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The energy management of a hybrid vehicle defines the vehicle power flow that minimizes fuel consumption and exhaust emissions. In a combined hybrid the complex architecture requires a multi-input control from the energy management. A classic optimal control obtained with dynamic programming shows that thanks to the high efficiency hybrid electric variable transmission, energy losses come mainly from the internal combustion engine. This paper therefore proposes a sub-optimal control based on the maximization of the engine efficiency that avoids multi-input control. This strategy achieves two aims: enhanced performances in terms of fuel economy and a reduction of computational time.

High emission performance standards and precious metals costs have pushed the catalytic substrate toward high cell density and thin wall, such as the 600/4, 600/3 and 900/2 products. Due to the inherently lower mechanical strength of these products, coupled with a shift from underbody to close-coupled placement, a concern was expressed that the severe thermal and mechanical conditions may cause structural damage to the substrate, which in turn could impact the catalyst performance. One source of reduced performance during use is the loss of catalyst due to erosion. A previous study1 indicated that the existence of particulate in an air-stream could cause substrate erosion. However, it was not clear if other factors could contribute to or accelerate the erosion process. In order to address this question, experiments were performed to examine the influence of high velocity flow, temperature, impingement angle, particulate characteristics, and coating effect on erosion.

Reduction of pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions is one of the main objectives of car manufacturers and innovative solutions have to be considered to achieve this goal. Electric vehicles, and in particular Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles, appear to be a promising alternative. Renault is therefore investigating the technical and economic viability of a Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (FCEV). A basic question of this study is the choice of the fuel that will be used for this kind of vehicle. Liquid fuels such as gasoline, diesel, naphtha, and gas-to-liquid can be a bridge for the introduction of fuel cell technologies while hydrogen infrastructure and storage are investigated. Therefore, multi-fuel Fuel Processor Systems that can convert liquid fuels to hydrogen while meeting automotive constraints are desired. Renault and Nuvera have joined forces to tackle this issue in a 3-year program where the objective is to develop and to integrate a Fuel Processor System (FPS) on a vehicle.

NOx adsorbers are very sensitive to sulfur poisoning and future fuel standards are unlikely to be sufficient to prevent the system from requiring periodic desulfation procedures. The purpose of this paper is to present the effects of low fuel sulfur content such as 50 ppm and 10 ppm on the NOx adsorber efficiency for a diesel application. Through this study, the influence of the substrate cell geometry has also been assessed. The use of a 10 ppm sulfur fuel is not enough to maintain, at a high level, the NOx adsorber performance during a 40,000 km aging test. The desulfation criterion (efficiency loss of 30%) is reached after the first 16,000 km. However, the desulfation operation is not enough to recover the initial catalyst performance and the poisoning velocity increases as the catalyst ages. The hexagonal cell substrate catalyst is less sensitive to sulfur poisoning than a square cell substrate catalyst so that its desulfation frequency is much lower.

The purpose of the European « SPACE LIGHT » (Whole SPACE combustion for LIGHT duty diesel vehicles) 3-year project launched in 2001 is to research and develop an innovative Homogeneous internal mixture Charged Compression Ignition (HCCI) for passenger cars diesel engine where the combustion process can take place simultaneously in the whole SPACE of the combustion chamber while providing almost no NOx and particulates emissions. This paper presents the whole project with the main R&D tasks necessary to comply with the industrial and technical objectives of the project. The research approach adopted is briefly described. It is then followed by a detailed description of the most recent progress achieved during the tasks recently undertaken. The methodology adopted starts from the research study of the in-cylinder combustion specifications necessary to achieve HCCI combustion from experimental single cylinder engines testing in premixed charged conditions.

This paper presents a combustion study of gasoline anti-knock quality effects on turbocharged MPI SI engine performances. A comparative analysis between many fuels covering various Research Octane Number (RON), Motor Octane Number (MON) and sensitivity (RON-MON) is described. The study was conducted on steady state test bench, using a four cylinder 2 L engine. In turbocharged gasoline engines, knock resistance is more than ever a crucial issue to achieve high performance and good customer's consumption level. Octane level is therefore a fuel key parameter. Considering thermodynamic aspects of such combustion at full load, performances, fuel consumption and engine thermal strains are evaluated for each tested fuel. An important influence of RON at iso sensitivity was observed. Because of the extreme conditions met on turbocharged gasoline engine, the impact of RON is exacerbated on such engine and illustrates the great benefits of an increase RON fuel.

Wheels are components working under cyclic loading and different load spectrum considering the load amplitude and frequency. Wheels can be considered an item of a vehicle security but restrictions about the weight are becoming strong for the OEM's. Depend on the manufacture process used of the wheels production the results in terms of Fatigue Life and weight relationship can be dramatically different. Based on different manufactured process an evaluation of fatigue life prediction can take account-using tests. The flowforming manufacturing process shows the best results comparing with the raw material hot rolled steel. Different types of wheels load prediction could be considered but a finite element method loading prediction shows the wheels loading spectrum and the influence of the flowforming manufacture process is taken account.

Since its creation in 1996, Euroncap evaluated more than 80 cars, ranging from small and city cars, to larger vehicles such as executive cars and people carriers (MPVs). The testing protocol comprises 3 types of tests: a frontal offset test against a deformable barrier, a 90° lateral impact with a moving deformable barrier, and - since March 2000 - a pole side impact. In addition a set of subsystem tests with impactors on the bonnet and the front face of the car are conducted to assess the pedestrian protection. The aim of this paper is to review the testing and assessment protocols and to compare them with those used in other NCAP systems in the USA, Australia, Japan and Europe. In particular, important Euroncap issues such as the stiffness of heavier vehicles that could be increased in the future, and the nature and weight of the modifiers are discussed. Ways to improve the system are suggested in relation with real-world accident data.

No efficient catalyst presently exists for deNOx in lean burn conditions. Furthermore, actual catalysts generally deactivate during reaction. A cylindrical DBD non-thermal plasma reactor was coupled with a stable three-function catalyst in order to verify the nature of the effect of the plasma on the catalytic process. A mixture of NO/O2/C3H6 in N2 was used as a lean model exhaust. The plasma was found to perform two of the three functions: NO oxidation to NO2 and propene activation through the partial oxidation of the hydrocarbon to aldehyde or alcohol. A complete catalyst containing the first two previous functions and the associative chemisorption of NO (third function) was used, as well as a simplified catalyst containing only the third function. Results suggest an advantageous plasma-catalyst coupling effect on NOx remediation in accordance with the proposed catalytic model.

State of the art demonstrates that weight of vehicle increases with length of car body. Integration of powertrain in mid rear underfloor location enables to shorten car body by more than 0,5m and to save partially heavy longitudinal members. Underfloor integration of power train induces higher stance floor for more conviviality of passengers visibility. Safety factors are improved by lowering gravity centre, better repartition of front / rear masses during braking, easier management of crash by straighter and higher front longitudinal members and free front space. Space frame architecture simplifies light weight technologies application by using 2D bended aluminum profiles. Low investment is ensured by minimising castings application to suspension attachments and interlinking upperbody to underbody. Floor and external panels are designed for aluminum sheet stampings.

This paper presents the following VAN concept led by a vehicle analysis: electrical architecture must not be basically changed in order to be cost effective; efficiency, interoperability and safety aspects must be rigorously respected to avoid lack of quality. As a consequence VAN solutions meet the requirement set concerning wiring, transceivers, protocol controllers and software services. Each of these solutions is optimized to assure safety and easy use. VAN transceivers support multiplexed applications - even high speed application - with conventional wiring. VAN controllers offer a large diversity of services, so allow the minimization of network load, of CPU load, with a high Real Time efficiency. Moreover their structure is very open to diagnosis requirements. VAN softwares provide simple, reliable, reusable mechanisms of sharing, exchange and synchronization. Such mechanisms minimize cost development and guarantee safety proofs in the liability context.

For many years, bearing suppliers have been using the specific pressure to evaluate the fatigue risk of conrod bearings. However, modern engines have made the bearing more sensitive to various phenomena such as the thermal expansion or the elasticity of the conrod housing. These effects modify the stresses in the bearing layers and consequently fatigue risk. In this paper, we propose a new way to determine the bearing fatigue resistance. To achieve that, we analyze the elastic and plastic behavior of the bearing along the engine life. We detail and provide the analytical relationships which determine stresses in the overlay and in the substrate of the bearing in order to analyze their fatigue resistance. Various physical loads are taken into account such as the thermal load, the hydrodynamic pressure field, the fitting load, the free spread load. A good knowledge of the relationships between those physical phenomena helps to understand the mechanical behavior of the bearing.

Engine knock is an important phenomenon that needs consideration in the development of gasoline fueled engines. In our days, this development is supported by the use of numerical simulation tools to further understand and subsequently predict in-cylinder processes. In this work, a model tool chain based on detailed chemical and physical models is proposed to predict the auto-ignition behavior of fuels with different octane ratings and to evaluate the transition from harmless auto-ignitive deflagration to knocking combustion. In our method, the auto-ignition and emissions are calculated based on a new reaction scheme for mixtures of iso-octane, n-heptane, toluene and ethanol (Ethanol consisting Toluene Reference Fuel, ETRF). The reaction scheme is validated for a wide range of mixtures and every desired mixture of the four fuel components can be applied in the engine simulation.

Engine downsizing is potentially one of the most effective strategies being explored to improve fuel economy. A main problem of downsizing using a turbocharger is the small range of stable functioning of the turbocharger centrifugal compressor at high boost pressures, and hence the measurement of the performance maps of both compressor and turbine. Automotive manufacturers use mainly numerical simulations for internal combustion engines simulations, hence the need of an accurate extrapolation model to get a complete turbine performance map. These complete maps are then used for internal combustion engines calibration. Automotive manufacturers use commercial softwares to extrapolate the turbine narrow performance maps, both mass flow characteristics and the efficiency curve.

The current trend of downsizing used in gasoline engines, while reducing fuel consumption and CO2 emissions, imposes severe thermal loads inside the combustion chamber. These critical thermodynamic conditions lead to the possible auto-ignition (AI) of fresh gases hot-spots around Top-Dead-Center (TDC). At this very moment where the surface to volume ratio is high, wall heat transfer influences the temperature field inside the combustion chamber. The use of a realistic wall temperature distribution becomes important in the case of a downsized engine where fresh gases hot spots found near high temperature walls can initiate auto-ignition. This paper presents a comprehensive numerical methodology for an accurately prediction of thermodynamic conditions inside the combustion chamber based on Conjugate Heat Transfer (CHT).

Due to its harmful effect on both human health and environment, soot emission is considered as one of the most important diesel engine pollutants. In the last decades, the industrial engine manufacturers have been able to strongly reduce its engine-out value by many different techniques, in order to respect the stricter emission norms. Simulation modeling has played and continues to play a key role for this purpose in the engine control system development. In this context, this paper proposes a new soot emission model for a direct injection diesel engine. This soot model is based on a zero-dimensional semi-physical approach coupled with a crank-angle resolved combustion model and a thermodynamic calculation of the burned gas products temperature. Furthermore, a multi linear regression model has been used to estimate the soot emissions as function of significant physical combustion parameters.

An innovative alternative to overcome the load limits of the early injection highly premixed combustion concept consists of taking advantage of the intrinsic characteristics of two-stroke engines, since they can attain the full load torque of a four-stroke engine as the addition of two medium load cycles, where the implementation of this combustion concept could be promising. In this frame, the main objective of this investigation focuses on evaluating the potential of the early injection HPC concept using a conventional diesel fuel combined with a two-stroke poppet valves engine architecture for pollutant control, while keeping a competitive engine efficiency. On a first stage, the HPC concept was implemented at low engine load, where the concept is expected to provide the best results, by advancing the start of injection towards the compression stroke and it was confirmed how it is possible to reduce NOX and soot emissions, but increasing HC and CO emissions.

CNG is one of the most promising alternate fuels for passenger car applications. CNG is affordable, is available worldwide and has good intrinsic properties including high knock resistance and low carbon content. Usually, CNG engines are developed by integrating CNG injectors in the intake manifold of a baseline gasoline engine, thereby remaining gasoline compliant. However, this does not lead to a bi-fuel engine but instead to a compromised solution for both Gasoline and CNG operation. The aim of the study was to evaluate the potential of a direct injection spark ignition engine derived from a diesel engine core and dedicated to CNG combustion. The main modification was the new design of the cylinder head and the piston crown to optimize the combustion velocity thanks to a high tumble level and good mixing. This work was done through computations. First, a 3D model was developed for the CFD simulation of CNG direct injection.

This paper presents an after-treatment architecture combining a close coupled NOx trap and an under floor NOx trap. Instead of simply increasing the volume of the catalyst, we propose to broaden the active temperature window by splitting the LNT along the exhaust line. In order to design this architecture, a complete 1D model of NOx trap has been developed. Validated with respect to experimental data, this model has been useful to define the two volumes of LNT, making significant savings on the test bench exploitation. However, one of the main difficulties to operate the proposed architecture is the NOx purge and sulfur poisoning management. In order to optimize the NOx and sulfur purge launches, we have developed a control strategy based on an embedded reduced LNT model. These strategies have been validated on different driving cycles, by the means of simulation and of vehicle tests using rapid prototyping tools.

In order to simulate the working process, an accurate description of heat transfer occurring between in-cylinder gases and combustion chamber walls is required, especially regarding thermal efficiency, combustion and emissions, or cooling strategies. Combustion chamber wall heat transfer models are dominated by zero-dimensional semi-empirical models due to their good compromise between accuracy, complexity and computational efficiency. Classic models such as those from Woschni, Annand or Hohenberg are still widely used, despite having been developed on rather ancient engines. While numerous authors have worked on this topic in the past decades, little information can be found concerning the systematic calibration process of heat transfer models. In this paper, a systematic calibration method based on experimental data processing is tested on the complete operating map of a turbocharged GDI engine.