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Hybridization of a light duty diesel vehicle based on two new different power train concepts for a parallel hybrid vehicle is discussed. The paper focuses on the design, development and performance evaluation of two new parallel HEV power trains. The diesel electric hybrid vehicles are different from other hybrids with regard to the power train. Two new hybrid drive-trains namely, a post-transmission architecture using an additional simple PGT, and a coupled PGT based parallel hybrid transmission are designed. To demonstrate the practical applicability, two research prototypes equipped with these power trains are built with the same degree of hybridization. The implementation of the new designs enables to overcome many problems encountered in the traditional vehicles. Among the various control strategies, a rule based control strategy is considered for the hybrid vehicles. The prototypes of hybrid electric vehicle are tested on chassis dynamometer and test tracks.

The need to reduce or contain a weight increase in new automobile designs is leading to the use of more and more aluminum and, in particular, to the adoption of aluminum outer body panels in a number of volume production vehicles. This has been made possible by improvements in the properties of heat treatable aluminum sheet materials and also from a better understanding of the issues related to part design and manufacturing. The alloy AA6111 has become the material of choice due to its unique combination of formability and paint bake strengthening and is used, for example, in the deck lids of the current Ford Crown Victoria, Grand Marquis and Taurus/Sable models. A modified process for this alloy has now been developed which significantly increases its paint bake strengthening and can be used either to obtain even better dent resistance or to reduce the gauge and hence obtain cost and weight savings.

Thermal destruction of municipal solid waste (MSW) can provide an effective solution for the volume reduction of waste and energy recovery. Effective thermal destruction of waste depends on several factors including the operating temperature, excess air, heating rate, as well as physical and chemical properties, feed size and moisture content of the waste. Different processes associated with thermal destruction of waste have been identified. Prominent thermal destruction processes evaluated in this study include: pyrolysis, gasification and combustion. The kinetics and thermochemical analysis of these processes has been carried out. It is found that the maximum operating temperature and heating rate to which the waste is subjected determines the operational regime of a particular thermal destruction system. The thermal destruction systems evaluated are: rotary kiln, mass burn incinerators, fluidized beds, electrically heated reactors and plasma arc reactors.

This paper provides the initial steps in the overall design and implementation of a control system that utilizes optical sensors to monitor individual burners in a furnace system. The key component of such a system is the optical sensor, which produces a signal that corresponds to the air-to-fuel ratio for the given flame. A single propane or natural gas fueled flame was monitored with a single optical sensor responsive to emission wavelengths between approximately 350 to 1100 nm. Air or fuel flow was controlled in order to shift the air/fuel ratio from fuel-lean to fuel-rich and back to fuel-lean. Results show that when the optical sensor was correctly positioned its normalized output voltage had a pronounced peak value that occurred very close to the stoichiometric air/fuel ratio. The normalized response decreased by approximately 30% at equivalence ratios of 0.8 and 1.25.

A mathematical model based on turbulent gas jet theory was used to study spray-swirl interaction in direct injection diesel engine. Vectorial approach was used to predict the momentum change in two directions (i) along the spray centre-line and (ii) normal to the centre-line. Effect of changes in air density and swirl velocity during compression was accounted for. Effect of different injection parameters viz. nozzle size, injection rates, duration of injection, shape of injection rate curve, location of injector in the cylinder head and spray angle was studied on spray penetration, spread, air entrainment and momentum ratio of spray to air etc. Initial rate of injection and mass averaged injection pressure play significant role in air-fuel mixing for spray injected from side of the cylinder, whereas the initial rate of injection dominates the mixing for central injection. Nozzle orifice size does affect fuel-air mixing but it is predominantly controlled by the injection pressure.