Vous êtes sur la page 1sur 5

Proc. ICCS-11, Lahore, Pakistan December 19-22, 2011, Vol. 21, pp.

667-673

RISK MANAGEMENT FOR CNG BASED VEHICLES


Yousaf Saeed*, Khalil Ahmed, M. Saleem Khan, Umer Farooq School of Computer Sciences, NCBA&E, Lahore PAKISTAN * Corresponding Author: usafonline.email@gmail.com

ABSTRACT This research paper discusses the risk assessment of bi-fuel vehicles having Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) kits. The focus is on gas tanks of CNG kits where two aspects are considered: First, filling CNG tanks with low pressure not only prevents vehicles for covering longer distances but financially it is a loss as well. Secondly, filling CNG tank of a vehicle at a gas station maximizes the risk of exploding when it exceeds a certain threshold level. In this paper, a framework has been defined to explain these two aspects. 1. INTRODUCTION

With the intense usage of a number of natural resources in the world, shortage issue is going to rise in the near future. As a matter of fact, alternative measures are necessary to keep the world going and to make it green. Same is in the case with vehicles running on gasoline. Natural gas, in its natural form does not smell, it is odorized to a certain extent so that it can be detected during possible leakage. It consists of about 90 percent methane. Today, Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) is used as an alternative fuel source in many countries around the world. On the other hand, it is more environmental clean product as defined in [1]. By 2010, there were 12.6 million vehicles worldwide. Pakistan being on top having 2.74 million vehicles, Iran being the second having 1.95 million, Argentina having 1.9 million, Brazil 1.6 million, India 1.1 million vehicles and so on as shown in figure 1 and is defined in [2]. Regarding CNG cylinders depletion, it gets warm when refilled. If the gas is filled with pressure, the molecules of the gas increases and rises the temperature inside; however, after a while the gas adopts the temperature of the environment. These properties also have effect on the storage capacity of the cylinder when it is refueled. Like if the temperature increases inside the cylinder, the pressure increases as well. That is why the dispensers at CNG stations automatically stop dispensing CNG when a pressure of 200 bar is reached. Theoretically, if 20 kg is the capacity of a certain cylinder under standard conditions like 200 bar at 20o C, practically the cylinder will not be filled with the exact amount of 20 kg but a bit less than 20 kg.

Figure 1 showing country wise usage of NGV/ CNG vehicles defined in [1]

2.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Regarding Compressed Natural Gas in vehicles, research has been carried out by considering different aspects of vehicles. Energy sources are focused primarily by the researchers as they are now used in each and every area. Neural network and Fuzzy control system are widely used in a number of technological aspects and known. Zhang, Jiang, Xia and Zhou investigated Fuzzy Neural Hybrid Controller (FNHC). Gradient decent learning algorithm is used for the controllers robustness and adaptability. Fuzzy Neural Hybrid Controller has been implemented on a six cylinder engine lean-burn CNG engine to regulate the air fuel ratio and defined in [3].

Robert Zalosh describes about the possible risks regarding a vehicles CNG fuel tank and pre vention. Fuel tank design, fabrication and testing standards are focused. Different incidents due to gas tanks are reviewed along with different testing methods and defined in [4].

3.

PROPOSED MODEL

The proposed architecture for CNG vehicles consist of several modules that include a Pressure Sensing Unit which senses the pressure of natural gas to find out how much it is compressed, this unit is intelligent enough to distinguish the gas on the basis of pressure and categorize it into four types i.e. low, normal, ideal and high. Low category is the low pressure of natural gas which is not suitable for CNG vehicles. Although the vehicle is able to travel when filled with low pressure but the life of the cylinder is compromised to certain extent. High category is the high pressure of natural gas. It is also not suitable to fill the gas cylinder with high pressure. It is more dangerous than cylinder with low pressure and many CNG cylinders are market as bad due to high pressure.

Figure 2 showing the proposed CNG architecture Ideal category deals with the ideal pressure for vehicles CNG cylinder. It is the most appropriate pressure considered by va rious standardized organizations. It also varies from cylinder to cylinder in vehicles and categorized as Type-1, Type-2 and Type-3. Normal category too is considered as good pressure, however, there is a slight difference between normal and ideal pressures categories being ideal the most significant followed by the normal pressure. The Pressure Management Unit includes the key Priority Unit that gives priority to the gas regarding its pressure. In this architecture, highest priority is given to the ideal pressure which ranges between 225 to 230 bars. The second priority is given to the normal pressure which ranges between 220 to 225 bars. Both of these ranges are defined in Table 2. Third priority varies and is dependent on the gas cylinder status of the vehicle. According to the company policy, vehicles gas cylinder has to be checked after every five years, however, inspection is carried out after every year. If the gas at the station is sensed as low or high in pressure, the driver is asked about the inspection status, if the inspection has been done and the cylinder is in good position, high pressure at that moment is provided otherwise low pressure is provided. These tasks are handled by the Cylinder Inspection Unit. Lastly, the Gas Flow Unit is used as a gas dispenser into the vehicles cylinder. Pressure of the gas can be find out with the help of the following formula, Pressure = Force / Area Also, the initial pressure, initial volume, final pressure and final volume can be find using Boyles law. According to Boyles law, the pressure and volume is inversely proportional in the temperature and amount of gas is kept constant. P1V1 = P2 V2

Different levels of fuel in kilogram are defined into a number of categories. The levels start from 1 to 8 starting from 0 to 480 respectively as shown in table 1. The reason for extending the level up to 8 is due to the reason that the gas cylinder is filled double its capacity by the standard checking authority over every five years. During this process if the cylinder expands at a certain position, it is discarded and if not, it is considered safe for usage.

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5 Level 6 Level 7 Level 8

Fuel in k.g. 0 60 60 120 120 180 180 240 240 300 300 360 360 420 420 - 480

Table 1 showing membership functions of fuel with different levels Pressure can be measured either in bar or Psi, however, pressures have been grouped together starting from 205 bar being low and raised gradually to a high pressure of 245 bar as shown in Table 2. Pressure in bar Very Low 205 - 210 Low 210 215 Medium Low 215 220 Normal 220 225 Ideal 225 230 Medium High 230 235 High 235 240 Very High 240 - 245 Table 2 showing members functions of pressure To represent my work with the proposed architecture, MATLAB has been used for simulation. We have taken one input which is fuel with four outputs which are ideal, normal, low and high and shown in figure 3.

Figure 3 showing input and outputs Eight membership functions have been taken for fuel as represented by different levels starting from 1 to 8 with a range starting from 0 to 480 in kg and shown in figure 4.

Figure 4 showing membership functions of fuel Again eight membership functions have been taken for pressure. The range starts from 180 to 260 bar, 180 being very low and 260 being very high which is shown in figure 5.

Figure 5 showing membership functions of Pressure Different rules have been defined on the basis of membership functions considering both the input and outputs while setting the fuel ratio to 226 bars as shown in figure 6.

Figure 6 showing the rule viewer The output results are generated on the basis of member functions and its defined rules. The straight line in figure 7 indicates the ideal pressure before the gas is going to be filled in the vehicle CNG cylinder. Normal pressure is indicated in figure 8 which is the second best option after ideal pressure. Low and high pressures are indicated in figure 9 and 10 respectively. Both are dependent on the cylinder inspection status unit.

Figure 7 showing the ideal pressure

Figure 8 showing the normal pressure

Figure 9 showing the low pressure

Figure 10 showing the high pressure

4.

CONCLUSION

CNG vehicles are used as an alternative to other fuel sources mainly gasoline. It is a good energy source for vehicles that generates less pollution, lower maintenance cost, economically suitable and is free from spill. With all these advantages, the current energy source has a downside in the form of safety risk. The proposed architecture will provide safety not only to the passengers but to the vehicle itself, gas station, people around and to the environment.

REFERENCES [1] Mehran Z Irdmousa, Pamela Singh, Mohammad Seraj, Zain-Ul Abideen. "Analysis of Alternative Energy Resources for the United States Roadway Transportation System." Systems and Information Engineering Design Symposium. University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA: IEEE, April 23, 2010. [2] Natural Gas Vehicle Statistics: Summary Data 2010 International Association for Natural Gas Vehicles. 2010. http://www.iangv.org/tools-resources/statistics.html (accessed 11 18, 2011). [3] Zhang Weige, Jiang Jiuchun, Xia Yuan, Zhou Xide. "CNG Engine Air-Fuel Ratio Control Using Fuzzy Neural Networks." Proceedings of the 2nd International Workshop on Autonomous Decentralized System.Dept. of Electrical Engineering, Northern Jiaotong University, Beijing, China: IEEE, n.d. [4] Zalosh, Robert. "CNG and Hydrogen Vehicle Fuel Tank Failure Incidents, Testing, and Preventive Measures." 2008 Spring Meeting & 4th Global Congress on Process Safety. Firexplo Wellesley, MA USA: American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), 2008.

Vous aimerez peut-être aussi