Development of a vehicle cyber physical system for sustainability analysis

Abstract

Over the last few years, efforts have been made to reduce the vehicle emissions, with legislations and directives, such as the European Union’s 2020 Sustainable Goals and the Clean Vehicles Directive, thriving for constant reduction of these emissions. As a result, manufacturers were forced to make improvements. However, these improvements focus on the drivetrain of vehicles, such as making use of hybrid engines. With regards to buses, one area which has been overlooked is its compressed air system, with research claiming that it consumes around 24 per cent of vehicles’ fuel, amounting to around 13 L per 100km. Despite this, research is still very limited with regards to this sector. Nevertheless, looking at compressed air systems used in industrial applications reveals that leaks contribute to around 30 per cent of losses. Although these figures are not for bus systems, they still provide an idea of how these losses can affect the system. To be able to monitor the bus pneumatic system, an Internet of Things set-up was designed, which incorporates both cyber and physical elements. This would enable the user to monitor the system in real time whilst also being automatically informed when a problem occurs. Care was also taken to make the system as secure as possible, so as to minimise the risk of hacking by unauthorised personnel. The adopted Basic Design Cycle by Roozenburg was used as guidance throughout the whole design process. In order to further develop the previously designed cyber physical system, a test bed was designed to simulate and monitor the main pneumatic systems in a bus, being; the air suspension, driver’s seat and sliding doors. This set-up had to abide by strict limitations, mainly space restrictions, whilst also being mobile and incorporating fault simulations to investigate their effects on the system. The main parameters that would be measured are the compressed air flow circulating through the system and the power consumed by the air compressor. This would eventually lead in performing a sustainability analysis to quantify the additional compressed air flow and fuel consumed due to faults, such as leaks. Roozenburg’s design methodology was again used for the design process however, the detailed stage was also performed for this instance.