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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 145 records · Page 8
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Assessing Total Cost of Driving Competitiveness of Zero-Emission Trucks

This file includes supporting data on modeled medium and heavy-duty vehicle (MHDV) stock, sales, energy consumption, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and total cost of driving (TCD) for the scenarios presented in "Assessing Total Cost of Driving Competitiveness of Zero-Emission Trucks". It also includes input assumptions for vehicle technology attributes (cost and fuel economy), fuel costs, maintenance costs, and the opportunity cost of charging time for the central scenario and relevant sensitivities. Values are reported at the national (United States) level for all vehicle classes and technologies. Tab 'B' inclues definitions, while data is provided in subsequent sheets.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
NASA NTRS1977

Preliminary evaluation of fiber composite reinforcement of truck frame rails

The use of graphite fiber/resin matrix composite to effectively reinforce a standard steel truck frame rail is studied. A preliminary design was made and it was determined that the reinforcement weight could be reduced by a factor of 10 when compared to a steel reinforcement. A section of a 1/3 scale reinforced rail was fabricated to demonstrate low cost manufacturing techniques. The scale rail section was then tested and increased stiffness was confirmed. No evidence of composite fatigue was found after 500,000 cycles to a fiber stress of 34,000 psi. The test specimen failed in bending in a static test at a load 50 percent greater than that predicted for a non-reinforced rail.

Faddoul, J. R.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Aerodynamic design lowers truck fuel consumption

Energy-saving concepts in truck design are emerging from developing new shapes with improved aerodynamic flow properties that can reduce air-drag coefficient of conventional tractor-trailers without requiring severe design changes or compromising load-carrying capability. Improvements are expected to decrease somewhat with increased wind velocities and would be affected by factors such as terrain, driving techniques, and mechanical condition.

Steers, L.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Drag reduction obtained by modifying a standard truck

A standard two-axle truck with a box-shaped cargo compartment was tested to determine whether significant reductions in aerodynamic drag could be obtained by modifying the front of the cargo compartment. The coastdown method was used to determine the total drag of the baseline vehicle, which had a square-cornered cargo box, and of several modified configurations. Test velocities ranged from 56.3 to 94.6 kilometers per hour (35 to 60 miles per hour). At 88.5 kilometers per hour (55 miles per hour), the aerodynamic drag reductions obtained with the modified configurations ranged from 8 to 30 percent.

Sheridan, A. E.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Utilization of waste heat in trucks for increased fuel economy

Improvements in fuel economy for a broad spectrum of truck engines and waste heat utilization concepts are evaluated and compared. The engines considered are the diesel, spark ignition, gas turbine, and Stirling. The waste heat utilization concepts include preheating, regeneration, turbocharging, turbocompounding, and Rankine engine compounding. Predictions were based on fuel-air cycle analyses, computer simulation, and engine test data. The results reveal that diesel driving cycle performance can be increased by 20% through increased turbocharging, turbocompounding, and Rankine engine compounding. The Rankine engine compounding provides about three times as much improvement as turbocompounding but also costs about three times as much. Performance for either is approximately doubled if applied to an adiabatic diesel.

Leising, C. J.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Remote sensing of snow properties by passive microwave radiometry: GSFC truck experiment

Recent results indicate that microwave radiometry has the potential for inferring the snow depth and water equivalent information from snowpacks. In order to assess this potential for determining the water equivalent of a snowpack, it is necessary to understand the microwave emission and scattering behavior of the snow at various wavelengths under carefully controlled conditions. Truck-mounted microwave instrumentation was used to study the microwave characteristics of the snowpack in the Colorado Rocky Mountain region during the winters of 1977 to 78 and 7978 to 79. The spectral signatures of C, X, K sub u, and K sub a band radiometers with dual polarization were used, together with measurements of snowpack density, temperature an ram profiles, liquid water content, and rough characterization of the crystal sizes. These data compared favorably with calculated results based on recent microscopic scattering models.

Chang, A. T. C.↗
NASA NTRS1981

An investigation of drag reduction for a standard truck with various modifications

A wind tunnel investigation was conducted to determine the influence of several physical variables on the aerodynamic drag of a standard truck model. The physical variables included: a cab mounted air deflector; a boattail on the rear of the cargo compartment; flow-vanes on the front of the cargo compartment; and a forebody fairing over the cab. Tests were conducted at yaw angles (relative wind angle) of 0, 5, 10, 20, and 30 degrees and Reynolds numbers of 3.4 x 100,000 to 6.1 x 100,000 based upon the equivalent diameter of the vehicles. The forebody fairing and the flow-vane with the closed bottom were very effective in improving the flow over the forward part of the cargo compartment. The forebody fairing provided a calculated fuel saving of 5.6 liters per hour (1.5 gallons per hour) over the baseline configuration for a ground speed of 88.6 km/hr (55 mph) in national average winds.

Muirhead, V. U.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Vehicle test report: Battronic pickup truck

An electric pickup truck was tested to characterize certain parameters and to provide baseline data that can be used for the comparison of improved batteries that may be incorporated into the vehicle at a later time. The vehicle tests were concentrated on the electrical drive subsystem; i.e., the batteries, controller, and motor. The tests included coastdowns to characterize the road load and range evaluations for both cyclic and constant speed conditions. A qualitative evaluation of the vehicle's performance was made by comparing its constant speed range performance with other vehicles.

Price, T. W.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Parametric analysis of synthetic aperture radar data acquired over truck garden vegetation

An airborne X-band SAR acquired multipolarization and multiflight pass SAR images over a truck garden vegetation area. Based on a variety of land cover and row crop direction variations, the vertical (VV) polarization data contain the highest contrast, while cross polarization contains the least. When the radar flight path is parallel to the row direction, both horizontal (HH) and VV polarization data contain very high return which masks out the specific land cover that forms the row structure. Cross polarization data are not that sensitive to row orientation. The inclusion of like and cross polarization data help delineate special surface features (e.g., row crop against non-row-oriented land cover, very-rough-surface against highly row-oriented surface).

Wu, S. T.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Implications of Automotive and Trucking On-Board Information Systems for General Aviation Cockpit Weather Systems

In this study, current characteristics and future developments of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) in the automobile and trucking industry are investigated to identify the possible implications of such systems for General Aviation (GA) cockpit weather systems. First, ITS are explained based on tracing their historical development in various countries. Then, current systems and the enabling communication technologies are discussed. Finally, a market analysis for GA is included.

Sireli, Yesim↗
NASA NTRS2002

So Much Depends Upon a Pickup Truck

An anecdote from the author's own career as a researcher stresses the importance of becoming thoroughly familiar with a subject under study, in order to avoid overlooking obvious factors. In one study he conducted in Israel, he found that pickup truck size sometimes determined work crew size.

Laufer, Alexander↗
NASA NTRS1984

Weight Control for Highway Trucking

LODEC, Inc. scales use load cell technology, a spinoff from aerospace technology, in manufacturing electronic axle scales for weighing trucks and trailers to insure that they are within legal highway limits. The scales trace their origin to the space program of the 1960's when ELDEC Corporation, then LODEC parent company, acquired advanced electronic technology as a subcontractor on such projects as Apollo and Saturn launch vehicles. LODEC scales come in both permanent and portable versions with accuracy of within one percent and frequently better.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2020

Air Quality Monitoring Case Study Using Mobile Low-cost Sensors Mounted on Trash-Trucks: Methods Development and Lessons Learned

Air quality monitoring (AQM) is crucial for cities to develop management plans supporting population health. However, there is a dearth of measurements due to the high cost of standard reference instruments. Mobile AQM using low-cost sensors deployed on routine fleets of vehicles can enable the continuous detection of fine-scale pollutant variations in cities at a lower cost. New methods need to be developed to interpret these measurements. This paper presents three such methods. First, we propose a technique to identify aerosol hotspots. Second, we employ techniques published previously to assess the generalizable map of fine and coarse particle number concentrations, to understand qualitatively the contribution of local and regional sources across the region sampled. By using the raw number concentration of differently sized particles from the Optical Particle Counters (OPCs) instead of the noisier mass concentrations, we obtain more robust results. Third, in order to evaluate source signatures in cities, we propose another technique, in which we cluster the entire range of aerosol size-distribution measurements acquired. The properties of each cluster provide insight into the aerosol source characteristics in the sampling environment. We test these methods using a dataset we collected by mounting OPCs on two trash-trucks in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Drive-by sensing↗
NASA NTRS2020

Air Quality Monitoring Case Study Using Mobile Low-cost Sensors mounted on Trash-Trucks: Methods Development and Lessons Learned

Air quality monitoring (AQM) is crucial for cities to develop management plans supporting population health. However, there is a dearth of measurements due to the high cost of standard reference instruments. Mobile AQM using low-cost sensors deployed on routine fleets of vehicles can enable the continuous detection of fine-scale pollutant variations in cities at a lower cost. New methods need to be developed to interpret these measurements. This paper presents three such methods. First, we propose a technique to identify aerosol hotspots. Second, we employ techniques published previously to assess the generalizable map of fine and coarse particle number concentrations, to understand qualitatively the contribution of local and regional sources across the region sampled. By using the raw number concentration of differently sized particles from the Optical Particle Counters (OPCs) instead of the noisier mass concentrations, we obtain more robust results. Third, in order to evaluate source signatures in cities, we propose another technique, in which we cluster the entire range of aerosol size-distribution measurements acquired. The properties of each cluster provide insight into the aerosol source characteristics in the sampling environment. We test these methods using a dataset we collected by mounting OPCs on two trash-trucks in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Drive-by sensing↗
DOE OSTI2020

Opposed-piston engine in a light-duty truck

An opposed-piston engine is configured to fit in an engine compartment of a light-duty truck without compromising engine operations or the integrity of the engine compartment. The opposed-piston engine includes an air handling system and can be configured so that a cylinder assembly of the engine is tilted. The tilt of the cylinder assembly can allow for all of the components of the engine's air handling system to be located on one side of the opposed-piston engine. The air handling system of the opposed-piston engine can be configured with a cobra-head shaped intake duct assembly.

Warlick, Jr., Richard D.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Integrated Controls for Plug Loads and Lighting Systems - Case Study: Minnesota DOT Cedar Avenue Truck Station

This case study highlights the strategies the Minnesota Department of Transportation used at Cedar Avenue Truck Station for integrating plug load and lighting systems. An integrated controls pilot project with retrofit installation was conducted from October 2019 to April 2020 and was recognized by DOE's Integrated Lighting Campaign.

integrated lighting, lighting, controls, plug load↗