NO x emissions from vehicles have been a substantial cause for concern due to their impact on urban air quality. In particular, despite reducing levels of permitted emissions legislatively, such reductions have not been observed in the real world. In this work, NO x emissions from three vehicles-a Euro 5 car, a Euro V hybrid bus, and a Euro VI-bus have been measured in real driving conditions (and in the case of the buses-in full passenger service). A recently developed high spatio-temporal resolution technique combining very fast (10 ms) NO x measurement with differential GPS accurate to 1 cm allows these emissions to be resolved to a distance of less than 10 cm (worst-case-dependent on vehicle speed). The results show that acceleration events for the vehicles play a significant part in their total NO x emissions. In addition, standard events such as a speed bump and a bus stop are analysed. The temperature of any aftertreatment (catalytic converter) to reduce NO x emissions is also observed to be of substantial significance. At idle, the passenger car was observed to near-double its NO x emissions when the air conditioning was switched on. Finally, the real driving conditions are compared to the legislative compliance cycles for the certification of the buses, and those results used to further understand the observed NO x emissions.
Abstract. Existing ultra-fast response engine exhaust emissions analyzers have been adapted for on-board vehicle use combined with GPS data. We present, for the first time, how high spatio-temporal resolution data products allow transient features associated with internal combustion engines to be examined in detail during on-road driving. Such data are both useful to examine the circumstances leading to high emissions, and reveals the accurate position of urban air quality “hot spots” as deposited by the candidate vehicle, useful for source attribution and dispersion modelling. The fast response time of the analyzers, which results in 100 Hz data, makes accurate time-alignment with the vehicle's engine control unit (ECU) signals possible. This enables correlation with transient air fuel ratio, engine speed, load, and other engine parameters, which helps to explain the causes of the emissions “spikes” that portable emissions measurement systems (PEMS) and conventional slow response analyzers would miss or smooth out due to mixing within their sampling systems. The data presented is from NO and NOx analyzers, but other fast analyzers (e.g. total hydrocarbons (THC), CO and CO2) can be used similarly. The high levels of NOx pollution associated with accelerating on entry ramps to motorways, driving over speed bumps, accelerating away from traffic lights, are explored in detail. The time-aligned ultra-fast analyzers offer unique insight allowing more accurate quantification and better interpretation of engine and driver activity and the associated emissions impact on local air quality.
Skip-firing (or cylinder de-activation) was assessed as a method of sampling CO2 directly in the cylinder at higher speeds than previously possible. CO2 was directly sampled from one cylinder of a 1 L three-cylinder gasoline engine to determine the residual gas fraction (RGF) using a fast response CO/CO2 analyzer. Acquisition of data for similar measurements is typically limited to engine speeds of below 1300 revolutions per minute (rpm) to allow full resolution of the sample through the analyzer that has an 8 ms finite response time. In order to sample in-cylinder CO2 at higher engine speeds, a skip-firing method is developed. By shutting off ignition intermittently during engine operation, the residual CO2 from the last firing cycle can be measured at significantly higher engine speeds. Comparison of RGF CO2 at low speeds for normal and skip-fire operation shows good correlation. This suggests that skip-firing is a suitable method for directly measuring internal exhaust gas recirculation up to at least 3000 rpm. The measurements obtained may provide a useful tool for validating internal exhaust gas recirculation models and could be used to calculate combustion air–fuel ratio from the CO and CO2 content of the burned gas. These are typically complicated parameters to predict due to the slow response time and sensitivity to hydrocarbons of wide-band oxygen sensors. A differing pattern of RGF change with increasing speed was seen between normal and skip-fire operation.
Skip-firing (or cylinder de-activation) was assessed as a method of sampling CO2 from directly in the cylinder at higher speeds than previously possible. CO2 was directly sampled from one cylinder of a 1-litre 3-cylinder gasoline engine to determine the residual gas fraction using a fast response CO/CO2 analyser. Acquisition of data for similar measurements is typically limited to engine speeds of below 1300 rpm to allow full resolution of the sample, through the analyser that has an 8 millisecond finite response time. In order to sample in-cylinder CO2 at higher engine speeds a skip-firing method is developed. By shutting off ignition intermittently during engine operation, the residual CO2 from the last firing cycle can be measured at significantly higher engine speeds. Comparison of residual gas fraction CO2 at low speeds for normal and skip-fire operation shows good correlation. This suggests that skip-firing is a suitable method for directly measuring internal exhaust gas recirculation up to at least 3000 rpm. The measurements obtained may provide a useful tool for validating internal exhaust gas recirculation models and could be used to calculate combustion air-fuel ratio from the CO and CO2 content of the burned gas. These are typically complicated parameters to predict due to the slow response time and sensitivity to hydrocarbons of wide-band oxygen sensors. A differing pattern of residual gas fraction change with increasing speed was seen between normal and skipfire operation.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.