Paice Corporation: Revolutionary Hyperdrive System Can Be Future of Automotive Powertrains

    GRAZ, Austria, Sept. 6 A breakthrough automotive drive
system that can become the future for all automobile powertrain technology was
described at a technical conference here today.
   

 With Hyperdrive(TM) gas-electric hybrid technology, current automobile
engines can achieve efficiency near thermodynamic limits and produce
substantial gains in fuel efficiency and pollution control, according to
Theodore Louckes, chief operating officer of the Paice(SM) Corporation which
is commercializing the gasoline-electric hybrid system.
   
 "No other technology for propulsion of automobiles could even approach the
results Hyperdrive can provide," he said in a technical paper presented to the
13th International Engine and Environment Conference.  "It can meet all the
often-conflicting objectives of consumers, environmentalists, and automakers."
   
 Hyperdrive approaches maximum efficiency because the engine runs only in
its most efficient range and never idles, and the transmission is replaced by
electric motors, he explained. "The internal combustion engine is one of best
converters of chemical to mechanical energy in the world," Louckes said.  "If
you can run an engine at its most efficient 'sweet spot' and rarely deviate,
and eliminate the transmission, the efficiency of the system approaches
thermodynamic limits."
    
Hyperdrive uses both a high-power electric motor and a smaller-
displacement internal combustion engine (ICE) to power cars and light trucks.
Depending on power required in different driving modes, a Hyperdrive vehicle
will be driven by the ICE alone, by the electric motor alone, or by both
together.  A computer decides, and runs the system at its best efficiency.
When the engine is running, the control system will enable it to always
operate at 50% or more of maximum torque at any operating speed, Louckes told
conference attendees.
    
"We built a complete Hyperdrive powertrain representing a 2000kg high-
performance passenger car and tested it on a dynamometer in a certified
engineering test laboratory," he reported.
    
Test results confirmed that the Hyperdrive system can double the fuel
economy of most cars, sport utility vehicles, and light trucks with pollutant
emissions significantly below all current and proposed regulatory limits, he
said.  "It was tested with a single-overhead-cam, two-valve production engine
yielding maximum 70hp.  However, substantial further improvements can be
achieved by designing an optimized engine for the system."
   
 The Paice Corporation is researching several approaches with various
engines, he reported, including smaller turbo-charged engines, direct
injection two stroke engines, two-stroke and four-stroke diesels, higher
compression ratios, controlled active displacement, and variable valve timing
or lift.
   
 The Hyperdrive system is the first gasoline-electric hybrid powertrain
that will be able to power all the kinds of vehicles that consumers want,
Louckes said.  "It can equal or better the speed, acceleration, grade-climbing
and trailer-towing performance of current vehicles, and it is capable of
powering large vehicles and heavy loads.  Also, it can be produced at costs
similar to current vehicles because it uses the same technologies and
materials."
   
 Louckes has 50 years' experience in automotive engineering.  At General
Motors, he was chief engineer of the Oldsmobile Division with responsibility
for design and engineering of its full line of vehicles.  His career includes
numerous engine and transmission innovations, including the first high-volume
twin overhead cam 4-valve engine for the U.S. industry (GM's Quad 4), the
first passenger car turbo-charged engine in 1962, the first production air bag
system in 1973, the first modern front-wheel drive system (Oldsmobile
Toronado), and the first air spring suspension system.
    
Hyperdrive's application of high-power semiconductors and high-voltage
power to control the internal combustion engine for almost maximum fuel
economy was developed by Dr. Alex Severinsky, Paice's chief executive officer,
who is a globally-recognized power electronics systems engineer and expert on
lead-acid battery applications.
  
  Paice Corporation has created, tested and patented Hyperdrive(TM), a
unique gasoline-electric hybrid powertrain system for cars and light trucks.
The company has offices in Silver Spring, MD, and an engineering center in
Livonia, MI.  Additional information is available at http://www.paice.com