Measurements of the Emissions of a “Golden” Vehicle at Seven Laboratories with Portable Emission Measurement Systems (PEMS)

Abstract

In the last years, the in-use emissions of vehicles are measured on the road with portable emissions measurement systems (PEMS). PEMS cannot measure as accurately as the laboratory grade equipment, and studies on their measurement uncertainty have continued since their appearance in the market. In this study we compared PEMS to laboratory grade equipment in Italian laboratories testing a diesel “Golden” (i.e., reference) vehicle for two consecutive years. The results showed equal means of PEMS and laboratory grade equipment for carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and particle number (PN), with a variability of ±5 g/km for CO2, ±10 mg/km for NOx, and ±1 × 1011 p/km for PN, which further decreased in the second year. For carbon monoxide (CO), the PEMS were on average 5–20 mg/km higher than the bags (variability ±40 mg/km). The main conclusion of this study is that PEMS are accurate under controlled laboratory ambient conditions, without any indications of significant bias.

Vehicle Emission Models and Traffic Simulators: A Review

“…Subsequent emission tests involved modal analysis of the exhaust gas, which allows for a detailed analysis of the emissions of individual exhaust components during the entire dynamometer test. With the development of technology, today, the latest emission models are based on road tests that use on-board exhaust emission measurement systems (PEMS) to record the data [57,58].…”