2020-04-14
Aluminium for Curbing GHG Emissions in Indian Public Transport Buses 2020-01-1050
Major cause of air pollution in the world is due to burning of fossil fuels for transport application; around 23% GHG emissions are produced due to transport sector. Likewise, the major cause of air pollution in Indian cities is also due to transport sector. Marginal improvement in the fuel economy provide profound impact on surrounding air quality and lightweighting of vehicle mass is the key factor in improving fuel economy. The paper describes robust and integrated approach used for design and development of lightweight bus structures for Indian city bus applications.
An attempt is made to demonstrate the use of environment friendly material like aluminium in development of lightweight superstrutured city buses for India. Exercise involved design, development and prototype manufacturing of 12m Low Entry and 12m Semi Low Floor (SLF) bus models. Aluminium lightweight Bus prototypes conforms to the Indian regulatory requirement viz. bus body code AIS:052, AIS:153 and strength requirements of Urban Bus Specification.
Aluminium superstructures developed are 30% lighter compared to steel buses of similar class which has resulted in fuel economy improvement of 8-10% during field trials. In addition to improved fuel economy, attention is provided for human comfort by designing quiet passenger compartment and better NVH. Technology of light weighting through aluminum can be directly adapted for EV/HEV buses to compensate increased weight due to electrification.
Recycling benefits of aluminium provides tremendous cost benefit after end of vehicle life. Fuel economy improvement along with recycling cost benefit can give impetus for increased use of aluminium on a large scale for Indian mass transportation and that can be a major step towards greener environment.
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The Automotive Industry and the Global Environment
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