Fuel as secondary refrigerant on LPG fuelled vehicle: A thermodynamics analysis

Abstract

In LPG-fuelled vehicles, there is a potential cooling from LPG evaporation in the fuel line. Cooling power is obtained without reducing the caloric value of the fuel supplied to the engine. Thus, LPG functions like a refrigerant before it is burned in the combustion chamber. Consequently, there is a change in fuel efficiency. Therefore, this paper presents a new thermodynamic analysis of LPG-fuelled vehicles by harvesting cooling power in the fuel line. The research was conducted by simulating LPG mass flow rates of 1-6 g/s on 1998 cm3 engine which represent the fuel consumption of passenger cars. The total fuel efficiency is calculated by summing the indicated thermal power added by cooling power to the fuel energy supplied. The results show that the cooling power from the fuel line can increase the total fuel efficiency of 3.16%.