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The authors have reported significant smoke reduction in twin shaped semi-premixed diesel combustion with a newly designed combustion chamber to distribute the first and the second sprays into upper and lower layers. However, the first stage premixed combustion tends to advance far from the TDC, resulting in lowering of thermal efficiencies. In this report, improvement of thermal efficiency by optimizing the combustion phase with lower ignitability fuels was identified with the divided combustion chamber. The experiment was conducted with four fuels with different cetane numbers. The first stage premixed combustion can be retarded to the optimum phase with the fuel with cetane number 38, establishing high efficiencies.

The purpose of this paper is to build up a model for predicting turbulent burning velocity which can be used for One-Dimensional (1D) engine simulation. This paper presents the relationship between turbulent burning velocity, the Karlovitz number, and the Markstein number for building up the prediction model. The turbulent burning velocity was measured using a single-cylinder gasoline engine, which has an external Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) system. In the experiment, various engine operating parameters, e.g. engine loads and EGR rates, and various engine specifications, i.e. different types of intake ports were tested. The Karlovitz number was calculated using Three-Dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics (3D-CFD) and detailed chemical kinetics simulation with a premixed laminar flame model. The Markstein number was also calculated using detailed chemical kinetics simulation with the Extinction of Opposed-flow Flame model.

The purpose of the present study is to find a way to extend a combustion stability limit for diluted combustion in a spark-ignition (SI) gasoline engine which has a high compression ratio. This paper focuses on partial oxidation in an unburned mixture which is observed in the high compression engine and clarifies the effect of partial oxidation in an unburned mixture on the behavior of a flame stretch and the extinction limit. The behavior of the flame stretch was simulated using the detailed chemical kinetics simulation with the opposed-flow flame reactor model. In the simulation, the reactants which have various reaction progress variables were examined to simulate the flame stretch and extinction under the partial oxidation conditions. The mixtures were also diluted by complete combustion products which represent exhaust gas recirculation (EGR).

Soot mass production was investigated in high-boosted diesel engine tests by changing various operating parameters. A mixed timescale subgrid model of large eddy simulation (LES) was applied to simulate the detailed mixture formation, combustion and soot formation influenced by turbulence in diesel engine combustion. The combustion model used a direct integration approach with an explicit ordinary differential equation (ODE) solver and additional parallelization by OpenMP. Soot mass production within a computation cell was determined from a phenomenological soot formation model developed by WASEDA University. The model was combined with the LES code and included the following important steps: particle inception, in which naphthalene was assumed to grow irreversibly to form soot; surface growth with the addition of C2H2; surface oxidation due to OH radicals and O2 attack; particle coagulation; and particle agglomeration.

This paper describes the development of an integrated simulation model for evaluating the effects of electrically heating the three-way catalyst (TWC) in a series hybrid electric vehicle (s-HEV) on fuel economy and exhaust gas purification performance. Engine and TWC models were developed in GT-Power to predict exhaust emissions during transient operation. These models were validated against data from vehicle tests using a chassis dynamometer and integrated into an s-HEV model built in MATLAB/Simulink. The s-HEV model accurately reproduced the performance characteristics of the vehicle’s engine, motor, generator, and battery during WLTC mode operation. It can thus be used to predict the fuel consumption, emissions, and performance of individual powertrain components. The engine combustion characteristics were reproduced with reasonable accuracy for the first 50 combustion cycles, representing the cold-start condition of the driving mode.

To reproduce wall quenching phenomena using 3D-CFD, a wall quenching model was constructed based on the Peclet number. The model was further integrated with the flame propagation model. Combustion analysis showed that that a large amount of unburned hydrocarbons (UHCs) remained in the piston clevis and small gaps. Furthermore, the model was capable of predicting the increase in UHC emissions when there was a delay in the ignition time. The flame front cells were plotted on Peters' premixed turbulent combustion diagram to identify transitions in the combustion states. It was found that the flame surface transitioned from corrugated flamelets through thin reaction zones to wrinkled flamelets and further to laminar flamelets, which led to wall quenching. The turbulent Reynolds number (Re) decreased rapidly due to the increase in laminar flame speed and flame thickness and the decrease in turbulent intensity and turbulent scale.

In this study, reaction path analysis and modeling of NOx reduction phenomena by fast SCR reaction on a Cu-chabazite catalyst were conducted, considering the formation and decomposition of ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3). White crystals of NH4NO3 decompose at temperatures < 200 °C. Thus, the reaction behavior changes at 200 °C under fast SCR reaction conditions. NH4NO3 formation can occur on both Cu sites and Brønsted acid sites, which are active sites for NOx reduction in the Cu-chabazite catalyst, but it is unclear where NH4NO3 accumulates on the catalyst. Analyses using catalyst test pieces with different active sites were performed to estimate this accumulation. The results suggested that NH4NO3 accumulation does not depend on the presence of either Cu sites or Brønsted acid sites. Therefore, it is assumed that NH4NO3 can be accumulated everywhere on the catalyst, including on the zeolite framework. This phenomenon was included in the model as formation/accumulation sites S'.

Performance predictions of advanced turbocharged engines are becoming difficult because conventional engine models are built using performance map data of turbochargers with a proportional integral derivative (PID) controller. Improving prediction capabilities under transient test cycles or real driving conditions is a challenging task. This study applies a machine learning technique to predict turbocharger performances with high accuracy under steady-state and transient conditions. The manipulated signals of engine speed and torque created based on Compressed High-Intensity Radiated Pulse (Chirp signal) and Amplitude-modulated Pseudo-Random Binary Signal (APRBS) are used as inputs to the engine testbed. Data from the engine experiments are used as training data for the AI-based turbocharger model. High prediction accuracy of the AI turbocharger model is achieved with the co-efficient of determination in the model, and cross-validation results are higher than 0.8.

Emission regulations are becoming tighter, and Real Driving Emissions (RDE) is proposed as a testing cycle for evaluating modern engine emissions under a wide operation range. For this reason, engine manufacturers have been developing a method to effectively assess engine performances and emissions under a wide range of transient conditions. Transient engine performances can be evaluated efficiently by applying time-series data created by chirp signals. However, when the time-series data produced by the chirp signal are used directly, the engine hardware may damage, and emission performances deteriorate drastically. It is therefore essential to develop a method to avoid these undesirable operating conditions. This work aims to develop an algorithm to avoid such unrealistic operation conditions for engine performance evaluation. A virtual diesel engine (VDE) model is developed based on a four-cylinder engine using GT-POWER software.

Three-way catalyst (TWC) converters can purify harmful substances, such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and hydrocarbons, from the exhaust gases of gasoline engines. However, large amounts of these substances may be emitted before the TWC reaches its light-off temperature during cold starts, and its performance may be impaired by thermal deterioration during high-load driving. In this work, a simulation model was developed using axisuite commercial software by Exothermia S.A to predict the light-off conversion performance of Pd/CeO2-ZrO2-Al2O3 catalysts with different degrees of thermal deterioration. The model considered detailed surface reactions and the main factor of the deterioration mechanism. In the detailed reaction mechanism, adsorption, desorption, and surface reactions of each gas species at active sites of the platinum group metal (PGM) particles were considered based on the Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism.

The purpose of this paper is to find a universal law to predict a turbulent burning velocity under various operating conditions and engine specifications. This paper presents the relationship between turbulent burning velocity and Karlovitz number. The turbulent burning velocity was measured using a single-cylinder gasoline engine, which has an external Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) system. In the experiment, various engine operating parameters, e.g. engine speed and EGR rates, and various engine specifications, i.e. different types of intake ports were tested. Karlovitz number was calculated with Three Dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics (3D-CFD) and detailed chemical reaction calculation, which condition was based on the experiment. The experimental and calculation results show that turbulent burning velocity is predicted by using Karlovitz number in the engine conditions, which varies depending on engine speed, EGR rates and the designs of intake ports.

Natural gas has been used in spark-ignition (SI) engines of natural gas vehicles (NGVs) due to its resource availability and stable price compared to gasoline. It has the potential to reduce carbon monoxide emissions from the SI engines due to its high hydrogen-to-carbon ratio. However, short running distance is an issue of the NGVs. In this work, methodologies to improve the fuel economy of a heavy-duty commercial truck under the Japanese Heavy-Duty Driving Cycle (JE05) is proposed by numerical 1D-CFD modeling. The main objective is a comparative analysis to find an optimal fuel economy under three variable mechanisms, variable valve timing (VVT), variable valve actuation (VVA), and variable compression ratio (VCR). Experimental data are taken from a six-cylinder turbocharged SI engine fueled by city gas 13A. The 9.83 L production engine is a CR11 type with a multi-point injection system operated under a stoichiometric mixture.

In this study, reaction path analysis and modeling of NOx reduction phenomena by selective catalytic reduction (SCR) with NH3 over a Cu-chabazite catalyst were conducted considering changes in the valence state of Cu sites and local structure due to differences in ligands to the Cu sites. The analysis showed that in the Cu-chabazite catalyst, NOx was mainly reduced by adsorbed NH3 on divalent Cu sites accompanied by a change in valence state of Cu from divalent to monovalent. It is known that the activation energy of NOx reduction on a Cu-chabazite catalyst changes between low temperatures ≤ 200 °C and mid to high temperatures ≥ 300 °C. To express this phenomenon, a reversible hydrolysis reaction based on the difference in coordination state of hydroxyl groups (OH−) to Cu sites at low and high temperatures was introduced into the model.

Battery models are being developed as a component of the powertrain systems of hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) to predict the state of charge (SOC) accurately. Electrically heated catalysts (EHCs) can be employed in the powertrains of HEVs to reach the catalyst light off temperature in advance. However, EHCs draw power from the battery pack and hence sufficient energy needs to be stored to power auxiliary components. In series HEVs, the engine is primarily used to charge the battery pack. Therefore, it is important to develop a control strategy that triggers engine start/stop conditions and reduces the frequency of engine operation to minimize the equivalent fuel consumption. In this study, a battery pack model was constructed in MATLAB-Simulink to investigate the SOC variation of a high-power lithium ion battery during extreme engine cold start conditions (-7°C) with/without application of an EHC.

To identify ways of achieving good mixture formation and heat release in diesel spray combustion, we have performed Large Eddy Simulation (LES) using a detailed chemical reaction mechanism to study the temporal and spatial distribution of the local equivalence ratios and heat release rate. Here we characterize the effect of the fuel injection rate profile on these processes in the combustion chamber of a diesel engine. Two injection rate profiles are considered: a standard (STD) profile, which is a typical modern common rail injection profile, and the inverse delta (IVD) profile, which has the potential to suppress rich mixture formation in the spray tip region. Experimental data indicate that the formation of such mixtures may extend the duration of the late combustion period and thus reduce thermal efficiency.

This paper describes a method for estimating constants related to NH3 gas diffusion phenomena to the active sites in a selective catalytic reduction diesel particulate filter (SCR/DPF) catalyst. A simple one-dimensional NH3 gas diffusion model based on the pore structure inside the catalyst was developed and used to estimate the intracrystalline diffusion coefficient. It was shown that the estimated value agreed well with experimental data.

To improve the combustion characteristics in semi-premixed diesel combustion, consisting in the first-stage premixed combustion of the primary fuel injection and the second-stage spray combustion of the secondary injection, the effect of splitting the primary injection was investigated in a diesel engine and analyzed with a CFD. The indicated thermal efficiency improves due to reductions in heat transfer losses to the in-cylinder wall and the combustion noise is suppressed with the split primary injections. The CFD analysis showed that the reduction in heat transfer loss with the split primary injections is due to a decrease in the combustion quantity near the combustion chamber wall.

Three-way catalyst (TWC) converters are often used to purify toxic substances contained in exhaust emissions from gasoline engines. However, a large amount of CO, NOx and THC may be emitted before the TWC reaches its light-off temperature during a cold start. In this work, a numerical model was developed for studying the purification performance of a close-coupled TWC converter during the cold start period. The TWC model was built using axisuite, commercial software by Exothermia S.A. Model gas experiments were designed for calibrating the chemical reaction scheme and corresponding reaction rate parameters in the TWC model. The TWC model was able to simulate the purification performance of CO, NOx and THC under both lean and rich air-fuel equivalence ratios (λ) for different conditions. The light-off temperature and oxygen storage capacity (OSC) behavior were also successfully validated in the model. Vehicle tests were conducted on a chassis dynamometer to verify the TWC model.

The Dual-Fuel (DF) combustion is a promising technology for efficient, low NOx and low exhaust particulate matter (PM) engine operation. To achieve equivalent performance to a DF engine with only the use of conventional liquid fuel, this study proposes the implementation of an on-board fuel reformation process by piston compression. For concept verification, DF combustion tests with representative reformed gas components were conducted. Based on the results, the controllability of the reformed gas composition by variations in the operating conditions of the reformer cylinder were discussed.

The NOx-reducing activity of a Cu-chabazite selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalyst was analyzed over a wide temperature range. The analysis was based on the ammonia SCR (NH3-SCR) mechanism and accounted for Cu redox chemistry and reactions at Brønsted acid sites. The reduction of NOx to N2 (De-NOx) at Cu sites was found to proceed via different paths at low and high temperatures. Consequently, the rate-limiting step of the SCR reaction at Cu sites varied with the temperature. The rate of NOx reduction at Cu sites below 200°C was determined by the rate of Cu oxidation. Conversely, the rate of NOx reduction above 300°C was determined by the rate of NH3 adsorption on Cu sites. Moreover, the redox state of the active Cu sites differed at low and high temperatures. To clarify the role of the chabazite Brønsted acid sites, experiments were also performed using a H-chabazite catalyst that lacks Cu sites.