Dearman shortlisted for SMMT automotive innovation award

03 October 2014

Dearman has been shortlisted for the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders’ (SMMT) Award for Automotive Innovation 2014. This award recognises new UK-born technologies with the potential to leave a lasting impression on the whole industry for years to come.

Dearman is developing an innovative liquid air engine to deliver zero-emission power and cooling across a range of transport applications, from refrigerated trucks to buses and heavy-duty urban vehicles. The company is working on the first application of the engine with Hubbard Products Ltd, to drive the refrigeration motor in a transport refrigeration unit (TRU). The technology will be going into on-vehicle trials at MIRA within the next few weeks followed by commercial trials next year.

Transport refrigeration is largely powered by diesel and while primary truck engines are controlled by Euro VI legislation, the smaller engines used to power refrigeration units are unregulated. This means that in many cases they emit far higher levels of NOx (nitrogen oxides) and PM (particulate matter). A projected fleet of just 13,000 liquid air refrigerated trailers would reduce NOx emissions by the same amount as taking 80,000 Euro VI trucks or 1.2 million Euro VI diesel cars off the road.

Hubbard’s Managing Director, Pat Maughan, said: “Hubbard, after many years of refining design, has realised that near term future requirements cannot be achieved with existing available components and technologies. Hubbard has enthusiastically engaged with Dearman to jointly develop a transport refrigeration system that will be the paradigm shift to economic clean cold on the highway.”

To be considered for the SMMT’s Award for Automotive Innovation, organisations have to demonstrate what makes them unique and innovative, the benefits they are delivering to the industry and wider society, evidence of commercial viability, and information on how they will fare in the current global automotive climate.

Dearman’s Senior Group Managing Director and newly-appointed Honorary Professor in the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences at the University of Birmingham, Professor Toby Peters, said: “This award recognises UK innovations that have the potential to transform the automotive industry and it goes without saying that we are delighted the judges think the Dearman engine ticks this box.

“While not pitched as a silver bullet, liquid air technologies offer a compelling solution for reducing the disproportionate impact of diesel in a variety of transport applications in the UK and globally, and our place in the shortlist is welcome recognition of the role this technology could play.”

Dearman will present its innovation to a panel of industry experts over the coming weeks, with the winner announced at the SMMT Annual Dinner on 25 November. In addition, as one of the shortlisted companies Dearman will attend the 2014 Automotive Engineering Show on the 12 November.

ENDS

For more information, please contact:-

Caroline Holmes – Automotive PR

cholmes@automotivepr.com

Martin Hayes – Automotive PR

mhayes@automotivepr.com

+44 (0) 20 7952 1070

NOTES

What is liquid air?

Air turns to liquid when refrigerated to -196C, and can be conveniently stored in insulated but unpressurised vessels. Exposure to heat (including ambient) causes rapid re-gasification and a 710-fold expansion in volume. This expansion creates pressure, which can be used to drive an engine piston, and also gives off cold, which can be used to provide refrigeration or air conditioning. Engines running on liquid air (or liquid nitrogen, which is already widely available) are zero emission at the point of use, and can be zero carbon depending on the source of electricity used to make it.

What is the Dearman engine?

Although liquid air cars were first built more than a century ago, the novelty of Peter Dearman’s invention lies in the use of a heat exchange fluid (water and glycol) that promotes extremely rapid rates of heat transfer inside the engine rather than in an external heat exchanger. The Dearman engine is constructed almost entirely from the components of a conventional piston engine, requires little maintenance and has a light environmental impact.

The Dearman engine could be used in a number of configurations: on its own, as the ‘prime mover’ or principal engine of a zero emissions vehicle (ZEV); combined with an internal combustion engine (ICE) to form a ‘heat hybrid’; or as a power-and-refrigeration unit.

Why is Dearman engine refrigeration so efficient?

Vehicle manufacturers and industrial gas producers have begun to offer vehicle refrigeration for lorries and trailers based on the evaporation of liquid nitrogen, but these systems do not extract any power from the evaporation process. The Dearman engine is far more efficient because it extracts both cold and shaft power from the same unit of liquid air or nitrogen. First the cryogen is vaporised in a heat exchanger in the refrigeration compartment, so cooling it down; then the high pressure gas is used to drive the Dearman engine, whose shaft power can be used to drive a conventional refrigeration compressor or for auxiliary power. The Dearman system therefore delivers two bangs for one buck.

Why does vehicle refrigeration matter?

Transport refrigeration today is overwhelmingly powered by diesel. The Transport Refrigeration Unit is a compressor driven either from the vehicle’s main engine, or on larger trucks and trailers by a secondary unit known as a ‘donkey’ engine. Either way, refrigeration can consume as much as 20% of a refrigerated vehicle’s fuel, causing CO2 emissions of almost 50 tonnes per vehicle per year from refrigeration alone.

Donkey engines are currently unregulated, which means they typically emit far higher levels of nitrogen NOx and PM than a modern lorry propulsion engine (Euro 6). An analysis of regulatory standards suggests that a trailer refrigerator engine emits six times as much NOx and 29 times as much PM than a Euro 6 lorry engine. These emissions cause respiratory illnesses and 29,000 premature deaths in the UK each year.

Proposals to strengthen the regulations governing Non Road Mobile Machinery (NRMM Stage 5) are expected to be adopted by the European Commission (EC) this year, and may come into force by 2019-2021, but will make essentially no difference to the emissions of NOx and PM from transport refrigeration units.

 ENDS ALL