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October 25, 2013
Government of Canada Invests in Next-Generation Automotive R&D: Innovations in Auto Sector Will Foster Growth and Job Creation
May 6, 2013
Canada-Italy Concurrent Call on Automotive Manufacturing R&D
February 22, 2013
Government of Canada Invests in Innovative R&D Projects with Canadian Auto Industry
February 8, 2013 Announcement of APC Call for Proposals: NSERC and ISTP Canada-China Joint Initiative on Clean Automotive Transportation R&D
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Accelerating plans to mass-produce new, plastic fuel tank systems
Click to enlargeWindsor-based Kautex Corp. is working with mechanical, chemical, material and electrical engineers at the University of British Columbia (UBC), McGill University and the National Research Council to optimize a process that will manufacture a complete fuel system in just one production step. This Canadian first is expected to produce a new generation of tanks within five years that meet North America's most stringent emission standards.
The three-year collaboration, supported with $932,000 in funding from Automotive Partnership Canada (APC), will give Kautex Corp. a competitive advantage in selling its Next General Fuel System (NGFS®) technology for use in hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) and standard vehicles with stop-and-go systems that automatically switch the engine off when the car is idling.
"NGFS lowers emissions, weighs less and frees up more packaging space. You can also add solutions that reduce the noise from fuel slosh, and stiffening solutions that make the tank strong enough to handle the higher internal pressure from hybrid electric vehicles," says Haile Atsbha, Manager, Computer Aided Engineering at Kautex Corp., which manufactures plastic gas tanks for Ford, General Motors, Chrysler, Honda and Toyota. The company employs nearly 200 workers in Canada and 5,400 employees worldwide.
Next General Fuel System marries the conventional blow molding process—which melts plastic and forms it into hollow plastic parts, such as bottles and fuel tanks—with another manufacturing process called thermoforming—which heats and shapes two plastic sheets into separate cavities. This makes it possible to place all fuel system components (e.g. pipes, pumps, valves and control systems) inside the tank before the two cavities are sealed, rather than having the components outside the tank.
Kautex Corp. developed NGFS in 2007, with small-scale production beginning two years later. In this project, researchers are developing an efficient and cost-effective process for mass-producing the system using advanced computer simulation models that predict the outcome of new tank designs and reduce the need for expensive trial and error experimental methods.
The project will also take advantage of skills and specialized equipment at UBC and McGill University to study the characterization and properties of materials used in a plastic fuel tank.
"Yes, the fuel tank will be made out of plastic, but what kind of plastic?" asks Savvas Hatzikiriakos, a chemical and biological engineering professor at UBC and lead investigator on the APC project. "You may have different parts of the tank made from different types of plastics, as well as layers of various plastics, including various types of polyethylene, to minimize emissions."
Atsbha says this type of fundamental research is essential to convince original equipment manufacturers that the technology is robust and reliable on a mass-manufacturing scale.
"This research will demonstrate the competency of our technology and give vehicle manufacturers confidence that this technology is mature, will be good for their vehicles and can be manufactured locally," says Atsbha. "As a Canadian supplier to the automotive supply chain, we're in an excellent position to manufacture this tank in Canada."
