Do you want to read a few good and interesting stories about vehicles and parts? If yes - you came by the right address! I will tell you what’s been going on during the week and you’ll discover a number of quite useful pieces of information in the posts I will provide

Auto Parts and Car Accessories writes about Fuel Saving Advice - Here are Some Fuel Saving Tips to Help Lower your Gas and Utility Costs

Auto Parts Resources says: 1,000 MB C-Class Units Please

Auto Parts Information speaks about WINDSOR’S WISDOM

People argue a lot about the effectiveness of using studs. Before weighing all the pros and cons let’s see what a modern studded tire is.

The modern stud consists of two elements: body and hard-alloy working insertion. The body is usually made of soft steel or special aluminum alloy. The designers try to reduce the weight and the size of a stud: because it directly affects the destructive impact on roadway.

The modern studs fall into 2 major categories: one-flange and multi-flange. The former are by 30-35% cheaper. In towns where the speed is not very high one-flange studs are quite enough, but out of town multi-flange ones are more reliable. Studs are usually placed in the tire shoulder so that the tire-road contact zone should feature 8-12 studs. The studs are inserted into special apertures in a tire which are made either in the process of tire production or later using special equipment. In exploitation such tires are exposed to the influence of two major factors:

1. Loosening of a stud
2. Corrosion

It had been assumed that a multi-flange stud would save the situation as the top flange would make a obstacle for water and would increase the strength of the stud fixation. The reality showed that a multi-flange stud holds better, but not more. Tire still doesn’t fit the shape of a stud. There are small openings between the body of a stud and a tire where water penetrates.

Temperature mode of a tire is important as well. It has been proved that at 60 kmph and air temperature of +10C the lower flange of a stud heats to 100C after hour’s drive. The temperature is close to the temperature tire tarring. As a result the stud aperture starts demolishing. In this case the loss of studs is inevitable. A tire is usually equipped with 90-120 studs. The studs are mounted so that they should make not a single but a number of motion tracks. A stud protrudes by 1.5 mm above the surface of a tire.

A few years ago, there emerged a so-called “floating stud.” The name has its own story. The company Gislaved, which is part of Continental, invented a new type of studs. The novelty worked to the full potential on snow and ice, but when it came to even asphalt – the stud recessed into the protector. The construction was the following: a plastic body without bottom with a metal stem moving inside.

When the surface of the road is even, such studs are pressed inside the body, but when you drive on snow or ice, the pressure of the tire ejects studs outside. Nevertheless, sand and pebble gravel got between the body and the stem thus choking up the device. That was the end of a floating stud proper. Instead the manufacturers started producing plastic studs which resist corrosion, and these studs are traditionally called “floating.”

What Evebybody Should Know about ESP. Part 2

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ESP working scheme

Analyzing detector signals, the controller constantly compares the actual behavior of the car with what should be theoretically. In case the behavior differs from the model, the controller estimates it as a dangerous situation and tries to correct it.

It can return the car to the right course by braking of one or a number of the wheels. Which one of them needs braking (the front of the rear one etc.) the system chooses automatically according to the situation.

Braking is carried out via ABS which increases the pressure in the braking system of the car. Simultaneously with that the controller decreases the admission of fuel into the engine, which in its turn decreases the torque.

The system is constantly on, in all the driving modes: acceleration, braking etc. The algorithm of the system depends on each certain situation and the type of the car’s transmission. For instance, the detector fixes the skidding of the rear axis in turn. In this case, the system commands to decrease the amount of the admitted fuel. If it is not enough, ABS brakes the outside rear wheel. And so on, in accordance to the program.

Moreover, in the cars equipped with automatic transmission, ESP is able to correct the work of the transmission, i.e. shift to the lower gear or to the “winder” mode if there is one.

There is an opinion that the system might hinder an experienced driver. Such situations, though extremely rare, might emerge – for instance, when you need to accelerate in order to avoid skidding and the electronics doesn’t allow to do it – it simply “strangles” the engine.

Fortunately, for the experienced drivers there is a possibility to turn the system off. And on some cars the system allows slight skidding and sliding, thus giving the driver an opportunity to behave as he/she wants and interfering only if the situation gets critical.

ESP is one of the basic systems of the so-called active safety of a car. It corrects the mistakes of the driver and helps to get out of the situations where an average driver would fail to succeed. The major advantage of ESP is that with the system the car doesn’t require the skills of extreme driving. You simply turn the steering-wheel and the car will think how to tuck into the corner.

But keep in mind that the facilities of ESP to cope with a dangerous situation are not boundless. The laws of physics cannot be fooled. You’d better remember that ESP decreases the chance of getting into an accident, but it doesn’t deliver a driver from keeping his head on the shoulders.

What Evebybody Should Know about ESP

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Skidding on a public road is a dangerous thing and is, as a rule, very unexpected. ESP has been created in order to protect your car from the possible consequences of such an accident

How it works

ESP (Electronic Stability Program) is the most frequently used names from a great number of abbreviations used to denote the same notion: the system of a car’s dynamic stabilization. Depending on the manufacturer the letters denoting the system can be quite diverse: ESC, VDC, VSC, DSC, DSTC but the substance is always the same – in dangerous situations the system helps you cope with the car that is running out of control.

The major goal of ESP is to control the transverse dynamics of the car and help the driver in critical situations – prevent the car from skidding and sideways sliding. It means to keep the cruise stability, the trajectory of movement and stabilize the car in maneuvers, especially at a high speed and on a bad road. Sometimes the system is referred to as “anti-skidding” or “the system of keeping the course-keeping ability.”

The prototype of ESP under the name “controlling device” was patented by Daimler-Benz in 1959, but the realization of the idea was enabled only in 1994. Since 1995 the system has been installed on Mercedes-Benz CL 600, and a little later it has become a basic feature of all S and SL class models.

Nowadays, the system is available, at least as an option, in just about every car. There is no direct relation to the class of the vehicle: you can find ESP even in cheap new VW Polo

Still, How it works?

The modern ESP is interconnected with ABS, anti-slipping systems and the engine control unit - it uses the components of the above mentioned systems. As a matter of fact, it is an integrated system that works in cooperation with other systems and provides a wide range of additional counter-accident applications. Structurally ESP consists of an electronic unit-controller, which analyzes the signals coming from various detectors: wheel rotation speed (the system uses the basic ABS detectors); steering-wheel position detector; braking system pressure detector.

But the key information comes from 2 special detectors: angular velocity and transverse acceleration (sometimes this very device is referred to as “G-sensor”). These two gadgets detect the emergence of side skidding of the vertical axis, determine its intensiveness, and give further instructions. On each moment ESP knows at what speed the car is moving, what is the angle of the steering-wheel turn, what is the engine speed and if there is skidding or not etc.

to be continued…

The Secret of Supercharger. Part 3

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For instance, parallel supercharger or biturbo. It means that instead of one turbines a car is equipped with 2 smaller ones which work independently.

The idea is the following: the smaller the turbine is the faster it accelerates, thus the more “sensitive” it becomes. As a rule, V-shaped engines were equipped with 2 small turbines, one for each half of the engine.

There is one more variant - turbines with 2 scrolls, so-called “twin-scroll.” One of them (slightly bigger than the second one) takes in the exhaust gases from one half of the cylinders of the engine, the other – from the other half of cylinders. Both the scrolls advance the gases to the turbine, bootstrapping it effectively at both low and high revolution.

Nevertheless, the constructors didn’t stop at that level. It is natural to install one turbine instead of two. But one has to make sure it works effectively at both high and low revolution of the engine. That is the way the turbines with regulated geometry appeared. Depending on the turns of the engine special baffles are rotated inside a turbine and thus it affects the shape of the jet. As a result we have got a “superturbine,” that works perfectly well during the whole range of revolution. These ideas have been wondering in the air for decades, but only recently they have been realized.

By the way, a turbine with a regulated geometry was first installed on a diesel as the temperature of exhaust gases is much lower there. The first petrol car to have been equipped with such a turbine was Porsche 911 Turbo.

The construction of turbo-supercharged engines has been developed since its invention and at the moment its popularity has significantly increased. Moreover, turbo-compressors have proved out to be effective for both power increase and fuel economy and exhaust purity. This is especially true for diesels. Today a rare diesel is not equipped with a turbo-supercharger. And as for petrol engines, a turbo-supercharger enables to turn an average car into a real “lighter”. That one with the small nameplate “turbo.”

Top 10 Auto-Gadgets and Assistant Systems of 2007

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Not every car features such devices as rain detector or adaptive cruise-control. It looks like the world is waiting for autopilot. The sophisticated systems that help you park the car are not a rarity any more. Let me show you the rating of top 10 systems that have been popular with the drivers this year.

10. Jaguar XF joystick

It seems that the device caught the audience’s fancy due to its funny functioning. It is a big adjustable joystick of Jaguar XF which is used for shifting gears. When touched it appears from the central panel like a camera lens. The functionality of the device is not quite obvious, but what an idea!

9, 8. Vovlo blind zone monitoring and Citroen unforeseen deviation from the movement line

Such functions are used by Lexus and Mercedes as well. The cameras are installed into rear-view mirrors and if they spot that a car is going to overtake you’re the indicator lights. To all appearance rear-view mirrors will be soon replaced by cameras everywhere. The Citroen system makes the driver’s seat vibrate if the car loses the line. This is a kind of new interpretation of relief road stripping and margin.

7. Aston Martin antique key

The Europeans seem to have like the antique key to Astons Martin DBS. It is called Emotion Control Unit and is a polished sapphire with an inbuilt container of a stainless steel which must be placed in an aperture in the central console. After this the key lights red which means that the engine is ready.

6.  Mercedes navigation voice control

If the driver pronounces the name of a spot that exists on the map, Mercedes will drive straight there

5. Around view by Nissan

The invention allows to view a full picture of what is going on around the car. The goal of the device – to simplify parking.

4. Hybrid application by Toyota

Each hybrid sold by the company comes alongside with a special manual the goal of which is to increase the technical level of the customers. The information that is displayed on the screen features the condition of the engine, power reserve etc.

3. Toyota and VW park assistants

The companies taught its systems to determine the size of the parking space. The driver only has to brake which in reality is the vital function.

2. Lexus 8-grade transmission

The 8-grade transmission by Lexus for the hybrid LS600h beats all the records. One of the gears is used for backing, another one – for driving on the electric engine, the third – for the sport mode, the 4th – for the balanced hybrid mode, plus there is a manual mode.

1. Weather forecast by BMW

Despite the unbelievable complacency of Lexus device the first place is occupied by BMW weather forecast. The system collects and analyzes the weather conditions and informs the owner of a BMW convertible model if he should unfold the top and when rain might srart.

The Secret of Supercharger. Part 2

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The more gas enters a supercharger, the faster it moves and thus the more oxygen enters the cylinders increasing the power of the engine.

The effectiveness of the solution in comparison to, for instance, with other kinds of superchargers is that it doesn’t need much energy of the engine – around 1.5%. The thing is that the turbine get the energy not from slowing the exhaust gases but from cooling them – after the turbine the gases run as fast as they did before the turbine, but they are cooler. Moreover, the energy used for compressing oxygen increases the efficiency of the engine. The possibility to get more power from less capacity means less rubbing losses, less engine weight (and the car on the whole). Al these factors make supercharged cars more economical in comparison to their average “brothers” of the same power. It looks like that’s it, the happiness for the driver. But no. The problems have just started.

First of all, the speed of a turbine rotation can reach 200 rpm. Secondly, the temperature of the gases riches (just fancy) 1000C. What does all that mean? It means, that a supercharger that can endure such loads for a long time will be an expensive thing.

Due to these reasons a supercharger got a wide spread only during the WWII and only in aviation. In the 50s the American company Caterpillar was able to install it on its tractors, and the experts from Cummins constructed first turbo diesels for their trucks. The serial cars were equipped with supercharged engines even later. It happened in 1962 when almost simultaneously two supercharged passenger automobiles were unveiled - Oldsmobile Jetfire and Chevrolet Corvair Monza.

But the cost and complacency of the construction aren’t the only disadvantages. The effectiveness of the turbine depends on the speed of the engine. At a low speed the amount of exhaust gases is low that’s why the rotor rotates bad and compressor barely charges additional oxygen into the cylinders. It happens that under 3000 rpm the engine works weakly, and only after 4000-5000 rpm it “shoots.” Such a phenomenon is known as a “turbopit.” Moreover, the bigger the turbine is the more time it needs to get into action. That’s why the cars with high specific power and high-pressure turbines are, as a rule, exposed to “turbopit” more. At the same time the turbines that create low pressure are not exposed to it at all, but such turbines increase the power very little.

There are refined constructions. For instance, engineers have thought of equipping an engine with not one but two turbines. One works at low turns and the other turns on later. Such a solution got the name “twin-turbo” and it has enabled to solve two problems at the same time – to reduce the effects of a “turbopit” and increase power. At the end of the previous century car equipped with such a system were quite popular with the audience. They were produced by Nissan, Toyota, Mazda and even Porsche. Nevertheless, due to the construction complacency the life of such a solutions turned out to be a short one, and it was replaced by other ideas.

The Secret of Supercharger. Part 1

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Undoubtedly, each of us noticed the nameplate “turbo” on a car that looks much the same as others. The manufacturers, as a rule, make these nameplates small and place them in unremarkable zones so that a passer-by wouldn’t even notice it. But a knowing person will most definitely stop and have a look at it. The following article deals with supercharging.

Automotive creators (since such a profession emerged) has been anxious about the power increase of their cars.

Physics says that the power of the engine depends on the amount of fuel burned in on working cycle. The more fuel is burned the higher the power is. If you want to increase the power, what can you do? Here is where the problems spring up!

The thing is that oxygen is required to burn fuel. It is not fuel but fuel-oxygen mixture that burns in cylinders. Nevertheless one cannot mix these two ingredients “by eye”, it must be mixed in a certain proportion. For instance, for petrol engines 1 part of petrol is mixed with 14-15 parts of oxygen – depending to the mode, petrol composition and other factors.

As is seen from the above a lot of oxygen is required. If we increase the fuel feed (which is not a problem) we have to considerably increase oxygen feed as well. Average cylinders suck it in due to the difference in the pressure inside the cylinder and in the atmosphere. It is a direct relation – the more the size of the cylinder is the more oxygen is sucked in each working circle. That was the technique implied by the Americans when they produces engines with incredible fuel consumption. But is there a way to suck in more oxygen without increasing the capacity of cylinders?

There is! And it was invented by Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler. A familiar surname, isn’t it? Of course it is, it is used in the name DaimlerChrysler. Well, this very German in 1885 found the way to drive in more oxygen. He decided to pump in oxygen with the help of a supercharger that looked like a fan (compressor). It received its movement directly from the engine axis and pumped compressed oxygen into cylinders.

The Swiss engineer-inventor Alfred J. Buchi  went even further. He was the chief developer of engines for the company Sulzer Brothers andhe didn’t like the fact that engines were huge and heavy but produced few horsepower. He didn’t want to deprive the engine of the power by giving it extra load of rotating a compressor. That’s why in 1905 he patented the first supercharging device which used the energy of exhaust. In plain words, he invented a supercharger.

The idea of a brainy Swiss is simple as everything brilliant is. As the wind rotates the wings of a mill, exhaust gases rotate the compressor. The difference is that the compressor is small. Thus a supercharger can be divided into two parts – rotor and compressor. Rotor gets rotation from exhaust gases and the compressor that is connected to it works as a fan and compresses additional oxygen into cylinders. This complicated construction is called a turbocompressor (from Latin “turbo” – whirlwind; “compressio” - compression) or a turbo-supercharger.

In a supercharged engine the oxygen that gets in the cylinders has to be cooled – in this case the pressure can be made higher and thus more oxygen can be pumped in a cylinder. It is much easier to compress cold oxygen than hot. The oxygen that passes the mechanism gets hot from compression and supercharger parts heated by exhaust gases. The oxygen is then cooled with the help f so-called intercooler. It is a kind of radiator installed on the path of oxygen between compressor to cylinders. Passing the device, oxygen gives its heat back to the atmosphere. Cooler oxygen is more compact and thus it can be compressed harder.

To be continued…

Fascinating Automotive Stories for December, 10 - 18

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