Wednesday, October 1, 2008

A Proposal for a Safer and Energy Saving Vehicle for Cities.




LIGHT FOAM VEHICLE

The National Technical University of Athens approach

NTUA approach, towards a Near Zero Fatality (Z[e]ro) vehicle, tries to take a broader view of the circulation conditions, of a great urban area. It also tries to attribute the passive safety property not to the small city car by itself, but rather to the system of the potential counterparts involved in a city car accident:

Ultra Light Foam Vehicle Towards The Near Zero Fatality Goal

We set about the design and the construction of a model of a small, ultra light city car (350 Kg),composed of a frame to provide a passenger compartment of comparable rigidity with other city cars, padded, externally and internally, with energy absorbing foams, to be safe in any possible accident configuration between the above car and

a) a non deformable barrier
b) a similar city car

Minimise accidents to
c) a cyclist
d) a pedestrian

We have called this type of city car "Ultra Light Z[e]ro Foam Car".



Research group and Professor Dr V.Kefalas
National Technical University of Athens
Department of Mathematical and Physical Sciences
Section of Mechanics
email: zerofoamcar@yahoo.gr