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This paper presents a novel methodology to develop and validate fuel consumption models of Refuse Collecting Vehicles (RCVs). The model development is based on the improvement of the classic approach. The validation methodology is based on recording vehicle drive cycles by the use of a low cost data acquisition system and post processing them by the use of GPS and map data. The corrected data are used to feed the mathematical energy models and the fuel consumption is estimated. In order to validate the proposed system, the fuel consumption estimated from these models is compared with real filling station refueling records. This comparison shows that these models are accurate to within 5%.

Air to Air refueling (AAR) operations are typically performed with dedicated tanker A/C. Most existing tankers are derived from civil airliners like the A330MRTT from Airbus Military or from military transport A/C with permanent modifications for the tanker role. For being able to refuel in flight some type of receivers like medium and light turboprops, helicopters and certain UAVs, the tanker aircraft should be able to fly at low speeds. For that role medium/small size turboprop military transport aircraft, like the C295 from Airbus Military are ideally suited. This paper proposes a new palletized AAR kit for conversion of a transport A/C into a tanker. The kit includes all the needed air refueling systems, and can be installed on an existing military transport aircraft with rear cargo door ramp without big permanent modifications to the base platform.

Sequel is the third vehicle in GM's Reinvention of the Automobile and is the first zero emissions passenger vehicle to drive more than 300 miles on public roads without refueling or recharging. It is purpose-built around the hydrogen storage and fuel cell systems and uses the skateboard principle introduced in the Autonomy vision concept and the Hy-wire proof-of-concept vehicles. Sequel's aluminum structure, Flexray controlled chassis-by-wire systems and AWD system comprising a single front electric motor and two rear wheel motors make it, perhaps, the most technically advanced automobile ever built. The paper describes the vehicle's design and performance characteristics.

The NGV industry in Australia is developing and has as its objective heavy vehicle fuel replacement. Security of fuel supply and national economic benefits have caused the Government to encourage the use of alternative fuels, such as NGV. Significant progress has been achieved in the development of vehicle conversion technology, refuelling stations and marketing plans. Demonstration activities of 3 different vehicles types have proved the economic viability for the fleet operator. The progress toward fleet usage of NGV is encouraging and a summary of market penetration in various sectors is provided.

A technology demonstration program using modified administrative-type vehicles was conducted by the Army to determine the feasibility of using methanol as an alternative fuel. Over 1,026,000 miles (1,651,190 km) were accumulated using 64 sedan and pickup vehicles. Approximately 750,000 of these miles (1,207,010 km) were accumulated using M85 methanol fuel. Using M85 increases the fuel cost by a factor of approximately 3.0. No catastrophic engine failure occurred with the use of the M85 fuel. Even though wear rates, indicated from used oil samples analyses, obtained when using M85 fuel appear to be 2 to 4 times those obtained using unleaded gasoline, actual wear, from inspections and measurements, does not appear to be as severe. M85 refueling stations were set up at four fleet test sites, and no significant operational or safety problem was encountered during the program.

Two vehicles with ORVR system which are met with the US standard were studied. A comparative of refueling emissions test under different refueling rate and different refueling temperature were studied. The HC chemical analysis was carried out for the fuel gas emission from a sample car. The results show that with the increase of the refueling rates, the refueling emissions decline at first, and then gradually stabilize; with the increase of the refueling temperature, the results of refueling emissions show a gradual increase. Under the condition of 37 L / min refueling flow rate and 20 °C fuel temperature, 14 kinds of alkanes are emitted from the fuel, in which isobutane, isopentane and n-pentane are the highest emissive components, accounting for 57.66% of the total amount of VOCs.

For safe and fast refueling hydrogen to fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) at hydrogen refueling stations (HRSs), a refueling protocol is under discussion at SAE J2601 to be a global standard. In order to realize such a standard, we have to estimate the relation between gas temperature and pressure during a refueling and for an accurate estimation we have to correctly understand the thermal characteristics of hydrogen tank. Fast refueling test data has been offered by BMW-Powertech, some test cases have been analyzed by a simulation model developed by Monde et al. It reveals that the hydrogen temperature at the end of refueling does not exceed 85°C for these analyzed cases. The effect of the pressure drop between storage bank and hydrogen tank was negligible on the gas temperature at the end of refueling, although the gas temperature shows different profile depending on the pressure drop.

An adaptive trajectory concept that exploits the capabilities of a fixed-gain set 6-DOF autopilot was developed for autonomous aerial refueling. The concept was based on differential position error feedback that was used to control overshoot and tracking speed about the tanker refueling point. To demonstrate this concept, an automatic aerial refueling flight system simulation for a conventional receiving aircraft was developed. The performance of the system was then evaluated for a selected differential position, flight condition, and atmospheric disturbance.

Operations involving autonomous vehicles require knowledge of the surrounding environment including other moving vehicles. The use of vision has been regarded as an enabling technology that can provide such information. Several important applications that would benefit from this technology is autonomous aerial refueling (AAR) and target tracking. This paper considers a sensor fusion approach using traditional IMU/GPS sensors with vision to facilitate the state estimation problem of moving targets. The proposed method makes use of a moving monocular camera to estimate the relative position and orientation of targets within the image by exploiting a known reference motion. The vision state estimation problem is solved using an homography approach that employs images containing both the reference and target vehicles. A simulation involving an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and two ground vehicles is documented in this paper to demonstrate the algorithm and its accuracy.

A state-of-the-art, characteristic-based upwind, interface capturing multiphase gas-liquid numerical formulation has been utilized to shed insight into the complex physics that characterize premature fuel nozzle shut-off during a typical refueling event. Interactions amongst several sub-processes are entailed which occur over widely different length and time scales. Detailed numerical simulations indicated that the physics is governed by: a) transient flow in vent and fill pipe during fuel nozzle shut-off; b) multiphase interactions at fuel/air/vapor interfaces and entrained air bubbles in fuel; c) formation of boundary layers in vent pipe and boundary layer displacement effects on wave propagation; d) formation of “vena contracta” at entrance to vent pipe; and, e) strong dependence of acoustic speed upon level of dissolved gases.

Onboard refueling control technology has been successfully applied to two vehicles with 98+% efficiency in tests with 10.5 RVP fuel at 84° F. The Onboard system, which controls exhaust, evaporative, refueling, and so called “running losses”, was constructed out of components found in current automotive evaporative control systems. During refueling, the tank vapors are forced into the enhanced charcoal canister by a flowing liquid seal in the fillpipe. The canister was removed from the engine compartment and mounted within the vehicle frame close to the fuel tank. Each vehicle demonstrates a different possible safe location from a crash worthiness viewpoint. In order to further improve safety by preventing the expulsion of liquid gasoline upon gas cap removal, the orifices in the production tank vent lines were removed so that the fuel tank is at atmospheric pressure at all times. As modified, no significant driveability differences from production vehicles were found.

Electric propulsion has long been considered as a replacement system for the internal combustion engine to reduce air and noise pollution and dependence on imported oil. This objective has been difficult to achieve with battery powered vehicles. Limited energy storage recharge time does not allow the EV to provide the long range travel that the ICE offers through rapid refueling. The fuel cell powered electric vehicle can overcome this handicap. It is fueled with liquid methanol which can be rapidly replenished. Introducing the fuel cell as a power source for transportation requires selection of the right application and an engineering approach to the integration of vehicle and power system.

The fuel sensor determines quickly and reproducibly the evaporation characteristics of the fuels based on the heat flow of a heating element. Thus the micro sensor can classify the cold start characteristics of the different Gasoline fuels and can distinguish different diesel derivatives. For diesel vehicles, an electronic false refueling protection was realized based on a sensor installation into the fuel receptacle. It combines the advantages of an analysis of the diesel derivatives with that of a fast warning in the case of misfuelling.

Experimental and numerical studies have been performed to understand the fluid flow characteristics of gasoline refueling nozzle. Experimental study constitutes flow visualization techniques using high-speed camera and strobe light to qualitatively understand the nozzle spray pattern and turbulent structures. Numerical study was performed using a commercially available CFD package. The nozzle geometry was recreated to a close approximation and VOF multiphase model was used to simulate the spray pattern. A comparison between experimental and numerical studies was completed. Further, to understand the effect of turbulence model on the spray pattern, a comparative study between a traditional RANS model and Large Eddy Simulation (LES) was performed.

Source apportionment analysis for exposure to air toxics from conventional and oxygenated fuel was performed for different microenvironments. Personal toxic exposure data were taken from previous studies conducted in areas where MTBE oxygenated fuels were used. Refueling, commuting, and occupational microenvironments were all examined. The emission source, either tailpipe or evaporative, was estimated using the ratio of MTBE/benzene as an emission finger print. ASPEN simulations were completed to estimate the MTBE to benzene ratio for evaporative emissions from vapor above the fuel using vapor-liquid equilibrium models. Expected MTBE to benzene ratios in the tailpipe exhaust were obtained from previous studies. Refueling exposure was found to be dominated by evaporative emissions, specifically flash from the fuel tank for stations with Stage I controls, and evaporation of whole fuel for stations with Stage II controls.

For low carbon transportation, fuel cell technology offers the best long term prospects as a replacement for the internal combustion engine. If the vehicles are configured as a plug-in hybrid then for short journeys or for the first part of longer trips all of the energy can be provided from the battery, thus offering high energy efficiency. For longer journeys the fuel cell can be used to provide the primary power. If pressurised hydrogen is used as the fuel, the energy storage density can be substantially higher than any available battery technology and refuelling of the hydrogen can be achieved in a few minutes compared to several hours for current battery technology. By using a full hybrid plug-in configuration the power of the fuel cell system can be reduced so that it provides the average power for the vehicle. For urban vehicles the power requirement can be quite low, whereas vehicles that operate continuously at high speeds will require significantly more power.

Jules Verne (JV) is the name of the first Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) developed by ASTRIUM Space Transportation on behalf of European Space Agency (ESA). JV was launched the 9 March 2008 by ARIANE 5 and performed the 3 April 2008 its automatic rendezvous and docking to the International Space Station (ISS) to which it remained attached up to the 5 September 2008. In the meantime, JV has provided the ISS with dry and fluid cargo and performed one refueling, four ISS re-boosts and one Debris Avoidance Maneuver. JV completed its successful mission by offloading waste and was destroyed during its re-entry the 29 September 2008. Generally, development and verification of Power management rely on classical thermal and electrical engineering.

On board Electronic Solutions - In Vehicle Navigation with interactive interface within powertrain ECU's. Eco route, eco driving concepts. Navigation device integration with infra structure for real time traffic information. Driving education feedback focusing on better fuel consumption, so consequently lower emissions. On Going Technologies and Road Map CO₂ percentage reductions got by components or functions added to the vehicle architecture. Trend of use in EV (Electrical Vehicles) or HEV (Hybrid Electrical Vehicles), new ECU's targeting this type of vehicles, architecture looking better autonomy or driving interaction with infra structure for refueling/recharging. Smart Grid and navigation oriented to electrical Vehicles.

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) began using an emulsified diesel fuel as an emissions control measure in July 2002. They initiated a study of the effectiveness of this fuel in comparison to conventional diesel fuel for TxDOT's Houston District operations and included the fleet operated by the Associated General Contractors (AGC) in the Houston area. Cost-effectiveness analyses, including the incremental cost per ton of NOx removed, were performed. NOx removal was the focus of this study because Houston is an ozone nonattainment area, and NOx is believed to be the limiting factor in ozone formation in the Houston area. The cost factors accounted for in the cost-effectiveness analyses included the incremental cost of the fuel (including an available rebate from the State of Texas), the cost of refueling more often, implementation costs, productivity costs, maintenance costs, and various costs associated with the tendency of the emulsion to separate.

For the major automakers to make the decision for a paradigm shift to hydrogen as a transportation fuel in the future, they need to be assured of the development of the infrastructure to accelerate their initiative. A hydrogen infrastructure must be in put in place to meet the demand for hydrogen fuel by fuel cell vehicles. In the absence of an adequate hydrogen-refueling infrastructure, Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide, Inc. has developed modular, portable, and transportable hydrogen refueling systems to support early introduction fuel cell vehicles when and where needed. This paper describes selected hydrogen refueling systems and their application.