One of my sons was given quite a few shares in an automotive technology research licensing company. Over the years I've never paid them much attention but having read the latest Annual R&A I'm now intrigued as to what they actually do. Apparently their main projects are Tyre Pressure Monitoring Systems, Electric Power Assisted Steering and Surface Accoustic Wave technology/devices. This is probably a long shot but can anyone out there explain (in simple English) the meaning and significance of any or all of the above?
BTW - I'm not looking for advice on whether to keep/sell the shares.
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Tyre pressure monitoring systems are just that, first went mainstream in the Renault Laguna II - shows each tyres pressure using a remote tyre pressure gauge which is attached to each wheel.
Electric power assist is used by quite a few cars now instead
of hydraulic power assist, probably uses less components, is lighter and draws less power from the engine.
Surface Accoustic Wave technology is touchscreen technology, there are a couple of ways of making things happen when you touch a given point on a screen - SAW is one of them.
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All been around for a long time.
EPAS uses torque transducer on the steering column to detect driver load and then feeds in assistance via an electric motor. very easy to vary the level of assistance (e.g. doesn't have to be linear w.r.t. speed) etc.
SAW is used for many things. Most commonly filters and delay lines in consumer electronics (e.g. the PAL delay line in a colour TV). Basically you have some kind of transducer create a surface wave which propagates across the material - takes a finite time to traverse the device. Can be used for touchscreens, as noted above, amongst many other things.
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A friend of mine works as a development engineer for one of the first companies to take EPAS to mass market (some years back now), and explained how he was driven around in a development hack whilst he tweaked various knobs on a control box sitting on his lap to change the rate and level of assistance at different speeds.
Try doing that with a conventional hydraulic setup to find the optimum setup!
Guess it makes it easier to bring car models with different characteristics to market, as well as having power consumption (only consume what you need) and packaging (especially rear engined cars) advantages.
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There was a firm near us that developed a drive-by-wire system - we found out after chatting to them in the car park while they tested it on a real car from a remote control (not kidding). We asked how things were getting on - they said it "usually" worked.
We stepped smartly back and asked them if they could use the other side of the car park!
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Most of my car is operated using drive-by-wire. It usually works. Luckily the steering still has a mechanical linkage.
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I think Citroen were talking about marketing a vehicle with no direct mechanical link from the steering wheel to the road wheels. Thankfully I think the EU automotive legislators put a stop to the idea!
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I think Citroen were talking about marketing a vehicle with no direct mechanical link from the steering wheel to the road wheels. Thankfully I think the EU automotive legislators put a stop to the idea!
My Austin Allegro appeared to have that feature much of the time. Unfortunately it also felt like it had no other link ...
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Thanks for some clear and concie answers Malcolm and Aprilia. All is starting to make sense now :) Apparently this company has patented and secured license agreements for several unique developments - one of which relates to TPMS and involves "incorporating both the torque and pressure requirements into a single application specific integrated circuit - ASIC".
Anyway, it may all be gobbledegook to me but it sounds very impressive and since the shares cost him nothing he can't really lose can he.
Thanks again all!
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ND - You see we're not really Luddites at all - it's just an act :)
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ND - You see we're not really Luddites at all - it's just an act :)
Alright, I'll give you that one :o)
No Dosh
Backroom Moderator
mailto:moderators@honestjohn.co.uk
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