Wrightbus showcased the results of research carried out with its partners in the Thermal Energy Recovery Systems (TERS) project at the Low Carbon Vehicle event at Millbrook held 4-5th September.
The TERS project — a UK consortium led by Wrightbus and including Queen’s University Belfast, Revolve Technologies and Ricardo — aims to reduce power consumption and CO
2 emissions in hybrid diesel-electric buses.
The Wrightbus Gemini 2 double-deck bus which was on display at the LCV event at Millbrook (4-5 September) was in effect a mobile laboratory, fitted with a waste-heat recovery (WHR) system that captures and converts energy from the engine exhaust and coolant.
The vehicle, which has been provided to the consortium by First Group plc for the duration of the project, is staying on at Millbrook after the exhibition to complete SORT 1-3 cycles (Standardised On-Road Testing Cycling), benchmarking performance against baseline SORT tests carried out earlier on the same vehicle before the WHR system was fitted.
The TERS project has sought to use market-leading technology to research, design and integrate pioneering ‘thermal management’ concepts for hybrid diesel-electric buses.
The initial project aim was to reduce vehicle CO
2 emissions by 10% through the use of WHR systems, while further improving fuel consumption.
Heat lost in the exhaust of a modern diesel engine can represent up to 40% of the available chemical-energy content of the fuel used by the vehicle. The TERS project therefore has focused on capturing this heat energy, which would normally be wasted, and converting it into useful power. The challenges are huge, but the potential for improving the fuel economy is significant.