AirShip Technologies Group

Dual Lithium-ion Battery Packs.   With Lithium-ion battery packs, the Delorean AGT replaces its V6 engine with a robust and rechargeable Lithium-ion battery power plant.  Using hydraulic lifts, we stack the Lithium-ion battery packs for ease of service and distributed air cooling.  A battery to cooling fan and air intake design is absolutely necessary for more efficient cooling.  With the Delorean ATG air cooling and dual stack Lithium-ion Batteries, the target miles-traveled range on one full electric charge is estimated at 400 miles, more than competitive for the field of electric vehicles that run 40, 60 or 80 miles before their hybrids kick in.  Miles on one charge will out perform new EVs that are just hitting the market now at 240 miles to one full charge.   Because of the regenerative drive energy return, we are targeting 3.5 to 4 hours for a full electric recharge from home or the office.

Regenerative Braking.  Once the Track Sphere magnetic poles are invoked for deceleration, the Track Sphere motion continues to serve as very efficient electrical generators.  Synchronized reversing of all four track spheres returns almost all of the energy generated back to the Lithium-ion battery system.  This safe dual-circuit approach restores energy during vehicle braking instead of the lost of heat energy as seen in traditional brake systems.  And, because Track Spheres are in constant computer control, ABS is also possible while accelerating and decelerating.  By coordinating across all four track spheres and by controlling which hub-based electromagnets to turn on, ABS is built into each Track Sphere's computer instructions.  Anti-skid is applied to acceleration since the track sphere spherical induction motors are scanned via monitor to enable a smoothly controlled torque delivery to/from the road.  Flooring the brake or accelerator pedal hard results in controlled maximum torque, giving the shortest possible stopping or acceleration time.

Track Spheres are in constant communication with each other deciding 1,000 times each second how much torque share is optimum for current driving conditions.  Should one Track Sphere detect a slippery surface and take appropriate anti-skid actions, the other spheres will be made aware of this instantly and adopt appropriate compensating instructions to keep the vehicle as stable as possible.

Regenerative Drive.  The Track Sphere Assembly contains a Hub of electromagnets, each with its own coordinates .  To continuously hold and levitate the sphere, the hub is concave around most of the magnetic spherical wheel.  The lower 5 inches of the hub is expose in order for the spherical wheel to make contact with the ground.  The rubber-covered spherical wheel is composed of  core magnets with the outer sphere North designated and the inner sphere South designated.   Throughout the hub contains a horizontal layer of wire coils that serves to generate electricity as the sphere's core magnets spin by each coil.    The Delorean ATG’s weight is equally distributed across each of the Track Sphere assemblies, even though the vehicle's front track spheres are 21 inches in diameter and the rear ones are 24 inches.  This is primarily due to the original Delorean tire mounting configuration and vehicle front to back balance.  The vehicle's track spheres can be recharged by low cost main electricity plug-in from regular home or alternative locations while at rest.   This reduces any concern about battery capacity limits or how to recharge.  During vehicle operation when Lithium-ion battery levels would normally fall, the track sphere makes use of its competitive advantage -- its frictionless, free moving spherical wheel uses regenerative drive.  This enables sustained highway speeds and an overall top end speed target of 125 to135 mph.

Solar Fabric.  Solar Fabric serves as Delorean ATG’s exterior covering source for the rear window louvers and is considered green house gas friendly.  This thin-film photovoltaic (PV) material and control module will be used to generate electrical power as an additional power source for onboard electronics. Because we use a relatively small amount of solar fabric, it only generates 0.825 kW when compared to the tracks spheres that generate 110 kW and 120 kW, front to back pares, respectively.  (See Delorean ATG Vehicle Specification.)  However, thin film photovoltaic power offers unique advantages over earlier solar cell product generations and other comparable technologies in the marketplace.  For example, some manufacturers of solar fabric are creating it in large roll formats at the module level using proprietary monolithic laser-patterned cell integration processes that enable individual solar cells to be interconnected during production. Innovations like this eliminate time-intensive cell-to-cell connections and assembly operations required with other technologies to build up modules. Modules are produced on durable, light weight plastic in contrast to first generation products on metal foils that were developed a decade ago. The plastic substrate materials result in extremely high specific power levels, compactness and flexibility that enable the products to be configured into a wide variety of rolls, foldable packs, or traditional module formats.  The roll formats can allow for direct integration into the external window louver surface of the Delorean ATG, significantly reducing the number of modules required for a typical application.