北京车展上的怪异概念车

shanshen

Vehicle of the Week
Hot Wheel Dan Lienert


We love reading about new products and designs from Bombardier, mostly because besides building things like airplanes and subway cars, the privately held, Quebec-based company also builds fun stuff like Rotax karts, Ski-Doo and Lynx snowmobiles, Bombardier ATVs, Sea-Doo sport boats and Johnson and Evinrude outboard engines.

No wonder, then, that they have produced an exciting answer to the Segway Human Transporter. Like the Segway, Bombardier's Embrio concept--a prototype that may or may not make production--uses gyroscope technology to balance riders but adds a dash of flair absent in the Segway, which we as car nuts find slightly nerdy.

The Embrio concept also uses one less wheel than the Segway and will attract, Bombardier hopes, a younger demographic. The vehicle is designed as a guess at what transportation in the year 2025 might look like.

It is a fascinating idea because it combines the simplicity and alternative-fuel technology of forward-thinking commuting vehicles with the excitement of "recreational" products like ATVs. Indeed, the Embrio could attract people who drive a more fun sort of vehicle, what with its motorcycle-derived styling cues and, like an ATV, the fact that you have to lean in order to turn.

The Embrio is powered by a hydrogen fuel cell, a technology that creates power by mixing hydrogen and oxygen, ideally resulting in water as the only exhaust. Carmakers are also developing this technology for automobiles, and General Motors (nyse: GM - news - people ) stands by its plan to sell hydrogen cars by 2010.

The Embrio also borrows several other advanced technologies from cars, like infrared night vision and an active suspension, which can vary its damping rates based on road conditions. Its riding position resembles that of a motorcycle, and it balances one or more passengers with a network of sensors and gyroscopes. To move the Embrio, you use an accelerator trigger on the left handlebar and a brake trigger on the right.

The vehicle is made of lightweight materials, like aluminum, magnesium and nylon. It weighs only 360 pounds.
Forbes Fact
Although Bombardier says the gyroscopes are enough to balance the Embrio, the vehicle is also kept longitudinally stable by a smaller wheel that operates like an airplane's landing gear. It touches the ground when the vehicle is stopped or just starting. Once the Embrio is in motion, the landing gear will retract when the vehicle reaches about 12 mph. During braking, the gear redeploys when the vehicle slows to 12 mph.

SEGWAY交通工具的首次出现解决了交通问题才让我们重新考虑在未来，我们应当如何才能自由行动。Bombardier Embrio把赛格威(SEGWAY)机车设计成仿古的样式，它在运行时只有一个轮子着地，但是当它的时速达到12MPH时，它的第二个小轮子也是着地的。Embrio使用类似于三自由度陀螺仪的技术使得赛格威保持平衡，此外还使用了具有梦幻色彩的氢燃料发动机和基于可变阻尼的主动减震系统。为了追求使得该机车看上去更加轻巧，Embio把机车的重量压缩到了近360磅。


陀螺仪基本上就是运用物体高速旋转时，角动量很大，旋转轴会一直稳定指向一个方向的性质，所制造出来的定向仪器。不过它必需转得够快，或者惯量够大(也可以说是角动量要够大)。不然，只要一个很小的力矩，就会严重影响到它的稳定性。就像前面第四?u>车幕疃?校?颐强梢郧嵋椎母谋湫???u>车轮转轴的方向一样。所以设置在飞机、飞弹中的陀螺仪是靠内部所提供的动力，使其保持高速转动。
陀螺仪通常装置在除了要定出东西南北方向，还要能判断上方跟下方的交通工具或载具上，像是飞机、飞船、飞弹、人造卫星、潜艇......等等。它是航空、航海及太空导航系统中判断方位的主要依据。这是因为在高速旋转下，陀螺仪的转轴稳定的指向固定方向，将此方向与飞行器的轴心比对后，就可以精确得到飞机的正确方向。罗盘不能取代陀螺仪，因为罗盘只能确定平面的方向；另方面陀螺仪也比传统罗盘方便可靠，因为传统罗盘是利用地球磁场定向，所以会受到矿物分布干扰，例如受到飞机的机身或船身含铁物质的影响；另方面在两极也会因为地理北极跟地磁北极的不同而出现很大偏差，所以目前航空、航海都已经以陀螺仪以及卫星导航系统作为定向的主要仪器。