APPLICATIONS

REINFORCEDplastics MAY/JUNE 20134 www.reinforcedplastics.com

‘Several hundred’ orders for BMW i3

AT A press conference in March,

Norbert Reithofer, Chairman of

the Board of Management of

Austin odour control project employs composite ductwork

The BMW i3 production plant in Leipzig, Germany. (Picture courtesy of BMW.)

ECS ENVIRONMENTAL Solutions

has supplied an odour control

system based on AOC resin for a

wastewater project in the city of

Austin, Texas.

ECS, a supplier of odour control

equipment and accessories based

in Belton, Texas, and resin supplier

AOC, headquartered in Tennessee,

worked together to create part of

the city of Austin’s complex

wastewater infrastructure project.

The new 3.9 mile wastewater

tunnel increases capacity for the

downtown district. An important

part of the project is an odour

control system.

ECS provided the odour control

equipment and relied on AOC’s

Vipel® resin for more than 1000 ft

of glass fi bre reinforced plastic

ductwork and additional accesso-

ries. The ductwork ranges in size

from 12 inches to 72 inches in

diameter. Approximately half of

the ductwork is buried below

ground and had to be able to

withstand thousands of pounds

of high-density traffi c driving over ECS supplied more than 1000 ft of composite ductwork and fi ttings incorporating AOC’s Vipel K022 vinyl ester resin.

BMW AG, reported that several

hundred advance orders have

been received for the BMW i3

electric vehicle, which has a

carbon fi bre reinforced plastic

(CFRP) passenger compartment

and an aluminium chassis.

The BMW i3 is designed for

use in urban areas. It will be

250-350 kg lighter than a

conventional electric car, BMW

reports, and it has an approxi-

mate range of 150 km.

The fi rst pre-series BMW i3 came

off the production line in

January 2013. It will be on the

market by the end of 2013.

The BMW i3 will require only

half the time needed to

produce a conventional vehicle,

according to BMW, as a result of

“unique production methods

and a signifi cantly lower

number of assembly parts.” BMW

also says it has developed time-

saving repair methods especially

for the CFRP components of the

BMW i3. As a result, all of the

accident repair costs will be

similar to those of a BMW

1-Series.

BMW; www.bmwgroup.com

the site. Additional elements of

the project include fi eld joint kits,

fl exible connectors, control and

back-draft dampers, bolt gaskets

and two fi breglass exhaust fans

rated at 40,000 ft³/minute.

ECS manufactured all of the

composite ductwork using a

computerised fi lament winder.

The fi bre was impregnated with

AOC’s Vipel K022 corrosion-

resistant vinyl ester resin.

“The K022 resin was the best

choice for this project,” says Jeff

Jones, president of ECS. “Some of

the gases in the air stream are

corrosive – hydrogen sulphide

and ammonia. There’s also

sulphuric acid. Pipes built with

this resin are very resistant to

what goes in them: they will not

easily corrode.”

To help ease installation, ECS

prefabricated and sub-assembled

the duct system at its facility,

then shipped it to Austin about

an hour away.

ECS Environmental Solutions;

www.ecs-frp.com

AOC; www.aoc-resins.com

Octavia

thermoplastic

front end carrier

THE FRONT END of the new

Skoda Octavia is made from a

60% glass fi bre reinforced

polyamide 6 (PA 6) compound

supplied by LANXESS.

The component was engineered

by Faurecia Kunststoff e Automo-

bilsysteme GmbH, Germany,

using LANXESS’ Durethan DP BKV

60 H2.0 EF.

“We wanted to design a totally

plastic part, so that we could

manage with just one injection

mould and eliminate the compli-

cated handling and shaping of

sheet metal,” explains Pascal Joly-

Pottuz, head of development for

the carrier component at Faurecia.

Although the polyamide has a

much greater density on account

of its glass fi bre content, the

component nevertheless is very

lightweight.

Lanxess; www.lanxess.com

RP0313_appsNews 4 22-05-13 15:28:26