A techno-economic evaluation of changing from conventional vehicles to range extended electric vehicles

Transportation accounts for 22% of greenhouse gas emissions in the UK, and increases to 25% in Northern Ireland. Surface transport carbon dioxide emissions, consisting of road and rail, are dominated by cars. Demand for mobility is rising rapidly and vehicle numbers are expected to more than double by 2050. Car manufacturers are working towards reducing their carbon footprint through improving fuel efficiency and controlling exhaust emissions. Fuel efficiency is now a key consideration of consumers purchasing a new vehicle. While measures have been taken to help to reduce pollutants, in the future, alternative technologies will have to be used in the transportation industry to achieve sustainability. There are currently many alternatives to the market leader, the internal combustion engine. These alternatives include hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and electric vehicles, a term which is widely used to cover battery electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and extended-range electric vehicles. This study draws direct comparisons measuring the differing performance in terms of fuel consumption, carbon emissions and range of a typical family saloon car using different fuel types. These comparisons will then be analysed to see what effect switching from a conventionally fuelled vehicle to a range extended electric vehicle would have not only on the end user, but also the UK government.

Investigations Into the Performance of a Turbogenerated Biogas Engine During Speed Transients

Turbogenerating is a form of turbocompounding whereby a Turbogenerator is placed in the exhaust stream of an internal combustion engine. The Turbogenerator converts a portion of the expelled energy in the exhaust gas into electricity which can then be used to supplement the crankshaft power. Previous investigations have shown how the addition of a Turbogenerator can increase the system efficiency by up to 9%. However, these investigations pertain to the engine system operating at one fixed engine speed. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the system and in particular the Turbogenerator operate during engine speed transients. On turbocharged engines, turbocharger lag is an issue. With the addition of a Turbogenerator, these issues can be somewhat alleviated. This is done by altering the speed at which the Turbogenerator operates during the engine’s speed transient. During the transients, the Turbogenerator can be thought to act in a similar manner to a variable geometry turbine where its speed can cause a change in the turbocharger turbine’s pressure ratio. This paper shows that by adding a Turbogenerator to a turbocharged engine the transient performance can be enhanced. This enhancement is shown by comparing the turbogenerated engine to a similar turbocharged engine. When comparing the two engines, it can be seen that the addition of a Turbogenerator can reduce the time taken to reach full power by up to 7% whilst at the same time, improve overall efficiency by 7.1% during the engine speed transient.

Projeto de um motor 4 tempos a gasolina monocilíndrico: calculo termodinâmico, desenho, usinagem e montagem da parte alternativa

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Análise técnico-econômica da utilização de um gerador à gás natural em um sistema de cogeração: estudo de caso

Pós-graduação em Engenharia Mecânica - FEG

Cogeração em uma indústria automobilística

The search for energy efficiency improvement is a common concern in many companies. Cogeneration is a well known technique but not so spread in Brazil, despite its potential for energy costs reduction through heat recovery from prime movers. In this work, a preliminary technical and economic study is carried out for a cogeneration plant application in an automotive industry of São Paulo. Though mathematics modeling, three 2435 kW internal combustion engines are selected. When compared to the current status (no cogeneration), annual savings of about 2,2 MR$ are obtained, resulting a almost 3 years payback

Modelagem de motor de combustão internae simulação do processo de queima de combustível

The internal combustion engine is a heat engine widely used in the automotive industry. In order to better understand its behavior many models in the literature have been proposed in the last years. The 0-D thermodynamic model is a fairly simple tool but it is very useful to understand the phenomenon of combustion inside the chamber of internal combustion engines. In the first phase of this work, an extensive literature review was made in order to get information about this kind of analysis and, after this, apply them in a model able to calculate the instantaneous temperature and pressure in one zone of the combustion chamber of a diesel engine. Therefore some considerations were made with the aim of increasing the accuracy of the model in predicting the correct behavior of the engine, adding the combined effects of heat transfer, leakage and injection. In the second phase, the goal was to study the internal flow of a three-dimensional model of an internal combustion engine. In order to achieve this goal the software Solidworks was used to create the geometries of an engine and the suite of softwares Ansys was used to create the moving mesh (ICEM CFD and CFX-Pre) and to solve the CFD problem (Ansys CFX code). The model was able to perform the air flow simulation during the four-stroke cycle of an engine: admission, compression, expansion and exhaust. The results obtained from both models were suitable and they open a new range of possibilities for future researches on the field

Estudo sobre fornos de tratamento térmico e propostas de cogeração de energia em usina siderurgica não integrada

Steel industry is a sector heavily dependent on energy, both electrical and thermal. Since the receipt of raw materials to the shipment of finished products to customers, through mergers, casting, rolling, heat treatment, inspection, among others, high amounts of energy are demanded, generating very significant costs to the productive chain in its entirety . Therefore, any alternative that favors the reduction in energy consumption or barateie the cost of this is very welcome. Within this context, this paper aims to make a technical and economic analysis of installing a cogeneration plant in the field rolling in a non-integrated steel mill. Two configurations are proposed plants, with one being the use of heat from waste gases from furnaces existing in the area mentioned and another with the use of heat from waste gases from an internal combustion engine. Both proposals are evaluated technically and later is done the economic analysis, calculating the financial return (pay back) in relation to the investment required, operation and maintenance of the plant

Modelagem e simulação do mecanismo biela manivela e análise estrutural de biela automotiva

Nowadays, the automotive industry is working to optimize the design of engines, in order to reduce the fuel consumption with acceptable efficiency ratio. This undergraduate thesis is aimed at perform a kinematic/dynamic analysis of a slider-crank mechanism that is part of a four stroke internal combustion engine, the same engine that was used in the analysis described by Montazersadhd and Fatemi (2007). Two algorithms were developed based on Kane’s method to calculate velocities and accelerations of the mechanism bodies, and provide the acting forces at connecting rod joints. A SimMechanics model was developed to simulate the engine, and monitoring the same parameters that were calculated with the algorithms. The results obtained with both approaches were satisfactory and showed good agreement with the values provided by Montazersadhd and Fatemi (2007). The obtained results showed that the axial component of the rod joint efforts was caused by the pressure exerted on the piston head,whereas the radial component was related with the action of inertia loads. Besides, this thesis presents a connecting rod assembly mesh that is going to be used for static and fatigue finite element analysis in the future

Engine LES with fuel-spray modeling

Pós-graduação em Engenharia Mecânica - FEG

Projeto e usinagem do cabeçote para um motor 4 tempos, a gasolina, monocilíndrico de 400 cc e refrigerado a ar

Pós-graduação em Engenharia Mecânica - FEG

Technological trajectories and environmental policy: the transformation of the automobile

This thesis aims to fill the gap in the literature by examining the relationship between technological trajectories and environmental policy in the automotive industry, focusing on the role of environmental policies in unlocking the industry from fossil fuel path-dependence. It first explores the inducement mechanism that underpins the interaction between environmental policy and green technological advances, investigating under what conditions the European environmental transport policy portfolio and the intrinsic characteristics of assignees' knowledge boost worldwide green patent production. Subsequently, the thesis empirically analyses the dynamics of technological knowledge involved in technological trajectories assessing evolution patterns such as variation, selection and retention, in order to study the impact of policy implementation on technological knowledge related to electric and hybrid vehicle technologies. Finally, the thesis sheds light on the drivers that encourage a shift from incumbent internal combustion engine technologies towards low-emission vehicle technologies. This analysis tests whether tax-inclusive fuel prices and technological proximity between technological fields induce a shift from non-environmental inventions to environmentally friendly inventive activities and if they impact the competition between alternative vehicle technologies. The findings provide insights into the effectiveness of environmental policy in triggering inventive activities related to the development of alternative vehicle technologies. In addition, there is evidence that environmental policy redirects technological efforts towards a sustainable path and impacts the competition between low-emission vehicles.

Implementation of a Variable Compression Ratio Mechanism in a Four Cylinder Engine

Ever since the invention of the internal combustion engine, generating more power and achieving better efficiency has been a major goal for the designers. Variable compression ratio technology is way to achieve those goals. This paper will discuss the method of varying the compression ratio of an inline 4-cylinder engine through the use of a 4-bar linkage and gear mechanism. This mechanism was proven to easily vary the compression ratio of the engine and shows promise of becoming a technology used for future engine designer.

Unidade microcontroladora para gerenciamento eletrônico de um motor de combustão interna ciclo Otto.

Nas últimas décadas, a indústria automobilística mundial vem investindo no desenvolvimento tecnológico dos motores, com o objetivo de alcançar melhor eficiência energética e atender às legislações que limitam a quantidade de resíduos tóxicos nos gases de exaustão e menor consumo de combustível. Isso resultou na implantação dos sistemas de gerenciamento eletrônico do motor, que possibilitam funcionalidades para se controlar diversas variáveis do motor, aumentando consideravelmente o rendimento do motor. Este trabalho tem como objetivos explorar a dinâmica de um motor de combustão interna ciclo Otto, os sinais elétricos associados, e os componentes de seu gerenciamento eletrônico. A partir dessas informações, o trabalho apresenta o processo de analise dos sinais elétricos e as estratégias de controle utilizadas em um sistema de gerenciamento real. Assim, são desenvolvidos o hardware e o firmware de uma unidade microcontroladora para gerenciamento eletrônico do motor. O hardware foi elaborado com uma concepção centralizada, ou seja, foi usado apenas um microcontrolador de 32-bit para gerenciar todas as funções. O firmware de controle foi desenvolvido de forma modular baseado em modelos de malha fechada. O modelo matemático do motor foi identificado utilizando técnicas de controle em um veículo real, e a avalidação do modelo foi obtida através de testes em um dinamômetro inercial.

Internal combustion engineering.

Title from cover.