VIPER2 - Vehicle Integrated Powertrain Energy Recovery

Jaguar Land Rover, in partnership with Ford Motor Company Ltd, European Thermodynamics Ltd and Nottingham University, will launch a 3-year program of research in which conventional concepts of engine management of thermal energy will be re-examined using state-of-the-art simulation tools and a novel test engine which will allow the heat available to be directed to the most import components such as the cylinder liner walls. Some of the heat that will inevitably escape down the exhaust will be converted into electricity using a Thermo Electric Generator.
In the longer term, if all the project targets are met, it is believed that a 5% improvement in fuel economy is possible through the conversion and management of heat energy. This research programme, scheduled to start in early 2014, is enabled by a £2 million grant from the UK government’s Technology Strategy Board (TSB), and builds on an earlier programme which was also co-funded by the TSB.