| Heavy
Vehicle Duty Cycle Project
A New Research Project from: DOE's Office of FreedomCar and Vehicle Systems
(OFCVS)
Submitted
by: Bill
Knee, Group Leader, Transportation Technology; Gary
Capps and Oscar Franzese, Transportation Technology;
Pedro
Otaduy, Power Electronics and Electric Machinery Research
Since the early part
of the 20th Century, the U.S. Trucking Industry has provided a safe and
economical means of moving commodities across our country. Now, in the
early part of the 21st Century, nearly 80% of the U.S. domestic freight
revenue involves the use of heavy trucks. A popular saying that summarizes
the depth to which the trucking industry has touched our everyday lives
is, “If you’ve got it…..a trucker brought it.”
However, the 21st Century has also brought with it challenges for the
Trucking Industry related to competition, falling profit margins, fuel
economy, operational protocols, safety, environmental protection, and
homeland security. Most of these are interrelated, complex, and often
have goals that are perceived to be conflicting. One of the major threads
that exist between all of these concerns is the economical, safe, and
secure operation of heavy trucks on our highways. In order to move toward
an effective solution-set that optimally balances these concerns, a firm
understanding of the nature and characteristics of heavy truck driving
and their associated duty cycles in the U.S. is critical.
The Trucking Industry in the U.S. involves considerable use of Class 8
trucks, operates in relatively small fleets (50% of the fleets in the
U.S. are less than 100 trucks, and 25% of the fleets in the U.S. are less
than 10 trucks), operates on a small profit margin, and is faced with
considerable regulatory and economic pressures (e.g., issues related to
hours-of-operation, and reduction of truck idling time). Making heavy
trucks more efficient through new technologies or fleet management protocols
is a goal that would contribute to larger profit margins but would also
contribute to a reduced dependence on oil, and reduced emissions into
the environment. Since efficient systems are also typically more inherently
safe, lives could also be saved.
A practical dilemma; however, involves knowing what the true benefits
of new energy efficient technologies are. Most benefit assessments are
based on existing information on heavy truck operation. Much of this information
is stylized and based on duty cycles that are meant to test various emission
or fuel economy measurements. For example, the FTP Transient Cycle is
a transient engine dynamometer cycle for heavy-duty truck and bus engines.
It Includes segments designed to simulate both urban and freeway driving
and used for emission certification testing of heavy-duty diesel engines
in the U.S. Another example is the Urban Dynamometer Driving Schedule
(UDDS) which is an EPA transient chassis dynamometer test cycle for heavy-duty
vehicles. While cycles such as these are based on an understanding of
the vehicle technology and how best vehicles might be tested to assess
emissions and fuel economy, they do not really reflect real-world driving.
Despite common
beliefs, knowledge of how trucks actually operate on our highways is not
well known. With new hours-of-operation rules, recurring congestion in
urban environments, anti-idling regulations, differing fleet management
philosophies, weather, the need to deal with incidents of non-recurring
congestion, and encountering various topological conditions, only the
most highly experienced heavy truck driver has a true situational awareness
of the characteristics of driving on our nation’s highways. A better
understanding of the effects of these impacts on driving, as captured
via a field test of heavy vehicle driving would provide a valuable asset
to DOE, other federal agencies, as well as the trucking industry in evaluating
technologies for energy efficiency, safety, emissions, fleet management,
etc.
For DOE, such
data and information would provide a basis on which to make decisions
related to new technologies being developed to reduce fuel consumption,
provide alternative power sources (e.g., fuel cells and hybrid engine
technologies), transition to alternative fuels, and to reduce emissions.
In particular, a database that reflects true driving experiences across
various parameters such as geographic terrain, fleet size, fleet type,
driving environment, driving protocols, etc., can provide a rich source
of information that could be utilized to make technology decisions such
as the best hybrid engine technologies to deploy for driving environments,
or to identify which fuel properties may be most important for various
driving cycles.
For other federal
agencies, such as DOT, data on real-world driving could provide information
valuable in supporting safety enhancements for Class 8 vehicles. For example,
it could provide insight into the characteristics of driving that contribute
to inattention, driver distraction, or that contribute to various types
of accidents such as truck rollover, run-off-the-road collisions, etc.
For the EPA, a more realistic driving cycle would add more credibility
to measures geared toward reducing emissions. EPA would be able to have
an additional source of data and information on from which to draw various
duty cycles used in setting emission regulations.
Private industry could make use of such data and information to enhance
their efficiency of operations and to enhance the safety of their designs
and operational protocols.
All such needs require data and information on how trucks are actually
utilized and driven in real-world environments, the geography over which
they are operated, and the protocols/regulations that govern their operation.
In addition, much of the current thinking and research related to long-haul
and urban/city driving, is based on anecdotal information. A quantitative
profile of the driving behavior of heavy trucks does not currently exist.
A thorough understanding of the operation of heavy trucks within duty
cycles that reflect real-world conditions is an asset that would have
great benefit to DOE, other federal agencies, and the overall trucking
industry.
This project will involve efforts to collect, analyze, and archive data
and information related to heavy-truck operation in real-world highway
environments over a two-year period of time. Such data and information
will be usable to support technology evaluation efforts, and provide a
means of accounting for real-world driving performance within heavy truck
analyses. The program will be led by the ESTD’s Transportation Technology
Group and will involve two industry partners. Dana Corporation of Kalamazoo,
Michigan, will provide access to trucks in their fleet and some specialized
test equipment. Michelin Tire of Greenville, South Carolina, will provide
both standard dual tires and next generation single tires to study the
fuel efficiencies associated with use of the new single tires. Michelin
will also provide some specialized test equipment.
In addition, DOE is interested in data and information that can support
the development of the Class-8 module of the PSAT truck model. Data and
information gathered by this project will be used to calibrate and validate
the module being developed by Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) for DOE.
Discussions are being conducted with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration (FMCSA) and Virginia Tech to assess if there is an interest,
and cost saving opportunity to collect naturalistic driving data for long-haul
operations in conjunction with this project.
Data of interest to DOT might include:
- Measures of driver
workload (cognitive and physical), distraction, and impairment,
- Data related to
the interaction of light vehicles and heavy vehicles,
- Testing and evaluation
of advanced safety technologies,
- Task analyses
for long-haul heavy truck driving, and
- Assessment of
driver fatigue and the development of fatigue-related countermeasures.
The Program will
be conducted in two phases. They are:
Phase 1: Design, Testing, and Evaluation of a Duty Cycle Data Collection
System.
Phase 2: Fleet Instrumentation, Data Collection, and Analyses.
ORNL is currently funded to conduct research in Phase 1 during CY 2005.
Phase 1 will involve a number of tasks that will result in an evaluated
and tested data acquisition system and sensor suite (DAS3). For Phase
1, the DAS3 will be developed and installed on one Dana Class-8 tractor-trailer,
and deployed in a pilot-test on a selected route that will provide various
geographic and urban/rural conditions. The tractor-trailer may be engaged
in the conduct of typical business commerce, or may be a dedicated test
vehicle, depending on available funding. The purpose of this shakedown
testing is to assure that the hardware, software, and testing protocols
are workable and can be utilized in Phase 2 activities. The test will
also provide experience in field data management which will be important
factors in establishing the data repository for the field test in Phase
2. Pilot data will be retrieved and analyzed utilizing various software
data analysis packages.
The project was initiated in January 2005, and is currently focused on
developing a list of performance measures that would be of interest to
DOE, our industry partners and DOT, if they become a partner. These performance
measures will be utilized to identify relevant sensor suites. Additionally,
the ORNL team is developing an experimental plan that will be utilized
during a pilot test that will be conducted in August through October 2005.
The pilot test will involve a highly instrumented truck deployed to collect
data on a Chicago-to-Portland route. This is a classic long-haul route
that will facilitate data collection for numerous types of environments.
This field test is one of several real world heavy truck tests that the
Transportation Technology Group is involved in. Others include a field
test of Original and after-market brake materials on vocational vehicles,
and a test track test of heavy vehicle rollover propensity.
Please contact Bill Knee (865-946-1300, kneehe@ornl.gov)
if you would like to find out more about the activities of the Transportation
Technology Group.
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