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Newly designed laboratory measurement system, which reproduces particle number size distributions of both nuclei and accumulation mode particles in exhaust emissions, was developed. It enables continuous measurement of nano particle emissions in the size range between 5 and 1000 nm. Evaluations of particle number size distributions were conducted for diesel vehicles with a variety of emission aftertreatment devices and for gasoline vehicles with different combustion systems. For diesel vehicles, Diesel Oxidation Catalyst (DOC), urea-Selective Catalytic Reduction (urea-SCR) system and catalyzed Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) were evaluated. For gasoline vehicles, Lean-burn Direct Injection Spark Ignition (DISI), Stoichiometric DISI and Multi Point Injection (MPI) were evaluated. Japanese latest transient test cycles were used for the evaluation: JE05 mode driving cycle for heavy duty vehicles and JC08 mode driving cycle for light duty vehicles.

In order to clarify future automobile technologies and fuel qualities to improve air quality, second phase of Japan Clean Air Program (JCAPII) had been conducted from 2002 to 2007. Predicting improvement in air quality that might be attained by introducing new emission control technologies and determining fuel qualities required for the technologies is one of the main issues of this program. Unregulated material WG of JCAPII had studied unregulated emissions from gasoline and diesel engines. Eight gaseous hydrocarbons (HC), four Aldehydes and three polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were evaluated as unregulated emissions. Specifically, emissions of the following components were measured: 1,3-Butadiene, Benzene, Toluene, Xylene, Ethylbenzene, 1,3,5-Trimethyl-benzene, n-Hexane, Styrene as gaseous HCs, Formaldehyde, Acetaldehyde, Acrolein, Benzaldehyde as Aldehydes, and Benzo(a)pyrene, Benzo(b)fluoranthene, Benzo(k)fluoranthene as PAHs.

Some automakers have been studying variable compression ratio (VCR) technology as one possible way of improving fuel economy. In previous studies, we have developed a VCR mechanism of a unique multiple-link configuration that achieves a piston stroke characterized by semi-sinusoidal oscillation and lower piston acceleration at top dead center than on conventional mechanisms. By controlling compression ratio with this multiple-link VCR mechanism so that it optimally matches any operating condition, the mechanism has demonstrated that both lower fuel consumption and higher output power are simultaneously possible. However, it has also been observed that fuel consumption does not reduce further once the compression ratio reached a certain level. This study focused on the fact that the piston-stroke characteristic obtained with the multiple-link mechanism is suitable to a longer stroke.

A new method for measuring unregulated substances in the exhaust gas is being investigated to clarify the influence of the vehicles' exhaust emissions into the environment. This paper explains our work on developing an analysis method for detecting and quantifying trace substances in the exhaust gas. A new analysis method was examined that uses thermal desorption to analyze trace amounts of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in vehicle exhaust gas. This technique is faster than conventional methods and does not require any preconditioning of the samples before analysis. While lead and chloromethane were detected in the exhaust gas samples, it was made clear that these substances did not originate in the engine system. Accordingly, the results of this study indicate that careful attention must be paid to the test environment and the presence of measurement interfering substances in exhaust samples when measuring trace constituents in the exhaust gas from low-emission vehicles.

Vehicle manufacturers developed two mixture formation concepts for the first generation of gasoline direct-injection (GDI) engines. Both the wall-guided concept with reverse tumble air motion or swirl air motion and the air-guided concept with tumble air motion have the fuel injector located at the side of the combustion chamber between the two intake ports. This paper proposes a new GDI concept. It has the fuel injector located at almost the center of the combustion chamber and with the spark plug positioned nearby. An oval bowl is provided in the piston crown. The fuel spray is injected at high fuel pressures of up to 100 MPa. The spray creates strong air motion in the combustion chamber and reaches the piston bowl. The wall of the piston bowl changes the direction of the spray and air motion, producing an upward flow. The spray and air flow rise and reach the spark plug.

This paper describes new technologies for achieving exhaust emission levels much below the SULEV standards in California, which are the most stringent among the currently proposed regulations in the world. Catalyst light-off time, for example, has been significantly reduced through the adoption of a catalyst substrate with an ultra-thin wall thickness of 2 mil and a catalyst coating specifically designed for quicker light-off. A highly-efficient HC trap system has been realized by combining a two-stage HC trap design with an improved HC trap catalyst. The cold-start HC emission level has been greatly reduced by an electronically actuated swirl control valve with a high-speed starter. Further, an improved Air Fuel Ratio (AFR) control method has achieved much higher catalyst HC and NOx conversion efficiency.

This paper concerns research on an emission control system aimed at reducing emission levels to well below the ULEV standards. As emission levels are further reduced in the coming years, it is projected that measurement error will increase substantially. Therefore, an analysis was made of the conventional measurement system, which revealed the following major problems. 1. The conventional analyzer, having a minimum full-scale THC range of 10 ppmC, cannot measure lower concentration emissions with high accuracy. 2. Hydrocarbons are produced in various components of the measurement system, increasing measurement error. 3. Even if an analyzer with a minimum full-scale THC range of 1 ppmC is used in an effort to measure low concentrations, the 1 ppmC measurement range cannot be applied when the dilution air contains a high THC concentration. This makes it impossible to obtain highly accurate measurements. 4.

This paper describes simultaneous attainment in improving fuel consumption, output power and reducing HC emissions with a direct injection S.I. engine newly developed in Nissan. Straight intake port is adopted to increase discharge coefficient under WOT operation and horizontal swirl flow is generated by a swirl control valve to provide stable stratified charge combustion under part load conditions. As a result, fuel consumption is reduced by more than 20% and power output is improved by approximately 10%. Moreover, unburned HC is reduced by equivalently 30% in engine cold start condition. An application of diagnostic and numerical simulation tools to investigate and optimize various factors are also introduced.

The California Low-Emission Vehicle (LEV) standards mandate a reduction in non-methane organic gases (NMOG). With the aim of analyzing NMOG emissions, a comparison was made of the hydrocarbon species found in the exhaust gas when different types of catalyst systems and fuel specifications were used. NMOG emissions are usually measured by removing methane from the total hydrocarbon (THC) emissions and adding aldehyde and ketone emissions. The NMOG level found in this way is thus influenced by the rate of methane in THC emissions. Another important factor in the LEV standards is specific reactivity (SR), indicating the formation potential of ozone, which is one cause of photochemical smog. Specific reactivity is expressed by the amount of ozone generated per unit weight of NMOG emissions, and is affected by the respective proportion of hydrocarbon species in the total NMOG emissions.

Nissan has developed a non-methane organic gas (NMOG) emission measuring method based on California Air Resources Board (CARB) procedures.1) In addition, a system to analyze the chemical species present in the exhaust gases at Low Emission Vehicles (LEV) and Ultra Low Emission Vehicles (ULEV) levels has been created. It was found that when using an electrically heated catalyst (EHC) to achieve the low emissions for LEV and ULEV levels, the interference between exhaust HC species and the contamination of the analyzing system are a serious problem for the measurement of speciated emissions. The methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) contained in reformulated gasoline can interfere with HC speciation in the Chromatogram, requiring that the automatically speciated results be checked by a trained operator. The low exhaust HC emissions of bags 2 and 3 in the Federal Test Procedure (FTP) are nearly equal to that of the background air utilized in the constant volume sampler (CVS) dilution.

With the aim of improving the air quality in large cities, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) has stipulated that non-methane organic gas (NMOG) composed of carbon numbers from C1 to C12 must be reduced for vehicle categories designated as Transitional Low Emission Vehicles (TLEVs), Low Emission Vehicles (LEVs), Ultra low Emission Vehicles (ULEVs), and Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEVs). Although considerable research work has been done on this issue to date, the entire picture is still not clear. Studies done by the authors have been aimed at providing a better understanding of the potential for reducing automotive tailpipe emissions by using several clean fuel candidates. The major questions of concern are the extent to which emissions of certain species can actually be reduced and what fuel can provide the best performance under a reduced NMOG condition.