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The need for significant reduction of fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions has become the major driver for development of new vehicle powertrains today. For the medium term, the majority of new vehicles will retain an internal combustion engine (ICE) in some form. The ICE may be the sole prime mover, part of a hybrid powertrain or even a range extender; in every case potential still exists for improvement in mechanical efficiency of the engine itself, through reduction of friction and of parasitic losses for auxiliary components. A comprehensive approach to mechanical efficiency starts with an analysis of the main contributions to engine friction, based on a measurement database of a wide range of production engines. Thus the areas with the highest potential for improvement are identified. For each area, different measures for friction reduction may be applicable with differing benefits.

Small gasoline engines are used in motorcycles and handheld machinery, because of their high power density, low cost and compact design. The reduction of hydrocarbon emissions and fuel consumption is an important factor regarding the upcoming emission standards and operational expenses. The scavenging process of the two-stroke engine causes scavenging losses. A reduction in hydrocarbon emissions due to scavenging losses can be achieved through inner mixture formation using direct injection (DI). The time frame for fuel vaporization is limited using two-stroke SI engines by the high number of revolutions. A high pressure DI system was used to offer fast and accurate injections. An injection pressure of up to 140 MPa was provided by a common rail system, built out of components normally used in automotive engineering. A standard electromagnetic injector is applied for the fuel injection. This injection unit is dimensioned for multi-point injections in diesel engines.

In the present paper the results of a set of experimental investigations on LSPI are discussed. The ignition system of a test engine was modified to enable random spark advance in one of the four cylinders. LSPI sequences were successfully triggered and exhibited similar characteristics compared to regularly occurring pre-ignition. Optical investigations applying a high speed camera system enabling a visualization of the combustion process were performed. In a second engine the influence of the physical properties of the considered lubricant on the LSPI frequency was analyzed. In addition different piston ring assemblies have been tested. Moreover an online acquisition of the unburned hydrocarbon emissions in the exhaust gas was performed. The combination of these experimental techniques in the present study provided further insights on the development of LSPI sequences.

Today’s automotive industry is changing rapidly towards environmentally friendly vehicle propulsion systems. All over the globe, legislative CO2 consumption targets are under discussion and partly already in force. Hybrid powertrain configurations are capable to lower fuel consumption and limit pollutant emissions compared to pure IC-Engine driven powertrains. Depending on boundary conditions a numerous of different hybrid topologies- and its control strategies are thinkable. Typical approach is to find the optimum hybrid layout and strategy, by performing certain technical design tasks in office simulation directly followed by vehicle prototype tests on the chassis dyno and road. This leads to a high number of prototype vehicles, overload on chassis dynos, time consuming road test and finally to tremendous costs. Our developed approach is using the engine testbed with simulation capabilities as bridging element between office and vehicle development environment.

The investigation of transient engine operation plays a key role of the future challenges for individual mobility in terms of real driving emissions (RDE). A fundamental investigation of the transient engine operation requires the simultaneous application of measurement technologies for an integrated study of mixture formation, combustion process and emission formation. The major prerequisite is the combustion cycle and crank angle resolved analysis of the process for at least several individual consecutive combustion cycles during transient operation. The investigations are performed with a multi cylinder DISI engine at an Engine-in-the-Loop test bench, able to operate the engine in driving cycles as well as within target profiles (e.g. speed and torque profiles). The research project describes the methodology of analyzing elementary transient operational phases, (e.g. different variants of load steps).

At part load and wide open throttle operation with stratified charge and lean mixture conditions the Direct Injection Spark Ignition (DISI) engine offers similar efficiency levels compared to compression ignition engines The present paper reports on results of recent studies on the impact of the in-cylinder processes in DISI engines e. g. the injection, the in-cylinder flow, the mixture preparation and the ignition on the combustion, the energy conversion and the exhaust emission behavior. The analyses of the spray behavior, of the in-cylinder flow during compression as well as of the flame propagation have been carried out applying advanced optical measurement techniques. The results enable a targeted optimization of the combustion process with respect to engine efficiency and exhaust emissions. The benefits of an increase in fuel injection pressures up to 100 MPa are discussed.

The present work introduces an extended particulate filter model focusing on capabilities to cover catalytic and surface storage reactions and to serve as a virtual multi-functional reactor/separator. The model can be classified as a transient, non-isothermal 1D+1D two-channel model. The applied modeling framework offers the required modeling depth to investigate arbitrary catalytic reaction schemes and it follows the computational requirement of running in real-time. The trade-off between model complexity and computational speed is scalable. The model is validated with the help of an analytically solved reference and the model parametrization is demonstrated by simulating experimentally given temperatures of a heat-up measurement. The detailed 1D+1D model is demonstrated in a concept study comparing the impact of different spatial washcoat distributions.

The present work describes an existing transient, non-isothermal 1D+1D particulate filter model to capture the impact of different types of particulate matter (PM) on filtration and regeneration. PM classes of arbitrary characteristics (size, composition etc.) are transported and filtered following standard mechanisms. PM deposit populations of arbitrary composition and contact states are used to describe regeneration on a micro-kinetical level. The transport class and deposit population are linked by introducing a splitting deposit matrix. Filtration and regeneration modes are compared to experimental data from literature and a brief numerical assessment on the filtration model is performed. The filter model as part of an exhaust line is used in a concept study on different coating variants. The same exhaust line model is connected to an engine thermodynamic and vehicle model. This system model is run through a random drive cycle in office simulation.

The two-stroke SI engine remains the dominant concept for handheld power tools. Its main advantages are a good power-to-weight ratio, simple mechanical design and low production costs. Because of these reasons, the two-stroke SI engine will remain the dominant engine in such applications for the foreseeable future. Increasingly stringent exhaust emission laws, in conjunction with the drive for more efficiency, have made new scavenging and combustion processes necessary. The main foci are to reduce raw emissions of unburned hydrocarbons via intelligent guidance of the fresh air-fuel mixture and to improve performance to reduce specific emissions. The flow velocity in the electrode gap of the spark plug is of great interest for the ignition of the air-fuel-mixture and the early combustion phase of all kinds of SI engines. In these investigations, the flow velocity in the spark plug gap of a two-stroke gasoline engine with stratified scavenging was measured under various conditions.

The Particle Measurement Programme (PMP) developed an exhaust particle number measurement protocol that has been adopted by current light duty vehicle emission regulations in Europe. This includes thermal treatment of the exhaust aerosol to isolate solid particles only and a number counting device with a lower cutpoint of 23 nm to avoid measurement of smaller particles that may affect the repeatability of the measurement. In this paper, we examine a potential alternative to the PMP system, where the thermal treatment is replaced by a catalytic stripper (CS). This offers oxidation and not just evaporation of the volatile components. Alternative sampling systems, either fulfilling the PMP recommendations or utilizing a CS, have been explored in terms of their volatile particle removal efficiency. Tests have been conducted on diesel exhaust, diesel equipped with DPF and gasoline direct injection emissions.

Particle number measurements during different real world and legislative driving cycles show that catalyst heating, cold and transient engine operation cause increased particle number emissions. In this context the quality of mixture formation as a result of injector characteristics, in-cylinder flow, operation & engine parameters and fuel composition is a major factor. The goal of this paper is to evaluate the influence of different biogenic and alkylate fuels on the gaseous and particle number emission behavior during catalyst heating operation on a single-cylinder DISI engine. The engine is operated with a late ignition timing causing a high exhaust enthalpy flow to heat up the catalyst, a slightly lean global air fuel ratio to avoid high hydrocarbon emissions and a late injection right before the ignition to reduce the coefficient of variance of the indicated mean effective pressure.

This paper describes the findings of a design, simulation and test study into how to reduce particulate number (Pn) emissions in order to meet EU6c legislative limits. The objective of the study was to evaluate the Pn potential of a modern 6-cylinder engine with respect to hardware and calibration when fitted to a full size SUV. Having understood this capability, to redesign the combustion system and optimise the calibration in order to meet an engineering target value of 3×1011 Pn #/km using the NEDC drive cycle. The design and simulation tasks were conducted by JLR with support from AVL. The calibration and all of the vehicle testing was conducted by AVL, in Graz. Extensive design and CFD work was conducted to refine the inlet port, piston crown and injector spray pattern in order to reduce surface wetting and improve air to fuel mixing homogeneity. The design and CFD steps are detailed along with the results compared to target.

The European Emissions Stage 5b standard for diesel passenger cars regulates particulate matter to 0.0045 g/km and non-volatile part/km greater than 23 nm size to 6.0x10₁₁ as determined by the PMP procedure that uses a heated evaporation tube to remove semi-volatile material. Measurement artifacts associated with the evaporation tube technique prevents reliable extension of the method to a lower size range. Catalytic stripper (CS) technology removes possible sources of these artifacts by effectively removing all hydrocarbons and sulfuric acid in the gas phase in order to avoid any chemical reactions or re-nucleation that may cause measurement complications. The performance of a miniature CS was evaluated and experimental results showed solid particle penetration was 50% at 10.5 nm. The sulfate storage capacity integrated into the CS enabled it to chemically remove sulfuric acid vapor rather than rely on dilution to prevent nucleation.

Particulate emission reduction has long been a challenge for diesel engines as the diesel diffusion combustion process can generate high levels of soot which is one of the main constituents of particulate matter. Gasoline engines use a pre-mixed combustion process which produces negligible levels of soot, so particulate emissions have not been an issue for gasoline engines, particularly with modern port fuel injected (PFI) engines which provide excellent mixture quality. Future European and US emissions standards will include more stringent particulate limits for gasoline engines to protect against increases in airborne particulate levels due to the more widespread use of gasoline direct injection (GDI). While GDI engines are typically more efficient than PFI engines, they emit higher particulate levels, but still meet the current particulate standards.

The paper describes a zero-dimensional crank angle resolved combustion model which was developed for the analysis and prediction of combustion in compression ignition (CI) engines. The model relies on the multi zone combustion model (MZCM) approach of Hiroyasu. The main sub-models were taken from literature and extended with additional features described in this paper. A special procedure described in a previous paper is used to identify the mechanisms of the combustion process on the basis of the measured cylinder pressure trace. Based on the identified mechanisms the present work concentrates on the analysis of the causal effects that predominantly control the combustion process and the formation of NOx and Soot. The focus lies on the changes of the thermodynamic states and the composition of the reaction zones caused by different emission control strategies.

Light duty diesel vehicles continue to win recognition and market shares in Europe due to their convincing economy, reliability and driveability features. The diesel boom finds a fresh rationale in the CO2 emission legislation to come, however, the competitiveness of diesel cars may be impaired in future in consequence of the progression of the exhaust emission legislation and its impact on vehicle cost. This paper reviews the technologies currently pursued on the side of the engine and its subsystems, as well as the exhaust gas aftertreatment concepts required to satisfy the European legislation. An integral system approach is suggested, aiming at an optimum match of vehicle design parameters, transmission gear and the engine including aftertreatment elements and control.

In order to achieve future CO2 targets - in particular under real driving conditions - different powertrain technologies will have to be introduced. Beside the increasing electrification of the powertrain, it will be essential to utilize the full potential of the internal combustion engine. In addition to further optimization of the combustion processes and the reduction of mechanical losses in the thermal- and energetic systems, the introduction of Variable Compression Ratio (VCR) is probably the measure with the highest potential for fuel economy improvement. VCR systems are expected to be introduced to a considerable number of next generation turbocharged Spark Ignited (SI) engines in certain vehicle classes. The basic principle of the AVL VCR system described in this paper is a 2-stage variation of the conrod length and thus the Compression Ratio (CR).

The use of state of the art simulation tools for effective front-loading of the calibration process is essential to support the additional efforts required by the new Real Driving Emission (RDE) legislation. The process needs a critical model validation where the correlation in dynamic conditions is used as a preliminary insight into the bounds of the representation domain of engine mean values. This paper focuses on the methodologies for correlating dynamic simulations with emissions data measured during dynamic vehicle operation (fundamental engine parameters and gaseous emissions) obtained using dedicated instrumentation on a diesel vehicle, with a particular attention for oxides of nitrogen NOx specie. This correlation is performed using simulated tests run within AVL’s mean value engine and engine aftertreatment (EAS) model MoBEO (Model Based Engine Optimization).

The present work introduces an innovative mechanistically based 0D spray model which is coupled to a combustion model on the basis of an advanced mixture controlled combustion approach. The model calculates the rate of heat release based on the injection rate profile and the in-cylinder state. The air/fuel distribution in the spray is predicted based on momentum conservation by applying first principles. On the basis of the 2-zone cylinder framework, NOx emissions are calculated by the Zeldovich mechanism. The combustion and emission models are calibrated and validated with a series of dedicated test bed data specifically revealing its capability of describing the impact of variations of EGR, injection timing, and injection pressure. A model based optimization is carried out, aiming at an optimum trade-off between fuel consumption and engine-out emissions. The findings serve to estimate an economic optimum point in the NOx/BSFC trade-off.

The combustion processes optimization is one of the most important factors to enhancing thermal efficiency and reducing exhaust emissions of combustion engines [1; 2]. Future emission regulations for small two-stroke SI engines require that the emissions of gases causing the greenhouse effect, such as carbon dioxide, to be reduced. One possible way to reduce exhaust gas emissions from two-stroke small off-road engines (SORE) is to use biogenic fuels. Because of their nearly closed carbon dioxide circuit, the emissions of carbon dioxide decrease compared to the use of fossil fuels. Also biogenic fuels have a significant influence on the combustion process and thus the emissions of different exhaust gas components may be reduced. Besides greenhouse gases, several other exhaust gas components need to be reduced because of their toxicity to the human health. For example, aromatic hydrocarbons cause dangerous health problems, and can be reduced by using alkylate fuel.