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

João P Vale, Pedro G Alves, Soraia F Neves, Lars Nybo, Andreas D Flouris, Tiago Sotto Mayor*

*Corresponding author af dette arbejde

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskriftTidsskriftartikelForskningpeer review

2 Citationer (Scopus)
14 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

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.

OriginalsprogEngelsk
TidsskriftInternational Journal of Sustainable Transportation
Vol/bind16
Udgave nummer10
Sider (fra-til)887-900
Antal sider14
ISSN1556-8318
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 2022

Bibliografisk note

CURIS 2022 NEXS 244
Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

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