Micro-turbine hybrid bus meets Mickey Mouse
While spending the wee hours trying to dig up more information on a deal reported in The Earth News between micro-turbine maker Capstone and Italian bus builder Eco Power Technology, I came across an unexpected bit of news. According to a post by nbodyhome on Disney fan forum Micechat, a Designline bus has been doing some testing down at the home of the famous rodent in Orlando. Designline is the New Zealand manufacturer behind the solar powered Tindo bus and uses a Capstone micro-turbine in its hybrid designs. The Disney fans post includes pictures of the vehicle (above) and I can see Spanish moss in the trees so I know they weren't taken in New York City when this bus was tested there.
Somewhere, and I can't find my source now, I read Disney runs a fleet of over 250 buses in the Orlando area, so a move to hybrids would help the people living there breathe a little easier. I am surprised I couldn't find either a press release by Disney or Designline about the tests since "green" image projection is all the rage these days.
[Source: The Earth News / Micechat]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
rgseidl 3:18PM (3/10/2008)
Microturbines are compact, run very smoothly, deliver very low emissions due to continuous combustion and require little maintenance. Noise is generally an issue, though. For a commercial vehicle like a bus, you would probably have more than one turbine to ensure any that are active are running near rated load. In part load, simple gas turbines are notorious gas guzzlers.
Note that Capstone's turbines are single-stage units, i.e. there is only one shaft linking turbine, compressor and load. Such designs must be governed to a particular speed and torque output. Direct connection to the unpredictable torque variations in a mechanical drivetrain would cause instability, with the turbine either stalling or running away.
In other words, single-stage turbines can only be used in a series hybrid configuration with an energy buffer. In theory, one could be used in GM's E-Flex architecture.
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george smith 7:38PM (2/06/2009)
Could you please run a show on how paper money is made,not that I am trying to make it ,but it just boggles my mind how they get all the things to come togeather in the end
Wildgoosechase 4:00PM (3/10/2008)
One of the neat things about turbines is that they will burn darn near any liquid fuel.
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rgseidl 4:13PM (3/10/2008)
@ Wildgoosechase -
the combustor system does need to be tuned for the target fuel. No. 2 diesel is about as heavy a grade as you'd want to use. Gaseous fuels such as natural gas, LPG and DME also work very well in turbines.
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psarhjinian 5:42PM (3/10/2008)
I always thoguth turbines would made a good pairing witha hybrid drivetrain. You can have the turbine running at maximum efficiency all the time, either driving the wheels directly at high load, or driving a motor/generator that drives the wheels.
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rgseidl 5:58PM (3/10/2008)
Large gas turbines and jet engines have those amd, relatively cool compressor air bled through the shaft and out through these ducts acts as a shroud around the vanes so combustion chamber temperatures can be several hundred degrees higher.
The trouble with small turbines (i.e.less than ~1200hp) is that the turbine vanes are too filigree for internal cooling ducts. That means their thermodynamic efficiency is limited by the maximum temperature available and affordable turbine materials can sustain. In the specific case of a Capstone microturbine rated at ~60kW, you're looking at just 20-22%.
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