TransForum Vol. 9, No. 2

FASTRAX

Marcy Rood Werpy, along with Renée Nault, coordinated the 15th anniversary of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Clean Cities Program in Washington, D.C., on March 3, 2009.

Forrest Jehlik was a guest lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Lindbergh Lecture series on March 12, 2009, presenting an overview of Argonne’s Advanced Powertrain Research Facility, research specific to plug-in hybrid efficiency as a function of thermal state, an overview of the nation’s petroleum dependency, and the importance of research and science for securing a sustainable energy future.

Khalil Amine, Ilias Belharouak and Zonghai Chen won an Excellence in Technology Transfer Award from the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer. The award was in recognition of their work on a battery system expected to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and America’s dependence on imported oil and was presented on April 7, 2009. See article on page 3.

Marianne Mintz, Dan Santini and Marcy Rood Werpy participated in conference panels at the 2009 Alternative Fuels and Vehicles National Conference and Expo in Orlando, Florida, April 19-22, 2009.

Thomas Wallner presented recent results of hydrogen combustion engine research at the SAE World Congress in Detroit, Michigan, April 2009. The work, co-authored by Abhijeet Nande and Jeff Naber (both of Michigan Technological University), is titled “Of Basic Injection Configurations Using a Direct-Injection Hydrogen Research Engine.”

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and U.S. Representative Judy Biggert (R-IL-13th) toured Argonne’s Transportation Technology Research and Development Center on April 24, 2009. Lab Director Eric Isaacs led the tour, which included stops at Argonne’s Advanced Powertrain Research Facility and Locomotive Engine Research Facility. Larry Johnson presented an overview of the transportation research at Argonne.

Forrest Jehlik presented the work, “Methodology and Analysis of Determining Plug-In Hybrid Engine Thermal State and Resulting Efficiency,” at the 2009 SAE World Congress, April 2009.

Dominik Karbowski, Felix Freiherr von Pechmann, Sylvain Pagerit, Jason Kwon and Aymeric Rousseau presented their work, “Fair Comparison of Powertrain Configurations for Plug-In Hybrid Operation using Global Optimization” (SAE paper 2009-01-1383), at the SAE World Congress, Detroit, Michigan, April 2009.

Thomas Wallner, research engineer in Argonne’s Center for Transportation Research, has been appointed adjunct professor in the Mechanical Engineering/Engineering Mechanics Department at Michigan Technological University.

Chris Cooney, a Ph.D. student at Michigan Technological University doing his thesis research at Argonne, presented the study, “Effects of Blending Gasoline with Ethanol and Butanol on Engine Efficiency and Emissions,” at the 2009 ASME Spring Technical Conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, May 3-6, 2009. The paper was co-authored by Thomas Wallner and Steve McConnell (both Argonne), Jeff Gillen and Clint Abell (U.S. Air Force), and Scott Miers and Jeff Naber (Michigan Technological University).

Romesh Kumar received a 2009 DOE Hydrogen Program Award on May 26, 2009. The award recognizes Kumar’s “outstanding leadership and contributions in determining the cost and performance impacts of hydrogen impurities.”

Khalil Amine presented the talk, “Toward Enabling PHEV Batteries Using Advanced New Electrode Materials,” at the Advanced Automotive Batteries and Capacitors (AABC) conference in Long Beach, California, on June 8, 2009.

Thomas Wallner presented the results of an injection study performed on Argonne’s hydrogen research engine at the 2009 SAE International Powertrains, Fuels and Lubricants Congress in Florence, Italy, June 15-17, 2009. The study, “Assessment of Multiple Injection Strategies in a Direct Injection Hydrogen Research Engine,” was co-authored by Riccardo Scarcelli (Argonne), and Abhijeet Nande and Jeff Naber (both Michigan Technological University).

Aymeric Rousseau, Ayman Moawad, Gurhari Singh, Simeon Hagspiel and Mohammed Fellah presented their study, “Impact of Real-World Drive Cycles on PHEV Fuel Efficiency and Cost for Different Powertrain and Battery Characteristics,” at the Advanced Automotive Batteries and Capacitors (AABC) conference in Long Beach, California, June 2009.

Argonne’s Battery Technology Group was recently awarded the following contracts: an 18-month project funded through EnerDel by the Defense Logistic Agency to develop the high-energy cathode and anode for a high-energy UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) and a contract with Nissan/EnerDel to jointly develop an advanced nonflammable electrolyte for electric vehicle applications based on Argonne’s silane technology. In addition, DOE awarded Argonne/EnerDel funds to develop and quantify a new redox shuttle to prevent battery overcharge.

Ted Bohn attended the 4th Annual Hybridfest Green Drive Expo in Madison, Wisconsin on July 17-19, 2009, and made a presentation on applications of smart charging of PHEVs relative to the capabilities of the smart grid.

Neeraj Shidore, Jason Kwon and Anant Vyas presented the work, “Trade-off Between PHEV Fuel-Efficiency and Estimated Battery Cycle Life with Cost Analysis,” at the 5th IEEE Vehicle Power and Propulsion Conference (VPPC ’09), September 7-11, 2009, in Dearborn, Michigan.

Ali Erdemir and Osman Levent Eryilmaz received a 2009 R&D 100 award for the development of a superhard and slick coating that helps increase engine efficiency and component reliability.

Argonne’s Michael Thackeray, Khalil Amine, Christopher Johnson, Sun-Ho Kang, Ilias Belharouak and Haixa Deng were honored with a 2009 R&D 100 award for their work in developing the Argonne/Envia composite electrode material technology for hybrid and all-electric vehicles.

Larry Johnson gave a series of invited lectures in China in September. These included the 2009 International Forum on China Automotive Industry Development in Tianjin, Tongji University in Shanghai and Tsinghua University in Beijing.

October 2009