Date of Graduation

2015

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Type

PhD

College

Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources

Department

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Committee Chair

Mridul Gautam

Committee Co-Chair

Hailin Li

Committee Member

Benjamin C Shade

Committee Member

Gregory J Thompson

Committee Member

Feng Yang

Abstract

Since the implementation of in-use emissions standards, an outcome of the consent decree between heavy-duty diesel engine manufacturers and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), there has been an increased interest in the research and development of portable emissions measurement systems (PEMS) that are capable of analyzing exhaust emissions continuously while a vehicle or equipment powered by an internal combustion engine is performing its intended vocation. Ultimately for an engine to pass in-use emissions requirements, the brake specific emissions of regulated pollutants measured over valid Not-to-Exceed (NTE) events must be less than or equal to 1.25 or 1.5 times the engine emission certification standards, based on the engine model year (MY), plus an additional margin known as in-use measurement allowance. The vehicle has to satisfy the in-use emissions standard for 90% of the NTE events provided the brake specific emissions over the rest of the events are less than two times the certification level to comply with in-use emission regulations.;As in-use emissions measurement and regulation together form a requirement since 2004 for certification of engines, it is imperative to develop procedures of oversight similar to ones that exist for laboratory-based engine certification. Therefore, a reference data set that incorporates all the in-use emissions regulations used to quantify the measured emissions over an NTE event, including the conditions used to validate an NTE event is developed in the direction of providing a means to validate commercial PEMS data analysis software.;A reference data set was designed and used to evaluate the post-processing software of two commercial PEMS devices. A black box testing methodology was implemented to evaluate the performance of the post-processing software. Specifically, the input data set was developed to execute different sections of the program based on logical conditions required to branch into a particular section therefore verifying the truth in executing a logical condition and the interpretation of in-use emissions regulation. Also, the brake specific emissions results to be expected from the given input data set were known a priori to verify the accuracy of the equations used in calculating the final emissions results. The dataset was also used to evaluate PEMS data post-processing software developed at WVU.;The test results indicated that definition of NTE emissions performance was not in agreement for the post-processing software evaluated. Being that compliance is required for manufacturers to sell engines without penalty, it is critical that the metric by which compliance is assessed must be accurate and robust. As such, the reference data set developed will serve in identifying interpretation errors of in-use emissions regulations as well as calculation error and reduce the chances of triggering false positives and negatives that could prove costly to engine manufacturers as well as air quality regulating agencies. This reference data set will also serve in effective implementation of any modification of existing or additional new in-use emissions compliance requirements and verify it across different in-use emissions data post-processing software supplied by PEMS manufacturers and developed in-house. Test results showed that PEMS post-processors outcome were not in agreement with expected total number of 166 NTE events as the in-house, PEMS A and PEMS B returned 216, 288 and 190 NTE events respectively. The reference dataset was instrumental in identifying interpretation error in the in-house data post-processor leading to a revised version of the software that matched the expected results.

Download

Share

COinS