Fuel efficiency

The decrease of ship resistance is one of the most effective way to reduce operating costs and CO2 production. The wave making resistance and form drag can be reduced by optimizing the hull form, but the frictional drag remains proportional to the wetted surface. The use of air as a lubricant in order to reduce that frictional drag is an active research topic and three techniques are identified: injecting air bubbles in the boundary layer, the use of air films along the bottom plating, and using air cavities in the ship's bottom. These approaches are the research topic for the Dutch joint-research project PELS and the EU project SMOOTH, both of which have the goal of not only predicting energy savings using numerical models and model tests, but proving it using full-scale demonstrator ships adapted for air lubrication. Although decreases in frictional resistance of nearly 20% have been obtained on model-scale ships, experience shows that the implementation of air lubrication can also easily increase the resistance of a ship

Purpose: The aim of this article is to analyze the evolution of fuel consumption efficiency of the domestic flights in Brazil along the period 2000-2015 in order understand the overall efficiency of the aeronautical infrastructure in this country.Design/methodology: This article proposes a method for high level assessments of the aeronautical infrastructure efficiency (either on ground or airspace) in a fast and easy to grasp manner, using the key performance indicator of useful distance per flight hour. The method estimates the average flight time spent by the national carriers to accomplish the average stage lengths in each year of the period 2000-2015 and compare these results with the flight time baseline included in the flight planning data of the aircrafts composing the Brazilian commercial aircraft fleet.Findings: This approach leads to huge differences between the referred results and the fuel consumption shown by flight operations manuals and were attributed to the ineffici...

The scarcity of fossil fuel and Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) has made every 2nd fuel user to think on some alternative resources, or at least devise some sort of technique to overcome the shortage of fuel during CNG holidays. Thus this study covers an overview of HHO gas production, principles behind the reactions and statistical examples, observations of many engineers and observers who determined to make a use of HHO as additional fuel source. Up to now studies reveals that it is possible to produce burnable vapors of HHO gas in
result of hydrolysis of distilled water with combination of some electrolyte sodium or potassium hydro oxides. That Mixture is generally called Hydrogen-Hydro oxide mixture (H-OH) can give 25%-28% efficiency to fuel combustion if used with fossil fuel. With thermodynamics advantages, by hydrolysis of steam and using different materials as electrode, using 1.3 volt to 1.7 volt at 0.4 A/cm² the total efficiency can be increased to 40-50% to
enhance its utilization for industry use. But need to refine the misconceptions HHO gas is a standalone replacement of fossil fuel for a practical use in cars, scoters and other means of transport. This study suggest policy makers and entrepreneurs to take some supportive actions to promote HHO gas generators/ kits production because this is a low cost solution to cover the shortage of fossil fuel.

The quest for green car mobility faces two major challenges: air pollution from exhaust emissions and global climate change from greenhouse gas emissions. Vehicle air pollution emissions are being successfully tackled in many countries by technical solutions such as low-sulphur fuels, unleaded petrol and three-way catalytic converters. Many researchers advocate a similar approach for overcoming transport's climate change impacts. This study argues that finding a technical solution for this problem is not possible. Instead, the world ...

This report contains an in-depth description of design process for 2017 Shell Eco Marathon monocoque design as well as any improvements incorporated into 2016 SEM design. Apart from pure design there is a broad CFD analysis with optimisation work (using Phoenics software) done to the shell model to minimise drag. Such CFD analysis and validation is carried out on both 2016 and 2017 SEM designs. Subject review with extensive vehicle aerodynamics theory, SEM research and material & manufacture research is also included in this report. Based on that research an adequate material and manufacturing process is selected for 2017 SEM design. A valid conclusion with further development strategies is drawn at the end.

In this study, hydroxy gas (HHO) was produced by the electrolysis process of different electrolytes (KOH(aq), NaOH(aq), NaCl(aq)) with various electrode designs in a leak proof plexiglass reactor (hydrogen generator). Hydroxy gas was used as a supplementary fuel in a four cylinder, four stroke, compression ignition (CI) engine without any modification and without need for storage tanks. Its effects on exhaust emissions and engine performance characteristics were investigated. Experiments showed that constant HHO flow rate at low engine speeds (under the critical speed of 1750 rpm for this experimental study), turned advantages of HHO system into disadvantages for engine torque, carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbon (HC) emissions and specific fuel consumption (SFC). Investigations demonstrated that HHO flow rate had to be diminished in relation to engine speed below 1750 rpm due to the long opening time of intake manifolds at low speeds. This caused excessive volume occupation of hydroxy in cylinders which prevented correct air to be taken into the combustion chambers and consequently, decreased volumetric efficiency was inevitable. Decreased volumetric efficiency influenced combustion efficiency which had negative effects on engine torque and exhaust emissions. Therefore, a hydroxy electronic control unit (HECU) was designed and manufactured to decrease HHO flow rate by decreasing voltage and current automatically by programming the data logger to compensate disadvantages of HHO gas on SFC, engine torque and exhaust emissions under engine speed of 1750 rpm. The flow rate of HHO gas was measured by using various amounts of KOH, NaOH, NaCl (catalysts). These catalysts were added into the water to diminish hydrogen and oxygen bonds and NaOH was specified as the most appropriate catalyst. It was observed that if the molality of NaOH in solution exceeded 1% by mass, electrical current supplied from the battery increased dramatically due to the too much reduction of electrical resistance. HHO system addition to the engine without any modification resulted in increasing engine torque output by an average of 19.1%, reducing CO emissions by an average of 13.5%, HC emissions by an average of 5% and SFC by an average of 14%.

A method for improving inflight fuel efficiency of an aircraft includes sensing aircraft fuel weight in the aircraft fuel tanks and reading the fuel weight by a flight management system during aircraft flight ; calculating a current center of gravity position from the fuel weight ; calculating an aircraft longi tudinal trim drag factor from the current center of gravity ; and adjusting a fuel burn prediction utilizing the longitudinal trim drag factor. A system for improving aircraft inflight fuel efficiency includes a flight management system programmed to calculate a current center of gravity position from a current aircraft fuel weight , calculate a longitudinal trim drag factor from the current center of gravity , adjust a fuel burn prediction , and display in the flight deck an adjusted fuel burn prediction for each leg of aircraft flight , which is used to adjust aircraft performance automatically by the flight control system or by the pilot .

A vehicle system-level model is developed to predict economical speed and fuel efficiency of an Internal combustion engine vehicle (ICEV) and Battery electric vehicle (BEV) based on a backward-looking simulation approach. The modeled vehicles were chosen within the same commercial model line-up, sharing body panels and most interior and exterior components, to allow more relevant comparison between different powertrains. Numerical methods were applied to representative engine fuel consumption and standard motor efficiency maps in the process of grid construction and fuel efficiency calculation. The economical speed of each vehicle was obtained for constant speed based on fuel efficiency. Combined fuel efficiency was also predicted considering a 5-cycle calibration using the federal test procedure (FTP-75) and Highway fuel economy test (HWFET). It is found that the calculated vehicle economical speed differs between powertrain configurations. Model results were validated against the certified fuel economy of each vehicle model as well as with the on road driving test results. Parametric studies were performed for varying coefficients of drag force and rolling resistance, gear shifting criterion, and vehicle test weight to analyze economical speed characteristics and the effect of advanced vehicle technologies on overall fuel efficiency. It is shown that the BEVs were more suitable than ICEVs, particularly in low speed range situations, such as urban driving condition in terms of fuel efficiency, and were also more effective when fuel efficiency improving technologies reducing driving resistances were applied.

The displacement Deep-V catamaran concept was developed in Newcastle University(UNEW) through development of the systematic Deep-V catamaran series. One of the most important Deep-V catamaran launched to date is Newcastle University's own multi-purpose research vessel, The Princess Royal. The vessel was launched in 2011 and enhanced the Deep-V catamaran concept further with the successful adoption of a novel anti-slamming bulbous bow and tunnel stern for improved efficiency. It was however identified that the vessel has substantial amount of dynamic trim that limited the visibility of the captain. The dynamic trim also increased the wave-making resistance thereby preventing the vessel from attaining its maximum speed in certain sea states. This paper therefore presents the application of devices such as Trim Tabs, Interceptors, Transom Wedges and Integrated Transom Wedges-Tabs to control the dynamic trim and improvement of fuel efficiency of the vessel. All of these energy savin...

The purpose of this article is to analyze the evolution of fuel consumption efficiency of the domestic flights in Brazil along the period 2000-2015 in order understand the overall efficiency of the aeronautical infrastructure in this country. The methodology used was to estimate the average flight time spent by the national carriers to accomplish the average stage lengths in each year of the period 2000-2015 and compare these results with the flight time baseline included in the flight planning data of the aircrafts composing the Brazilian commercial aircraft fleet. This approach indicates huge differences between the referred results and the fuel consumption indicated by flight operations manuals and were attributed to the inefficiencies existing in the acknowledged overloaded aeronautical infrastructure (either in the air or on ground) in Brazil. This article proposes a method for high level assessments of the aeronautical infrastructure efficiency (either on ground or airspace) in a fast and easy to grasp manner. Thus, government policy-makers and all stakeholders will be able to quantify the impacts and recommend investments in infrastructure in a well-founded way. Furthermore, the return on investments of public funds, which are especially scarce in the developing countries, will be assessed in a simple manner. Under this scope investments and research on Air Traffic Management (ATM) new technologies and flow management techniques are strongly suggested in order to improve airspace operational efficiency

Globally, the rules and regulations concerning fuel consumption are turning strict more than ever due to the control of environmental pollution. Consequently, the car firms seemingly identify the broader portfolio in terms of component technologies that involve efficient fuel use, transmissions, electrification, and more engine power. As a result, numerous car manufacturers produce hybrid and electric vehicles with better fuel efficiency and engine power, hence this paper considers this concept and review the same. This paper reviews the previous studies that are in line with the concepts of fuel consumption, economy, and engine power in both hybrid and electric vehicles. Secondary data was collected with the help of peer-reviewed journals, websites, seminar papers, etc. The findings of the review confirmed that the hybrid and electric vehicles have an enormous quality of fuel consumption that drastically increases the economy of the fuel for vehicles and using strong engines helps the increasing fuel efficiency for both hybrid and electric vehicles. Therefore, this paper recommended manufacturers to increase production in India.

Automotive system assemblies are mandated to have increased safety, reliability, emission/noise performance, comfort and value. Carbon dioxide regulations in CAFÉ norms from 130 g/km in 2017 to 113 g/km in 2022 change in base reference is very huge in terms of fuel efficiency improvement from 15% to 30% in 2022. Acoustic optimization in exhaust system with reduced back pressure needs a systematic development process. This paper establishes a systematic and sequential optimization process to improve engine performance with high fuel efficiency by tracing out the sensitive parameters in muffler that cause severity in achieving non-complimentary and imperative acoustic targets. 1D simulation tool GT-Power integrated with modeFRONTIER is used to execute several DOE (Design of Experiment) to optimize the muffler internals. 1.2L, 3 cylinder gasoline engine performances were analyzed and plotted in different pictorial analysis charts. As the result of statistic and optimized analysis 4 dB(A) noise reduction at 1500 rpm in 3rd order noise level with 14% reduced back pressure was achieved. Adopting the optimization technology reduces development stage by minimizing the number of iterations and it reduces the development cost.

In this study, correlation between vehicle fuel efficiency and total fuel energy consumption is analyzed to support the energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction master plan in Korea. The background and highlights of recently amended fuel economy regulations and fuel efficiency labeling standards in Korea are also introduced. 18 representative vehicle groups, classified by class, type, size, and fuel, are selected by investigating vehicle distribution statistics based on market penetration and registration data sets in order to reflect and predict total fuel energy consumption in the overall ground transportation sector in Korea. Validity of the vehicle survival patterns modeled and vehicle classification rules are confirmed by comparing national fuel energy consumption statistics to the total amount of fuel consumed by each selected representative vehicle group. The latter figures are approximated from representative number of registrations, weighted average fuel economy, and average annual distance traveled.

A novel integrated multi-physics assessment of the piston top compression ring of an internal combustion engine under normal operation mode, as well as subjected to cylinder deactivation is carried out. The methodology comprises ring-liner thermo-mixed hydrodynamics, elastodynamics of ring, as well as combustion gas blow-by and emissions. Therefore, the analysis provides prediction of ring-liner contact’s energy losses and gas power leakage across the piston and ring crevices, as well as the resulting emissions. Cylinder deactivation (CDA) technology reduces the unburnt fuel entering the ring-pack crevices, as well as the emissions. It is also shown that the frictional and gas leakage power losses are exacerbated under CDA by as much as 20%. Although this is much lower than the potential gains in fuel usage when using CDA. The optimisation of the piston compression ring would provide further fuel efficiency and improved emissions, an issue which has not hitherto received the attenti...

In the present state of affairs, in order to conquer the disadvantages of the fossil fuel, it is the need of time to totally or mostly supplant the petroleum fuel. In our venture work, an endeavor has been made to decrease the disadvantages of petroleum powers. Electrolysis of water can give us hydrogen in type of Oxy-hydrogen gas, which can be utilized as a supplemental fuel in any internal combustion engine. In the present situation, presence of carbon component in the routine fuel like petrol and diesel prompts outflow contaminations which are related with the ignition procedure in the traditional internal combustion engine stacked with vehicles. Oxy hydrogen gas, which is enhanced blend of hydrogen and oxygen fortified together molecularly and attractively and Producer gas are developing as best supplemental powers in the current past. Presence of 'Oxy-hydrogen gas' throughout the combustion method decreases the 'brake specific fuel consumption' and conjointly will increase the 'brake thermal efficiency'. It is safe to use 'Oxy-hydrogen gas' because it does not hold on, however is made and used as and once needed. Along with 'fuel efficiency' engine shows improvement within the 'brake thermal efficiency' with the mix of fuel. All at once, it has been discovered that the blend of 'Oxy-hydrogen gas' and fuel rather than solely conventional fuel improves the performance of the engine.

The study concerns an assessment of the effectiveness of car purchase tax differentiation according to the CO2-emission performance of newly sold cars as implemented in Finland. This policy instrument came into force as of 1 January 2008. The effectiveness of the instrument is assessed by means of decomposition of car sales by key features of cars and by estimation of impact relations between changes in the emission performance of newly sold cars and various explanatory variables, including the imputed tax differentiation based price differences.

A novel integrated multi-physics assessment of the piston top compression ring of an internal combustion engine under normal operation mode, as well as subjected to cylinder deactivation is carried out. The methodology comprises ring-liner thermo-mixed hydrodynamics, elastodynamics of ring, as well as combustion gas blow-by and emissions. Therefore, the analysis provides prediction of ring-liner contact's energy losses and gas power leakage across the piston and ring crevices, as well as the resulting emissions. Cylinder deactivation (CDA) technology reduces the unburnt fuel entering the ring-pack crevices, as well as the emissions. It is also shown that the frictional and gas leakage power losses are exacerbated under CDA by as much as 20%. Although this is much lower than the potential gains in fuel usage when using CDA. The optimisation of the piston compression ring would provide further fuel efficiency and improved emissions, an issue which has not hitherto received the attention which it deserves. The in-depth analysis has also shown that CDA reduces the predicted CO, NOx and HC emissions by nearly as much as 8.5%, 10% and 8.7%, respectively.

This paper describes the development of an optimization-based cooperative planning system for the efficient routing and scheduling of extended flight formations. This study considers the use of formation flight as a means to reduce the overall fuel consumption in long-haul airline operations. It elaborates on the operational implementation of formation flight, particularly focusing on formation flight routing. A completely decentralized approach is presented, in the sense that formation flight is not planned pre-flight and is not subjected to any predefined routing restrictions. A greedy communication scheme is defined through which all participating aircraft are allowed to communicate with neighboring aircraft in order to establish flight formations in flight. A constraint on formation flight induced additional flight time is introduced in order to suppress the occurrence of large detours in the assembly of flight formations. A transatlantic case study is presented that considers 347 eastbound flights. Assuming a 10% fuel flow reduction for any trailing aircraft in a formation, overall network-wide fuel savings were estimated at 4.3% at the expense of an additional flight time of 10.3 minutes per flight on average. In this transatlantic long-haul scenario, a formation flight usage rate of 73% was realized.

Bringing modern energy services to the poor is an enormous challenge. Today 1.6 billion people lack access to electricity, and 2.4 billion rely on traditional biomass fuels for cooking and heating. By 2030, if present trends continue, 1.4 billion people will still lack access to electricity-only 200 million fewer than today. And more than 2.6 billion will still rely on traditional biomass fuels-an even larger number than today.

This paper reports the results of the study carried out to improve the efficiency of 4-stroke petrol engine by using a turbocharger that offers a potential of increased engine efficiency. The exhaust gas from the motorcycle engine is used to rotate a turbine, which in turn runs the compressor to supply compressed air to the engine inlet. This leads to an increase in intake of air into the combustion chamber as compared to a naturally aspirated engine. This experiment resulted in an increase in the efficiency of engine and also, the exhaust emission from the engine is found to be reduced.