Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Fuel economy of light-duty diesel vehicles

Journal Article · · Diesel Gas Turbine Prog.; (United States)
OSTI ID:7315391

Fuel economy of automobiles has been an important factor in engine design for many years. Emphasis on good fuel economy has increased in the past several years due to petroleum shortages and the decline in fuel economy caused by changes in engine system design to meet more stringent emission control standards. Because of this situation, attention has been drawn to the good fuel economy of the diesel engine. To provide engineering data to better assess the potential improvement in fuel economy with application of diesel power to passenger cars, the Bartlesville (Okla.) Energy Research Center of the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) has done experimental work with several diesel powered vehicles with varied power-to-weight ratio. The experiments were designed to provide fuel economy and emissions data for diesel powered vehicles having acceleration performance varied from that typical of current production, diesel powered vehicles to that typical of production gasoline powered vehicles. Fuel economy and emissions were determined for several vehicles with different size engines and/or different transmissions and rear axle ratios while simulating the duty cycle of a passenger car. Additionally, preliminary investigations were made on turbocharging and combined supercharging/turbocharging as a means to improve acceleration performance of a given diesel engine.

OSTI ID:
7315391
Journal Information:
Diesel Gas Turbine Prog.; (United States), Journal Name: Diesel Gas Turbine Prog.; (United States) Vol. 43:2; ISSN DGTPA
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English