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Dynamic skip fire (DSF) has shown significant fuel economy improvement potential via reduction of pumping losses that generally affect throttled spark-ignition (SI) engines. In DSF operation, individual cylinders are fired on-demand near peak efficiency to satisfy driver torque demand. For vehicles with a downsized-boosted 4-cylinder engine, DSF can reduce fuel consumption by 8% in the WLTC (Class 3) drive cycle. The relatively low cost of cylinder deactivation hardware further improves the production value of DSF. Lean burn strategies in gasoline engines have also demonstrated significant fuel efficiency gains resulting from reduced pumping losses and improved thermodynamic characteristics, such as higher specific heat ratio and lower heat losses. Fuel-air mixture stratification is generally required to achieve stable combustion at low loads.

This study proposes a novel biofuel for spark ignition (SI) engine, α-pinene (C10H16), which is non-oxygenated and thus has a gravimetric energy density comparable to that of hydrocarbon fuels. The ignition characteristics of α-pinene were evaluated in an ignition quality tester (IQT) under standard temperature and pressure conditions. The measured ignition delay time (IDT) of α-pinene is 10.5 ms, which is lower than that of iso-octane, 17.9 ms. The estimated research octane number (RON) for pinene from IQT is 85. A temperature sweep in IQT showed that that α-pinene is less reactive at low temperatures, but more reactive at high temperatures when compared to isooctane. These results suggest that α-pinene has high octane sensitivity (OS) and is suitable for operation in turbocharged SI engines. With these considerations, α-pinene was operated in a single cylinder SI engine.

The Swedish Biomimetics 3000's μMist® platform technology has been used to develop a radically new injection system. This prototype system, developed and characterized with support from Lotus, as part of Swedish Biomimetics 3000®'s V₂IO innovation accelerating model, delivers improved combustion efficiency through achieving exceptionally small droplets, at fuel rail pressures far less than conventional GDI systems and as low as PFI systems. The system gives the opportunity to prepare and deliver all of the fuel load for the engine while the intake valves are open and after the exhaust valves have closed, thereby offering the potential to use advanced charge scavenging techniques in PFI engines which have hitherto been restricted to direct-injection engines, and at a lower system cost than a GDI injection system.

RADIOTRACERS were used to study the wear effects of engine speed, load, jacket water temperature, fuel temperature, and chromium-plated rings in a medium-speed diesel engine. One distillate fuel and two residual fuels were tested. This paper describes the tests and their results. Some of the conclusions are: The brake thermal efficiency with high viscosity residual fuel was essentially equal to distillate diesel fuel over a wide range of loads, providing the residual fuel was heated to the proper temperature. Engine speed did not affect the wear rate of cast-iron rings when distillate fuel was used, while with residual fuel wear decreased with increased speed. With distillate fuel, engine load had essentially no effect on cast-iron ring wear. With residual fuel, decreasing engine load produced a marked increase in ring wear*

mDSF is a novel cylinder deactivation technology developed at Tula Technology, which combines the torque control of Dynamic Skip Fire (DSF) with Miller cycle engines to optimize fuel efficiency at minimal cost. mDSF employs a valvetrain with variable valve lift plus deactivation and novel control algorithms founded on Tula’s proven DSF technology. This allows cylinders to dynamically alternate among 3 potential states: high-charge fire, low-charge fire, and skip (deactivation). The low-charge fire state is achieved through an aggressive Miller cycle with Early Intake Valve Closing (EIVC). The three operating states in mDSF can be used to simultaneously optimize engine efficiency and driveline vibrations. Acceleration performance is retained using the all-cylinder, high-charge firing mode.

Electrified powertrains will play a growing role in meeting global fuel consumption and CO2 requirements. In support of this, FCA US has developed its first dedicated hybrid transmission (the eFlite® transmission), used in the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid. The Chrysler Pacifica is the industry’s first electrified minivan. [2] The new eFlite hybrid transmission architecture optimizes performance, fuel economy, mass, packaging and NVH. The transmission is an electrically variable FWD transaxle with an input split configuration and incorporates two electric motors, both capable of driving in EV mode. The lubrication and cooling system makes use of two pumps, one electrically operated and one mechanically driven. The Chrysler Pacifica has a 16kWh lithium ion battery and a 3.6-liter Pentastar® engine which offers total system power of 260 hp with 84 MPGe, 33 miles of all electric range and 566 miles total driving range. [2] This paper’s focus is on the eFlite transmission.

With the increase in demand for energy sustainability projects over the last few years, the Brazilian commercial vehicle industry was guided to develop projects based on ESG policies. Aligned with this need, an initiative that ended up becoming a reality was the “e-Sys” electrification solution, by the company Suspensys. This solution includes a power source (battery), an e-powertrain (motors, inverters and drive axle) and an intelligent control system (VCU with embedded code and sensors). The main motivational drive was the hybridization of semi-trailers, in order to generate a reduction in fuel consumption in cargo transport in Brazil, in addition to the consequent reduction in the emission of particles into the environment and promoting the safety of the operation. It was also adopted, as a premise of the project, that the electrification system was totally independent of the truck’s electronic system (stand alone system), in order to facilitate the operation of the fleet owner.

Reduced emissions, improved fuel economy, and improved performance are a priority for manufacturers of internal combustion engines. However, these three goals are normally interrelated and difficult to optimize simultaneously. Studying the experimental heat release provides a useful tool for combustion optimization. Heavy-duty diesel engines are inherently transient, even during steady state operation engine controls can vary due to exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) or aftertreatment requirements. This paper examines the heat release and the derived combustion characteristics during steady state and transient operation for a 1992 DDC series 60 engine and a 2004 Cummins ISM 370 engine. In-cylinder pressure was collected during repeat steady state SET and the heavy-duty transient FTP test cycles.

AFTERCOOLING, coupled with higher pressure turbocharging can increase vehicle engine output. The author thinks that it is possible to anticipate diesel engines being run with compressors supplying air at pressure ratios higher than 2/1. Density ratio is the most important consideration in increasing pressure ratio, since the engine's output is dependent upon weight rather than volume of air supplied. Because the density of the compressed air is dependent upon its temperature at any pressure level, cooling the air after compression results in density increases. This paper describes various methods of after-cooling which increase engine output and fuel economy.

Zeroshift technology allows a manual transmission to change gear in zero time. The Zeroshift automated manual transmission (AMT) is easy to manufacture and allows a cost effective alternative to the traditional torque converter based automatic transmission. Zeroshift offers potential fuel economy improvements from driveline efficiency and the best possible vehicle acceleration. Compared to an existing AMT, Zeroshift offers an uninterrupted torque path from the engine to vehicle which allows for a seamless gearshift. This paper provides an introduction to the technology together with test data from a demonstrator vehicle.

Zeroshift technology allows a manual transmission to change gear in zero seconds. The Zeroshift Automated Manual Transmission (AMT) is easy to manufacture and allows a cost effective alternative to the traditional torque converter based automatic transmission. Zeroshift offers potential fuel economy improvements from driveline efficiency and the best possible vehicle acceleration. Compared to an existing AMT, Zeroshift offers an uninterrupted torque path from the engine to vehicle which allows for a seamless gearshift. This seminal paper provides an introduction to the technology together with test data from a demonstrator vehicle.

The world's first six-speed automatic transmission for passenger cars was introduced to the market by ZF in 2001. The 6HP-family is based on a Lepelletier planetary gear set. An advanced version of these transmissions was launched in 2006. The 2nd generation offers significantly improved customer-relevant features such as reduced fuel consumption, response time and shifting speed. With regard to the increasing requirements especially in reduction of CO2 emissions, a new eight-speed transmission is now under development. The main targets for this transmission family are a further significant reduction in fuel consumption and emissions, good driving performance and state of the art driving comfort. The paper describes the transmission 8HP70, the schematic, main features and major design components. Key figures like transmission weight and size, fuel efficiency benefits and driving performance are shown compared to the 6-speed transmission of the 2nd generation.

The megatrends "reduction of emissions" and "fuel consumption reduction" play a predominant role in the development of powertrains. For transit buses this implies both the reduction of emissions and pollutions of the internal combustion engine, and, on the other hand, a further reduction of noise and brake dust. Also very important is the reduction of both fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions. For all these targets the actual developments on the engine side have led to great improvements in the last decades, but what can be mentioned for the other components of the powertrain, especially looking for transmissions? First of all the relevant trends for transit buses have to be considered: A large increase of the torque of the combustion engines during the last years has a big impact on the development of transmissions for buses.

With the introduction of the 5HP24 in early 1996, ZF has completed their product line for 5-speed transmissions. This transmission was especially developed for 8 cylinder engines and has achieved important improvements in fuel consumption, performance, comfort and reliability. This report shows, that 5-speed automatic transmissions result in a reduced fuel consumption, even in countries with speed limits. For example the 5HP24 incorporates the latest developments such as: converter wirth controlled slip clutch (CSC) measures to allow engine speed between 600 and 7200 rpm modern closed loop control shifting strategy performance improved Transmission Control Unit (TCU)

A program has been completed to evaluate ultra-low sulfur diesel fuels and passive diesel particulate filters (DPFs) in truck and bus fleets operating in southern California. The fuels, ECD and ECD-1, are produced by ARCO (a BP Company) and have less than 15 ppm sulfur content. Vehicles were retrofitted with two types of catalyzed DPFs, and operated on ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel for over one year. Exhaust emissions, fuel economy and operating cost data were collected for the test vehicles, and compared with baseline control vehicles. Regulated emissions are presented from two rounds of tests. The first round emissions tests were conducted shortly after the vehicles were retrofitted with the DPFs. The second round emissions tests were conducted following approximately one year of operation. Several of the vehicles retrofitted with DPFs accumulated well over 100,000 miles of operation between test rounds.

The sparking behavior in an internal combustion engine affects the fuel efficiency, engine-out emissions, and general drivability of a vehicle. As emissions regulations become progressively stringent, combustion strategies, including exhaust gas recirculation (EGR), lean-burn, and turbocharging are receiving increasing attention as models of higher efficiency advanced combustion engines with reduced emissions levels. Because these new strategies affect the working environment of the spark plug, ongoing research strives to understand the influence of external factors on the spark ignition process. Due to the short time and length scales involved and the harsh environment, experimental quantification of the deposited energy from the sparking event is difficult to obtain. In this paper, we present the results of x-ray radiography measurements of spark ignition plasma generated by a conventional spark plug.

Diesel engine NOx emissions requirements have become increasingly stringent over the past two decades. Engine manufacturers have shown through the use of EGR and SCR technology that these requirements can be met. However, the desires for improved fuel efficiency, lower overall cost, and potential legislation to reduce NOx levels further increase the demand for higher DEF dosing rates. To meet this demand, a new DEF mixing technology has been developed. This paper describes the development methods used to create a compact, in-pipe mixer which utilizes an optimized wire mesh along with swirling flow to permit high DEF dosing rates without deposit formation. Its excellent mixing characteristics allowed for high NOx reduction to be achieved. Utilization of this technology makes it possible to reduce regeneration frequency, reduce the overall size of the SCR system, possibly eliminate the EGR system, and improve fuel efficiency through combustion enhancements.

This work shows how winterized diesel-powered mining vehicles can operate on No. 2 diesel fuel at low winter temperatures without using No. 1 diesel fuel as a diluent to lower cloud point. A study of low temperature fuel requirements was made during the 1976–1977 winter. Fuel system temperatures were compared to ambient temperatures and vehicle operability. Once the diesel equipment was warmed up and operating, fuel system temperatures remained high enough that wax plugging did not occur with No. 2 diesel fuel. Based on this data, a recirculating fuel system heater was designed to be used while vehicles were shut down and parked. This approach was successfully tested during the 1978–1979 winter.

THE factors involved in cold starting of automobile engines, including the effects of temperature and oil viscosity on cranking speed and torque, have been known for many years. Many papers have been presented before the various Sections of the Society on these subjects. The S.A.E. crankcase-oil viscosity-numbers, which were adopted in July, 1926, provided for the classification of the lower-viscosity oils at 130 deg. fahr. and the higher-viscosity oils at 210 deg. fahr. It was recognized by 1930 that a classification for winter oils must be based on the viscosity of the oil at the starting temperature, and work was started on this problem. In June, 1933, the 10-W and 20-W oils, which are classified in accord with their viscosity at 0 deg. fahr., were adopted for publication and trial. The results of the use of these oils during the winter of 1933-1934, together with their advantages, are discussed.

The development of this vehicle is described from concept, through design and assembly. The design intent of this unique vehicle was high fuel efficiency, good ride and handling characteristics, and a high degree of passenger safety at a competitive cost. A combination of some of the latest in automotive and motor home construction technology was used to meet the desired goals.