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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 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.

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].

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.

Equipping low cost two-wheelers with engine management systems (EMS) enables not only a reduction of emissions but also an improvement in fuel consumption and system robustness. These benefits are accompanied by initially higher system costs compared to carburetor systems. Therefore, intelligent software solutions are developed by Bosch, which enable a reduction of the necessary sensors for a port fuel injection system (PFI) and furthermore provide new possibilities for combustion control. One example for these intelligent software solutions is a model based evaluation of the engine speed. By use of the information contained in the engine speed signal, characteristic features like air charge, indicated mean effective pressure (imep) and combustion phasing are derivable. The present paper illustrates how these features could be used to reduce the system costs and to improve fuel consumption and system robustness.

In the last years, the requirements for electrical energy systems in motor vehicles have increased considerably. In the past, many studies were focused on single components of the electrical system. However, to shorten the development process, reduce costs, improve reliability and also to optimize the fuel consumption due to the electrical system, the electrical system must be regarded as a whole. The Robert Bosch GmbH has developed a simulation environment, which is intended to improve the development process of new vehicle electrical systems by means of computer simulation. On the basis of a freely selectable driving cycle and various driver models, it is possible to simulate the behavior of electrical energy supply structures. The model of the electrical system is coupled to a dynamic model of the drivetrain. The characteristics of this drivetrain can also be modified and various vehicle models can be selected for simulation.

Direct gasoline injection is one major approach in reducing fuel consumption to fulfill the stages of CO2 reduction commitments in Europe from today until 2008. One effort is to unthrottle the gasoline engine during idle and partial load utilizing charge stratification. This may be realized by using different combustion concepts. This paper shows the analysis of mixture preparation for three different types of direct injected gasoline engines. Each engine was driven with two injectors which have two different atomization concepts. The engine types draw a clear dividing line between their combustion concepts. The injectors were analyzed in a pressure chamber, in an optical engine, and in an actual 1-cylinder engine. The formation of wall-film in wall-guided combustion systems will be discussed. Several important injector and engine parameters for fuel direct injection are pointed out.

Today, knock control is part of standard automotive engine management systems. The structure-borne noise of the knock sensor signal is evaluated in the electronic control unit (ECU). In case of knocking combustions the ignition angle is first retarded and then subsequently advanced again. The small-sized combustion chamber of small two-wheeler engines, uncritical compression ratios and strong enrichment decrease the knock tendency. Nevertheless, knock control can effectuate higher performance, lower fuel consumption, compliance with lower legally demanded emission limits, and the possibility of using different fuel qualities. The Knock-Intensity-Detector 2 (KID2) and the Bosch knock control tool chain, based on many years of experience gained on automotive engines, provides an efficient calibration method that can also be used for two-wheeler engines. The raw signal of the structure-borne noise is used for signal analysis and simulation of different filter settings.

The introduction of stricter emission legislation and the demand of increased power for small two-wheelers lead to an increase of technical requirements. Especially the introduction of liquid-cooling over air-cooling allows the introduction of higher compression ratios, which improves power output as well as thermodynamic efficiencies and thereby fuel consumption. But an increase in compression ratio also introduces further challenges during transient behavior especially close to idling. In order to keep the two-wheeler specific responsiveness of the vehicle, the overall rotational inertia of the engine must be kept low. But the combination of low inertia and high compression ratio can lead to a stalling of the engine if the throttle is opened and closed very quickly in idle operation. The fast opening and closing of the throttle is called a throttle blip.

1 High precision high pressure diesel common rail fuel injection systems play a key role in emission control, fuel consumption and driving performance. Deposits have been observed on internal injector components, for example in the armature assembly, in the slots of the piston and on the nozzle needle. The brownish to colourless deposits can adversely impact driveability and result in non-compliance with the Euro 4 or Euro 5 emission limits. The deposits have been extensively studied to understand their composition and their formation mechanism. Due to the location of these deposits, the influence of combustion gas can be completely ruled out. In fact, their formation can be explained by interactions of certain diesel fuel additives, including di- and mono-fatty acids. This paper describes the methodology used and the data generated that support the proposed mechanisms. Moreover, approaches to avoid such interactions are discussed.

In the automotive industry, a steadily growing number of mono-functional electronic control units (ECUs) with increasing complexity on the one hand and restrictive requirements for power consumption and mounting space on the other hand are forcing changes in car electronics. This tendency is enforced by increasing requirements on security, comfort, fuel consumption and emission. In luxury cars, we are now at up to 80 more or less independent electronic units with low potential for synergies between functions (pan-functional services). The actual assembly of electronic units is certainly easily expandable, has very low error propagation but it also involves lots of logistic and bulky cabling with unwanted weight as well as extensive space and power consumption. If trends are properly interpreted, synergies between functions for more comfort, additional safety and security as well as minor air pollution are required in the future at least at unchanged costs in the vehicle's electronics.

X-Domain describes the merging of different domains (i.e., braking, steering, propulsion, suspension) into single functionalities. One example in this context is torque-vectoring. Different goals can be pursued by applying X-Domain features. On the one hand, savings in fuel consumption and an improved vehicle driving performance can be potentially accomplished. On the other hand, safety can be improved by taking over a failed or degraded functionality of one domain by other domains. The safety-aspect from the viewpoint of requirements is highlighted within this contribution. Every automotive system being developed and influencing the vehicle safety must fulfill certain safety objectives. These are top-level safety requirements (ISO 26262-1) specifying functionalities to avoid unreasonable risk. Every safety objective is associated with an Automotive Safety Integrity Level (ASIL) derived from a Hazard Analysis and Risk Assessment (HARA).

Historically, whenever the automotive solutions’ state of art reaches a saturation level, the integration of new verticals of technology has always raised new opportunities to innovate, enhance and optimize automotive solutions. The predictive powertrain solutions using connectivity elements (e.g., navigation unit, e-Horizon or cloud-based services) are one of such areas of huge interest in automotive industry. The prior knowledge of trip destination and its route characteristics has potential to make prediction of powertrain modes or events in certain order and therefore it can add value in various application areas such as optimized energy management, lower fuel consumption, superior safety and comfort, etc.

The development of future engine generations for Gasoline Direct Injection requires sophisticated combustion systems to reach reduced fuel consumption and future emission standards. The design process of these combustion systems has to be based on a fundamental knowledge of the interacting mixture preparation mechanisms. Beside the air motion inside the cylinder mixture preparation is mainly feeded by the fuel spray quality, injector performance respectively. The article therefore presents a fundamental analysis of the GDI mixture preparation and affords an insight into the injector development. Comprehensive experimental studies were performed in high pressure/temperature vessels using Phase Doppler Anemometry, Laser Induced Fluorescence and video techniques to define the significant fuel spray features for GDI. CFD-calculations were additionally applied to study the temporal behavior of the mixture preparation under injection parameter variation.

The particulate emissions can be reduced by increasing injection pressure. The NOx-emission can be lowered to the required amount with a retarded injection-begin. These measures raise fuel consumption by approximately 8-10 %. To avoid blue smoke from the cold engine, it is advantageous that the fuel injection is advanced during the warm-up period. These statements apply for injection systems with unit injectors as well as for pump-line-nozzle-systems. In this paper, the pump-line-nozzle-system will be described. With this system, injection pressures of 1200 to 1400 bar at the injection nozzle are reached. The injection-begin can be changed with a control-sleeve in-line pump. The injection-begin and fuel quantity can be flexibly and accurately adjusted by means of an electronic governor.

Based on the fuel consumption analysis methods published on last year's SETC [1], we compared fuel economies of a typical 125cc production motorcycle equipped with either electronic (port) fuel injection (EFI/PFI) engine management system (EMS) or constant vacuum carburetor (Carb). In addition to earlier discussed PFI results, stationary engine map measurements of fuel consumption on an engine dynamometer (dyno) were conducted for the Carb engine. The powerful development tool of fuel consumption test cycle simulation uses these stationary engine dyno results to calculate fuel consumption of real transient vehicle operation. Here it was employed to assess economy of both fuel system configurations under different driving conditions. Besides the Indian Driving Cycle (IDC) and the World Motorcycle Test Cycle (WMTC), we investigated real world drive patterns typical for emerging markets in terms of a Bangalore urban cycle and a Malaysian suburban cycle.

In order to reduce the spark-ignition engine exhaust-gas emission and fuel consumption, it is essential that the required air/fuel ratio is maintained under all operating conditions. An important contribution to this claim is delivered by the injection valve by metering the fuel precisely and producing fine atomization. In this report experimental methods to get specific measuring information and methods for optimizing flow in injection valves are described. Original valves as well as large-scale models were used for the investigations concerning the steady and unsteady-flow characteristics, and were equipped with a number of different sensors. Holograms of the short-time recording of the spray cone are generated and used for the quantification of the atomization quality when injecting into atmospheric pressure and into vacuum, thus complying with the conditions encountered in the engine intake-manifold.

In mobile R-744 A/C units mechanical expansion devices (e.g. orifice tubes) or electronic valves (e.g. PWM-valves) can be used. Besides the costs, aspects like coefficient of performance (COP), cooling capacity or control behavior - especially for extreme conditions - influence the choice of the valve type. This paper will present a comparison between an ideal electronic valve and a two stage mechanical orifice tube under full load and part load conditions. The influence of the expansion valve on COP and cooling capacity in different ambient conditions can be sufficiently described with steady-state simulations. The simulation tools used for this work are based on Modelica/Dymola. The simulation results show that for European climate conditions the use of two-stage orifices might increase fuel consumption.

Meeting current exhaust emission standards requires rapid catalyst light-off. Closed-coupled catalysts are commonly used to reduce light-off time by minimizing exhaust heat loss between the engine and catalyst. However, this exhaust gas system design leads to a coupling of catalyst heating and engine operation. An engine-independent exhaust gas aftertreatment can be realized by combining a burner heated catalyst system (BHC) with an underfloor catalyst located far away from the engine. This paper describes some basic characteristics of such a BHC system and the results of fitting this system into a Volkswagen Touareg where a single catalyst was located about 1.8 m downstream of the engine. Nevertheless, it was possible to reach about 50% of the current European emission standard EU 4 without additional fuel consumption caused by the BHC system.