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This work examines the effect of valve timing during cold crank-start and cold fast-idle (1200 rpm, 2 bar NIMEP) on the emissions of hydrocarbons (HC) and particulate mass and number (PM/PN). Four different cam-phaser configurations are studied in detail: 1. Baseline stock valve timing. 2. Late intake opening/closing. 3. Early exhaust opening/closing. 4. Late intake phasing combined with early exhaust phasing. Delaying the intake valve opening improves the mixture formation process and results in more than 25% reduction of the HC and of the PM/PN emissions during cold crank-start. Early exhaust valve phasing results in a deterioration of the HC and PM/PN emissions performance during cold crank-start. Nevertheless, early exhaust valve phasing slightly improves the HC emissions and substantially reduces the particulate emissions at cold fast-idle.

This article reports on the potential of negative valve overlap (NVO) for improving the net indicated thermal efficiency (η NIMEP) of gasoline engines during part load. Three fixed fuel flow rates, resulting in indicated mean effective pressures of up to 6 bar, were investigated. At low load, NVO significantly reduces the pumping loses during the gas exchange loop, achieving up to 7% improvement in indicated efficiency compared to the baseline. Similar efficiency improvements are achieved by positive valve overlap (PVO), with the disadvantage of worse combustion stability from a higher residual gas fraction (xr). As the load increases, achieving the wide-open throttle limit, the benefits of NVO for reducing the pumping losses diminish, while the blowdown losses from early exhaust valve opening (EVO) increase.

The effect of engine operating parameters (speed, spark timing, and fuel-air equivalence ratio [Φ]) on hydrocarbon (HC) oxidation within the cylinder and exhaust system is examined using propane or isooctane fuel. Quench gas (CO2) is introduced at two locations in the exhaust system (exhaust valve or port exit) to stop the oxidation process. Increasing the speed from 1500 to 2500 RPM at MBT spark timing decreases the total, cylinder-exit HC emissions by ∼50% while oxidation in the exhaust system remains at 40% for both fuels. For propane fuel at 1500 rpm, increasing Φ from 0.9 (fuel lean) to 1.1 (fuel rich) reduces oxidation in the exhaust system from 42% to 26%; at 2500 RPM, exhaust system oxidation decreases from 40% to approximately 0% for Φ = 0.9 and 1.1, respectively. Retarded spark increases oxidation in the cylinder and exhaust system for both fuels. Decreases in total HC emissions are accompanied by increased olefinic content and atmospheric reactivity.

A model has been developed which predicts engine-out hydrocarbon (HC) emissions for spark-ignition engines. The model consists of a set of scaling laws that describe the individual processes that contribute to HC emissions. The model inputs are the critical engine design and operating variables. This set of individual process scaling relations was then calibrated using production spark-ignition engine data at a fixed light-load operating point. The data base consisted of engine-out HC emissions from two-valve and four-valve engine designs with variations in spark timing, valve timing, coolant temperature, crevice volume, and EGR, for five different engines. The model was calibrated separately for the three different engines to accommodate differences in engine design details and to determine the relative magnitudes of each of the major sources. A good fit to this database was obtained.

The fuel effects on throttle transients in PFI spark ignition engines were assessed through experiments with simultaneous step change of the throttle position from part load to WOT and increment of the injected fuel amount. The test matrix consisted of various gasoline/methanol blends from pure gasoline to pure methanol, coolant temperatures at 40C (for cold engine condition) and 80C (for warm engine), and different levels of fuel enrichment at the WOT condition. The x-τ model was used to interpret the engine GIMEP response in the transient. Using the model, a procedure was developed to calculate the parameters of the transient from the data. These parameters were systematically regressed against the fuel distillation points, the increment in injected fuel mass in the transient, and the enthalpy required to evaporate the fuel increment as the explanatory variables.

Homogenous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) engine operation has been demonstrated using both residual trapping and residual re-induction. A number of production valve train technologies can accomplish either of these HCCI modes of operation. Wide-scale testing of the many valve timing and duration options for an HCCI engine is both time and cost prohibitive, thus a modeling study was pursued to investigate optimal HCCI valve-train designs using the geometry of a conventional gasoline Port-Fuel-Injected (PFI) Spark-Ignition (SI) engine. A commercially available engine simulation program (WAVE), as well as chemical kinetic combustion modeling tools were used to predict the best approaches to achieving combustion across a wide variety of valve event durations and timings. The results of this study are consistent with experimental results reported in the literature: both residual trapping and residual re-induction are possible strategies for HCCI combustion.

An aerodynamic model of the entrainment of the head wall quench layer during blowdown and exhaust of an internal combustion engine has been developed. The model may be used to calculate the time resolved concentration and mass flowrate of hydrocarbons (HC) in the exhaust, from a knowledge of engine geometry and operating conditions. It predicts that the area As from which HC are swept will be proportional to the cube root of the ratio of the quench layer thickness δq to the thickness of the viscous boundary layer δv. Since the mass of HC emitted is proportional to the product of the HC density ρHC, the area As and the thickness δq, the HC emissions will be proportional to the product ρHC δq4/3 and this is the most important factor determining the emissions.

Throttle ramp rate effects on the in-cylinder fuel/air (F/A) excursion was studied in a production engine. The fuel delivered to the cylinder per cycle was measured in-cylinder by a Fast Response Flame Ionization detector. Intake pressure was ramped from 0.4 to 0.9 bar. Under slow ramp rates (∼1 s ramp time), the Engine Electronic Control (EEC) unit provided the correct compensation for delivering a stoichiometric mixture to the cylinder throughout the transient. At fast ramp rates (a fraction of a second ramps), a lean spike followed by a rich one were observed. Based on the actual fuel injected in each cycle during the transient, a x-τ model using a single set of x and τ values reproduced the cycle-to-cycle in-cylinder F/A response for all the throttle ramp rates.

This paper describes a post-race analysis of team KOMMIT EVT’s electric motorcycle data collected during the 2016 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC). The motorcycle consumed approximately 4 kWh of battery energy with an average and maximum speed of 107 km/h and 149 km/h, respectively. It was the second fastest electric motorcycle with a finishing time of 11:10.480. Data was logged of the motorcycle’s speed, acceleration, motor speed, power, currents, voltages, temperatures, throttle position, GPS position, rider’s heart rate and the ambient environment (air temperature, pressure and humidity). The data was used to understand the following factors that may have prevented a faster time: physical fitness of the rider, thermal limits of the motor and controller, available battery energy and the sprocket ratio between the motor and rear wheel.

An adaptive air/fuel ratio controller for SI engine throttle transient was developed. The scheme is based on an event- based, single- parameter fuel dynamics model. A least- square- error algorithm with an active forgetting factor was used for parameter identifications. A one- step- look- ahead controller was designed to maintain the desired air/fuel ratio by canceling the fuel dynamics with the controller setting updated adaptively according to the identified parameters. When implemented on a Ford Ztech engine and tested under a set of throttle- transient operations, the adaptive controller learned quickly and performed well.

The purpose of this work was to develop an understanding of how liquid fuel transported into the cylinder of a port-fuel-injected gasoline-fueled SI engine contributes to hydrocarbon (HC) emissions. To simulate the liquid fuel flow from the valve seat region into the cylinder, a specially designed fuel probe was developed and used to inject controlled amounts of liquid fuel onto the port wall close to the valve seat. By operating the engine on pre-vaporized Indolene, and injecting a small amount of liquid fuel close to the valve seat while the intake valve was open, we examined the effects of liquid fuel entering the cylinder at different circumferential locations around the valve seat. Similar experiments were also carried out with closed valve injection of liquid fuel at the valve seat to assess the effects of residual blowback, and of evaporation from the intake valve and port surfaces.

THE thermodynamic analysis of an internal-combustion engine, even in the idealized case, is in general more complex than a similar analysis of an engine cycle in which the fluid undergoes no chemical change. It is the purpose of this paper to show that, despite the inherent complexity of the problem, an exact solution by graphical methods is possible, and the method is very similar in nature to those used in connection with the Mollier diagram for steam. Two types of charts are presented, one descriptive of the thermodynamic properties of the airfuel mixture (and residual products of combustion) before combustion, the other descriptive of the properties of the equilibrium mixture after combustion. Full allowance is made for the variation of specific heats with temperature and for the complex dissociation at the high temperatures attained after combustion. All calculations are based on the most recent basic thermodynamic data available in the literature.