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Building on two decades of expertise, a fourth generation fleet test protocol is presented for assessing the response of engine performance to gasoline additive treatment. In this case, the ability of additives to remove pre-existing deposit from the intake systems of port fuel injected vehicles has been examined. The protocol is capable of identifying real benefits under realistic market conditions, isolating fuel performance from other effects thereby allowing a direct comparison between different fuels. It is cost efficient and robust to unplanned incidents. The new protocol has been applied to the development of a candidate fuel additive package for the North American market. A vehicle fleet of 5 quadruplets (5 sets of 4 matched vehicles, each set of a different model) was tested twice, assessing the intake valve clean-up performance of 3 test fuels relative to a control fuel.

Combustion chamber deposit (CCD) formation in SI engines is a complex phenomenon which is dependent on a number of fuel and engine parameters. A mathematical model has been developed, based upon a previously proposed mechanism of CCD formation, which describes the physical and chemical processes controlling the growth of deposits in SI combustion chambers. The model allows deposit thickness to be predicted as a function of time, taking into account gasoline composition and factors influenced by engine operating conditions. Piston top deposit thicknesses predicted by the model for 38 unadditivated fuels show a strong correlation with data from three different bench engine tests. The model offers the possibility of predicting the amount of CCD produced by unadditivated gasolines for a range of engine designs, operating conditions and test durations.