A REVIEW OF AUTOMOBILE WASTE HEAT

RECOVERY SYSTEM
Prof. Murtaza Dholkawala1, Mr. Ahire Durgesh Vijay2
1
Sr.Assistant Professor, 2Student Department of Mechanical Engineering,
MIT Academy of Engineering, Alandi (D), Pune, (India)

ABSTRACT
Waste heat to a productive work. The objectives of this report are describing current waste heat recovery
practices in automobile and providing an overview of conventional and developing heat recovery technologies.
Thermodynamic limitations on equipment or processes and equipment inefficiencies are mainly responsible
for the waste heat losses. The I.C engine does not efficiently convert fuel energy into mechanical energy.
A major part of this energy is dissipated as heat in the coolant and exhaust. The d ema nd fo r
d e v e l o p m e n t o f efficient vehicles has led us to find various ways to utilize waste heat from the I.C Engine
to increase vehicle fuel economy. Numerous technologies are available for converting.

Keyword: Waste Heat Recovery, Organic Rankine Cycle, Thermoelectric Generator,

Absorption Cooling.

I. INTRODUCTION
Waste heat can be defined as a heat which is generated in a system or a process by combustion or chemical
reaction and then released into the environment even though it could be reused for some useful purpose. Large
amount waste heat is generated in industries and vehicles.A considerable amount of fuel could be saved, if we
could recover some of this heat. The energy lost cannot be fully recovered. However, some of the heat could be
recovered and losses can be minimized. New technologies can recover waste heat more efficiently from these
sources. Basically waste heat recovery means capturing the waste heat in process and reusing for heating or
generating mechanical or electrical work. It includes space heating, preheating of combustion air, absorption
cooling, generating electricity etc. Main requirements of waste heat recovery are an accessible source of
waste heat, a waste heat recovery technology and use for the recovered energy. Waste heat can be recovered
via numerous methods. The heat can either be transferred to another system/process or reused within the same
process. The strategy of how to recover this heat depends on the temperature of the waste heat gases. Usually
higher the temperature, more cost effective is the heat recovery.

In automobiles, around 50 to 60% of the fuel energy is lost in the form of heat. In diesel engine, less than 45%
of energy is converted into useful power output, while the remaining energy is mainly lost through the engine
exhaust gas, jacket cooling water and other means. Various techniques are used to recover this heat like
organic rankine cycle, thermoelectric generators, absorption cooling etc. are discussed in this report.

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II. NEED FOR WASTE HEAT RECOVERY
Conventional energy sources are becoming less available due to the depletion of fossil fuels. The world is
facing energy crisis. In spite of this, energy is still being wasted. According to studies 20 to 50% of energy
consumption is ultimately discharged as waste heat. Recovery of waste heat has a direct effect on the
efficiency of the process. Waste heat utilization increases energy efficiency and saves the primary energy.
About 20% of released heat can be recovered and used for work output. Waste heat recovery reduces the
fuel consumption, thereby reduction in the exhaust gas produced. This results in reduction in equipment sizes
of all exhaust gas handling equipment, hence there is reduction in capital costs. Reduction in equipment sizes
reduces auxiliary energy consumption like electricity for pumps, fans etc. Operating costs for facilities are
reduced by increasing their energy productivity using heat recovery technologies. Waste heat recovery
techniques also reduce the greenhouse gas emissionsin addition to the economic benefits. Hence waste heat
recovery technology increases the engine output, reduces fuel cost, and pollution. Many recovery technologies
are already well developed and technically proven. [1]

III. WASTE HEAT RECOVERY IN AUTOMOBILES

Internal combustion engine is a device that uses fossil fuel i.e. Chemical energy, converts it into the heat energy
and then finally in the mechanical energy. The diesel engine is a primary power source for automobiles
mainly due to its high operational reliability and excellent thermal performance. The energy consumption in
automobiles has increased rapidly in recent decades with the development of the transportation industry.
However, the depleted energy supply and the global greenhouse effect are crucial issues that the developing
world has to face. Strict regulations for fuel economy standards and diesel engine emissions have been
introduced by governments of many countries.Therefore, in automobile industry there is a strong need to
increase the efficiency of diesel engines. In diesel engine, large amount of energy is lost through the
engine exhaust gas. It means a large fraction of the fuel energy remains untapped and gain of energy by waste
heat is appreciable. Generally, there are two main methods to improve efficiency. One is by optimizing
the combustion process and the other one is by recovering waste heat of the engine. Most of the scientist’s
research prefer the field of waste heat recovery.The recovery and utilization of waste heat conserves fuel and
reduces the amount of waste heat. Various technologies can be used to achieve this such as
1. Organic Rankine cycle
2. Thermoelectric generators
3. Absorption cooling

IV. ORGANIC RANKINE CYCLE

In vehicles, exhaust gas is emitted to the environment. By applying a thermodynamic process the heat of
exhaust gas can be converted into mechanical power for the vehicle. A suitable process for this is the Rankine
process. The Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) is a very promising technology for the recovery of engine waste
heat. The mechanical energy generated by the Rankine process can be directly delivered to the engine or the
expansion machine can drive a generator in order to provide electrical energy. A medium speed generator can

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be used for this purpose. The electric energy can be stored in a batterydepending on the application and fed to
the vehicle’s electrical system. In case of hybrid vehicles it drives an electric machine.

Fig. 1.The schematic diagram of a basic ORC system [3]

An Organic rankine cycle system consists of an evaporator, apump,a condenser and an organic expander.
Fig.1shows a basic ORC system for waste heat recovery. Waste heat is normally extracted from two
sources: 1. from exhaust gases, 2. from cooling jacket water.

V. WORKING
From the condenser, the liquid organic working fluid is pumped to a high pressure state. Then, firstly
in preheater some heat is gained by working fluid from hot cooling jacket water and then it is heated by the
exhaust flue gases in the evaporator, where it turns into a saturated or superheated vapour. Next, in the
expander the vapour expands to produce power. Then generator produces the electricity. Finally, the exhaust
organic gas from the expander enters into the condenser, where the cooling water condenses it into
liquid.[2,3,4]

VI. THERMOELECTRIC GENERATORS

Thermoelectric generator (TEG) is a promising energy conversion device for vehicle exhaust waste heat
recovery. By using waste heat recovery system we can convert some of this waste heat into electricity and
thereby by reducing the load on alternator.We can reduce the fuel consumption of the vehicle. TEGs work on
principle of the Seebeck effect which is explained in fig.2.

Fig. 2 Seebeck effect [5]

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The construction of TEG is very simple. It consist of many N type and P type semiconductors which
are connected thermally in parallel and electrically in series. A voltage is generated when one side of the TEG
is cooled and the other side is heated. Hence there are lots of applications for these thermoelectric generators to
generate electricity, where temperature gradient is present. TEGscan generate power from any temperature
difference. Their efficiency depends on the temperature difference. The higher the temperature difference, the
more efficient they will be. Generally the efficiency of TEG is 5%. Another factor which can be used to
compare the efficiencies of different TEGs which are operating at same temperatures is the thermoelectric
figure of merit (ZT). The higher the thermoelectric figure of merit, the better the TEG. The ZT of
thermoelectric material has improved over time but presently ZT of the best commercially available TEGs
is approximately 1. Various techniques and materials are used to improve the efficiency and power generation
of TEGs. Materials used for TEGs in exhaust heat recovery systems are rated for a high temperature. This
means a larger temperature difference can be present and more power and higher efficiency can be
achieved. The use of the high temperature TEGs prevents the TEGs from overheating and it also simplifies the
design. Calcium manganese and Lead telluride have been used as materials in TEGs due to their ability to
handle higher temperatures. Large multinational car companies like BMW, Renault, Ford, and Honda have
demonstrated their interest in exhaust heat recovery systems that make use of TEGs. All of their design are
relatively similar. Generally the TEGs are placed on the exhaust pipe surface and cooled with the help of
engine coolant. The BMW system uses a shell and tube type of heat exchanger. High temperature
TEGs are used and from a number of 20 W rated TEGs the system produces 750W energy. The Ford
system heat exchanger uses many small parallel channels lined with thermoelectric material for the
exhaust gases to pass. In this case liquid cooling is used. This system produces approximately 400W. The
Renault system is used on a diesel truck engine. This system uses a counter flow heat exchanger arrangement
using liquid cooling. The Honda system uses a simple design of a thin flat rectangular box with TEGs placed
on the top and bottom surfaces. Liquid cooling is used in this design. The system produces a maximum of
approximately 500W. The claimed fuel consumption reduction is 3%.

Fig. 3.Thermoelectric generator used in Honda [5]

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The use of TEGs in a waste heat recovery system has many desirable attributes compared to other waste
heat recovery technologies such as silence, small size, and durability. Their key attribute is that they have no
chemical reactions and no moving parts therefore there is little maintenance required due to corrosion and
wear. Their efficiency is relatively low compared with a Rankine cycle waste heat recovery system but
efficiency is not the most important factor as there is no costs associated with waste heat [5,6].

VII. ABSORPTION COOLING

In conventional air conditioning (a/c) system a compressor is used to deliver the vapor refrigerant at high
pressure to the condenser unit. The compressor derives its power from the engine itself. According to studies
approximately 10% of the energy available at the crankshaft in a diesel operated vehicle is used for
operating the compressor of the vehicle’s air- conditioning system. Which means the large amount of
diesel is consumed for the air conditioning. In addition to this, conventional a/c system requires alternating
current through an alternator. Therefore, conventional vapor compression a/c systems have a number of
shortcomings which make it unviable and hence we require a better alternative. Absorption air conditioning is
the alternative for it. The vapor absorption refrigeration is one of the oldest methods of producing refrigerating
effect. Instead of using mechanical energy as in vapor compression systems, the vapor absorption system
uses heat energy in order to change the conditions of the refrigerant required for the operation of the
refrigeration cycle. Heat required for this is obtained from the exhaust of internal combustion engines. This
refrigeration system consists of an evaporator, a condenser and an expansion valve similar to a vapor
compression refrigeration system but the compressor of the vapor compression refrigeration system is
replaced by an absorber, a small pump and a generator. A vapor absorption refrigeration system utilizes
two or more than two fluids having high affinity towards each other, in which one is the absorbent and the other
is the refrigerant.

Fig. 4 Vapor Absorption Refrigeration System [9]

VIII. WORKING
The vapor absorption refrigeration cycle comprises four steps
A. Step I: Generation
This cycle starts when the hot exhaust gases starts flowing through the generator. At room temperature the pair
is in absorbed state. When the temperature of the pair increases, the mixture starts to separate i.e. refrigerant
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starts getting released from the absorbent. Due to this process, there is increase in pressure in the system. We
know that the temperature of an internal combustion engine exhaust is above 200°C, liquid refrigerant gets
evaporated and finds its way out of the generator and finally moves towards the condenser and remaining weak
mixture of refrigerant and absorbent returns to the absorber.
B. Step II: Condensation
Refrigerant comes into the air cooled condenser from the generator. It enters in it at high pressure and high
temperature .Then heat exchange takes place with atmosphere, and finally refrigerant comes out of the
condenser in liquid state. It is collected in a receiver. In this stage very small temperature drop is obtained
C. Step III: Evaporation
Refrigerant is passed through an expansion valve. Due to the throttle action, evaporation occurs.Hence there
is a sudden drop in temperature of a refrigerant is observed. Refrigerant gives cooling effect to the surrounding
by absorbing heat from the surrounding.
D. Step IV: Absorption
Absorber receives refrigerant from the evaporator and also theweak mixture of refrigerant and absorbent from
the generator. Here heat is dissipated out from the refrigerant and absorbent. Hence, at low temperature
refrigerant gets absorbed by absorbent and again the pair goes in the absorbed state. This strong solution is
pumped again and thus cycle restarts. [7, 8, 9]

IX. CONCLUSION
Waste heat recovery technology is an environment friendly energy conservation technology which makes
contribution not only to the environment but it also reduces the production cost. The study shows the
possibility and availability of waste heat from internal combustion engine. It is possible to save the large
amount of energy through waste heat recovery. There are different technologies available and have their
own benefits from the review, it has been identified that there are large potentials of energy savings through
the use of waste heat recovery technologies.
1. Engine waste heat can be recovered via numerous methods. The heat can either transferred to another
thermal, electrical, or mechanical process or it can be reused within the same process.
2. The common technologies used for waste heat recovery from engine include preheating, Organic
Rankine Cycle, thermoelectric device, refrigeration and air conditioning etc.
3. The study identified that the advanced technologies reduce emissions and maximize energy efficiency
with improved power.
4. The waste heat recovery leads to less production of pollutants like SO2 and NOx during obtaining the
same amount of power

REFERENCES

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[2] Vincent Grelet, Thomas Reiche, Vincent Lemort, MadihaNadri, Pascal Dufour (Nov 2015) Transient
performance evaluation of waste heat recovery rankine based system for heavy duty trucks.

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[3] Jian Song, Chun-weiGu (June 2015), Analysis of ORC system with pure hydrocarbons and mixture of
hydrocarbon and retardant for engine waste heat recovery.
[4] Songsong Song, Hongguang Zhang, Zongyong Lou, (Dec 2014) Performance analysis of exhaust
waste heat recovery system for CNG engine based on organic Rankine cycle.
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[6] ShubaiYu, QingDu, HiDiao, GequnShu, KuiJiao, Start up modes of thermoelectric generator based on
vehicle exhaust waste heat recovery.
[7] Rahul Singh, Dr. Rajesh Kumar (May 2014) Theoretical Analysis of Nh3-H2o Refrigeration System
Coupled with Diesel Engine: A Thermodynamic Study.
[8] Satish K. Maurya, Saurabh Awasthi, Suhail A. Siddiqui (March 2014), A Cooling System for an
Automobile Based on Vapour Absorption Refrigeration Cycle Using Waste Heat of an Engine.

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