Audi has become the first mainstream manufacturer to start selling a car with a 48 volt battery - the SQ7 SUV has the extra power. Like most technology in vehicles, the car battery has evolved over the years with the first common battery being introduced in the 1920s. The first battery was to help get the car started as electric starter motors became more popular and … [Read more...]
Sidevalve Engines
The sidevalve engine was manufactured from the early days of the motor industry right up to the 1960s for cars and is still used in smaller applications. Many of the early engines were sidevalve as the internal combustion engine evolved from steam through gas to oil burners to petrol. Sidevalve engines are also known as L-Heads or flatheads. This latter name was because … [Read more...]
Ferguson 4 Wheel Drive System
The Ferguson 4WD system known as the Ferguson Formula was developed by Harry Ferguson Research Ltd that was formed by Harry Ferguson, an Irish engineer. Ferguson originally developed tractors with David Brown as the Ferguson-Brown company. The uniqueness was the hitch at the back to connect multiple types of equipment. David Brown went on to be the owner of Aston Martin when … [Read more...]
Flywheels
One topic that I discussed on my earlier blog was the concept of using the flywheel of an engine to be more efficient. Well, as you would imagine, things have moved on quite a bit in the past 3 or 4 years. When I first wrote about this topic, KERS was not yet in Formula 1 and the technology had just had another breakthrough in design and efficiency. Firstly let's revisit the … [Read more...]