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Due to the integration of many interacting subsystems like hybrid vehicle management, energy management, distance management, etc. into the VCU platform the design steps for function development and calibration become more and more complex. This makes an aid necessary to relieve the development. Therefore, the aim of the proposed simulation-based development and calibration design is to improve the time-and-cost consuming development stages of modern VCU platforms. A simulation-based development framework is shown on a complex function development and calibration case study using an advanced powertrain concept with a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) concept with two electrical axles. Presenter Thomas Boehme, IAV GmbH

The startability of SI engines, especially of DISI engines, is the greatest challenge when using ethanol blended fuels. The development of a suitable injection strategy is therefore the main engineering target when developing an ethanol engine with direct injection. In order to limit the test efforts of such a program, a vaporization model has been created that provides the quantity of vaporized fuel depending on pressure and on start and end, respectively number and split relation of injections. This model takes account of the most relevant fuel properties such as density, surface tension and viscosity. It also considers the interaction of the spray with cylinder liner, cylinder head and piston. A comparison with test results shows the current status and the need for action of this simulation model.

A physico-chemical model of a Cu-zeolite SCR/DPF-system involving NH₃ storage and SCR reactions as well as soot oxidation reactions with NO₂ has been developed and validated based on fundamental experimental investigations on synthetic gas test bench. The goal of the work was the quantitative modeling of NOx and NH₃ tailpipe emissions in transient test cycles in order to use the model for concept design analysis and the development of control strategies. Another focus was put on the impact of soot on SCR/DPF systems. In temperature-programmed desorption experiments, soot-loaded SCR/DPF filters showed a higher NH₃ storage capacity compared to soot-free samples. The measured effect was small, but could affect the NH₃ slip in vehicle applications. A bimodal desorption characteristic was measured for different adsorption temperatures and heating rates.

The homogeneous Diesel combustion is a way to effect a soot and nitrogen oxide (NOx) free Diesel engine operation. Using direct injection of Diesel fuel, the mixture typically ignites before it is fully homogenized. In this study a homogeneous mixture is prepared outside of the combustion chamber by a Cool Flame Vaporizer. At first the specification of the vaporizer is given in this paper. To determine the composition of the vaporizer gas an analysis using gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy (GC/MS) was made. The results give an idea of the effects on engine combustion. Followed by, the vaporizer was adapted to a single-cylinder Diesel engine. To adapt the engine's configuration regarding compression ratio and inlet temperature range a zero dimensional engine process simulation software was utilized. The engine was run in different operating modes.

Mixture formation in the combustion chamber is of paramount significance for diesel combustion processes. Particularly in inhomogeneous combustion processes with internal mixture formation, the course of combustion and composition of combustion products are heavily influenced by charge motion and material transport during the compression phase and during combustion itself. Charge motion is normally quantified in steady-state flow testing. This model-based test takes place under idealized conditions. This means that with a permanently open valve and constant pressure differential over the inlet port, a steady-state flow of air is established in the simulated cylinder. The influence of piston movement is neglected. The test delivers integral characteristic flow figures, such as swirl number, flow number and tumble number.

In order to satisfy environmental regulations while maintaining strong performance and excellent fuel economy, advanced diesel engines are employing sophisticated air breathing systems. These include high pressure and low pressure EGR (Hybrid EGR), intake and exhaust throttling, and variable turbine geometry systems. In order to optimize the performance of these sub-systems, system level controls are necessary. This paper presents the design, benefits and test results of a model-based air system controller applied to an automotive diesel engine.

Flow fields and fuel distribution play a critical role in developing the combustion process inside the cylinders of piston engines. This has prompted the development of measurement and diagnostic capabilities including laser techniques like Doppler Global Velocimetry (DGV). The paper provides an overview of the basics of DGV and the type of results that can be obtained. It also includes a short comparison to Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) which is a popular alternative method. Furthermore, it is shown that DGV can be used simultaneously in combination with droplet distribution visualization inside cylinders based on Mie scattering.

Internal combustion engines with lean homogeneous charge and auto-ignition combustion of gasoline fuels have the capability to significantly reduce fuel consumption and realize ultra-low engine-out NOx emissions. Group research of Volkswagen AG has therefore defined the Gasoline Compression Ignition combustion (GCI®) concept. A detailed investigation of this novel combustion process has been carried out on test bench engines and test vehicles by group research of Volkswagen AG and IAV GmbH Gifhorn. Experimental results confirm the theoretically expected potential for improved efficiency and emissions behavior. Volkswagen AG and IAV GmbH will utilize a highly flexible externally supercharged variable valve train (VVT) engine for future investigations to extend the understanding of gas exchange and EGR strategy as well as the boost demands of gasoline auto-ignition combustion processes.

Under the persistent pressure to further reduce fuel consumption worldwide, it is necessary to advance the processes that influence the efficiency of gasoline engines. In doing so, harnessing the entire potential of fully variable mechanical valve trains will involve targeting efforts on optimizing all design parameters. A new type of valve timing system is used to portray thermodynamic and mechanical as well as electronic aspects of developing fully variable mechanical valve timing and lift systems

The oil supply of combustion engines today is typically realized by oil pumps with constant displacement. To secure the operational safety in hot idling these pumps are oversized, what causes low efficiency in most of operating speeds. IAV developed a vane-type oil pump, which allows to infinitely regulate the delivery rate. Because of no oil release over a pressure limiting valve the pump achieves a higher efficiency in a wide range of operation. The design of the theoretical delivery characteristic allows the calculated and particular increase of oil pressure to avoid critical operating conditions and to support hydraulically operated functions as variable camshaft timing.

Advanced SI engines for passenger cars often use the cylinder deactivation technology for dethrottling and thus achieving a reduction of fuel consumption. The gas exchange valves of the deactivated cylinders are closed permanently by a zero lift of the cams. The solutions for cylinder deactivation can vary in the kind of gas composition included in the deactivated cylinders: charge air, exhaust gas or vacuum. All these strategies have in common the frequent loss of captured charge mass from cycle to cycle. Their two-stroke compression-expansion cycle additionally intensifies this phenomenon. Thus, a significant decrease of the minimum cylinder pressure can cause an undesired entry of lubricant into the combustion chamber. The idea was to ventilate the generally deactivated cylinders frequently to compensate the loss of captured cylinder charge mass. The task was to keep the minimum cylinder pressure above a certain limit to prevent the piston rings from a failure.

Global warming is a climate phenomenon with world-wide ecological, economic and social impact which calls for strong measures in reducing automotive fuel consumption and thus CO2 emissions. In this regard, turbocharging and the associated designing of the air path of the engine are key technologies in elaborating more efficient and downsized engines. Engine performance simulation or development, parameterization and testing of model-based air path control strategies require adequate performance maps characterizing the working behavior of turbochargers. The working behavior is typically identified on test rig which is expensive in terms of costs and time required. Hence, the objective of the research project “virtual Exhaust Gas Turbocharger” (vEGTC) is an alternative approach which considers a physical modeled vEGTC to allow a founded prediction of efficiency, pressure rise as well as pressure losses of an arbitrary turbocharger with known geometry.

Recent years have witnessed a dramatic increase in global ethanol production, while cellulosic feedstock or the algae-based production approach make more sustainable ethanol production foreseeable in many countries. The ethanol produced will increasingly penetrate the markets not only as blending component, but also as main fuel component, boosting demand for flex-fuel vehicles. One of the main challenges for flex-fuel vehicles is the cold start due to the poor vapor pressure of ethanol. This is detrimental to starting capability in DISI engines in particular, with increased cylinder wall wetting causing higher oil dilution. The most efficient solution for DISI engines is a smart injection strategy, enabling fuel vaporization during injection in the compression stroke. But this requires optimum injection parameters such as injection timing, split ratio and rail pressure.

Introducing new exhaust-gas aftertreatment concepts at mass production level places exacting demands on the overall development process - from defining process engineering to developing and calibrating appropriate control-unit algorithms. Strategies for operating and controlling exhaust-gas aftertreatment components, such as oxidation and selective catalytic reduction catalysts (DOC and SCR), diesel particulate filters (DPF) and SCR on DPF systems (SCR/DPF), have a major influence on meeting statutory exhaust-emission standards. Therefore it is not only necessary to consider the physical behavior of individual components in the powertrain but also the way in which they interact as the basis for ensuring efficient operation of the overall system.

Due to the integration of many interacting subsystems like hybrid vehicle management, energy management, distance management, etc. into the VCU platform the design steps for function development and calibration become more and more complex. This makes an aid necessary to relieve the development. Therefore, the aim of the proposed simulation-based development and calibration design is to improve the time-and-cost consuming development stages of modern VCU platforms. A simulation-based development framework is shown on a complex function development and calibration case study using an advanced powertrain concept with a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) concept with two electrical axles.

A promising combustion technology for DISI downsizing engines is the Miller cycle. It is based on an early intake valve closing for the separation of effective and geometric compression ratio. Therefore IAV has prepared a turbocharged DISI test engine with a high geometric compression ratio. This engine is equipped with the Schaeffler “UniAir” variable valve train in order to investigate a variable Miller cycle valve timing in the turbocharged map area. The goal is to investigate whether and how a rapidly variable Miller cycle can influence the knocking behavior. Therefore its potential for a SI knock control can be evaluated. The investigated parameters in a steady-state engine dyno mode were the intake valve closing timing, the intake camshaft phasing and the ignition timing. A variable intake valve closing Miller cycle strategy, a variable intake camshaft phasing Miller cycle strategy and a state-of-the- art ignition timing strategy have been investigated.

As more virtual product development is integrated into the mass-production development process and overall development times are shortened, efficient intake-port design requires closer cooperation between design, simulation and test engineers. Doppler Global Velocimetry (DGV) has become an important link in the overall intake-port development process as it provides 3D-vector fields of flow velocity. Hence, it can be used to make direct comparisons with 3D-CFD-simulation results. The present paper describes the hardware-assisted inlet port development process for diesel engines, the cooperation among port design, 3D-CFD-simulation with the creation of alternative geometries and DGV flow-measurement of preferred variants with their capability of checking and improving simulation results.

Advanced Diesel combustion strategies with the focus on the reduction of NOx and PM emission as well as fuel consumption need an increase of the EGR rate and therefore improved boost concepts. The suppression of the nitrogen oxide build up requires changes in the charge condition (charge temperature, EGR rate), which have to be realized by the gas exchange system. The gas exchange system of IAV's ADCS test engine was dimensioned with the help of the engine process simulation software THEMOS®. This paper shows simulation and test bench results of the potential to increase the EGR rate and the charge density at stationary and transient operation. The increase of both EGR rate and boost pressure, as well as the need for a better control of transient operation leads to greater requirements for the engine control system. The potential of the engine and its control system for an application to a demo vehicle will be assessed.

This paper describes a new approach for the calibration of engine management systems based on a newly developed calibration tool. This approach is based on the idea to design the calibration process of a certain calibration task by means of a computer based stateflow/workflow diagram. By means of library methods for certain calibration routines, the calibration engineer can design his calibration process in a Stateflow diagram and then transfer this function in an executable file, guiding and supporting the engineer for performing his task. Due to this approach a documentation of the calibration process, the performed calibration task and a guided and automated calibration process can be performed.

Increasing emissions regulations, diagnostics capability, and other demands in vehicle refinement, have led to the need for increasingly complex engine control systems. These demands have led to in-cylinder combustion control, especially for the diesel engine. Diesel engine combustion relies heavily on the auto-ignition process. Therefore accurate control of this process is important and will become even more important for HCCI-engines. This paper discusses the configuration of a diesel engine for in-cylinder combustion control. It describes the digital evaluation of the cylinder pressure signal and the computation of the physical parameters necessary for proper combustion analysis, along with methods for using the calculated combustion parameter for engine control. The paper demonstrates the advantages of electronic engine control combined with in-cylinder pressure information. The paper also addresses some of the future challenges of engine control.