Abstract

CORREA ESPINAL, Alexander Alberto; COGOLLO FLOREZ, Juan Miguel  and  SALAZAR LOPEZ, Juan Carlos. Evaluation of the effect efficient driving has on fuel consumption in heavy load vehicles by the use of experimental design. Rev. P+L [online]. 2010, vol.5, n.1, pp.95-104. ISSN 1909-0455.

Introduction. Efficient driving is a technique that contributes to the reduction of fuel consumption and emissions to the environment, and also increasing safety. It is necessary to evaluate and quantify the contributions of such technique on fuel consumption for heavy load vehicles. Objectve. To evaluate some of the factors of driving heavy load vehicles that can affect fuel consumption in orer to identify them and define actions that help in the search for savings in such a consumption. Materials and Methods. The experimental unit was a round trip Medellín-Cartagena-Medellín, with a total distance of 1,310 km in a Kenworth T800 truck that has a load capacity of 35 tons. A 23 factorial design with two replicas was used and the data obtained were analyzed with a Statgraphics Plus © 5.0 software. Results. Minimum, Cruise and Last Gear were identified as significant factors and their optimal levels were determined in the conditions under which the experiment was made,achieving a 22,5% increment in the performance of the fuel if the vehicle is operated under those levels. Conclusions. Significant factors explain the 74,02% of the variability obtained in the performance of the fuel consumption.

Keywords : driving parameters; fuel consumption; experiment; factorial design; optimization.

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