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With progressing electrification of automotive powertrains and demands to meet increasingly stringent emission regulations, a combination of an electric motor and downsized turbocharged spark-ignited engine has been recognized as a viable solution. The SI engine must be optimized, and preferentially downsized, to reduce tailpipe CO2 and other emissions. However, drives to increase BMEP (Brake Mean Effective Pressure) and compression ratio/thermal efficiency increase propensities of knocking (auto-ignition of residual unburnt charge before the propagating flame reaches it) in downsized engines. Currently, knock is mitigated by retarding the ignition timing, but this has several limitations. Another option identified in the last decade (following trials of similar technology in aircraft combustion engines) is water injection, which suppresses knocking largely by reducing local in-cylinder mixture temperatures due to its latent heat of vaporization.

A single-cylinder engine was operated in HCCI combustion mode with different kinds of commercial fuels. The HCCI combustion was generated by creating a negative valve overlap (early exhaust valve closing combined with late intake valve opening) thus trapping a large amount of residuals (∼ 55%). Fifteen different fuels with high octane numbers were tested six of which were primary reference fuels (PRF's) and nine were commercial fuels or reference fuels. The engine was operated at constant operational parameters (speed/load, valve timing and equivalence ratio, intake air temperature, compression ratio, etc.) changing only the fuel type while the engine was running. Changing the fuel affected the auto-ignition timing, represented by the 50% mass fraction burned location (CA50). However these changes were not consistent with the classical RON and MON numbers, which are measures of the knock resistance of the fuel. Indeed, no correlation was found between CA50 and the RON or MON numbers.

Look ahead information can be used to improve the powertrain’s fuel consumption while efficiently controlling exhaust emissions. A passenger car propelled by a Euro 6d capable diesel engine is studied. In the conventional approach, the diesel powertrain subsystem control is rule based. It uses no information of future load requests but is operated with the objective of low engine out exhaust emission species until the Exhaust After-Treatment System (EATS) light off has occurred, even if fuel economy is compromised greatly. Upon EATS light off, the engine is operated more fuel efficiently since the EATS system is able to treat emissions effectively. This paper presents a supervisory control structure with the intended purpose to operate the complete powertrain using a minimum of fuel while improving the robustness of exhaust emissions.

Simulations of a Direct Injection Spark Ignition (DISI) engine have been performed for both early injection with homogeneous charge combustion and for late injection with stratified charge combustion. The purpose has been to study flow characteristics, fuel/air mixing, combustion, and NOx and soot formation. Focus is put on the combustion modeling. Two different full load cases with early injection are simulated, 2000 rpm and 6000 rpm. One load point with late injection is simulated, 2000 rpm and 2.8 bar net MEP. Three different injection timings are simulated at the low load point: 77, 82, and 87 CAD bTDC. The spray simulations are tuned to match measured spray penetrations and droplet size distributions at both atmospheric and elevated pressure. Boundary conditions for the engine simulations are taken from 1-D gas exchange simulations that are tuned to match engine tests.

The pressure drop behavior of catalytic converters has been investigated for a number of different substrates, suitable for high performance IC-engines, regarding cell density, wall thickness and coating. The measurements have been performed on an experimental rig with room-air flow and hot-air flow. The data has been used to develop an empirical model for pressure drop in catalytic converters. The sources of pressure drop, such as viscous and inertial effects, have been separated in the model. The influence of turbulence on the pressure drop has been experimentally investigated. The model agrees well with experimental data and previous literature models and can be applied for 1D predictions as well as 3D CFD calculations.

Even though substantial improvements have been made for the lean NOx trap (LNT) catalyst in recent years, the durability still remains problematic because of the sulfur poisoning and sintering of the precious metals at high operating temperatures. Hence, commercial LNT catalysts were aged and tested in order to investigate their performance and activity degradation compared to the fresh catalyst, and establish a proper correlation between the aging methods used. The target of this study is to provide useful information for regeneration strategies and optimize the catalyst management for better performance and durability. With this goal in mind, two different aging procedures were implemented in this investigation. A catalyst was vehicle-aged in the vehicle chassis dynamometer for 100000 km, thus exposed to real conditions. Whereas, an accelerated aging method was used by subjecting a fresh LNT catalyst at 800 °C for 24 hours in an oven under controlled conditions.

Public health risk and resulting stringent emission regulations for internal combustion engines pose a need for solutions to reduce particle emissions (PN). Current PN control approaches include increasing fuel injection pressure, optimizing spray targeting, multiple injection strategies, and the use of tumble flaps together with gasoline particulate filters (GPF). Experiments were performed using a single-cylinder spark-ignited GDI engine equipped with a custom inlet manifold and a port fuel injector located 500 mm upstream. Particulate emissions were measured during stationary medium/high load operation to evaluate the effect of varying the mass split between the direct and upstream injectors. Mixing quality is improved substantially by upstream injection and can thus be controlled by altering the mass split between the injectors.

The INCOLL or INertia COLLection system described in this paper, should meet the requirements for a short transient test, without using any chassis dynamometer. To prove this point not only the background of its principles are described, but also results from its application both to S I engines with and without catalytic converters and to truck diesel engines. Special interest has been devoted to the oxygen sensor and converter efficiency and their response both during warm up and under transient conditions. The simplification of the analyzing equipment and the direct interpretation of the results, have been dealt with, as well as the repeativity of the results achieved. The INCOLL test may also have a potential use as quality test at the end of the production line and as a tool for reliability development as well as research and development within the field. The cost for an INCOLL test is estimated to be around one (1) percent of a normal FTP certification procedure.

Emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) from heavy-duty diesel engines are subject to more stringent environmental legislation. Selective catalytic reduction (SCR) over metal ion-exchanged zeolites is in this connection an efficient method to reduce NOx. Understanding durability of the SCR catalyst is crucial for correct design of the aftertreatment system. In the present paper, thermal and chemical ageing of Fe-BEA as NH3-SCR catalyst is studied. Experimental results of hydrothermal ageing, and chemical ageing due to phosphorous and potassium exposure are presented. The catalyst is characterized by flow reactor experiments, nitrogen physisorption, DRIFTS, XRD, and XPS. Based on the experimental results, a multisite kinetic model is developed to describe the activity of the fresh Fe-BEA catalyst.

This paper presents results of a parametric CFD modeling study of a prototype Free Piston Engine (FPE), designed for application in a series hybrid electric vehicle. Since the piston motion is governed by Newton's second law, accounting for the forces acting on the piston/translator, i.e. friction forces, electrical forces, and in-cylinder gas forces, having a high-level control system is vital. The control system changes the electrical force applied during the stroke, thus obtaining the desired compression ratio. Identical control algorithms were implemented in a MATLAB/SIMULINK model to those applied in the prototype engine. The ignition delay and heat release data used in the MATLAB/SIMULINK model are predicted by the KIVA-3V CFD code which incorporates detailed chemical kinetics (305 reactions among 70 species).

Brake judder is a forced vibration occurring in different types of vehicles. The frequency of the vibration can be as high as 500 Hz, but usually remains below 100 Hz and often as low as 10-20 Hz. The driver experiences judder as vibrations in the steering wheel, brake pedal and floor. For high frequency brake judder, the structural vibrations are accompanied by a sound. In the present paper the vibration amplitude (in terms of angular deflection, velocity or acceleration) of the caliper has been used as a quantitative measure of the vibration level. Brake Torque Variation (BTV) is the primary excitation for the vibrations. The mechanical effects generating BTV are linked not only to manufacturing tolerances but also to tribological issues. Uneven disc wear as well as Thermo-Elastic Instabilities (TEI) can lead to judder. Especially the effect of the wheel suspension on the transfer of the vibrations to the driver has to be considered.

Future pressures to reduce the fuel consumption of passenger cars may require the exploitation of alternative combustion strategies for gasoline engines to replace, or use in combination with the conventional stoichiometric spark ignition (SSI) strategy. Possible options include homogeneous lean charge spark ignition (HLCSI), stratified charge spark ignition (SCSI) and homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI), all of which are intended to reduce pumping and thermal losses. In the work presented here four different combustion strategies were evaluated using the same engine: SSI, HLCSI, SCSI and HCCI. HLCSI was achieved by early injection and operating the engine lean, close to its stability limits. SCSI was achieved using the spray-guided technique with a centrally placed multi-hole injector and spark-plug. HCCI was achieved using a negative valve overlap to trap hot residuals and thus generate auto-ignition temperatures at the end of the compression stroke.

Heavy-duty vehicles are primarily powered by diesel fuel, emitting CO2 emissions regardless of the exhaust after-treatment system. Contrastingly, a hydrogen engine has the potential to decarbonize the transportation sector as hydrogen is a carbon free, renewable fuel. In this study, a multi-physics 1D simulation tool (GT-Power) is used to model the gas exchange process and performance prediction of a two-stroke hydrogen engine. The aim is to establish a maximum torque-level for a four-stroke hydrogen engine and then utilize different methods for two-stroke modeling to achieve similar torque by optimizing the gas exchange process. A camless engine is used as base, enabling the flexibility to utilize approximately square valve lift profiles. The preliminary step is the GT-Power model validation, which has been done using diesel and hydrogen engines (single-cylinder heavy-duty) experiments at different operating points (871 rpm, 1200 rpm, 1259 rpm, and 1508 rpm).

A single cylinder, naturally aspirated, four-stroke and camless (Otto) engine was operated in homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) mode with commercial gasoline. The valve timing could be adjusted during engine operation, which made it possible to optimize the HCCI engine operation for different speed and load points in the part-load regime of a 5-cylinder 2.4 liter engine. Several tests were made with differing combinations of speed and load conditions, while varying the valve timing and the inlet manifold air pressure. Starting with conventional SI combustion, the negative valve overlap was increased until HCCI combustion was obtained. Then the influences of the equivalence ratio and the exhaust valve opening were investigated. With the engine operating on HCCI combustion, unthrottled and without preheating, the exhaust valve opening, the exhaust valve closing and the intake valve closing were optimized next.