The Impact of Motoring Part 3 - Technological 08/12/2014 1 Disclaimer Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the content of this book, in a world where technology moves so rapidly, it is inevitable that some content will be out of date very soon after publication. Cotswold Motoring Museum & Toy Collection can accept no liability for any errors or omissions or any consequences of such errors or omissions. For those accessing this book in electronic form, all web links were functioning at the time the book was prepared but Cotswold Motoring Museum & Toy Collection can accept no responsibility for content hosted on third party systems that may have been removed or updated. Copyright and Usage Unless stated to the contrary, the copyright to all text and images used in this compilation is owned by the Cotswold Motoring Museum and Toy Collection, Bourton on the Water or their contributors. Those images for which others own the copyright are acknowledged in the Captions and Credits section at the end of each chapter or within the chapter itself. Reference to and acknowledgement of Intellectual Property of other authors is indicated through web links within the document or footnotes to the text. The contents of this document can be reproduced without restriction but the Cotswold Motoring Museum and Toy Collection should be acknowledged as the source of any reproduced information. © 2015 Cover images: The Old Mill, Bourton-on-the-Water, today home to the Cotswold Motoring Museum and Toy Collection and cars associated with the museum. Source of right hand image above: Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, Helsinki, Finland. http://green.autoblog.com/2013/05/30/biofore-concept-car-is-a-plant-laden-sustainable-ride/ 08/12/2014 2 Contents of Part 3 Part 3 – Technological ............................................................................................ 5 Internal Combustion Engine ...................................................................................................... 6 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 6 History of the Internal Combustion (IC) engine ..................................................................... 7 Common uses of IC engines .................................................................................................. 8 How does the IC engine work? .............................................................................................. 8 Improving the efficiency of the IC engine ............................................................................ 11 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 13 SU Carburettor ......................................................................................................................... 15 What is a carburettor? .......................................................................................................... 15 How does it work? ................................................................................................................ 16 What is the future of the carburettor? .................................................................................. 18 Electronic Control Unit ............................................................................................................. 20 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 20 Performance, reliability, economy and emissions ............................................................... 21 Passive and active safety .................................................................................................... 24 The future ............................................................................................................................. 25 Postscript .............................................................................................................................. 26 Powertrain ................................................................................................................................ 27 Electric Vehicles ....................................................................................................................... 32 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 32 Battery Power ....................................................................................................................... 33 Fuel cell electric vehicles ..................................................................................................... 34 Solar power .......................................................................................................................... 35 Electric vehicle summary ..................................................................................................... 35 The wider picture .................................................................................................................. 36 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 38 Safety ....................................................................................................................................... 39 Tyres ........................................................................................................................................ 40 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 40 The Prior Art ......................................................................................................................... 43 Rubber .................................................................................................................................. 44 Construction of the Pneumatic Tyre .................................................................................... 45 Associated developments .................................................................................................... 47 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 47 Annex: European tyre labels ................................................................................................ 49 Seat belt ................................................................................................................................... 50 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 50 Seat belt classifications ........................................................................................................ 51 Origins of the seat belt ......................................................................................................... 52 Legislation ............................................................................................................................ 54 08/12/2014 3 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 54 Annex: Fatal accident trends ............................................................................................... 55 Body ......................................................................................................................................... 56 Construction ......................................................................................................................... 56 Materials ............................................................................................................................... 57 Safety Testing ...................................................................................................................... 58 Catseye .................................................................................................................................... 59 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 59 Patents ................................................................................................................................. 60 The alternatives .................................................................................................................... 62 Spin-off ................................................................................................................................. 63 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 64 Annex: Coloured “Catseyes” ................................................................................................ 65 08/12/2014 4 Part 3 – Technological Part 3 - Technological Over the last 125 years advances in the science of materials and fuels, electronics, communications, computing and software have influenced all aspects of lives, including motoring. Following the “Impact of Motoring” theme, the chapters in this part of the book focus on specific areas of the car, consider the performance and possible effect on our lives of electric cars and conclude with a look at examples of how technology