Study and Analysis of Exhaust Emission of Diesel Vehicles using Thermal IR Imagers

Abstract

Exhaust emission analysis from diesel vehicles has received a lot of attention in recent times in the context of implementation of Bharat Stage-IV norms and thermal signature analysis for civil and military applications. The exhaust emission thermal IR signatures of military diesel vehicles such as truck and bus using a gas analyser and thermal imager under idling and accelerating conditions of these vehicles is investigated. Concentration and temperature of diesel exhaust emission CO, NOx, and HC remains almost constant during engine running in idle condition and varies with the engine acceleration. Exhaust gases maximum temperature reaches in the range of 240 °C - 270 °C during engine acceleration. A detailed investigation of thermal signature in mid wave infrared, 3 µm - 5 µm waveband and long wave infrared, 8 µm - 14 µm waveband is also presented under the same engine running conditions. Thermal image analysis exhibited that the area of thermal IR image of diesel vehicles truck and bus has been increased 0.077 per cent and 0.594 per cent, respectively with the engine acceleration. It has been observed that thermal signature of exhaust gases is a good tool for vehicle exhaust emission visualisation and analysis.