The U.S. Army Tank-Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) recently completed a Science and Technology Objective (STO) to develop and demonstrate a compact on-board smart sensor system for monitoring the operational condition of in-service diesel engine oils. The goal of such technologies is to reduce or eliminate the Army’s dependence on traditional oil analysis method...

The paper outlines the Emission and Biofuel Directives relating to CO2 emissions in cars and the fiscal penalties incurred by manufacturers failing to meet targets. The effect on emissions of the biofuel directives are quantified through a test programme which measures emissions from a turbo-charged diesel engine using a range of biodiesel fuels, using standard diesel fuel to obtain a compariso...

The production of fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) from waste activated bleaching earth (ABE) discarded by the crude oil refining industry using lipase from Candida cylindracea was investigated in a 50-L pilot plant. Diesel oil or kerosene was used as an organic solvent for the transesterification of triglycerides embedded in the waste ABE. When 1% (w/w) lipase was added to waste ABE, the FAME ...

methanol as a biofuel is an environmental friendly substitute to pure diesel and can be obtained from biomasses. use of biofuels such as methanol for combustion process is associated with positive environmental impacts. using pure methanol or blended with diesel fuel in automotive has been proposed by researchers. in this paper, methanol was injected into combustion chamber of a ism 370 hd dies...

The continuously increasing demands in terms of performance, environmental compatibility and safety motivate the growing interest for optimal control in automotive systems. In practice, however, these methods are seldom used, one of the reasons being the nonlinear nature of the plant which makes the computation more difficult. Several nonlinear optimal control methods have been tested for autom...

This paper presents a case study of the application of a data-driven monitoring technique to diagnose air leaks in an automotive diesel engine. Using measurement signals taken from the sensors/actuators which are present in a modern automotive vehicle, a data-driven diagnostic model is built for condition monitoring purposes. Detailed investigations have shown that measured signals taken from t...

Safety in dynamic processes is a concern of rising importance, especially if people would be endangered by serious system failure. Moreover, as the control devices which are now exploited to improve the overall performance of processes include both sophisticated control strategies and complex hardware (input-output sensors, actuators, components and processing units), there is an increased prob...