Holographic Car
Local Motors and ARPA-E LITECAR Challenge
Holographic Car Author: Vedran Martinek
Executive Summary I would like to state that I didn't invent a new material or technology that's going to be used in the automotive industry. I connected the dots and came up with an idea/vision how to put different materials and technologies together to reinvent the whole car. I asked myself, except the ultralight materials that are being developed, is there anything lighter than light itself?. That question lead me to come up with the groundbraking, yet so simple idea that will possibly change how all cars are going to be built in future. Imagine a car that, besides the parts that are needed for structural integrity, for connecting some essential components and for keeping the occupants closed and safe inside, doesn't actually physically exist. It may sound abstract but the technology, that already exists and is being rapidly developed, will make this vision of complete car reinvention possible.
Weight Reduction Methodology The idea of weight reduction of the car, without compromising the safety, is to use strong and light materials for parts that are essential for vehicle structural integrity like the chassis, frame and the occupants area in combination with the technology of weightless holography that can replace the parts that are not essential for that integrity like the bumpers, fenders, hood, and different other parts that give the vehicle its design and shape. Those parts are not actually needed if we think in terms of safety; it's the impact absorption of deformation zones, which are part of the frame, that are there to keep occupants safe. Holographically projected parts will not make any air resistance so every other part that's not a projection needs to be aerodynamically designed to lower the drag coeficient of the car.
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Weight The curb weight of the average midsize car today is around 1,500 kilograms (3,307 lbs) and the car's body structure weighs around 700 kilograms (1,543 lbs). Target is that body structure weight which can be significantly reduced through the use of materials like the Micro-Architected Metamaterials and Nanoscale Ceramics that are being developed. If the car's structure is made out of those materials, the weight reduction would be around 80%. Add to that the use of ultralight Corning Gorilla Glass combined with the technology of Aerial Burton's weightless pulse laser holography for other exterior parts and the weight reduction is further increased. Safety Because the safety of the car's occupants depends on the front, back and side deformation zones which are made to collapse in a controlled fashion, the construction of the frame will not change in comparison to today's cars; the impact energy will be absorbed across the zones and will not enter occupant's area. Metamaterials that are proposed have better mechanical properties than today's materials and are very well suited for construction of the car's structure and parts. References for Materials and Technologies https://www.llnl.gov/news/lawrence-livermore-mit-researchers-develop-new-ultralight-ultrastiff-3dprinted-materials#.U6MtR_ldU7U http://www.3ders.org/articles/20140620-mit-llnt-3d-printed-ultrastiff-ultralight-material.html
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http://authors.library.caltech.edu/49512/ http://ceramics.org/ceramic-tech-today/making-ceramics-perfect-and-perfectly-bendable-with-air http://www.corninggorillaglass.com/en/applications/automotive http://www.corninggorillaglass.com/uploads/kcfinder/files/Corning%20Gorilla%20Glass%204_PI%20 Sheet_011415_D.PDF http://burton-jp.com/en/product.htm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNoOiXkXmYQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVf2ofoEMlY
Innovation The innovative aspect of this idea lies in a complete car reinvention; from both the engineering and design point of view because they interconnect with eachother. Technology is becoming more and more wearable and cars of the future are going to go that road also. With the development of new strong, lightweight materials and holography technologies this idea will become a reality and cars will be lighter and safer because of that, without compromising on styling. All the parts that are being holographically projected, that make the car lighter and give it its visual presence, can be easily changed by projecting different designs and this opens a new dimension in car manufacturing. This will allow the automotive companies to significantly cut costs on parts that are physically not needed anymore. The basis of every car in its segment can stay the same and everything else can be digitally changed. We can only imagine what different areas of creativity in car design and manufacturing this will open.
Bill of Materials Material for Rigid Parts of the Car Numerous different ultralight and ultrastrong materials are being developed but one is notably above the others; a Micro-Architected Mechanical Metamaterial (Picture 1) developed by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This metamaterial is an artificial material with properties not found in nature that maintains a nearly constant stiffness per unit mass density, even at ultralow density. It has has the same weight as Aerogel but is 10,000 times stiffer and because of the process of projection microstereolithography, an additive micromanufacturing technique combined with nanoscale coating and postprocessing, it is resistant to changes in load and doesn't brake suddenly like the Aerogel.
3
Material for Flexible Parts of the Car Ceramics have some of the highest strength and stiffness-to-weight ratios of any material and are suboptimal for use as structural materials because of their brittleness and sensitivity to flaws. But researchers at the California Institute of Technology developed a Three-Dimensional Nanoscale Ceramics (Picture 2) that are simultaneously ultralight, ultrastrong, energy-absorbing and can recover their original shape after compressions in excess of 50% strain. Hollow-tube alumina nanolattices are fabricated using two-photon lithography, atomic layer deposition, and oxygen plasma etching (Picture 3). Compression experiments revealed that optimizing the wall thickness-to-radius ratio of the tubes can suppress brittle fracture in the constituent solid in favor of elastic shell buckling, resulting in ductile-like deformation and recoverability (Picture 4).
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Material for Transparent Parts of the Car To significantly reduce the weight of the car is to use strong, lightweight and safe glass. Gorilla Glass 4 (Picture 5) from company Corning enables a weight reduction in glazing of more than 50% versus conventional glass and it can be used in all transparent exterior parts of a car including windshields, sidelites, sunroofs and backlites, as well as for interior parts like touch panels. This toughened aluminosilicate glass is 0,4 millimeters thick making it ultralight and compared with sapphire glass, which is the strongest and scratch resistant glass today, it is 2-3 times less in weight, less expensive to produce and shows better strenght properties (Picture 6). It doesn't have the microscopic abrasions, like sapphire has, that builds up making the glass brittle and more likely to shatter. The strength of this glass comes from applying chemical strenghtening process of ion-exchange (Picture 7).
Technology for 3D Printing of Metamaterials 3D printing through additive micro-manufacturing process involves using a micro-mirror display chip to create high-fidelity 3D parts one layer at a time from photosensitive feedstock materials. Polymer is used as a template to fabricate the microlattices, which are then coated with a thin-film of metal ranging from 200 to 500 nanometers thick. The polymer core is than thermally removed, leaving a hollow-tube metal strut, resulting in ultralight weight metal lattice material (Picture 8).
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Technology for Holographic Projection of Parts Japanese company Aerial Burton developed the only holographic system that can project 3D images in mid-air or underwater without the use of any kind of screen, smoke or densed air (Picture 9). The current system projects 3D objects at 50,000 dots per second (up from around 1,000 in 2006) and with a 10-15 frames per second. The holograph works by focusing laser light, producing plasma excitation from the oxygen and nitrogen in the air; 1KHz infrared pulse laser is fired into a 3D scanner which than reflects and focuses the laser pulses to specific points in the air. From there, the molecules are ionized and create dots in the air that can be seen even in bright sunlight (Picture 10).
Required Manufacturing Process Required manufacturing process for materials and parts that are proposed is 3D printing.
Passenger Safety Safety of passengers relies on the very construction and weight of the car. The uniframe is more rigid because it's made of fewer parts due to the technology of 3D printing. Also because this proposal significantly reduces the weight of the car, less energy is involved in case of the potential impact of the car.
Innovative / Safety Component Innovative component in this proposal is the use of holographic technology to project the car's body parts making the car less in weight.
6
Potential Challenges Because the technology of real holography is in its beginning, there are many challenges before the projectors will be ready to clearly project the desired shape in the appropriate resolution that's expected. Also the 3D printing technology of proposed materials needs further development but is expected to greatly evolve over time and large-scale 3D printing is surely going to dominate the future production of cars.
Self Evaluation Card
7
Holographic Car Author: Vedran Martinek
Executive Summary I would like to state that I didn't invent a new material or technology that's going to be used in the automotive industry. I connected the dots and came up with an idea/vision how to put different materials and technologies together to reinvent the whole car. I asked myself, except the ultralight materials that are being developed, is there anything lighter than light itself?. That question lead me to come up with the groundbraking, yet so simple idea that will possibly change how all cars are going to be built in future. Imagine a car that, besides the parts that are needed for structural integrity, for connecting some essential components and for keeping the occupants closed and safe inside, doesn't actually physically exist. It may sound abstract but the technology, that already exists and is being rapidly developed, will make this vision of complete car reinvention possible.
Weight Reduction Methodology The idea of weight reduction of the car, without compromising the safety, is to use strong and light materials for parts that are essential for vehicle structural integrity like the chassis, frame and the occupants area in combination with the technology of weightless holography that can replace the parts that are not essential for that integrity like the bumpers, fenders, hood, and different other parts that give the vehicle its design and shape. Those parts are not actually needed if we think in terms of safety; it's the impact absorption of deformation zones, which are part of the frame, that are there to keep occupants safe. Holographically projected parts will not make any air resistance so every other part that's not a projection needs to be aerodynamically designed to lower the drag coeficient of the car.
1
Weight The curb weight of the average midsize car today is around 1,500 kilograms (3,307 lbs) and the car's body structure weighs around 700 kilograms (1,543 lbs). Target is that body structure weight which can be significantly reduced through the use of materials like the Micro-Architected Metamaterials and Nanoscale Ceramics that are being developed. If the car's structure is made out of those materials, the weight reduction would be around 80%. Add to that the use of ultralight Corning Gorilla Glass combined with the technology of Aerial Burton's weightless pulse laser holography for other exterior parts and the weight reduction is further increased. Safety Because the safety of the car's occupants depends on the front, back and side deformation zones which are made to collapse in a controlled fashion, the construction of the frame will not change in comparison to today's cars; the impact energy will be absorbed across the zones and will not enter occupant's area. Metamaterials that are proposed have better mechanical properties than today's materials and are very well suited for construction of the car's structure and parts. References for Materials and Technologies https://www.llnl.gov/news/lawrence-livermore-mit-researchers-develop-new-ultralight-ultrastiff-3dprinted-materials#.U6MtR_ldU7U http://www.3ders.org/articles/20140620-mit-llnt-3d-printed-ultrastiff-ultralight-material.html
2
http://authors.library.caltech.edu/49512/ http://ceramics.org/ceramic-tech-today/making-ceramics-perfect-and-perfectly-bendable-with-air http://www.corninggorillaglass.com/en/applications/automotive http://www.corninggorillaglass.com/uploads/kcfinder/files/Corning%20Gorilla%20Glass%204_PI%20 Sheet_011415_D.PDF http://burton-jp.com/en/product.htm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNoOiXkXmYQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVf2ofoEMlY
Innovation The innovative aspect of this idea lies in a complete car reinvention; from both the engineering and design point of view because they interconnect with eachother. Technology is becoming more and more wearable and cars of the future are going to go that road also. With the development of new strong, lightweight materials and holography technologies this idea will become a reality and cars will be lighter and safer because of that, without compromising on styling. All the parts that are being holographically projected, that make the car lighter and give it its visual presence, can be easily changed by projecting different designs and this opens a new dimension in car manufacturing. This will allow the automotive companies to significantly cut costs on parts that are physically not needed anymore. The basis of every car in its segment can stay the same and everything else can be digitally changed. We can only imagine what different areas of creativity in car design and manufacturing this will open.
Bill of Materials Material for Rigid Parts of the Car Numerous different ultralight and ultrastrong materials are being developed but one is notably above the others; a Micro-Architected Mechanical Metamaterial (Picture 1) developed by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This metamaterial is an artificial material with properties not found in nature that maintains a nearly constant stiffness per unit mass density, even at ultralow density. It has has the same weight as Aerogel but is 10,000 times stiffer and because of the process of projection microstereolithography, an additive micromanufacturing technique combined with nanoscale coating and postprocessing, it is resistant to changes in load and doesn't brake suddenly like the Aerogel.
3
Material for Flexible Parts of the Car Ceramics have some of the highest strength and stiffness-to-weight ratios of any material and are suboptimal for use as structural materials because of their brittleness and sensitivity to flaws. But researchers at the California Institute of Technology developed a Three-Dimensional Nanoscale Ceramics (Picture 2) that are simultaneously ultralight, ultrastrong, energy-absorbing and can recover their original shape after compressions in excess of 50% strain. Hollow-tube alumina nanolattices are fabricated using two-photon lithography, atomic layer deposition, and oxygen plasma etching (Picture 3). Compression experiments revealed that optimizing the wall thickness-to-radius ratio of the tubes can suppress brittle fracture in the constituent solid in favor of elastic shell buckling, resulting in ductile-like deformation and recoverability (Picture 4).
4
Material for Transparent Parts of the Car To significantly reduce the weight of the car is to use strong, lightweight and safe glass. Gorilla Glass 4 (Picture 5) from company Corning enables a weight reduction in glazing of more than 50% versus conventional glass and it can be used in all transparent exterior parts of a car including windshields, sidelites, sunroofs and backlites, as well as for interior parts like touch panels. This toughened aluminosilicate glass is 0,4 millimeters thick making it ultralight and compared with sapphire glass, which is the strongest and scratch resistant glass today, it is 2-3 times less in weight, less expensive to produce and shows better strenght properties (Picture 6). It doesn't have the microscopic abrasions, like sapphire has, that builds up making the glass brittle and more likely to shatter. The strength of this glass comes from applying chemical strenghtening process of ion-exchange (Picture 7).
Technology for 3D Printing of Metamaterials 3D printing through additive micro-manufacturing process involves using a micro-mirror display chip to create high-fidelity 3D parts one layer at a time from photosensitive feedstock materials. Polymer is used as a template to fabricate the microlattices, which are then coated with a thin-film of metal ranging from 200 to 500 nanometers thick. The polymer core is than thermally removed, leaving a hollow-tube metal strut, resulting in ultralight weight metal lattice material (Picture 8).
5
Technology for Holographic Projection of Parts Japanese company Aerial Burton developed the only holographic system that can project 3D images in mid-air or underwater without the use of any kind of screen, smoke or densed air (Picture 9). The current system projects 3D objects at 50,000 dots per second (up from around 1,000 in 2006) and with a 10-15 frames per second. The holograph works by focusing laser light, producing plasma excitation from the oxygen and nitrogen in the air; 1KHz infrared pulse laser is fired into a 3D scanner which than reflects and focuses the laser pulses to specific points in the air. From there, the molecules are ionized and create dots in the air that can be seen even in bright sunlight (Picture 10).
Required Manufacturing Process Required manufacturing process for materials and parts that are proposed is 3D printing.
Passenger Safety Safety of passengers relies on the very construction and weight of the car. The uniframe is more rigid because it's made of fewer parts due to the technology of 3D printing. Also because this proposal significantly reduces the weight of the car, less energy is involved in case of the potential impact of the car.
Innovative / Safety Component Innovative component in this proposal is the use of holographic technology to project the car's body parts making the car less in weight.
6
Potential Challenges Because the technology of real holography is in its beginning, there are many challenges before the projectors will be ready to clearly project the desired shape in the appropriate resolution that's expected. Also the 3D printing technology of proposed materials needs further development but is expected to greatly evolve over time and large-scale 3D printing is surely going to dominate the future production of cars.
Self Evaluation Card
7
