Analysis of the dynamic air conditioning loads, fuel consumption and emissions of heavy-duty trucks with different glazing and paint optical properties

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2021-09-05

Authors

João P. Vale (Author) FEUP; Pedro G. Alves (Author) FEUP; Soraia F. Neves (Author) FEUP; Lars Nybo (Author) Other; Andreas D. Flouris (Author) Other; Tiago M. Santos (Author) FEUP

Journal

Title: International Journal of Sustainable Transportation

Pages: 1-14

ISSN: 1556-8318

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 1 Citation

Scopus - 1 Citation

Associated Projects

CEFT - Financiamento Plurianual 2020-2023 da Unidade de I&D CEFT - Centro de Estudos de Fenómenos de Transporte

HEAT-SHIELD - Integrated inter-sector framework to increase the thermal resilience of European workers in the context of global warming

SmartHELMET - Intersectoral Network for Innovation on Smart Thermal Solutions for Bicycle Helmets

SPRINT - Ultra-versatile Structural PRINTing of amorphous and tuned crystalline matter on multiple substrates

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00V-CY5

DOI: 10.1080/15568318.2021.1949079

Abstract (EN): The European transportation sector employs 10 million people and accounts for 4.6% of the European Union GDP. Due to climate change, this workforce is increasingly affected by high temperatures and radiant loads, particularly during summer. They rely on air conditioning (AC) to minimize heat inside the truck cabins, increasing fuel consumption and tailpipe emissions. Because sustainable transportation is crucial for climate change mitigation, we developed a numerical investigation on the dynamic thermal exchanges of cabins of heavy-duty trucks in realistic conditions of a summer workday, to quantify the potential impact of interventions in the glazing and paint optical properties, over the truck AC loads. We observed that the changes in air temperature and solar irradiation throughout the workday imply substantial variations in the truck's AC loads and, consequently, in its fuel consumption and tailpipe emissions. Furthermore, windshields and side windows with transmissivity of 0.33 instead of typical 0.79 and 0.84, respectively, can reduce AC loads by up to 16%. External paints with reflectivity of 0.70 instead of 0.04 can reduce the AC loads by up to 30%, whereas cumulative changes to glazing and paint can reduce the AC load by up to 40%. These interventions can lower fuel consumption and emissions by up to 0.4%. These results show that important improvements in fuel efficiency and tailpipe emissions are possible, if the research community, policy makers and industry stakeholders successfully promote the adaptation of the European transportation fleet.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 14