A Study of Vehicle Fuel Economy Improvement Potential by Optimization of the Cooling and Ancillary Systems of a Heavy Duty Engine

Fuel economy is, as ever, an important factor in a heavy duty vehicle's market competitiveness. This paper focuses on a study of the engine cooling and ancillary systems contribution to vehicle fuel consumption and the potential for improvement. The study first analyses the current components and systems for their contribution to vehicle fuel consumption and then predicts the potential for vehicle fuel economy improvement through development of those components and systems. Finally the predicted improvements are confirmed by vehicle field test equipped with the updated components and systems. This study found good agreement between the prediction and the field test confirmed results.