NEWS BRIEFS FOR THE WEEK

Nanotube arrays typically don't maintain their shape when transferred because they are held together by weak forces. But the team has developed a new procedure that allows them to grow an array of nanotubes on a separate platform and then fill the array with a soft polymer. When the polymer hardens, it is essentially peeled back from the platform, leaving a flexible skin with organized arrays of nanotubes embedded throughout. 

Nanoskins can be bent, flexed, wrapped and rolled up like a scroll, all while maintaining their ability to conduct electricity, which makes them ideal materials for electronic paper and other flexible electronics, according to Ajayan. In addition, many other applications and products are possible employing nanotubes within flexible substrates. 

For example, the researchers can see their process being used to build flexible miniature pressure sensors and gas detectors. "There are a lot of possibilities if you have an easy way to transfer the nanotubes to any platform, and that is what we have developed," Ajayan says. 

The team has also shown that the flexible nanoskin materials demonstrate an extremely useful physical property called "field emission." When a voltage is applied to the embedded carbon nanotubes, electrons are pulled out from the surface, which can be used to produce high-resolution electronic images. 

(Source: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute)

WASHINGTON, DC (March 20, 2006) - In a continuation of last week's consideration, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee passed "The Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act " (S. 1955) by a vote of 11 to 9. The bill was introduced by Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY) and was originally co-sponsored by Senators Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Conrad Burns (R-MT). "The Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act" would allow business and trade associations to band their members together to procure lower costs on regional or national health plans.

According to the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association (AAIA), the approval of the HELP Committee marks the first major step for Small Business Health Plans in the Senate for more than the last 15 years. The next step for the legislation will be a vote by the full Senate, tentatively scheduled for late April or early May. Last year, the U.S. House of Representatives passed its version of Association Health Plan legislation (H.R. 525). 

The Senate bill currently does not provide for self funding, whereas the House version does, and the plans would be subject to state oversight, rather than oversight by the U.S. Department of Labor, as in the House version. Should S. 1955 pass the full Senate, the House and Senate bills would go to conference to attempt to reconcile the extensive differences between the bills before a final draft is voted upon.

AAIA is requesting that interested individuals contact their senators urging them to vote in favor of S. 1955. For contact information and letter-writing tips, AAIA members are urged to visit the association's Legislative Action Center at www.aftermarket.org.

(Source: AAIA)

GOLDEN, CO (March 2, 2006) - Last year the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) partnered with the EPA and SAE in a project known as Improved Mobile Air Conditioning, aimed at seeking ways to increase energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions for vehicles.

The overall technical goals of the IMAC project are to reduce A/C thermal load by 30 percent, increase the coefficient of performance by 30 percent, and reduce emissions by 50 percent. Why focus on A/C systems? Because about 7 billion gallons of fuel-or equivalent to 9.5 percent of the nation's imported crude oil-are used annually just to cool vehicles in the United States.

In research just released by the NREL Vehicle Ancillary Loads Reduction team, one means to substantially reduce the use of air conditioning has been shown to be effective: ventilated automotive seats not only improve passenger comfort, but also a vehicle's fuel economy. That's because ventilated seats keep drivers and passengers cooler, so they need less air conditioning to be comfortable.

W.E.T. Automotive Systems Ltd. provided NREL with ComfortCools seats for testing. Each seat contains two fans that pull air from the seat surface and out from underneath the seat. General Motors currently offers this ventilated seat as an option for the Cadillac STS.

NREL developed its thermal comfort tools to help the automotive industry design smaller and more efficient climate-control systems in vehicles. The tools consist of a one-of-a-kind thermal comfort manikin called ADAM (ADvanced Automotive Manikin) - which actually breathes and sweats - along with a physiological model and psychological model. Linked together, these tools assess comfort in a transient, non-homogeneous environment, unlike other commonly used models based on steady-state, uniform environmental data.

Using its suite of thermal comfort tools and subjective test data, NREL measured improvement in human thermal sensation for the ventilated seats and the potential for a 7 percent reduction in air-conditioning compressor power. "If all passenger vehicles had ventilated seats, we estimate that there could be a 7.5 percent reduction in national air-conditioning fuel use. That translates to a savings of 522 million gallons of fuel a year," said Project Leader John Rugh.

(Source: NREL)

WASHINGTON, DC - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a voluntary program under its National Challenge Commitment for Priority Chemicals. The Agency is asking a facility to voluntarily commit to decreasing the use of at least one priority chemical identified by EPA's Office of Solid Waste. EPA would publicly recognize all facilities participating in the program. 

"The list includes 28 organic chemicals and three metals and their compounds that the agency has concluded are being generated in industrial waste," according to EPA. "Priority chemicals are those that are persistent in the environment, accumulate in living organisms and are toxic if released. Metals on the list include cadmium, lead and mercury." 

For more information on EPA's National Challenge Commitment for Priority Chemicals and National Partnership for Environmental Priorities, visit www.epa.gov/epaoswer/osw/conserve/priorities/chemical.htm.

(Source: Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association)

SOUTHFIELD, MI (March 14, 2006) - DENSO Corp. announced its new five-year North American Environmental Action Plan. The plan takes effect in April at all DENSO group companies in North America and will serve as a roadmap for the company's North American environmental activities.

"We recognize that while automobiles are an essential part of our daily lives, they do have a negative impact on the environment," said Mitsuo "Matt" Matsushita, DENSO International America president and CEO. "We believe it is our responsibility to do everything we can to reduce that environmental burden."

DENSO's environmental action plan is organized into four categories: 

Eco Products: DENSO will develop products that are lightweight and energy saving and consider environmental improvement. In all of its products, DENSO will reduce its use of resources; control and reduce environmentally hazardous substances such as mercury, cadmium and hexavalent chromium; and integrate environmental planning in the product design stage. 

Eco Factory: The company plans to reduce the environmental impact of its manufacturing facilities (including manufacturing and distribution) through reducing water use to 50 percent of 1999 levels; reducing CO2 emissions by 18 percent in manufacturing facilities and 6 percent in other facilities; reducing landfill waste to 75 percent of 1999 levels; and reducing hazardous substance emissions by decreasing manufacturing facility regulated emissions volume to 30 percent of 2000 levels.

Eco Management: DENSO group companies will develop environmental action plans and reinforce environmental partnerships with suppliers through activities such as developing green procurement guidelines and promoting the purchase of environmentally friendly products.

Eco Friendly: The company's plan also includes encouraging and supporting employee environmental activities; proactive information disclosure and communication with stakeholders; environmental education; and environmental and social contributions. 

"Our ultimate goal is to prevent global warming, recycle resources, and reduce environmentally hazardous substances," said Matsushita. "That is how we'll measure our success rate in each of these four key areas." 
For more information, visit the company's Web site at to www.densocorp-na.com.

(Source: Denso Corp.)

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND (March 2, 2006) - Robert Bosch GmbH debuted its new gasoline direct-injection system that uses a spray-guided combustion process in the Mercedes-Benz CLS 350 CGI at the 2006 Geneva Auto Show. 

Central to the system are very fast-switching piezo injectors. The fuel which these injectors spray into the combustion chamber is so finely atomized, says Bosch, that it can be ignited directly without mixing in the combustion chamber - what the experts call a "spray-guided combustion process with stratified charge."

Dr Rolf Leonhard, vice president for Bosch's Development for Gasoline Systems, explained "We are assuming that by 2010, annual production of gasoline engines equipped with direct injection will top 3 million. Gasoline direct-injection with piezo injectors reduces consumption by up to 15 percent compared with today's port fuel injection." He added that besides the piezo valves, a powerful engine management system is an important feature of the system. 

Leonhard also said that the combination of direct injection with turbocharging is another trend that Bosch is pursuing in the development of gasoline engines. In addition to a greater revving range, the engines develop higher torque in the lower speed range. For this application, Bosch has developed the second generation of its DI-Motronic, which, like the piezo system, delivers injection pressures up to 200 bar, but keeps faith with solenoid-controlled injection valves. The product will also be launched in 2006 in a 1.6L engine jointly developed by BMW and PSA, destined for use in the Mini, amongst others. 

(Source: Bosch)

WASHINGTON (March 9, 2006) - According to the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of International Information Programs (USINFO), experts who specialize in nanotechnology have launched an effort they say will help minimize environmental and health risks that could be associated with such processes and products.

Within sectors such as the auto industry, nanotechnology holds tremendous potential for pollution prevention and sustainability, especially in the areas of clean water, energy and efficient sensors," said David Rejeski, a director of technologies at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington. "We are interested in bringing together stakeholders from government, industry, the research community and citizen organizations who are committed to ensuring that nanotechnology helps create a new, more sustainable economy," he added.

Led by Barbara Karn, manager of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) nanotechnology research program, the initiative involves a series of meetings on "green" nanotechnology. At the first ever GreenNano meeting of February 16, Karn said, "Key nanotechnology companies and researchers are taking responsibility to ensure that nanotech products are produced in environmentally safe ways." A technology must meet three criteria to be considered green: It must be environmentally benign, it must perform better than conventional alternatives and it must be more economical than conventional alternatives.

"The GreenNano series," Karn said, "is designed to explore everything from new nanotechnology products claiming to be better for the environment - because of saved energy, reduced waste, or safer materials used - to smart engineering and business practices." The initiative also will examine government policies that offer incentives for developing such low-risk practices, and highlight research in green nanotechnology applications, including a symposium to be held in Atlanta at the end of this month.

(Source: USINFO)

AKRON, OH (March 2, 2006) - Want to feel the quick response of a tire cornering on a country road? Want to experience tire grip at its peak? Want to sense lightning-fast turn-in when steering a sports car? 

Dunlop introduced Touch Technology, which reflects Dunlop's product development approach which employs a number of sensory technologies, to enable drivers to have an enhanced feel of the road, to be more in control of the drive and to have more fun on the roads. The company unveiled this new technology with its ultrahigh-performance SP Sport Maxx summer tire to motorists at the Geneva Auto Show. 

Andy Traicoff, director of the Dunlop brand in North America, said Touch Technology actually involves several tire advances, including:

* Multi-Radius Tread technology, which ensures even pressure distribution in the contact patch and a larger tire footprint for outstanding dry handling without compromise in the rain.

* Jointless Band technology that helps maintain the tire's smooth performance at highway speeds, uniformity and long tread wear.

* Improved bead seat technology helps deliver a tighter fit between the tire and wheel for noticeably better handling.

* Stiffer high-performance tread compounds help deliver outstanding tire response at highway speeds.

* VersaLoad Technology optimizes the tire footprint on the roadway for consistent handling, ride comfort and tread wear under various loading conditions.

* Improved bead construction helps deliver a noticeably better ride and enhanced driving response.

* A stability rib in the tread design helps maintain constant road contact for consistent wheel response and driving feedback.

* Solid shoulder construction helps provide a solid rib for enhanced handling in cornering.

* Dimensionally Stable Polyester Technology helps maintain tire uniformity for a smooth, responsive drive.

"The technology enables drivers to savor an enhanced feel of the road, to be more in control of the drive and to have more fun on the roads," Traicoff explained. "It's a sensitivity to feel how the tire reacts to changes in the roadway. It allows drivers to push their boundaries further and achieve enhanced performance, quicker handling, more grip, braking power, more control and added enjoyment. This all comes from receiving better feedback from the road."

(Source: Dunlop)

* Understand that a woman relies on her car in different ways than a man-. For example, a woman faces a potentially vulnerable and dangerous situation when her vehicle stalls. 

* Never use a condescending tone of voice, inappropriate language or refer to female customers by anything other than their first name.

* Maintain eye contact to communicate sincerity. 

* Avoid using negative body language, such as folding arms, tapping a foot or checking a watch that may communicate boredom or superiority. 

WASHINGTON (Feb. 24, 2006) - Whether currently enrolled or recently graduated, students may be able to qualify for financial assistance through the SEMA Memorial Scholarship Fund (SMSF). 

SEMA says that it's not a loan. Nor will the money have to be repaid. In fact, the SMSF awards thousands of dollars to students and recent graduates every year. Scholarships are awarded to students pursuing careers in the automotive aftermarket each year. Although money is given to students regardless of SEMA affiliation, 20 percent of all scholarships are reserved specifically for employees of SEMA-member companies or for their dependents. Employees of SEMA-member companies are highly encouraged to apply for a scholarship and to have their children and grandchildren apply.

Those employed by a SEMA-member company who are paying off student loans also are invited to apply for the Loan Forgiveness Program. The program awards money to those who have been working for a SEMA-member company for at least one year.

The deadline to apply for the 2006-2007 program is April 28, 2006. For more information or an application, interested parties can visit www.sema.org/scholarship or e-mail [email protected].

(Source: SEMA)

The new site features unique images and marketing information. Included is vehicle information on the full line of Lexus luxury cars and SUVs, the Lexus dealer locator, Lexus Certified Pre-Owned information, and the "About Lexus" reference area, which includes Lexus history, awards and accolades and corporate information. Additional content is planned for the future. 

"Growth in the luxury market is steadily increasing among those who predominantly speak Spanish or are bilingual," said Deborah Meyer, Lexus vice president of marketing. "Lexus has a strong core of buyers in the Hispanic community, and many prefer Spanish-language sites when researching or shopping online."

(Source: Lexus)

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, MI (March 6, 2006) - Modern diesel injection systems rely on fuel that is almost completely free of dirt particles and water. In practice, however, drivers are often confronted with dirty and water-contaminated diesel fuels.

Filtration experts at MANN+HUMMEL have solved this problem with a new, multilayer, high-performance filter media named MULTIGRADE F that is four times more efficient than conventional filter papers. The company says that the filter media will improve initial filtration efficiency from the 85-to-99 percent range to a 95-to-99.9 percent. Diesel fuel filter performance was increased by using melt-blown, superfine fibers combined with a compressed cellulose substrate layer. This multilayer filter media (also called a "fleece") was optimized to greatly increase oil performance and air filter elements. As the automotive industry changes from using paper to high-performance fleece filter media, there will be opportunities to increase engine-oil wear protection in the future and create more compact filter designs.

(Source: MANN+HUMMEL)

OAK RIDGE, TN (March 6, 2006) - Highways of tomorrow might be filled with lighter, cleaner and more fuel-efficient automobiles made in part from recycled plastics, lignin from wood pulp and cellulose. 

First, however, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) - working as part of a consortium with Ford, General Motors and DaimlerChrysler - must figure out how to lower the cost of carbon fiber composites. Progress in developing affordable carbon fiber composites has been steady as ORNL researchers with the support of the University of Tennessee (UT) work to optimize raw materials and spinning processes for alternative forms of carbon fiber precursors from renewable sources.

If they are successful in developing high-volume renewable sources of carbon fiber feedstocks, ORNL's Bob Norris believes they will be on the road to success. "Whereas today the cost to purchase commercial-grade carbon fiber is between $8 and $10 per pound, the goal is to reduce that figure to between $3 and $5 per pound," said Norris, leader of ORNL's Polymer Matrix Composites Group. At that price, it would become feasible for automakers to use more than a million tons of composites - approximately 300 pounds of composites per vehicle - annually in the manufacturing of cars. 

The big advantage of carbon fiber is that it is one-fifth the weight of steel yet just as strong and stiff, which makes it ideal for structural or semistructural components in automobiles. Replacing half the ferrous metals in current automobiles could reduce a vehicle's weight by 60 percent and fuel consumption by 30 percent, according to some studies. The resulting gains in fuel efficiency, made in part because smaller engines could be used with lighter vehicles, would also reduce greenhouse gas and other emissions by 10 percent to 20 percent. 

All of this would come with no sacrifice in safety, as preliminary results of computer crash simulations show that cars made from carbon fiber would be just as safe - perhaps even safer - than today's automobiles. Today's Formula 1 racecars are required to be made from carbon fiber to meet safety requirements. 

Another focus is on developing an efficient carbon fiber oxidation process, which would significantly increase production and lower the cost of this raw material. One promising possibility is plasma processing technology to rapidly oxidize precursor fibers. In this area, ORNL is working with Atmospheric Glow Technologies, a high-tech company spun off from UT that has expertise in atmospheric pressure plasma processing. This is a technique to generate and use plasmas in a non-traditional way - in the open atmosphere instead of in a carefully controlled environment such as in inert gases and at very low pressures. 

ORNL is also establishing a modular carbon fiber research pilot line to evaluate these revolutionary new processes on a comparable basis against conventional industrial processes. "The goal is to demonstrate and transfer the technology to producers of carbon fiber, which could be existing carbon fiber producers or perhaps companies in the forest product industries," Norris said. 

Researchers also are working to develop techniques to allow high-volume cost-effective processing of carbon fiber, hybrid glass-carbon fiber and reinforced thermoplastic material forms. In addition, ORNL recently installed an advanced preforming machine that features a robotically actuated arm that chops and sprays fiber and a binder in powder form to create fiber preforms. 

After being set at elevated temperature, the preforms are injected with resin in a mold and consolidated under pressure to create the final part. "The preforming process is the first step in creating polymer composite structural and semistructural auto parts that are lightweight and cost-competitive with metal parts they would replace," Norris said. 

(Source: ORNL)