EQUINOx and RENOTER. The Lower Normandy Regional Council is offering support for new projects certified by Mov’eo within the context of its “energy and environment” activities. Introduction.

Nine Mov’eo certified projects were selected for funding last July, within the framework of the Unique Interministerial Fund’s 6th request for proposals. Lower Normandy Regional Council’s policy in support of innovation has led to its financial involvement in three of these projects, two of which focus on energy and the environment: EQUINOx and RENOTER. “The EQUINOx project focuses on the development of innovative pollution control systems aimed at reducing, via urea injection, the quantity of nitric oxide - NOx - produced by light diesel engine vehicles. This research project should lead to the rapid and massive application of these systems on all Peugeot vehicles,” explains Jean-François Bérard, Vice-President in charge of Research and Industrial Development and Strategy at Inergy Automotive Systems, and the project’s coordinator.

The aim is in fact to anticipate Euro 6 regulations which, by 2014, will limit diesel vehicle NOx emission to 0.08g/km, compared to the current limit of 0.5g/km. Inergy is specialised in plastic fuel systems and is involved in the project along with six other partners (1), one of them a Lower Normandy-based company: Magnetti Marelli in Argentan. The motor vehicle equipment manufacturer is currently working on perfecting its urea injector, together with an associated electronic pump control unit. The project represents a total investment of 660,000 Euros for the company, 15% (maximum legal limit) of which will be provided by the Regional Council. The RENOTER project, coordinated by Renault Trucks, was certified in 2007 by the Mov’eo and LUTB (Lyon Urban Trucks and Bus) competitiveness clusters.

The project aims at applying the Seebeck effect (conversion of thermal energy into electricity) to thermal engines (trucks, cars and military vehicles) in order to reduce their fuel consumption. “Thermoelectricity (Seebeck effect) enables heat flow to be converted into electric energy,” explains Luc Aixala (Volvo France). Although it has, as yet, been almost exclusively used in aerospace applications, current research on new thermoelectric materials offers promising prospects for industrial application on internal combustion engines, and at a reasonable cost.”

By using the thermal loss inherent to internal combustion engines, the “free” production of consequential quantities of electric energy would appear to be feasible. With the added advantage of reducing the engine’s consumption, hence reducing CO2 emission. “The research programme aims at demonstrating, within 3 years, that the use of thermoelectricity for internal combustion engines is possible, and that the obtained output is satisfactory. It also aims at identifying the best and most appropriate thermoelectric materials to be used for the thermal engines concerned (in terms of output, manufacturing process, noxiousness, cost…),” adds Luc Aixala. The project reunites eight partners, including one Lower Normandy-based laboratory, the CRISMAT (Crystallography and Material Science Laboratory - a CNRS-ENSICAEN-UCBN laboratory), benefiting from the maximum 80% (legal limit) Regional Council support for the project, by means of a grant of 276,680 Euros. Production is due to be launched in 2014.

(1) EQUINOx: Inergy, Aaqius & Aaqius, EMC, PSA, Coria, Certam, Magnetti Marelli.

(2) RENOTER: Renault Trucks, Renault, Valeo, Nexter System, Sherpa Engineering, CRISMAT, LPM (Nancy Material Physics Laboratory) and UM2 (University of Montpellier).

Jean-François Bérard
Inergy Automotive Systems

Luc Aixala
Renault Trucks / Volvo France

Fabrice Salemi
Lower Normandy Regional Council -
Head of the Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre
Tel: 02 31 06 96 78

Marie-Pierre Delamare
Lower Normandy Regional Council -
Competitiveness Cluster Project Coordinator
Tel : 02 31 06 95 30

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