Fuel Savings with High Emissivity Coatings

Abstract The Congress of the United States petitioned the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences to study replacement passenger car tire rolling resistance in 2005 with funding from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The study was initiated to assess the potential for reduction in replacement tire rolling resistance to yield fuel savings. The time required to realize these savings is less than the time required for automotive and light truck fleet replacement. Congress recognized that other factors besides fuel savings had to be considered if the committee’s advice was to be a reasonable guide for public policy. Therefore, the study simultaneously considered the effect of potential rolling resistance reductions in replacement tires on fuel consumption, wear life, scrap tire generation, traffic safety, and consumer spending for tires and fuel. This paper summarizes the committee’s report issued in 2006. The authors, who were members of the multidisciplinary committee, also provide comments regarding technical difficulties encountered in the committee’s work and ideas for alleviating these difficulties in further studies of this kind. The authors’ comments are clearly differentiated so that these comments will not be confused with findings, conclusions, and recommendations developed by the committee and contained in its final report.

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Stirling system optimization for series hybrid electric vehicles

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part D Journal of Automobile Engineering ◽

10.1177/09544070211018034 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 095440702110180

Author(s):

Charbel R Ghanem ◽

Elio N Gereige ◽

Wissam S Bou Nader ◽

Charbel J Mansour

Keyword(s):

Fuel Consumption ◽

Hybrid Electric Vehicle ◽

Combustion Engine ◽

Optimization Technique ◽

System Optimization ◽

Energy Management Strategy ◽

Fuel Savings ◽

Auxiliary Power ◽

Hybrid Electric ◽

External Combustion

There have been many studies conducted to replace the conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) with a more efficient engine, due to increasing regulations over vehicles’ emissions. Throughout the years, several external combustion engines were considered as alternatives to these traditional ICEs for their intrinsic benefits, among which are Stirling machines. These were formerly utilized in conventional powertrains; however, they were not implemented in hybrid vehicles. The purpose of this study is to investigate the possibility of implementing a Stirling engine in a series hybrid electric vehicle (SHEV) to substitute the ICE. Exergy analysis was conducted on a mathematical model, which was developed based on a real simple Stirling, to pinpoint the room for improvements. Then, based on this analysis, other configurations were retrieved to reduce exergy losses. Consequently, a Stirling-SHEV was modeled, to be integrated as auxiliary power unit (APU). Hereafter, through an exergo-technological detailed selection, the best configuration was found to be the Regenerative Reheat two stages serial Stirling (RRe-n2-S), offering the best efficiency and power combination. Then, this configuration was compared with the Regenerative Stirling (R-S) and the ICE in terms of fuel consumption, in the developed SHEV on the WLTC. This was performed using an Energy Management Strategy (EMS) consisting of a bi-level optimization technique, combining the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGA) with the Dynamic Programming (DP). This arrangement is used to diminish the fuel consumption, while considering the reduction of the APU’s ON/OFF switching times, avoiding technical issues. Results prioritized the RRe-n2-S presenting 12.1% fuel savings compared to the ICE and 14.1% savings compared to the R-S.

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A Comeback of Wind Power in Shipping: An Economic and Operational Review on the Wind-Assisted Ship Propulsion Technology

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13041880 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 1880

Author(s):

Todd Chou ◽

Vasileios Kosmas ◽

Michele Acciaro ◽

Katharina Renken

Keyword(s):

Fossil Fuels ◽

Secondary Data ◽

Decision Makers ◽

Transport Sector ◽

Key Factors ◽

Ship Propulsion ◽

Fuel Savings ◽

Technological Growth ◽

The Status ◽

Promising Solution

Wind-assisted ship propulsion (WASP) technology seems to be a promising solution toward accelerating the shipping industry’s decarbonization efforts as it uses wind to replace part of the propulsive power generated from fossil fuels. This article discusses the status quo of the WASP technological growth within the maritime transport sector by means of a secondary data review analysis, presents the potential fuel-saving implications, and identifies key factors that shape the operational efficiency of the technology. The analysis reveals three key considerations. Firstly, despite the existing limited number of WASP installations, there is a promising trend of diffusion of the technology within the industry. Secondly, companies can achieve fuel savings, which vary depending on the technology installed. Thirdly, these bunker savings are influenced by environmental, on-board, and commercial factors, which presents both opportunities and challenges to decision makers.

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