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This collection is a resource for studying the history of the evolving technologies that have contributed to snowmobiles becoming cleaner and quieter machines. Papers address design for a snowmobile using E10 gasoline (10% ethanol mixed with pump gasoline). Performance technologies that are presented include: • Engine Design: application of the four-stroke engine • Applications to address both engine and track noise • Exhaust After-treatment to reduce emissions The SAE International Clean Snowmobile Challenge (CSC) program is an engineering design competition. The program provides undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to enhance their engineering design and project management skills by reengineering a snowmobile to reduce emissions and noise. The competition includes internal combustion engine categories that address both gasoline and diesel, as well as the zero emissions category in which range and draw bar performance are measured.

High hydrocarbon (HC) emission during a cold start still remains one of the major emission control challenges for spark ignition (SI) engines in spite of about three decades of research in this area. This paper proposes a cold start HC emission control strategy based on a reduced order modeling technique. A novel singular perturbation approximation (SPA) technique, based on the balanced realization principle, is developed for a nonlinear experimentally validated cold start emission model. The SPA reduced model is then utilized in the design of a model-based sliding mode controller (SMC). The controller targets to reduce cumulative tailpipe HC emission using a combination of fuel injection, spark timing, and air throttle / idle speed controls. The results from the designed multi-input multi-output (MIMO) reduced order SMC are compared with those from a full order SMC. The results show the reduced SMC outperforms the full order SMC by reducing both engine-out and tailpipe HC emission.

This study evaluates iso-butanol as a pathway to introduce higher levels of alternative fuels for recreational marine engine applications compared to ethanol. Butanol, a 4-carbon alcohol, has an energy density closer to gasoline than ethanol. Isobutanol at 16 vol% blend level in gasoline (iB16) exhibits energy content as well as oxygen content identical to E10. Tests with these two blends, as well as indolene as a reference fuel, were conducted on a Mercury 90 HP, 4-stroke outboard engine featuring computer controlled sequential multi-port Electronic Fuel Injection (EFI). The test matrix included full load curves as well as the 5-mode steady-state marine engine test cycle. Analysis of the full load tests suggests that equal full load performance is achieved across the engine speed band regardless of fuel at a 15-20°C increase in exhaust gas temperatures for the alcohol blends compared to indolene.

A numerical simulation of autoignition of gasoline-ethanol/air mixtures has been performed using the closed homogeneous reactor model in CHEMKIN® to compute the dependence of autoignition time with ethanol concentration, pressure, temperature, dilution, and equivalence ratio. A semi-detailed validated chemical kinetic model with 142 species and 672 reactions for a gasoline surrogate fuel with ethanol has been used. The pure components in the surrogate fuel consisted of n-heptane, isooctane and toluene. The ethanol volume fraction is varied between 0 to 85%, initial pressure is varied between 20 to 60 bar, initial temperature is varied between 800 to 1200K, and the dilution is varied between 0 to 32% at equivalence ratios of 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 to represent the in-cylinder conditions of a spark-ignition engine. The ignition time is taken to be the point where the rate of change of temperature with respect to time is the largest (temperature inflection point criteria).

A numerical analysis was performed to study the variation of the laminar burning speed of gasoline-ethanol blend, pressure, temperature and dilution using the one-dimensional premixed flame code CHEMKIN™. A semi-detailed validated chemical kinetic model (142 species and 672 reactions) for a gasoline surrogate fuel was used. The pure components in the surrogate fuel consist of n-heptane, isooctane and toluene. The ethanol mole fraction was varied from 0 to 85 percent, initial pressure from 4 to 8 bar, initial temperature from 300 to 600K, and the EGR dilution from 0 to 32% to represent the in-cylinder conditions of a spark-ignition engine. The laminar flame speed is found to increase with ethanol concentration and temperature but decrease with pressure and dilution.

Hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) is a high-cetane number alternative fuel with the potential of drastic emissions reductions in high-pressure diesel engines. In this study the behavior of HVO sprays is investigated computationally and compared with conventional diesel fuel sprays. The simulations are performed with a modified version of the C++ open source code OpenFOAM using Reynolds-averaged conservation equations for mass, species, momentum and energy. The turbulence has been modeled with a modified version of the RNG k-ε model. In particular, the turbulence interaction between the droplets and the gas has been accounted for by introducing appropriate source terms in the turbulence model equations. The spray simulations reflect the setup of the constant-volume combustion cell from which the experimental data were obtained.

The effects of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) on heavy-duty diesel emissions were studied at two EPA steady-state operating conditions, old EPA mode 9* (1800 RPM, 75% Load) and old EPA mode 11 (1800 RPM, 25% Load). Data were collected at the baseline, 10% and 16% EGR rates for both EPA modes. The study was conducted using a 1995 Cummins M11-330E heavy-duty diesel engine and compared to the baseline emissions from the Cummins 1988 and 1991 L10 engines. The baseline gas-, vapor- and particle-phase emissions were measured together with the particle size distributions at all modes of operation. The total particulate matter (TPM) and vapor phase (XOC) samples were analyzed for physical, chemical and biological properties. The results showed that newer engines with electronic engine controls and higher injector pressures produce TPM decreases from the 1988 to 1991 to 1995 engines with the solids decreasing more than the soluble organic fraction (SOF) of TPM.

The fluid flow characteristics inside compound silicon micro machined port fuel injector nozzles were analyzed through the use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD). This study was undertaken in order to gain a better understanding of the fluid mechanics taking place in the compound orifice plate. In addition, the calculated computational results will be used to predict the fuel spray patterns and sauter mean diameters of the sprays. The influence of orifice plate geometry on calculated turbulent kinetic energies and fuel spray patterns was also studied and will be discussed. The results of this investigation indicate that the fluid flow characteristics inside the compound silicon micro machined port fuel injector nozzle are influenced by the geometries of the compound orifice plate, and that the flow characteristic inside the orifice plate effect the type of spray produced by the injector.

The destruction of organic contaminants in waste water for closed systems, such as that of the International Space Station, is crucial due to the need for recycling the waste water. A cocurrent upflow bubble column using oxygen as the gas phase oxidant and packed with catalyst particles consisting of a noble metal on an alumina substrate is being developed for this process. This paper addresses the development of a plug-flow model that will predict the performance of this three phase reactor system in destroying a multicomponent mixture of organic contaminants in water. Mass balances on a series of contaminants and oxygen in both the liquid and gas phases are used to develop this model. These mass balances incorporate the gas-to-liquid and liquid-to-particle mass transfer coefficients, the catalyst effectiveness factor, and intrinsic reaction rate.

Recent changes in regulatory practices have brought about a need for speciated analysis of the volatile organic components of vehicle exhaust. The purpose of this study was to allow interested laboratories to participate in a Round Robin so that each could assess its speciation methodologies for hydrocarbons, alcohols, and carbonyls. The results from analysis of the liquid samples (methanol, ethanol, and DNPH-derivatives of carbonyls) were reported in SAE 941944. For gaseous hydrocarbon samples, two gasolines from the Auto/Oil Air Quality Improvement Research Program (AQIRP) were used to prepare compressed gas cylinders of “synthetic exhaust.” These samples were also doped with typical light hydrocarbon combustion components, marker compounds, and MTBE (in one of the two sets of samples). The cylinders were circulated to 16 laboratories, which included automotive and petroleum companies, contract laboratories, and regulatory agencies.

Formation of pollutants from diesel combustion and methods for their control have been reviewed. Of these methods, fuel injection rate and timing were selected for a parametric study relative to total particulate, soluble organic fraction (SOF), sulfates, solids and NO and NO2 emissions from a heavy-duty, turbocharged, after-cooled, direct-injection (DI) diesel. Chemical analyses of the SOF were performed at selected engine conditions to determine the effects of injection rate and timing on each of the eight chemical subfractions comprising the SOF. Biological character of the SOF was determined using the Ames Salmonella/microsome bioassay.