Conventional Cars

Automobile history begins after the development of important scientific discoveries in the fields of electricity, mechanics, thermodynamics, and materials. Somehow, it could be considered as automobile antecedents: the discovery of static electricity by Thales of Miletus in 600 B.C., the inventions of Otto Von Guerick (1672), Andreas Gordon (1742), Franklin Youngest child (1747), and Nicholas Cugnot, who constructed in France the first automobile made of wood. However, the first important

landmark in the history of the automobile can be placed in 1908 with the starting of the manufacture line of the Ford Model T. That was the moment when the foundations of the later-named Second Industrial Revolution appeared, which allowed several million people to access a low-cost way of transport. In fact, since then transportation has constituted one of the strategic axes of the industrial development. Proof of the  utomobile’s impact in society is that, at the moment, many of the main world industrial companies center their activity in automobile manufacturing.

EVOLUTION OF THE DISTRIBUTION ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

The automobile’s electrical consumption has grown year by year. From the beginning until

the end of the 1950s the growth was smooth. Later on, coinciding with the establishment

of the 12 V battery as a supply standard in order to satisfy the increasing exigencies of

comfort and security, growth was bigger.

© 2005 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

An aspect to consider in the historical evolution of the automobile is the minimal

penetration of power electronics in the automobile field until a few years ago. However,

in the immediate future a massive presence of power electronics in the automobile is

expected, mainly due to the new architectures of the automobile supply systems.

Nowadays the technical committees of the main societies that group the different

industries of the automobile sector have already defined the outline of the services and

systems that will gradually be included in automobiles during the next 15 years.

One of the axes of change is to increase electrical consumption to be able to elevate

the level of comfort and security. Another vector of improvement is the diminution of fuel

consumption per kilometer.

It is clear that, to be able to integrate both aspects, it must use an electrical supply

system that fulfills these three general requirements:

1. It makes an optimal transformation of the mechanical energy into electrical

energy.

2. It distributes the electrical energy with minimum losses.

3. It supplies the required services (loads) with maximum efficiency.

These facts start to force several future situations:

• Only the alternator will have a mechanical connection with the internal combustion

engine. All the other motors, from the conditioned air compressor to

the refrigeration water pump, will be electrically driven.

• High-efficiency lamps like the HID ones will increasingly substitute the conventional

high-beam lights. Moreover, neon lamps or LEDs will be used for

signaling and fluorescent lights for interior illumination.

• Wherever it becomes possible, the use of AC motors, with or without regulation,

will be attempted.

Edited by

Ali Emadi

Illinois Institute of Technology

Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.

Roberto Giral-Castillón, Luis Martínez-Salamero, and Javier Maixé-Altés

Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain

© 2005 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC