Predictable and unpredictable forces will change the direction of the charge-air systems industry. The driver of diesel engine development will be the stringent emissions regulations of the 1990s. The drivers in the gasoline engine market will be improved fuel economy, performance, durability and emissions. Forces will also influence the charge-air marketplace, including changes in emission standards, national fiscal policies, political issues, fuel prices, alternate fuels and consumer tastes. The world community mandate for engines that are clean, quiet, durable and fuel efficient will be satisfied, increasingly, by first-tier component suppliers developing integrated systems solutions.
Synthesizing different customer and functional requirements into an acceptable design configuration within a given space constraints is a challenging task for design engineers. The principles for designing efficiency, noise levels, maneuverability, safety, durability, etc. into the product are well understood. However, designing for reliability, maintainability and quality turns out to be a long-drawn laborious process due to unavailability of simplified design procedures. The author in this paper develops the understanding of reliability, maintainability and quality design principles and methods for products, with specific reference to vehicle designs.
There is a strong interest around the world in natural gas as an alternative fuel. This paper is concerned with the option of converting diesel engines to spark ignition operation. Although this may appear to be an outrageous thermodynamic action, it is preferable to using natural gas in a low compression gasoline engine conversion. An investigation is described in which engine maps were produced for a 5.6 litre direct injection diesel engine converted to CNG. The diesel operating characteristics have been compared with those of the spark ignition conversion at compression ratios of 18:1 (the original diesel value), 15:1 and 13:1. Detailed data are presented for the 15:1 compression ratio. These test results are supplemented by results for other diesel conversions. The use of these engines in bus fleet operations is also discussed.