Search Results

Because of U.S. EPA regulatory actions and the National Academies National Research Council suggestions for improvements in the U.S. EPA emissions inventory methods, the U.S. EPA' Office of Transportation and Air Quality (OTAQ) has made a concerted effort to develop instrumentation that can measure criteria pollutant emissions during the operation of on-road and off-road vehicles. These instruments are now being used in applications ranging from snowmobiles to on-road passenger cars to trans-Pacific container ships. For the betterment of emissions inventory estimation these on-vehicle instruments have recently been employed to measure time resolved (1 hz) in-use gaseous emissions (CO₂, CO, THC, NO ) and particulate matter mass (with teflon membrane filter) emissions from 29 non-road construction vehicles (model years ranging from 1993 to 2007) over a three year period in various counties in Iowa, Missouri, and Kansas.

The goal of the present work was to investigate the ability of the SEMTECH®-D Portable Emissions Measurement System (PEMS) to provide simultaneous, accurate, real-time (1Hz) measurements of NO and NO2 in vehicle exhaust. Extensive chassis dynamometer laboratory evaluation studies of the SEMTECH® system were conducted. The instantaneous (1Hz) NOx emissions were measured using a conventional chemiluminescence analyzer (CLA) and were compared to the sum of the instantaneous NO and NO2 measurements from the SEMTECH®-D. The sum of the NO and NO2 emissions measured by the SEMTECH® were in excellent agreement (within 95% in most cases) with the total NOx measurements from the conventional CLA. During the laboratory evaluation studies, several Federal Test Procedure (FTP) drive cycles were conducted. Examples of the NO and NO2 concentration and mass emissions measured using the SEMTECH®-D are presented along with the corresponding SEMTECH®-D detection limits.

Current SAE practices for evaluating potential improvements in fuel economy on heavy-duty vehicles rely on gravimetric measurements of fuel tanks. However, the recent evolution of portable emissions measurement systems (PEMS) offers an alternative means of evaluating real-world fuel economy that may be faster and more cost effective. This paper provides a direct comparison of these two methods based on a recent EPA study conducted at Southwest Research Institute. More than 228 on-road tests were performed on two pairs of class 8 tractor-trailers according to SAE test procedure J1321 in an assessment of various chassis components designed to reduce drag losses on the vehicle. During these tests, SEMTECH-D™ portable emissions measurement systems from Sensor's, Incorporated were operating in each of the vehicles to evaluate emissions and to provide a redundant measure of fuel economy.

Reducing aerodynamic drag and tire rolling resistance in trucks using cooled EGR engines meeting EPA 2004 emissions standards has been observed to result in increases in fuel economy and decreases in NOx emissions. We report here on tests conducted using vehicles equipped a non-EGR engine meeting EPA 2004 emission standards and an electronically-controlled engine meeting EPA 1998 emissions standards. The effects of trailer fairings and single-wide tires on fuel economy and NOx emissions were tested using SAE test procedure J1321. NOx emissions were measured using a portable emissions monitoring system (PEMS). Fuel consumption was estimated by a carbon balance on PEMS output and by the gravimetric method specified by test procedure J1321. Fuel consumption decreased and fuel economy increased by a maximum of about 10 percent, and NOx emissions decreased by a maximum of 20 percent relative to baseline.

As part of the EPA's ongoing in-use vehicle emissions compliance program, two hybrid vehicles were tested. A 2001 Honda Insight and a 2001 Toyota Prius were tested on a chassis dynamometer at the National Vehicle Fuel and Emissions Laboratory. Both vehicles were run on the Federal Test Procedure drive cycle. Emissions were measured simultaneously using the SEMTECH-G Portable Emissions Measurement System (PEMS) for comparison to the chassis dynamometer bench analyzer. The correlation for cumulative emissions (bag) between dynamometer and on-board analyzer were adequate for CO2, CO, and NOx, though the PEMS HC measurements were low by comparison. The measurements were limited by the very low exhaust volume flow rates on both vehicles. A more sensitive flow meter will be required to measure emissions from vehicles certified to SULEV standards.