NOWASTE · Engine Waste Heat Recovery and Re-Use

The reduction of CO2 emissions from road vehicles is a strategic goal of the EU, and heavy duty vehicles are required to contribute to this objective in a significant way.One very promising solution is the re-use of the waste heat, which represents approx. the 60% of the combustion energy, by transforming it into mechanical or electrical energy thus increasing the overall vehicle energy efficiency directly. Depending on the operational conditions, fuel consumption and hence CO2 emissions can be reduced by between 10% and 15%. Such benefits can be higher in the case of a hybrid or hybrid-like powertrain where it is possible to store and then use the generated energy subsequently when most convenient.Heat re-use can be performed by means of a thermodynamic cycle (e.g. organic or non-organic Rankine cycles) using the waste heat as a source of energy, as is already being developed for application in large stationary applications. The adoption of such technology in the automotive domain requires specific R&D activities to develop the components and identify the most appropriate system architectures and level of integration in order to achieve sustainable costs and the required level of reliability.ObjectivesThe NoWaste Project aims to develop such an engine waste hear recovery and re-use system for automotive applications and demonstrate its feasibility within both a purpose-built test rig and a vehicle demonstrator.The key points of the NoWaste Project are:• definition of a reference mission• selection of the most appropriate architecture following an in-depth technology screening• innovative heat rejection system minimizing the cooling drag and the impact on the front end• development of specific heat exchangers to maximize the heat recuperation efficiency• integration with the exhaust system• validation of the developed system initially on a test rig and then on vehicle demonstrator based on a hybrid powertrain• evaluation of the system applicability on various power-trains for heavy duty trucks via simulationTarget Performance:• Fuel Economy:>12% fuel consumption reduction at vehicle level on a reference mission• Cost (for the OEM):< 4500 Euro/system• Weight:< 150 kg