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A few years ago, the automobile industry agreed to adopt standards for a new voltage for the production and use of electrical power. The perception was near universal that 14 Volts was at the limits of its capability, and that 42 Volts would be adopted in a rush. The universal perception was wrong. Since then, much of the auto industry has encountered hard financial times. In a totally separate development, parts suppliers introduced innovations at 14 Volts, some of which a few years ago were thought to require 42 Volts. Today, there are 42-Volt cars and trucks for sale, but only at numbers far lower than necessary to begin to achieve economies of scale. But the factor which caused the industry to develop the 42 Volt standard, the growth of electricity use on motor vehicles, continues with no sign of letup. Further, the true technical obstacles to adoption of 42 Volts have been discovered and at least provisionally solved.

This paper quantifies the potential of electric propulsion systems to reduce petroleum use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the 2030 U.S. light-duty vehicle fleet. The propulsion systems under consideration include gasoline hybrid-electric vehicles (HEVs), plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs), fuel-cell hybrid vehicles (FCVs), and battery-electric vehicles (BEVs). The performance and cost of key enabling technologies were extrapolated over a 25-30 year time horizon. These results were integrated with software simulations to model vehicle performance and tank-to-wheel energy consumption. Well-to-wheel energy and GHG emissions of future vehicle technologies were estimated by integrating the vehicle technology evaluation with assessments of different fuel pathways. The results show that, if vehicle size and performance remain constant at present-day levels, these electric propulsion systems can reduce or eliminate the transport sector's reliance on petroleum.

Comparisons have been made between dual-fuel (80% port-injection gasoline and 20% direct-injection diesel by mass) Highly Premixed Charge Combustion (HPCC) and blended-fuel (80% gasoline and 20% diesel) Low Temperature Combustion (LTC) modes on a 1-L single-cylinder test engine. In the HPCC mode, both early-injection (E-HPCC) and late-injection (L-HPCC) of diesel have been used. The comparisons have been conducted with a fixed fuel injection rate of 50 mg/cycle at 1500 rpm, and with the combustion phasing fixed (by adjusting the injection timing) so that the 50% heat release point (CA50) is at 8° ATDC. The rapid heat release process of LTC leads to the highest maximum pressure rise rate (MPRR). A two-peak heat release process is observed in L-HPCC, resulting in a lower MPRR. The heat release rate and MPRR values for the E-HPCC are comparable to the L-HPCC values. The EHPCC mode provides the lowest NOX emission. The soot emissions for all three modes are low.

The use of hydrogen as a fuel supplement for lean-burn engines at higher compression ratios has been studied extensively in recent years, with good promise of performance and efficiency gains. With the advances in reformer technology, the use of a gaseous fuel stock, comprising of substantially higher fractions of hydrogen and other flammable reformate species, could provide additional improvements. This paper presents the performance and emission characteristics of a gas mixture of equal volumes of hydrogen, CO, and methane. It has recently been reported that this gas mixture can be produced by reforming of ethanol at comparatively low temperature, around 300C. Experiments were performed on a 1.8-liter passenger-car Nissan engine modified for single-cylinder operation. Special pistons were made so that compression ratios ranging from CR= 9.5 to 17 could be used. The lean limit was extended beyond twice stoichiometric (up to lambda=2.2).

This paper introduces a new design for alternator systems that provides dramatic increases in peak and average power output from a conventional Lundell alternator, along with substantial improvements in efficiency. Experimental results demonstrate these capability improvements. Additional performance and functionality improvements of particular value for high-voltage (e.g., 42 V) alternators are also demonstrated. Tight load-dump transient suppression can be achieved using this new design and the alternator system can be used to implement jump charging (the charging of the high-voltage system battery from a low-voltage source). Dual-output extensions of the technique (e.g., 42/14 V) are also introduced. The new technology preserves the simplicity and low cost of conventional alternator designs, and can be implemented within the existing manufacturing infrastructure.

Currently, states that are out of compliance with the National Ambient Air Quality Standards must, according to the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (CAAA), develop and implement control strategies that demonstrate specific degrees of reduction in emissions-with the degree of reduction depending upon the severity of the problem. One tool that has been developed to aid regulators in both deciding an appropriate course of action and to demonstrate the desired reductions in mobile emissions is EPA's Mobile 5a emission estimation model. In our study, Mobile 5a has been used to examine the effects of regulatory strategies, as applied to the Northeast United States, on vehicle emissions under worst-case ozone-forming conditions.

Non-petroleum based liquid fuels are essential for reducing oil dependence and greenhouse gas generation. Increased substitution of alcohol fuel for petroleum based fuels could be achieved by 1) use in high efficiency spark ignition engines that are employed for heavy duty as well as light duty operation and 2) use of methanol as well as ethanol. Methanol is the liquid fuel that is most efficiently produced from thermo-chemical gasification of coal, natural gas, waste or biomass. Ethanol can also be produced by this process but at lower efficiency and higher cost. Coal derived methanol is in limited initial use as a transportation fuel in China. Methanol could potentially be produced from natural gas at an economically competitive fuel costs, and with essentially the same greenhouse gas impact as gasoline. Waste derived methanol could also be an affordable low carbon fuel.

This paper provides an overview of spark-ignition engine unburned hydrocarbon emissions mechanisms, and then uses this framework to relate measured engine-out hydrocarbon emission levels to the processes within the engine from which they result. Typically, spark-ignition engine-out HC levels are 1.5 to 2 percent of the gasoline fuel flow into the engine; about half this amount is unburned fuel and half is partially reacted fuel components. The different mechanisms by which hydrocarbons in the gasoline escape burning during the normal engine combustion process are described and approximately quantified. The in-cylinder oxidation of these HC during the expansion and exhaust processes, the fraction which exit the cylinder, and the fraction oxidized in the exhaust port and manifold are also estimated.

To meet future particle mass and particle number standards, gasoline vehicles may require particle control, either by way of an exhaust gas filter and/or engine modifications. Soot levels for gasoline engines are much lower than diesel engines; however, non-combustible material (ash) will be collected that can potentially cause increased backpressure, reduced power, and lower fuel economy. The purpose of this work was to examine the ash loading of gasoline particle filters (GPFs) during rapid aging cycles and at real time low mileages, and compare the filter performances to both fresh and very high mileage filters. Current rapid aging cycles for gasoline exhaust systems are designed to degrade the three-way catalyst washcoat both hydrothermally and chemically to represent full useful life catalysts. The ash generated during rapid aging was low in quantity although similar in quality to real time ash. Filters were also examined after a low mileage break-in of approximately 3000 km.

The NOx emissions during the crank-start and cold fast-idle phases of a GDI engine are analyzed in detail. The NOx emissions of the first 3 firing cycles are studied under a wide set of parameters including the mass of fuel injected, start of injection, and ignition timing. The results show a strong dependence of the NOx emissions with injection timing; they are significantly reduced as the mixture is stratified. The impact of different valve timings on crank-start NOx emissions was analyzed. Late intake and early exhaust timings show similar potential for NOx reduction; 26-30% lower than the baseline. The combined strategy, resulting in a large symmetric negative valve overlap, shows the greatest reduction; 59% lower than the baseline. The cold fast-idle NOx emissions were studied under different equivalence ratios, injection strategies, combustion phasing, and valve timings. Slightly lean air-fuel mixtures result in a significant reduction of NOx.

Ash, primarily derived from diesel engine lubricants, accumulates in diesel particulate filters directly affecting the filter's pressure drop sensitivity to soot accumulation, thus impacting regeneration frequency and fuel economy. After approximately 33,000 miles of equivalent on-road aging, ash comprises more than half of the material accumulated in a typical cordierite filter. Ash accumulation reduces the effective filtration area, resulting in higher local soot loads toward the front of the filter. At a typical ash cleaning interval of 150,000 miles, ash more than doubles the filter's pressure drop sensitivity to soot, in addition to raising the pressure drop level itself. In order to evaluate the effects of lubricant-derived ash on DPF pressure drop performance, a novel accelerated ash loading system was employed to generate the ash and load the DPFs under carefully-controlled exhaust conditions.

Diesel engine exhaust aftertreatment components, especially the diesel particulate filter (DPF), are subject to various modes of degradation over their lifetimes. One particular adverse effect on the DPF is the significant rise in pressure drop due to the accumulation of engine lubricant-derived ash which coats the inlet channel walls effectively decreasing the permeability of the filter. The decreased permeability due to ash in the DPF can result in increased filter pressure drop and decreased fuel economy. A unique two-step approach, consisting of experimental measurements and direct numerical simulations using ultra-high resolution 3D imaging data, has been utilized in this study to better understand the effects of ash accumulation on engine aftertreatment component functionality.

The gasoline direct injection (GDI) engine particulate emission sources are assessed under cold start conditions: the fast idle and speed/load combinations representative of the 1st acceleration in the US FTP. The focus is on the accumulation mode particle number (PN) emission. The sources are non-fuel, combustion of the premixed charge, and liquid fuel film. The non-fuel emissions are measured by operating the engine with premixed methane/air or hydrogen/air. Then the PN level is substantially lower than what is obtained with normal GDI operation; thus non-fuel contribution to PN is small. When operating with stoichiometric premixed gasoline/air, the PN level is comparable to the non-fuel level; thus premixed-stoichiometric mixture combustion does not significantly generate particulates. For fuel rich premixed gasoline/air, PN increases dramatically when lambda is less than 0.7 to 0.8.

The engine-out (EO) total and speciated hydrocarbon emissions data from the Auto-Oil Program Phase II Heavy Hydrocarbon Study had been analyzed. The methodology was to first investigate the stabilized EO emissions (Bag 2) of a specific vehicle (Vehicle 04B, a 1989 Model Year Ford Taurus); then the vehicle-to-vehicle differences in Bag2 emissions were considered. Finally, the differences in the Bag2 and the starting/warm-up EO emissions (Bag1) were examined. The speciated emissions may be interpreted as a “feed-through” part due to the unreacted fuel species, and an “offset” part due to the decomposition products. The significant non-fuel emitted species were methane and the olefins. The HC emissions for vehicles with different total emissions were similar in species composition. For both the total and speciated emissions, there was no substantial difference between the Bag1 and Bag2 values for Vehicle 04B.

The autoignition characteristics of methanol, ethanol and MTBE (methyl tert-butyl ether) have been investigated in a rapid compression machine at pressures in the range 20-40 atm and temperatures within 750-1000 K. All three oxygenated fuels tested show higher autoignition temperatures than paraffins, a trend consistent with the high octane number of these fuels. The autoignition delay time for methanol was slightly lower than predicted values using reported reaction mechanisms. However, the experimental and measured values for the activation energy are in very good agreement around 44 kcal/mol. The measured activation energy for ethanol autoignition is in good agreement with previous shock tube results (31 kcal/mol), although ignition times predicted by the shock tube correlation are a factor of three lower than the measured values. The measured activation energy for MTBE, 41.4 kcal/mol, was significantly higher than the value previously observed in shock tubes (28.1 kcal/mol).

Knock in gasoline engines at higher loads is a significant constraint on torque and efficiency. The anti-knock property of a fuel is closely related to its research octane number (RON). Ethanol has superior RON compared to gasoline and thus has been commonly used to blend with gasoline in commercial gasolines. However, as the RON of a fuel is constant, it has not been used as needed in a vehicle. To wisely use the RON, an On-Board Separation (OBS) unit that separates commercial gasoline with ethanol content into high-octane fuel with high ethanol fraction and a lower octane remainder has been developed. Then an onboard Octane-on-demand (OOD) concept uses both fuels in varying proportion to provide to the engine a fuel blend with just enough RON to meet the ever changing octane requirement that depends on driving pattern.

Ash accumulation in diesel particulate filters, mostly from essential lubricant additives, decreases the filter's soot storage capacity, adversely affects fuel economy, and negatively impacts the filter's service life. While the adverse effects of ash accumulation on DPF performance are well known, the underlying mechanisms controlling these effects are not. To address these issues, results of detailed measurements with specially formulated lubricants, correlating ash properties to individual lubricant additives and their effects on DPF pressure drop, are presented. Investigations using the specially-formulated lubricants showed ash consisting primarily of calcium sulfates to exhibit significantly increased flow resistance as opposed to ash primarily composed of zinc phosphates. Furthermore, ash accumulated along the filer walls was found to be packed approximately 25% denser than ash accumulated in the channel end-plugs.

Spark-ignition engine knock was characterized in terms of when during the engine cycle and combustion process knock occurred and its magnitude or intensity. Cylinder pressure data from a large number of successive individual cycles were generated from a single-cylinder engine of hemispherical chamber design over a range of operating conditions where knock occurred in some or all of these cycles. Mean values and distributions of following parameters were quantified: knock occurrence crank angle, knock intensity, combustion rate and the end-gas thermodynamic state. These parameters were determined from the cylinder pressure data on an individual cycle basis using a mass-burn-rate analysis. The effects of engine operating variables on these parameters were studied, and correlations between these parameters were examined.

The chemistry of unburned hydrocarbon oxidation in SI engine exhaust was modeled as a function of temperature and concentration of unburned gas for lean and rich mixtures. Detailed chemical kinetic mechanisms were used to model isothermal reactions of unburned fuel/air mixture in an environment of burned gases at atmospheric pressure. Simulations were performed using five pure fuels (methane, ethane, propane, n-butane and toluene) for which chemical kinetic mechanisms and steady state hydrocarbon (HC) emissions data were available. A correlation is seen between reaction rates and HC emissions for different fuels. Calculated relative amounts of intermediate oxidation products are shown to be consistent with experimental measurements.

This paper assesses the potential improvement of automotive powertrain technologies 25 years into the future. The powertrain types assessed include naturally-aspirated gasoline engines, turbocharged gasoline engines, diesel engines, gasoline-electric hybrids, and various advanced transmissions. Advancements in aerodynamics, vehicle weight reduction and tire rolling friction are also taken into account. The objective of the comparison is the potential of anticipated improvements in these powertrain technologies for reducing petroleum consumption and greenhouse gas emissions at the same level of performance as current vehicles in the U.S.A. The fuel consumption and performance of future vehicles was estimated using a combination of scaling laws and detailed vehicle simulations. The results indicate that there is significant potential for reduction of fuel consumption for all the powertrains examined.