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report from Open source hardware conference 4 October 2010

Here’s a [link

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2010/09/drones-chumbys-and-big-business-too-the-open-hardware-summit.ars] to notes on Ars Technica about an open hardware conference that took place in New York in August. 40 Fires didn’t attend - maybe next year.

###notes of meeting with Jay Rogers of Local-Motors 21 September 2010

See [here

meeting with Jay Rogers 21 Sept 2010]

###An open source tractor design! 24 August 2010

See [here|http://www.facebook.com/pages/Open-Source-Ecology/66469461561?v=wall#!/notes/open-source-ecology/lifetrac-prototype-ii-test-drive/425041406772]
###Open source hardware definition 15 July 2010

An interesting definition of open source hardware. Nothing revolutionary, but still helpful. See [http://freedomdefined.org/OSHW]
###Honda’s “home hydrogen station” 13 July 2010 Honda has presented a “home hydrogen station”. Could this be the future of motoring? [Here is the Autoblog Green article|http://green.autoblog.com/2010/07/06/video-la-times-tries-out-the-latest-honda-home-hydrogen-station/] \

Hamburg hydrogen buses 13 July 2010

The city of Hamburg has been running hydrogen buses for several years. They will be introducing new “Hydrogen Hybrid” buses soon. [Here is a good video on CNN|http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/tech/2010/06/29/pkg.quest.hydrogen.bus.cnn]
###Monthly newsletter 29 June 2010 Latest post to the 40 Fires community. See [Mailing list - 29 June 2010|Mailing list - 29 June 2010]
###New blog entry 22 June 2010

Follow this [link|40fires blog] to read an update from Patrick.
###What’s it like to live with an electric car? 6 June 2010 Interesting story on the BBC. Follow this [link|http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/10138911.stm]
###Potential collaborators 4 June 2010 For some time we have been having discussions with Dassault Systemes, creaters of CATIA, the leading CAD programme, and other development tools. They are very enthusiastic about our project, and are looking into how they can offer the use of some of their latest advanced collaborative tools to support 40 Fires. We will report further soon.
###New fuel cell developments 27 May 2010 Toyota and Daimler to work together on Fuel Cells vehicles. article Kia also announced they would produce 10000 hydrogen vehicles by 2015.
###Thoughts on licensing - 21 April 2010 [Patrick|patrick Andrews] has uploaded a note with our latest thoughts on licensing - follow this [link|notes on licensing April 2010] and take part in the debate.

Thoughts on licensing - 14 April 2010
Had a really good session on licensing yesterday with [Hugo|Hugo Spowers], lawyer Andrew Katz, Pia Weiss from Nottingham University and others. Licensing is a critical part of any open source project. Will post a summary of where we got to in the next few days.
###Plans for hydrogen in London - 13th April 2010

The London Hydrogen Partnership (LHP) has set out plans to create a ‘Hydrogen network’ by 2012, to help accelerate the wider use of the low carbon energy in the capital.

The action plan aims to encourage a minimum of 150 hydrogen-powered vehicles on the road in London by 2012. The LHP - which works towards a hydrogen economy for London and the UK - is working with London boroughs and private landowners on plans to deliver at least six refuelling sites to run hydrogen-powered vehicles in the capital over the next two years. One is already being built in east London for the refuelling of hydrogen-fuelled buses, which will begin running on the RV1 route later this year.

Commenting on the plan, Kit Malthouse, London’s deputy Mayor for policing and chair of the LHP, said: “Hydrogen is the fuel that will set us free from the ravages of the carbon economy and nowhere do we yearn for the freedom more than in London. So we are thinking big and want to lead the way in the development of this 21st century technology. By 2012, we want to have hydrogen on the ground, in the capital, propelling vehicles and powering buildings. Once the public can kick the tyres and breath the fresh air again, we will have succesfully kick started a new era in London’s energy future.”

###BMW to build Carbon Fibre manufacturing planet - 8th April 2010
BMW and SLG will be using carbon fibre composites for the new BMW electric cars. Their are planning on building a CFRP (carbon fibre reinforced plastics) parts production facilty in the US. [Link to a full article here|http://www.europeanplasticsnews.com/subscriber/newsmail.html?id=1270639187&cat=1]
###New CAD model - 17th March 2010
The CAD model of the car’s monocoque chassis is now available to download. Have a look in the “Hyrban CAD models” section! \

Open Innovation - 15th of March 2010__\

Can Open Innovation help the Environment? Go and look at http://bit.ly/ct7p3V
###Hydrogen and Fuel Cell conference in Birmingham - 2nd of March 2010__
Hugo Spowers, the designer of Riversimple’s car, will be discussing their design concept at the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Conference in Birmingham, UK on 25th March.

###Can an open source approach help to combat climate change? - 25 February 2010 [Patrick|patrick andrews] met with Greg Offer, seconded to Dept. of Energy and Climate Change, to discuss the promise of open source hardware for technology transfer to developing countries. We know Greg from [Racing Green|http://www.union.ic.ac.uk/rcc/racinggreen/] at Imperial College and he has an interest in how an open source approach can help developing countries leapfrog old approaches and adopt efficient, low carbon technology.

###New CAD models added - 24th February 2010 New 3D models of the suspension systems have been uploaded in the hyrban CAD models page. A “suspension hardpoints” model, with coordinates of all suspension pick-up points and the lower part of the monocoque (where the front and rear suspensions are mounted) have been added.

###Researchers claim more efficient heating and cooling system - 22nd February 2010

A new air conditioning and heating system has the potential to turn carbon from an environmental villain to a hero according to the researchers behind the scheme.

Technicians from the University of Warwick have created what they claim to be an entirely new adsorption system, which will also for more effective, smaller and more energy efficient cooling and heating systems.

Announced today (November 11) the system they’ve devised, and filed a patent on, is a new arrangement that distributes thin (typically 0.7mm thick) sheets of metal throughout the active carbon in the heat exchanger.

Each of these sheets contains more than a hundred tiny water channels (typically 0.3mm in diameter) designed to make the heat transfer much more efficient.

This has enabled the Warwick team to create adsorption based equipment that is up to 20 times smaller than was previously possible.

The researchers expect that their new adsorption technology can create domestic heat pumps that will produce a 30% or more reduction in domestic fuel bills (and CO2 emissions) compared to even the best condensing boiler.

He university’s lead researcher on the new technology, professor Bob Critoph, said: “Carbon is usually typecast as a villain in terms of the environment but our research has devised a novel way to miniaturise a technology that will make carbon a key material in some extremely green heating products for our homes and in air conditioning equipment for our cars.

“Most domestic heating and automotive air conditioning requires a lot of energy, domestic space heating and hot water account for 25% of energy consumption in the UK.

“Across the European Union, vehicle air conditioning uses about 5% of the vehicle fuel consumed annually, and within the UK it is responsible for over 2m tonnes of CO2 emissions.” http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?src=nl&id=17238
###Damper generates power - 19th February 2010

PKM Consulting, based near the Paul Ricard race circuit in France, have developed the Powershock damper which generates electrical power as it is displaced by the vehicle suspension. Energy generated by these devices can be fed back into the vehicle’s electrical system to reduce consumption from the fuel cell or batteries to slightly increase range. Clearly, the amount and frequency of displacement determines the amount of power generated so an off-road excursion would produce more but even on pavement useful amounts will still be available, as anyone who has touched conventional dampers after a long journey will attest.

No figures are available for the power generated under various conditions but the demonstration video shows a pair of incandescent lamps being illuminated as the damper is operated on the bench, so it’s several watts at least, which would be very handy over a long run when multiplied by four.

PKM are here: http://www.amortisseurs.pkm-consulting.com/en/divers.html
###Welcome Raj, Riversimple new Simulation and Control Software Engineer - 16th February 2010

We are pleased to inform you that Riversimple has now found their new Simulation and Control Software Engineer. You can find him around the forums under the pseudonym Lightray.
###A new, third industrial revolution is looming on the horizon…Jeremy Rifkin, Education is vital for nation remaking - 16th February 2010

Feb 1, 2010 - 04:55 -

WAM Abu Dhabi, 1st Feb. 2010 (WAM) – The remaking of each nation’s infrastructure and the retooling of industries is going to require a massive retraining of workers on a scale matching the vocational and professional training at the onset of the first and second industrial revolutions will require a reform of the educational system in every country, Jeremy Rifkin, President Foundation on Economic Trends, USA, said today.

'’It has become clear to most observers that we are approaching the late stages of the fossil-fuel era. But even as this second industrial revolution is entering into its endgame, a new, third industrial revolution is looming on the horizon the coming together of the information and communications technology (ICT) revolution of the past two decades along with the renewable energy regime of the 21st century, he said in a keynote address at the 15th Annual Conference under the title: Education and the Requirements of the GCC Labor Market which is being organised by the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR) ‘‘The transition to this third industrial revolution will require a wholesale reconfiguration of the entire economic infrastructure of each country, creating millions of jobs and countless new goods and services. The remaking of each nation’s infrastructure and the retooling of industries is going to require a massive retraining of workers on a scale matching the vocational and professional training at the onset of the first and second industrial revolutions.

This, he noted, will require a reform of the educational system in every country. The new high-tech workforce of the third industrial revolution will need to be skilled in renewable energy technologies, green construction, IT and embedded computing, nanotechnology, sustainable chemistry, fuel-cell development, digital power grid management, hybrid electric and hydrogen-powered transport, and hundreds of other technical fields.

'’Entrepreneurs and managers will need to be educated to take advantage of cutting-edge business models. The skill levels and managerial styles of the third industrial revolution workforce will be qualitatively different from those of the workforce of the second industrial revolution,’‘he added.

[Click here to follow the link and read a little more|http://www.wam.org.ae/servlet/Satellite?c=WamLocEnews&cid=1264322498885&p=1135099400124&pagename=WAM%2FWamLocEnews%2FW-T-LEN-FullNews].

###New video on the Riversimple website - 9th February 2010

[Have a look!|http://www.riversimple.com].
###Riversimple is recruiting - 2nd February 2010

[Riversimple|http://www.riversimple.com] is looking for people to join their engineering team. They are specifically looking for a Simulation and Control Software Engineer and a Power Electronics Design Engineer.
[More info on the Riversimple recruitment page|Riversimple recruitment].
###Meeting with PA Consulting - 28th January 2010

We had a very interesting meeting with John Griffiths and Richard Lewis from PA Consulting, and Will Cornwallis from Riversimple. We talked about 40 Fires in general and how to engage more with the community. Main conclusions were that we need to communicate more about what is happening (with 40 Fires but also at Riversimple), we need to make the website more “lively”. We also need to establish clear goals and build,share and update roadmaps to achieve them.\So we are now working on all of that, and we’ll let you know how it goes!

###Article in the Ecologist - 20th January 2010 The Ecologist have published an article about Riversimple. [Here is the link|http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/401026/the_opensource_hydrogen_car_set_to_change_the_industry.html]
###Front suspension design available - 19th January 2010

We have updated [the Hyrban page|The hyrban] and included a description of [the front suspension|hyrban front suspension].
CAD models available [here|hyrban CAD models]
###More reports on the OS hardware conference - 18th December 2009

[O’Reilly GMT report

http://www.oreillygmt.co.uk/2009/12/open-hardware-conference-london-4th-december-2009.html]

[Wired|http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2009-12/09/open-hardware-the-future-of-product-design.aspx]
###Report from conference - 10 December 2009

Glyn Moody attended our conference last Friday and had [this|http://www.computerworlduk.com/community/blogs/index.cfm?entryid=2688&blogid=14] to say.
###Eco-patent commons - 3 December 2009

It is an open question to what extent 40 Fires will use patents. There are people looking to use them for public good. Follow this [link|http://www.wbcsd.org/templates/TemplateWBCSD5/layout.asp?type=p&MenuId=MTQ3NQ&doOpen=1&ClickMenu=LeftMenu].
###Wall Street Journal article about open source hardware - 30 November 2009

See [here|http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703499404574559960271468066.html]
###We sent a monthly update to our mailing list - 25th November 2009

Click [here|mailing list - 25 November 2009]
###Genivi Alliance - 19th November 2009

We’ve just come across [this|http://www.genivi.org] - an open source development platform for IVI (In-Vehicle Infotainment) products.

###Great article on open design - 5 November 2009

Follow this [link|http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2670/2366]
###Nissan Leaf electric car - they’ll lease the battery 21 October 2009

Follow this [link|http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/10/21/leaf_battery_rental/]
###Efficiency of electric cars - 15 October 2009

MUNICH, Germany — Electric cars still are far from hitting the mass markets but research on improving their efficiency has already begun: A consortium of 33 European companies and research companies aims at improving the power train overall efficiency by 35 percent. The E3Car project will focus on electronic components that play a critical role for the power consumption in electrical vehicles, in particular on those semiconductors that control energy distribution and energy management. Since the power train is the largest energy sink in the vehicle, the research activities will have an emphasis on this part of the vehicle but the research will also take into account the battery control systems and ancillary subsystems such as converters and inverters.

The goal is to raise the amount of energy available from the battery by 35 percent which would translate into extending the driving range by this percentage, alternatively, reducing the battery size and weight by the same percentage. Or, of course, anything in between. Besides looking at the battery and the power train, the research project also will get granular on system integration as well as the in-car energy distribution network.

Participating in the project are the usual suspects of the European automotive semiconductor and vehicle industry such as Atmel, Valeo, STMicroelectronics and Siemens, among many others. From the research side, Alcatel Lucent’s III-V lab as well as CEA Leti from France and Fundacion Citec from Spain are on board. Because of its broad expertise in automotive and power semiconductors, Infineon has taken the overall coordinating responsibility for the project.

Designed to last for three years, the project is funded with €44 million (about $65 million) from the European Nanoelectronics Initiative Advisory Council (ENIAC) and several national R&D organizations. All together, these entities contribute 50 percent of the budget; the remaining 50 percent are brought up by the member companies.
###In-wheel motors, the next big thing? 14 October 2009

They look pretty much like standard wheels with standard tires on the outside. But inside it’s quite a different story. With the wheel removed you can see [the main elements of this electric car|http://globalspec.ip09.com/rd/9z1zrtl5gatvg032obum50vtkh6qc7dtvdqq0fkjb0o]: the disc brake, an active suspension system, and an electric motor that drives the wheel. Some designs use regenerative braking. The biggest advantage of an in-wheel electric car is efficiency: as high as 90% compared to a gasoline-powered internal combustion engine, which delivers only about 20% of the energy to the wheels. This in-wheel motor video from Siemens shows there’s plenty of torque available — and it’s available almost immediately.
###Auto industry makes declaration of intent regarding fuel cells - September 2009

Daimler AG announced that the leading vehicle manufacturers in fuel cell technology - Daimler AG, Ford Motor Company, General Motors Corporation/Opel, Honda Motor Co., Ltd., Hyundai Motor Company, Kia Motors Corporation, the alliance Renault SA and Nissan Motor Corporation and Toyota Motor Corporation - gave a joint statement to the development and market introduction of electric vehicles with fuel cells.

To read more, go [here|http://www.hondanews.eu/en/news/index.pmode/modul,detail,0,1241-DEFAULT,21,text,1/index.pmode]
###First 40 Fires workshop held - 23rd September 2009

On Wednesday evening the first 40 Fires workshop was held in London at the Young Foundation.

We’ve posted the minutes [here|Workshop minutes - 23 September 2009].

###Renault shows four Electric Vehicles at the Frankfurt Motor Show 2009

There’s lots of talk of green cars at the Frankfurt Motor show. Of course they’re still a long way from being really energy efficient - just because they’re battery powered doesn’t automatically make them green. Still the trend is clear. Renault in particular seem committed to battery electric vehicles - see [Renault-ze|http://www.renault-ze.com/uk/].
###Charity application rejected - 9 September 2009

The UK Charity Commission refused our application to register as a charity, on the basis that our activities “do not appear to further any charitable purpose”. Apparently just because what we do will provide a public benefit, doesn’t mean it won’t necessarily be considered charitable. We suspect that it is really about this being such a new concept. In the US, the Apache Foundation has been granted charitable status, but that doesn’t seem to count here in the UK.

The problem is that this is likely to hamper our fund-raising. We’ll need to speak to our lawyers and re-submit. Oh well, no one said it was easy…
###Meeting - 19th August 2009

[Christian|Christian Ahlert] and [Patrick|Patrick Andrews] met with John Wallett, a designer/developer who might help us with developing the collaborative platform. Such a beautiful day in London that we sat outside.

###Notes on discussions - 12th August 2009

[Patrick

Patrick Andrews] and [Anthony

Anthony Dawton] discussed the thorny question of whether we should set guidelines as to who we should be willing to work with, accept donations from etc. Agreed we’d consult the community.

Later Patrick and [Adam|Adam Brett] met to draft a budget for 40 Fires for the next two financial years. This will be used as a basis for business planning and for fund-raising.

###Meeting with PA Consulting - 11th August 2009

Follow up to meeting on 23rd July. Present: [Nicolas|Nicolas Sergent] and [Patrick|Patrick Andrews] plus John Griffiths and James Sore from PA. Still exploring how they might support 40 Fires (they are also interested in working with Riversimple). They have skills in IT solutions and will provide someone to help us develop our collaboration platform, which we are planning to push forward over the next couple of weeks. We need to do this in a way that, as far as sensible, takes into account where we might take the platform over the next couple of years.
###Riversimple now recruiting - 5th August 2009

Riversimple, our founding sponsor, are now recruiting for an experienced car designer. Based in their office in beautiful Herefordshire, this is a full-time position for someone to lead the design and development work for their urban vehicle. Go to the [Riversimple|http://www.riversimple.com] website for more information.

###Meeting at Imperial College - 29th July 2009

[Nicolas

Nicolas Sergent] and [Patrick

Patrick Andrews] had an excellent meeting at Imperial College with Greg Offer and Dave Howey who are heavily involved in the Racing Green project. This involves involves building three vehicles - one to compete in the (now defunct) Formula zero championship, one to race in the Formula Student championship and one to race round the world. The first two are powered by a combination of fuel cells, batteries and ultracapacitors.

It is extremely impressive what they have managed to achieve with their project. It is a student-led project in which over 100 students from across 7 departments are involved. They have adopted a carefully structured, almost military style hierarchy to run the project, while giving a fair amount of authority for individuals to make decisions as circumstances require. They believe this balance of a disciplined structure with soft edges has been essential to their success.

They have given us a copy of a paper they published, sharing a number of practical lessons learned, and we will make this available on the 40 Fires website once we have an e-copy.

They are very interested in the 40 Fires project. They believe there will be plenty of interest from students - there is always a shortage of good interesting student projects. Greg would be willing to distribute requests we might have to his students - he believes that these would travel virally to students all around the country.

Dave has a particular interest in international development and is involved with a charity which has done a considerable amount of work that it is willing to share widely. They have been looking for the right way to do it and he believes that 40 Fires presents an attractive solution. He offered to organise a meeting with Practical Action and Engineers without Borders in a few months, and thinks some funding may be available for this.
###Meeting with George Kuk and Pia Weiss - Nottingham University 23rd July 2009

[Patrick

Patrick Andrews] met with them in London. They have an interest in and have done research on open innovation and travel, and would like to help. As well as giving input in our thinking on community development and on licensing questions, they will look to put us in touch with an association that shares knowledge in GIS (Geographic Information Services)

###Meeting with PA Consulting - 23rd July 2009

[Patrick|Patrick Andrews] met with John Griffiths, Peter Morgan, Vince Gowler, James Sore and Philip Fawcus from the consulting firm PA Consulting, who have interest and skills in the automotive sector and in open innovation. There is potential for them to get involved in the project and we’ll keep in contact.
###IPD and stakeholder engagement - 21st July 2009

[Patrick|Patrick Andrews] and [Christian|Christian Ahlert] met with Richard Joy and Joseph Smith, both ex-IBM, who have expressed an interest in helping out. Joseph has a wealth of experience with integrated product development and agreed to prepare a summary of some of the issues we need to address in the development process. Richard is particularly interested in stakeholder engagement issues and will help us develop a plan to engage with the various types of people and organisations who are keen to participate in 40 Fires: universities, commercial businesses, individual engineers and students and others. The more we can meet people’s needs, the more we’ll succeed.
###Meeting to discuss how the collaboration will work - 21st July 2009

A group of us ([Nicolas Sergent], [Patrick Andrews], [Adam Brett], [Roland Whitehead], [Christian Ahlert]) met to discuss getting the first on-line forum set up (target end of July). Nicolas will be uploading the first schematics next week and Roland will enable a forum for people to comment on them. When it appears there is a particular interest in a subject we can set up mailing lists (which are generally more useful for people who are deeply involved in a project).

Pascal Finette from Mozilla joined us and shared some insights on how they work with their community. He reminded us that the key thing is not to stifle the community but to make it easy for people to participate. He also mentioned that Mozilla make all their meeting notes available on line. This minimises the politics of exclusion where information is only shared with a few people. So we decided from now on we’ll publish notes of our meetings on this site.

Pascal and his team use Google Groups to enable the community to engage with the flow of information in the way they choose. \

We sent out a note to our mailing list - 15th July 2009

See [here|mailing list - 15 July 2009]
###Amazing response to the launch - 25th June 2009

We’ve had a very positive response to the launch of the Riversimple car. At 40 Fires we have had well over 200 e-mails from around the world and we are going through all these now. Our next step is to make this site more interactive, such as by starting up discussion groups. [{Image src=’News/_ADW0060v2.jpg’ align=’right’ width=’250’ caption=’’ alt=’photo of car at launch' }] \\ ###Unveiling of car - The Riversimple urban vehicle was unveiled in London on 16th June 2009

The prototype car, whose design details will be available from the 40 Fires Foundation, was unveiled today at Somerset House, London’s major cultural centre (and location of 40 Fires’ servers). Most news sites have picked up on the story and so there are plenty of details at such as [the BBC|http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/sci/tech/8103106.stm] and [CNN|http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/06/16/riversimple.hydrogen.car/].
###1 June 2009

[New member of the 40 Fires team|New member of the 40 Fires team - 1 June 2009]
###Earlier items

[Update on progress of car Sunday 10th May 2009]

15/07/10 An interesting definition of open source hardware. Nothing revolutionary, but still helpful. See [http://freedomdefined.org/OSHW] %%