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In “Using Turbocharging in New Engine Design” (9:23), engineers from Schaeffler Group USA and McLaren Performance Tech explain what turbocharging is, and what it can do to improve both the power output of an engine and its fuel efficiency. Another engineer from the General Motors Powertrain group talks about how turbocharging was used in the new engine design for the Cadillac CT6. This episode highlights: The lessons learned from when turbocharging was first used to help heavy-duty trucks go uphill The experience acquired from car racing using turbo-charged engines The advantages of using turbo charging to decrease the size of engines without losing power output Also Available in DVD Format To subscribe to a full-season of Spotlight on Design, please contact SAE Corporate Sales: CustomerSales@sae.org or 1-888-875-3976.

“Spotlight on Design: Insight” features an in-depth look at the latest technology breakthroughs impacting mobility. Viewers are virtually taken to labs and research centers to learn how design engineers are enhancing product performance/reliability, reducing cost, improving quality, safety or environmental impact, and achieving regulatory compliance. As global concerns about the negative consequences of greenhouse gases on the environment increase, regulatory agencies around the world are taking serious steps to address the issue of tailpipe emissions In the episode “Fuel Efficiency: Fuel Economy Testing” (12:05), engineers at the EPA’s National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory demonstrate how different vehicles are tested for emissions, and AVL’s technical team shows how accurate tailpipe emissions can be measured and reported.

“Spotlight on Design” features video interviews and case study segments, focusing on the latest technology breakthroughs. Viewers are virtually taken to labs and research centers to learn how design engineers are enhancing product performance/reliability, reducing cost, improving quality, safety or environmental impact, and achieving regulatory compliance. Fuel efficiency, or simply put, how to get more mileage out of the same amount of fuel has become one of the main goals to be achieved by new automotive technologies in the future, thanks in part to new government regulations. In the episode “Fuel Efficiency: Racing toward CAFE 2025” (21:24) AVL engineers show simulation and testing being used to design more fuel efficient vehicles, including the equipment that actually analyzes fuel economy.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) contracted with FEV, Inc. to estimate the per-vehicle cost of employing selected advanced efficiency-improving technologies in light-duty motor vehicles. The development of transparent, reliable cost analyses that are accessible to all interested stakeholders has played a crucial role in establishing feasible and cost effective standards to improve fuel economy and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The FEV team, together with engineering staff from EPA's National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory, and FEV's subcontractor, Munro & Associates, developed a robust costing methodology based on tearing down, to the piece part level, relevant systems, sub-systems, and assemblies from vehicles ?with and without? the technologies being evaluated.

The sustainable use of energy and the reduction of pollutant emissions are main concerns of the automotive industry. In this context, Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs) offer significant improvements in the efficiency of the propulsion system and allow advanced strategies to reduce pollutant and noise emissions. The paper presents the results of a simulation study that addresses the minimization of fuel consumption, NOx emissions and combustion noise of a medium size passenger car. Such a vehicle has a parallel-hybrid diesel powertrain with a high-voltage belt alternator starter. The simulation reproduces real-driver behavior through a dynamic modeling approach and actuates an automatic power split between the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) and the Electric Machine (EM). Typical characteristics of parallel hybrid technologies, such as Stop&Start, regenerative braking and electric power assistance, are implemented via an operating strategy that is based on the reduction of total losses.

This paper presents the first results of an experimental study into a hybrid combustion concept for next-generation heavy-duty diesel engines. In this hybrid concept, at low load operating conditions, the engine is run in Pre-mixed Charge Compression Ignition (PCCI) mode, whereas at high load conventional CI combustion is applied. This study was done with standard diesel fuel on a flexible multi-cylinder heavy-duty test platform. This platform is based on a 12.9 liter, 390 kW heavy-duty diesel engine that is equipped with a combination of a supercharger, a two-stage turbocharging system and low-pressure and high-pressure EGR circuitry. Furthermore, Variable Valve Actuation (VVA) hardware is installed to have sufficient control authority. Dedicated pistons, injector nozzles and VVA cam were selected to enable PCCI combustion for a late DI injection strategy, free of wall-wetting problems.

In support of the U.S Department of Energy's Vehicle Technologies Program, numerous vehicle technology combinations have been simulated using Autonomie. Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne) designed and wrote the Autonomie modeling software to serve as a single tool that could be used to meet the requirements of automotive engineering throughout the development process, from modeling to control, offering the ability to quickly compare the performance and fuel efficiency of numerous powertrain configurations. For this study, a multitude of vehicle technology combinations were simulated for many different vehicles classes and configurations, which included conventional, power split hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), power split plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), extended-range EV (E-REV)-capability PHEV, series fuel cell, and battery electric vehicle.

Software products in the automotive industry are by nature widely distributed and costly to update (recall), so high reliability is clearly of utmost importance. Just as clearly, the increasing reliance on remote access to such systems, for diagnostic and other purposes, has made security an essential requirement, and traditional techniques for software development are proving to be inadequate in dealing with these issues. Correctness by Construction is a software design and development methodology that builds reliability and security into the system from the start. It can be used to demonstrate, with mathematical rigor, a program's correctness properties while reducing the time spent during testing and debugging. This paper will discuss the use of Correctness by Construction, and its accompanying SPARK language technology, to improve automotive systems' security and reliability. (The approach can also account for safely issues, although that is not the focus of this paper.)

The first commercially available plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), the General Motors (GM) Volt, was introduced into the market in mid-December 2010. The Volt uses a series-split powertrain architecture, which provides benefits over the series architecture that typically has been considered for use in electric-range extended vehicles (EREVs). A specialized EREV powertrain, called the Voltec, drives the Volt through its entire range of speed and acceleration with battery power alone and within the limit of battery energy, thereby displacing more fuel with electricity than a PHEV, which characteristically blends electric and engine power together during driving. This paper assesses the benefits and drawbacks of these two different plug-in hybrid electric architectures (series versus series-split) by comparing component sizes, system efficiency, and fuel consumption over urban and highway drive cycles.

This study undertakes an investigation of the effect of battery charge balance in hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) on EPA fuel economy label values. EPA's updated method was fully implemented in 2011 and uses equations which weight the contributions of fuel consumption results from multiple dynamometer tests to synthesize city and highway estimates that reflect average U.S. driving patterns. For the US06 and UDDS cycles, the test results used in the computation come from individual phases within the overall certification driving cycles. This methodology causes additional complexities for hybrid vehicles, because although they are required to be charge-balanced over the course of a full drive cycle, they may have net charge or discharge within the individual phases. As a result, the fuel consumption value used in the label value calculation can be skewed.

One promising solution for increasing vehicle fuel economy, while still maintaining long-range driving capability, is the plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV). A PHEV is a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) whose rechargeable energy source can be recharged from an external power source, making it a combination of an electric vehicle and a traditional hybrid vehicle. A PHEV is capable of operating as an electric vehicle until the battery is almost depleted, at which point the on-board internal combustion engine turns on, and generates power to meet the vehicle demands. When the vehicle is not in use, the battery can be recharged from an external energy source, once again allowing electric driving. A series of models is presented which simulate various powertrain architectures of PHEVs. To objectively evaluate the effect of powertrain architecture on fuel economy, the models were run according to the latest test procedures and all fuel economy values were utility factor weighted.

Historically, the opposed-piston, two-stroke (OP2S) diesel engine set combined records for fuel efficiency and power density that have yet to be met by any other engine type. However, with modern emissions standards, wide-spread development of this engine for on-highway use stopped. At Achates Power, state-of-the-art analytical tools and engineering methods have produced an OP2S engine that, when compared to a leading medium-duty engine, has demonstrated a 21% fuel efficiency gain and engine-out emissions levels meeting U.S. EPA10 with conventional after-treatment. Among the presentation topics covered are thermodynamic efficiency, demonstrated engine results, cost and weight advantages, and overcoming two-stroke engine challenges. Presenter David Johnson, Achates Power Inc.

Ford's EcoBoost GTDI engine technology (Gasoline Direct Injection, Turbo-charging and Downsizing) is being successfully implemented in the market place with the EcoBoost option accounting for significant volumes in vehicle lines as diverse as the F150 pickup truck, Edge CUV and the Lincoln MKS luxury sedan. A logical question would be what comes after GTDI? This presentation will review some of the technologies that will be required for further improvements in CO2, efficiency and performance building on the EcoBoost foundation as well as some of the challenges inherent in the new technologies and approaches. Presenter Eric W. Curtis, Ford Motor Co.

Combustion engines are typically only 20-30% efficient at part-load operating conditions, resulting in poor fuel economy on average. To address this, LiquidPiston has developed an improved thermodynamics cycle, called the High-Efficiency Hybrid Cycle (HEHC), which optimizes each process (stroke) of the engine operation, with the aim of maximizing fuel efficiency. The cycle consists of: 1) a high compression ratio; 2) constant-volume combustion, and 3) over-expansion. At a modest compression ratio of 18:1, this cycle offers an ideal thermodynamic efficiency of 74%. To embody the HEHC cycle, LiquidPiston has developed two very different rotary engine architectures ? called the ?M? and ?X? engines. These rotary engine architectures offer flexibility in executing the thermodynamics cycle, and also result in a very compact package. In this talk, I will present recent results in the development of the LiquidPiston engines. The company is currently testing 20 and 40 HP versions of the ?M?

In this presentation, we will explain how the traditional Miller Cycle - which has its limitations in the traditional four-stroke, Otto Cycle engine provides new opportunities for greater fuel efficiency gains and engine downsizing when incorporated in a split-cycle combustion process. Results will also be shared from studies showing how these implementations can provide both significant drops in fuel consumption and increases in power when incorporated into some of today's most economic vehicles. Presenter Stephen Scuderi, Scuderi Group LLC

Future fuel economy targets represent a significant challenge to the automotive industry. While a range of technologies are in research and development to address this challenge, they all bring additional cost and complexity to future products. The most cost effective solutions are likely to be combinations of technologies that in isolation might have limited advantages but in a systems approach can offer complementary benefits. This presentation describes work carried out at Ricardo to explore Intelligent Electrification and the use of Stratified Charge Lean Combustion in a spark ignition engine. This includes a next generation Spray Guided Direct Injection SI engine combustion system operating robustly with highly stratified dilute mixtures and capable of close to 40% thermal efficiency with very low engine-out NOx emissions.

Turbulent Jet Ignition is an advanced spark initiated pre-chamber combustion system for otherwise standard spark ignition engines. Combustion in the main chamber is initiated by jets of partially combusted (reacting) pre-chamber products which provide a high energy ignition source. The resultant widely distributed ignition sites allow relatively small flame travel distances enabling short combustion durations and high burn rates. This presentation outlines development of this combustion concept in a modern normally aspirated PFI production engine. Experimental results have highlighted high thermal efficiency (42.8%), significant fuel economy improvement (>20%), low engine out NOx (<10 ppm), knock limit extension, high load capability (>13 bar IMEPn) and high speed operation (5500 rev/min). Presenter William P Attard, MAHLE Powertrain LLC

Toyota is committed to the development of advanced powertrains to help address concerns with future oil supplies, the impacts of increased carbon dioxide emissions, and air pollution. Towards that end Toyota is planning to bring to market in 2012 a plug-in hybrid vehicle, a short range electric vehicle, a long range electric vehicle and in the 2015 timeframe hydrogen powered fuel cell vehicle. This presentation will focus on our electric vehicle plans and the challenges with bringing electric vehicle to the market. From the 2010 Alt Fuels Study, Toyota has identified that two key barriers for EV adoption are the times to charge the vehicle, and electricity cost. The study finds that the current infrastructure could be sufficient for most driving needs but EV drivers will still need to alter their driving habits slightly.

Several technological advancements have enabled hybrid technology to become a viable option in the commercial truck market. Although hybrid trucks are becoming more mainstream, they are not the right alternative fuel solution for every application. When matched with the right duty cycle, hybrid technology can provide a significant cost savings. Due to these advancements and anticipated benefits, hybrid commercial trucks are forecasted to become a significant part of the commercial truck market. Presenter Glenn Ellis, Hino Motors Sales USA Inc.

Vehicle electrification is shaping the future of automotive mobility in terms of automotive power and propulsion. The market for New Energy Vehicles (HEV/PHEV/REEV/EV) as well as clean vehicle technologies is expected to grow steadily driven by government regulations mandating increased fuel economy and lower emissions. The fastest growth in this market will be in Asia Pacific, most notably China. The Chinese government has made its intentions clear on how important it considers the development and consumer purchase of hybrid and electric vehicles. The mandate is that by year 2012, vehicle manufacturers produce at least 500,000 units (or 5%) per year of their total output as hybrid and/or electric. All Chinese vehicle manufacturers must have at least one HEV or EV model in the market by the same year. Thus far China has invested over US$3.5 billion to stimulate the production of NEVs and the necessary infrastructure to support them.