05-09-2005, 07:07 AM
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Ridiculously Active Enthusiast
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Real Name: Wayne Gerdes
Location: Northern Illinois
Posts: 2,567
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Re: Cruise Control
Hi Cdbrow1:
___The following might interest you …
Japanese Trucking Firms Implementing GPS to Help Reduce Emissions
Quote:
Automakers and researchers have been working with the notion of using a GPS system and telematics in general in transport fleets in a variety of applications to reduce fuel consumption and emissions for a number of years.
DaimlerChrysler researchers, for example, began working with an experimental cruise control system in 2002. The result is “Predictive Cruise Control” (PCC), a cruise control system that not only maintains a preset speed, but also regulates the engine by assessing driving conditions ahead (via GPS) and adjusting speed accordingly, delivering significant fuel savings.
At the beginning of an upgrade, for example, a conventional cruise control system would try to compensate for the truck’s deceleration by boosting engine output to the maximum. Then, on the downgrade the system would have to shift down drastically to prevent the truck from rolling too fast.
PCC instead makes optimum use of the truck’s kinetic energy by allowing it to build up momentum before the hill and then, at the top, gearing down even further in anticipation of the truck’s rapid acceleration as it moves downhill. The PCC computer can do all this because it has been fed the topographical data for the route and, thanks to the GPS navigation system, also knows the truck’s precise position.
There have been numerous research projects related to estimating and analyzing vehicle emissions based on driving activity The plot to the right is from some work done by GeoStats in developing methodologies being used to study the impacts of trip-level activity patterns on sub-trip level emissions rates and total emissions per trip and household.
As another example, Sensors, Inc. offers communications and GPS modules for its SEMTECH measurement systems that can report on NO, NO2, CO, CO2 and THC. Data can be provided over cellular or internet links in addition to on-board collection and storage. Location and gradient can also be provided as part of the data file for further processing and analysis.
Initial tests confirmed the estimates: depending on the specific route, PCC can deliver fuel savings of 2% or more.
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___After reading the above, I think the engineers developing this system need to learn what “Driving w/ Load” is all about …
___Good Luck
___Wayne R. Gerdes
___ Waynegerdes@earthlink.net
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