Do you know where the majority of truck power comes from? If you want to talk about it in detail, it will take a lot of space, but in general,
it is basically these two types, fossil energy fuels, including oil shale, petroleum, coal natural gas, etc.
Alternative energy fuels, including methane hydrates, wind energy, electricity, hydrogen energy, and other new energy sources.
Nowadays, the whole world is vigorously researching and developing alternative energy technologies,
but currently, our mainstream power source is still based on fossil energy.
I believe that all of you are already very familiar with the fuel power source in fossil energy,
but many friends still have questions about the gas power source.
What are the gas power sources? Next, I will answer this question for you
What are the gas power sources?
Speaking of gas power sources, I believe that the first reaction of truck owners is LNG.
In fact, there have been three mainstream gas power sources, namely: LPG, LNG, and CNG.
LPG was once introduced to the market as a clean fuel. However, due to various reasons such as the conversion of LPG engines to gasoline engines, it was later replaced by natural gas.
Many manufacturers that develop LPG engines also changed their plans to develop new energy sources such as hydrogen energy. Therefore, the current mainstream gas power sources are mainly CNG and LNG.
What are LNG and CNG?
At present, natural gas vehicles can be mainly divided into compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles and liquefied natural gas (LNG) vehicles.
So what is the difference between LNG and CNG?
To put it simply, the main components of LNG and CNG are the same (both are natural gas), but the storage methods and existence states are different.
LNG exists in the state of ultra-low temperature (-162°C) atmospheric pressure liquefied natural gas.
CNG exists in a gaseous state after pressurizing natural gas at room temperature. There is a big difference in storage temperature.
What are the characteristics of LNG and CNG?
After understanding what LNG and CNG are, let’s continue to look at their characteristics of LNG and CNG.
First of all, CNG is stored at high pressure, while LNG is stored at low temperature.
CNG is stored in storage tanks with a working pressure of 20Mpa,
while LNG is stored in vacuum-insulated cryogenic containers (LNG cylinders) at a low temperature of -162°C.
CNG storage tanks are a bit special, and they are relatively rare on heavy-duty trucks, but they are more visible on urban mini-trucks and small trucks.
The CNG storage tanks on mini trucks and small trucks generally have one or two, and the tanks are short and slightly larger in diameter.
The CNG storage tanks used on heavy-duty trucks have small diameters, thin tanks, and large numbers, usually 8 to 12. It can be placed on the chassis of the vehicle, at the rear of the chassis or directly installed at the rear of the cab.
The storage tank is usually placed in the trunk, and some models are placed in the middle, but placing it in the middle affects the ride comfort.
If it is placed behind the rear seats, it will protrude a bit.
If you are pulling cargo, it will seriously affect the space. The storage tank is just blocking the door.
If only one person is seated, it will not affect the use of the volume inside the carriage.
In terms of safety precautions, the two different vehicles also have their own key points that need to be paid attention to.
For equipment using CNG, damage may occur due to corrosion of the gas cylinder,
which may cause explosions, even fires, and other serious safety accidents.
For equipment that uses LNG, be careful in case of a car rear-end collision,
which may cause the storage tank to explode, cause a large fire, or cause a gas leak and other safety accidents.
Finally, it is necessary to prevent potential safety hazards caused by the decrease in vacuum after the gas storage tank has been used for a long time.
Of course, the current technical reserves and research and development of gas vehicles are quite mature.
As long as qualified products are purchased, qualified natural gas fuel is filled, and no intentional damage occurs, in daily operations, the safety of gas vehicles is Still nothing to worry about.
So when it comes to choosing between LNG or CNG vehicles, how should we choose?
Because the density of natural gas in the storage tank of an LNG vehicle is higher than that of CNG, this means that it will store much more natural gas than CNG.
So the cruising range of its vehicle will be correspondingly longer than that of a CNG vehicle.
However, LNG storage tanks will be heavier, which will increase the burden on the vehicle.
We should still make choices based on actual operating scenarios.