Car Industry developments – oil industry challenges

Automotive industry of Europe is one of the greatest economical powers, the „engine of Europe”. It employs directly 2.2 million people and 10 million in related industries and services. Combined turnover of automotive manufacturers reaches 700 billion EUR (retail another 520 billion EUR). The industry is the largest R&D investor in EU. On the other hand the transport sector carries a huge safety and environmental risk. Thanks to this fact the automotive industry is one of the most regulated sectors in the EU. As a result of these regulations: one average car built in 1970s produced as many pollutant elements as one hundred cars manufactured today. These achievements are based on struggles of both the auto and oil industry as parallel with technology development in car industry fuel quality developments achieved by the oil industry drove to a much “cleaner” fuel quality (unleaded sulphur free petrol, reduction of aromatics, benzene; sulphur free diesel, reduction of density, poly-aromatics, etc.). In the end of the 1990s, and especially for the last few years new challenges came into the focus of the auto and oil industry of the EU and the world. Concerns about high energy prices and price volatility, security of worldwide oil supply and climate change became a main policy agenda of the EU and the world. This new policy is reflected in new regulatory initiatives requiring cars using less energy more efficiently, emitting less carbondioxide and using growing proportion of renewable fuels. The European Commission declared the idea of “Cars for Fuels” instead of “Fuels for Cars”. This article discusses in detail the regulations and challenges that rose towards oil and car industry during the recent years. It describes the possible solutions in order to fulfil the requirements of the EU. After that a wide picture is presented without going into much detail on developments of the automotive industry. Developments are divided between vehicle level, engine level and fuel level technologies, also paying attention to technologies that are less known or rather futuristic

Hybrid Buses: Costs and Benefits

Key Facts:In 2005, more than 60 percent of the 9.7 billion transit passenger trips in the United States were provided by buses, approximately 84 percent of which are powered by diesel combustion engines.Diesel exhaust contains ozone precursors, benzene, arsenic, dioxins, formaldehyde and other toxic substances and is a significant contributor to airborne concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM). Significant health impacts including lung damage and premature death are associated with exposure to fine particulate matter. It can also aggravate conditions such as asthma and bronchitis. Diesel exhaust has also been classified as a probable human carcinogen with no known safe level of exposure.In response to air quality and health concerns as well as rising fuel costs, a growing number of transit agencies are turning to hybrid-electric buses, which consume less energy and produce significantly fewer emissions by combining an internal combustion engine with an electric motor

Development of a vehicle robotic driver with intelligent control system modelling for automated standard driving-cycle tests

New road vehicles are required to undergo several specific tests to meet the requirement set by governing bodies in various markets. These tests are often carried out over specific driving-cycles. To carry out lab-based driving-cycle tests, a typical vehicle manufacturer will employ a trained driver to follow driving profiles on a chassis dynamometer. This project involves development of a robotic driver controller for the automation of dynamometer-based vehicle testing according to industry standard driving cycle tests and produce repeatable results by replacing the traditional method of employing a human driver with a robot driver. The throttle and brake pedals control systems modelling and design for automatic transmission vehicle are implemented, with Fuzzy model reference adaptive control (Fuzzy MRAC) as the main controller. The vehicle model was developed using black-box modelling approach where simulations are performed based on real-time data and processed using Matlab System Identification tool. The Fuzzy MRAC was then designed within the simulations to attain the driving performance. The vehicle model response was sent as feedback to the robotic DC linear actuator motor which was modelled based on DC linear actuator motor design specification. The results obtained from simulation and modelling experiment were discussed and compared. The performed work concludes that system identification modelling with best fit accuracy of 79.93% can be applied in Fuzzy MRAC to ensure smooth and accurate vehicle driving pattern behavior even when the leading vehicle exhibits highly dynamic speed behavior during driving-cycle test. The performance of the vehicle model has shown an average 0.07 MSE for the throttle system and 0.008 MSE for the brake system of the vehicle model

Electricity powering combustion: hydrogen engines

Hydrogen is ameans to chemically store energy. It can be used to buffer energy in a society increasingly relying on renewable but intermittent energy or as an energy vector for sustainable transportation. It is also attractive for its potential to power vehicles with (near-) zero tailpipe emissions. The use of hydrogen as an energy carrier for transport applications is mostly associated with fuel cells. However, hydrogen can also be used in an internal combustion engine (ICE). When converted to or designed for hydrogen operation, an ICE can attain high power output, high efficiency and ultra low emissions. Also, because of the possibility of bi-fuel operation, the hydrogen engine can act as an accelerator for building up a hydrogen infrastructure. The properties of hydrogen are quite different from the presently used hydrocarbon fuels, which is reflected in the design and operation of a hydrogen fueled ICE (H2ICE). These characteristics also result in more flexibility in engine control strategies and thus more routes for engine optimization. This article describes the most characteristic features of H2ICEs, the current state of H2ICE research and demonstration, and the future prospects

Spazia-HPP: Hybrid plug-in for small vehicle

This paper presents a novel concept, the Hybrid Power Pack (HPP), which consists of a hybridization kit for transforming small city cars, powered by an original diesel engine, into a parallel hybrid vehicle. The study was jointly conducted by the University of Rome “Sapienza” and the Enea Casaccia research center. The idea is to design a hybrid powertrain that can be installed in a typical microcar, which means that all systems and components will be influenced by the limited space available in the motor compartment of the vehicle. In this paper the details of the mechanical and electrical realization of the powertrain will be discussed and the simulation of a small city car equipped with HPP will be presented and the results discussed and analyzed. The hybrid system also includes the battery pack which is composed of twenty-four Li-ion cells made by EIG, connected in series. The storage system is controlled as regards the voltage and temperature by a Battery Management System (BMS). All the above components are connected and managed by a control unit. The HPP presented in this paper obtains a reduction in fuel consumption higher than 20%. The solution presented with the HPP with its management strategy and the addition of the “plug-in function” makes the hybrid vehicle suitable in terms of performance and consumption in every driving conditions. The ideal strategy behind the “plug-in function” could represent a guideline for further achievements and experimentations, because it offers a simple hardware layout and a real reduction in fuel consumption

Ready to Roll?: Overview of Challenges and Opportunities

Alternative Fuel Vehicles (AFVs) use combinations of vehicle fuels and technologies to reduce the use of petroleum in on-road vehicles. These include low-carbon fuels (sometimes blended with petroleum), electricity, and hybrid technologies combining internal combustion engines with electric motors. DVRPC's Ready to Roll? Report provides an overview for policymakers and citizens in the Greater Philadelphia region about the challenges and opportunities for expanded use of alternative fuel vehicles. The AFVs covered in this report include those most widely available today or likely to become available in the next 10 to 20 years

Assessment of alternative power sources for mobile mining machinery

Alternative mobile power sources for mining applications were assessed. A wide variety of heat engines and energy systems was examined as potential alternatives to presently used power systems. The present mobile power systems are electrical trailing cable, electrical battery, and diesel - with diesel being largely limited in the United States to noncoal mines. Each candidate power source was evaluated for the following requirements: (1) ability to achieve the duty cycle; (2) ability to meet Government regulations; (3) availability (production readiness); (4) market availability; and (5) packaging capability. Screening reduced the list of candidates to the following power sources: diesel, stirling, gas turbine, rankine (steam), advanced electric (batteries), mechanical energy storage (flywheel), and use of hydrogen evolved from metal hydrides. This list of candidates is divided into two classes of alternative power sources for mining applications, heat engines and energy storage systems

Nature versus built

Nature is made up of various living and non-living things which is related to plants, animals and other features such as mountains, deserts and seas. They are connected and some of the relationships between members are direct and obvious and ecosystem occurred to balance the amount of living things. Built environment is referring to aspects of creature human-made surroundings. Human activities caused some environmental issues and disturbance the nature. However, the technologies introduce sustainability building and creature as conservation our nature. There also some ways can be practice at house to save the environment

National Environmental Policy and the Global Success of Next-Generation Automobiles

In this article, we identify the most crucial factors for the potential world market success of different alternative car designs: fuel cell vehicles (FCVs), hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), battery electric vehicles (BEVs), and conventional fuel efficient vehicles (FEVs). We first assess which vehicle concept is favoured under which regulation regime. We suggest that the global success of a certain technology critically depends on the ability of a regional lead mar-ket to leverage and transfer its local success, through large cost reductions or the international diffusion of a pioneering environmental regulation for instance. Although FCVs are still in the demonstration phase, the US has set the stage for a direct switch to FCVs. The Japanese regulatory regime favours HEVs as the next-generation engine design, while the development of the traditional combustion engine towards enhanced fuel efficiency is most likely in Europe. Due to the high cost of FCVs and the lack of strict regula-tion supporting this radical innovation, incremental innovations such as new versions of con-ventional combustion engines and hybrid cars have the best chances of becoming globally successful.Lead market, Environmental technologies, Zero emission vehicles, Fuel efficient cars