Abstract

Air pollution has become a growing problem in megacities and large urban areas throughout the globe, and transportation is recognized as the major source of air pollution in many cities, especially in developing countries. Contribution of automobiles is reported in the range of 40 to 80% of the total air pollution. The challenge facing megacities is how to reduce the adverse environmental impacts and other negative effects of transportation without giving up the benefits of mobility. This research paper includes the testing of bio-signal ring developed by Wellan International Limited for reduction of pollution levels in petrol and diesel vehicles and generator sets. The ring when attached to the inlet of the fuel pipe acts on the fuel through bio-signals. The bio-signals help in atomization of the fuel and reduce the pollutants by further enhancing the combustion process, and thus reducing the un-burnt pollutant particles from the exhaust. The ring was tested on diesel engines, petrol engines and generator sets. For diesel engine and generator set, reduction in smoke was measured, while in the petrol engine parameters such as CO, CO₂, SO^x and NO_x were measured before and after attaching the ring. The percentage reduction of the pollutants obtained from the ring for the diesel engine is about 16.4%, and in petrol engine, significant reduction in the pollutants is observed. The average reduction in the opacity of the diesel generator set exhaust was 54.7%. Therefore, it is evident that the device can effectively control the issue of rising air pollution levels in residential, commercial as well as industrial zones.

Keywords Bio-signal; Atomization; Diesel engine; Petrol engine; Generator set; Fuel combustion