Micro gas turbine range extender - Validation techniques for automotive applications

A Micro Gas Turbine (MGT) can be considered as an alternative to the internal combustion engine as a range extender for electric vehicles. The MGT produces less raw exhaust gaseous emissions such as HC and CO in aerospace and static applications compared to the internal combustion engine. In addition, the MGT weight is less than an equivalent internal combustion engine and potentially can reduce the level of CO₂ further in a vehicle application. However, the use of the MGT in an automotive domain has some unique technical and commercial requirements that will require new validation approaches. An air filtration system is known to be one of the important elements to characterise the performance and the emissions of the MGT. In the past, most of the efforts on MGT were focused on the vehicle development and packaging studies, where the technical requirements of the test standards for the air filtration system were not considered. Furthermore, the validation techniques of the air filtration system for automotive applications have different requirements to those of a large scale turbine for aerospace use. A test method has been developed to investigate the effect of the automotive air filtration system on the MGT´s characteristics in terms of the electrical power output and potentially the gaseous emissions. The outcomes of the research have provided good understanding of the MGT validation process in the automotive applications. It addresses the potential challenges that may hamper the MGT range extender for hybrid electric vehicle development processes.