Optimizing operational performance of diesel mining truck using thermal management

During recent years, various researches have been done to improve combustion process and through that, increasing the fuel economy of diesel engines of heavy truck. However, the controlled thermal management system has not been significantly employed for further reduction of specific diesel oil consumption and increase of truck mileage. Approximately 30% of fuel supplied energy is rejected to the ambient via cooling system which place massive demands for advanced design cooling systems to realize greater engine thermal efficiency. Advanced thermal management system can reduce the fuel consumption, pollutant emissions, warm up time, and enhance overall engine performance. This paper presents a control strategy which enhances the operational performance of the diesel truck using thermal management on two different real driving cycles. Firstly, the cooling system model was validated with experimental data, and then replaced with an advanced controlled thermal management system using a 1-D simulation model. A parametric study is performed using the developed model to examine the effects of advanced control thermal management system on the truck performance. The criteria for selecting the optimum pump speed, fan speed and the valve lift depend on the real truck thermal state to minimize parasitic and pumping losses and the total amount of heat rejected to the ambient. The analysis of the preliminary results indicates that the controlled strategy can reduce the parasitic losses, enhance fuel economy and reducing packing requirements.