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The Pennsylvania State University Advanced Vehicle Team (PSU AVT) is one of the fifteen (15) participating teams at the EcoCAR 2 “Plugging In to the Future” challenge. The team has worked in the design, development and validation of converting a 2013 Chevrolet Malibu, into an advanced technology hybrid vehicle. The PSU AVT has determined that a Plug-In Series Electric Hybrid architecture best meets the design goals of the EcoCAR 2 competition. The vehicle will utilize a front-wheel drivetrain powered by a Magna E-drive; an Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) based on a naturally aspirated Weber MPE 750 engine, converted for use with E85, coupled to a UQM PowerPhase 75 generator; an Energy Storage System (ESS) based on six A123, 15s3p battery modules; and a Mototron ECM-5554-112-0904 controller as the Master Vehicle Controller (MVC).

An experimental study was conducted to determine if an organic fuel additive could reduce engine out hydrocarbon and NOx emissions. A production four cylinder spark ignited engine with throttle body fuel injection was used for the study. A full boiling range base fuel, an additized base fuel, a base fuel with methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) and a base fuel with MTBE and additive were used in the engine tests. Additive concentration was 1/2% by mass. Hydrocarbon and NOx measurements were recorded for 11 load/speed conditions. Hydrocarbon speciation data was taken at two of these conditions. The data from the experiments was analyzed in a pair-wise fashion for the fuels with and without the additive to determine whether statistically significant changes occurred.

Environmentally friendly fuels and lubricants research on hydraulic fluids, engine oils, greases and industrial applications is of interest to government agencies and manufacturers of equipment, engines and vehicles. The key to increasing the use of renewable natural resources is developing fluids of equivalent performance to petroleum base products, at an acceptable product cost. The well known drawbacks of vegetable oils are oxidation stability and low temperature properties. This study compares commercial fluids and laboratory formulations as to their rheological properties and uses different approaches to solve both the low temperature and the oxidative stability problems. Frictions and wear characteristics of the fluids are evaluated and several fluids are compared laboratory bench tests.

Several oxygenates have been proposed and tested for use with diesel fuel as a means of reducing exhaust emissions. This paper examines dimethyl ether (DME), which can be produced in many ways including via Air Products and Chemicals, Inc's Liquid Phase Technology (LPDME ™). Modest additions of DME into diesel fuel (2 wt.% oxygen) showed reductions in particulate matter emissions, but the previous data reported by the author from a multicylinder Navistar 7.3L Turbodiesel engine were scattered. In this study, experiments were performed on a multi-cylinder Navistar 7.3L Turbodiesel engine to repeatably confirm and extend the observations from the earlier studies. This is an important step in not only showing that the fuel does perform well in an engine with minor modifications to the fuel system, but also showing that DME can give consistent, significant results in lowering emissions.

Results are presented from an experimental study of the effects of engine speed and injection pressure transients on the cold start performance of a gasoline direct injection engine operating on iso-octane. The experiments are performed in an optically-accessible single-cylinder research engine modified for gasoline direct injection operation. In order to isolate the effects of the engine speed and injection pressure transients, three different cold start simulations are used. In the first cold start simulation the engine speed and injection pressure are constant. In the second cold start simulation the injection pressure is constant while the engine speed transient of an actual cold start is simulated. In the third cold start simulation both the engine speed and the injection pressure transients of an actual cold start are simulated.

In this study, performance and emissions characteristics of an LPG direct injection (DI) engine with a rotary distributor pump were examined by using cetane enhanced LPG fuel developed for diesel engines. Results showed that stable engine operation was possible for a wide range of engine loads. Also, engine output power with cetane enhanced LPG was comparable to diesel fuel operation. Exhaust emissions measurements showed NOx and smoke could be reduced with the cetane enhanced LPG fuel. Experimental model vehicle with an in-line plunger pump has received its license plate in June 2000 and started high-speed tests on a test course. It has already been operated more than 15,000 km without any major failure. Another, experimental model vehicle with a rotary distributor pump was developed and received its license plate to operate on public roads.

Dimethyl Ether (DME) is a potential ultra-clean diesel fuel. Its unique characteristics require special handling and accommodation of its low viscosity and low lubricity. In this project, DME was blended with diesel fuel to provide sufficient viscosity and lubricity to permit operation of a 7.3 liter turbodiesel engine in a campus shuttle bus with minimal modification of the fuel injection system. A pressurized fuel delivery system was added to the existing common rail injection system on the engine, allowing the DME-diesel fuel blend to be circulated through the rail at pressures above 200 psig keeping the DME in the liquid state. Fuel exiting the rail is cooled by finned tubed heat exchangers and recirculated to the rail using a gear pump. A modified LPG tank (for use on recreational vehicles) stores the DME- diesel fuel blend onboard the shuttle bus.

Biodiesel fuels are widely known to yield an increase in NOx emissions in many diesel engines. It has been suggested that the increase in NOx is due to injection timing differences caused by the low compressibility of biodiesel. In this work, comparisons of injection timing and duration were performed for diesel fuel and a range of biodiesel blends (B20 to B100). The fuel injector on a 4-stroke, single-cylinder, four horsepower, air-cooled, direct injection diesel engine was positioned in a spray chamber while the engine was motored and fuel was delivered to the injector by the fuel pump on the engine. Spray visualization and quantification of injection timing were performed in the spray chamber using an engine videoscope, light attenuation from a HeNe laser and fuel line pressure, and were synchronized to crank shaft position.

In this study, the performance and emissions of a 4 cylinder 2.5L light-duty diesel engine with methane fumigation in the intake air manifold is studied to simulate a dual fuel conversion kit. Because the engine control unit is optimized to work with only the diesel injection into the cylinder, the addition of methane to the intake disrupts this optimization. The energy from the diesel fuel is replaced with that from the methane by holding the engine load and speed constant as methane is added to the intake air. The pilot injection is fixed and the main injection is varied in increments over 12 crank angle degrees at these conditions to determine the timing that reduces each of the emissions while maintaining combustion performance as measured by the brake thermal efficiency. It is shown that with higher substitution the unburned hydrocarbon (UHC) emissions can increase by up to twenty times. The NOx emissions decrease for all engine conditions, up to 53%.

Blends of up to 40% by volume methanol in a methanol-gasoline fuel blend were supplied to a single cylinder engine operating under controlled conditions. The following effects are reported as the methanol concentration increases. The lean misfire limit is extended 0.04 Ø by using a blend containing 40% methanol compared to the base fuel. It is also noted that the lean misfire limit does not vary until a blend containing greater than 20% methanol was used. Torque and thermal efficiency increase significantly. Percent by volume concentrations of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and oxides of nitrogen do not change, although oxides of nitrogen reported as mass per power output per hour decrease.

The ignition of single fuel droplets in air is modeled according to the time-varying conditions within the droplet and the boundary layer around the droplet. Ignition is hypothesized when some point in the boundary layer has experienced a sufficiently severe history in terms of pressure, temperature, equivalence ratio, and time to auto ignite. Experiments were conducted with a wide variety of fuels to validate the model. A critical size concept for ignition was predicted by the model and substantiated by the experiments.

Current methods for reducing emission of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) from the spark ignition (SI) engine employ dilution of intake charge with relatively inert gases which tends to limit peak combustion temperatures and pressures. Employment of intake charge dilution has led to reduction in engine power output and increased combustion cycle-by-cycle (CBC) irregularity. This investigation sought to determine the degree of increased CBC combustion variations experienced as increased amounts of charge dilution reduced emission of NOx. Emission of unburned hydrocarbons (HC) was also documented. It was found that increased CBC variations result from employing intake charge dilution as a tool to reduce NOx emissions. The significant aspects of the increased CBC variations were an observed increase in maximum cyclic pressure dispersion, a slower flame speed as reflected by an increased angle of occurrence of peak cyclic pressure, and increased variations in the crank angle of peak pressure.

The paper presents a composite picture of current knowledge concerning characteristics and causes of friction between tire and road. The mechanisms that control development of friction forces in the contact area of a tire in rolling, driving, braking, and cornering, are related to sliding of a simple rubber block. In both cases, friction is due to a combination of adhesion and hysteresis. On dry, smooth surfaces adhesion predominates while hysteresis is principal factor on wavy, lubricated surfaces. Influence of normal pressure, sliding velocity, temperature, deformation frequency, and contamination on both friction components are dealt with. Conditions in contact area are analyzed and maximum coefficients obtainable in the several modes of operation are derived. Measures to improve frictional coupling between tire and pavement are outlined.

The effect of turbulence on flame kernel growth in lean propane-air mixtures has been studied in a flow reactor at atmospheric pressure and 300 K using laser ignition. The flame kernel growth rate was measured using laser shadowgraphy. Measurements were made under two different turbulent flow conditions, with two different ignition energies and over a range of fuel to air ratios. The effects of these parameters on flame kernel growth through changes in the mass burning rate and the expansion velocity are discussed. A comparison of the effect of turbulence on ignition probability and flame kernel growth rate variation is also presented.