6 research outputs found
Advanced Low-Floor Vehicle (ALFV) Specification Research
This report details the results of research on market comparison, operational cost efficiencies, and prototype tests conducted on a novel design for an Advanced Low Floor Vehicle (ALFV), flex-route transit bus. Section I describes how the need for such a bus arises from a combination of diminishing transit funding from the federal government and demographic and transportation factors. Section II describes the unique features of this bus design that render it suitable for rural and urban operation, including improved transit passenger and wheelchair accessibility, reduced maintenance, structural design features, safety provisions, and the technical specifications of this design. Section III details the potential differences in capital and operational costs of procuring and operating this bus in a fleet. Potential cost reductions due to the long-life vehicle concept, maneuverability, operational savings (from APTA Bus Roadeo tests), and reserve fleet savings are explored. Section IV refers to the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) new model bus tests (“Altoona Testing”). However, at the this time, the Altoona Bus Test Report for these tests is not yet released by the bus manufacturer, Ride Solution, Inc., as is its right under the Bus Testing Regulation. The report must be released to the public before this bus can be purchased by a transit agency using FTA funds. In addition to the standard Altoona Bus Test, additional research was conducted to determine the turning ability, suspension travel, ramp travel index, field of view for the driver, compliance to Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements, and timed assessment of wheelchair securement. Section IV also presents the results of these tests. Section V presents results from a market comparison that included the buses in this mid-size category that were tested at Altoona and are expected to be available for FTA grantees to purchase. The specifications and performance of the ALFV bus are compared with these buses. Section VI presents a flex-route utilization plan, and Section VII provides the results from a survey of transit professionals about their interest in the features of this bus design. Section VIII gives Ride Solution’s experience in developing the concept for ALFV. Conclusions of this report are presented in Section IX, followed by the references and appendices
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Dimethyl Ether (DME)-Fueled Shuttle Bus Demonstration Project Annual Report
The objectives of this research and demonstration program are to convert a campus shuttle bus to operation on dimethyl ether, a potential ultra-clean alternative diesel fuel. To accomplish this objective, this project includes laboratory evaluation of a fuel conversion strategy, as well as field demonstration of the DME-fueled shuttle bus. Since DME is a fuel with no lubricity (i.e., it does not possess the lubricating quality of diesel fuel), conventional fuel delivery and fuel injection systems are not compatible with dimethyl ether. Therefore, to operate a diesel engine on DME one must develop a fuel-tolerant injection system, or find a way to provide the necessary lubricity to the DME. In this project, they have chosen the latter strategy in order to achieve the objective with minimal need to modify the engine. The strategy is to blend DME with diesel fuel, to obtain the necessary lubricity to protect the fuel injection system and to achieve low emissions. Within the Combustion Laboratory of the Penn State Energy Institute, they have installed and equipped a Navistar V-8 direct-injection turbodiesel engine for measurement of gaseous and particulate emissions and examination of the impact of fuel composition on diesel combustion. They have also reconfigured a high-pressure viscometer for studies of the viscosity, bulk modulus (compressibility) and miscibility of blends of diesel fuel, dimethyl ether and lubricity additives. The results include baseline emissions, performance and combustion measurements on the Navistar engine for operation on a federal low sulfur diesel fuel (300 ppm S). Most recently, they have examined blends of an oxygenated fuel additive (a liquid fuel called CETANER{trademark}) produced by Air Products, for comparison with dimethyl ether blended at the same weight of oxygen addition, 2 wt.%. While they have not operated the engine on DME yet, they are now preparing to do so. A fuel system for delivery of DME/Diesel blends has been configured and initial investigations at low DME blend ratios (around 5-10 vol%) will begin shortly. They have also performed viscosity measurements on diesel fuel, DME and 50-50 blends of DME in diesel. These tests have verified that DME has a much lower viscosity than the diesel fuel and that the viscosity of the blended fuel is also much lower than the diesel base fuel. This has implications for the injection and atomization of the DME/diesel blends
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Dimethyl Ether (DME)-Fueled Shuttle Bus Demonstration Project Annual Report
The objectives of this research and demonstration program are to convert a campus shuttle bus to operation on dimethyl ether, a potential ultra-clean alternative diesel fuel. To accomplish this objective, this project includes laboratory evaluation of a fuel conversion strategy, as well as, field demonstration of the DME-fueled shuttle bus. Since DME is a fuel with no lubricity (i.e., it does not possess the lubricating quality of diesel fuel), conventional fuel delivery and fuel injection systems are not compatible with dimethyl ether. Therefore, to operate a diesel engine on DME one must develop a fuel-tolerant injection system, or find a way to provide the necessary lubricity to the DME. In this project, they have chosen the latter strategy in order to achieve the objective with minimal need to modify the engine. The strategy is to blend DME with diesel fuel, to obtain the necessary lubricity to protect the fuel injection system and to achieve low emissions. The laboratory studies have included work with a Navistar V-8 turbodiesel engine, demonstration of engine operation on DME-diesel blends and instrumentation for evaluating fuel properties. The field studies have involved performance, efficiency and emissions measurements with the Champion Motorcoach ''Defender'' shuttle bus which will be converted to DME-fueling. The results include baseline emissions, performance and combustion measurements on the Navistar engine for operation on a federal low sulfur diesel fuel (300 ppm S). Most recently, they have completed engine combustion studies on DME-diesel blends up to 30 wt% DME addition
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Dimethyl Ether (DME)-Fueled Shuttle Bus Demonstration Project: Final Report
The objectives of this research and demonstration program are to convert a campus shuttle bus to operation on dimethyl ether, a potential ultra-clean alternative diesel fuel. To accomplish this objective, this project includes laboratory evaluation of a fuel conversion strategy, as well as, field demonstration of the DME-fueled shuttle bus. Since DME is a fuel with no lubricity (i.e., it does not possess the lubricating quality of diesel fuel), conventional fuel delivery and fuel injection systems are not compatible with dimethyl ether. Therefore, to operate a diesel engine on DME one must develop a fuel-tolerant injection system, or find a way to provide the necessary lubricity to the DME. In this project, they have chosen the latter strategy in order to achieve the objective with minimal need to modify the engine. Their strategy is to blend DME with diesel fuel, to obtain the necessary lubricity to protect the fuel injection system and to achieve low emissions. The bulk of the efforts over the past year were focused on the conversion of the campus shuttle bus. This process, started in August 2001, took until April 2002 to complete. The process culminated in an event to celebrate the launching of the shuttle bus on DME-diesel operation on April 19, 2002. The design of the system on the shuttle bus was patterned after the system developed in the engine laboratory, but also was subjected to a rigorous failure modes effects analysis (FMEA, referred to by Air Products as a ''HAZOP'' analysis) with help from Dr. James Hansel of Air Products. The result of this FMEA was the addition of layers of redundancy and over-pressure protection to the system on the shuttle bus. The system became operational in February 2002. Preliminary emissions tests and basic operation of the shuttle bus took place at the Pennsylvania Transportation Institute's test track facility near the University Park airport. After modification and optimization of the system on the bus, operation on the campus shuttle route began in early June 2002. However, the work and challenges continued as it has been difficult to maintain operability of the shuttle bus due to fuel and component difficulties. In late June 2002, the pump head itself developed operational problems (loss of smooth function) leading to excessive stress on the magnetic coupling and excessive current draw to operate. A new pump head was installed on the system to alleviate this problem and the shuttle bus operated successfully on DME blends from 10-25 vol% on the shuttle bus loop until September 30, 2002. During the period of operation on the campus loop, the bus was pulled from service, operated at the PTI test track and real-time emissions measurements were obtained using an on-board emissions analyzer from Clean Air Technologies International, Inc. Particulate emissions reductions of 60% and 80% were observed at DME blend ratios of 12 vol.% and 25 vol.%, respectively, as the bus was operated over the Orange County driving cycle. Increases in NOx, CO and HC emissions were observed, however. In summary, the conversion of the shuttle bus was successfully accomplished, particulate emissions reductions were observed, but there were operational challenges in the field. Nonetheless, they were able to demonstrate reliable operation of the shuttle bus on DME-diesel blends
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Dimethyl Ether (DME)-Fueled Shuttle Bus Demonstration Project Annual Report
The objectives of this research and demonstration program are to convert a campus shuttle bus to operation on dimethyl ether, a potential ultra-clean alternative diesel fuel. To accomplish this objective, this project includes laboratory evaluation of a fuel conversion strategy, as well as, field demonstration of the DME-fueled shuttle bus. Since DME is a fuel with no lubricity (i.e., it does not possess the lubricating quality of diesel fuel), conventional fuel delivery and fuel injection systems are not compatible with dimethylether. Therefore, to operate a diesel engine on DME one must develop a fuel-tolerant injection system, or find a way to provide the necessary lubricity to the DME. In this project, they have chosen the latter strategy in order to achieve the objective with minimal need to modify the engine. The strategy is to blend DME with diesel fuel, to obtain the necessary lubricity to protect the fuel injection system and to achieve low emissions. The bulk of the efforts over the past year were focused on the conversion of the campus shuttle bus. This process, started in August 2001, took until April 2002 to complete. The process culminated in an event to celebrate the launching of the shuttle bus on DME-diesel operation on April 19, 2002. The design of the system on the shuttle bus was patterned after the system developed in the engine laboratory, but also was subjected to a rigorous failure modes effects analysis with help from Dr. James Hansel of Air Products. The result of this FMEA was the addition of layers of redundancy and over-pressure protection to the system on the shuttle bus. The system became operation in February 2002. Preliminary emissions tests and basic operation of the shuttle bus took place at the Pennsylvania Transportation institute's test track facility near the University Park airport. After modification and optimization of the system on the bus, operation on the campus shuttle route began in early June 2002. However, the work and challenges have continued as it has been difficult to maintain operability of the shuttle bus due to fuel and component difficulties. As of late June 2002, it appears that the pump head itself developed operational problems (loss of smooth function) leading to excessive stress on the magnetic coupling and excessive current draw to operate. A new pump head is being installed on the system to alleviate this problem and get the shuttle bus back in operation. In summary, the conversion is completed but there have been operational challenges in the field. They continue to work to make the shuttle bus as reliable to operate on DME-diesel blends as possible