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Mo-free 1.6-GPa bolt was developed for a Variable Compression Turbo (VC-Turbo) engine, which is environment friendly and improves fuel efficiency and output. Mo contributes to the improvement of delayed fracture resistance; therefore, the main objective is to achieve both high strength and delayed fracture resistance. Therefore, Si is added to the developed steel to achieve high strength and delayed fracture resistance. The delayed fracture tests were performed employing the Hc/He method. Hc is the limit of the diffusible hydrogen content without causing a delayed fracture under tightening, and He is the diffusible hydrogen content entering under a hydrogen-charging condition equivalent to the actual environment. The delayed fracture resistance is compared between the developed steel and the SCM440 utilized for 1.2-GPa class bolt as a representative of the current high-strength bolts.

To improve the fuel economy, we developed a turbo-charged spark ignition engine combined with a low pressure loop EGR system. A negative pressure control valve has been applied to achieve high EGR ratio in wide engine operation condition. In this paper, a new developed model-based control system for low pressure loop EGR with a negative pressure control valve will be described.

A gasoline particulate filter (GPF) is installed in a passenger vehicle for new exhaust regulation. However, ash in gasoline engine oil has a risk of clogging as well as performance decrease in the GPF. Therefore, new gasoline engine oil whose ash contents decrease to 0.8 mass% was developed in order to avoid the GPF clogging. In addition to this, our developed oil improves fuel efficiency (+0.2% from our SN 0W-16 fuel eco type oil) as well as anti-wear performance for gasoline engine, which resulted in meeting API SP/ILSAC GF-6 0W-16 official certification.

Operating condition of rotor embedded magnet materials for permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) critically affect electric vehicle (EV) range and dynamic characteristics. The rotor liquid cooling technique has a deep influence on PMSM performance improvement, and begin to be studied and applied increasingly in EV field. Here, the fluid, thermal, and electromagnetic characteristics of motor with and without hollow-shaft cooling are researched comprehensively based on 100 kW PMSM with housing water jacket (HWJ) and hollow-shaft rotor water jacket (SWJ). The solid models are constructed considering temperature-dependent power loss and anisotropic thermal conductivity. After the fluid models are set up by using Reynolds stress model (RSM), conjugate heat transfer is conducted through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation, and is verified by real PMSM test bench experiments.

In electrified automobiles, wind noise significantly contributes to the overall noise inside the cabin. In particular, underbody airflow is a dominant noise source at low frequencies (less than 500 Hz). However, the wind noise transmission mechanism through a battery electric vehicle (BEV) underbody is complex because the BEV has a battery under the floor panel. Although various types of underbody structures exist for BEVs, in this study, the focus was on an underbody structure with two surfaces as inputs of wind noise sources: the outer surface exposed to the external underbody flow, such as undercover and suspension, and the floor panel, located above the undercover and battery. In this study, aero-vibro-acoustic simulations were performed to clarify the transmission mechanism of the BEV underbody wind noise. The external flow and acoustic fields were simulated using computational fluid dynamics.

To reduce the energy consumption level of electric vehicles, the working range of the regenerative braking system will gradually expand to the high state of charge of the battery. The time delay in the control signal transmission path of the high state of charge regenerative braking control process will affect the regenerative braking. At the same time, regenerative braking under a high state of charge puts forward higher requirements for the control accuracy of regenerative current. In the research of this paper, the motor model, battery model, and vehicle dynamics model are firstly established by using MATLAB/Simulink, and the dynamic relationship between regenerative current and regenerative braking torque is analyzed at the same time. Considering the system time delay, this paper proposes a high-charge regenerative braking control strategy (SPPC) that combines Smith prediction and prescribed performance control.

Gasoline-related factors that affect low-speed pre-ignition (LSPI) include the distillation properties of gasoline, manganese (Mn), ethanol, diesel fuel, detergent for aftermarket, and iron (Fe). The combined effect of Mn with ethanol or high calcium engine oil (high-Ca oil) has not been sufficiently clarified. Therefore, appropriate countermeasures for LSPI have not yet been implemented. To clarify the effect of the gasoline properties and additives on LSPI, engine tests were conducted using gasoline with different “PM Index” values, an indicator of distillation properties, different concentrations of Mn, ethanol, diesel fuel, detergent, Fe, and high-Ca oil. The results showed that the LSPI frequency tended to increase with the PM Index, Mn up to 60 ppm, diesel fuel up to 2 vol.%, and detergent up to three times the standard amount.

TWC exposure to extreme temperature could result in irreversible damage or thermal failure. Thus, a strategy embedded in the engine control unit (ECU) called catalyst overheating protection (COP) will be activated to prevent TWC overheating. When COP is activated, the command air-fuel ratio will be enriched to cool the catalyst monolith down. Fuel enrichment has been proven a main prerequisite for ammonia formation in hot TWCs as a by-product of NOx reduction. Hence, COP events could theoretically be a source of post-catalyst ammonia from petrol vehicles, but this theory is yet to be confirmed in published literature. This paper validated this hypothesis using a self-programmed chassis-level test. The speed of the test vehicle was set to constant while the TWC temperature was raised stepwise until a COP event was activated.

The computer-aided engineering (CAE) automation study requires a large disk space and a premium processor. If all finite element (FE) models run locally, it may crash the local machine, and if the FE model runs on high-performance computing (HPC), transferring data from the server to the local machine to do the optimization may cause latency issues. This automation study provides a unique road map to optimize the design by working efficiently using the initial setup on the local machine, running an analysis of a large number of FE models on HPC, and performing optimization on the server. CAE Automation process has been demonstrated using a case study on a driveline component, crush spacer. Crush spacer is a very critical engineering design because, first, it provides the minimum required preload to the bearing inner races to keep them in position and, second, it endures a number of duty cycles.

The principal objective of the present work is to investigate the fundamental characteristics of a commercially available outwardly opening twin-fluid injector, which utilizes air-assisted atomization principle to attain pulse-type injection of fuel-air mixture. The electromagnetic characteristics of this injector were simulated and the effects of dominating parameters on the electromagnetic force to drive injector were ascertained. On that basis, this paper elaborates on the fundamental characteristics of air-assisted spray using gasoline and kerosene with the employment of two types of optical testing techniques. The spray morphological evolution under varied fuel injection durations and ambient pressures were captured with high-speed shadowgraph thus the corresponding external macroscopic characteristics were obtained and further compared. Spray droplet velocity and diameter at fixed monitoring location were measured by using PDPA (Phase Doppler Particle Analyzer).

Gear rattle noise is one of the important characteristics of manual and dual-clutch transmission，it is generated by the impact of unloaded meshing gear pairs in the transmission due to engine torsional vibration. Based on a front-drive manual transmission and a five dynos drivetrain NVH test bench with high-speed sine wave generator function, this paper designs an experimental program suitable for transmission rattle noise. By driving dynamometer to simulate the torque fluctuation of real engine, the main research is to study the characteristics of the transmission rattle noise under different excitation amplitudes and different excitation frequencies, and the sensitivity of rattle noise under different gears, different oil temperatures, different excitation amplitudes and excitation frequencies is analyzed. Finally, the transmission maps of rattle noise in different gears can be obtained.

Nissan’s variable compression turbo (VC-Turbo) engine has a multilink mechanism that continuously adjusts the top and bottom dead centers of the piston to change the compression ratio and achieve both fuel economy and high power performance. Increasing the exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) rate is an effective way to further reduce the fuel consumption, although this increases the exhaust gas condensation in the cylinder bores, causing a more corrosive environment. When the EGR rate is increased in a VC-Turbo engine, the combined effect of piston sliding and exhaust gas condensation at the top dead center accelerates the corrosive wear of the thermal spray coating. Stainless steel coating is used to improve the corrosion resistance, but the adhesion strength between the coating and the cylinder bores is reduced.

As a new type of energy, free-piston linear generator (FPLG) attracts more research on its stable operation and power performance, while less on its combustion and emission performance. So, in this paper, the emission characteristics of FPLG in two different modes are studied through a port fuel injection (PFI) mode which was verified by the experiment and a gasoline direct injection (GDI) mode. The results showed that: both the GDI mode and the PFI mode produced large amounts of nitrogen oxide (NOx) during the working process. But the GDI mode produced before the PFI mode and it produced nearly 2 times than the PFI mode. However, the formation rate of NOx in GDI mode is much lower than that in PFI mode. Meanwhile, in both modes, 90% of NOX was generated in the cylinder at the temperature higher than 1750K, and only about 10% of NOX was generated at a temperature lower than 1750K.

The deformation of injector components cannot be disregarded as the pressure of the system increases. Deformation directly affects the characteristics of needle movement and injection quantity. In this study, structural deformation of the nozzle, the needle and the control plunger under different pressures is calculated by a simulation model. The value of the deformation of injector components is calculated and the maximum deformation location is also determined. Furthermore, the calculated results indicates that the deformation of the control plunger increases the control chamber volume and the cross-section area between the needle and the needle seat. A MATLAB model is established to The influence of structural deformation on needle movement characteristics and injection quantity is investigate by a numerical model. The results show that the characteristic points of needle movement are delayed and injection quantity increases due to the deformation.

Engine oil with viscosity lower than 0W-16 has been needed for improving fuel efficiency in the Japanese market. However, lower viscosity oil generally has negative aspects with regard to oil consumption and anti-wear performance. The technical challenges are to reduce viscosity while keeping anti-wear performance and volatility level the same as 0W-20 oil. They have been solved in developing a new engine oil by focusing on the molybdenum dithiocarbamate friction modifier and base oil properties. This paper describes the new oil that supports good fuel efficiency while reliably maintaining other necessary performance attributes.

It is well understood that using lower viscosity engine oils can greatly improve fuel economy [1, 2, 3, 4]. However, it has been impossible to evaluate ultra-low viscosity engine oils (SAE 0W-12 and below) utilizing existing fuel economy test methods. As such, there is no specification for ultra-low viscosity gasoline engine oils [5]. We therefore developed firing and motored fuel economy test methods for ultra-low viscosity oils using engines from Japanese automakers [6, 7, 8]. This was done under the auspices of the JASO Next Generation Engine Oil Task Force (“TF” below), which consists mainly of Japanese automakers and entities working in the petroleum industry. Moreover, the TF used these test methods to develop the JASO GLV-1 specification for next-generation ultra-low viscosity automotive gasoline engine oils such as SAE 0W-8 and 0W-12. In developing the JASO GLV-1 specification, Japanese fuel economy tests and the ILSAC engine tests for evaluating engine reliability were used.

The octane appetite of an engine is frequently characterised by the so-called K value. It is usually assumed that K is dependent only on the thermodynamic conditions in the engine when knock occurs. In this work we test this hypothesis: further analysis was conducted on experimental results from SAE 2019-01-0035 in which a matrix of fuels was tested in a single cylinder engine. The fuels consisted of a relatively small number of components, thereby simplifying the analysis of the chemical kinetic proprieties. Through dividing the original fuel matrix into subsets, it was possible to explore the variation of K value with fuel properties. It was found that K value tends to increase slightly with RON. The explanation for this finding is that higher RON leads to advanced ignition timing (i.e. closer to MBT conditions) and advanced ignition timing results in faster combustion because of the higher pressures and temperatures reached in the thermodynamic trajectory.

An opposed piston two-stroke engine is more suitable for use in an unmanned aerial vehicle because of its small size, excellent self-balancing, stable operation, and low noise. Consequently, in this study, based on experimental data for a prototype opposed piston two-stroke engine, numerical simulation models were established using GT-POWER for 1D simulation and AVL-FIRE for 3D CFD simulation. The mesh grid and solver parameters for the numerical model of the CFD simulation were determined to guarantee the accuracy of the numerical simulation, before studying and optimizing the ventilation efficiency of the engine with different dip angles. Furthermore, the fuel spray and combustion were analyzed and optimized in details.

Incomplete-combustion and misfire are the hurdles in internal combustion engines to run on ultra-lean mixture, whereas high thermal efficiency has been achieved at lean mixture. The burning characteristics of n-heptane with 0% and 30% hydrogen additions were studied at 393K-453K and 100kPa-300kPa up to near lean burn limits, λ=0.8-2.0. The flame appeared in spherical shape only by 37-mJ ignition energy (IE) at λ=0.8-1.5, while further lean mixture, ≥1.6, could be ignited only by 3000-mJ with the distorted flame shape. The flame buoyed in the mixture when burning velocity calculated by kinetic mechanism was equal or less than 19.83 cm/s at the initial conditions of λ=1.8, 393K and 100kPa. The thermal instability under impact of initial pressure and temperature was higher at lean mixture than at stoichiometric mixture.

The adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) has been announced worldwide with the aim of reducing CO2 emissions. However, a significant increase in electricity demand by EVs might impact the stable operation of the existing power grid. Meanwhile, EV charging is acceptable to most users if it is completed by the time of the next driving event. From the viewpoint of power grid operators, flexibility for shifting the timing of EV charging would be advantageous, including making effective use of renewable energy. In this work, an EV model and simulation tool were developed to make clear how the total charging demand of all EVs in use will be influenced by future EV specifications (e.g., charge power) and installation of charging infrastructure. Among the most influential factors, EV charging behavior according to use cases and regional characteristics were statistically analyzed based on the real-world usage data of over 14, 000 EVs and incorporated in the simulation tool.