A study in the reduction of efficiency of nitrogen oxide removal catalysts for automobiles

Automotive catalysts are the most effective short-term answer to air pollution from automobiles. Since strict control of exhaust emissions is, or will be,covered by legislation in most developed countries in the world, catalytic devices will be increasingly fitted to cars. There is consequently an urgent need for the development of catalysts that will not compete for scarce precious metal resources. A number of problems have already been identified in connection with base metal catalysts but quantitative investigations are lacking. The base metal reduction catalysts developed by Imperial Chemical Industries Limited, catalysts and Chemical Group, in collaboration with the Air Pollution Control Laboratory, B L Cars Limited for automotive emission control, are susceptible to de-activation by three major mechanisms. These are: physical loss of the wash-coat (a high surface area coating which supports the active species), aggregation of the active species and poisoning by fuel and engine oil additives. This thesis is especially concerned with the first two of these and attempts to indicate the relative magnitude .of their effect on the activity of. the catalysts. Aggregation of the active species or sintering, as it is loosely called, was studied by using impregnated granules to overcome effects due to the loss of the wash-coat. Samples were aged in a synthetic exhaust gas, free from poisons, and metal crystallite sizes were measured by scanning-electron microscopy. The increase in particle size was correlated with the loss in catalytic activity. In order to maintain a link with the real conditions of service a number of monolithic catalysts were tested in an engine-dynamometer and several previously tested endurance catalysts were examined. A mechanism is proposed for the break-up and subsequent 10s.5 of the wash-coat and suggestions for improved resistance to loss of the' coating and active species are proposed.

In-Motes EYE:a real time application for automobiles in wireless sensor networks

Wireless sensor networks have been identified as one of the key technologies for the 21st century. In order to overcome their limitations such as fault tolerance and conservation of energy, we propose a middleware solution, In-Motes. In-Motes stands as a fault tolerant platform for deploying and monitoring applications in real time offers a number of possibilities for the end user giving him in parallel the freedom to experiment with various parameters, in an effort the deployed applications to run in an energy efficient manner inside the network. The proposed scheme is evaluated through the In-Motes EYE application, aiming to test its merits under real time conditions. In-Motes EYE application which is an agent based real time In-Motes application developed for sensing acceleration variations in an environment. The application was tested in a prototype area, road alike, for a period of four months.

Racing for radical innovation

How motorsport companies harness network diversity for discontinuous innovation.

Racing for radical innovation:how motorsport companies harness network diversity for discontinuous innovation

The motorsport industry is a significant part of the UK economy. According to industry estimates approximately 4,500 companies are involved in the UK Motorsport and Performance Engineering Industry and its wide-ranging support activities. The industry has an annual turnover of £6.0 billion, and contributes £3.6 billion worth of exports. The Motorsport Industry Association estimates that the support side of the sector alone "involving events management, public relations, marketing, sponsorship and a host of other support functions" accounts for approximately £1.7 billion of the yearly industry total. And in terms of employment, UK Motorsport supports 38,500 full and part-time jobs, including 25,000 engineers.