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SOC (State of charge) plays an important role in vehicle energy management, utilization of battery pack capacity, battery protection. Model based SOC estimation algorithm is widely regarded as an efficient computing method, but battery model accuracy and measuring noise variance will greatly affect the estimation result. This paper proposed an adaptive mixed estimation algorithm. In the algorithm, the recursive least squares algorithm was used to identify the battery parameters online with a second-order equivalent circuit model, and an adaptive unscented Kalman method was applied to estimate battery SOC. In order to verify the effect of the proposed algorithm, the experimental data of a lithium battery pack was applied to build a simulation model. The results show that the proposed joint algorithm has higher estimation accuracy and minimum root mean square error than other three algorithms.

Controlled Auto-Ignition (CAI) combustion can effectively improve the thermal efficiency of conventional spark ignition (SI) gasoline engines, due to shortened combustion processes caused by multi-point auto-ignition. However, its commercial application is limited by the difficulties in controlling ignition timing and violent heat release process at high loads. Stratified flame ignited (SFI) hybrid combustion, a concept in which rich mixture around spark plug is consumed by flame propagation after spark ignition and the unburned lean mixture closing to cylinder wall auto-ignites in the increasing in-cylinder temperature during flame propagation, was proposed to overcome these challenges.

Due to the rapid development of road infrastructure and vehicle population in China, the fuel consumption and emission of on-road vehicles tested in China World Transient Vehicle Cycle (C-WTVC) cannot indicate the real driving results. But the test results in China Heavy-duty Commercial Vehicle Test Cycle-Coach (CHTC-C) based on the road driving conditions in China are closer to the actual driving data. In this paper, the model for predicting the performance of heavy-duty vehicles is established and validated. The fuel consumption and NOx emission of a Euro VI heavy-duty coach under C-WTVC and CHTC-C tests are calculated by employing the developed model. Furthermore, the fuel consumption of the test coach is optimized and its sensitivity to the driving factors is analyzed.

A 2-stroke boosted uniflow scavenged direct injection gasoline (BUSDIG) engine was researched and developed at Brunel University London to achieve higher power-to-mass ratio and thermal efficiency. In the BUSDIG engine concept, the intake scavenge ports are integrated to the cylinder liner and controlled by the movement of piston top while exhaust valves are placed in the cylinder head. Systematic studies on scavenging ports, intake plenum, piston design, valve opening profiles and fuel injection strategies have been performed to investigate and optimise the scavenging performance and in-cylinder fuel/air mixing process for optimised combustion process. In order to achieve superior power performance with higher thermal efficiency, the evaluation and optimisation of the boost system for a 1.0 L 2-cylinder 2-stroke BUSDIG engine were performed in this study using one dimensional (1D) engine simulations.

Lean-burn combustion is an effective method for increasing the thermal efficiency of gasoline engines fueled with stoichiometric fuel-air mixture, but leads to an unacceptable level of high cyclic variability before reaching ultra-low nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions emitted from conventional gasoline engines. Multi-point micro-flame ignited (MFI) hybrid combustion was proposed to overcome this problem, and can be can be grouped into double-peak type, ramp type and trapezoid type with very low frequency of appearance. This research investigates the micro-flame ignition stages of double-peak type and ramp type MFI combustion captured by high speed photography. The results show that large flame is formed by the fast propagation of multi-point flame occurring in the central zone of the cylinder in the double-peak type. However, the multiple flame sites occur around the cylinder, and then gradually propagate and form a large flame accelerated by the independent small flame in the ramp type.

A high temperature and no oxygen atmosphere fuel reforming has been proposed for the purpose of exergy saving by theoretical analyzing the detailed exergy loss events of combustion process, the correctness and feasibility of this fuel reforming have been verified through experiments. The exergy behaviors of high temperature and no oxygen atmosphere fuel reforming have been extensively studied, and many benefits had been observed including: (1) simplifying the reforming device where catalysts are not necessary; (2) improving the total chemical exergy while effectively converting large moleculae to small moleculae; (3) improving the mixture’s ratio of specific heat that can promote work-extraction; and (4) lengthening the ignition delay that buys time for better mixing process. All of these benefits are conducive to a better organized HCCI combustion that may improve the engine second law efficiency.

The more strict CO2 emission legislation for internal combustion engines demands higher spark ignition (SI)engine efficiencies. The use of renewable fuels, such as bioethanol, may play a vital role to reduce not only CO2 emissions but also petroleum dependency. An option to increase SI four stroke engine efficiency is to use the so called over-expanded cycle concepts by variation of the valve events. The use of an early or late intake valve closure reduces pumping losses (the main cause of the low part load efficiency in SI engines) but decreases the effective compression ratio. The higher expansion to compression ratio leads to better use of the produced work and also increases engine efficiency. This paper investigates the effects of early and late intake valve closure strategies in the gas exchange process, combustion, emissions and engine efficiency at unthrottled stoichiometric operation.

As one of the core components of electric vehicles(EV), the drive motor system has a significant impact on the EV operation performance. The interior permanent magnet synchronous motor (IPMSM) has a wide range of applications in EV, due to its high efficiency, high power density, high torque current and wide speed range. In the field of EV, motor control system is required to have a high operating range. IPMSM operates at constant torque mode below rated speed and constant power mode above rated speed. The back electromotive force(Back-EMF) generated by the rotor in the constant power mode causes the inverter output voltage to saturate. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure that the controller is still operating in the linear region by applying a flux weakening(FW) current to the stator.

The thermophysical parameters and amount of composite phase change materials (PCMs) have decisive influence on the thermal control effects of thermal management systems (TMSs). At the same time, the various thermophysical parameters of the composite PCM are interrelated. For example, increasing the thermal conductivity is bound to mean a decrease in the latent heat of phase change, so a balance needs to be achieved between these parameters. In this paper, a prismatic LiFePO4 battery cell cooled by composite PCM is comprehensively analyzed by changing the phase change temperature, thermal conductivity and amount of composite PCM. The influence of the composite PCM parameters on the cooling and temperature homogenization effect of the TMS is analyzed. which can give useful guide to the preparation of composite PCMs and design of the heat transfer enhancement methods for TMSs.

A single cylinder direct injection gasoline engine has been developed and commissioned on a transient engine test bed in order to study different engine cycles and combustion modes with identical hardware and operating conditions. The engine can be operated in either 4-stroke cycle or 2-stroke cycle by means of an electro-hydraulic camless system. In addition, both spark ignition and controlled autoignition (CAI) combustion can be achieved. In this paper, effects of the injection timing on different CAI combustion modes are investigated, including the residual gas trapping and exhaust gas rebreathing CAI operations in 4-stroke mode, and also 2-stroke CAI operation, with a stoichiometric air fuel ratio and homogeneous charge used throughout. The performance and emission data are presented and analysed as a function of the injection timing. Results show that the charge cooling effect on the intake flow rate is dependent upon the in-cylinder temperature at the time of injection.

Regulations have been established for the monitoring and reporting of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and fuel consumption from the transport sector. Low carbon fuels combined with new powertrain technologies have the potential to provide significant reductions in GHG emissions while decreasing the dependence on fossil fuel. In this study, a lean-burn ethanol-diesel dual-fuel combustion strategy has been used as means to improve upon the efficiency and emissions of a conventional diesel engine. Experiments have been performed on a 2.0 dm3 single cylinder heavy-duty engine equipped with port fuel injection of ethanol and a high-pressure common rail diesel injection system. Exhaust emissions and fuel consumption have been measured at a constant engine speed of 1200 rpm and various steady-state loads between 0.3 and 2.4 MPa net indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP).

Modern heavy duty diesel engines can well extend the goal of 50% brake thermal efficiency by utilizing waste heat recovery (WHR) technologies. The effect of an ORC WHR system on engine brake specific fuel consumption (bsfc) is a compromise between the fuel penalty due to the higher exhaust backpressure and the additional power from the WHR system that is not attributed to fuel consumption. This work focuses on the fuel efficiency benefits of installing an ORC WHR system on a heavy duty diesel engine. A six cylinder, 7.25ℓ heavy duty diesel engine is employed to experimentally explore the effect of backpressure on fuel consumption. A zero-dimensional, detailed physical ORC model is utilized to predict ORC performance under design and off-design conditions.

As the emission regulations for internal combustion engines are becoming increasingly stringent, different solutions have been researched and developed, such as dual injection systems (combined port and direct fuel injection), split injection strategies (single and multiple direct fuel injection) and different intake air devices to generate an intense in-cylinder air motion. The aim of these systems is to improve the in-cylinder mixture preparation (in terms of homogeneity and temperature) and therefore enhance the combustion, which ultimately increases thermal efficiency and fuel economy while lowering the emissions. This paper describes the effects of dual injection systems on combustion, efficiency and emissions of a downsized single cylinder gasoline direct injection spark ignited (DISI) engine. A set of experiments has been conducted with combined port fuel and late direct fuel injection strategy in order to improve the combustion process.

The 2-stroke engine has great potential for aggressive engine downsizing due to its double firing frequency which allows lower indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP) and peak in-cylinder pressure with the same output toque compared to the 4-stroke engine. With the aid of new engine technologies, e.g. direct injection, boost and variable valve trains, the drawbacks of traditional 2-stroke engine, e.g. low durability and high emissions, can be resolved in a Boosted Uniflow Scavenged Direct Injection Gasoline (BUSDIG) engine. Compared to the loop-flow or cross-flow engines, the BUSDIG engine, where intake ports are integrated to the cylinder liner and controlled by the movement of piston top while exhaust valves are placed in the cylinder head, can achieve excellent scavenging performance and be operated with high boost.

The experimental work was concerned with improving understanding of the competing effects of the latent heat of vaporization and auto-ignition delay times of different ethanol blended fuels during heaving knocking combustion. The unique single cylinder SI engine employed included full bore overhead optical access capable of withstanding unusually high in-cylinder pressures. Heavy knock was deliberately induced under moderate loads using inlet air heating and a primary reference fuel blend of reduced octane rating. High-speed chemiluminescence imaging and simultaneous in-cylinder pressure data measurement were used to evaluate the combustion events. Under normal operation the engine was operated under port fuel injection with a stoichiometric air-fuel mixture. Multiple centered auto-ignition events were regularly observed, with knock intensities of up to ~40bar. Additional excess fuel of varied blend was then introduced directly into the end-gas in short transient bursts.

In order to meet increasingly stringent emissions standards and lower the fuel consumption of heavy-duty (HD) vehicles, significant efforts have been made to develop high efficiency and clean diesel engines and aftertreatment systems. However, a trade-off between the actual engine efficiency and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emission remains to minimize the operational costs. In addition, the conversion efficiency of the diesel aftertreatment system decreases rapidly with lower exhaust gas temperatures (EGT), which occurs at low load operations. Thus, it is necessary to investigate the optimum combustion and engine control strategies that can lower the vehicle’s running costs by maintaining low engine-out NOx emissions while increasing the conversion efficiency of the NOx aftertreament system through higher EGTs.

The spark ignition (SI) - controlled auto-ignition (CAI) hybrid combustion, also known as spark-assisted compression ignition (SACI), is achieved by utilizing the temperature and pressure rise from the early flame propagation induced by the spark-ignition to trigger the auto-ignition of the remaining unburned mixture. This hybrid combustion concept can be used to effectively extend the operating range of gasoline CAI combustion and achieve smooth transitions between SI and CAI combustion mode in gasoline engines. However, the significant cycle-to-cycle variation (CCV) of the SI-CAI hybrid combustion hinders the practical application of the hybrid combustion. In order to understand the cause of its high CCVs, the SI-CAI hybrid combustion process in a gasoline engine was studied in this study by the large eddy simulations (LES). The turbulence is modelled by the sub-grid k model. The spark ignition and subsequent flame propagation were modelled by the ECFM-3Z LES model.

Recent toxicological and epidemiologic studies have shown that diesel emissions have been a significant toxic air contaminant. Catalyzed DPF (CDPF) not only significantly reduces the PM mass emissions (>90%), but also further promotes carrier self-regeneration and oxidize more harmful gaseous pollutants by the catalyst coated on the carrier. However, some ultrafine particles and potentially harmful gaseous pollutants, such as VOCs species, originally emitted in the vapor-phase at high plume temperature, may penetrate through the CDPF filter. Furthermore, the components and content of catalyst coated on the CDPF could influence the physicochemical properties and toxicity intensity of those escaping ultrafine particles and gaseous pollutants. In this work, (1) we investigated the influence of precious metal content as a variable parameter on the physicochemical properties and catalytic activities of the small CDPF samples.

The modern automotive industry is under strict regulations to reduce emissions to comply with the Kyoto Protocol, a universally acknowledged treaty aiming at reducing exhaust gas emissions. In order to achieve the required future emission reduction targets, further developments on gasoline engines are required. One of the main methods to achieve this goal is the application of engine downsizing. Turbocharging is a cost-effective method of downsizing an engine whilst reducing exhaust gas emissions, reducing fuel consumption and maintaining prior performance outputs. For these reasons, the turbocharging is becoming the most widely adopted technology in the automotive markets. In 2012, 32% of passenger and commercial vehicles sold had a turbocharger installed, and is predicted to be 40% of 2017 [1]. Even if the engine turbocharging is a widespread technology, there are still drawbacks present in current turbocharging systems.

In this study, the effect of the intake plenum design on the scavenging process in a newly proposed 2-stroke Boosted Uniflow Scavenged Direct Injection Gasoline (BUSDIG) engine was studied in detail by three dimensional (3D) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. In the BUSDIG engine, the intake scavenge ports are integrated into the cylinder liner and their opening and closure are controlled by the movement of piston top while exhaust valves are placed in the cylinder head. In order to accommodate the optimized scavenge ports in the real engine application, the intake plenum with an inlet pipe and a scavenge chamber was designed and connected to the 12 evenly distributed scavenge ports in a single cylinder BUSDIG engine.