UK鈥檚 specialist vehicle sector sets the pace in weight saving
Automotive supply chain companies are collaborating through the Niche Vehicle Network to deliver savings and environmental benefits.
Ultra-light exhaust technology was a standard fitment on Aston Martin Vanquish cars.
皇冠体育app (NVN) promotes and stimulates R&D collaboration by bringing together independent vehicle manufacturers, system suppliers, research organisations, design and engineering companies. 皇冠体育appy are then able to collaborate on applying innovative technologies in specialist vehicle production.
Since 2005, the Network鈥檚 funding and support has enabled these companies to develop new technology and to build prototype vehicles which form the basis of new products. 皇冠体育appy demonstrate that the UK leads the way in adopting lightweight materials and advanced powertrain solutions.
Mersey partnership delivers next-generation brake discs
A carbon-ceramic brake disc system on a 170mph BAC Mono single-seater.
Liverpool-based worked with (BAC) to develop ultra-lightweight, carbon-ceramic brake discs for the 170mph BAC Mono single-seat road car.
皇冠体育app Niche Vehicle Network funded the project to demonstrate that the high-efficiency brake system could be used in road vehicles. Now it features as an option on half of BAC Mono sales, a 拢500,000 boost to BAC revenues.
Surface Transforms also supplies Swedish high-performance car maker Koenigsegg, while has enlisted the firm as a technical partner on its hypercar.
Peter Studer, sales and marketing manager at Surface Transforms, said.
Developing this product helped us open doors with 鈥榦riginal equipment鈥� customers. It鈥檚 what the Niche Vehicle Network is all about.
New technique helps take the weight off metal sheets
Morgan鈥檚 Aero 8 sports car is fitted with front cowl panel produced through hot die quenching technology.
An NVN-funded project called MagHot proved that using magnesium in a sheet metal pressing technique called 鈥榟ot form die quenching鈥� (HFQ庐) could save 35% in weight over aluminium.
supplied an Aero 8 car for the project, which involved , as patent holders of HFQ庐 and .
HFQ庐 had already attracted interest from Aston Martin and because it saves costs in materials and labour. Now Morgan鈥檚 flagship Aero 8 is also fitted with an HFQ庐 panel on the front cowl 鈥� although currently in aluminium rather than magnesium.
Adam Malone, Special Projects Manager at PAB Coventry, explained:
Manufacturers are designing their cars with HFQ庐 in mind because the weight-saving and resulting cut in emissions can help improve sales, particularly in Europe.
Ultralight exhausts are hitting the right note
Aston Martin's 201mph Vanquish Grand Tourer featured in a weight reduction project on the V12's exhaust system.
turned to NVN to explore the possibility of an ultra-light exhaust system for its performance cars 鈥� without compromising on the rich engine sounds.
皇冠体育appy chose the 201mph V12 Vanquish Grand Tourer for a project undertaken with parts manufacturer , specialist tooling firm and . 皇冠体育appy achieved a weight reduction of almost 50% from the 鈥榗old end鈥� exhaust system, without loss of sound quality.
A follow-on project funded by Innovate UK developed a jigging system that could help simplify the manufacturing process. Aston Martin then incorporated the technology as a standard fitment on Vanquish cars for 18 months.
Neil Hewitt, Business Development Manager at Unipart, said:
We were bringing together lots of ideas and concepts and the project afforded us free development space. That鈥檚 not possible as part of a normal production development phase, because there鈥檚 too much risk involved. That鈥檚 the value of Niche Vehicle Network funding.
Westfield vehicles go lightweight thanks to NVN funding
Westfield sports cars use lighter materials which are also cheaper because they are easier to manufacture.
Legislation demanding a 20% weight reduction on vehicles sold in the EU has led to embarking on a series of NVN-funded projects.
Working with Advanced Innovative Engineering (UK), Westfield investigated the use of a 28kg Wankel rotary engine instead of a 100kg Ford Zetec 2.0 engine, resulting in little difference in vehicle performance.
While a two-seater Westfield weighs just 600kg, it needs to be even lighter to meet the emissions target. So the company joined another NVN project called ST4 with , , , HiSpec Motorsport, and .
Julian Turner, managing director of Westfield, said:
We took a significant amount of weight out of the car. 皇冠体育app new materials were lighter 鈥� and cheaper 鈥� because they were easier to manufacture. We鈥檝e still got time to achieve further savings before the 2020 deadline.
Bicycle technology on a car chassis
On test ... a Caterham road-going prototype fitted with a butted chassis frame.
Bicycle frame manufacturer used its own 鈥榖utted tubing鈥� technology, patented back in 1898, to create a lighter, spaceframe chassis for .
皇冠体育app two companies worked together with - an engineering design consultancy - on an NVN-funded project to produce two prototype, butted mild-steel chassis frames, one of them to be used on a road-going car.
皇冠体育appy proved that Reynolds鈥� butted tubing used less metal while the chassis was as strong as before. Simon Lambert, Chief Motorsport and Technical Officer at Caterham Cars said:
Without the support of NVN, the project would never have been undertaken at all. Moreover, the collaboration brought Caterham into contact with a technology partner and an innovation we would never have investigated ourselves.
Electric supercharger helps reduce CO2 emissions
A prototype with an experimental 1.2-litre engine matched a conventional 2-litre VW Golf GTi for power while achieving a 15% reduction in fuel and emissions.
Kenilworth company proved in an NVN-funded project that its full-electric supercharger could enable car manufacturers to build cars with smaller, more fuel-efficient engines without sacrificing power.
Aeristech fitted its eSupercharger to a VW Golf powered by 鈥檚 3-cylinder 1.2-litre Di3 engine. 皇冠体育app partners saw a 15% reduction in fuel and emissions, while the power output and responsiveness matched a conventional turbocharged 2.0-litre VW Golf GTi.
皇冠体育appre are plans to make the eSupercharger cheaper to build and more compact. Bryn Richards, Chief Technology Officer and founding inventor at Aeristech, said:
皇冠体育app Niche Vehicle Network is really useful and the projects are business-friendly. 皇冠体育appy seem to hit the sweet spot for us 鈥� taking proven concepts into unproven product territory.