System simulations to evaluate the potential efficiency of humid air motors

Prakash Narayanan Arunachalam*, Martin Tuner, Per Tunestal, Bengt Johansson, Marcus Thern

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalConference articlepeer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

In the quest for efficiency improvement in heavy duty truck engines, waste heat recovery could play a valuable role. The evaporative cycle is a waste heat recovery technology aimed at improving efficiency and decreasing emissions. A humid air motor (HAM) uses the waste heat from the exhaust of the engine to humidify the inlet air; this humid air, with higher specific heat, reduces NOx emission to a greater extent [1] [2]. Despite this benefit of emission reduction, the increase or decrease in efficiency of the humid air motor compared to the conventional engine is not discussed in the literature [3] [4] [5]. In this paper, an attempt is made to study the efficiency of the HAM using system model simulations of a 13-liter heavy duty Volvo engine with a humidifier. The commercial software GT-SUITE is used to build the system model and to perform the simulations. The efficiency improvement of the HAM comes from the expansion of the vapor mass flow produced as a result of humidification. An effort is also made to understand the relationship between the humidified engine and its efficiency.

Original languageEnglish (US)
JournalSAE Technical Papers
Volume11
DOIs
StatePublished - 2013
Externally publishedYes
EventSAE/KSAE 2013 International Powertrains, Fuels and Lubricants Meeting, FFL 2013 - Seoul, Korea, Republic of
Duration: Oct 21 2013Oct 23 2013

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Automotive Engineering
  • Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality
  • Pollution
  • Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

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