ONLINE: Wednesday Nite at the Lab
press release: The registration link will be the same through the end of May 2021. Presentations and Q&A will be posted later on the WN@TL YouTube site.
On February 3, Andrea Strzelec of the College of Engineering’s Program in Engineering in Engine Systems, will be here to provide her comparative analysis of three types of ways to power vehicles: internal combustion, electric, and electrified hybrid (where a gasoline engine drives an electric generator/motor). Her talk is entitled The Future of Hybrid Vehicles: Electric vs Electrified Powertrains.
Description: There is a lot of important discourse about the need for a cleaner and more energy efficient future. This is fantastic! However, it can also be fanatic and lacking in scientific truth. Engine bans and “Zero Emissions” vehicles are perfect examples of this.
I want to stipulate that the issues surrounding CO2 emissions are real and problematic. However, just like all hot button issues, there are a lot of false claims surrounding this issue that need to be addressed. Knee-jerk reactions based on faulty assumptions or an incomplete view of the engineering analysis will not solve the problem, and in some cases may make it worse. In this talk, I will try to explain WHY.
There is a significant difference between “electric” and “electrified” when it comes to vehicle powertrains that is necessary to understand. In addition, much like “there is no free lunch” there is also no such thing as a zero emissions vehicle or ZEV. Drawing the “box” for our analysis has to be done honestly for comparison – there is just one global atmosphere for us to inhabit – so there is no hiding the truth.
In this talk, I will focus on the details of why word choice matters when it comes to clean vehicles, and how….. “dirty” is in the details.
Bio: Andrea Strzelec is Program Director for the Master of Engineering in Engine Systems (MEES), Polymer Engineering (MEPE), and Power MS Programs at the College of Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is a Chair, Exhaust Aftertreatment & Emissions Committee; and Vice-Chair, Powertrain, Fuels & Lubricants Committee, of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). In addition, she works closely with the UW Nuclear Reactor Director Robert Agasie on developing Neutron Radiography capabilities at the UWNR. Previously, she was an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Mississippi State University and Texas A&M University, after post-doc fellowships at the Pacific Northwest National Lab and the Oak Ridge National Lab.
Dr. Strzelec teaches graduate courses in thermodynamics, internal combustion engines, exhaust aftertreatment, combustion science, automotive engineering, and heat transfer. She has also taught undergraduate courses in automotive engineering, internal combustion engines, thermodynamics, heat transfer, thermal fluids analysis and design, and senior capstone design. She is the recipient of the 2015 SAE Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award and the Texas A&M Mechanical Engineering 2015 Brittian Undergraduate Teaching Award.
Links: https://www.andreastrzelec.
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