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Due to ever soaring fuel costs and even more stringent emission regulations which require more elaborate technical efforts and unfortunately lead to a negative trend on fuel economy as well, todays and future trucking business is extremely challenged. These facts create an urgent requirement for the engine manufacturer to offer an engine with an optimized cost-benefit-ratio for the trucking business. Mercedes-Benz, as the leader in the European commercial vehicle market - of which e. g. high fuel costs, long maintenance intervals and high engine power-to-weight ratios have always been key characteristics - has developed a new class 8 engine for the US market. The MBE 4000 is a 6 cylinder inline engine in the compact size and low weight category, but due to its displacement of 12,8 liters it offers high performance characteristics like heavier big block engines.

The LEV II and SULEV/PZEV emission standards legislated by the US EPA and the Californian ARB will require continuous reduction in the vehicles' emission over the next several years. Similar requirements are under discussion in the European Union (EU) in the EU Stage V program. These future emission standards will require a more efficient after treatment device that exhibits high activity and excellent durabilty over an extended lifetime. The present study summarizes the findings of a joint development program targeting such demanding future emission challenges, which can only be met by a close and intensive co-operation of the individual expert teams. The use of active systems, e.g. HC-adsorber or electrically heated light-off catalysts, was not considered in this study. The following parameters were investigated in detail: The development of a high-tech three-way catalyst technology is described being tailored for applications on ultra thin wall ceramic substrates (UTWS).

This paper describes the results of a joint development program focussing on the introduction of the new generation of Pt/Rh-technology for current and future emission standards as a cost effective alternative to the in serial Pd/Rh based exhaust gas concepts. In the initial phase of the program combinations of Pd- and Pt-based three-way catalyst technologies were evaluated on vehicles equipped with a 8 cylinder engine. One goal in this portion of the study was to achieve technical equivalence between a viable Pd-based technology and the new Pt/Rh technology in the underfloor position at lower precious metal loading. A combination of a close-coupled Pd/Rh technology and the new Pt/Rh in the underfloor position was able to meet the emission targets at significant lower costs of the system after a catalyst aging that resembles more than 100.000 km of vehicle German highway driving.

Novel Combustion technologies and strategies show high potential in reducing the fuel consumption of gasoline spark ignition (SI) engines. In this paper, a comparison between various gasoline combustion concepts at two representative engine operating points is shown. Advantages of the combustion concepts are analyzed using thermodynamic split of losses method. In this paper, a tool for thermodynamic assessment (Split of Losses) of conventional and new operating strategies of SI engine and its derivatives is used. Technologies, like variable valve actuation and/or gasoline direct injection, allow new strategies to run the SI engine unthrottled with early inlet valve closing (SI-VVA) combined with high EGR, charge stratification (SI-STRAT) and controlled auto ignition (CAI), also known as gasoline homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI). These diverse combustion concepts show thermodynamic gains that stem from several, often different sources.

The range of Robert Bosch in-line pumps is designed for engines with cylinder outputs of up to 200 kW. Within this family of pumps the MW pump is used in small IDI engines and medium-sized DI engines with cylinder outputs in the region of 30 kW. More stringent exhaust emission legislation and the need to ensure optimum fuel economy call for efficient fuel-injection systems for diesel engines. In both of its designs the new MW pump meets these more exacting requirements and forms the contribution of Robert Bosch GmbH toward developing advanced diesel engines.

A previous study by the authors has shown an efficiency benefit of up to Δηi = 10 % for stratified operation of a high pressure natural gas direct injection (DI) spark ignition (SI) engine compared to the homogeneous stoichiometric operation with port fuel injection (PFI). While best efficiencies appeared at extremely lean operation at λ = 3.2, minimum HC emissions were found at λ = 2. The increasing HC emissions and narrow ignition time frames in the extremely lean stratified operation have given the need for a detailed analysis. To further investigate the mixture formation and flame propagation und these conditions, an optically accessible single-cylinder engine was used. The mixture formation and the flame luminosity have been investigated in two perpendicular planes inside the combustion chamber.

The present paper describes the results of a joint development program focussing on a system approach to meet the EURO IV emission standards for an upper class passenger car equipped with a newly developed high displacement gasoline engine. Based on the well known catalyst systems of recent V6- and V8-engines for the EURO III emission standards with a combination of close coupled catalysts and underfloor catalysts, the specific boundary conditions of an engine with an even larger engine displacement had to be considered. These boundary conditions consist of the space requirements in the engine compartment, the power/torque requirements and the cost requirements for the complete aftertreatment system. Theoretical studies and computer modeling showed essential improvements in catalyst performance by introducing thin wall substrates with low thermal inertia as well as high cell densities with increased geometric surface area.

The reduction of nitrous oxides in the exhaust gases of internal combustion engines using a urea water solution is gaining more and more importance. While maintaining the future exhaust gas emission regulations, like the Euro 6 for passenger cars and the Euro 5 for commercial vehicles, urea dosing allows the engine management to be modified to improve fuel economy as well. The system manufacturer Robert Bosch has started early to develop the necessary dosing systems for the urea water solution. More than 300.000 Units have been delivered in 2007 for heavy duty applications. Typical dosing quantities for those systems are in the range of 0.01 l/h for passenger car systems and up to 10 l/h for commercial vehicles. During the first years of development and application of urea dosing systems, instantaneous flow measuring devices were used, which were not operating fully satisfactory.

The stricter worldwide emission legislation and growing demands for lower fuel consumption and CO2-emission require for significant efforts to improve combustion efficiency while satisfying the emission quality demands. Ethanol fuel combined with boosting on direct injection gasoline engines provides a particularly promising and, at the same time, a challenging approach. Brazil is one of the main Ethanol fuel markets with its E24 and E100 fuel availability, which covers a large volume of the national needs. Additionally, worldwide Ethanol availability is becoming more and more important, e.g., in North America and Europe. Considering the future flex-fuel engine market with growing potentials identified on downsized spark ignition engines, it becomes necessary to investigate the synergies and challenges of Ethanol boosted operation. Main topic of the present work focuses on the operation of Ethanol blends up to E100 at high loads up to 30 bar imep.

For the measurement of exhaust emissions, Constant Volume Sampling (CVS) technology is recommended by legislation and has proven its practical capability in the past. However, the introduction of new low emission standards has raised questions regarding the accuracy and variability of the CVS system when measuring very low emission levels. This paper will show that CVS has the potential to achieve sufficient precision for certification of SULEV concepts. Thus, there is no need for the introduction of new test methods involving high cost. An analysis of the CVS basic equations indicates the importance of the Dilution Factor (DF) for calculating true mass emissions. A test series will demonstrate that, by adjusting the dilution and using state of the art analyzers, the consistency of exhaust results is comparable with those of LEV concepts, measured with conventional CVS systems and former standard analyzers.

In view of tight emission standards, injection strategies to reduce raw HC-emissions during the cold starting of port fuel injected engines are evaluated in this study. The relevance of spray targeting and atomization is outlined in the first part of this paper. The foundation and performance of different injector concepts with respect to spray characteristics are discussed. Laboratory experiments demonstrate that concepts relying on auxiliary energy, such as air-assistance, fuel heating and injection at elevated system pressures, are capable of producing spray droplet sizes in the SMD-range of 25μm. For future injection strategies aimed at the compliance of SULEV emission levels, this target value is considered to be essential. In the second part of this paper, emission tests of selected injector concepts are carried out using a V6-3.2I ULEV engine operated both in a vehicle and on a test bench.

Fuel economy of two-wheelers is an important factor influencing the purchasing psychology of the consumer within the emerging markets. Additionally, air pollution being a major environmental topic, there is a rising concern about vehicle emissions, especially in the big cities and their metropolitan areas. Potentially, the relatively expensive engine management systems are providing more features and value in comparison to the carburettor counterpart. The combustion system analysis is carried out on a 125 cm3 motorcycle engine and the subsequent numerical simulation comparing the carburettor and the Electronic (Port) Fuel Injection which provides a basis to establish the fuel consumption benefit for the electronic injection systems [1].

Two-dimensional Mie and LIEF techniques were applied to investigate the spray formation of a high pressure gasoline swirl injector in a constant volume chamber. The results obtained provide information on the propagation of liquid fuel and fuel vapor for different fuel pressures and ambient conditions. Spray parameters like tip penetration, cone angles and two new defined parameters describing the radial fuel distribution were used to quantify the fuel distributions measured. Simultaneous detection of liquid and vapor fuel was applied to study the influence of ambient temperature, injector temperature and ambient pressure on the evaporating spray.

The usage of Electronic Diesel Control is increasing with todays stringent emissions regulations. This requirement also necessitates that such systems be versatile to meet the needs of the engine/vehicle manufacturer. EGR, start of injection, and fuel delivery can be electronically controlled. Depending on the design goals of the manufacturer any one or two of these can be controlled for partial and all of them for full Electronic Diesel Control. The development and application process has several critical areas. These include, development of the sensors, application of the different subsystems, failure warning and failure mode operation. All of these must be combined if design goals are to be met. As the capabilities of electronics increase it follows that electronic vehicle systems will also improve. Today impressive results have been achieved with systems that are in full or pilot production.

Increasing injection pressures together with Diesel fuel lubricated Common Rail pumps replacing oil lubricated systems demand a more sophisticated investigation of robustness and durability against particle contamination of fuel. The established way of requiring filtration efficiency levels per lab standard is not significant enough if we look at variable factors like vibration of the fuel filter and viscosity of the fuel. Because these and other factors tremendously influence filtration efficiency, future Diesel FIE cleanliness requirements will need to define an allowable contamination limit downstream of the filter. More precisely, this is not a scalar limit but a contamination collective that considers the varying vehicle filtration and operating environment. This paper describes a procedure for defining allowable contamination limits of the FIE components. The procedure includes sensitivity, robustness and “key life” tests.

A major trend in modern vehicle control is the increase of complexity and interaction of formerly autonomous systems. In order to manage the resulting network of more and more integrated (sub)systems Bosch has developed an open architecture called CARTRONIC for structuring the entire vehicle control system. Structuring the system in functionally independent components improves modular software development and allows the integration of new elements such as integrated starter/generator and the implementation of advanced control concepts as drive train management. This approach leads to an open structure on a high level for the design of advanced vehicle control systems. The paper describes the integration of the spark-ignition (SI) engine management system (EMS) into a CARTRONIC conform vehicle coordination requiring a new standard interface between the vehicle coordination and the EMS level.

Due to the new CO2 targets for vehicles, electrification of powertrains and operation strategies for electrified powertrains have drawn more attention. This article presents a predictive multi-objective operation strategy for hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), which simultaneously minimizes the fuel consumption and the cycle aging of traction batteries. This proposed strategy shows better performance by using predictive information and high robustness to inaccuracy of predictive information. In this work, the benefits of the developed operation strategies are demonstrated in a strong hybrid electric vehicle (sHEV) with P2-configuration. For the cycle aging of a lithium-ion battery, an empirical model is built up with Gaussian processes based on experimental data.

In view of limited crude oil resources, alternative fuels for internal combustion engines are currently being intensively researched. Synthetic fuels from natural gas offer a promising interim option before the development of CO2-neutral fuels. Up to a certain degree, these fuels can be tailored to the demands of modern engines, thus allowing a concurrent optimization of both the engine and the fuel. This paper summarizes investigations of a Gas-To-Liquid (GTL) diesel fuel in a modern, post-EURO 4 compliant diesel engine. The focus of the investigations was on power output, emissions performance and fuel economy, as well as acoustic performance, in comparison to a commercial EU diesel fuel. The engine investigations were accompanied by injection laboratory studies in order to assist in the performance analyses.

The improvement of DI diesel engines for passenger cars to fulfil pollutant emission limits and lower fuel consumption and noise is closely linked to continued development of the injection system. Today's injection systems demonstrate varying potential in terms of the flexibility of injection parameters for improving mixture formation and combustion. DaimlerChrysler evaluated the potential of different injection systems, looking particularly at the distributor pump, unit injection system and Common Rail system. Based on the results of these investigations, the Common Rail system was selected. The tests presented in this paper were performed on a single-cylinder engine with Common Rail system. They focused on increased rail pressure in combination with different nozzle geometries. The results show significant benefits in NOx/smoke trade off at part load conditions with high EGR rate.

In order to fulfill future emissions standards, there is a need for new exhaust-gas aftertreatment concepts, with NOx-emissions reduction in passenger car diesel engines being of particular importance. The NOx storage catalyst is one of the technologies currently under discussion with high NOx conversion potential, and which is under development at DaimlerChrysler for EURO IV standards. With this system, the nitrogen oxides contained in the diesel exhaust gas are stored under lean exhaust-gas conditions and are reduced in the catalyst through an enriched air-fuel ratio of the exhaust-gas and favorable thermal conditions. Hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and hydrogen are used as reducing agents. DaimlerChrysler has analyzed the effect of sulphur contained in the fuel on the operation of various catalysts during laboratory and engine testing. The sulphur dioxide in the exhaust gas generates sulfates, which remain on the catalyst when nitrate compounds are regenerated briefly.