Valentin Technologies Ingo

By Eric Boyd on February 5, 2008 2:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

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Valentin Technologies

If you like resolve, Valentin Technologies will please you. The inventor, Ingo Valentin, has been working away at this concept since the late 80s! His 'hydrostatic powertrain' can be likened to a hydraulic version of a REEV - say, a range-extended hydraulic vehicle. The engine serves as a 'combustion pump' and charges the accumulator. The hydraulic pressure in the accumulator drives the wheels. The rest of the design is simply some specs thrown down on the website (can he achieve them?), but I can confirm that his numbers do work - the car as described should get very high mileage. Check out our Valentin Technologies Ingo page, or read on for the same information presented in HTML.

Short Description: Series Hydraulic Hybrid
Status & Cost: Mainstream Class, $less than standard car

Background and Details

Although they currently have only designed the drive train, the stats on the left are given on their website as being their targets and they are used to calculate the MPG value
“Hydrostatic Powertrain” consists of in-wheel hydraulic motors, an accumulator, and a 60 HP ‘combustion pump’
They hope to interest a major carmaker in their drive train technology, but will build a prototype for the AXP
The inventor has been promoting this for a long time - so long that some of the original patents (circa 1986) have expired. The NYTimes ad in 1996 failed to find funding
Like other series hybrids, the engine here does not drive the wheels, but instead runs at constant speed charging the accumulator. Regenerative braking also recharges the accumulators, at higher efficiency than EVs achieve
The PESWiki interview is excellent. 1h of dense tech talk.
The main skepticism is about the free-piston engine and the seals on the 7000 PSI hydraulic system
References: Valentin Technologies NYTimes Ad PESWiki_Interview ElmGroveNow AutoBlogGreen

Vehicle Stats

MPGe	130 MPG diesel 117 MPGe
Weight	2200 lbs
L x W x H (ft)	14.2 x 5.8 x 4.7
HP	670 total: 2 x 230 HP front 2 x 105 HP back
0-60 MPH	5 seconds
Top Speed	93 MPH
Range	5 miles accumulator only
Battery Info	0.5 kWh, stored in the hydraulic accumulator (sufficient for 600 HP x 4s)
Motor	4 hydraulic wheel motors
Engine	60 HP free-piston “near-HCCI” diesel “combustion pump”
Cd x Frontal Area	0.22 x ? ft^2

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1 Comments

Anonymous Skimmer said:

The website states the car reverses the wheel motors to make them pumps when braking (the pumps recompressing nitrogen into the accumulator). I'm wondering if it would be possible to reverse the input/output flows to and from the wheel motors rather than taking the time and energy to slow down, stop and reverse the motors themselves.

I know next to nothing about pump design, or the specific pump-motors used in this car, so don't know whether this is a decent idea, what's already implemented, or something already known as not workable.

February 10, 2008 7:37 AM