Environmental awareness has spread all over the population.  Countries especially those that belong to the first world (which has contributed more to the green house problem due to their technological advancement) have been consciously doing what they can to address pollution.  The people in Volvo Cars have invested SEK10billion ($2billion) in environmental research and development over a five-year period.  This research is aimed at reducing the fuel consumption and environmental emissions of Volvo cars.

Two years ago, Volvo Cars teamed up with the Ford Motor Company and established the European Hybrid Technologies in Göteborg.  The centre is staffed by engineers from Volvo Cars and other companies in the Ford Motor Company.  With the two companies combined in their devotion to the development of hybrid technologies, it is likely that they get to come up with something out of the box.

Sometime late in 2006, the Volvo Car Corporation has decided to concentrate on developing three emerging fuel technologies: bio-ethanol, diesel engines with particulate filters and other options, such as hybrid technology. 

In the year before that, Volvo Car launched bio-ethanol-powered Volvo FlexiFuel cars in Sweden.  These cars have the capacity to deliver up to 80 percent less emissions of fossil CO2.  As a matter of fact, the Volvo S40, V50 and C30 models can be powered by bio-ethanol E85.  Since 2006, these models have been available in FlexiFuel versions in nine European markets.  The all-new Volvo V70 with oxygen sensors designed to be environment-friendly is rumored to be available in a FlexiFuel version later in 2007 in Europe.

All new vehicles, and most cars fashioned after 1980, have an oxygen sensor. This sensor is integrated at the emission system and sends information to the engine management computer. The primary function of the sensor is to aid the engine to run as smoothly as possible with the least amount of combustion by products and emission.

Engine burns fuels with the use of oxygen and there is a correct amount of air to fuel mixture depending on the amount of hydrogen and carbon in that fuel. If there is less air than needed in the correct ratio, the resulting mixture is considered rich – with left over fuel after combustion. Rich mixtures tend to create pollution because of the by-products. If there is more air than the intended ratio, the resulting mixture is considered lean since there is a surplus in oxygen. A lean mixture produces nitrogen oxide by-products and can be detrimental to the car’s engine and catalytic converters.

The oxygen sensor is located in the exhaust pipe to detect rich or lean mixtures. These components work by a chemical reaction that produces voltages. The Electronic Control Unit then interprets the signal voltages and adjusts the fuel to air ratio in the engine to the correct proportion. When the oxygen sensor fails either because of natural aging or pollutants that damage the sensor there would be an erroneous reading, poor car performance and increased fuel consumption.

A new gas analyzer that would measure the small concentrations of oxygen that are present in fuels has been developed by Siemens Automation and Drives (A&D). The company calls it the Oxymat v64. This is an oxygen sensor and it quantifies down to the levels of 0 to 10 parts per million. Thus this oxygen sensor is suitable to be used for technical gas production, welding applications, air separation plants, food and beverage industry, hardening shops, and chemical industry. The new 19-inch gas analyzer continues the series of Oxymat 6 which has been used foe ten years now with measuring qualities of up to 50 parts per million.

This new oxygen sensor makes use of the same display unit and operator interface like the other devices of the series. Besides those, it also employs the same mechanical components and electronic modules. The analyzer’s core is also available commercially which is the tubular ZrO2 or zirconium dioxide sensor that’s already field-proven for a lot of years. The sensor is warmed up to 650 degree Celcius and the sample gases flow through them in a steady flow rate, while the sensor’s exterior is exposed to the ambient air. The concentration difference on both sides results in a possible inconsistency that is a gauge of the concentration of oxygen in the sample gas. There is an option between a catalytical inactive ZrO2 sensor and a catalytical active ZrO2 sensor and it depends on the application. These active and inactive ZrO2 sensors are both characterized by a high level of linearity but their difference lies in the electrode materials which react differently to the accompanying combustible components.