This content is not included in
your SAE MOBILUS subscription, or you are not logged in.
A Fuel Quality Sensor for Fuel Cell Vehicles, Natural Gas Vehicles, and Variable Gaseous Fuel Vehicles
Technical Paper
2005-01-3770
ISSN: 0148-7191, e-ISSN: 2688-3627
Annotation ability available
Sector:
Language:
English
Abstract
There are many possible applications for the discrete acoustic wave and phase detection (DAWPD) sound speed sensor. The DAWPD sensor is a compact sensor that measures the sound speed of gases. The sound speed of gaseous fuels can be related to various properties of a fuel including composition. A sound speed sensor can be used as a fuel quality sensor in natural gas vehicles (NGVs), variable gaseous fuel (VGF) vehicles (a VGF vehicle uses a mixture of hydrogen and natural gas fuel), and proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell vehicles (FCVs). In a NGV the DAWPD sensor can be used to measure the methane number, Wobbe number, and hydrogen-to-carbon ratio of the natural gas. The DAWPD sensor can also be used to find the composition of the fuel used in VGF vehicles. In PEM fuel cell vehicles small amounts of CO (>25 ppm) can poison the fuel cell. The DAWPD sensor can measure the amount of CO in the hydrogen fuel in order to control the fuel reforming process. For all three applications the DAWPD sensor can be used in conjunction with a feed-forward control system to optimize the performance of the vehicles. This paper presents the theory relating the sound speed of gaseous fuels to the property of interest for each powertrain. Experimental results are presented for measurements of nitrogen/methane mixtures (representative of natural gas) and methane/hydrogen mixtures as used in NGV and VGF vehicles, respectively. The experimental results show that the DAWPD sensor has adequate accuracy for use in NGV and VGF vehicles. Theoretical results show that the DAWPD sensor also has adequate accuracy for PEM FCVs.
Recommended Content
Authors
Citation
Olfert, J. and Checkel, M., "A Fuel Quality Sensor for Fuel Cell Vehicles, Natural Gas Vehicles, and Variable Gaseous Fuel Vehicles," SAE Technical Paper 2005-01-3770, 2005, https://doi.org/10.4271/2005-01-3770.Also In
References
- Olfert J. S. “The Development of an Ultrasonic Sensor for Automotive Use,” University of Alberta 2003
- Colgate S. O. Sona C. F. Reed K. R. Sivaraman A. “Experimental Ideal Gas Reference State Heat Capacities of Gases and Vapors,” J. Chem. Eng. Data 35 1 5 1990
- Labes P. Daridon J. L. Lagourette B. Saint-Guirons H. “Measurement and Prediction of Ultrasonic Speed Under High Pressure in Natural Gases,” International Journal of Thermodynamics 15 5 803 819 1994
- Estrada-Alexanders A. F. Trusler J. P. M. “The Speed of Sound and Derived Thermodynamic Properties of Ethane at Temperatures Between 200 K and 450 K and Pressures up to 10.5 MPa,” J. Chem. Thermodynamics 29 991 1015 1997
- Gadon J. L. “Essai de repartition des reserves gazieres par composition des gaz,” Revue de L'Institut du Petrole 42 6 1987
- Liss W. Thrasher W. Steinmetz G. Attari A. Chowdiah P. “Variability of natural gas composition in select major metropolitan areas of the united states,” Gas Research Institute 1992
- Chai-anun W. T. “Existing and year 2001-2006 gas composition forecast.” 2002 Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT)
- Schaedel S. Czachorski M. Rowley P. Richards M. Shikari Y. “Gas composition issues and implications for natural gas vehicles and fueling stations,” Gas Research Institute 1996
- Kubesh J. King S. R. Liss W. E. “Effect of gas composition on octane number of natural gas fuels,” Society of Automotive Engineers 1992 SAE Paper 922359
- Klimstra J. Wolting H. R. “Quality aspects of natural gas as an engine fuel,” in Proceedings of the Congress of “Gas Quality - Specification and Measurement of Physical and Chemical Properties of Natural Gas” Groningen, The Netherlands April 22-25 1986
- Klimstra J. “Interchangeability of gaseous fuels the importance of the wobbe-index,” Society of Automotive Engineers 1986 SAE Paper 861578
- Liss W. E. Moulton D. S. “Effect of propane air on NGVs and vehicle fueling stations,” Gas Research Institute 1994
- King S. R. “The impact of natural gas composition on fuel metering and engine operational characteristics,” Society of Automotive Engineers 1992 SAE Paper 920593
- Callahan T. J. Ryan T. W. III Buckingham J. P. Kakockzi R. J. Sorge G. “Engine knock rating of natural gases - Expanding the methane number database,” 1996 ASME Fall Technical Conference 4 1996
- Ryan T. III Callahan T. J. King S. R. “Engine knock rating of natural gases - Methane number,” Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power 115 769 776 1993
- “LNG and propane-air peakshaving storage and deliverability,” American Gas Association 1990
- Czerwinski J. Comte P. “Influences of gas quality on a natural gas engine,” Society of Automotive Engineers 2001 SAE Paper 2001-01-1194
- Huebler J. E. Blazek C. F. “An evaluation of sensors of NGV and fueling station applications,” Gas Research Institute 1993
- Bonne U. “Sensing fuel properties with thermal microsensors,” International Society for Optical Engineering 2722 1996
- Lueptow R. M. Phillips S. Oczkowski M. “Acoustic natural gas fuel quality sensor,” Society of Automotive Engineers 1995 SAE Paper 950529
- Lueptow R. M. Phillips S. “Acoustic sensor for determining combustion properties of natural gas,” Meas. Sci. Technol. 5 1375 1381 1994
- DeLuchi M. A. “Hydrogen vehicles: an evaluation of fuel storage, performance, safety, environmental impacts, and cost,” International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 14 2 81 130 1989
- Norbeck J. M. Hydrogen Fuel for Surface Transportation Society of Automotive Engineers 1996
- Kukkonen C. A. “Hydrogen as an alternative automotive fuel: 1993 update,” Society of Automotive Engineers 1994 SAE Paper 940766
- Van Blarigan P. “Development of a hydrogen fueled internal combustion engine designed for single speed/power operation,” SAE Future Transportation Technology Conference, 1996. SAE Paper 961960
- Hoekstra R. L. Collier K. Mulligan N. “Demonstration of hydrogen mixed gas vehicles,” Proceedings of the 10th World Hydrogen Energy Conference 1781 1796 1994
- Hoekstra R. L. Collier K. Mulligan N. Chew L. “Experimental study of a clean burning vehicle fuel,” International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 20 9 737 745 1995
- Hoekstra R. L. Van Blarigan P. Mulligan N. “NOx emissions and efficiency of hydrogen, natural gas, and hydrogen/natural gas blended fuels,” Society of Automotive Engineers 1996 SAE Paper 961103
- Sierens R. Rosseel E. “Variable composition hydrogen / natural gas mixtures for increased engine efficiency and decreased emissions,” ASME 1998 Spring Technical Conference 30-3 1998
- Norbeck J. Heffel J. W. Park C. S. Scott P. B. “Development of a variable gaseous fuels engine to facilitate penetration of hydrogen in the transportation sector,” California Energy Commission 1999
- Heffel J. W. Norbeck J. M. Park C. S. Scott P. B. “Development of a variable blend hydrogen natural gas internal combustion engine. part 1 sensor development,” SAE Future Transportation Technology Conference, 1999. SAE Paper 1999-01-2899
- Oetjen H. F. Schmidt V. M. Stimming U. Trila F. “Performance Data of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell using H 2 /CO as fuel gas,” J. Electochem. Soc. 143 12 3838 3842 1996
- Straz K. A. Auer E. Baumann F. Lehmann Th. Wieland S. Zuber R. “Advanced catalyst systems for mobile PEMFC applications - The challenge of carbon monoxide,” SAE Paper 2000-01-0013
- Li Q. He R. Gao J. A. Jensen J. O. Bjerrum N. J. “The CO poisoning effect in PEMFCs operational at temperatures up to 200°C,” J. Electrochem. Soc. 150 12 A1599 A1605 2003
- US Department of Energy “Hydrogen, Fuel Cells & Infrastructure Technologies Program - Multi-Year Research, Development and Demonstration Plan: Planned program activities for 2003-2010” http://www.eere.doe.gov/hydrogenandfuelcells/mypp/
- Blitz J. Fundamentals of Ultrasonics Butterworth and Co. 1963