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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?

Gasoline turbocharged direct injection (GTDI) engines, such as EcoBoost™ from Ford, are becoming established as a high value technology solution to improve passenger car and light truck fuel economy. Due to their high specific performance and excellent low-speed torque, improved fuel economy can be realized due to downsizing and downspeeding without sacrificing performance and driveability while meeting the most stringent future emissions standards with an inexpensive three-way catalyst. A logical and synergistic extension of the EcoBoost™ strategy is the use of E85 (approximately 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline) for knock mitigation. Direct injection of E85 is very effective in suppressing knock due to ethanol's high heat of vaporization - which increases the charge cooling benefit of direct injection - and inherently high octane rating. As a result, higher boost levels can be achieved while maintaining optimal combustion phasing giving high thermal efficiency.

When a vehicle with a partially filled fuel tank undergoes sudden acceleration, braking, turning or pitching motion, fuel sloshing is experienced. It is important to establish a CAE methodology to accurately predict slosh phenomenon. Fuel slosh can lead to many failure modes such as noise, erroneous fuel indication, irregular fuel supply at low fuel level and durability issues caused by high impact forces on tank surface and internal parts. This paper summarizes activities carried out by the fuel system team at Ford Motor Company to develop and validate such CAE methodology. In particular two methods are discussed here. The first method is Volume Of Fluid (VOF) based incompressible multiphase Eulerian transient CAE method. The CFD solvers used here are Star CD and Star CCM+. The second method incorporates Fluid-Structure interaction (FSI) using Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) formulation.

A new turbocharged 60° 2.7L 4V-V6 gasoline engine has been developed by Ford Motor Company for both pickup trucks and car applications. This engine was code named “Nano” due to its compact size; it features a 4-valves DOHC valvetrain, a CGI cylinder block, an Aluminum ladder, an integrated exhaust manifold and twin turbochargers. The goal of this engine is to deliver 120HP/L, ULEV70 emission, fuel efficiency improvements and leadership level NVH. This paper describes the upfront design and optimization process used for the NVH development of this engine. It showcases the use of analytical tools used to define the critical design features and discusses the NVH performance relative to competitive benchmarks.

The modeling of plastic fuel tank systems for crash safety applications has been very challenging. The major challenges include the prediction of fuel sloshing in high speed impact conditions, the modeling of multilayer thermoplastic fuel tanks with post-forming (non-uniform) material properties, and the modeling of tank straps with pre-tensions. Extensive studies can be found in the literature to improve the prediction of fuel sloshing. However, little research had been conducted to model the post-forming fuel tank and to address the tension between the fuel tank and the tank straps for crash safety simulations. Hoping to help improve the modeling of fuel systems, the authors made the first attempt to tackle these major challenges all at once in this study by dividing the modeling of the fuel tank into eight stages. An ALE (Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian) method was adopted to simulate the interaction between the fuel and the tank.

Until now no results have been available regarding the composition of evaporative emissions in a SHED test. In particular, for alcohol containing fuels, it is important to assess the relative percentage of alcohols and hydrocarbons in view of their different environmental impacts. This paper presents the results of a study conducted to determine the composition of the emissions from a number of multilayer coextruded plastic fuel tanks soaked in IE10 and CM15 test fuels. These emissions were analyzed for composition using a gas chromatography analytical method which employs a vapor trap and desorb sampling technique. In the case of CM15, methanol was found to account for as much as 50% of the overall evaporative emissions. This speciation method also allows estimation of how leakage and permeation contribute separately to the overall emissions.

This report is a comprehensive investigation into the use of resin transfer molded glass fiber reinforced plastics in a structural application. A pickup truck cab structure is an ideal application for plastic composites. The cab is designed to fit a production Ranger pickup truck and uses carryover frame and front end structure. The cab concept consists primarily of two molded pieces. This design demonstrates extensive parts integration and allows for low-cost tooling, along with automated assembly.

A simple set of equations has been developed to characterize automotive fuel behavior in fuel tanks, fuel vapor systems and fuel rails, particularly under hot weather conditions. The system of equations links the vapor pressure P, the temperature T, and the mass fraction evaporated Z. Parameters are determined empirically from laboratory vapor pressure and distillation tests. With appropriate values for heat capacity, heat of vaporization, and vapor composition, the equations can be used to estimate upper flammability limits, fuel weathering under hot fuel handling conditions, pressure rise in tanks, and evaporative vapor generation. The equations were developed as part of a larger fuel vapor system model.

A new diesel engine, called the 6.7L Power Stroke® V-8 Turbocharged Diesel, and code named "Scorpion" has been designed and developed by Ford Motor Company for the full-size pickup truck and light commercial vehicle markets. It incorporates the latest design technology to meet 2010 model year emission regulations for both chassis and dynamometer-based certifications, and is compatible with up to B20 biodiesel fuel. The engine is an entirely new 90 degree V-8 design featuring inboard exhaust, piezo common rail fuel injection, a new dual compressor wheel turbocharger, and dual loop cooling systems. The 6.7L is Ford's first diesel engine designed for the North American pickup and light commercial truck market.

Ford developed the 6R140 TorqShift six-speed transmission for the Ford F-series SuperDuty trucks. The 6R140 transmission is specifically designed to manage the increased torque produced by the 6.7-liter Power Stroke V-8 turbocharged diesel engine. It is also matched with the 6.2-liter V-8 gasoline engine. By design, the new 6R140 transmission seamlessly delivers the enormous low-rpm torque produced by the new diesel engine and efficiently manages the higher rpm of the new gasoline engine.

A compact in-situ tensile stress fixture was designed for the study of the combined effects of stress and automotive environments on structural glass fiber-reinforced composite materials. With this fixture, a standardized 300 hour laboratory screening test was developed to compare the residual property loss of composite materials due to concurrent exposure to stress and environment. It is of great importance that the data gathered in the laboratory have correlation to on-vehicle (in-service) performance, and that both lab and real world data be taken with a test system (in-situ test fixtures) capable of providing accurate and consistent results under either test condition.

Gear whine in 1st gear for an automatic transmission that has been in production for nearly thirty years was identified as an NVH issue. Due to advances in vehicle level refinement, and reduction of other masking noises, the automatic transmission gear whine became an issue with the customer. Since the transmission was already in production, the improvements had to be within the boundaries of manufacturing feasibility with existing equipment to avoid costly and time consuming investment in new machines. The approach used was one of identifying optimum values of existing gear parameters to provide a reduction in passenger compartment noise. The problem was in a light truck application. Objective noise measurements were recorded for 10 transmissions from more than 50 driven in vehicles. The transmissions were disassembled and the gears inspected.

The pneumatic air brake system for heavy commercial trucks is composed by a large number of components, aiming its proper work and compliance with rigorous criteria of vehicular safety. One of those components, present along the whole vehicle, is the air brake tube, ducts which feed valves and reservoirs with compressed air, carrying signals for acting or releasing the brake system. In 2011, due to a lack of butadiene in a global scale, the manufacturing of these tubes was compromised; as this is an important raw material present on the polymer used so far, PA12. This article introduces the methodology of selecting, developing and validating in vehicle an alternative polymer for this application. For this purpose, acceptance criteria have been established through global material specifications, as well as bench tests and vehicular validation requirements.

This article is a new methodology to create a strong and reliable procedure to measure oil level at dealers. Most of time, commercial trucks run full loaded. Engine oil level indication systems are designed to measure oil level at that condition. However commercial trucks are assembled and sold empty and without bodies for trucks. In result of this condition, vehicles with a false indication of low engine oil level are detected at dealers' pre-delivery inspection, resulting in oil addition. This oil addition causes unnecessary costs, since vehicles are produced with maximum oil level. The methodology presented in this study analyzes and treats all variables involved in engine oil level measurements from engine production line until dealers' pre-delivery inspection

The objective of this study is to investigate the removal of methane (CH4), nitric oxide (NO), and carbon monoxide (CO) from simulated natural gas vehicle (NGV) exhaust over a palladium catalyst. The effects of changes in space velocity and natural gas sulfur (S) content were studied. The study suggests that the NGV has to be operated slightly rich of stoichiometry to achieve simultaneous removal of the three constituents. The CH4 conversion decreases with an increase in the space velocity. The CO and NO conversions remain unaffected over the space velocity range (10,000 hr-1 to 100,000 hr-1) investigated. The presence of sulfur dioxide in the exhaust lowers the CH4 conversion and increases the CO conversion in the rich region. The NO conversion remains unaffected. Studies were conducted over model catalysts to investigate the modes of CH4 removal from the simulated NGV exhaust.

This paper reviews the design and development of a self-filling, in-tank fuel system reservoir intended for use in diesel engine vehicle applications. This new idea eliminates engine driveability concerns (stumbles, hesitations, stalling, etc.) associated with an inconsistent supply of fuel from the fuel tank to the engine, particularly during sudden vehicle maneuvers and with low fuel tank conditions.

This paper presents the benefits of following a disciplined thermal management process during the design and development of Ford Light Truck engine cooling systems. The thermal management process described has evolved through the increased use of Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) tools. The primary CAE tool used is a numerical simulation technique within the field of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The paper discusses the need to establish a heat management team, develop a heat management model, construct a three dimensional CFD model to simulate the thermal environment of the engine cooling system, and presents CFD modeling examples of Ford Light Trucks with engine driven cooling fans.

Bench reactor experiments were carried out to investigate the effects of operating temperature, precious metal loading, space velocity, and air-fuel (A/F) ratio on the performance of palladium (Pd) catalysts under simulated natural gas vehicle (NGV) exhaust conditions. The performance of these catalysts under simulated gasoline vehicle (GV) conditions was also investigated. In the case of simulated NGV exhaust, where methane was used as the prototypical hydrocarbon (HC) species, peak three-way conversion was obtained under richer conditions than required with simulated GV exhaust (propane and propene HC species). Moreover, the hydrocarbon efficiency of the catalyst under simulated NGV exhaust conditions was more sensitive to both A/F ratio and perturbations in A/F ratio than the HC efficiency under GV exhaust conditions.

A new, systematic, sensitivity based design process for weight reduction is presented. Traditionally, a trial and error method is used when a design fails to meet the weight and the design criteria, which often conflict. This old approach not only is time and cost consuming but also does not provide insight into structural behavior. This proposed process uses state-of-the-art technologies such as design sensitivity analysis, numerical optimization, graphical user interface, etc. It handles multi-discipline design criteria simultaneously and provides design engineers insight into structural responses for frequency, durability, and stiffness concerns and a means for systematic weight reduction and quality improvement. The new design process has been applied for the weight reduction of advanced truck frame designs. Results show that a significant weight savings has been achieved while all design criteria are met.

This paper presents the benefits of following a disciplined thermal management process during the design and development of Ford Light Truck engine cooling systems. The thermal management process described has evolved through the increased use of Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) tools. The primary CAE tool used is a numerical simulation technique within the field of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The paper discusses the need to establish a heat management team, develop a heat management model, construct a three dimensional CFD model to simulate the thermal environment of the engine cooling system, and presents CFD modeling examples of Ford Light Trucks with engine driven cooling fans.