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Growing demand for forest machines that cost less to operate than current compared to traditional hydraulic and mechanical ones, along with regulatory pressures for lower emissions, is increasing manufacturers' interest in developing electric and hybrid drives. While purely electric drives of forest machines meet a lot of bottlenecks (costs of the electric components, battery durability, duration of charging, access to the electrical grid, size of batteries that can ensure enough energy for 8 h working time), electric hybrid drives offer a favorable solution for the propulsion of forestry machinery in terms of lower fuel consumption and improved efficiency. Among all forest vehicles, specialized forest tractors (skidders), so far, have not been considered for forest vehicles with hybrid drive capabilities. A skidder is a forest-articulated self-propelled vehicle for pulling trees or parts of trees. In most countries in southern Europe, the use of skidders equipped with forest winches is the most common technique for timber extraction. The first goal of the research is to develop methods for measuring the energy consumption of skidders at different operating tasks and under different field conditions. Research was performed on the skidder Ecotrac 140V (from Croatian producer Hittner Ltd.) during timber extraction in mountainous terrains in Lika–Senj County. The skidder was equipped with a measuring device WIGO-E (Telematic Data collector) gateway with an integrated GPS system, which ensured data were collected from sensors and motor and stored in a computer via CANBUS and data transfer with GSM to Web platforms. Additionally, a fuel-flow meter was installed on the skidder. Data on fuel consumption (mL), position (traveling route), detection of winch work, engine rpm (min−1), engine torque (% of max), throttle position (%), and engine temperature were measured with a sampling frequency of 5 s. Furthermore, skidder load volumes per cycles and slopes of tractor paths were constantly measured. The paper shows the skidder's energy consumption per day, work cycle, and individual work procedure with regard to the size of the load, the slope of the tractor path, and the direction of movement based on overlapping and merging all measurement data. Using mathematical and simulation models of the drive with defined operating cycles obtained by measurement, the possibilities of the hybrid drive and the dimensions of the elements of the hybrid drive (internal combustion engine, electric motor, batteries, control unit) were determined and are presented in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With increasing the energy costs and aiming for fossil-free Europe, cellular structures could provide a cost-effective tool for saving fuel consumption in aircraft. To achieve this goal, a cellular structure topology is a rapidly growing area of research facilitated by developments in additive layer manufacturing. These low-density structures are particularly promising for their aerospace applications. In this paper, four cellular structure topologies are developed to serve as a vibration damper in small electric aircraft motor, we have compared their performance with the original motor holder in the aircraft. This paper introduces the roadmap of scaffolding concept design and provides a novel concept in vibration damping. Based on the FEA simulation, aluminium 6061T spiderweb-inspired lattices (weight 0.3473 g and porosity 84%) have proven to have the lowest natural resonance and highest yield strength to weight ratio compared to other scaffolding concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogen (H 2 ) is being explored as a fuel for passenger vehicles; it can be used in fuel cells to power electric motors or burned in internal combustion engines. In order to evaluate the potential influence of a future H 2 -based road transportation on the regional air quality in Europe, we implemented H 2 in the atmospheric transport and chemistry model LOTOS-EUROS. We simulated the present and future (2020) air quality, using emission scenarios with different proportions of H 2 vehicles and different H 2 leakage rates. The reference future scenario does not include H 2 vehicles, and assumes that all present and planned European regulations for emissions are fully implemented. We find that, in general, the air quality in 2020 is significantly improved compared to the current situation in all scenarios, with and without H 2 cars. In the future scenario without H 2 cars, the pollution is reduced due to the strict European regulations: annually averaged CO, NO x and PM2.5 over the model domain decrease by 15%, 30% and 20% respectively. The additional improvement brought by replacing 50% or 100% of traditionally-fueled vehicles by H 2 vehicles is smaller in absolute terms. If 50% of vehicles are using H 2 , the CO, NO x and PM2.5 decrease by 1%, 10% and 1% respectively, compared to the future scenario without H 2 cars. When all vehicles run on H 2 , then additional decreases in CO, NO x and PM2.5 are 5%, 40%, and 5% relative to the no-H 2 cars future scenario. Our study shows that H 2 vehicles may be an effective pathway to fulfill the strict future EU air quality regulations. O 3 has a more complicated behavior – its annual average decreases in background areas, but increases in the high-NO x area in western Europe, with the decrease in NO x . A more detailed analysis shows that the population exposure to high O 3 levels decreases nevertheless. In all future scenarios, traffic emissions account for only a small proportion of the total anthropogenic emissions, thus it becomes more important to better regulate emissions of non-traffic sectors. Although atmospheric H 2 increases significantly in the high-leakage scenarios considered, the additional H 2 added into the atmosphere does not have a significant effect on the ground level air pollution in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new electromechanical power-splitting full-hybrid transmission with two shifting elements, namely a four-shaft planetary gear and an electronic continuously variable transmission, is introduced in this paper. This transmission was developed with the aim of combining all the advantages of an internal combustion engine and two electric motors in an optimal way so as to improve the power performance and the fuel economy. The architecture and analogy of the four-shaft planetary gear are analysed, a control strategy is designed, and the engine management system and hybrid control system are calibrated. To evaluate the performance, the control strategy and the calibrated results, nine tests were performed as per the New European Driving Cycle under various initial conditions, different maps and different thresholds. The test results indicate that a four-shaft planetary gear, electronic continuously variable transmission hybrid electric vehicle can realize good fuel economy and good emissions performance except for nitrogen oxide emissions. The best fuel consumption obtained was 5.4 l/100 km. The amount of nitrogen oxide emissions needs to be decreased by optimizing the control strategy of the hybrid control system and calibration of the engine management system in future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows how electricity is used by electric motors in both the industrial and the services’ sectors in the European Union, as well as the potential electricity savings by the year 2015 with the application of Energy-Efficient Motors and Variable Speed Drives. Additionally, the main barriers identified in the field characterization study and the measures to overcome those barriers are presented. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This focus section of Superconductor Science and Technology looks at the properties, technology and applications of (RE)BCO and MgB2 based superconductors for power engineering systems. Both bulk and conductor forms of material are addressed, including elements of materials fabrication and processing, and the measurement of their applied properties for various levels of system application. The areas of research include ac losses in type II materials in power devices, cables and coated conductors, the development of high current dc cables and the application of superconductors in levitation devices, motors and fault current limiters. This focus section presents a broad cross-section of contemporary issues, that represent state-of-the-art for power applications of superconductors, and highlights the areas that require further development if commercial applications of these rapidly emerging materials are to be realised. It contains papers from some of the major groups in the field, including contributions from Europe, the USA and Japan, and describes devices that are relatively close to market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on the book "Energy Efficiency Improvements in Electric Motors and Drives." Forty conference papers are submitted here that covers the state of the art of energy-efficient motor technologies, the barriers to adoption; and policies and programs to promote the large scale penetration of energy-efficient technologies. Chapters in the books are divided into several parts. Part 1 provides an overview of energy-efficient motor technologies. Part 2 explores the relevance of motors and drives to issues of energy use and energy saving. Part 3 focuses on energy efficient motors. Part 4 describes energy savings with eletric drives. Part 5 covers advanced motor and drive technologies. Part 6 discusses efficiency standards. Part 7 surveys policies to promote energy-efficient motor systems in various parts of the world. Part 8 discusses programs to promote energy-efficient motor systems in the U.S. and the Far East, and part 9 examines programs in Europe. Part 10 highlights some databases on high efficiency motors.