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A program has been completed to evaluate ultra-low sulfur diesel fuels and passive diesel particulate filters (DPFs) in truck and bus fleets operating in southern California. The fuels, ECD and ECD-1, are produced by ARCO (a BP Company) and have less than 15 ppm sulfur content. Vehicles were retrofitted with two types of catalyzed DPFs, and operated on ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel for over one year. Exhaust emissions, fuel economy and operating cost data were collected for the test vehicles, and compared with baseline control vehicles. Regulated emissions are presented from two rounds of tests. The first round emissions tests were conducted shortly after the vehicles were retrofitted with the DPFs. The second round emissions tests were conducted following approximately one year of operation. Several of the vehicles retrofitted with DPFs accumulated well over 100,000 miles of operation between test rounds.

Due to its high efficiency and superior durability, the diesel engine is again becoming a prime candidate for future light-duty vehicle applications within the United States. While in Europe the overall diesel share exceeds 40%, the current diesel share in the United States is 1%. Despite the current situation and the very stringent Tier 2 emission standards, efforts are being made to introduce the diesel engine back into the U.S. market. In order to succeed, these vehicles have to comply with emissions standards over a 120,000 miles distance while maintaining their excellent fuel economy. The availability of technologies-such as high-pressure, common-rail fuel systems; low-sulfur diesel fuel; oxides of nitrogen (NOx) adsorber catalysts or NACs; and diesel particle filters (DPFs)-allow the development of powertrain systems that have the potential to comply with the light-duty Tier 2 emission requirements. In support of this, the U.S.

The air-conditioning system can significantly impact the fuel economy and tailpipe emissions of automobiles. If the peak soak temperature of the passenger compartment can be reduced, the air-conditioner compressor can potentially be downsized while maintaining human thermal comfort. Solar reflective film is one way to reduce the peak soak temperature by reducing the solar heat gain into the passenger compartment. A 3M non-metallic solar reflective film (SRF) was tested in two minivans and two sport utility vehicles (SUV). The peak soak temperature was reduced resulting in a quicker cooldown. Using these data, a reduction in air-conditioner size was estimated and the fuel economy and tailpipe emissions were predicted.

VTOL and STOL aircraft play a significant role in the ever increasing mobility of the Armed Forces. The landing gear of these aircraft must be able to operate from rough, unprepared fields and must support the aircraft on soft soil as well as on irregular and pothole terrain. This paper discusses the requirements of such gear and describes the development and design characteristics of tires and equipment that meet performance needs.

The Advanced Petroleum-Based Fuels - Diesel Emissions Control (APBF-DEC) project is a joint U.S. government/industry research effort to identify optimal combinations of fuels, lubricants, engines, and emission control systems to meet projected emissions regulations during the period 2000 to 2010. APBF-DEC is conducting five separate projects involving light- and heavy-duty engine platforms. Four projects are focusing on the performance of emission control technologies for reducing criteria emissions using different fuels. This project is investigating the effects of lubricant formulation on engine-out emissions (Phase I) and the resulting impact on emission control systems (Phase II). This paper describes the statistical design and analysis methods used during Phase I of the lubricants project.

It is widely understood that cold ambient temperatures increase vehicle fuel consumption due to heat transfer losses, increased friction (increased viscosity lubricants), and enrichment strategies (accelerated catalyst heating). However, relatively little effort has been dedicated to thoroughly quantifying these impacts across a large set of real world drive cycle data and ambient conditions. This work leverages experimental dynamometer vehicle data collected under various drive cycles and ambient conditions to develop a simplified modeling framework for quantifying thermal effects on vehicle energy consumption. These models are applied over a wide array of real-world usage profiles and typical meteorological data to develop estimates of in-use fuel economy. The paper concludes with a discussion of how this integrated testing/modeling approach may be applied to quantify real-world, off-cycle fuel economy benefits of various technologies.

In previous SAE papers, the initial development and testing of a vacuum-insulated catalytic converter was presented. This paper provides an update of the converter development and an analysis of potential off-cycle emissions savings. Hot vibration, cool-down, and 1975 Federal Test Procedure (FTP-75) emissions test results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of design improvements in greatly increasing durability while retaining performance. Using standard drive cycles and “real-world” driving statistics with a vehicle simulator (ADVISOR©), catalyst temperature and vehicle exhaust emissions of a sport utility vehicle (SUV) were predicted for 16 days of driving (107 trips, 770 total miles). Compared to the baseline vehicle with a conventional catalytic converter, the SUV with a vacuum-insulated converter produced 66% less non-methane hydrocarbon (NMHC), 65% less carbon monoxide (CO), and 60% less oxides of nitrogen (NOx).

The Kia Soul battery electric vehicle (BEV) is available with either a positive temperature coefficient (PTC) heater or an R134a heat pump (HP) with PTC heater combination [1]. The HP uses both ambient air and waste heat from the motor, inverter, and on-board-charger (OBC) for its heat source. Hanon Systems, Hyundai America Technical Center, Inc. (HATCI) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory jointly, with financial support from the U.S. Department of Energy, developed and proved-out technologies that extend the driving range of a Kia Soul BEV while maintaining thermal comfort in cold climates. Improved system configuration concepts that use thermal storage and waste heat more effectively were developed and evaluated. Range extensions of 5%-22% at ambient temperatures ranging from 5 °C to −18 °C were demonstrated. This paper reviews the three-year effort, including test data of the baseline and modified vehicles, resulting range extension, and recommendations for future actions.

THIS report of a survey of hydraulic packings, especially O-ring seals, covers friction studies, torsional strength tests, plasticizer development, a study of rubbers, molding technique, and spiral failure. The Institute is reported to be planning to conduct research work along the lines of cycling tests and studies of stress aging, compounding, and backup rings.

The use of biodiesel requires the development of proper quantification procedures for biodiesel content in blends and in lubricants (fuel dilution in oil). Although the ester carbonyl stretch at 1746 wavenumbers (cm-1) is the most prominent band in the IR spectrum of biodiesel, it is difficult to use for quantification purposes due to a severe fluctuation of absorption strength from sample to sample, even at the same biodiesel content. We have demonstrated that the ester carbonyl fluctuation is not caused by variation in the ester alkyl chain length; but is most likely caused by the degree of hydrogen bonding of the ester functional group with water in the sample. Water molecules can form complexes with the ester compound affecting the strength of the ester carbonyl band. The impact of water on quantification of the biodiesel content of blends was significant, even for B100 samples that met the proposed ASTM D6751 water limit of 500 ppm by D6304 (Karl Fischer Methdod).

This paper describes the results of Phase 1 of the Diesel Emission Control - Sulfur Effects (DECSE) Program. The objective of the program is to determine the impact of fuel sulfur levels on emissions control systems that could be used to lower emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) from vehicles with diesel engines. The DECSE program has now issued four interim reports for its first phase, with conclusions about the effect of diesel sulfur level on PM and total hydrocarbon (THC) emissions from the high-temperature lean-NOx catalyst, the increase of engine-out sulfate emissions with higher sulfur fuel levels, the effect of sulfur content on NOx adsorber conversion efficiencies, and the effect of fuel sulfur content on diesel oxidation catalysts, causing increased PM emissions above engine-out emissions under certain operating conditions.

Alternative compression ignition engine fuels are of interest both to reduce emissions and to reduce U.S. petroleum fuel demand. A Malaysian Fischer-Tropsch gas-to-liquid fuel was compared with California #2 diesel by characterizing emissions from over the road Class 8 tractors with Caterpillar 3176 engines, using a chassis dynamometer and full scale dilution tunnel. The 5-Mile route was employed as the test schedule, with a test weight of 42,000 lb. Levels of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) were reduced by an average of 12% and particulate matter (PM) by 25% for the Fischer-Tropsch fuel over the California diesel fuel. Another distillate fuel produced catalytically from Fischer-Tropsch products originally derived from natural gas by Mossgas was also compared with 49-state #2 diesel by characterizing emissions from Detroit Diesel 6V-92 powered transit buses, three of them equipped with catalytic converters and rebuilt engines, and three without.

A multi-year technology validation program was completed in 2001 to evaluate ultra-low sulfur diesel fuels and passive diesel particle filters (DPF) in several different diesel fleets operating in Southern California. The fuels used throughout the validation program were diesel fuels with less than 15-ppm sulfur content. Trucks and buses were retrofitted with two types of passive DPFs. Two rounds of emissions testing were performed to determine if there was any degradation in the emissions reduction. The results demonstrated robust emissions performance for each of the DPF technologies over a one-year period. Detailed descriptions of the overall program and results have been described in previous SAE publications [2, 3, 4, 5]. In 2002, a third round of emission testing was performed by NREL on a small subset of vehicles in the Ralphs Grocery Truck fleet that demonstrated continued robust emissions performance after two years of operation and over 220,000 miles.

Currently the U. S. Department of Defense (DoD) exclusively uses potassium acetate (KAc)-based runway deicing fluids (RDFs) to deice and anti-ice military runways and taxiways. Commercial airports predominantly use KAc, but some also use RDFs composed of KAc plus propylene glycol (PG) or urea plus PG. Conventional RDFs have environmental concerns due to toxicity as well as material compatibility problems such as corrosion of aircraft carbon brake-pad components, cadmium-plated landing gear, and airfield lighting fixtures. Under the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP), Battelle tested a series of patented - bio-based RDFs to address these issues. Tests showed that the Battelle RDFs met the mandatory Aerospace Material Specification (AMS) 1435 requirements. These new RDFs have reduced ecotoxicity compared to currently used RDFs and are compliant with all other environmental requirements.

Several high octane number oxygenates that could be derived from biomass were blended with gasoline and examined for performance properties and their impact on knock resistance and fine particle emissions in a single cylinder direct-injection spark-ignition engine. The oxygenates included ethanol, isobutanol, anisole, 4-methylanisole, 2-phenylethanol, 2,5-dimethyl furan, and 2,4-xylenol. These were blended into a summertime blendstock for oxygenate blending at levels ranging from 10 to 50 percent by volume. The base gasoline, its blends with p-xylene and p-cymene, and high-octane racing gasoline were tested as controls. Relevant gasoline properties including research octane number (RON), motor octane number, distillation curve, and vapor pressure were measured. Detailed hydrocarbon analysis was used to estimate heat of vaporization and particulate matter index (PMI). Experiments were conducted to measure knock-limited spark advance and particulate matter (PM) emissions.

Chassis dynamometer testing of two 60 foot articulated transit busses, one conventional and one hybrid, was conducted at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's, ReFUEL facility. Both test vehicles were 2004 New Flyer busses powered by Caterpillar C9 8.8L engines, with the hybrid vehicle incorporating a GM-Allison advanced hybrid electric drivetrain. Both vehicles also incorporated an oxidizing diesel particulate filter. The fuel economy and emissions benefits of the hybrid vehicle were evaluated over four driving cycles; Central Business District (CBD), Orange County (OCTA), Manhattan (MAN) and a custom test cycle developed from in-use data of the King County Metro (KCM) fleet operation. The hybrid vehicle demonstrated the highest improvement in fuel economy (mpg basis) over the low speed, heavy stop-and-go driving conditions of the Manhattan test cycle (74.6%) followed by the OCTA (50.6%), CBD (48.3%) and KCM (30.3%).

The process for certifying an existing aircraft for flight into known icing is well defined and must follow specific guidelines and meet specific milestones. As UAVs are still a relatively recent development, guidelines for icing flight certification of a UAV have not yet been developed by the FAA, and no UAVs have yet been certified for FIKI under the FAA. As part of a research program, engineers at the Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, OH USA worked with partners to integrate its ice protection system, HeatCoatTM, onto an existing UAV platform as a retrofit with the ultimate goal of flying in icing conditions. This research program was funded by the US Government with intent to integrate HeatCoat on the TigerShark-XP UAV. The integration on the TigerShark was demonstrated to present challenges specific to the nature of this UAV that had to be overcome.

Increasing interest in biofuels—specifically, biodiesel as a pathway to energy diversity and security—have necessitated the need for research on the performance and utilization of these fuels and fuel blends in current and future vehicle fleets. One critical research area is related to achieving a full understanding of the impact of biodiesel fuel blends on advanced emission control systems. In addition, the use of biodiesel fuel blends can degrade diesel engine oil performance and impact the oil drain interval requirements. There is limited information related to the impact of biodiesel fuel blends on oil dilution. This paper assesses the oil dilution impacts on an engine operating in conjunction with a diesel particle filter (DPF), oxides of nitrogen (NOx) storage, a selective catalytic reduction (SCR) emission control system, and a 20% biodiesel (soy-derived) fuel blend.

Adoption of high-pressure common-rail (HPCR) fuel systems, which subject diesel fuels to higher temperatures and pressures, has brought into question the veracity of ASTM International specifications for biodiesel and biodiesel blend oxidation stability, as well as the lack of any stability parameter for diesel fuel. A controlled experiment was developed to investigate the impact of a light-duty diesel HPCR fuel system on the stability of 20% biodiesel (B20) blends under conditions of intermittent use and long-term storage in a relatively hot and dry climate. B20 samples with Rancimat induction periods (IPs) near the current 6.0-hour minimum specification (6.5 hr) and roughly double the ASTM specification (13.5 hr) were prepared from a conventional diesel and a highly unsaturated biodiesel. Four 2011 model year Volkswagen Passats equipped with HPCR fuel injection systems were utilized: one on B0, two on B20-6.5 hr, and one on B20-13.5 hr.