Search Results

Automotive industry is a major contributor to global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and waste generation. Not only do vehicles produce emissions during usage, but they also generate emissions during production phase and end of life disposal. There is an urgent need to address sustainability and circularity issues in this sector. This paper explores how circularity and CO2 reduction principles can be applied to design and production of automotive parts, with the aim of reducing the environmental impact of these components throughout their life cycle. Also, this paper highlights the impact of design principles on End-of-Life Management of vehicles. As Design decisions of Component impacts up to 80% of emissions [1], it is important to focus on this phase for major contribution in reduction of emissions.

Five different diesel fuels, having been made available by the mineral oil industry within the framework of a research program of the Coordinating European Council (CEC/PF-26), were examined in addition to this program by the Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz AG by means of the 13-mode test in accordance with the former US legislation and the ECE regulation No. 49 and by US Transient Tests. The results have been compared with results based on commercial European diesel fuel. There has been observed the emission behaviour of an 8-cylinder NA engine with a “state of the art” direct fuel injection system by particularly taking into consideration the particulate emission and the particulate components. The gaseous emissions, particularly CO and HC, are unfavourably influenced by low cetane numbers being associated with increased aromaticity in the diesel fuel.

Field tests for a variety of fuels on different tractor engines were carried out during the summers of 1981 through 1986. Fuels tested included alkali refined and winterized sunflower oil blended with diesel fuel, crude degummed sunflower oil blended with diesel fuel, high oleic safflower oil blended with diesel fuel, methylester of sunflower oil, or soybean oil. Blends of either 25% vegetable oil and 75% diesel fuel or 50% vegetable oil and 50% diesel fuel were used. Methylesters were not blended with diesel fuel. The manufacturers that participated in the project were John Deere, J.I. Case and Allis Chalmers. The project indicated that farm diesel tractors can be operated on any of the fuels that were tested. Care should be taken, however, since some signs of premature engine problems were observed. In general, continued use of these fuels cannot be recommended at this time.

The current study has concentrated on discovering and developing clean alternative energy sources like biodiesel and employing novel methods to reduce harmful emissions and enhance engine performance behavior. The consumption of biodiesel in diesel engines reduces the emissions from the tailpipe, but some researchers claim that it actually produces more NOx pollution than engines that run on regular diesel, which limits the use of biodiesel. In this study, Ricinus communis biodiesel was generated through transesterification process, and its fuel properties were assessed. The employ of biodiesel in diesel engines minimize exhaust emissions; however, multiple investigators claim that the consumption of biodiesel generates greater amounts of nitrogen oxide pollutants than diesel-fueled engines, which limits the possibility of biodiesel usage.

RADIOTRACERS were used to study the wear effects of engine speed, load, jacket water temperature, fuel temperature, and chromium-plated rings in a medium-speed diesel engine. One distillate fuel and two residual fuels were tested. This paper describes the tests and their results. Some of the conclusions are: The brake thermal efficiency with high viscosity residual fuel was essentially equal to distillate diesel fuel over a wide range of loads, providing the residual fuel was heated to the proper temperature. Engine speed did not affect the wear rate of cast-iron rings when distillate fuel was used, while with residual fuel wear decreased with increased speed. With distillate fuel, engine load had essentially no effect on cast-iron ring wear. With residual fuel, decreasing engine load produced a marked increase in ring wear*

In spite of environmental issues related to cadmium and its electroplating process, electroplated cadmium is still extensively used in the aerospace and defense sectors. This trend is likely to continue especially for high strength steels because cadmium provides the best known corrosion and embrittlement protection for this application. Consequently, the environmental concerns related to the cadmium electroplating have been addressed using an alternative Zero-waste Physical Vapor Deposition (Z-PVD). This method does not use liquids, it recycles cadmium in situ, and is free of hydrogen embrittlement. The Z-PVD process is now in commercial production for the aerospace fasteners. The quality of the coatings has been at least equal to that of the electroplated cadmium.

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.

LiquidPiston Inc. has developed a new engine that can run on multiple fuels, including diesel, jet fuel, and gasoline. This platform uses an optimized thermodynamic cycle and a new rotary engine architecture and could increases flight endurance over conventional UAV engines by greater than 50%.

OBD system requirements were first developed by the California Air Resources Board, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the European Commission. New OBD requirements should be as consistent as possible with existing requirements to maximize reliability and to minimize system complexity, proliferation of configurations, and consumer cost. New OBD requirements from around the world are briefly reviewed and most are consistent with the original U.S. and European requirements. Worldwide OBD requirements are being further harmonized under the United Nations, Economic Commission for Europe, World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations (WP29). Presenter David H. Ferris, General Motors Company

This SAE Standard specifies requirements and design guidelines for electrical wiring systems of less than 50 V and cable diameters from 0.35 to 19 mm2 used on off-road, self-propelled earthmoving machines as defined in SAE J1116 and agricultural tractors as defined in ASAE S390.

This SAE Standard specifies requirements and design guidelines for electrical wiring systems of less than 50 V and cable diameters from 0.35 to 19 mm2 used on off-road, self-propelled earthmoving machines as defined in SAE J1116 and agricultural tractors as defined in ASAE S390.

This work shows how winterized diesel-powered mining vehicles can operate on No. 2 diesel fuel at low winter temperatures without using No. 1 diesel fuel as a diluent to lower cloud point. A study of low temperature fuel requirements was made during the 1976–1977 winter. Fuel system temperatures were compared to ambient temperatures and vehicle operability. Once the diesel equipment was warmed up and operating, fuel system temperatures remained high enough that wax plugging did not occur with No. 2 diesel fuel. Based on this data, a recirculating fuel system heater was designed to be used while vehicles were shut down and parked. This approach was successfully tested during the 1978–1979 winter.

To investigate the feasibility of various test procedures to determine aerodynamic performance for the Phase 2 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Regulations for Heavy-Duty Vehicles in the United States, the US Environmental Protection Agency commissioned, through Southwest Research Institute, constant-speed torque tests of several heavy-duty tractors matched to a conventional 53-foot dry-van trailer. Torque was measured at the transmission output shaft and, for most tests, also on each of the drive wheels. Air speed was measured onboard the vehicle, and wind conditions were measured using a weather station placed along the road side. Tests were performed on a rural road in Texas. Measuring wind-averaged drag from on-road tests has historically been a challenge. By collecting data in various wind conditions at multiple speeds over multiple days, a regression-based method was developed to estimate wind-averaged drag with a low precision error for multiple tractor-trailer combinations.

This paper describes special winterization aids and petroleum products that have been developed to make possible the operation of automotive machinery, on an emergency basis, at temperatures as low as -70 F. A package of five basic petroleum products appropriate for use on the North Slope of Alaska has served there successfully for several years at temperatures consistently in the -40 F range. The products may be blended to obtain additional properties. The motor gasoline and diesel fuels developed for this package are discussed, along with the pour point and viscosity properties of Arctic winter lubricants-motor oils, ATF and torque fluids, hydraulic oils, gear oils, and greases.

This paper discusses the several reasons why vehicles do not achieve the EPA MPG values in service, and makes a numerical estimate of the magnitude of the individual effects. In addition, methods for adjusting EPA MPG values to estimate road fuel economy performance are presented and discussed.

More stringent regulations have been enforced over the past few years on diesel exhaust emissions. White smoke emission, a characteristic of diesel engines during cold starting, needs to be controlled in order to meet these regulations. This study investigates the sources and constituents of white smoke. The effects of fuel properties, design and operating parameters on the formation and emissions of white smoke are discussed. A new technique is developed to measure the real time gaseous hydrocarbons (HC) as well as the solid and liquid particulates. Experiments were conducted on a single cylinder direct injection diesel engine in a cold room. The gaseous HC emissions are measured using a high frequency response flame ionization detector. The liquid and solid particulates are collected on a paper filter placed upstream of the sampling line of the FID and their masses are determined.

AID for the fleet operator is contained in this paper, which presents basic information to help him get the best from his fuel, whether he uses gasoline or diesel fuel, from his lubricating oil, whether he uses the regular or heavy duty, and from his gear lubricants.

Acid rain in the U.S. is becoming a major environmental issue. This paper reviews the known information regarding pollution sources, impact on the environment and the role of the automobile in acid rain. Although natural sources of sulfur and nitrogen pollutants are equal to or greater than man-made sources on a global scale, many scientists believe man's activities are the major cause of high levels of acidity. Attempts to relate specific sources of SO2 to specific acid rain events in the northeastern U. S. have been unsuccessful. The roles of tall stacks, long range transport and dry vs. wet deposition are incompletely understood. Temporal and geographic trends in acidity are not well defined except for increased acidity in the southeast. About 30% of the acidity in rain in the northeast is due to HNO3. In the process of utilizing nitrates as a nutrient, plants partly neutralize the affect of HNO3 in the rain.

The EU Commission's “Clean Power for Transport” initiative aims to break the EU's dependence on imported oil whilst promoting the use of alternative fuels to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Among the options considered is the use of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a substitute for diesel in long haul trucks. It is interesting to ask how the lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of LNG compare with conventional diesel fuel for this application. The LNG available in Europe is mainly imported. This paper considers the “well-to-tank” emissions of LNG from various production routes, including: gas production, treatment and liquefaction, shipping to Europe, terminal, distribution and refuelling operations. “Tank-to-Wheel” emissions are considered for a range of currently-available engine technologies of varying efficiency relative to diesel.