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Given its ability to be combined with the three-way catalyst, the stoichiometric operation is significantly more attractive than the lean-burn process, when considering the increasingly severe NOx limit for cogeneration gas engines in Germany. However, the high temperature of the stoichiometric combustion results in increased wall heat losses, restricted combustion phasings (owing to knock tendency) and thus efficiency penalties. To lower the temperature of the stoichiometric combustion and thus improve the engine efficiency, exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) is one of the most effective means. Nevertheless, the dilution with EGR has much lower tolerance level than with excess air, which leads to a consequent drop in the thermal efficiency. In this regard, reducing the water vapor concentration in the recirculated exhaust gas and increasing the EGR reactivity are two potential measures that may extend the mixture dilution limit and result in engine efficiency benefits.

Vehicle thermal management (VTM) simulations are becoming increasingly important in the development phase of a vehicle. These simulations help in predicting the thermal profiles of critical components over a drive cycle. They are usually done using two methodologies: (1) Solving every aspect of the heat transfer, i.e., convection, radiation, and conduction, in a single solver (Conjugate Heat Transfer) or (2) Simulating convection using a fluid solver and computing the other two mechanisms using a separate thermal solver (Co-simulation). The first method is usually computationally intensive, while the second one isn’t. This is because Co-simulation reduces the load of simulating all heat transfer mechanisms in a single code. This is one of the reasons why the Co-simulation method is widely used in the automotive industry. Traditionally, the methods developed for Co-simulation processes are load case specific.

Air conditioning acoustics have become of paramount importance in electric vehicles, where noise from electromechanical components is no longer masked by the presence of the internal combustion engine. In a car HVAC systems, the coolant compressor is one of the most important sources in terms of vibration and noise generation. The paper, the generated structural noise is studied in detail on a prototype installation, and the noise transmission and propagation mechanisms are analyzed and discussed. Through ”in situ” measurements and virtual point transformation, the rotor unbalance forces and torque acting within the component are identified. The dynamic properties of the rubber mounts, installed between the compressor and its support, are identified thanks to matrix inversion methods. To assess the quality of the proposed procedure, the synthesized sound pressure level is compared with experimental SPL measurements in different operational conditions.

Synthetic fuels for internal combustion engines offer CO2-neutral mobility if produced in a closed carbon cycle using renewable energies. C1-based synthetic fuels can offer high knock resistance as well as soot free combustion due to their molecular structure containing oxygen and no direct C-C bonds. Such fuels as, for example, dimethyl carbonate (DMC) and methyl formate (MeFo) have great potential to replace gasoline in spark-ignition (SI) engines. In this study, a mixture of 65% DMC and 35% MeFo (C65F35) was used in a single-cylinder research engine to determine friction losses in the piston group using the floating-liner method. The results were benchmarked against gasoline (G100). Compared to gasoline, the density of C65F35 is almost 40% higher, but its mass-based lower heating value (LHV) is 2.8 times lower. Hence, more fuel must be injected to reach the same engine load as in a conventional gasoline engine, leading to an increased cooling effect.

The reduction of vehicle exhaust particle emissions is a success story of European legislation. Various particle number (PN) counters and calibration procedures serve as tools to enforce PN emission limits during vehicle type approval (VTA) or periodical technical inspection (PTI) of in-use vehicles. Although all devices and procedures apply to the same PN-metric, they were developed for different purposes, by different stakeholder groups and for different target costs and technical scopes. Furthermore, their calibration procedures were independently defined by different stakeholder communities. This frequently leads to comparability and interpretation issues. Systematic differences of stationary and mobile PN counters (PN-PEMS) are well-documented. New, low-cost PTI PN counters will aggravate this problem. Today, tools to directly compare different instruments are scarce.

Pilot injection gas engines are commonly used as large stationary engines. Often, the combustion is implemented as a dual-fuel strategy, which allows both mixed and diesel-only operation, based on a diesel engine architecture. The current research project focuses on the application of pilot injection in an engine based on gasoline components of the passenger car segment, which are more cost-effective than diesel components. The investigated strategy does not aim for a diesel-only combustion, hence only small liquid quantities are used for the main purpose of providing a strong, reliable ignition source for the natural gas charge. This approach is mainly driven to provide a reliable alternative to the high spark ignition energies required for high cylinder charge densities. When using such small liquid quantities, a standard common-rail diesel nozzle will apparently not be ideal regarding some general specifications.

Catalyst fouling by deposit formation on components in the exhaust aftertreatment system is critical since RDE limits must be obtained at any time. Besides, uncontrolled oxidation of carbonaceous deposits might damage the affected exhaust aftertreatment component. To comply with current and future emission standards, diesel engines are usually operated with high EGR rates leading to increased soot and hydrocarbon emissions, which increases the likeliness of the formation of carbonaceous deposits on EAT components. With this background, a research project investigating the influencing parameters and mechanisms of deposit formation on DOCs was carried out. In a follow-up project, the results will be used in order to compare different deposit removal strategies. Within the scope of the presented project, a reference driving cycle was developed in order to create deposits within a short time.

Investigations were performed, in which fuels and fuel components were compared regarding gaseous as well as particulate number (PN) emissions. The focus on the selection of the fuel components was set on the possibility of renewable production, which lead to Ethanol, as the classic bio-fuel, Isopropanol, Isobutanol and methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE). As fuels, a Euro 6 (EU6) reference fuel, an anti-spark-fouling (ASF) fuel, a European Super Plus (RON 98) in-field fuel and a potentially completely renewable fuel, which was designed by Porsche AG (named POSYN), were chosen. The composition of the fuels differs significantly which results in large differences in the exhaust gas emissions. The fuels, except ASF, are compliant with the European fuel standard EN 228.The experiments chosen were a variation of the start of injection (SOI) at different load points at a constant engine speed of 2000 rpm, amongst others.

Small natural gas cogeneration engines usually operate with lean mixture and late combustion phasing to comply with NOx emission standards, leading to significant losses in engine efficiency. Owing to water evaporation heat and high specific heat capacity of the water vapor, leads the water injection to cooling the combustion chamber charge, which enables earlier combustion phasing, higher compression ratio and thus higher engine efficiency. Therefore, water injection enables mitigating the tradeoff between NOx emissions and engine performance, without loss in engine efficiency. The intake port injection represents, because of the low required injection pressure and the simple injector integration, a cost-effective way to introduce water into the engine. Hence, the purpose of this work is to adapt the intake port water injection timing to the charge mixture flow conditions in the intake port.

Autonomous driving systems and connected mobility are the next big developments for the car manufacturers and their suppliers during the next decade. To achieve the high computing power needs and fulfill new upcoming requirements due to functional safety and security, heterogeneous processor architectures with a mixture of different core architectures and hardware accelerators are necessary. To tackle this new type of hardware complexity and nevertheless stay within monetary constraints, high performance computers, inspired by state of the art data center hardware, could be adapted in order to fulfill automotive quality requirements. The European Processor Initiative (EPI) research project tries to come along with that challenge for next generation semiconductors. To be as close as possible to series development needs for the next upcoming car generations, we present a hybrid semiconductor system-on-chip architecture for automotive.

Vehicle thermal management (VTM) simulations constitute an important step in the early development phase of a vehicle. They help in predicting the temperature profiles of critical components over a drive cycle and identify components which are exceeding temperature design limits. Parts with the highest temperatures in a vehicle with an internal combustion engine are concentrated in the engine bay area. As packaging constraints grow tighter, the components in the engine bay are packed closer together. This makes the thermal protection in the engine bay even more crucial. The fan influences the airflow into the engine bay and plays an important role in deciding flow distribution in this region. This makes modelling of the fan an important aspect of VTM simulations. The challenge associated with modelling the fan is the accurate simulation of the rotation imparted by the fan to the incoming flow. Currently, two modelling approaches are prevalent in the industry.

External Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) provides an opportunity to increase the efficiency of turbocharged spark-ignition engines. Of the competing technologies and configurations, Low-Pressure EGR (LP-EGR) is the most challenging in terms of its dynamic behavior. Only some of the stationary feasible potential can be used during dynamic engine operation. To guarantee fuel consumption-optimized engine operation with no instabilities, a load point-dependent limitation of the EGR rate or alternatively an adaptation of the operating point to the actual EGR rate is crucial. For this purpose, a precise knowledge of efficiency and combustion variance is necessary. Since the operating state includes the actual EGR rate, it has an additional dimension, which usually results in an immense measuring effort.

LNG is a fuel that is under increasing discussion for transport purposes. It differs from CNG because it often has a higher concentration of hydrocarbons > C4. This affects knocking in a negative way. The knocking properties of a gaseous fuel are characterized by the Methane Number (MN) which is defined as the methane content in a mixture of methane and hydrogen which has the same knocking properties as the gas under investigation. It was defined by AVL in the late 1960s. In contrast to the Octane or Cetane Number there is no standardized measurement procedure for the MN, because the equipment AVL used was unique and does not exist anymore. But AVL created a calculation methodology based on the large amount of data they had measured. There are several software implementations of this methodology. Further there are other algorithms which are not based on the AVL data. If an MN is measured on an arbitrary engine the result is called a Service Methane Number (SMN).

Current regulatory developments aim for stricter emission limits, increased environmental protection and purification of air on a local and global scale. In order to find solutions for a cleaner combustion process, it is necessary to identify the critical components and parameters responsible for the formation of emissions. This work provides an evaluation process for particle formation during combustion of a modern direct injection engine, which can help to create new aftertreatment techniques, such as a gasoline particle filter (GPF) system, that are fit for purpose. With the advent of “real driving emission” (RDE) regulations, which include market fuels for the particulate number testing procedure, the chemical composition and overall quality of the fuel cannot be neglected in order to yield a comparable emission test within the EU and worldwide.

There are numerous methods for accelerated ash loading of particulate traps known from literature. However, it is largely unknown if a combination of these methods is possible and which one generates the most similar ash compared to ash from real particulate filters. Since the influencing variables on the ash formation are not yet fully understood, ashing processes are carried out under carefully controlled laboratory conditions on an engine test bench. The first ashing takes place with low sulfated ash phosphorus and sulfur oil without any methods to increase the quantity of produced ash. The obtained ash is used as a reference and is compared hereinafter with the process examined. Four methods to increase the ash production ratio are investigated. The first one is an increase of the ash content of the lubrication oil through an increase of the additives in the oil. The second one is the additional generation of ash with a burner system where oil is injected into the flame.

A local Gaussian process regression approach is presented, which allows to model nonlinearities of internal combustion engines more accurate than global Gaussian process regression. By building smaller models, the prediction of local system behavior improves significantly. In order to predict a value, the algorithm chooses the nearest training points. The number of chosen training points depends on the intensity of estimated nonlinearity. After determining the training points, a model is built, the prediction performed and the model discarded. The approach is demonstrated with a benchmark system and air charge test bed measurements. The measurements are taken from a turbocharged SI gasoline engine with both variable inlet valve lift and variable inlet and exhaust valve opening angle. The results show how local Gaussian process regression outmatches global Gaussian process regression concerning model quality and nonlinearities in particular.

Air charge calibration of turbocharged SI gasoline engines with both variable inlet valve lift and variable inlet and exhaust valve opening angle has to be very accurate and needs a high number of measurements. In particular, the modeling of the transition area from unthrottled, inlet valve controlled resp. throttled mode to turbocharged mode, suffers from small number of measurements (e.g. when applying Design of Experiments (DoE)). This is due to the strong impact of residual gas respectively scavenging dominating locally in this area. In this article, a virtual residual gas sensor in order to enable black-box-modeling of the air charge is presented. The sensor is a multilayer perceptron artificial neural network. Amongst others, the physically calculated air mass is used as training data for the artificial neural network.

A model for the calculation of heat release in direct injection Diesel engines is presented. It needs only one engine-specific experimental parameter. In the form the model is presented here it is limited to the medium and upper load range, where Diesel combustion is mainly mixing controlled. The development of the model is based on data from medium speed engines. The applicability to automotive engines is shown in some examples. The model is based on the theory of single phase turbulent jets. Starting from the balance of momentum and fuel mass flow the stationary part of the jet can be calculated. The propagation of the front of the unsteady jet is determined from a continuity consideration. Heat release is calculated based on the assumptions of the Simple Chemically Reacting System (SCRS). Fuel that is mixed with air is assumed to be burnt instantaneously.

When comparing automotive and large-bore diesel engines, the latter usually show lower specific fuel consumption values, while automotive engines are subject to much stricter emission standards. Within an FVV (Research Association for Combustion Engines) project these differences were identified, quantified and assigned to individual design and operation parameters. The approach was split in three different phases: 1 Comparison of different-sized diesel engines 2 Correlation of differences in fuel consumption to design and operating parameters 3 Further investigations under automotive boundary conditions The comparison in the first phase was made on the basis of operating data and energy balances as well as the separation of losses based on the thermodynamic analysis. To also determine the quantitative effects of each design and operating parameter, a 1D process calculation model of the passenger car engine was transformed gradually to a large-bore engine in the second phase.

The worldwide automotive industry is currently preparing for a market introduction of hydrogen-fueled powertrains. These powertrains in fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) offer many advantages: high efficiency, zero tailpipe emissions, reduced greenhouse gas footprint, and use of domestic and renewable energy sources. To realize these benefits, hydrogen vehicles must be competitive with conventional vehicles with regards to fueling time and vehicle range. A key to maximizing the vehicle's driving range is to ensure that the fueling process achieves a complete fill to the rated Compressed Hydrogen Storage System (CHSS) capacity. An optimal process will safely transfer the maximum amount of hydrogen to the vehicle in the shortest amount of time, while staying within the prescribed pressure, temperature, and density limits. The SAE J2601 light duty vehicle fueling standard has been developed to meet these performance objectives under all practical conditions.