Birmingham high performance turbomachinery limited

Completed

Energy Efficiency(Transport)

Applied Research and Development

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Mechanical, Aeronautical and Manufacturing Engineering)

Not Cross-cutting

Project Contact
Birmingham high Performance TurboMachinery Limited

Smart - Proof of Concept

Innovate UK

01 July 2015

31 October 2016

16 months

£99,007

West Midlands

Competition Call: 1501_SmartRd6_ POC - Smart Proof of Concept. Activity Proof of Concept Rnd 6

Project Contact, Birmingham high Performance TurboMachinery Limited

With road transport accounting for 10% of the global carbon footprint & the price of crude oil rising from 39 per barrel in 2009 to a predicted 64 in 2015, the need for greener, more economical road transport has never been so imperative. The turbocharger, which uses exhaust gases to increase the engine s efficiency, allows car manufacturers to downsize their engines & still meet their customers power and performance demands. A turbocharged diesel engine is up to 40% more fuel efficient & produces 50% less CO2 and NOx emissions than a standard diesel engine of the same power. Initially, ball-bearings were used in turbocharger turbines, but due to durability issues they are not suitable above 100,000rpm. OEMs have thus adopted oil bearings, at the expense of a much higher friction coefficient (oil bearing friction: 0.003 0.04, ball bearing friction: 0.001 0.0015), reducing their efficiency, & contributing to turbo lag - the time required to change power output in response to a throttle change i.e. a hesitation when accelerating. To tackle these problems, BHPTL wish to develop novel foil-free static-dynamic hybrid air bearings & ceramic (silicon nitride) turbines for turbochargers. Air bearings have near zero frictions, & ceramic turbines have a density 38% that of Inconel, the material currently used for turbocharger turbines. Silicon nitride can withstand temperatures over 300 higher, is 1.8 times harder & has a flexural strength 1.3 times that of Inconel, so is much more durable. These properties are expected to at least double the turbine s acceleration and RPM considerably reducing turbo-lag, increasing intake air pressure & hence improving turbocharged cars performance & service life. The reduced turbo-lag and increased performance will reduce the amount of time drivers have to accelerate before changing up a gear, positively impacting fuel reduction

14/01/16