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In the port injected Spark Ignition (SI) engine, the single greatest part load efficiency reducing factor are energy losses over the throttle valve. The need for this throttle valve arises from the fact that engine power is controlled by the amount of air in the cylinders, since combustion occurs stoichiometrically in this type of engine. In WEDACS (Waste Energy Driven Air Conditioning System), a technology patented by the Eindhoven University of Technology, the throttle valve is replaced by a turbine-generator combination. The turbine is used to control engine power. Throttling losses are recovered by the turbine and converted to electrical energy. Additionally, when air expands in the turbine, its temperature decreases and it can be used to cool air conditioning fluid. As a result, load of the alternator and air conditioning compressor on the engine is decreased or even eliminated, which increases overall engine efficiency.

Cylinder pressure-based combustion control is widely introduced for passenger cars. Benefits include enhanced emission robustness to fuel quality variation, reduced fuel consumption due to more accurate (multi-pulse) fuel injection, and minimized after treatment size. In addition, it enables the introduction of advanced, high-efficient combustion concepts. The application in truck engines is foreseen, but challenges need to be overcome related to durability, increased system costs, and impact on the cylinder head. In this paper, a new single cylinder pressure sensor concept for heavy-duty Diesel engines is presented. Compared to previous studies, this work focuses on heavy-duty Diesel powertrains, which are characterized by a relatively flexible crank shaft in contrast to the existing passenger car applications.

The Reactivity Controlled Compression Ignition concept for dual-fuel engines has multiple challenges of which some can be overcome using Variable Valve Actuation approaches. For various fuel combinations, the engine research community has shown that running dual-fuel engines in RCCI mode, improves thermal efficiency and results in ultra-low engine-out nitrous oxides and soot. However, stable RCCI combustion is limited to a certain load range, depending on available hardware. At low loads, the combustion efficiency can drop significantly, whereas at high loads, the maximum in-cylinder pressure can easily exceed the engine design limit. In this paper, three VVA measures to increase load range, improve combustion efficiency, and perform thermal management are presented. Simulation results are used to demonstrate the potential of these VVA measures for a heavy-duty engine running on natural gas and diesel.

Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) combustion technology has demonstrated a profound potential to decrease both emissions and fuel consumption. In this way, the significance of the 2-stroke HCCI engine has been underestimated as it can provide more power stroke in comparison to a 4-stroke engine. Moreover, the mass of trapped residual gases is much larger in a 2-stroke engine, causing higher initial charge temperatures, which leads to easier auto-ignition. For controlling 2-stroke HCCI engines, it is vital to find optimized simulation approaches of HCCI combustion with a focus on ignition timing. In this study, a Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) model for a 2-stroke gasoline engine was developed coupled to a semi-detailed chemical mechanism of iso-octane to investigate the simulation capability of the considered chemical mechanism and the effects of different simulation parameters such as the turbulence model, grid density and time step size.

Complying to both the increasingly stringent pollutant emissions as well as (future) GHG emission legislation - with increased focus on in-use real-world emissions - puts a great challenge to the engine/aftertreatment control development process. Control system complexity, calibration and validation effort has increased dramatically over the past decade. A trend that is likely to continue considering the next steps in emission and GHG emission legislation. Control-oriented engine models are valuable tools for efficient development of engine monitoring and control systems. Furthermore, these (predictive) engine models are more and more used as part of control algorithms to ensure legislation compliant and optimized performance over the system lifetime. For these engine models, it is essential that simulation and prediction of system variables during non-nominal engine operation, such as non-standard ambient conditions, is well captured.

The aerodynamic wind tunnel at Volvo Cars, known as the PVT, was recently upgraded to a moving ground wind tunnel to improve simulation quality. The moving ground simulation system consists of a 5-belt rolling road system (a centre belt and four wheel drive units). Flow simulation has also been improved by a new boundary layer control (BLC) system with a basic suction scoop, large distributed suction areas and aft belt tangential blowing. In addition, the wind tunnel main fan motor has been up-graded from 2.3 MW to 5 MW to provide a wind speed of 250 km/h in the full test section. Previously, 250 km/h was achieved only by installing inserts to reduce the test section area. The present paper provides an outline of the design features, philosophy of the new systems, aerodynamic calibration and commissioning results.

Increasing efforts to minimize global warming has led to regulation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of automotive applications. The US is frontrunner regarding implementation of GHG related legislation with the introduction of GHG phase 1 and phase 2, ultimately targeting a 40% fuel consumption reduction in 2027 compared to 2010 on vehicle level. More specific, engines are required to reduce CO2 emissions by 6% compared to GHG phase 1 levels. Next to the GHG emission legislation, more stringent legislation is anticipated in the US to further reduce NOx emissions: a further 90% reduction is targeted as soon as 2024 compared to 2010 standard. Meeting these anticipated ultra-low NOx standards within the GHG phase 2 constraints on CO2 poses a great challenge. This paper presents an overview of the main challenges and key aspects regarding meeting ultra-low NOx requirements within the constraints on CO2 and N2O set by GHG phase 2 regulations.

Self-learning energy management is a promising concept, which optimizes real-world system performance by automated, on-line adaptation of control settings. In this work, the potential of self-learning capabilities related to optimization is studied for energy management in Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV). These vehicles are of great interest for the transport sector, since they combine high fuel efficiency with last mile full-electric driving. We focus on a specific use case: PHEV operation through future Zero Emission (ZE) zones of cities. As a first step towards self-learning control, we introduce a novel, adaptive supervisory controller that combines modular energy and emission management (MEEM) and deals with varying constraints and system uncertainty. This optimal control strategy is based on Pontryagin’s Minimum Principle and maximizes overall energy efficiency.

The operation of a dual fuel combustion engine using combustion mode-switching offers the benefit of higher thermal efficiency compared to single-mode operation. For various fuel combinations, the engine research community has shown that running dual fuel engines in Reactivity Controlled Compression Ignition (RCCI) mode, is a feasible way to further improve thermal efficiency compared to Conventional Dual Fuel (CDF) operation of the same engine. In RCCI combustion, also ultra-low engine-out NOx and soot emissions have been reported. Depending on available hardware, however, stable RCCI combustion is limited to a certain load range and operating conditions. Therefore, mode-switching is a promising way to implement RCCI in practice on short term. In this paper, a model-based development approach for a dual fuel mode-switching controller is presented. Simulation results demonstrate the potential of this controller for a heavy-duty engine running on natural gas and diesel.

For natural gas (NG)-diesel RCCI, a multi-zonal, detailed chemistry modeling approach is presented. This dual fuel combustion process requires further understanding of the ignition and combustion processes to maximize thermal efficiency and minimize (partially) unburned fuel emissions. The introduction of two fuels with different physical and chemical properties makes the combustion process complicated and challenging to model. In this study, a multi-zone approach is applied to NG-diesel RCCI combustion in a heavy-duty engine. Auto-ignition chemistry is believed to be the key process in RCCI. Starting from a multi-zone model that can describe auto-ignition dominated processes, such as HCCI and PCCI, this model is adapted by including reaction mechanisms for natural gas and NOx and by improving the in-cylinder pressure prediction. The model is validated using NG-diesel RCCI measurements that are performed on a 6 cylinder heavy-duty engine.

A transparent HSDI CI engine was used together with a high speed camera to analyze the liquid phase spray geometry of the fuel types: Swedish environmental class 1 Diesel fuel (MK1), Soy Methyl Ester (B100), n-Heptane (PRF0) and a gas-to-liquid derivate (GTL) with a distillation range similar to B100. The study of the transient liquid-phase spray propagation was performed at gas temperatures and pressures typical for start of injection conditions of a conventional HSDI CI engine. Inert gas was supplied to the transparent engine in order to avoid self-ignition at these cylinder gas conditions. Observed differences in liquid phase spray geometry were correlated to relevant fuel properties. An empirical relation was derived for predicting liquid spray cone angle and length prior to ignition.

Post-injection strategies prove to be a valuable option for reducing soot emission, but experimental results often differ from publication to publication. These discrepancies are likely caused by the selected operating conditions and engine hardware in separate studies. Efforts to optimize not only engine-out soot, but simultaneously fuel economy and emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) complicate the understanding of post-injection effects even more. Still, the large amount of published work on the topic is gradually forming a consensus. In the current work, a Design-of-Experiments (DoE) procedure and regression analysis are used to investigate the influence of various operating conditions on post-injection scheduling and efficacy. The study targets emission reductions of soot and NOx, as well as fuel economy improvements. Experiments are conducted on a heavy-duty compression ignition engine at three load-speed combinations.

Styrene, or ethylbenzene, is mainly used as a monomer for the production of polymers, most notably Styrofoam. In the synthetis of styrene, the feedstock of benzene and ethylene is converted into aromatic oxygenates such as benzaldehyde, 2-phenyl ethanol and acetophenone. Benzaldehyde and phenyl ethanol are low value side streams, while acetophenone is a high value intermediate product. The side streams are now principally rejected from the process and burnt for process heat. Previous in-house research has shown that such aromatic oxygenates are suitable as diesel fuel additives and can in some cases improve the soot-NOx trade-off. In this study acetophenone, benzaldehyde and 2-phenyl ethanol are each added to commercial EN590 diesel at a ratio of 1:9, with the goal to ascertain whether or not the lower value benzaldehyde and 2-phenyl ethanol can perform on par with the higher value acetophenone. These compounds are now used in pure form.

Second generation biomass is an attractive renewable feedstock for transport fuels. Its sulfur content is generally negligible and the carbon cycle is reduced from millions to tens of years. One hitherto non-valorized feedstock are so-called humins, a residual product formed in the conversion of sugars to platform chemicals, such as hydroxymethylfurfural and methoxymethylfurfural, intermediates in the production of FDCA, a building block used to produce the polyethylene furanoate (PEF) bottle by Avantium. The focus of this study is to investigate the spray combustion behavior of humins as a renewable alternative for heavy fuel oil (HFO) under large two-stroke engine-like conditions in an optically accessible constant volume chamber.

In an earlier study, a novel type of diesel fuel injector was proposed. This prototype injects fuel via porous (sintered) micro pores instead of via the conventional 6-8 holes. The micro pores are typically 10-50 micrometer in diameter, versus 120-200 micrometer in the conventional case. The expected advantages of the so-called Porous Fuel Air Mixing Enhancing Nozzle (PFAMEN) injector are lower soot- and CO2 emissions. However, from previous in-house measurements, it has been concluded that the emissions of the porous injector are still not satisfactory. Roughly, this may have multiple reasons. The first one is that the spray distribution is not good enough, the second one is that the droplet sizing is too big due to the lack of droplet breakup. Furthermore air entrainment into the fuel jets might be insufficient. All reasons lead to fuel rich zones and associated soot formation.

The impact of comfort is becoming increasingly important. On one hand, manufacturers use comfort to distinguish their products from their competitors. On the other hand, more cars than ever are used professionally. The prolonged sitting in automotive conditions of professional drivers introduced new physical complaints, resulting in high social costs. However, the cause of these complaints is not well understood. The use of virtual testing tools can contribute to both speeding up and reducing the costs of the development process of new more comfortable cars and the research in the causes of the new complaints. Vibration loading has often been identified as a source of discomfort. In literature, several human models developed for prediction of human resonance behaviour in vibrations were described. In most of these human body models, the muscles are represented in a simplified way.

In a NOx adsorber programme the feasibility for applying this technology to heavy duty diesel engines was investigated. After modelling and simulations for realising best λ < 1 engine conditions a platform was build which was used to obtain good NOx adsorber regeneration settings in a number of steady state key points without violating pre-defined limits. With these results the NOx adsorber was evaluated and tested. Besides establishing NOx conversions and BSFC penalties the programme also looked at the adsorber capabilities of dealing with sulphur poisoning and how well the adsorber could be de-sulphurised. This programme showed clearly the stronger and weaker points in the NOx adsorber technology for heavy duty application. From NOx conversion - BSFC penalty trade off curves it became clear that at lower loads high conversions (> 90%) with small fuel penalties (< 2.5%) were possible. However at high load the conversions were reduced (< 70%) and the fuel penalties increased (> 6%).

Up to now, reduction of fuel consumption of vehicles equipped with CVT transmission has not been exploited to its full potential due to the reduced driveability when driving the optimum efficiency engine operating points. An ISG system with torque boost capabilities can be used to restore this driveability. This paper discusses the goals, the CAE simulation tool, the methodology used in the preparative study for evaluation and dimensioning of a CVT-ISG concept, as well as the simulation results. The conclusions, generated from numerous simulations, provide vital information for the component selection, and for the development of the powertrain management system.

This article describes a NOx sensor based urea dosing control strategy for heavy-duty diesel aftertreatment systems using Selective Catalytic Reduction. The dosing control strategy comprises of a fast-response, model-based ammonia storage control system in combination with a long-timescale tailpipe-feedback module that adjusts the dosing quantity according to current aftertreatment conditions. This results in a control system that is robust to system disturbances such as biased NOx sensors and variations in AdBlue concentrations. The cross-sensitivity of the tailpipe NOx sensor to ammonia is handled by a novel, smart signal filter that can reliably identify the contributions of NOx and NH3 in the tailpipe sensor signal, without requiring an artificial perturbation of the dosing signal.

Heavy-duty diesel engines are used in a wide range of applications. For varying operating environments, the engine and aftertreatment system must comply with the real-world emission legislation limits. Simultaneously, minimal fuel consumption and good drivability are crucial for economic competitiveness and usability. Meeting these requirements takes substantial development and calibration effort, and complying with regulations results in a trade-off between emissions and fuel consumption. TNO's Integrated Emission Management (IEM) strategy finds online, the cost-optimal point in this trade-off and is able to deal with variations in operating conditions, while complying with legislation limits. Based on the actual state of the engine and aftertreatment system, an optimal engine operating point is computed using a model-based optimal-control algorithm.