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The main assignment of Controlled Auto Ignition (CAI) operation range expansion is to reduce the burn rate or combustion noise at high load and to minimize misfire at low load. The potential of two principal EGR strategies is well known to initiate CAI in a wide range of operation map by using a variable train system: the Exhaust Port Recirculation (EPR) for higher part load and the Combustion Chamber Recirculation (CCR - also called Negative Valve Overlap) for lower part load. However the detailed comparison of the ignition phenomena with each EGR strategy has not been fully studied yet. In this paper, EPR and CCR were compared with same operational condition (engine speed and load). For the analysis, flame luminescence and Raman scattering method for optical measurement and STAR-CD (CD-adapco) for numerical simulation are used.

The problem with traditional drive cycle fuel economy analysis is that kinematic (backward looking) models do not account for transient differences in charge air handling systems. Therefore, dynamic (forward looking) 1D performance simulation models were created to predict drive cycle fuel economy which encompass all the transient elements of fully detailed engine and vehicle models. The transient-capable technology of primary interest was mechanical supercharging which has the benefit of improved boost response and "time to torque." The benefits of a supercharger clutch have also been evaluated. The current US class 6-8 commercial vehicle market exclusively uses turbocharged diesel engines. Three vehicles and baseline powertrains were selected based on a high-level review of vehicle sales and the used truck marketplace. Fuel economy over drive cycles was the principal output of the simulation work. All powertrains are based on EPA 2010 emission regulations.

While significant progress has been made in recent years to develop hybrid and battery electric vehicles for passenger car and light-duty applications to meet future fuel economy targets, the application of hybrid powertrains to heavy-duty truck applications has been very limited. The relatively lower energy and power density of batteries in comparison to diesel fuel and the operating profiles of most heavy-duty trucks, combine to make the application of hybrid powertrain for these applications more challenging. The high torque and power requirements of heavy-duty trucks over a long operating range, the majority of which is at constant cruise point, along with a high payback period, complexity, cost, weight and range anxiety, make the hybrid and battery electric solution less attractive than a conventional powertrain.

Due to its high efficiency and superior durability, the diesel engine is again becoming a prime candidate for future light-duty vehicle applications within the United States. While in Europe the overall diesel share exceeds 40%, the current diesel share in the United States is 1%. Despite the current situation and the very stringent Tier 2 emission standards, efforts are being made to introduce the diesel engine back into the U.S. market. In order to succeed, these vehicles have to comply with emissions standards over a 120,000 miles distance while maintaining their excellent fuel economy. The availability of technologies-such as high-pressure, common-rail fuel systems; low-sulfur diesel fuel; oxides of nitrogen (NOx) adsorber catalysts or NACs; and diesel particle filters (DPFs)-allow the development of powertrain systems that have the potential to comply with the light-duty Tier 2 emission requirements. In support of this, the U.S.

Due to its high efficiency and superior durability the diesel engine is again becoming a prime candidate for future light-duty vehicle applications within the United States. While in Europe the overall diesel share exceeds 40%, the current diesel share in the U.S. is 1%. Despite the current situation and the very stringent Tier 2 emission standards, efforts are being made to introduce the diesel engine back into the U.S. market. In order to succeed, these vehicles have to comply with emissions standards over a 120,000 miles distance while maintaining their excellent fuel economy. The availability of technologies such as high-pressure common-rail fuel systems, low sulfur diesel fuel, NOx adsorber catalysts (NAC), and diesel particle filters (DPFs) allow the development of powertrain systems that have the potential to comply with the light-duty Tier 2 emission requirements. In support of this, the U.S.

During a thermal regeneration of a Diesel particulate filter (DPF) the temperature inside the DPF may raise above critical thresholds in an uncontrolled way (thermal shock). Especially driving conditions with a comparable low exhaust gas mass flow and high oxygen content like idle speed may create a thermal shock. This paper presents a concept for an ECU software structure to prevent the DPF from reaching improper temperatures and the methodology in order to calibrate this ECU structure. The concept deals in general with a closed-loop control of the exhaust gas air-fuel-ratio during the critical engine operation phases. Those critical operation phases are identified at the engine test bench during “Drop-to-Idle” and “Drop-to-Overrun” experiments. The experiments show that those phases are critical having on the one hand a low exhaust gas mass flow and on the other hand a high oxygen percentage in the exhaust gas.

The demand for fuel-efficient, low-displacement engines for future passenger car applications led to investigations with small DI diesel engines in the advanced engineering department at Mercedes-Benz. Single-cylinder tests were carried out to compare a 2-valve concept with 241 cm3 displacement with a 422 cm3 4-valve design, both operated with a common rail injection system. Mean effective pressures at full load were about 10 % lower with the smaller displacement. With such engines a specific power of 40 kW/I and a specific torque of about 140 Nm/I should be possible. In the current stage of optimization, penalties in fuel economy could be reduced down to values below 3 %. The “4-cylinder DI diesel engine with 1 liter displacement” is an interesting alternative to small 3 cylinder concepts with higher displacement per cylinder. An introduction into series production will not only depend on the potential for further improvement in fuel economy of such small cylinder units.

This article discusses highly flexible and accurate physics-based mean value modeling (MVM) for internal combustion engines and its wide applicability towards virtual vehicle calibration. The requirement to fulfill the challenging Real Driving Emissions (RDE) standards has significantly increased the demand for precise engine models, especially models regarding pollutant emissions and fuel economy. This has led to a large increase in effort required for precise engine modeling and robust model calibration. Two best-practice engine modeling approaches will be introduced here to satisfy these requirements. These are the exclusive MVM approach, and a combination of MVM and a Design of Experiments (DOE) model for heterogeneous multi-domain engine systems.

Stringent global emissions legislation demands effective NOx reduction strategies, particularly for the aftertreatment, and current typical liquid urea SCR systems achieve efficiencies greater than 90% [1]. However, with such high-performing systems comes the trade-off of requiring a tank of reductant (urea water solution) to be filled regularly, usually as soon as the fuel fillings or as far as oil changes. Advantages of solid reductants, particularly ammonium carbamate, include greater ammonia densities, enabling the reductant refill interval to be extended several multiples versus a given reductant volume of urea, or diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) [2]. An additional advantage is direct gaseous ammonia dosing, enabling reductant injection at lower exhaust temperatures to widen its operational coverage achieving greater emissions reduction potential [3], as well as eliminating deposits, reducing mixing lengths, and avoiding freeze/thaw risks and investments.

Exhaust aftertreatment systems must function sufficiently over the full useful life of a vehicle. In Europe this is currently defined as 160.000 km. With the introduction of Euro 7 it is expected that the required mileage will be extended to 240.000 km. This will then be consistent with the US legislation. In order to quantify the emission impact of exhaust system degradation, an Euro 7 exhaust aftertreatment system is aged by different accelerated approaches: application of the Standard Bench Cycle, the ZDAKW cycle, a novel ash loading method and borderline aging. The results depict the impact of oil ash on the oxygen storage capacity. For tailpipe emissions, the maximum peak temperatures are the dominant aging factor. The cold start performance is effected by both, thermal degradation and ash accumulation. An evaluation of this emission increase requires appropriate benchmarks.

Demanding CO2 and fuel economy regulations are continuing to pressure the automotive industry into considering innovative powertrain and vehicle-level solutions. Powertrain engineers continue to minimize engine internal friction and transmission parasitic losses with the aim of reducing overall vehicle fuel consumption. In Part 1 of the study (2017-01-0893) described aspects of the test stand design that provides flexibility for adaptation to various test scenarios. The results from measurements for a number of front-end accessory drive (FEAD) components were shown in the context of scatterbands derived from multiple component tests. Key results from direct drive and belt-driven component tests were compared to illustrate the influence of the belt layout on mechanical efficiency of the FEAD system. The second part of the series will focus exclusively on the operation of the alternator. Two main elements of the study are discussed.

The use of pistons made of fine grain carbon was investigated in a spark-ignition engine within a European Community funded research project (TPRO-CT92-0008). Pistons were designed and manufactured and then tested in a single cylinder engine. Due to the carbon material's lower coefficient of thermal expansion the top land clearance between piston and cylinder can be reduced by a factor of three in comparison to standard aluminium designs. Under steady-state part-load operating conditions the emission of unburned hydrocarbons can be reduced by more than 15% compared to aluminium pistons, without significant penalties in NOx-emissions. Simultaneously, a small improvement in fuel economy of about 2% is observed. At full-load blow-by leakage flow is reduced by more than 50%. The piston crown temperature is about 30°C higher with the carbon piston than with the standard aluminium piston, due to the lower thermal conductivity of the carbon material.

Tier 4 emissions legislation is emerging as a clear pre-cursor for widespread adoption of exhaust aftertreatment in off-highway applications. Large bore engine manufacturers are faced with the significant challenge of packaging a multitude of catalyst technologies in essentially the same design envelope as their pre-Tier 4 manifestations, while contending with the fuel consumption consequences of the increased back pressure, as well as the incremental cost and weight associated with the aftertreatment equipment. This paper discusses the use of robust metallic catalysts upstream of the exhaust gas turbine, as an effective means to reduce catalyst volume and hence the weight and cost of the entire aftertreatment package. The primarily steady-state operation of many large bore engine applications reduces the complication of overcoming pre-turbine catalyst thermal inertia under transient operation.

Based on the TurboDISI engine presented earlier [1], [2], a new Spray Guided Turbo (SGT) concept with enhanced engine performance was developed. The turbocharged engine was modified towards utilizing a spray-guided combustion system with a central piezo injector location. Higher specific power and torque levels were achieved by applying specific design and cooling solutions. The engine was developed utilizing a state-of-the-art newly developed charge motion design (CMD) process in combination with single cylinder investigations. The engine control unit has a modular basis and is realized using rapid prototyping hardware. Additional fuel consumption potentials can be achieved with high load EGR, use of alternative fuels and a hybrid powertrain. The CO2 targets of the EU (120 g/km by 2012 in the NEDC) can be obtained with a mid-size vehicle applying the technologies presented within this paper.

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 high-speed Dl-diesel engine has made a significant advance since the beginning of the 90's in the Western European passenger car market. Apart from the traditional advantage in fuel economy, further factors contributing to this success have been significantly improved performance and power density, as well as the permanent progress made in acoustics and comfort. In addition to the efforts to improve efficiency of automotive powertrains, the requirement for cleaner air increases through the continuous worldwide restriction of emissions by legislative regulations for diesel engines. Against the backdrop of global climate change, significant reduction of CO2 is observed. Hence, for the future, engine and vehicle concepts are needed, that, while maintaining the well-established attractive market attributes, compare more favorably with regard to fuel consumption.

Lignocellulosic biomass consists of (hemi-) cellulose and lignin. Accordingly, an integrated biorefinery will seek to valorize both streams into higher value fuels and chemicals. To this end, this study evaluated the overall combustion performance of both cellulose- and lignin derivatives, namely the high cetane number (CN) di-n-butyl ether (DnBE) and low CN anisole, respectively. Said compounds were blended both separately and together with EN590 diesel. Experiments were conducted in a single cylinder compression ignition engine, which has been optimized for improved combustion characteristics with respect to low emission levels and at the same time high fuel efficiency. The selected operating conditions have been adopted from previous “Tailor-Made Fuels from Biomass (TMFB)” work.

Future Diesel engines must meet extended requirements regarding air-fuel ratio, exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) capability, and tailored exhaust gas temperatures in the complete engine map to comply with the future pollutant emission standards. In this respect, parallel turbines combined with two separate exhaust manifolds have the potential to increase the exhaust gas temperature upstream of the exhaust aftertreatment system and reduce the catalyst light-off time. Furthermore, variable exhaust valve (EV) lifts enable new control strategies of the boosting system without additional actuators. Therefore, hardware robustness can be improved. This article focuses on the parallel-sequential boosting concept (PSBC) for a high-performance four-cylinder Diesel engine with separated exhaust manifolds combined with EV deactivation. One EV per cylinder is connected to one of the separated exhaust manifolds and, thus, connected to one of the turbines.

Since the CO2 emissions of passenger car traffic and their greenhouse potential are in the public interest, natural gas (CNG) is discussed as an attractive alternative fuel. The engine concepts that have been applied to date are mainly based upon common gasoline engine technology. In addition, in mono-fuel applications, it is made use of an increased compression ratio -thanks to the RON (Research Octane Number) potential of CNG-, which allows for thermodynamic benefits. This paper presents advanced engine concepts that make further use of the potentials linked to CNG. Above all, the improved knock tolerance, which can be particularly utilized in turbocharged engine concepts. For bi-fuel (CNG/gasoline) power trains, the realization of variable compression ratio is of special interest. Moreover, lean burn technology is a perfect match for CNG engines. Fuel economy and emission level are evaluated basing on test bench and vehicle investigations.

The tightening emissions regulations across the globe pose significant challenges to vehicle OEMs. As a result, OEMs are diversifying their powertrain solutions e.g., CNG/Propane based conventional powertrains, BEVs, H2 ICE, FCEV, etc. to meet these regulations. More recently, the ‘CARB Advanced Clean Trucks’ and ‘EPA GHG Phase 3’ regulations are forcing manufacturers to increasingly adopt zero tailpipe emission solutions. While passenger vehicle applications are trending towards a single consensus i.e., BEVs, the heavy-duty on-road applications are challenged with unique requirements of high payload capacity, higher range, lower sales volumes, higher durability, short refueling time, etc. These requirements are driving manufacturers to consider FCEV as an alternative powertrain solution to BEV specifically for higher payload capacity, and range applications.