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Interest in natural gas as an alternative fuel source to petroleum fuels for light-duty vehicle applications has increased due to its domestic availability and stable price compared to gasoline. With its higher hydrogen-to-carbon ratio, natural gas has the potential to reduce engine out carbon dioxide emissions, which has shown to be a strong greenhouse gas contributor. For part-load conditions, the lower flame speeds of natural gas can lead to an increased duration in the inflammation process with traditional port-injection. Direct-injection of natural gas can increase in-cylinder turbulence and has the potential to reduce problems typically associated with port-injection of natural gas, such as lower flame speeds and poor dilution tolerance. A study was designed and executed to investigate the effects of direct-injection of natural gas at part-load conditions.

Engine dynamometer testing was performed comparing E10, E20, and E30 splash-blended fuels in a Ford 3.5L EcoBoost direct injection (DI) turbocharged engine. The engine was tested with compression ratios (CRs) of 10.0:1 (current production) and 11.9:1. In this engine, E20 (96 RON) fuel at 11.9:1 CR gave very similar knock performance to E10 (91 RON) fuel at 10:1 CR. Similarly, E30 (101 RON) fuel at 11.9:1 CR resulted in knock-limited performance equivalent to E20 at 10:1 CR, indicating that E30 could have been run at even higher CR with acceptable knock behavior. The data was used in a vehicle simulation of a 3.5L EcoBoost pickup truck, which showed that the E20 (96 RON) fuel at 11.9:1 CR offers 5% improvement in U.S. EPA Metro-Highway (M/H) and US06 Highway cycle tank-to-wheels CO₂ emissions over the E10 fuel, with comparable volumetric fuel economy (miles per gallon) and range before refueling.

Interest in natural gas as a fuel for light-duty transportation has increased due to its domestic availability and lower cost relative to gasoline. Natural gas, comprised mainly of methane, has a higher knock resistance than gasoline making it advantageous for high load operation. However, the lower flame speeds of natural gas can cause ignitability issues at part-load operation leading to an increase in the initial flame development process. While port-fuel injection of natural gas can lead to a loss in power density due to the displacement of intake air, injecting natural gas directly into the cylinder can reduce such losses. A study was designed and performed to evaluate the potential of natural gas for use as a light-duty fuel. Steady-state baseline tests were performed on a single-cylinder research engine equipped for port-fuel injection of gasoline and natural gas, as well as centrally mounted direct injection of natural gas.

Climate change initiatives such as carbon dioxide (CO2) inventory reporting, emissions trading, and carbon offsets projects are receiving increased public and corporate attention worldwide. Through early, voluntary actions, Ford Motor Company's manufacturing operations have gained first-hand experience with these emerging policy tools and our global, centralized approach has supported our participation in facility CO2 initiatives in a more cost-effective and operationally-efficient manner. Ford's early action has also developed internal expertise which enables us to share our lessons learned with others beginning to investigate climate change initiatives.

Legislative emissions requirements, customer expectation and environmental concerns are driving the introduction of Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) technologies. In the European market, where diesel powertrain technology has high penetration, Micro Hybrid technology, featuring engine stop/start plus regenerative charging, is attractive due to system cost versus CO2 emission benefits. The availability of the engine stop/start feature in real world usage depends on the control logic taking account of, for example, safety, comfort or other factors. The research reported here involved developing tools to analyze the duration of automatic engine stop events in real world usage taking account of the situations where automatic engine stop would be unavailable. These tools help determine the durability requirements for key system components, in particular the battery, and estimation of the likely fuel savings as a function of the system calibration.

Auto stop-start (Engine stop-start, ESS) has become a widely used feature to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions particularly in congested cities. Typically, vehicles equipped with such systems include two DC power sources that are coupled in parallel: a primary and a secondary power source. The primary power source supplies energy to the starter to crank the engine, while the secondary power source supplies energy to the rest of the vehicle electric loads. During an auto-stop event, a controllable switch decouples the two power sources. Moreover, operating current, voltage and the State of Charge (SOC) are monitored to ensure enough energy for the next auto-start event. When any of these operating parameters are below the threshold values, the controllable switch opens to isolate the two batteries and then the engine is automatically started.

CO2 is an alternative to replace the conventional refrigerant (R134a) for the air-conditioning system, due to the high Global Warming Potential (GWP) of R134a. There are concerns with the use of CO2 as a refrigerant due to health risks associated with exposure to CO2, if the concentration of CO2 is over the acceptable threshold. For applications with CO2 as the refrigerant, the risk of CO2 exposure is increased due to the possibility of CO2 leakage into the cabin through the duct system; this CO2 is in addition to the CO2 generated from the respiration of the occupants. The initiation of the leak could be due to a crash event or a malfunction of the refrigerant system. In an automobile, where the interior cabin is a closed volume (with minimal venting), the increase in concentration can be detrimental to the customer but is hard to detect.

A model process to produce dimethylether (DME) from natural gas (NG) was simulated in a one-pass mode (no material recycle), assuming steady-state and chemical and physical equilibrium. NG conversion to synthesis gas (syngas) via steam reforming resulted in stoichiometric numbers of 2.97 along with vapor mole fraction extremes for carbon dioxide, methane, and water. These concentrations formed an eight-trial simulation grid of syngas compositions. Simulation of DME production was performed in a dual reactor configuration with methanol formation as the intermediate compound. Solutions resulting from the subsequent adiabatic dehydration of the methanol-rich phase showed a consistent DME composition (88%). The resulting solutions and unreacted syngas streams from simulation were examined for applicability to a dual-fuel NG/DME CI engine.

The ozone forming potential (OFP) and specific reactivity (SR) of tailpipe exhaust are among the factors that determine the environmental impact of a motor vehicle. OFP and SR measurements require a lengthy determination of about 190 non-methane hydrocarbon species. A rapid gas chromatography (GC) instrument has been constructed to separate both the light (C2 - C4) and the midrange (C5 - C12) hydrocarbons in less than 10 minutes. The limit of detection is about 0.002 parts per million carbon (ppmC). Thirty exhaust samples from natural gas vehicles (NGV's) were analyzed to compare the rapid GC method with the standard GC method, which required 40-minute analyses on two different instruments. In general, evaluation of the commercial prototype from Separation Systems, Inc., indicates that a high speed, high resolution gas chromatograph can meet the need for fast, efficient exhaust hydrocarbon speciation.

Electric vehicles (EVs) are a promising and proven technology for achieving sustainable mobility with zero carbon emissions, very low noise pollution, and reducing the dependency on fossil fuels. Global EV sales have been increasing by ~110 % since 2015, with a significant rise in 2021 (~6.75 mils EV registered) mainly led by China, the US, and Europe, amplifying the EV market share to 8.3% compared to 4.2% in 2020. Future developments aimed at designing better batteries and charging technologies that reduce charging time, reduce initial battery cost, and increased flexibility. In India, EVs are emerging significantly due to stringent Carbon di Oxide (CO2) reduction drives, increasing crude oil prices, and the availability of cheaper renewable energy. Leveraging government promotional policies, evolving the entire ecosystem, globally advantageous manufacturing costs, and competitive engineering skills form the perfect blend for India.

A commercially available Portable Emissions Measurement System (PEMS), the SEMTECH-G® (Sensors Inc., Saline, MI), was evaluated under laboratory conditions at a chassis dynamometer test facility at Ford Motor Company's Research and Innovation Center. Cumulative Mass Emissions (CMEs) for carbon monoxide (CO), total hydrocarbons (THC), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), and carbon dioxide (CO2) were measured for three different gasoline powered vehicles. A total of twenty three test cycles were conducted. Results from the conventional laboratory bag analyzer system (Horiba MEXA®7200-TR), the conventional laboratory modal analyzer system (Horiba MEXA® 7100-DEGR), and SEMTECH-G® were compared. CMEs for CO, THC, NOx, and CO2 measured using the SEMTECH-G® were found to be in good agreement (within 10% in all cases) with the results from the conventional modal analyzers.

Optical imaging diagnostics of combustion are most often performed in the visible spectral band, in part because camera technology is most mature in this region, but operating in the infrared (IR) provides a number of benefits. These benefits include access to emission lines of relevant chemical species (e.g. water, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide) and obviation of image intensifiers (avoiding reduced spatial resolution and increased cost). High-speed IR in-cylinder imaging and image processing were used to investigate the relationships between infrared images, quantitative image-derived metrics (e.g. location of the flame centroid), and measurements made with in-cylinder pressure transducers (e.g. coefficient of variation of mean effective pressure). A 9.7-liter, inline-six, natural-gas-fueled engine was modified to enable exhaust-gas recirculation (EGR) and provide borescopic optical access to one cylinder for two high-speed infrared cameras.

The objective of this research was to study the effects of a CCRT®, henceforth called Diesel Oxidation Catalyst - Catalyzed Particulate Filter (DOC-CPF) system on particulate and gaseous emissions from a heavy-duty diesel engine (HDDE) operated at Modes 11 and 9 of the old Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 13-mode test cycle Emissions characterized included: total particulate matter (TPM) and components of carbonaceous solids (SOL), soluble organic fraction (SOF) and sulfates (SO4); vapor phase organics (XOC); gaseous emissions of total hydrocarbons (HC), carbon monoxide (CO), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), oxygen (O2) and carbon dioxide (CO2); and particle size distributions at normal dilution ratio (NDR) and higher dilution ratio (HDR). Significant reductions were observed for TPM and SOL (>90%), SOF (>80%) and XOC (>70%) across the DOC-CPF at both modes.

The objective of this research was to study the effect of a catalyzed particulate filter (CPF) with a high loading of catalyst (50 gms/ft3) and ultra low sulfur fuel (ULSF -0.57 ppm of sulfur) on the emissions from a heavy duty diesel engine. The particulate emissions were measured using two different analytical methods, i.e., the gravimetric method and the thermal optical method (TOM). The results from the two different methods of analyses were compared. The experiments were performed at four different operating conditions chosen from the old Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 13-mode test cycle. A 1995 Cummins M11 heavy-duty engine with manually controlled exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) was used to perform the emission characterization experiments. The emission characterization included total particulate matter (TPM), which is composed of the solids (SOL), soluble organic fractions (SOF) and sulfates (SO4) analyzed using the gravimetric method.

In order to decarbonize and lower the overall emissions of the transport sector, immediate and cost-effective powertrain solutions are needed. Natural gas offers the advantage of a direct reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions due to its better Carbon to Hydrogen ratio (C/H) compared to common fossil fuels, e.g. gasoline or diesel. Moreover, an optimized engine design suiting the advantages of natural gas in knock resistance and lean mixtures keeping in mind the challenges of power density, efficiency and cold start manoeuvres. In the public funded project MethMag (Methane lean combustion engine) a gasoline fired three-cylinder-engine is redesigned based on this change of requirements and benchmarked against the previous gasoline engine.

A new diesel van with a reference weight of 1661 kg and a pre-chamber engine with a displacement of 2400cc was tested on a chassis dynamometer. The fuel consumption and emissions of carbon monoxide, unburned hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide, particulate matter and associated organic material (SOF) as well as PAH (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons) were measured under different driving conditions. The driving patterns used were recorded with a chase car at real traffic conditions on several roads in Copenhagen. The emissions were measured using different kind of diesel fuels as well as RME and biodiesel. CO, CO2, HC, and NOx levels generally decreased with increasing average speed of the driving cycle for all fuels tested. Cold start emissions were generally higher than for warm start.

The new European test procedure, called the worldwide harmonized light vehicle test procedure (WLTP), deviates in some details from the current NEDC-based test which will have an impact on the determination of the official EU fuel consumption values for the new vehicles. The adaptation to the WLTP faces automakers with new challenges for meeting the stringent EU fuel consumption and CO2 emissions standards. This paper investigates the main changes that the new test implies to a mid-size sedan electrified vehicle design and quantifies their impact on the vehicles fuel economy. Three common electrified powertrain architectures including series, parallel P2, and powersplit are studied. A Pontryagin’s Minimum Principle (PMP) optimization-based energy management control strategy is developed to evaluate the energy consumption of the electrified vehicles in both charge-depleting (CD) and charge-sustaining (CS) modes.

As a part of a continuous research and innovation effort, Ford Motor Company has been evaluating hydrogen since 1997 as an alternative fuel option for vehicles with internal combustion engines. Hydrogen fuel is attractive in that it is the cleanest fuel. Hydrogen, when used in an internal combustion engine, produces an exhaust emission consisting mainly of water vapor, with no carbon dioxide and trace amounts of other regulated pollutants. Hydrogen can be produced from renewable sources which will help reduce the dependence on foreign oil. The implementation of the hydrogen powered IC engine is seen as a strategy to help transition from a petroleum economy to a hydrogen economy and drive development of hydrogen storage, fueling infrastructure and other hydrogen related technologies.

Medium duty vehicles come in many design variations, which makes testing them all for CO2 impractical. As a result there are multiple ways of reporting CO2 emissions. Actual tests may be performed, data substitution may be used, or CO2 values may be estimated using an analytical correction. The correction accounts for variations in road load force coefficients (f0, f1, f2), weight, and axle ratio. The EPA Analytically Derived CO2 equation (EPA ADC) was defined using a limited set of historical data. The prediction error is shown to be ±130 g/mile and the sensitivities to design variables are found to be incorrect. Since the absolute CO2 is between 500 and 1,000 g/mi, the equation has limited usefulness. Previous work on light duty vehicles has demonstrated a linear relationship between vehicle fuel consumption, powertrain properties and total vehicle work. This relationship improves the accuracy and avoids co-linearity and non-orthogonality of the input variables.

The automotive industry is rapidly expanding its Hybrid, Plug-in Hybrid and Battery Electric Vehicle product offerings in response to meet customer wants and regulatory requirements. One way for electrified vehicles to have an increasing impact on fleet-level CO2 emissions is for their sales volumes to go up. This means that electrified vehicles need to deliver a complete set of vehicle level attributes like performance, Fuel Economy and range that is attractive to a wide customer base at an affordable cost of ownership. As part of “democratizing” the Hybrid and plug-In Hybrid technology, automotive manufacturers aim to deliver these vehicle level attributes with a powertrain architecture at lowest cost and complexity, recognizing that customer wants may vary considerably between different classes of vehicles. For example, a medium duty truck application may have to support good trailer tow whereas a C-sized sedan customer may prefer superior city Fuel Economy.