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Beta Ti alloy valve spring retainers are newly developed for use in mass produced automobiles for the first time. Ti alloy valve spring retainers vith a weight saving of 42%, compared to steel retainers, have reduced the inertial weight of the valve train components by 6%. And this weight reduction has the benefit of increasing the upper limit of the engine speed, which improves the engine performance. Ti alloy valve spring retainers are cold forged by the conventional fabrication facilities for steel retainers, using Ti-22V-4Al (the beta Ti alloy) which possesses excellent cold workability in a solution treated condition. Oxygen surface hardening is applied to protect Ti alloy valve spring retainers from wear damage. In addition, aging treatment and shot blasting are performed to improve strength and stiffness of valve retainers.

Austempered ductile iron (ADI) is a material having excellent mechanical properties and damping capacity. However practical mass production of ADI gears has not been possible due to ADI's poor machinability and distortion during the austempering heat treatment. With a new process method of carrying out hobbing before austempering when the material is in its soft condition, then austempering it and lastly, conducting the shave finishing process, we have diminished the above defects and developed practical ADI gears. These new gears generate less noise than ordinary nitrocarburized steel gears and are superior in pitting resistance.

Spray motion visualization, mixture strength measurement, flame spectral analyses and flame behavior observation were performed in order to elucidate the mixture preparation and the combustion processes in Mitsubishi GDI engine. The effects of in-cylinder flow called reverse tumble on the charge stratification were clarified. It preserves the mixture inside the spherical piston cavity, and extends the optimum injection timing range. Mixture strength at the spark plug and at the spark timing can be controlled by changing the injection timing. It was concluded that reverse tumble plays a significant role for extending the freedom of mixing. The characteristics of the stratified charge combustion were clarified through the flame radiation analyses. A first flame front with UV luminescence propagates rapidly and covers all over the combustion chamber at the early stage of combustion.

Several different steel sheets were tested for energy absorption, using hat square columns and dynamic crash testing. Results indicate that steel sheets containing large volume fraction of retained austenite have relatively high energy absorption. The relationship between retained austenite and energy absorption was analyzed. These special steel sheets have already been successfully used for production body parts, such a front-side-member, without difficulties arising in volume production.

Three zone mixture preparation model, assuming that fuel and air are distributed in three separate zones, fuel air and mixture zone, was proposed. Air Utilization Efficiency derived from the model was used to evaluate the mixing nonuniformity. Effect of the large scale nonisotropic turbulence downstream of the dimple or edge in the intake port of MPI engine on the convective mass transfer from fuel film was clarified by the proposed nondimensional index, Local Sherwood Number. It was found that when the fuel is injected toward the wall where large scale turbulence exists, almost all of the fuel is seeded in the air passing the region at the beginning of the intake process, resulting in the time-resolved nonuniformity of the mixture strength at the intake valve. Using the Air Utilization Efficiency, it was elucidated that time-resolved mixing nonuniformity at intake valves induces spatially nonuniform fuel/air distribution in the cylinder.

The authors developed, for use in diesel engines, ceramic tappets cast in aluminum alloy that drastically improved wear resistance and valve train dynamics. The ceramic tappets consist of two parts: a ceramic head, which contacts the cam and push rod, and a tappet body made of aluminum alloy. Concerning the ceramic, silicon nitride was the best material of the three ceramics evaluated in the tests and the sliding surface, in contact with the cam and push rod, was left unground. As for the aluminum alloy, hyper-eutectic aluminum-silicon alloy with a controlled pro-eutectic silicon size was selected. A reliability analysis using the finite-element method (FEM) was also made on the structure of the ceramic tappet for enhanced durability and reliability. The combination of this tappet and a cam made of hardened ductile cast iron, hardened steel, or chilled cast iron, respectively exhibits excellent wear resistance.

Crankshaft torque fluctuation has been theoretically analyzed and possible sources of error have been reviewed in the cases of determining the indicated mean effective pressure (Pmi) from measurement of the flywheel angular-speed fluctuation. The specific objective of this study was to develop a new approach to determine Pmi from the crankshaft torque of a SI engine, and it has successfully proven that using an appropriate data processing for the angular-speed fluctuation, Pmi in low- to medium-speed ranges can be estimated with very high accuracy in terms of 99% or higher coefficient of correlation to the in-cylinder pressure sensor.

The gasoline direct injection engine starts significantly faster than a conventional engine. Fuel can be injected into the cylinder during the compression stroke at the same time of cranking start. When the spark plug ignites the mixture at the end of compression stroke, the engine has its first combustion, that is, the first combustion occurs within 0.2 sec after the start of cranking. This unique characteristic of quick startability has realized a idle stop system, which enables drivers to operate the vehicle in a natural manner.

Two-stage hybrid combustion for a 6-stroke gasoline direct injection SI engine is a new strategy to control the ignition of the HCCI combustion using hot-burned gas from the stratified lean SI combustion. This combustion is achieved by changing the camshafts, the cam-driven gear ratio and the engine control of a conventional 4-stroke gasoline direct injection engine without using a higher compression ratio, any fuel additives and induction air heating devices. The combustion processes are performed twice in one cycle. After the gas exchange process, the stratified ultra-lean SI combustion is performed. The hot-burned gas generated from this SI combustion is used as a trigger for the next HCCI combustion. After gasoline is injected in the burned gas, the hot and homogeneous lean mixture is recompressed without opening the exhaust valves. Thus the HCCI combustion occurs.

A novel leanburn concept, ‘Barrel-Stratification’ is proposed. Fuel is introduced into the cylinder through one of the intake ports of a dual-intake-valve engine of which the tumbling air motion is intensified by the sophisticated intake port design. Because the velocity component in the direction parallel to the axis of tumble is small, charge stratification realized during the intake stroke is maintained until the end of the compression stroke. By the effects of charge stratification and the turbulence enhancement by tumble, stable combustion is realized even at extremely lean conditions. The concept was verified by flow field analysis applying a multi-color laser sheet technique and the flame structure analysis employing the blue-end image intensification realized by the interference mirror and the short delay phosphor.

To improve vehicle startability and transient response of turbocharged diesel trucks, their phenomena have been investigated and analyzed in detail and various supercharging systems have been developed and installed on a truck for comparison of their characteristics. The systems considered were ceramic, variable geometry, variable entry,and air-assisted turbochargers and a combined supercharging system. The variable entry turbocharger has two turbine scrolls with different nozzle areas and two switching valves to get three different turbine flow capacities. The combined supercharging system consists of a mechanical supercharger and a turbocharger. These are linked in series. Both work in a low engine speed range, and the turbocharger only works in middle and high engine speed ranges. Among these systems, the combined supercharging system is the best for improving both vehicle startability and transient response of a truck.

To reduce friction is required to improve engine fuel economy. This study aimed to reduce piston skirt friction, which is a major factor in engine friction. ‘Soft skirt’ is a trendy item in recent gasoline engines, which can improve skirt sliding condition by larger deformation when the piston is pressed to the liner. The effect is confirmed by friction measurement and oil film observation, using prototype pistons. And also one major factor of the effect is clarified that not only side force but also cylinder pressure causes effective deformation of the skirt to create thick oil film at early combustion stroke.

The 4-stroke SI engine offers better performance if its valve events can be varied depending on the operating conditions. Some engines in production are therefore incorporated with variable valve timing (VVT) mechanisms. All of such mechanisms available today however are for two-mode change-over between low-and high-speed operations. To achieve even better output and fuel economy, a new multi-mode VVT mechanism has been developed, featured by a unique hydraulic device for three-mode change-over as follows: Deactivate both intake and exhaust valves Select low-speed cam with moderate lifts and short durations Select high-speed cam with high lifts and long durations This mechanism enables shutting off unnecessary cylinders during low-speed cruise, or select optimum valve events during WOT acceleration over the entire engine speed range.

Improvements of interior and exterior noise are important targets in vehicle engineering. There are many reports concerning the reduction of radiator cooling fan noise. But, most of those reports are associated with studies of air flow noise. A radiator cooling fan connected to a crankshaft occasionally radiates structure-borne noise in addition to air flow noise. This structure-borne noise is caused by fan blade vibration excited by torsional vibration of a crankshaft. In this paper, we surveyed the mechanism of the structure-borne noise and discussed some methods for the noise reduction. And, as a result, we developed one of the noise reduction technique aiming at isolation of crankshaft vibration by modifying viscosity of the oil in a fan clutch.

It is well-known that double-mass torsional rubber dampers which have two masses and springs in parallel are effective for controlling torsional vibration characteristics over a wide range of engine speed. On the occasion of reliability estimation of the rubber dampers, it is important to consider generation of heat in the rubber due to torsional vibration. By predicting generation of heat at the designing stage, optimum design of the torsional rubber dampers can be achieved. By development and application of this prediction method, a new type double-mass damper was developed. It provided higher vibration control characteristics and reliability than conventional viscous dampers, and also it provided advantages in terms of noise, productivity and weight.

This paper presents several methods for reducing engine weight primarily through substitution with light-weight materials. The efficiency and performance of the engine were reviewed using a light-weight experimental engine (hereinafter called “weight-reduced engine”) constructed by the authors in order to investigate the possibility of practical use of the proposed weight reduction measures. The weight-reduced engine is based on an in-line 4-cylinder, 2.0 liter, gasoline engine with the base engine weight of 162 kg excluding engine oil and coolant and was reduced by 37 kg by applying alternative light-weight materiaLs and new manufacturing techniques. This corresponds to 23 % weight reduction. The materials used in the weight-reduced engine are 53 % steel, 33 % aluminum, 7 % plastics and 7 % other light-weight materials. It was found that by application of light-weight materials, the engine performance of the weight-reduced engine could be improved.

An investigation of anti-corrosion steel sheets (non-galvanized) which contain copper for automobile body parts has been conducted. Copper additives accelerate the formation of amorphous substrates. These substrates decrease the rate of corrosion. In order to retain the steel's formability and weldability, the contents of the alloying elements have been optimized. As a result, this newly developed steel sheet can be used for many different applications such as door sashes and door panels of mass produced cars. This paper describes the key properties of the newly developed steel sheet and additionally the mechanism of corrosion prevention, weldability, formability, and so on.

Flow and flame structure visualization and modeling were performed to clarify the characteristics of bulk flow, turbulence and mixing in a four-valve engine to adopt the lean combustion concept named “Barrel-Stratification” to the larger displacement center-spark four-valve engine. It was found that the partitions provided in the intake port and the tumble-control piston with a curved-top configuration were effective to enhance the lean combustion of such an engine. By these methods, the fuel distribution in the intake port and the in-cylinder bulk flow structure are optimized, so that the relatively rich mixture zone is arranged around the spark plug. The tumble-control piston also contributes to optimize the flow field structure after the distortion of tumble and to enable stable lean combustion.

We have developed a tappet with a cam lobe contacting tip made of a hard sintered material whose base material is cobalt, which adheres less to the steel of camshafts, and which also contains fine particles of tungsten carbide and chrome carbide. We have established a new evaluation method to access wear resistance performance of the tappet. It enables us to measure directly the friction force generated between the cam lobe and tappet and to evaluate anti-scuffing performance with high accuracy because we can clarify the time, load and cam angle at which scuffing occures.

In this study a new water injection system was applied to an 11 liter naturally aspirated DI diesel engine in order to reduce exhaust emissions. In this system, the water and fuel were arranged in the injection nozzle during the time between injections as fuel, water and then fuel. The fuel and water were then injected into the cylinder in that order. The tests were conducted at several engine operating conditions from the Japanese 13 mode test cycle to clarify effects of water injection on exhaust emissions and fuel consumption. The results showed that NOx reduction was directly proportional to the relative amount of water injection, regardless of engine speed and load. By using the optimal relative amount of water injection at each engine operating condition, total NOx and particulate matter (PM) in the Japanese 13 mode test cycle were reduced by 50% and 25%, respectively, without a fuel consumption penalty.