototypes that GM had made. When I read about them, I realized that GM had screwed the alternative drivetrain pooch much more than I’d belived before.

Matt

]]> By: Guenter http://www.drobnxs.com/2009/10/24/automotive-gas-turbines-then-now/comment-page-1/#comment-62 Guenter Sun, 25 Oct 2009 10:59:35 +0000 http://www.drobnxs.com/?p=100#comment-62 Turns out Merceded did some Gas Turbine research too. In the early 80's they had a concept car called the "Mercedes 2000": http://books.google.de/books?id=z7nkfLrLoMsC&pg=PA23&lpg=PA23&dq=mercedes+gasturbine&source=bl&ots=wkmwerlCub&sig=nemW7irbU2Eqpd4otCkJG9tyNxA&hl=de&ei=1C3kSv_DIJCusAa3_dyCAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=&f=false (Article starts on page 25). Turns out Merceded did some Gas Turbine research too. In the early 80’s they had a concept car called the “Mercedes 2000″: http://books.google.de/books?id=z7nkfLrLoMsC&pg=PA23&lpg=PA23&dq=mercedes+gasturbine&source=bl&ots=wkmwerlCub&sig=nemW7irbU2Eqpd4otCkJG9tyNxA&hl=de&ei=1C3kSv_DIJCusAa3_dyCAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=&f=false

(Article starts on page 25).

]]> By: rkw http://www.drobnxs.com/2009/10/24/automotive-gas-turbines-then-now/comment-page-1/#comment-61 rkw Sun, 25 Oct 2009 03:48:27 +0000 http://www.drobnxs.com/?p=100#comment-61 Matt, I'm surprised you didn't mention the Indianapolis 500 in the late 60's. In two short years and near wins, the turbine entries were so impressive that it appeared they would make piston engines obsolete in the race. Alas, turbine became effectively banned. If left to run, the technology would have advanced rapidly. Richard Matt, I’m surprised you didn’t mention the Indianapolis 500 in the late 60’s. In two short years and near wins, the turbine entries were so impressive that it appeared they would make piston engines obsolete in the race. Alas, turbine became effectively banned. If left to run, the technology would have advanced rapidly.

Richard

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