Reducing the energy consumption and emissions of heavy goods vehicles using kinetic energy recovery systems
As part of Energy Futures Lab‘s daytime seminar series Dr Daniel Ainalis of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering discusses his work on energy recovery systems for heavy goods vehicles.
Abstract
The Climate Change Act of 2008 commits the UK to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% relative to 1990 levels by 2050. The transport sector is a significant contributor of greenhouse gas emissions, with heavy goods vehicles and buses alone producing 4% of this total. Despite efforts to reduce the environmental impact of heavy goods vehicles, an emissions reduction of only 10% was observed between 1990 and 2015.
These vehicles also emit pollutants that significantly impact the health of residents, particularly in urban areas. With global freight volumes predicted to increase 70% by 2030 according to the World Bank, there is an increasingly pressing need to decarbonise heavy goods vehicles.
One potential solution is the electrification of vehicles, with technology advancing rapidly for passenger and light duty vehicles. It is, however, far more difficult to electrify heavy duty vehicles due to their considerable capacity and range requirements.
An alternative approach for reducing the environmental impact and energy consumption of heavy goods vehicles is through the use of a kinetic energy recovery system, which recovers some of the energy normally lost during braking. These systems can reduce emissions and increase fuel efficiency by up to 30% depending on the vehicle type, load conditions, and drive cycle.
As part of an Innovate UK funded project, the technical and economic feasibility of a retrofitted kinetic energy recovery systems for heavy goods vehicles are being evaluated via real-world operational testing (12 months), controlled emissions and fuel tests, and numerical modelling.
Biography
Dr Daniel Ainalis is a Research Associate in the Centre for Transport Studies at Imperial College London and works across the Transport & Environment Laboratory and Transport Systems & Logistics Laboratory on alternative vehicle technologies and strategies to reduce energy consumption and emissions.
Daniel has expertise in vehicle dynamics, vehicle telematics acquisition and analysis, road roughness measurement, analysis and simulation, signal processing, and mechanical vibrations. He obtained his PhD at Victoria University in vehicle dynamics and distribution vibrations.
Venue
The talk will be held in Room 611 of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (building 16 On the campus map). The room is known as the Gabor Suite.
If you are entering the building from Dalby Court/through the building’s main entrance take the lift to the sixth floor, turn right through the double doors and it is near the end on your left hand side.