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This study focuses on evaluation of various fuels within a conventional gasoline internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle and the implementation of advanced emissions reduction technology. It shows the robustness of the implemented technology packages for achieving ultra-low tailpipe emissions to different market fuels and demonstrates the potential of future GHG neutral powertrains enabled by drop-in lower carbon fuels (LCF). An ultra-low emission (ULE) sedan vehicle was set up using state-of-the-art engine technology, with advanced vehicle control and exhaust gas aftertreatment system including a prototype rapid catalyst heating (RCH) unit. Currently regulated criteria pollutant emission species were measured at both engine-out and tailpipe locations. Vehicle was run on three different drive cycles at the chassis dynamometer: two standard cycles (WLTC and TfL) at 20°C, and a real driving emission (RDE) cycle at -7°C.

In order to meet future emission targets and to achieve better fuel efficiency, closed loop air mass control strategies have become essential across all vehicle segments. Closed loop airmass control mandates measuring fresh air mass entering the engine combustion chamber. However, in Naturally Aspirated (NA) engines, while measuring airmass using conventional air mass sensors (AMS), heavy pulsations in the Air-intake results in errors which would impact closed loop airmass control and lead to inconsistencies in emissions. To address this issue, we studied different approaches using AMS with Resonator, differential pressure sensor across the intake air filter and Lambda based airmass control. Based on this empirical study we found that modelling air mass with differential pressure sensor (Delta-P) using Bernoulli’s principle (Flow rate ∝ √Differential pressure) results in higher accuracies compared to conventional methods.

Legislative challenges, changing customer needs and the opportunities opened-up by electrification are the major driving forces in today’s automotive industry. Fuel cell vehicles offer the potential for CO2 emission free mobility, especially attractive for heavy duty long-haul range application. The development of key components of fuel cell powered vehicles, namely the fuel cell stack itself as well as the related hydrogen/air supply and thermal management sub-systems, goes hand in hand with various challenges regarding performance, lifetime and safety. The proper layout and sizing of the stack and the related fuel and air supply system components, as well as the suitable dimensioning of the cooling system, are decisive for the overall system efficiency and achievable lifetime.

X-Domain describes the merging of different domains (i.e., braking, steering, propulsion, suspension) into single functionalities. One example in this context is torque-vectoring. Different goals can be pursued by applying X-Domain features. On the one hand, savings in fuel consumption and an improved vehicle driving performance can be potentially accomplished. On the other hand, safety can be improved by taking over a failed or degraded functionality of one domain by other domains. The safety-aspect from the viewpoint of requirements is highlighted within this contribution. Every automotive system being developed and influencing the vehicle safety must fulfill certain safety objectives. These are top-level safety requirements (ISO 26262-1) specifying functionalities to avoid unreasonable risk. Every safety objective is associated with an Automotive Safety Integrity Level (ASIL) derived from a Hazard Analysis and Risk Assessment (HARA).

Historically, whenever the automotive solutions’ state of art reaches a saturation level, the integration of new verticals of technology has always raised new opportunities to innovate, enhance and optimize automotive solutions. The predictive powertrain solutions using connectivity elements (e.g., navigation unit, e-Horizon or cloud-based services) are one of such areas of huge interest in automotive industry. The prior knowledge of trip destination and its route characteristics has potential to make prediction of powertrain modes or events in certain order and therefore it can add value in various application areas such as optimized energy management, lower fuel consumption, superior safety and comfort, etc.

The development of modern combustion engines (spark ignition as well as compression ignition) for vehicles compliant with future oriented emission legislation (BS6, Euro VI, China 6) has introduced several technologies for improvement of both fuel efficiency as well as low emissions combustion strategies. Some of these technologies as there are high pressure multiple injection systems or sophisticated exhaust gas after treatment system imply substantial increase in test and calibration time as well as equipment cost. With the introduction of 48V systems for hybridization a cost- efficient enhancement and, partially, an even attractive alternative is now available. An overview will be given on current technologies as well as on implemented test procedures. The focus will be on solutions which have potential for the Indian market, i.e. solutions which can be implemented with moderate application effort for currently available compact and medium size cars.

In the context of today’s and future legislative requirements for NOx and soot particle emissions as well as today’s market trends for further efficiency gains in gasoline engines, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models need to further improve their intrinsic predictive capability to fulfill OEM needs towards the future. Improving fuel chemistry modelling, knock predictions and the modelling of the interaction between the chemistry and turbulent flow are three key challenges to improve the predictivity of CFD simulations of Spark-Ignited (SI) engines. The Flamelet Generated Manifold (FGM) combustion modelling approach addresses these challenges. By using chemistry pre-tabulation technologies, today’s most detailed fuel chemistry models can be included in the CFD simulation. This allows a much more refined description of auto-ignition delays for knock as well as radical concentrations which feed into emission models, at comparable or even reduced overall CFD run-time.

The introduction of the so called Emission Controlled Areas within the IMO Tier III legislation forces manufacturers of maritime propulsion systems to adherence to stringent emission thresholds. Dual fuel combustion, which is characterized by the injection of a small amount of fuel oil to ignite a premixed natural gas air mixture, constitutes an option to meet this target. At high diesel substitution rates and very short pilot injection events, the injector is operated in the ballistic regime. This influences spray penetration, mixture formation and ignition behavior. In the present work, a seven-hole dual fuel injector was measured in a combustion chamber to provide data for the generation of a CFD model using the commercial code AVL FIRE®. The liquid and the vapor phase of the fuel spray were quantified by Mie-scattering and Schlieren-imaging technique for different chamber conditions.

In DISI engines spray distribution and atomization directly influence mixture formation, the quality of combustion and the resulting emissions. Constant Volume Chambers (CVC) are commonly used to characterize sprays of gasoline injectors. The CVCs provide good optical access but the flow condition of the engine cannot be reproduced. Optically accessible engines in contrast deliver realistic flow conditions but have restricted optical access. In former investigations we compared the spray propagation of different injectors in constant volume chambers and in optical accessible engines. These results showed a clear difference of the spray propagation in the CVC and the engine, especially at high charge motion conditions in the engine. To find an appropriate way to investigate the impact of different charge motion a flow channel was built with adjustable crossflow velocities from 5-50 m/s. The spray propagation during the injection process was measured with high-speed shadowgraphy.

Due to the new CO2 targets for vehicles, electrification of powertrains and operation strategies for electrified powertrains have drawn more attention. This article presents a predictive multi-objective operation strategy for hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), which simultaneously minimizes the fuel consumption and the cycle aging of traction batteries. This proposed strategy shows better performance by using predictive information and high robustness to inaccuracy of predictive information. In this work, the benefits of the developed operation strategies are demonstrated in a strong hybrid electric vehicle (sHEV) with P2-configuration. For the cycle aging of a lithium-ion battery, an empirical model is built up with Gaussian processes based on experimental data.

With upcoming emission regulations particle emissions for GDI engines are challenging engine and injector developers. Despite the introduction of GPFs, engine-out emission should be optimized to avoid extra cost and exhaust backpressure. Engine tests with a state of the art Miller GDI engine showed up to 200% increased particle emissions over the test duration due to injector deposit related diffusion flames. No spray altering deposits have been found inside the injector nozzle. To optimize this tip sooting behavior a tool chain is presented which involves injector multiphase simulations, a spray simulation coupled with a wallfilm model and testing. First the flow inside the injector is analyzed based on a 3D-XRay model. The next step is a Lagrangian spray simulation coupled with a wallfilm module which is used to simulate the fuel impingement on the injector tip and counter-bores.

The reduction of environmentally harmful gases and the ambitions to reduce the exploitation of fossil resources lead to stricter legislation for all mobile sources. Legislative development significantly affected improvements in emissions and fuel consumptions over the last years, mainly measured under laboratory conditions. But real world operating scenarios have a major influence on emissions and it is already well known that these values considerably differ from officially published figures [1]. There are regulated emissions by the European Commission by means of real driving scenarios for passenger cars. A methodology to measure real drive emissions RDE is therefore well approved for automotive applications but was not adapted for two-wheeler-applications yet [2]. Hence measurements have been performed on-road and on chassis dynamometer for motorcycles with the state of the art RDE measurement equipment to be prepared for possible future legislation.

Real world operating scenarios have a major influence on emissions and fuel consumption. To reduce climate-relevant and environmentally harmful gaseous emissions and the exploitation of fossil resources, deep understanding concerning the real drive behavior of mobile sources is needed because emissions and fuel consumption of e.g. passenger cars, operated in real world conditions, considerably differ from the officially published values which are valid for specific test cycles only [1]. Due to legislative regulations by the European Commission a methodology to measure real drive emissions RDE is well approved for heavy duty vehicles and automotive applications but may not be adapted similar to two-wheeler-applications. This is due to several issues when using the state of the art portable emission measurement system PEMS that will be discussed.

A TGDI (turbocharged gasoline direct injection) engine is developed to realize both excellent fuel economy and high dynamic performance to guarantee fun-to-drive. In order to achieve this target, it is of great importance to develop a superior combustion system for the target engine. In this study, CFD simulation analysis, steady flow test and transparent engine test investigation are extensively conducted to ensure efficient and effective design. One dimensional thermodynamic simulation is firstly conducted to optimize controlling parameters for each representative engine operating condition, and the results serve as the input and boundary condition for the subsequent Three-dimensional CFD simulation. 3D CFD simulation is carried out to guide intake port design, which is then measured and verified on steady flow test bench.

The fuel spray behavior in the near nozzle region of a gasoline injector is challenging to predict due to existing pressure gradients and turbulences of the internal flow and in-nozzle cavitation. Therefore, statistical parameters for spray characterization through experiments must be considered. The characterization of spray velocity fields in the near-nozzle region is of particular importance as the velocity information is crucial in understanding the hydrodynamic processes which take place further downstream during fuel atomization and mixture formation. This knowledge is needed in order to optimize injector nozzles for future requirements. In this study, the results of three experimental approaches for determination of spray velocity in the near-nozzle region are presented. Two different injector nozzle types were measured through high-speed shadowgraph imaging, Laser Doppler Anemometry (LDA) and X-ray imaging.

With the implementation of EURO VI and similar emission legislation, the industry assumed the pace and stringency of new legislation would be reduced in the future. The latest announcements of proposed and implemented legislation steps show that future legislation will be even more stringent. The currently leading announced legislation, which concerns a large number of global manufacturers, is the legislation from the United States (US) Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the California Air Resources Board (CARB). Both announced new legislation for CO2, Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Phase II. CARB is also planning additional Ultra Low NOx regulations. Both regulations are significant and will require a number of technologies to be used in order to achieve the challenging limits. AVL published some engine related measures to address these legislation steps.

Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) is a promising alternative fuel for internal combustion engines as its combustion is fuel-efficient and lean in carbon dioxide compared to gasoline. The high octane number of methane gives rise to significant increase of the thermodynamic efficiency due to higher possible compression ratios. In order to use this potential, new stratified mixture formation concepts for CNG are investigated by means of numerical fluid simulations. For decades RANS methods have been the industry standard to model three-dimensional flows. Indeed, there are well-known deficiencies of the widely used eddy viscosity turbulence models based on the applied Boussinesq hypothesis. Reynolds stress turbulence models as well as scale resolving simulation approaches can be appealing alternative choices since they offer higher accuracy. However, due to their large computing effort, they are still mostly impractical for the daily use in industrial product development processes.

The limitation of global warming to less than 2 °C till the end of the century is regarded as the main challenge of our time. In order to meet COP21 objectives, a clear transition from carbon-based energy sources towards renewable and carbon-free energy carriers is mandatory. Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) allow an energy-efficient, resource-efficient and emission-free conversion of regenerative produced hydrogen. For these reasons fuel cell technologies emerge in stationary, mobile and logistic applications with acceptable cruising ranges as well as short refueling times. In order to perform applied research in the area of PEMFC systems, a highly integrated fuel cell analysis infrastructure for systems up to 150 kW electric power was developed and established within a cooperative research project by HyCentA Research GmbH and AVL List GmbH in Graz, Austria. A novel open testing facility with hardware in the loop (HiL) capability is presented.

A previous study by the authors has shown an efficiency benefit of up to Δηi = 10 % for stratified operation of a high pressure natural gas direct injection (DI) spark ignition (SI) engine compared to the homogeneous stoichiometric operation with port fuel injection (PFI). While best efficiencies appeared at extremely lean operation at λ = 3.2, minimum HC emissions were found at λ = 2. The increasing HC emissions and narrow ignition time frames in the extremely lean stratified operation have given the need for a detailed analysis. To further investigate the mixture formation and flame propagation und these conditions, an optically accessible single-cylinder engine was used. The mixture formation and the flame luminosity have been investigated in two perpendicular planes inside the combustion chamber.

The introduction of stricter emission legislation and the demand of increased power for small two-wheelers lead to an increase of technical requirements. Especially the introduction of liquid-cooling over air-cooling allows the introduction of higher compression ratios, which improves power output as well as thermodynamic efficiencies and thereby fuel consumption. But an increase in compression ratio also introduces further challenges during transient behavior especially close to idling. In order to keep the two-wheeler specific responsiveness of the vehicle, the overall rotational inertia of the engine must be kept low. But the combination of low inertia and high compression ratio can lead to a stalling of the engine if the throttle is opened and closed very quickly in idle operation. The fast opening and closing of the throttle is called a throttle blip.