<p style="text-align: justify">Petrol vapor emissions are the main source of pollution for&nbsp;both standard and hybrid vehicles. It is mainly generated by&nbsp;gasoline evaporation from the fuel tank of both running and&nbsp;parked vehicles; it is mostly driven by fuel temperature variation&nbsp;due to daily temperature changes (if parked) and heat from&nbsp;engine (if running). To prevent its dispersion in the environment,&nbsp;the vapor generated in the fuel tank is usually stored in a carbon&nbsp;canister filter that must be periodically “purged” in order to prevent&nbsp;its saturation, by venting it to the intake manifold. Canister&nbsp;management, made by the Engine Control Unit (ECU), becomes&nbsp;even more critical for hybrid-electric vehicles because thermal&nbsp;engine is often off, thus purging cannot take place. A pressurized&nbsp;fuel tank is often used for hybrid applications, to further isolate&nbsp;vapor from environment, making the fuel system even more&nbsp;complex to model. System design optimization is usually based&nbsp;on experience and experimental correlations, which require time&nbsp;and cost. Thus, comes the need for a comprehensive predictive&nbsp;model useful for both vehicle components (fuel tank and carbon&nbsp;canister) and ECU software design.<br>
A 0D Matlab®model is proposed, which is able to predict&nbsp;vapor generation from an arbitrary tank in standard and arbitrary<br>
thermal cycles, with arbitrary tank capacity, geometry&nbsp;and construction and at different filling levels. It is based on a&nbsp;system of thermo-fluid-dynamic differential equations and semiempirical&nbsp;correlations that is iteratively solved in time. Model&nbsp;calibration has been performed by using a small size test tank&nbsp;and validation has been completed on full size tanks for both&nbsp;standard and hybrid-electric applications. The main driving&nbsp;force for vapor generation has been shown to be the amount of&nbsp;empty volume on top of the tank; other significant effects come&nbsp;from tank volume, material, external surface as well as fuel properties.&nbsp;On-going work is to develop and integrate a carbon canister&nbsp;loading/purging model, with the aim to build a full model of&nbsp;the vapor system.</p>

0D Modeling of Fuel Tank for Vapor Generation

Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/FEDSM/FEDSM2021/volume/85284

ASME 2021 Fluids Engineering Division Summer Meeting (FEDSM2021)

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