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In order to extend the operability limit of the gasoline compression ignition (GCI) engine, as an avenue for low temperature combustion (LTC) regime, the effects of parametric variations of engine operating conditions on the performance of six-stroke GCI (6S-GCI) engine cycle are numerically investigated, using an in-house 3D CFD code coupled with high-fidelity physical sub-models along with the Chemkin library. The combustion and emissions were calculated using a skeletal chemical kinetics mechanism for a 14-component gasoline surrogate fuel. Authors’ previous study highlighted the effects of the variation of injection timing and split ratio on the overall performance of 6S-GCI engine and the unique mixing-controlled burning mode of the charge mixtures during the two additional strokes. As a continuing effort, the present study details the parametric studies of initial gas temperature, boost pressure, fuel injection pressure, compression ratio, and EGR ratio.

As CO2 legislation tightens, the next generation of turbocharged gasoline engines must meet stricter emissions targets combined with increased fuel efficiency standards. Recent studies have shown that the following technologies offer significant improvements to the efficiency of turbocharged GDI engines: Miller Cycle via late intake valve closing (LIVC), low pressure loop cooled EGR (LPL EGR), port water injection (PWI), and cylinder deactivation (CDA). While these efficiency-improving technologies are individually well-understood, in this study we directly compare these technologies to each other on the same engine at a range of operating conditions and over a range of compression ratios (CR). The technologies tested are applied to a boosted and direct injected (DI) gasoline engine and evaluated both individually and combined.

As CO2 legislation tightens, the next generation of turbocharged gasoline engines must meet stricter emissions targets combined with increased fuel efficiency standards. Promising technologies under consideration are: Miller Cycle via late intake valve closing (LIVC), low pressure loop cooled exhaust gas recirculation (LPL EGR), port water injection (PWI), and cylinder deactivation (CDA). While these efficiency improving options are well-understood individually, in this study we directly compare them to each other on the same engine at a range of operating conditions and over a range of compression ratios (CR). For this purpose we undertake a comprehensive simulation of the above technology options using a GT-Power model of the engine with a kinetics based knock combustion sub-model to optimize the fuel efficiency, taking into account the total in-cylinder dilution effects, due to internal and external EGR, on the combustion.

To satisfy the global fuel economy restrictions getting stricter, various advanced cooling concepts, like active flow control strategy, cross-flow and fast warm-up, have been applied to the engine. Recently developed Hyundai’s next generation 4-cylinder 2.0L gasoline engine, also adopts several new cooling subsystems. This paper reviews how 3-D CAE analysis has been extensively used to evaluate cooling performance effectively from concept phase to pre-production phase. In the concept stage, the coolant flow in the water jacket of cylinder head and block was investigated to find out the best one among the proposed concepts and the further improvement of flow was also done by optimizing cylinder head gasket holes. Next, 3-D temperature simulation was conducted to satisfy the development criteria in the prototype stage before making initial test engines.

The sliding door’s movement is 3-dimensional unlike the conventional door. So the electric power and signal are exchanged via the long ‘Power Cable’. It has a quite complex structure in order to be suitable to connect the vehicle’s body and the sliding door even during it’s moving. As the result, it is more expensive than conventional door’s one and the quality could not be guaranteed easily. In this paper, I have developed new technology which could transfer electric power by ‘wireless transfer’ in order to resolve the problem from using ‘Power cable’. I would propose the proper structure to transfer the electric power at any position of the sliding door without any physical connection. To transfer the electric power which drives the window regulator and the actuators in door, I have applied the ‘inductive coupling’ system.

In recent years, emission regulations have been getting increasingly strict. In the development of engines that comply with these regulations, in-cylinder pressure plays a fundamental role, as it is necessary to analyze combustion characteristics and control combustion-related parameters. The analysis of in-cylinder pressure data enables the modelling of exhaust emissions in which characteristic temperature can be derived from the in-cylinder pressure, and the pressure can be used for other investigations, such as optimizing efficiency and emissions through controlling combustion. Therefore, a piezoelectric pressure sensor to measure in-cylinder pressure is an essential element in the engine research field. However, it is difficult to practice the installation of this pressure sensor on all engines and on-road vehicles owing to cost issues.

The role of a brake disc is to convert the kinetic energy of automobiles into thermal energy caused by friction between the brake pads and disc surfaces. The braking performance of an overheated disc is decreased due to hot judder and fade. Hence, the cooling technology of a brake disc is one of the most important issues related to automobile safety. In the present study, the fluid flow and heat transfer analysis of a ventilated brake disc are conducted numerically. Some geometries of automotive parts such as bearings, hubs and wheels are considered in this study. The commercial code ANSYS CFX is used to simulate the fluid flow and the conjugate heat transfer which includes conduction and convection. To evaluate the cooling performance in each case, the results, including the flow patterns of cooling air inside the wheel and the heat transfer coefficient distribution at the disc surfaces, were investigated and compared for various disc-hub combinations.

The sliding surface of the brake friction material is not uniform but composed of random contact plateaus with a broad pressure distribution, which are known to closely related to the triggering mechanism of friction induced noise and vibrations. The non-uniform contact plateaus are attributed to the various ingredients in the friction material with a broad range of physical properties and morphology and the size and stiffness of the plateau play crucial roles in determining the friction instability. The incorporation of friction surface inhomogeneity is, therefore, crucial and has to be counted to improve the accuracy of the numerical calculation to simulate brake noise. In this study, the heterogeneous nature of the friction material surface was employed in the simulation to improve the correlation between numerical simulations and experimental results.

Currently, diesel engine-out exhaust NOx emission level prediction is a major challenge for complying with the stricter emission legislation and for control purpose of the after-treatment system. Most of the NOx prediction research is based on the Zeldovich thermal mechanism, which is reasonable from the physical point of view and for its simplicity. Nevertheless, there are some predictable range limitations, such as low temperature with high EGR rate operating conditions or high temperature with low EGR rates. In the present paper, 3 additional considerations, pilot burned gas mixing before the main injection; major NO formation area; concentration correction, were applied to the previously developed real-time NO estimation model based on in-cylinder pressure and data available from ECU. The model improvement was verified on a 1.6 liter EURO5 diesel engine in both steady and transient operation.

Polylactide (PLA), which is one of the most important biocompatible polyesters that are derived from annually renewable biomass such as corn and sugar beets, has attracted much attention for automotive parts application. The manufacturing method of PLA is the ring-opening polymerization of the dimeric cyclic ester of lactic acid, lactide. For the PLA composites including stereocomplexed with L- and D-PLA, we developed the unit processes such as fermentation, separation, lactide conversion, and polymerization. We investigated D-lactic acid fermentation with a view to obtaining the strains capable of producing D-lactic acid, and through catalyst screening test for polycondensation and depolymerization reactions, we got a new method which shortens the whole reaction time of lactide synthesis step. Poly(d-lactide) is obtained from the ring-opening polymerization of d-lactide. Also we investigated several catalysts and polymerization conditions.

This paper focuses on the vehicle test result of the US fuel economy test cycles such as FTP75, HWY and US06 with model based Cooled EGR system. Cooled EGR SW function was realized by Model Based Development (internal rapid prototyping) using iRPT tool. With EGR, mixing exhaust gas with clean air reduces the oxygen concentration in the cylinder charge, as a result, the combustion process is slowed, and the combustion temperature drops. This experiment confirmed that the spark timing was more advanced without knocking and manifold pressure was increased in all cases with EGR. A positive potential of fuel economy improvement on FTP mode, US06 mode have seen in this experiment but not for HWY where the engine load is quite low and the spark advance is already optimized. As a result, fuel economy was increased by maximum 3.3% on FTP, 2.7% on US06, decreased by 0.3% on HWY mode respectively with EGR.

Numerical durability analysis is the only approach that can be used to assess the durability of vehicles in early stages of development. In these stages, where there are no physical prototypes available, the road wheel forces (or spindle forces) for durability testing on Belgian PG (Proving Ground) must be predicted by VPG (Virtual Proving Ground) or derived from the measured forces of predecessor vehicles. In addition, the tuning parts and geometry are not fixed at these stages. This results in the variation of spindle forces during the development stages. Therefore, it is not reasonable to choose the forces predicted at a specific tuning condition as standard forces. It is more reasonable to determine the standard forces stochastically using the DB of the measured forces of predecessor vehicles. The spindle forces measured or predicted on Belgian PG are typically stationary random.

In order to achieve the proper automobile interior sound, the tailpipe noise of the exhaust system must be considered as a main contributor. This paper describes a study of the achievement of dynamic sound quality through exhaust system design. Firstly, we determined the vehicle's interior sound quality and established a target sound using a subjective assessment of 10 benchmark vehicles. The exhaust noise target is determined by means of transfer path analysis focusing on the noise source and how it's impacted by the muffler design. The exhaust system is commonly modeled as a combination of source strength and impedance. We obtained the source character by the wave decomposition method using two microphones and six loads ultimately leading to an optimized design of the inner muffler structure. Based on this study, we achieved dynamic interior sound and improved exhaust system performance.

The main contribution of this paper is to employ a sound and vibration theory in order to develop a light and cost effective plastic intercooler pipe. The intercooler pipe was composed of two rubber hoses and one aluminum pipe mounted between an ACV (Air Control Valve) and an intercooler outlet. The engineering design concept is to incorporate low-vibration type bellows and an impedance-mismatched center pipe, which replaces the rubber hoses and aluminum pipe respectively. The bellows were designed to adapt powertrain movement for high vibration transmission loss to the intercooler outlet. Also, the impedance-mismatched center pipe was implemented to increase reflected wave by using relatively higher modulus than bellows part and applying a SeCo (Sequential Coextrusion) processing method.

Today, all manufacturers of vehicles are up for the challenge to abide in automobile emission control laws. Weight reduction is one of the best solutions to reduce both fuel consumption and emissions. The most effective method for the said idea is to have lightweight materials to some parts of vehicle using the FRP(Fiber Reinforced Plastics). In order to obtain good mechanical properties of FRP, continuous fiber should be used. But it is difficult to design and manufacture FRP parts using continuous fiber because of material properties and molding process. In this paper, it is used CF(carbon Fiber) and Epoxy to make a composite material. Properties of this CFRP can be predicted through analysis. Tests and simulations of specimen are performed as every step progresses for correlation. A spring can be designed to meet all requirements for specific performance. The CFRP spring is made by new devices and methods and can be applied to vehicle for practical use.

Hyundai Motor Group launched a Continuously Variable Valve Lift (CVVL) engine in 2012. The engine is equipped with HMG's unique CVVL mechanism and is characterized by low fuel consumption, high performance and its responsiveness. The CVVL mechanism is based on a six-linkage mechanism and has advantages of compactness and durability. The engine is a 4 cylinder In-Line, 2.0L gasoline engine and is designed for a mid-sized passenger car. The engine increases fuel efficiency by 7.7% and the peak engine power by 4.2%. One of the most challenging issues in producing a CVVL engine is the valve lift deviations throughout the engine cylinders. The valve cap shim and set screw were designed to adjust the valve lift deviations. Cap shim thickness is chosen by measuring the valve top height, and shoe lift of the cam carrier assembly. The set screw is an auxiliary device to adjust the valve lift deviation.

It is difficult to reach higher compression ratios of the gasoline engine even though higher compression ratios improve thermal efficiency. One of the barriers is large torque drop led by knocking. Extensive researches to suppress knocking of the gasoline engine have been conducted. It is focused on lowering the temperature of fuel mixture in combustion chamber at compression top dead center (TDC). This paper covers the new valvetrain system to decrease the temperature of exhaust valve bottom (combustion) side. Hollow head and stem sodium filled valve (HHSV) have shown more heat transfer from combustion chamber to valve seat insert and valve guide, and higher thermal conductivity valve seat insert (HVSI) and valve guide (HVG) help to decrease valve temperature lower by higher heat transfer.

In diesel engine development, fuel consumption, emissions and combustion noise have been main development objectives for fuel economy, low emissions and NVH. These main objectives can be achieved with advanced engine technologies. As electronic actuating systems are widely applied on diesel engines, elaborate control is required. This is because the main development targets are greatly affected by engine control parameters but frequently have a trade-off relationship. Therefore, the optimization of combustion control parameters is one of the most challenging tasks for improvement. As an efficient method, the DOE methodology has been used in engine calibration. In order to develop a mathematical model, the input and output values must be measured. Unlike other variables, combustion noise has been continually reported to have better indication method in simplified way. In this paper, advanced noise index from cylinder pressure signal is applied on engine test.

After the second worldwide oil crisis, Brazil put in place by 1975 a strategic plan to stimulate the usage of ethanol (from sugar cane), to be mixed to the gasoline or to be sold as 100% ethanol fuel (known as E100). To enable an engine to operate with both gasoline and ethanol (and their mixtures), by 2003 the “Flex Fuel” technology was implemented. By 2012 calendar year, from a total of about 3.8 million vehicles sold in the Brazilian market, 91% offered the “Flex Fuel” technology, and great majority used a gasoline sub-tank to assist on cold starts (typically below 15°C, where more than 85% of ethanol is present in fuel tank). The gasoline sub-tank system suffers from issues such as gasoline deterioration, crash-worthiness and user inconvenience such as bad drivability during engine warm up phase. This paper presents fuel injector technologies capable of rapidly electrically heating the ethanol fuel for the Brazilian transportation market.

This paper describes how to meet LEVII ULEV70 emission standards and minimize fuel consumption with the combined NOx after-treatment (LNT+SCR) system for diesel vehicles. Through analysis of LNT's functionality and characteristics in a LNT+SCR combined after-treatment system, allowed a new control strategy to be established, different from the existing LNT-only system. In the 200°C or higher condition where SCR can provide the most stable NOx conversion efficiency, rich regeneration of LNT was optimized to minimize LNT deterioration and fuel consumption. Optimized mapping between rapid heat up strategy and raw NOx reduction maximized LNT's NOx conversion efficiency during the intervals when it is not possible for SCR to purify NOx This study used bench aged catalysts which were equivalent to 150K full useful life.