Diesel Engine Air Handling Strategies for Fuel Efficient Aftertreatment Thermal Management & Connected and Automated Class 8 Trucks

Alexander H Taylor, Purdue University

Abstract

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is charged with protecting human health and the environment. Part of this mission involves regulating heavy-duty trucks that produce particulate matter (PM), unburned hydrocarbons (UHC), carbon dioxide (CO2), and nitrogen oxides (NOx). A byproduct of lean burn combustion in diesel engines is NOx. NOx output limits from commercial vehicles have been reduced significantly from 10 g/hp-hr in 1979 to 0.2 g/hp-hr in 2010. Additional reductions are expected in the near future. One pathway to meet future NOx emissions regulations in a fuel efficient manner is with higher performing exhaust aftertreatment systems through improved engine air handling. As exhaust aftertreatment’s capability to convert harmful NOx into harmless N2 and H2O is a function of temperature, a key performance factor is how quickly does the exhaust aftertreatment system heat up (warm-up), and how well does the system stay at elevated temperatures (stay-warm). When the warm-up strategy of iEGR was implemented over the heavy duty federal test procedure (HD-FTP) drive-cycle, it was able to get the SCR above the critical 250◦C peak NOx conversion threshold 100 seconds earlier than the TM baseline. While iEGR consumed 2.1% more fuel than the TM baseline, it reduced predicted tailpipe NOx by 7.9%. CDA implemented as a stay-warm strategy over the idle portions of the HD-FTP successfully kept the SCR above the 250◦C threshold for as long as the TM baseline and consumed 3.0% less fuel. Implementing CDA both at idle and from 0 to 3 bar BMEP consumed an additional 0.4% less fuel, for a total fuel consumption reduction of 3.4%. A method to predict and avoid compressor surge (which can destroy turbochargers and in fact did so during the HD-FTP experiments) instigated by CDA was developed, as discussed later, and implemented with staged cylinder deactivation to avoid compressor surge. The literature does not consider the fidelity of road grade data required to adequately predict vehicle fuel consumption and operational behavior. This work addresses this issue for Class 8 trucks by comparing predicted fuel consumption and operation (shifting, engine torque/speed, and braking) of a single Class 8 truck simulated with grade data for the same corridor from different sources. The truth baseline road grade (best fidelity available with LiDAR) was obtained previously. This work compares road grade data to the truth baseline from four other typical methods i) utilizing GPS to record horizontal position and vertical elevation, ii) logging the pitch of a cost effective, commercially available IMU, iii) integrating the horizontal and vertical velocities of the same IMU, and iv) a commercially available dataset (Comm). Comm grade data (R2=0.992) best matches the LiDAR reference over a 5,432 m stretch of US 231 where high quality LiDAR data was available, followed in quality by the integrated IMU velocity road grade (R2=0.979). Limitations of the Comm dataset are shown, namely missing road grade (decreased point density) for up to 1 km spans on other sections of US 231, as well as for Interstate 69. Vehicle simulations show that both the Comm data (where available and accurate) and integrated IMU road grade data result in fuel consumption predictions within 2.5% of those simulated with the truth reference grade data.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Shaver, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Atmospheric Chemistry|Atmospheric sciences|Chemistry|Energy

COinS