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Octane appetite of modern engines has changed as engine designs have evolved to meet performance, emissions, fuel economy and other demands. The octane appetite of seven modern vehicles was studied in accordance with the octane index equation OI=RON-KS, where K is an operating condition specific constant and S is the fuel sensitivity (RONMON). Engines with a displacement of 2.0L and below and different combinations of boosting, fuel injection, and compression ratios were tested using a decorrelated RONMON matrix of eight fuels. Power and acceleration performance were used to determine the K values for corresponding operating points. Previous studies have shown that vehicles manufactured up to 20 years ago mostly exhibited negative K values and the fuels with higher RON and higher sensitivity tended to perform better.

There is an increasing recognition of injector deposit (ID) formation in fuel injection equipment as direct injection spark ignition (DISI) engine technologies advance to meet increasingly stringent emission legislation and fuel economy requirements. While it is known that the phenomena of ID in DISI engines can be influenced by changes in fuel composition, including increasing usage of aliphatic alcohols and additive chemistries to enhance fuel performance, there is however still a great deal of uncertainty regarding the physical and chemical structure of these deposits, and the mechanisms of deposit formation. In this study, a mechanical cracking sample preparation technique was developed to assess the deposits across DISI injectors fuelled with gasoline and blends of 85% ethanol (E85).

The formation of deposits within injector nozzle holes of common-rail injection fuel systems fitted to modern diesel cars can reduce and disrupt the flow of fuel into the combustion chamber. This disruption in fuel flow results in reduced or less efficient combustion and lower power output. Hence there is sustained interest across the automotive industry in studying these deposits, with the ultimate aim of controlling them. In this study, we describe the use of Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) imaging to characterise fuel injector hole deposits at intervals throughout an adaptation of the CEC Direct Injection Common Rail Diesel Engine Nozzle Coking Test, CEC F-98-08 (DW10B test)[1]. In addition, a similar adaptation of a previously published Shell vehicle test method [2] was employed to analyse fuel injector hole deposits from a fleet of Euro 5 vehicles. During both studies, deposits were compared after fouling and after subsequent cleaning using a novel fuel borne detergent.

Control of NOx and Particulate Matter (PM) emissions from diesel engines remains a significant challenge. One approach to reduce both emissions simultaneously without fuel economy penalty is the reformed exhaust gas recirculation (REGR) technique, where part of the fuel is catalytically reacted with hot engine exhaust gas to produce a hydrogen-rich combustible gas that is then fed to the engine. On the contrary to fuel cell technology where the reforming requirements are to produce a reformate with maximized H2 concentration and minimized (virtually zero) CO concentration, the key requirement of the application of the exhaust gas fuel reforming technique in engines is the efficient on-demand generation of a reformate with only a relatively low concentration of hydrogen (typically up to 20%).

A field problem associated with flakes of combustion chamber deposits getting trapped on the exhaust valve seat and causing starting problems has appeared recently. Four fuels have been tested in three different car models using a deposit flaking road test procedure. For each piston top, flaking can be characterised using T1 and T2, the mean deposit thickness on the piston crown before and after flaking respectively. A new measure of deposit flaking, ΔT, the mean of (T1-T2) averaged over all cylinders has been introduced and its variance established for the standard test using one of the models. ΔT quantifies the actual amount of deposits that have flaked and is likely to be a more relevant indicator of flaking for startability problems than Rw, the mean of the ratio of T2 to T1, used in previous work. Deposit flaking is directly related to an increase in valve leakage rates and startability problems.

Research Octane Number (RON) and Motor Octane Number (MON) are used to describe gasoline combustion which describe antiknock performance under different conditions. Recent literature suggests that MON is less important than RON in modern cars and a relaxation in the MON specification could improve vehicle performance. At the same time, for the same octane number change, increasing RON appears to provide more benefit to engine power and acceleration than reducing MON. Some workers have advocated the use of an octane index (OI) which incorporates both parameters instead of either RON or MON to give an indication of gasoline knock resistance. Previous Concawe work investigated the effect of RON and MON on the power and acceleration performance of two Euro 4 gasoline passenger cars during an especially-designed acceleration test cycle.

This paper investigates the effect of the cetane number (CN) of a diesel fuel on the energy balance between a light duty (1.9L) and medium duty (4.5L) diesel engine. The two engines have a similar stroke to bore (S/B) ratio, and all other control parameters including: geometric compression ratio, cylinder number, stroke, and combustion chamber, have been kept the same, meaning that only the displacement changes between the engine platforms. Two Coordinating Research Council (CRC) diesel fuels for advanced combustion engines (FACE) were studied. The two fuels were selected to have a similar distillation profile and aromatic content, but varying CN. The effects on the energy balance of the engines were considered at two operating conditions; a “low load” condition of 1500 rev/min (RPM) and nominally 1.88 bar brake mean effective pressure (BMEP), and a “medium load” condition of 1500 RPM and 5.65 BMEP.

Stringent regulations on fuel economy have driven major innovative changes in the internal combustion engine design. (E.g. CAFE fuel economy standards of 54.5 mpg by 2025 in the U.S) Vehicle manufacturers have implemented engine infrastructure changes such as downsizing, direct injection, higher compression ratios and turbo-charging/super-charging to achieve higher engine efficiencies. Fuel properties therefore, have to align with these engine changes in order to fully exploit the possible benefits. Fuel octane number is a key metric that enables high fuel efficiency in an engine. Greater resistance to auto-ignition (knock) of the fuel/air mixture allows engines to be operated at a higher compression ratio for a given quantity of intake charge without severely retarding the spark timing resulting in a greater torque per mass of fuel burnt. This attribute makes a high octane fuel a favorable hydrocarbon choice for modern high efficiency engines that aim for higher fuel economy.

An investigative group set up under the auspices of the CEC (Coordinating European Council) collected data on combustion chamber deposits (CCD), ASTM unwashed gum (UWG) results and the thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) of these gums for different fuels from many different sources. The analysis of this data shows that UWG cannot and does not predict CCD. It is not possible to use UWG or any aspect of its behaviour in the TGA to assess the CCD-forming tendency of randomly chosen fuels.

The fuel consumption of heavy duty diesel engines is of great importance to fleet operators, since fuel can contribute up to 30% of the operating costs. This paper discusses the differences between fuel economy oils for heavy duty diesel engines and passenger car engines. A simple model is then presented showing how the reduced friction due to the use of fuel economy lubricants (both in the engine and the transmission) can lead to fuel consumption benefits. By including realistic losses due to air resistance and tyre rolling resistance, the model can predict fuel consumption benefits under different speed and load conditions that are in reasonable agreement with the benefits found in carefully controlled field trials.

In recent years, boosted and downsized engines have gained much attention as a promising technology to improve fuel economy; however, knocking is a common issue of such engines that requires attention. To understand the knocking phenomenon under downsized and boosted engine conditions deeply, fuels with different Research Octane Number (RON) and Motor Octane Number (MON) were prepared, and the knocking performances of these fuels were evaluated using a single cylinder engine, operated under a variety of conditions. Experimental results showed that the knocking performance at boosted conditions depend on both RON and MON. While higher RON showed better anti-knocking performance, lower MON showed better anti-knocking performance. Furthermore, the tendency for a reduced MON to be beneficial became stronger at lower engine speeds and higher boost pressures, in agreement with previously published modelling work.

There is increasing concern that small flakes of combustion chamber deposits (CCD) can break lose and get trapped between the exhaust valve and the seat resulting in difficulties in starting, rough running and increase in hydrocarbon emissions. In this paper we describe experimental observations which might explain how this flaking of CCD occurs and the factors that might be important in the phenomenon. The experiments include thirty one engine tests as well as tests done in a laboratory rig and show that some CCD flake when they are exposed to water; indeed water is far more effective in bringing this about than gasoline or other organic solvents. The hydrophilicity of the deposit surface which determines the penetration of water and the inherent susceptibility of the relevant deposit layer to inter-act with water are both important. Consequently there are large differences between deposits produced by different fuels and additives in terms of their susceptibility to flake.

Modern spark ignition engines can take advantage of better fuel octane quality either towards improving acceleration performance or fuel economy via an active ignition management system. Higher fuel octane allows for spark timing advance and consequently higher torque output and higher engine efficiency. Additionally, engines can be designed with higher compression ratios if a higher anti-knock quality fuel is used. Due to historical reasons, Research Octane (RON) and Motor Octane Number (MON) are the metrics used to characterize the anti-knock quality of a fuel. The test conditions used to compute RON and MON correlated well with those in older engines designed about 20 years ago. But the correlation has drifted considerably in the recent past due to advances in engine infrastructures mainly governed by stringent fuel economy and emission standards.