Conventional Truck Research Articles

Seismic response of a highway bridge in case of vehicle-bridge dynamic interaction

The vehicle-bridge interaction (VBI) analysis might be cumbersome and computationally expensive in bridge engineering due to the necessity of solving large number of coupled system of equations. However, VBI analysis can provide valuable insights into the dynamic behavior of highway bridges under specific loading conditions. Hence, this paper presents a numerical study on the dynamic behavior of a conventional highway bridge under strong near-field and far-field earthquake motions considering the VBI effects. A recursive substructuring method, which enables solving bridge and vehicle equations of motion separately and suitable to be adapted to general purpose finite element softwares, was used. A thorough analysis that provides valuable information about the effect of various traffic conditions, vehicle velocity, road roughness and effect of soil conditions under far-field and near-field strong earthquake motions has been presented. A real-life concrete highway bridge was chosen for numerical demonstrations. In addition, sprung mass models of vehicles consist of conventional truck and car models were created using physical and dynamic properties adopted from literature. Various scenarios, of which the results may help to highlight the different aspects of the dynamic response of concrete highway bridges under strong earthquakes, have been considered.

Kinematic study of the articulated trucks operating layout of turn for articulated vehicles

In this article, a kinematic analysis of articulated forklift truck turning has been made. Articulated steering systems separate the vehicle into a front and back sections, with a pivot (articulated) point directly joining them in the middle. This allows them to be rotated one compared to the other. In most cases, the turning of the vehicle is accomplished when force is applied to front section, via hydraulic cylinders thus creating torque in the articulated joint or directly applying torque via electric/hydraulic motor. This allows such vehicles to have greater manoeuvrability and flexibility compared to the conventional forklift trucks making them preferable in the modern warehouses, which allows reduction in its isle width and as such increase in the its overall capacity which is of utmost importance. The minimum width of aisle and junction allowing articulated forklift truck with set dimensions to properly pass are been evaluated.

A decision-making method to assess the benefits of a semi-mobile in-pit crushing and conveying alternative during the early stages of a mining project

Abstract A significant cost in the operating budget of most mining operations arises from purchasing and maintaining haulage trucks. Recently, in-pit crushing and conveying (IPCC) has been subject to research because of its potential to reduce haulage costs. The objective of this study is to identify early on in a project, by means of a decision-making method, whether or not the semi-mobile IPCC (SMIPCC) is an appropriate alternative to the conventional truck haulage method on the loading and hauling approaches. This method is based on cost analysis and the evaluation of environmental impacts, being successfully tested at an existing open-pit mine, where the results indicated that the IPCC was the most cost-effective option for the operation. Although the IPCC's initial CAPEX was 60% higher than the conventional approach, the IPCC's OPEX was 43% lower, resulting in a 28% reduction of the life-of-mine net present cost (NPC).

Multiple traveling salesman problem with drones: Mathematical model and heuristic approach

E-commerce and retail companies are seeking ways to cut delivery times and costs by exploring opportunities to use drones for making last mile delivery deliveries. This paper addresses the delivery concept of a truck-drone combination along with the idea of allowing autonomous drones to fly from delivery trucks, make deliveries, and fly to any available delivery truck nearby. We present a mixed integer programming (MIP) formulation that captures this scenario with the objective of minimizing the arrival time of both trucks and drones at the depot after completing the deliveries. A new algorithm based on insertion heuristics is also developed to solve large sized problems containing up to a hundred locations. Experiments are conducted to compare the MIP solutions with those obtained from different models with single truck, multiple truck and a single truck and drone system, as well as test the performance of the proposed algorithm. The numerical results demonstrate the potential operational gain when implementing the proposed drone delivery system compared to the conventional truck alone or single truck/drone delivery system.

Optimal sizing of the EVT for a hybrid urban delivery truck

Abstract The objective of this paper is to find the trade-off solutions among fuel economy and machines sizes for a hybrid urban delivery truck with an electric variable transmission (EVT). To solve the optimization problem, exhaustive search is conducted over the feasible EVT set obtained by different drivability performances. Proper design parameters for each machine of the EVT are selected and defined. Dynamic programming (DP) is used to benchmark the fuel economy. To overcome the drawback of huge computation burden of the optimization process caused by DP searching, a bi-level DP method is formulated. Simulation results show that EVT truck could lead to 21% reduction of fuel consumption compared to a conventional truck. Finally, the Pareto front of the optimal sizing problem is presented.

Energy Consumption and Life Cycle Costs of Overhead Catenary Heavy-Duty Trucks for Long-Haul Transportation

The overhead catenary truck is an interesting technology for long-haul transportation with heavy-duty trucks because it can combine the advantage of energy supply via catenary while driving and the flexibility of a battery truck on routes without catenary using the traction battery. This study investigates the energy consumptions of overhead catenary trucks on German highways and considers different configurations for the traction battery and catenary power system. Afterwards the life cycle costs of overhead catenary trucks are calculated for a specified long-haul transportation scenario and the results are compared to battery electric truck and diesel truck using the findings of a previous study by the authors. The energy consumption of the considered overhead catenary trucks is approximately equal to that of a battery electric truck but only about a half of the equivalent energy consumption of a conventional diesel truck. According to the cost assumptions in this study, the total life cycle costs of overhead catenary trucks can be in the range of the conventional diesel truck, showing the competitiveness of this alternative truck technology.

NdFeB content in ancillary motors of U.S. conventional passenger cars and light trucks: Results from the field

Research into secondary recovery of rare earth elements (REE) has focused mostly on hard disk drives and automotive applications. While REE content in Japanese and European vehicles is relatively well-known, understanding of U.S. vehicles is mostly based on database analysis. An attempt to pinpoint which components contain the most REEs was conducted on four different vehicle models including the Ford F-150, Chevrolet Silverado, Toyota Corolla and Honda Accord. The disassembly data were combined with 2017 vehicles in operation to estimate stocks and flows of Neodymium-Iron-Boron (NdFeB). Results showed that U.S. vehicles had major differences compared to Japanese and European vehicles. NdFeB magnets were only found in speakers ranging from 16 to 114 g/vehicle. An estimated 3.0–14 tonnes of NdFeB could be available from end-of-life vehicles in 2018 from different cohorts of the four aforementioned models. While opportunities for recycling NdFeB in vehicles exist, challenges are also present.

Modelling energy consumption of electric freight vehicles in urban pickup/delivery operations: analysis and estimation on a real-world dataset

Electric Freight Vehicles (EFVs) are a promising and increasingly popular alternative to conventional trucks in urban pickup/delivery operations. A key concerned research topic is to develop trip-based Tank-to-Wheel (TTW) analyses/models for EFVs energy consumption: notably, there are just a few studies in this area. Leveraging an earlier research on passenger electric vehicles, this paper aims at filling this gap by proposing a microscopic backward highly-resolved power-based EFVs energy consumption model (EFVs-ECM). The model is estimated and validated against real-world data, collected on a fleet of five EFVs in the city centre of Rome, for a total of 144 observed trips between subsequent pickup/delivery stops. Different model specifications are tested and contrasted, with promising results, in line with previous findings on electric passenger vehicles.

Comparative study on the economy of hybrid mining trucks for open‐pit mining

The mining trucks with heavy loads are widely used in open-pit mines, which are usually under working conditions where the recoverable potential energy accounts for more than 1/3 of the traction energy. Therefore, it is important to study the existing energy recovery technologies suitable for mining trucks. This work presents a comparative study on the economy of a mining truck by integrating four different energy storage systems (ESS): battery, supercapacitor, hydraulic accumulator, and air tank combining with the existing internal combustion engine to form a hybrid mining truck. First, recent applications and features of the four ESSs in vehicles are discussed. Next, the configurations of four types of partial hybrid mining trucks are presented. In addition, this project compares different configurations by the total benefit over 10 years of operation. The compressed-air ESS with full capacity obtained the best benefit under medium and heavy load scenarios, which is more applicable to the actual situations. Therefore, it will be beneficial to turn the conventional electric-driving mining truck into a compressed-air hybrid.

Comparative Life Cycle Analysis of Conventional and Hybrid Heavy-Duty Trucks

Heavy-duty trucks are one of the main contributors to greenhouse gas emissions in German traffic. Drivetrain electrification is an option to reduce tailpipe emissions by increasing energy conversion efficiency. To evaluate the vehicle’s environmental impacts, it is necessary to consider the entire life cycle. In addition to the daily use, it is also necessary to include the impact of production and disposal. This study presents the comparative life cycle analysis of a parallel hybrid and a conventional heavy-duty truck in long-haul operation. Assuming a uniform vehicle glider, only the differing parts of both drivetrains are taken into account to calculate the environmental burdens of the production. The use phase is modeled by a backward simulation in MATLAB/Simulink considering a characteristic driving cycle. A break-even analysis is conducted to show at what mileage the larger CO2eq emissions due to the production of the electric drivetrain are compensated. The effect of parameter variation on the break-even mileage is investigated by a sensitivity analysis. The results of this analysis show the difference in CO2eq/t km is negative, indicating that the hybrid vehicle releases 4.34 g CO2eq/t km over a lifetime fewer emissions compared to the diesel truck. The break-even analysis also emphasizes the advantages of the electrified drivetrain, compensating the larger emissions generated during production after already a distance of 15,800 km (approx. 1.5 months of operation time). The intersection coordinates, distance, and CO2eq, strongly depend on fuel, emissions for battery production and the driving profile, which lead to nearly all parameter variations showing an increase in break-even distance.

Energy Efficiency and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Through Electrification Program atTanjungEnim Mine Business Unit of PT Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk.

Current global economic conditions have made the coal prices become uncertain. PT Bukit Asam (PTBA) has taken corporate action by improving operational efficiency, cost control, develop coal diversification product and also optimizationin the mining operation. One of the operational efficiency programs for cost control in mining operation system is the Electrification Program. This program changed mining operations previously dominated by fuel-based mining system transformed into an electricity-based mining system for an electricshovel continue with the conventional truck. Implementation of Mining Systems with electric-based mining equipment divided into several stages for short-term and long-term targets. Electrification program consist of 7 Units Electric Shovel (PC3000-6E) and 40 Units Rigid DT (Belaz75135) with target20 Million BCM in 2017 located inBanko West Mine. PTBA through the electrification program has succeeded in reducing energy consumption by 333,861.74 GJoule/Years and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 15,058.49 Ton CO2e/Year. Electrification program has successfully contributed for environmental sustainability by reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with the vision of PTBA into a world-class energy company that cares about the environment.

Assessing the sustainability of mobile depots: The case of urban freight distribution in Rio de Janeiro

To encourage the provision and use of more sustainable means of transportation, cities and companies are implementing a variety of measures, such as strengthening the use of public transportation infrastructure and services to alleviate traffic congestion and to democratize the urban space. In these cases, literature shows that the combined use of smaller vehicles and mobile depots is a practice to be explored more deeply. This paper focuses on the use of motorized cargo tricycles alongside conventional trucks in a mobile-depot-based procedure to accommodate the restrictions imposed on conventional freight vehicle access in densely populated areas. Therefore, a new method is proposed to identify the impact on service level, emissions footprint and delivery cost of this distribution strategy. Moreover, we assess the environmental benefits of this new distribution strategy by estimating the reduction in various pollutant emissions attributable to the adoption of smaller, more agile last-mile delivery vehicles. The analyses have shown that greenhouse gas emissions and local air quality pollutants can be significantly cut by the use of cargo tricycles and mobile depots in the last mile delivery. With respect to cost, we can show that the mobile-depot-based delivery setup yields slight cost advantages over the traditional setups for neighborhoods that are characterized by low average delivery drop sizes.

A comparison of strategic mine planning approaches for in-pit crushing and conveying, and truck/shovel systems

In a global environment where energy and labor are becoming increasingly expensive, continuous mining systems such as In-Pit Crushing and Conveying (IPCC) systems have been advanced as offering a real alternative to conventional truck haulage systems. The implementation of IPCC systems in hard rock operations in open pit mines however requires different and more comprehensive planning approaches in order to adequately reflect the practical aspects associated with these. This paper investigates the impact that these approaches may have on the implementation of IPCC systems on a basic metalliferous deposit amenable to open pit exploitation. A strategic life of mine plan to provide numerous economic indicators for each approach is analyzed and compared to traditional truck haulage systems. The mine planning and evaluation process highlights the increased overall resource recovery that may accompany the use of IPCC systems. This investigation also provides insights into the issues associated with IPCC and the scale and type of operation and orebody that is likely to provide a feasible alternative to truck haulage.

Electrification of road freight transport: Policy implications in British Columbia

Road transportation accounts for 25% of total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in British Columbia (B.C.) and more than half of these emissions originate from road freight transport. We examined the potential of all-electric freight trucks to achieve 64% GHG emissions reduction by 2040. The results suggest that even the stringent regulations on fuel efficiency of conventional trucks will fail to steadily decrease the emissions. More than 65% of freight trucks would have to run on all-electric powertrains which translates into 100% sector penetration as early as 2025. We assessed the available local energy resources for mass market penetration of all-electric trucks. The results suggest that every 1% of GHG emissions reduction from road freight transport would require 1.5–3.8% additional hydroelectric generation by 2040. Correspondingly, a 64% reduction requires 12–33TWh of electricity. That is 2.5–6.5 times the projected generation of the B.C.’s largest hydroelectric project in decades (Site C). Hence, new policies are required to support diversified renewable electricity generation and low-carbon pathways. For example, carbon capture and sequestration coupled with provincial reserves of natural gas can enable low-carbon hydrogen production and decrease the electricity requirements for zero-emission vehicles in B.C.

Safety and Productivity Observations on a Billion Kilometres of Travel by Australian Trucks Using the ‘Performance Based Standards’ Schemes

Since the concept of Performance Based was first proposed in Australia, in 1997, by the then National Road Transport Commission, several hundred vehicles that used these new ‘engineering standards’ were commissioned, between 1998 and 2006, under State based permit systems. In 2006 a more formalized regulatory PBS framework was put in place and since that time the population of PBS vehicles has expanded to nearly some 7000 units by early 2018. However, even though the Australian PBS ‘trial’ is now some twenty years old, there are still many major national road networks that are yet to have access granted for these vehicles, and still an endemic perception remains that ‘bigger vehicles are bad’. In 2014 and 2017 two comprehensive studies were conducted that statistically proved PBS vehicles to be significantly safer, more productive and environmentally friendlier than the conventional Australian heavy truck fleet. This paper specifically examines the safety and productivity aspects of the Australian PBS fleet over the period 2009 – 2016 which confirms the safety and operator benefits of these vehicles.

Design of a Regenerative Auxiliary Power System for Service Vehicles

This paper presents a RAPS, namely the regenerative auxiliary power system, for the vehicle with special accessory power systems. Taking city buses and delivery trucks as examples, service vehicles keep engines idling to power their auxiliary devices (e.g., refrigeration systems and hydraulic pumps). The potential fuel savings brought on by the electrification of these auxiliary systems are first quantitatively analyzed over a typical drive cycle for a delivery truck. The RAPS is then designed, and its components are sized in accordance with the objectives of compactness and cost-effectiveness. By introducing the proposed RAPS into a conventional delivery truck with an internal combustion engine, the powertrain can be treated as a hybrid because of adding an extra battery. As a result, to pursue a high overall efficiency, a holistic controller is presented for determining how and when to recharge the battery while minimizing the auxiliary system’s power consumption. More importantly, the proposed RAPS saves about 7% fuel when compared with consumption by conventional service vehicles.

Battery Dimensioning and Life Cycle Costs Analysis for a Heavy-Duty Truck Considering the Requirements of Long-Haul Transportation

The use of heavy-duty battery electric trucks for long-haul transportation is challenging because of the required high energy amounts and thus the high capacity of traction batteries. Furthermore a high capacity battery implies high initial costs for the electric vehicle. This study investigates the required battery capacity for battery electric trucks considering the requirements of long-haul transportation in Germany and compares the life cycle costs of battery electric trucks and conventional diesel trucks in different transportation scenarios. The average consumption is simulated for different battery electric truck configurations on the main German highways and transportation scenarios incorporating battery charging during driver rest periods. The results show that in average case the required battery would restrict the payload to only 80% of a usual diesel truck payload that might be acceptable considering the statistical payload use. The life cycle costs in the examined scenarios also considering the charging infrastructure show that battery electric trucks can already perform on the same costs level as diesel trucks in certain scenarios.

Container supply with multi-trailer trucks: parking strategies to speed up the gantry crane-based loading of freight trains in rail yards

Multi-trailer trucks (also referred to as road trains) consist of a strong tractor truck pulling about a handful of trailers. They are, for instance, used in large ports to collectively transport a batch of containers between different container yards. We address the decision task where to park successive road trains next to some freight trains, so that a gantry crane can quickly transship the boxes between both means of transport. We formalize the resulting optimization problem and derive suited solution procedures. These algorithms are, then, applied to investigate different managerial aspects such as the relation to preceding decision problems, i.e., the composition of road trains, and the road trains’ efficiency compared to conventional (single-trailer) trucks.

Lifecycle modeling and assessment of unmanned aerial vehicles (Drones) CO2e emissions

There are no studies that model the potential effectiveness of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or drones to reduce CO2e lifecycle (including both utilization and vehicle phase) emissions when compared to conventional diesel vans, electric trucks, electric vans, and tricycles. This study presents a novel analysis of lifecycle UAV and ground commercial vehicles CO2e emissions. Different route and customer configurations are modeled analytically. Utilizing real-word data, tradeoffs and comparative advantages of UAVs are discussed. Breakeven points for operational emissions are obtained and the results clearly indicate that UAVs are more CO2e efficient, for small payloads, than conventional diesel vans in a per-distance basis. Drastically different results are obtained when customers can be grouped in a delivery route. UAV deliveries are not more CO2e efficient than tricycle or electric van delivery services if a few customers can be grouped in a route. Vehicle phase CO2e emissions for UAVs are significant and must be taken into account. Ground vehicles are more efficient when comparing vehicles production and disposal emissions per delivery.

Energy Savings of a Hybrid Truck Using a Ravigneaux Gear Train

The series–parallel powertrains for high-power vehicles have complex architectures. They generally require multiple planetary gear trains with several clutches. The maintenance and durability of the clutches are nonetheless not relevant for on-board implementation. In this paper, a new architecture with a Ravigneaux gear train without clutches is proposed. The complexity of the architecture is then reduced. The objective of this paper is to illustrate the benefits of such a powertrain in terms of energy savings in comparison to a conventional truck. Due to the mechanical constraints of the gear train, the control scheme of the vehicle is complex to design. A functional description, the Energetic Macroscopic Representation, is then used to organize the control scheme. Simulation results, with a rules-based energy management strategy, show a reduction of the fuel consumption from 6% to 19% depending on the driving cycles. To prove the use of a Ravigneaux gear train as a power split device, the basic operating modes are validated in the open-loop control on a test bed.