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A belt driven Front End Accessory Drive (FEAD) is used to efficiently supply power to accessory components on automotive engines. The total energy absorbed by the FEAD consists of the accessory component requirements, the belt deformation and friction losses as well as the bearing losses. The accessory component torque requirements provide accessory function such as air conditioning, fluid pumping and electrical power generation. Alternatively, belt related torque losses are a significant parasitic loss, since they do not contribute any useful work. This paper will explain the source of energy loss in FEADs and outline a comprehensive strategy to reduce it. Test results comparing the effect of reduced friction on fuel consumption will be presented as well.

The exhaust aftertreatment strategy is one of the most fundamental aspects of spark ignition engine technologies. For various types of engines (e.g., carburetor engine, PFI engine and GDI engine), measuring, purifying, modeling, and control strategies regarding the exhaust aftertreatment systems vary significantly. The primary goal of exhaust aftetreatment systems is to reduce the exhaust emission levels of NOx, HC and CO as well as to lower combustion soot. In general, there is a tradeoff among different engine performance aspects. The exhaust catalytic systems, such as the three way catalyst (TWC) and lean NOx trap (LNT) converters, can be applied together with the development of other engine technologies (e.g., variable valve timing, cold start). With respect to engine soot, some advanced diagnosing techniques are essential to obtain thorough investigation of exhaust emission mechanisms.

Automotive front-end accessory belt drive systems employ multi-ribbed serpentine belt and are subjected to crankshaft torque fluctuation, component loading and dynamic environments, which will affect the fatigue life of the belt. The stress-life approach was employed to create the belt life equation where the serpentine belt rib stresses are used as the damage parameter. The fatigue index and fatigue strength coefficient are estimated empirically for the serpentine belt and the validity of the belt fatigue model was confirmed via additional experimental results obtained from a variety of different accessory drive configuration using different loading profiles. Finally actual measured data is used to predict the belt life using the belt fatigue model.

Ethanol as a renewable fuel has been used widely in vehicles. Dual fuel injection is one of the new techniques in development for increasing the engine’s thermal efficiency and reducing the pollutant emissions. This study reports experimental investigation to the dual ethanol fuel injection with a focus on the effect of spark timing on the engine performance at different volumetric ratios of ethanol directly injected to ethanol port injected. Experiments were conducted on a single cylinder 250cc spark ignition engine at two engine loads and 3500 RPM. The spark timing was varied from 15 to 42 CAD bTDC at the light load and from 15 to 32 CAD bTDC at the medium load, while the volumetric ratio of direct injection (DI%) was varied from 0% to 100%.

Driven by stricter mandatory regulations on fuel economy improvement and emissions reduction, market penetration of electrified vehicles will increase in the next ten years. Within this growth, mild hybrid vehicles will become a leading sector. The high cost of hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) has somewhat limited their widespread adoption, especially in developing countries. Conversely, it is these countries that would benefit most from the environmental benefits of HEV technology. Compared to a full hybrid, plug-in hybrid, or electric vehicle, a mild hybrid system stands out due to its maximum benefit/cost ratio. As part of our ongoing project to develop a mild hybrid system for developing markets, we have previously investigated improvements in drive performance and efficiency using optimal gearshift strategies, as well as the incorporation of high power density supercapacitors.

Premixed charge compression ignition (PCCI) is a new combustion mode to reduce NOX and soot emission. It requires the optimization of the injection timing and pressure, fuel mass in pilot injection and EGR rate. A 6-cylinder, turbocharged, common rail heavy-duty diesel engine was used in this study. The effect of multiple injection strategies on diesel fuel combustion process, heat release rate, emission and economy of diesel engine is studied. The multiple injection strategies include different EGR level, pilot injection timing, pilot injection mass and post injection timing to achieve the homogeneous compression ignition and lower temperature combustion of diesel engine. Based on endoscope technology, the two-color method was applied to take the flame images in the engine cylinder and obtain soot concentration distribution, to understand the PCCI combustion in diesel engines.

Since 1st September 2014 the Hong Kong Environmental Protection Department (HKEPD) has been utilising a Dual Remote Sensing technique to monitor the emissions from gasoline and liquified petroleum gas (LPG) vehicles for identifying high emitting vehicles running on road. Remote sensing measures and determines volume ratios of the emission gases of HC, CO and NO against CO2, which are used for determining if a vehicle is a high emitter. Characterisation of each emission gas is shown and its potential to identify a high emitter is established. The data covers a total of about 2,200,000 LPG vehicle emission measurements taken from 14 different remote sensing units. It was collected from 6th January 2012 to 20th April 2017 across a period before and after the launch of the Remote Sensing programme for evaluating the performance of the programme. The results show that the HKEPD Remote Sensing programme is very effective to detect high emitting vehicles and reduce on-road vehicle emissions.

Carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) composite materials have gained particular interests due to their high specific modulus, high strength, lightweight and perfect corrosion resistance. However, in reality, CFRP composite materials cannot be used alone in some critical places such as positions of joints with hinges, locks. Therefore, metal reinforcements are usually necessary in local positions to prevent structure damage. Besides, if uncertainties present, obtained optimal structures may experience in failures as the optimization usually pushes solutions to the boundaries of constraints and has no room for tolerance and uncertainties, so robust optimization should be considered to accommodate the uncertainties in practice. This paper proposes a mixed topology method to optimize metal and carbon fiber reinforced plastic composite materials simultaneously under nondeterministic load with random magnitude and direction.

In this paper, hydraulic driving system parameters of a parallel hydraulic hybrid vehicle are designed based on the regenerative braking requirement. Torque, speed and power demands during typical driving cycles are analyzed. The braking control strategy is designed considering both the braking safety and braking energy recovery efficiency. The hydraulic braking torque is determined by the braking control strategy. The proportional relationship of hydraulic pump/ motor output torque and its working pressure is considered. Through simulation with typical city driving cycles, most braking energy can be recovered by the proposed hydraulic driving system and braking control strategy.