Open AccessThe Future of Conventional Aircraft Ground Propulsion Systems in Relation to Fuel Consumption and CO2 Emission
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
international journal of thermal and environmental engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1923-7316
DOI - 10.5383/ijtee.13.02.003
Subject(s) - fuel efficiency , aircraft fuel system , automotive engineering , runway , propulsion , aeronautics , thrust specific fuel consumption , engineering , block (permutation group theory) , fuel tank , environmental science , marine engineering , aerospace engineering , combustion , combustion chamber , chemistry , geometry , mathematics , organic chemistry , archaeology , vapor lock , history
Aircraft spends a minimum of 20 minutes using its main engine to taxi from the airport terminal gate to the runway, where the aircraft takes-off and similarly to the terminal gate after landing. During taxi operation, aircraft burns a lot of fuel, generates large quantity of emissions and the engine in the process of taxiing is exposed to damage due to Foreign Object Damage (FOD). This results in huge operational and maintenance cost as well as carbon emission tax which are all at the expense of the airline. EGTS is a recent technology designed to prevent aircraft from using its main engine for taxi operation and this in turn reduces the rate of fuel consumption, slashes carbon emissions and minimises operational and maintenance cost. This paper examines the viability of using EGTS in single engines for taxi operation rather than the aircraft engine. Block fuel savings was calculated for two engine, single engine and hybrid aircraft and it was observed that two engine aircraft using EGTS saved 110kg block fuel, single engine saved 74kg and for hybrid engine the block fuel savings was 50kg. Block fuel savings was calculated for aircraft such as airbus A320, airbus A380, Cessna 172 and A600ST and it was observed that EGTS is more compatible with airbus A320 but was not recommended for A600ST and A380 due to extra weight implication and for Cessna 172, EGTS was not necessary because the aircraft weight is low and consumes less fuel already. It was observed that the higher the aircraft weight including the extra weight of EGTS, the higher the fuel consumption emission as well as the torque required to overcome drag force when the aircraft operates in air. CO2 emission was also calculated for aircraft with EGTS and aircraft without installation, the result for aircraft with EGTS showed 797.56kg reduction of CO2 emission when compared to aircraft without EGTS. Comparably, EGTS was proven to be viable in terms of fuel savings, CO2 emissions, operational and maintenance cost than its contemporary Ground Propulsion Systems (GPS) for single aircraft engines and therefore, was recommended for aircraft in airbus A320 category to help minimise global warming which results from CO2 emission during taxing operations.