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Lean burn gasoline spark-ignition engines can support the reduction of CO2 emissions for future hybrid passenger cars. Very high efficiencies and very low NOx raw emissions can be achieved, if relative air/fuel ratios λ of 2 and above can be reached. The biggest challenge here is to assure a reliable ignition process and to enhance the fuel oxidation in order to achieve a short burn duration and a good combustion stability. This article aims at introducing an innovative combustion system fully optimized for ultra-lean operation and very high efficiency. Thereto, a new cylinder head concept has been realized with high peak firing pressure capability and with a low surface-to-volume ratio at high compression ratios. 1D and 3D simulations have been performed to optimize the compression ratio, charge motion and intake valve lift. Numerical calculations also supported the development of the ignition system.

The successful design and especially the control of the SCR system is a challenging process that can be supported by the application of simulation tools. As a first step, we employ physico-chemically informed ‘off-line’ models that are calibrated with the help of targeted small- and full-scale tests. Despite their high level of sophistication, this SCR model is able to be integrated in a control-oriented simulation software platform and connected to other powertrain simulation blocks. The target is to use this simulation platform as a virtual environment for the development and optimization of SCR control strategies. The above process is demonstrated in the case of a passenger car SCR. The model is calibrated at both fresh and aged catalyst condition and validated using experimental data from the engine bench under a wide variety of operating conditions. Next, the calibrated model was coupled with embedded control models, developed for Euro 6 passenger car powertrains.

The introduction of alternative fuels is crucial to limit greenhouse gases. CNG is regarded as one of the most promising clean fuels given its worldwide availability, its low price and its intrinsic properties (high knocking resistance, low carbon content...). One way to optimize dedicated natural gas engines is to improve the CNG slow burning velocity compared to gasoline fuel and allow lean burn combustion mode. Besides optimization of the combustion chamber design, hydrogen addition to CNG is a promising solution to boost the combustion thanks to its fast burning rate, its wide flammability limits and its low quenching gap. This paper presents an investigation of different methane/hydrogen blends between 0% and 40 vol. % hydrogen ratio for three different combustion modes: stoichiometric, lean-burn and stoichiometric with EGR.

Among the existing concepts that help to improve the efficiency of spark-ignition engines at part load, Controlled Auto-Ignition™ (CAI™) is an effective way to lower both fuel consumption and pollutant emissions. This combustion concept is based on the auto-ignition of an air-fuel-mixture highly diluted with hot burnt gases to achieve high indicated efficiency and low pollutant emissions through low temperature combustion. To minimize the costs of conversion of a standard spark-ignition engine into a CAI engine, the present study is restricted to a Port Fuel Injection engine with a cam-profile switching system and a cam phaser on both intake and exhaust sides. In a 4-stroke engine, a large amount of burnt gases can be trapped in the cylinder via early closure of the exhaust valves. This so-called Negative Valve Overlap (NVO) strategy has a key parameter to control the amount of trapped burnt gases and consequently the combustion: the exhaust valve-lift profile.

A gasoline direct injection engine was operated at elevated EGR levels over a significant portion of the performance map. The engine was modified to use both cooled and un-cooled EGR in high pressure loop and low pressure loop configurations. The addition of EGR at low and part load was shown to decrease NO and CO emissions and to reduce fuel consumption by up to 4%, primarily through the reduction in pumping losses. At high loads, the addition of EGR resulted in higher fuel consumption benefits of 10-20% as well as the expected NO and CO reductions. The fuel economy benefit at high loads resulted from a decrease in knock tendency and a subsequent improvement in combustion phasing as well as reductions in exhaust temperatures that eliminated the requirement for over-fuelling.

Previous studies of in-cylinder heat transfers give numerous approaches of heat losses modelling principally compression and expansion strokes. These simulation methods are discussed showing that their accuracy during the intake stroke is neglected. Since most of the modern engines use strong structured air motion during the intake and compression strokes to both reduce consumption and reach different emissions levels targets, one may focus on in-cylinder aerodynamics and convective heat transfer coupling. The experimental velocity data acquired allow us to get an in-depth understanding of the spatial and temporal gradients of measured heat transfers in the cylinder of an internal combustion engine. Two different experimental methods have been used to investigate the in-cylinder air motion. First, near wall flow has been studied using two component local time-resolved Laser Doppler Anemometry (LDA).

An individual cylinder AFR estimator using a single proportional oxygen sensor (UEGO) situated at the confluence point of the exhaust manifold has previously been described ([1],[2]). As this model is nonlinear, it proposes a linear slicing by zone [3], enabling it to apply the estimator to the entire range of engine speeds. However, several problems remain; the model [3] is complicated and therefore difficult to program in an electronic engine control, the model is no longer valid with the ageing of sensors, injectors, or the motor, it is impossible to diagnostic the defaulting organ or one which deviates. The work set out in this article describes a model, and the conditions for its identification, which resolve these. The resultats obtained on engine tests show that the model is robust, precise and capable of estimating cylinder AFR as well as diagnosticing an injector or UEGO sensor deviation.

This paper presents a prospective combustion study about dilution effects on turbocharged SI engine at full load. It proposes a comparative analysis between lean burn and cooled exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) operation as knock improvement artifice in substitute of enrichment. The study was led on a four cylinder 2L engine on stationary test bench. A specific EGR circuit was designed in order to achieve high control of the temperature and mass flow of the recirculated gas. Thanks to instantaneous pressure cylinder transducers, a combustion analysis was carried out using an home-made code. 1-D simulations (WAVE code) were used to complete the analysis on volumetric efficiency and turbocharger behaviour. A real advantage of cooled EGR was observed in the study compared to lean burn or enrichment in terms of performance, heat exchange and specific fuel consumption.

A new phenomenological model of injection and auto-ignition is established in a 4-cylinder DI diesel engine of the production size class equipped with an inclined 5 holes injector. Measurements are performed at representative engine conditions for partial load. The penetration of the liquid phases is visualized in the whole combustion chamber by simultaneous Laser-Induced Fluorescence (LIF) and Mie scattering techniques. The autoignition and combustion are analyzed by a time-resolved direct imaging of the chemiluminescence process. Experiments based on the correlation of two separated images of the combustion phenomena in a single cycle have allowed a detailed comprehension of spatial and temporal description of the autoignition and reaction zones development. Several autoignition sites are revealed in the vicinity of the injector nozzle. The reaction zone is shown to develop independently and then to merge to a unique one in the whole combustion chamber.

In a consortium of European industrial partners and research institutes, a combination of industrial development and scientific research was organised. The objective was to improve the catalytic NOx conversion for lean burn cars and heavy-duty trucks, taking into account boundary conditions for the fuel consumption. The project lasted for three years. During this period parallel research was conducted in research areas ranging from basic research based on a theoretical approach to full scale emission system development. NOx storage catalysts became a central part of the project. Catalysts were evaluated with respect to resistance towards sulphur poisoning. It was concluded that very low sulphur fuel is a necessity for efficient use of NOx trap technology. Additionally, attempts were made to develop methods for reactivating poisoned catalysts. Methods for short distance mixing were developed for the addition of reducing agent.

Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) technique was used to study the in-cylinder flow motion in a single cylinder transparent spark ignition (SI) engine, with 4 valves pent-roof cylinder-head. Experiments have been firstly performed using classical PIV technique in the symmetrical plane of the combustion chamber. The instantaneous two-dimensional velocity fields show that during intake stroke, the flow has strong relatively stable structures with low cycle by cycle (CBC) variations, whereas during compression stroke, the flow consists of large unstable eddies with high CBC variations. In all cases, no large tumble-like motion was observed on instantaneous fields in the measurement plane during the intake stroke. Therefore, Stereoscopic Particle Image Velocimetry (SPIV) technique was adapted to complete the classical two-dimensional measurements and in order to have a better understanding of the in-cylinder flow during compression stroke.

The optimization of fuel efficiency and the minimization of the residual gas fraction require individual cylinder control of the amounts of inducted air mass and injected fuel mass. Determination of an individual cylinder air/fuel ratio (AFR) regulator is based on the measured AFR for each cylinder, using 4 proportional UEGO sensors. The innovative character of this study describes a unified and robust individual cylinder AFR estimator, using a single measuring point: a proportional oxygen sensor located in the exhaust manifold. The model used for the estimator is a state model such that the dimension of the state and measurement matrices are unique, whatever the manifold configuration and the sensor position (confluence point or exhaust manifold: unified model), the engine speed (robust model).

The behaviour of a NOx storage catalyst in powdered form and containing a storage component based on alkaline metal was investigated under rich conditions. Experiments were conducted in a fixed-bed flow reactor with the space velocity set at 45,000 h-1. From these experiments it was possible to extract the fractional NOx reduction and the efficiency of use of the reductant. With 0.9% CO as a reductant at 350°C, complete utilisation of CO was achieved up to 70% NOx conversion as treatment time was increased. To obtain 90% NOx conversion required longer times, and 23% of the CO did not participate in the reduction of NOX. A reductant balance shows that about 40% of the CO added is used to reduce the catalyst surface when the flow is switched from lean to rich. The ranking of efficiencies of different reductant gases at 350°C gave the following sequence: 0.9% H2 ≈ 0.9% CO > 1285 ppm toluene > 3000 ppm propene ≈ 1125 ppm i-octane > 3000 ppm propane.

Cycle-to-cycle variations in the pressure evolution within the cylinder of a spark ignition engine has long been recognized as a phenomenon of considerable importance. In this work, use of tools borrowed to the nonlinear dynamical system theory to investigate the time evolution of the cylinder pressure is explored. By computing a divergence rate between different pressure cycles versus crank angle, four phases during the combustion cycle are exhibited. These four phases may be identified with the four common phases evidenced by burn rate calculations [1]. Starting from phase portraits and using Poincaré sections, we also study correlations between peak pressures, IMEP and the durations from ignition to appearance of a flame kernel.

In a joint research project between industrial companies and a number of research institutes, nitrogen oxide conversion in oxygen containing exhaust gas has been investigated according to the following procedure Basic investigations of elementary steps of the chemical reaction Production and prescreening of different catalytic material on laboratory scale Application oriented screening of industrial catalyst material Catalyst testing on a lean bum gasoline engine, passenger car diesel engines (swirl chamber and DI) and on a DI truck engine Although a number of solid body structures show nitrogen oxide reduction by hydrocarbons, only noble metal containing catalysts and transition metal exchanged zeolites gave catalytic efficiencies of industrial relevance. A maximum of 25 % NOx reduction was found in the European driving cycle for passenger cars, about 40 % for truck engines in the respective European test.

An experimental investigation is carried out on the effect of Swirl and Tumble on turbulence and combustion characteristics in four-valve spark ignition engines. This study is conducted on an optically accessed single cylinder research engine. The in-cylinder motion is varied by means of flow-control baffle located between the intake manifold and the cylinder head. Several baffle sizes and shapes have been designed to induce various in-cylinder flow fields. The equivalent angular speed of the tumble and swirl vortices, occurring inside the cylinder, are determined from Laser Doppler Velocimetry. Comparisons with measurements from a conventional steady flow rig which measures air motion speed with a paddle wheel anemometer are presented and show a good correlation between the two measurement techniques.