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This paper describes the new inline 4-cylinder QR engine series that is available in 2.0-liter and 2.5-liter versions. The next-generation QR engine series incorporates new and improved technologies to provide an optimum balance of power, quietness and fuel economy. Its quiet operation results from the adoption of a compact balancer system and the reduced weight of major moving parts. Power and fuel economy have been enhanced by a two-stage cooling system, a continuous variable valve timing control system, a dual close coupled catalyst system, electronic throttle control and an improved direct-injection system. The latter includes an improved combustion chamber concept and improved fuel spray characteristics achieved by driving the injector by battery voltage. A lightweight and compact engine design has been achieved by adopting a high-pressure die cast aluminum cylinder block, resin intake manifold and rocker cover and a serpentine belt drive.

The design of the newly developed Toyota AZ series 4 cylinder engine has been optimized through both simulations and experiments to improve heat transfer, cooling water flow, vibration noise and other characteristics. The AZ engine was developed to achieve good power performance and significantly reduced vibration noise. The new engine meets the LEV regulations due to the improved combustion and optimized exhaust gas flow. A major reduction in friction has resulted in a significant improvement in fuel economy compared with conventional models. It also pioneered a newly developed resin gear drive balance shaft.

Fulfillment of SULEV standards without catalyst - this is a target engineers at IAV have been working on since the middle of the 1990s. The core of this development is an advanced steam engine with a high performance burner. This burner features extremely low raw pollutant emission. This paper describes new solutions that were found to solve the challenging tasks in the development of such an engine concept.

Connecting rods manufactured by the Precision Powder Forged (P/F) process offer several distinct advantages over those produced by all other methods including the state-of-the-art forged steel process. Precision P/F connecting rods have mechanical properties equivalent to those made from forged steel, with the added benefits of greater design flexibility, superior dimensional and weight precision, simplified finish machining and assembly, better machinability, and increased consistency because of highly stable metallurgy and a robust and reliable manufacturing process. The inherent flexibility of the P/F process also facilitates tailoring materials to achieve the optimal balance of strength and machinability for a given application. In combination, these advantages result in a product that requires less capital investment for finish machining, is more environmentally conscious by generating substantially less waste, exhibits better total performance, and has lower total cost.

Nondestructive test methods have focused on specific and narrow properties of critical dimension, hardness, visual indications, or localized crack detection, while missing significant structural characteristics not apparent without destructive test. Multi-frequency resonant inspection is a new technology, which accomplishes a quantitative, whole-body, structural analysis using natural mechanical resonances of a powder metal part. The technology is applicable to a wide range of product size and geometries, and has been used successfully on powder metal connecting rods, timing gears, ABS rings, exhaust flanges, gerotors, and more. This paper describes measurement and application fundamentals in context of a connecting rod study on production parts. Data is presented which demonstrate the ability to detect structural defects in sintered powder metal parts.

A thermal management system for heavy duty diesel engines is presented for maintaining acceptable and constant engine temperatures over a wide range of operational conditions. It consists of a computer controlled variable speed coolant pump, a position controlled thermostat, and a model-based control strategy. An experimentally validated, diesel engine cooling system simulation was used to demonstrate the thermal management system's capability to reduce power consumption. The controller was evaluated using a variety of operating scenarios across a wide range of loads, vehicle speeds, and ambient temperatures. Three metrics were used to assess the effects of the computer controlled system: engine temperature, energy savings, and cab temperature. The proposed control system provided very good control over the engine coolant temperatures while maintaining engine metal temperatures within a desired range.

Engineers use phenomenological simulation models to determine engine performance. Using these models, we can predict with reasonable accuracy the heat release rate mechanism inside the engine cylinder, which enables us to obtain a prediction of the pressure history inside the engine cylinder. Using this value and the volume change rate of the combustion chamber, we can then estimate the indicated power output of the engine. However, in order to obtain the brake engine power output we must have an indication for the mechanical losses, a great part of which are friction losses. Up to now various correlations have been proposed that provide the frictional mean effective pressure as a function mainly of engine speed and load. These correlations have been obtained from the processing of experimental data, i.e. experimental values for the indicated and brake power output of engines.

After an absence of nearly two decades from General Motors vehicles, a state-of-the-art all new inline six cylinder engine will be introduced for the 2002 model year as the standard engine in a new line of midsize Sport Utility Vehicles (SUV's). The new VORTEC 4200 I6 Engine (Figure 1) brings the technical sophistication of premium passenger car engines to the truck market delivering power exceeding most competitor's V8's, with exceptional low and midrange torque, yet providing best in class fuel efficiency. It is designed to provide a high level of reliability, emit low emission levels, exhibit quiet, smooth, and refined engine operation, and is lightweight. The inline configuration provides an elegant solution to meeting customer demands with premium technology. Features include dual overhead cams - four valves per cylinder, variable exhaust valve timing, all aluminum construction for the cylinder block and cylinder head, and electronic throttle control.

A main requirement for a satisfactory function and service life of a forged powder metal connecting rod is the fatigue strength. Fatigue strength mainly depends on design, material, microstructure, and surface condition. Much work has been accomplished to optimize these factors, but still a variety of surface defects such as localized porosity, roughness, oxide penetration, decarburization, etc., can be developed during manufacturing. These surface defects impact the fatigue strength in various ways. The impact of the decarburized layer depth on the fatigue life of a forged powder metal connecting rod is the focus of this work. Several connecting rods were submitted to a Weibull test at the same loading pattern. After the fatigue tests, the connecting rods were divided into groups with different decarburized layer depths. Both Maximum Likelihood Estimates (MLE) and Rank Regression (RR) techniques were used to analyze test results from all the groups obtained.

A new category of hypereutectic aluminum liners, made by PM route is now available on the market (SILITEC) and it is successfully applied to high-pressure die casting process to produce open deck cylinder blocks. The claimed achievable engine performances over cast-iron liners (weight saving, reduction of oil consumption, optimal heat transfer, wear and friction losses reduction) justify the interest of automotive industry in developing such a technology. The paper will present the experience and the achieved results in permanent mold gravity casting with Silitec liners, where metal flow definition and temperature distribution control make the casting technique more challenging for the manufacturing of closed deck cylinder blocks.

The purpose of this study is to find the suitable working conditions of a Pressure Wave Supercharger (PWS) that is coupled to a gasoline engine experimentally. The working condition is validated by stationary measurements on an engine dynamometer. To achieve an easier system structure, it was examined to use the engine output for driving of PWS. As a result, it was confirmed that the engine coupled with PWS could be driven by making the ratio of the PWS rotor speed and the engine speed constant.

The TVR Tuscan Speed Six, (produced by TVR Engineering in Blackpool, England) is a high performance automobile, by any measure. This low volume sports car weighs 1,100 kg (2,420 lbs) and is powered by a 4-litre in-line six-cylinder engine that develops over 350 bhp and 310 ft-lb of torque. TVR Engineering selected an Austempered Ductile Iron (ADI) crankshaft for its combination of low cost, low weight and high torsional strength. Not since Ford dabbled with ADI in its race cars in the 1980's has a manufacturer chosen ADI for its crankshafts. Although virtually all the major automotive producers and the Motor Industries Research Association (MIRA) have investigated ADI for use in crankshafts, this is the only known production application of ADI crankshafts in automobiles. ADI presents a useful set of properties for the design engineer. With ever increasing specific power requirements for new engine designs, new material/process combinations for engine components are being explored.

One of the main drawbacks of the NOx adsorber technology vs. the other leading approach for high level NOx conversion, namely selective catalytic reduction, is its high sensitivity to sulfur. In spite of the likely availability of ultra-low sulfur fuel and protecting devices like sulfur traps, and furthermore taking into consideration additional sulfur sources such as engine oil and lubricants, a desulfurization strategy will be essential to the commercial implementation of NOx adsorber catalysts on diesel vehicles. The results presented in this paper were obtained on NOx adsorbers with proven thermal durability and efficiency in diesel engine exhaust. They show NOx performance recovery following severe sulfur poisoning, after desulfation under temperature and air/fuel mixture conditions compatible with diesel engine operation. In addition, different desulfurization tactics, tested on a synthetic gas bench simulating diesel exhaust, are depicted and discussed.

Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) with NH3 or urea is one of the most effective methods for removal of NOx in exhaust from HD diesel engines with potential for achieving more than 90% NOx-reduction measured in the European transient or a US HD FTP test cycle. The present paper describes the following two systems; One OEM UREA-SCR SILENCER, comprising a silencer with built-in catalyst. The system was tested on a Scania DC1205 320 kW diesel engine, which was calibrated for the Euro II emission standard. The test results showed that it is possible to reduce more than 85% of the NOx emission with an insignificant NH3 slip in the ETC transient test cycle. The pressure-drop of the system was measured at 80% of that of the engine's original silencer and the silencing performance was improved for low frequencies below 125 Hz. One RETROFIT UREA-SCR SYSTEM for HD engines, comprising a silencer with built-in catalyst, an electronic urea injection control system, urea injection and a urea tank.

As part of a California Selective Catalyst Reduction (SCR) system demonstration and evaluation project [13], the authors and their industrial partners have conducted engine dynamometer emissions tests of SCR systems. The transient Federal Test Procedure (FTP) cycle and 13 Mode European Stationary Cycle (ESC) were conducted using certification diesel fuel with 300-500 ppm of sulfur. This paper reviews the performance of the first system to meet the goal of attaining 1 g/bhp-hr NOx emissions in the transient FTP cycle on a 1999 DDC Series 60 engine that has an initial 4 g/bhp-hr level. This paper discusses key characteristics of a typical automotive SCR system and then presents the results and analysis of the engine dynamometer emission testing of a SCR system. The paper concludes with a discussion of the challenges involved in on-road operation of the system.

A catalytic deSoot-deNOx system, comprising Pt and Ce fuel additives, a Pt impregnated wall-flow monolith soot filter and a vanadia-type monolithic NH3 - SCR catalyst, was tested with a 2 cylinder DI diesel engine. The soot removal efficiency of the filter was 98-99% (mass), the balance temperature (stationary pressure drop) was 315 °C at an engine load of 55%. The NOx-emission at high loads is around 15% lower than those of engine running without fuel additives. The NOx conversion ranged from 40 to 73%, at a NH3/NOx ratio of 0.9, both measured at a GHSV of 52,000 l/l/h. The maximum NOx conversion was obtained at 400 °C. No deactivation was observed after 380 h time on stream.

The LEV II and EURO V legislation in 2007/2008 require a high conversion level for nitrogen oxides to meet the emission levels for diesel SUVs and trucks. Therefore, U.S. and European truck manufacturers are considering the introduction of urea SCR systems no later than model year 2005. The current SCR catalysts are based mainly on systems derived from stationary power plant applications. Therefore, improved washcoat based monolith catalysts were developed using standard types of formulations. These catalysts achieved high conversion levels similar to extruded systems in passenger car and truck test cycles. However, to meet further tightening of standards, a new class of catalysts was developed. These advanced type of catalytic coatings proved to be equivalent or even better than standard washcoat formulations. Results will be shown from ESC, MVEG and US-FTP 75 tests to illustrate the progress in catalyst design for urea SCR.

Water-emulsified diesel fuel technology has been proven to reduce nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) simultaneously at relatively low cost compared to other pollution-reducing strategies. While the mechanisms which result in these reductions have been postulated, the development of new analytical tools to measure in-cylinder soot formation using optically accessible engines can lead to a deeper understanding of combustion and the chemical and physical mechanisms when water is present during combustion. In this study, an optically accessible single cylinder engine was used to study how water brought into the combustion chamber via an emulsified fuel changes the combustion process and thereby reduces emissions. In-cylinder measurements of relative soot concentrations were used to determine the effect of water-emulsified fuel on soot formation.

Particulate emission control from diesel engines is one of the major concerns in the urban areas in California. Recently, regulations have been proposed for stringent PM emission requirements from both existing and new diesel engines. As a result, particulate emission control from urban diesel engines using advanced particulate filter technology is being evaluated at several locations in California. Although ceramic based particle filters are well known for high PM reductions, the lack of effective and durable regeneration system has limited their applications. The continuously regenerated diesel particulate filter (CRDPF) technology discussed in this presentation, solves this problem by catalytically oxidizing NO present in the diesel exhaust to NO2 which is utilized to continuously combust the engine soot under the typical diesel engine operating condition.

Particulate emission from diesel engines is one of the most important pollutants in urban areas. As a result, particulate emission control from urban bus diesel engines using particle filter technology is being evaluated at several locations in the US. A project entitled “Clean Diesel Demonstration Program” has been initiated by NY City Transit under the supervision of NY State DEC and with active participation from several industrial partners. Under this program, several NY City transit buses with DDC Series 50 engines have been equipped with continuously regenerating diesel particulate filter system and are operating with ultra low sulfur diesel (< 30 ppm S) in transit service in Manhattan since February 2000. These buses are being evaluated over a 8-9 month period for operations, maintainability and durability of the particulate filter.