Two of the big considerations in this project are weight and safety. Less weight means the car is more efficient, so we tried to shave the weight as much as possible. One of the easiest ways to do this is to replace the heavy stock seats (with seat warmers and airbags) that weighed about 50 pounds each with low weight racing seats that are about half of the weight and weigh only 50 pounds for the pair. This also helps to improve the safety of the vehicle because we kept practically none of the stock safety features and even made the car more unsafe through body modifications.
With that being said, the new seats look unbelievably awesome and fit nicely. We went with the Corbeau A4 reclining seats and a four point harness system.
This is a view from the rear of the vehicle.
How can you argue that these seats don't look good?
The transportation industry has yet to find an alternative fuel source with the efficiency and practicality necessary to lower oil use. In order to further this transition, this project bridges the gap between gasoline and fuel cell technology for vehicles. The prototyped power train for this project features a 288 olt battery system combined with an internal combustion engine generator and hydrogen PEM fuel cell to provide addition range. The current state of the power train allows charging for the batteries solely from a house hold socket. The projected range of the battery system is 60 miles; the combined range is 400 miles. To achieve the combine range, the ICE generator and hydrogen PEM fuel cell must be integrated into one system. Our focus is to design a Battery Management System (BMS) to charge the batteries either from a house hold socket, gasoline generator, or hydrogen fuel cell. This would require a charge algorithm that we will have to design. The BMS will be designed and simulated in LabVIEW. The BMS will optimize the performance of the batteries by monitoring the charge and discharge cycles, as well as protect the batteries from power surges and thermal failures.
HEATT Team 2010:
A series hybrid electric powertrain with range extending capabilities using hydrogen and gasoline was designed and modeled in LabVIEW to simulate performance and fuel economy. To prove the concept of this design, a 2000 Audi TT was converted to a plug-in AC electric vehicle with a 90kW electric motor and LiFePO4 batteries. A 10kW internal combustion generator and 5kW hydrogen PEM fuel cell were installed to extend the range of the vehicle allowing the vehicle to be run easily on today’s fuel and ready for hydrogen, a possible future alternative fuel.
Using the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) standard city and highway driving tests, the vehicle has a theoretical increase in fuel economy from 22/31 miles per gallon (MPG) respectively to 230/173 miles per gallon gasoline equivalent (MPGGE).
