In recent decades there has been a growing global concern with regards to vehicle-generated
green house gas (GHG) emissions and the resulting air pollution. Currently, gasoline and diesel
are the most widely used automotive fuels and are refined from crude oil which is a nonrenewable
resource. When they are combusted in an Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) they
release significant amounts of air pollutants and Green House Gasses (GHG’s), such as NOx,
CO2, SOx, CO, and PM10 into the atmosphere.
The results of a feasibility study indicate that intermediary automotive propulsion
systems are needed in order to begin a transition from fossil fuels to a clean, renewable
transportation system. The Extended Range Electric Vehicle (E-REV) has been identified as an
ideal intermediate vehicle technology.
In this context, the objective of this thesis is to establish the scientific and engineering
fundamentals for the design and development of a Dual-Fuel (hydrogen + Gasoline) Power
Generation System for the E-REV sustainable mobility architecture. The devised power
generation system is comprised of hydrogen and gasoline storage reservoirs, their respective
fuelling systems, a Spark Ignition Internal Combustion Engine (SI ICE), an electric generator,
batteries, as well as supplementary electronic systems. The batteries are used to provide power
directly to the electric motors and are recharged with both the on-board electric generator and via
plug-in capabilities. The developed prototype vehicle, which used a commercial Dune Buggy as
a test bed, combined with the on-board rechargeable LiFePO4 battery pack, can provide the users
with a daily commute range of ~ 65 [km] relying solely on the battery’s electric power, whereas
for longer duration trips the use of the on-board generator would be necessary. The developed
Dual-Fuel E-REV power generation system offers the following benefits when compared to the
original gasoline ICE architecture: reduced emissions, improved acceleration (47% ↑), improved
range (75% ↑), improved fuel economy (22% ↑) and decreased average fuel cost/km (29% ↓).
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:OOSHDU.10155/39 |
| Date | 01 June 2009 |
| Creators | Van Wieringen, Matt |
| Contributors | Pop-Iliev, Remon |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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