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
