Automotive Experiences

Biodiesel Production from Food Industrial Waste of Soybean Oil using a Lipase-nanoparticle Bio-composite Catalyst

Sathish Thanikodi — 2024-08-04

In this study, a packed-bed reactor was used to produce biodiesel from disposed soybean oil using a lipase-nanoparticle bio composite catalyst. During the transesterification process of the ‘disposed of/used soybean oil’, different nano catalysts were employed such as nanoparticles of Ni-doped ZnO, Fe₃O₄, Alkylcelite, Poly-acrylonitrile fibres and Poly-acrylonitrile nanofibrous membrane and they were abbreviated as CI, CII, CIII, CIV and CIV respectively. In each case of biodiesel production, there were two levels of process parameters like flow velocity (such as 0.25 mL/min-1.25 mL/min) and the reaction time (20 and 100 h) were considered for analyses. From the derived biofuel, the biodiesel blends were prepared as B50 (50% diesel and 50% biodiesel) and B75 (25% diesel and 75% biodiesel). The synthesis of biofuel results, in the biodiesel conversion of cepacia lipase with Poly-acrylonitrile nanofibrous membrane nanoparticles being recorded at about 85% at a 1.25 mL/min flow rate, which is the maximum biodiesel conversion among five grades. The shortlisted biodiesel performances were analyzed by varying the engine speed, grade and kind of biodiesel, The observed results were analyzed. The B50CIV and B75CIV blends recorded the maximum BSFC at 1800 rpm engine speed. CO₂ emission by diesel is about 2.3 vol% was recorded. It is the highest value compared to biodiesel blends (B50 and B75). The emission of NOx with the B50CII blend was 220 ppm at the engine speed of 1800 rpm. Based on the experimental results, B50CIV serves affordable fuel and is recommended among those tested in this investigation for CI engines.

Evaluation the New Hydro-Pneumatic Damper for Passenger Car using LQR, PID and H-infinity Control Strategies

M. Rabie Abd - Elwahab — 2024-08-04

In this study, a mathematical model of a new hydro-pneumatic damper consists of a double-acting cylinder, two oil chambers, a damping valve, and an accumulator is developed to assess its response to vertical vibrations in a passenger car. The main idea of the new damper aim to make that the damping coefficient in compression differ than that in rebound which achieve more stability specially during cornering. The damping coefficient difference in compression and rebound can be achieved due to the presence of accumulator. Both passive and active hydro-pneumatic suspension systems with the new damper employing different control strategies such as LQR, PID, and H-infinity control, are employed to assess the effectiveness of the suspension system. The investigation focuses on vertical acceleration, pitch acceleration, suspension deflection, and dynamic tire load. The half-car model is simulated using MATLAB/Simulink, and the results for both active and passive hydro-pneumatic suspensions are analyzed in terms of frequency, time, and power spectral density responses. The findings reveal that the active suspension system with H-infinity control demonstrates an 81% improvement in body acceleration and a 92% improvement in pitch acceleration (angular acceleration) compared to the passive hydro-pneumatic suspension which improve the stability of the vehicle during cornering. Similarly, the implementation of LQR-controlled suspension enhances body acceleration and step acceleration by approximately 40% and 57%, respectively, compared to the passive hydro-pneumatic suspension. Moreover, when compared to the passive hydro-pneumatic suspension, the PID-controlled active hydro-pneumatic suspension exhibits a 64% improvement in step acceleration and a 44% improvement in body acceleration.

Experimental Analysis of the Influence of a Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) - Air Mixer on Performance and Emissions in Partial Load CNG-Diesel Dual Fuel Engines

Betty Ariani — 2024-08-04

The energy crisis and the threat of global climate change have spurred various research efforts and alternative initiatives to find substitutes for fossil fuels, improve energy efficiency, and reduce emissions, especially greenhouse gases. The shipping industry is one of the contributors to global emissions that has received particular attention due to the increasing demand for maritime transportation services. The use of natural gas is considered a potential solution due to its relatively clean nature, abundant availability, and competitive pricing. The CNG-Diesel Dual Fuel Engine design is developed with the principle of using natural gas as an alternative fuel without replacing the existing diesel engine. Minimal modifications are made to the intake manifold to accommodate CNG entry. Despite its advantages, the development of dual fuel engines faces challenges, such as increased methane emissions due to the potential for incomplete combustion. This research conducts experimental studies on the use of a Venturi-like mixer in the intake manifold to enhance the homogeneity of the CNG-air mixture before entering the combustion chamber. Testing the mixer's influence is carried out under various CNG injection durations at low and high engine loads at constant speeds. The results indicate that the addition of the mixer does not immediately improve combustion quality or reduce emissions. Attention to conditioning the homogenous mixture at the required air-fuel ratio before entering the combustion chamber is crucial. The selection of the appropriate mixer design, diameter size, and placement of holes needs careful consideration

The Road Safety: Utilising Machine Learning Approach for Predicting Fatality in Toll Road Accidents

Mutharuddin Mutharuddin — 2024-08-04

Road safety is one of the critical government transportation concerns, especially on the toll roads. With the increasing number of toll roads as part of infrastructure planning, road traffic accidents are significantly escalating. Developing a system that predicts accidents on toll roads will benefit to reduce the harm that is caused by traffic accidents. This study will propose a method for analysing toll road accidents in Indonesia using historical toll road accident data as a dataset to become a pattern to examine the frequency of accidents. This dataset consists of various parameters from three main factors that cause accidents: human, environmental, and road infrastructure factors. Machine learning technique will be mainly used to determine the most influencing factors by employing classifiers such as Logistic Regression (LR), Decision Tree (DT), Gaussian Naïve Bayes (GNB), and K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN) can construct the prediction model. Fourteen subfactors from the data were used to predict the future fatalities caused by accidents, which allowed the system to forecast the accident fatality. The results show accuracy performance on the test set with LR, DT, KNN, and GNB models, 85.3%, 79.4%, 87.1%, and 77.1%, respectively. The KNN Classifier model has the most minor error value of 0.6 compared to the other models. The study’s findings will help analyse the causal factors involved in toll road accidents and could be utilised by road authorities to employ risk control options to mitigate the ramifications.

Modeling of a PEM Fuel Cell Electric Bus with MATLAB/Simulink

John Evans Dakurah — 2024-09-18

There have been great strides in recent years in the shift from conventional Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles (ICEVs) because of the deteriorating effects the fossil fuels they use have on the environment. Although lithium-ion battery electric vehicles (EVs) address some of these environmental problems, they do not appear to be a promising alternative because of their limited range, long charging duration, and the negative effects resulting from the production and disposal of their batteries. Demand for hydrogen vehicles has therefore increased over the years. This is because, since they use hydrogen as a fuel, they offer longer ranges, shorter refueling durations, and zero emissions. In this paper, a 70 kW PEM Fuel Cell Electric Bus (PEMFCEB) which has a 50 kWh buffer battery, and a total hydrogen capacity of 38 kg is modeled using MATLAB/Simulink. In the study, two hybrid energy management systems – fuzzy logic and conventional on-off using a ‘Relay’ block – are integrated into the model. By simulating several repeated NEDC (New European Driving Cycle) and WLTP (Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicle Test Procedure) cycles, the overall performance of the bus including its total range, consumption of hydrogen and oxygen, and fuel cell efficiency under each energy management system is analyzed and compared. For instance, during the NEDC cycle, the bus achieves a total range of 492.02 km with Fuzzy Logic compared to 448.85 km with the traditional on-off system. Similarly, under the WLTP cycle, the bus exhibits a total range of 407.61 km and 362.33 km with Fuzzy Logic and on-off techniques respectively.

Design and Crash Test on a Two-Passenger City Car Frame using Finite Element Method

Randi Purnama Putra — 2024-09-18

The chassis is an important part of a car which must have a strong construction to withstand the weight of the vehicle. The purpose of this research is to create a city car's chassis that can hold two passengers and then crash-test the finished product. In this research, a development method was used using SolidWorks software and the student version of ANSYS R2 2023 as software for creating chassis designs and crash test simulations. The study's findings indicate that the car frame's measurements are 2.46 meters in length, 1.33 meters in height, and 1.39 meters in width. The steel of the ASTM A36 type was utilized as the material in the computational study of the frame. The results show that increasing speed causes an increase in deformation, with the peak deformation at a speed of 100 km/h. The maximum deformation occurs at 0.007 seconds with a value of 203.51 mm at the top pillar of the car. The deformation increases from 97.196 mm at 0.0035 s to 161.22 mm at 0.0056 s. However, deformation occurs mainly in the front zone of the car frame and is not significant in the passenger zone.

Experimental Investigation of Using Thermoelectric Coolers under Different Cooling Methods as An Alternative Air Conditioning System for Car Cabin

Ragil Sukarno — 2024-09-18

The cabin car temperature will increase when parked in direct sunlight, so the energy required to cool cabin space by the air conditioner will be higher. This study aims to investigate using a thermoelectric cooling system as an alternative to a chiller system to supply cold air to the car cabin under different cooling methods for parked cars. Experimental testing of thermoelectric cooling systems was conducted to produce cold air that can be applied to car cabins as an alternative to conventional air conditioners. The thermoelectric cooling system was varied with single and double TEC modules. The double TEC modules are arranged in a series of electrical and parallel thermal arrangements. A cooling water block using a mixture of water and ethylene glycol with variations of 0.4 lpm, 0.5 lpm, and 0.6 lpm was added to the hot side of the thermoelectric module. The result shows that the thermoelectric cooling system can work properly during the 2-hour test, which constantly supplies air to the cabin space between 20-25 °C, depending on the configuration of the cooling system. The highest COP of 0.84 was obtained when using the double TEC with heatsink and added 0.5 lpm water cooling system, while the lowest COP of 0.53 was obtained when using the single TEC module without a cooling water block.

Optimization of Metallic Catalytic Converters to Reduce CO Emissions and Increase Engine Power

Warju Warju — 2024-09-18

Metallic catalytic converter (MCC) is one of the technologies widely applied to motorcycle exhausts which aims to improve exhaust emission to be more environmentally friendly. However, even though many studies have been conducted, optimal design has not been achieved compared to other designs. Through this research, the Taguchi method is proposed as an alternative method to find the optimum parameters of MCC. The Taguchi method was chosen because of its ability to find a robust combination of parameters. There are four MCC parameters used as inputs while each parameter consists of three levels, thus the design used is the L18 Orthogonal Array (OA) which each combination is tested on three types of motorcycles, namely Moped, Automatic, and Sports. The signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) was adopted as one of the quality indicators of each combination. The optimization results showed that the best MCC design to reduce CO emissions is STD PGM. However, the optimum CO design can be used as an alternative because the difference in the S/N ratio is only -0.372. Meanwhile, the optimum CO design has another advantage over the STD PGM, namely the S/N value of the power ratio which tends to be higher with a difference of 5.037 compared to the STD PGM. Then, the best MCC design capable of increasing power is the optimum power design. The optimum power design has a superior S/N ratio with a difference of 5.404. In terms of emission, the optimum power design tends to be lower by a difference of -1.875 compared to the STD PGM.

Dynamical Behavior of Droplet Diffusion Flame of Blended Castor Oil with Metal Based Liquid Catalyst

Hendry Y. Nanlohy — 2024-09-18

The tests revealed the exceptional combustion properties of a blended fuel consisting of castor oil and rhodium liquid (Rhl) as a highly effective homogeneous combustion catalyst. Our findings indicate that castor oil's unique molecular structure makes it an ideal fuel component, and the catalyst interacts with the fuel's triglycerides to enhance fuel properties and facilitate ignition.These findings support the pivotal role of the synthetic catalyst Rhl, which effectively reduces the binding forces within the triglyceride chain through polarization interactions. As a result, molecular bonds become more flexible, providing electrons with greater freedom of movement. Synthetic catalysts induce significant modifications in the triglyceride structure, increasing electron energy levels and enhancing the reactivity of fuel molecules, ultimately leading to improved fuel combustion efficiency. Integrating the Rhl synthetic catalyst also enhances fuel performance by reducing ignition duration and increasing the combustion rate. The elevated combustion temperatures of the fuel droplets highlight the effectiveness of promoting environmentally sustainable combustion processes.

Combustion Analysis of Ammonia/Gasoline Mixtures at Various Injection Timing Conditions in a High Compression Ratio SI Engine with Sub-Chamber

Mitsuhisa Ichiyanagi — 2024-09-18

Due to the problem of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, alternative fuels such as ammonia (NH3) have garnered a lot of attention lately. This is due to its carbon-free molecular structure, ease of transport, and high energy density. Unfortunately, ammonia is not without flaws since it is considered a difficult fuel to burn in conventional internal combustion engines. To further investigate the burning characteristics of ammonia, this study is conducted for ammonia/gasoline co-combustion using a modified engine equipped with a sub-chamber. The engine ran at 1000 RPM and had a 17.7 compression ratio with two injection timings of -55 and 10 crank angle degrees (°CA) after the top dead center (ATDC), while the ammonia energy ratios were adjusted across a range from 40% to 70%. The results show that the earlier injection timing allowed better premixing between the air and fuel mixture, thus enhancing the overall combustion characteristics. For the later injection timing, the nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions decrease at the higher ammonia energy ratio due to the denitrification of the nitrogen oxides (DeNOX) process. Overall, the earlier injection timing appears optimal for the 40% to 70% ammonia energy ratio under the present condition.

Fatigue Life and Topology Optimization of Racing Car Upright for Formula SAE Electric

Alief Wikarta — 2024-09-18

This research aimed to reduce the mass of a racing car upright made from Aluminum Alloy 7075-T6 through topology optimization and fatigue life analysis. The design process included stages of meeting over-design conditions, optimizing mass reduction for the uprights, and smoothing critical areas. Finite element simulation was used throughout to analyze strength and fatigue life, considering loading conditions, geometry, and material properties. Special attention was given to critical areas to ensure optimized stress distribution and minimize stress concentration. The results showed that extreme loading conditions occur during braking while turning. The optimization process followed boundary conditions and design requirements, resulting in a 56% mass reduction from 944.39 grams to 416.43 grams while maintaining structural integrity. The optimized design featured a larger fillet radius, reducing stress concentration in critical areas and lowering the maximum stress value. The final design demonstrated a smoother structure with reduced stress concentrations, confirming the effectiveness of the optimization.

Progress in the Developments of Heat Transfer, Nanoparticles in Fluid, and Automotive Radiators: Review and Computational Bibliometric Analysis

Asep Bayu Dani Nandiyanto — 2024-09-18

This research aims to determine the development of the number of scientific publications in the field of particulate matter; the number of publications from each country that publish articles on heat transfer, nanoparticles, and automotive radiators; articles with the highest number of citations; and visualization publication development map based on keywords. To achieve this goal, quantitative descriptive research was carried out using bibliometric analysis with the help of the publish or perish (PoP) application to collect data and VOSviewer to visualize related research topics. The article data taken is limited to 2018-2023. In addition, the terms heat transfer, nanoparticles, and automotive radiators are used as keywords in collecting article data using the pop application. Research on heat transfer, nanoparticles, and automotive radiators has increased in 2020 and India has become one of the countries that has contributed many publications on this topic. From the mapping results, research on heat transfer, nanoparticles, and automotive radiators is still being carried out frequently, especially in early 2020-2021. This research can help academics determine which problems to research and can be used as a reference for further research.

Numerical Study of Surface Flow for Ahmed Body in Crosswind Conditions

Pham Van Duy — 2024-09-26

This study investigates standard vehicles' flow behavior and drag during crosswind conditions by a numerical approach. The model is a half-scaled Ahmed body with a slant angle of 25°. Reynolds Average Navier-Stokes equations with turbulent model k-ω SST is applied to solve Navier Stokes equation by discrete method. Experimental data validated the numerical results at the same flow conditions. The results indicated that the model's drag increases with yaw angles, which is connected with the development of the longitudinal vortex on the windward side. However, the lift coefficient and pressure drag acting on the slant showed a maximum value at a yaw angle of around 35° before they dropped again. The drop of those coefficients results in the moving upward of the longitudinal vortex above the slant. The complex vortex structures around the base in both cross-sectional and symmetric planes are analyzed. The skin-friction pattern and pressure distribution on the slant are exposed to understand the effect of the yaw angle on aerodynamic forces.