Bosch Automotive History 1897

1897

First successful installation of the Bosch low-voltage magneto ignition device in a motor vehicle.

Robert Bosch and his associate Arnold Zähringer successfully equipped a motor vehicle, a De Dion-Bouton three-wheeler, with a low-voltage magneto ignition device for the first time. Zähringer had an ingenious idea. He decided that the heavy armature did not have to oscillate at all. Instead, he assigned this task to a new part – a light and slender sleeve. This allowed the magneto ignition device to function at high speeds.

Rotary Engine

Like a piston engine, the rotary engine uses the pressure created when a combination of air and fuel is burned. In a piston engine, that pressure is contained in the cylinders and forces pistons to move back and forth. The connecting rods and crankshaft convert the reciprocating motion of the pistons into rotational motion that can be used to power a car.

In a rotary engine, the pressure of combustion is contained in a chamber formed by part of the housing and sealed in by one face of the triangular rotor, which is what the engine uses instead of pistons.

The rotor follows a path that looks like something you'd create with a Spirograph. This path keeps each of the three peaks of the rotor in contact with the housing, creating three separate volumes of gas. As the rotor moves around the chamber, each of the three volumes of gas alternately expands and contracts. It is this expansion and contraction that draws air and fuel into the engine, compresses it and makes useful power as the gases expand, and then expels the exhaust.

The Parts of a Rotary Engine

A rotary engine has an ignition system and a fuel-delivery system that are similar to the ones on piston engines. If you've never seen the inside of a rotary engine, be prepared for a surprise, because you won't recognize much.

Rotor
The rotor has three convex faces, each of which acts like a piston. Each face of the rotor has a pocket in it, which increases the displacement of the engine, allowing more space for air/fuel mixture.

At the apex of each face is a metal blade that forms a seal to the outside of the combustion chamber. There are also metal rings on each side of the rotor that seal to the sides of the combustion chamber.

The rotor has a set of internal gear teeth cut into the center of one side. These teeth mate with a gear that is fixed to the housing. This gear mating determines the path and direction the rotor takes through the housing.

Housing
The housing is roughly oval in shape (it's actually anepitrochoid -- check out this Java demonstration of how the shape is derived). The shape of the combustion chamber is designed so that the three tips of the rotor will always stay in contact with the wall of the chamber, forming three sealed volumes of gas.

Each part of the housing is dedicated to one part of the combustion process. The four sections are:

• Intake
• Compression
• Combustion
• Exhaust

The intake and exhaust ports are located in the housing. There are no valves in these ports. The exhaust port connects directly to the exhaust, and the intake port connects directly to the throttle.

The output shaft
(Note the eccentric lobes.)

Output Shaft
The output shaft has round lobes mounted eccentrically, meaning that they are offset from the centerline of the shaft. Each rotor fits over one of these lobes. The lobe acts sort of like the crankshaft in a piston engine. As the rotor follows its path around the housing, it pushes on the lobes. Since the lobes are mounted eccentric to the output shaft, the force that the rotor applies to the lobes creates torque in the shaft, causing it to spin.

Electrical Chart

Ohm's Law

Say that you’re wiring a circuit. You know the amount of current that the component can withstand without blowing up and how much voltage the power source applies. So you have to come up with an amount of resistance that keeps the current below the blowing-up level.

In the early 1800s, George Ohm published an equation called Ohm’s Law that allows you to make this calculation. Ohm’s Law states that the voltage equals current multiplied by resistance, or in standard mathematical notation.

V = I x R

you can rearrange its elements so that if you know any two of the three values in the equation, you can calculate the third. So, here’s how you calculate current: current equals voltage divided by resistance, or

I = V/R

You can also rearrange Ohm’s Law so that you can calculate resistance if you know voltage and current. So, resistance equals voltage divided by current, or

R = V/I

For example using a circuit with a 10-volt battery and a light bulb (basically, a big flashlight). Before installing the battery,you measure the resistance of the circuit with a multimeter and find that it’s 100ohms. Here’s the formula to calculate the current:

I = V/R =  10 volts/100 ohms =0.1 amps (or100mA)

The VIR triangle

You can use the VIR triangle to help you remember the three versions of Ohm's Law.Write down V, I and R in a triangle like the one in the yellow box on the right.

• To calculate voltage, V: put your finger over V,this leaves you with I R, so the equation is V = I × R
• To calculate current, I: put your finger over I,this leaves you with V over R, so the equation is I = V/R
• To calculate resistance, R: put your finger over R,this leaves you with V over I, so the equation is R = V/I
  
  

  Understanding Electrical Power

  Electrical power is what drives a motor or produces sound through speakers or provides light through a light bulb. The current alone can not produce energy as the current is the movement of electrons and when the voltage is absent (V=0) current is static (in fact it does not exist). On the other hand voltage alone without current is static and can not be beneficial for driving electrical appliances, actually a million volts static voltage won't harm you. Hence power is directly proportional to both current (I) and voltage (V) of a circuit. It is inversely proportional to the impedance (resistance) (R) of the circuit. For DC circuits, power can be calculated as follows:
  
  
  P = V x I
  or
   P = V²/R
  or
  P = I² x R

Evolution of the Ferrari

Hot Import Night Penang (PISA)

The catalytic converter is made of an aluminum oxide honeycomb coated with platinum and palladium. These components react to remove CO and HC's from the exhaust stream. A two-way catalytic converter works by oxidizing CO (carbon monoxide) and HC (hydrocarbons or unburned fuel) to carbon dioxide and water. A three-way catalytic converter also removes oxides of nitrogen NOx from the exhaust. Nox is formed at high cylinder temperatures. The EGR system is responsible for inhibiting NOx.

When a vehicle is running rich the catalytic converter is working harder and running hotter than it was intended. This heat can damage the substrate and cause it to melt and degrade. The result can be excessive back pressure caused by a clogged or plugged catalytic converter. Sometimes the substrate will become loose. If the converter rattles when tapped with a plastic hammer it must be replaced.

An easy way to test a catalytic converter for a rich fuel condition is to use a pyrometer to compare the inlet and outlet temperatures. A pyrometer is a handheld infrared thermometer used to measure temperature from a distance. At normal operating temperature the outlet temperature should always be more than the inlet. If this temperature is in excess of 200°F the engine is likely running rich. Late model catalytic converters have less temperature difference between the two.

Symptoms of a clogged catalytic converter include a loss of power and the vehicle will be extremely sluggish because of the restricted exhaust flow. The technician in this question uses a vacuum gauge to confirm an exhaust restriction. If the needle on the gauge drops steadily at 2500 RPM check the exhaust for a restriction. This will likely be a clogged catalytic converter.

Use can also use a back pressure tester to confirm a restricted exhaust system. Remove an upstream oxygen sensor and screw in the back pressure tester fitting. Usually the specifications will require back pressure to be below 1.0 psi. at idle and no more than 4 or 5 psi.at snap throttle. There's a big difference between a late model vehicle and an older model. Always check with vehicle manufactures specifications.

Fractional distillation of crude oil

When crude oil reaches the refinery it is a thick black, smelly liquid.  In this form, it is not much use to anyone.  Crude oil contains mixture of hydrocarbons.  At the refinery these areseparated into fractions which are more useful. This is done by a process called fractional distillation. This process separates compounds by using the difference in boiling points.  See diagram below.

Crude oil enters the fractionating column as gas.  The column is quite hot at the bottom and cooler at the top.  This difference in the temperature up and down the column sorts the different fractions from each other.  

The larger hydrocarbons, with the high boiling points, turn back into liquids at the base of the column and the smaller hydrocarbons stay as gases.  They rise up the column and condenseat different levels, as shown in the above diagram.  At the top of the column there are a number of hydrocarbons with low boiling points - between 20ºC and 70ºC.  These remain as gases.

The discovery of the the crude oil has played a very big part in the development of modern life.  It provides the fuel for most of today's transport as well as the raw material for making various chemical like PLASTICS.