Objectif The project is aimed at demonstrating the actual saving of fuel achievable in urban traffic (at low power use) by utilising a "modular" engine in a fleet of vehicles used for public transport. In comparison with a conventional electronic control engine, a 12-15% or 1.5-1.8 liter/100 km/vehicle energy saving is to be expected at project level.The reduction in consumption obtained taking into account data only from the eight taxis that alternated modular and four cylinder operation is 9.5%. If the comparison is extended to the other two taxies which always operated in modular the fuel consumption reduction obtained is 12.1%.More than half the drivers rated the driveability of the modular car as "good" 40% rated as "excellent" and one driver only rates it "fairly good". One of the main goals of this demonstrative project was to verify if modular operation could cause damage or early wear problems in the engine itself or in related groups as the transmission. It was programmed to have two out of ten cars always operating in "modular" configuration and on two day shifts with the aim of discovering possible problems.The wear conditions of the engines can be described as normal considering the mileage. Some technical problems, like stresses in crankshaft/flywheel coupling, are not to be considered too serious and can be solved by minor adjustments.The very high number of hours worked and the peculiar use made of the cars (very often at low engine loads hence with low temperature in the combustion chambers) are the cause of the combustion chamber deposits which were higher than would be the case for a similar car after 40,000 km. It is an outstanding fact that no difference was found in the condition of wear between the four cylinders which shows that the system of rotation between active cylinder pairs fulfills the design goal.A 1.5 years payback is to be expected at commercial level, assuming an 105 ECU overcost of the equipment and an average financial benefit of 75 ECU/year from the saved fuel (1987).The "modular" engine consists of a traditional "otto engine" equipped with electronic injection fuel supply controlled by a micro-processor in which a special algorithm makes it possible to use only two cylinders when the power requirement is below a certain value. The electronic system therefore feeds fuel to two cylinders only which operate with greater thermo-dynamic efficiency. Ten vehicles (Alfetta), equipped with the electronic control system, have been used by a taxi driver company, in urban traffic conditions. Programme(s) ENG-ENALT 1C - Programme (EEC) of financial support for projects to exploit alternative energy sources, 1979-1984 Thème(s) 1.9 - TRANSPORT Appel à propositions Data not available Régime de financement DEM - Demonstration contracts Coordinateur Alfa Romeo Avio SpA Società Aeromotoristica per Azioni Contribution de l’UE Aucune donnée Adresse Via Gattamelata 45 20100 Milano Italie Voir sur la carte Coût total Aucune donnée
