Purdue work cited as the premise for latest EPA tailpipe requirements for heavy-duty vehicles
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue College’s Greg Shaver doesn’t imagine there ought to be a trade-off between defending the air we breathe and attaining higher engine effectivity of huge automobiles on the street.
Shaver, a mechanical engineering professor and director of Purdue’s Ray W. Herrick Laboratories, is a part of a nationwide effort researching the discount of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide and microscopic particle emissions and bettering the effectivity of diesel engines on the street at this time.
Diesel engines are in every little thing from giant pickup vehicles and supply automobiles to semitractor-trailers. Virtually all semis, Shaver mentioned, run on diesel engines.
“There was this expectation even two years in the past that you must commerce off nitrogen oxide and particulate matter with carbon dioxide as a result of the work to make the diesel engine cleaner would additionally make the engine much less environment friendly, leading to extra carbon dioxide,” Shaver mentioned. “However what we’ve proven in our work at Purdue – by way of assist from, and collaboration with, the U.S. Division of Power and business leaders Cummins Inc. and Eaton – is there’s superior know-how that can be utilized to enhance these vital engine and after-treatment methods.”
Shaver’s analysis has enabled diesel engine effectivity and emissions management by way of variable valve actuation, or VVA. Heavy-duty automobiles usually idle or transfer slowly, creating elevated smog emissions.
Shaver’s VVA permits for elevated effectivity of diesel engines, additionally referred to as compression ignition engines, by using cylinder deactivation and different strategies throughout engine idling, low-load operation and freeway cruise situations. VVA additionally allows the quicker warmup of catalysts for efficient discount of an engine’s nitrogen oxides and microscopic particle emissions.
The diesel engine analysis at Purdue has resulted in vital consideration just lately from the U.S. Environmental Safety Company. In December, the EPA finalized stringent new tailpipe emissions necessities for vehicles, based mostly partly on analysis achieved by Shaver and his staff at Herrick Labs.
“Affecting the finalization of extra stringent environmental rules for heavy-duty engines and automobiles might be the best type of impression that somebody with my analysis focus can have,” Shaver mentioned.
Shaver mentioned the EPA tailpipe emissions rules will take impact in 2027.
“That’s when the engines have to begin assembly these necessities, which looks as if a good distance away, but it surely actually is not,” he mentioned. “There’s loads to do to make these engines work robustly and meet these necessities and display them.”
It’s the second time Shaver’s work has been pulled into truck guideline choices. His work was cited in landmark regulation handed in California for on-road heavy-duty vehicles in 2020, centered on lowering tailpipe nitrogen oxide emissions.
Shaver’s analysis at Herrick Labs extends again to 2006 and is a part of ongoing collaborations with the U.S. Division of Power and business leaders together with Cummins Inc., Caterpillar, Deere, Allison and Eaton. These efforts are centered on off- and on-road high-efficiency pure fuel, hydrogen and diesel engines – together with these included as a part of a hybrid electrical energy prepare.
About Purdue College
Purdue College is a high public analysis establishment creating sensible options to at this time’s hardest challenges. Ranked in every of the final 5 years as one of many 10 Most Revolutionary universities in the USA by U.S. Information & World Report, Purdue delivers world-changing analysis and out-of-this-world discovery. Dedicated to hands-on and on-line, real-world studying, Purdue provides a transformative schooling to all. Dedicated to affordability and accessibility, Purdue has frozen tuition and most charges at 2012-13 ranges, enabling extra college students than ever to graduate debt-free. See how Purdue by no means stops within the persistent pursuit of the subsequent large leap at https://stories.purdue.edu.
Author/Media contact: Brian Huchel, bhuchel@purdue.edu
Supply: Greg Shaver, gshaver@purdue.edu
