The influence of ambient temperature on exhaust
emissions for an instrumented Euro 1 SI car was
determined. A real world test cycle was used, based on
an urban drive cycle that was similar to the ECE urban
drive cycle. It was based on four laps of a street circuit
and an emissions sample bag was taken for each lap.
The bag for the first lap was for the cold start emissions.
An in-vehicle direct exhaust dual bag sampling
technique was used to simultaneously collect exhaust
samples upstream and downstream of the three-way
catalyst (TWC). The cold start tests were conducted
over a year, with ambient temperatures ranging from –
2°C to 32°C. The exhaust system was instrumented with
thermocouples so that the catalyst light off temperature
could be determined. The results showed that CO
emissions for the cold start were reduced by a factor of
8 downstream of catalyst when ambient temperature
rose from -2°C to 32°C, the corresponding hydrocarbon
emissions were reduced by a factor of 4. There was no
clear relationship between NOx emissions and ambient
temperature. For subsequent laps of the test circuit the
reduction of CO and HC emissions as a function of
ambient temperature was lower. The time for catalyst
light off increased by 50% as the ambient temperature
was reduced. The results show that the vehicle used is
unlikely to meet the new – 7oC cold start CO emission
regulations