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A line of five new row-crop tractors is being introduced by John Deere with innovative features including a 15-speed full power shift transmission, a high capacity, highly-maneuverable full-time mechanical front-wheel drive and micro-processor controlled instrumentation. In addition, the tractors have increased power, improved fuel economy, greater hydraulic power, improved hitch sensing, improved operator controls, lower sound levels, and revised styling. This paper documents the design and development of these new John Deere row-crop tractors.

Fuel economy can be part of a business case for a fleet making the decision to buy new HD hybrid drivetrain technologies. Chassis dynamometer tests using SAE Recommended Practice J2711 on a bus equipped with an Allison EP SYSTEM ™ hybrid system and operated on standard bus driving cycles have produced impressive gains of over 60%. Preliminary urban bus field tests, on the other hand, have shown lower fuel economy gains. The difference can be attributed, in part, to the use of accessories - most importantly air conditioning - which are parasitic loads on the vehicle. In this paper the characteristics of driving cycles are studied to determine those factors which have the strongest influence on fuel economy for hybrids. The data show that the number of stopping events in a route or cycle is a strong influence as is the average vehicle speed. Energy analysis will show the relationship of fuel economy benefit and battery energy within a driving cycle.

TFC/IW, total fuel consumption divided by inertia weight is reported with other engineering variables for recent EPA data for industry passenger cars and truck. TFC/IW is used in comparisons between gasoline and diesel engines, 49 States and California, passenger cars and trucks. The California fuel economy penalty due to more stringent emissions standards is discussed. The relationship between TFC/IW and ton miles per gallon is shown. Special attention is focused on 4 cylinder gasoline powered vehicles in 49 States passenger car fleet. The use of TFC/IW to answer the question, ‘What Changed?’ when comparing the fuel economies of two fleets is described.

High performance lubricant additive systems have been developed to formulate SAE 5W-30 passenger car engine oils which meet current and anticipated requirements of the North American original equipment manufacturers. The trend in North America is to recommend SAE 5W-30 oils that not only meet the API SF requirements for gasoline engines (“first-generation” oils), but also meet the stringent API CC requirement for light duty diesel engines (“second-generation” oils). Furthermore, the engine builders have issued “world specifications” for motor oils which incorporate additional “second-generation” SAE 5W-30 characteristics, such as enhanced API SF limits, improved fuel efficiency, an increased margin of bearing protection, and lower finished-oil phosphorus levels. The additive systems described herein exceed API SF and CC requirements as well as “second-generation” performance hurdles.

The SHIFT-MATE is a dashboard mounted computer based device that cues a truck driver to shift more efficiently. Through electronic circuitry, key vehicle parameters are monitored, computed, then via graphic display, instructs the driver when to shift for improved fuel economy. The theory of operation is described in the text.

Estimation of soot deposited on a wall flow type DPF, is a vital information to ensure safe and efficient DPF management. Accuracy in determining mass of soot present inside the DPF ensures a correct regeneration management strategy in-terms of fuel efficiency and DPF safety considering soot overloading and too frequent regenerations. It also ensures an efficient detection of anomalies in the PM filtration mandated by the BSVI/EURO VI legislation as a part of On-board diagnostics. Classical approach of determining soot present inside DPF involves monitoring increase in pressure drop. Real time usage of such a model is limited by the inaccuracy of measuring pressure drop at low exhaust flows. Hence, contemporary engine controllers use pressure drop based models as a failsafe and estimate DPF soot loading by modelling soot release rate due to engine combustion and the rate at which it is oxidized.

A survey of the in-service fuel consumption of passenger vehicles and derivatives in the Australian fleet was carried out in 1984-85. Seven hundred and four owners across Australia took part in the survey. Vehicle owners reported by questionnaire the amount of fuel used during four tank fills of normal operation, the distance travelled, and other details of the operating circumstances. The survey shows a clear downward trend in the fuel consumption of the Australian passenger fleet. The data also provides comparisons of actual fuel consumption obtained on the road, with laboratory derived values for fuel consumption. Vehicles in a sub-set of 40 were fitted with fuel flow meters during the survey and tested to Australian Standard 2077 for fuel consumption. The questionnaire method is shown to be a valid and accurate technique for determining in-service fuel consumption.

The current research was aimed at determining the most effective way to use alternative renewable feedstock to power a diesel engine. Mimusops elengi, a new and novel biofuel was recognized for this current study, which is widely available in the south of India. The investigation was conducted on B20 volume basis (20% Mimusops elengi methyl ester blended with 80% diesel). Furthermore, it was recognized that when the performance characteristics were traded off, the emission magnitude has slightly higher. To address the diesel engine pollution, an oxygenated nano additive like titanium oxide was dissipated only with the fuel blend at distinct mass fractions of 25 parts per million (ppm) with differing injection pressures of 180 bar, 200 bar, 220 bar, and 240 bar. The tests were created using a statistical programme known as design of experiments, which is purely based on Taguchi and response surface methodology.

Advanced diesel engines developed for the commercial market need to be adapted to the military requirements by OPERAS (Optimizing the injection pressure P, the Exhaust gas recirculation E, injection events Retard and/or Advance and the swirl ratio S). The different after treatment devices, already used or expected to be applied to diesel engines, require feed gases of appropriate properties for their efficient operation. To produce these gases some OPERAS are needed to control the diesel combustion process. Since military vehicles do not need the after treatment devices, the OPERAS of the commercial engines should be modified to meet the military requirements for high power density, better fuel economy, reduction of parasitic losses caused by the cooled EGR system, and reduction of invisible black and white smoke in the field.

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.

A lithium ion battery system has been developed for use in Honda's FCX Clarity fuel cell vehicle. This represents the first time that Honda has employed lithium ion batteries. The battery system equals the high level of power of the ultracapacitor system used in the previous FCX vehicle but achieves a higher level of energy, contributing to various improvements in performance, such as the Clarity's superior acceleration feel and improved fuel efficiency. The system displays sufficient durability and reliability at the same time as satisfying requirements from the perspective of safety. In addition, positioning the battery system under the floor of the vehicle has increased cabin space, boosting the Clarity's commercial appeal.

Over the last decade, Climate change due to fossil fuel burning has taken centre stage in all discussions. Automotive sector has come under some flak for being one of the contributors to this Climate Change. Active steps have been taken by Vehicle Manufacturers and their Suppliers to address this issue. This sector has been facing below challenges to reduce pollutant in the air by A. Reducing Emissions, B. Increasing Energy Efficiency C. Use of Renewable Energy. One of the many alternatives by the Automotive Industry was to have a phased introduction to Electric Vehicles (EV), Hybrids, Fuel cells and other variants. As various emission norms and safety requirements takes Centre stage, it invariably, increases the weight of the vehicle. Now a days, Vehicles are having challenges to make it lightweight to achieve Range for an EV and improve fuel efficiency without sacrificing safety.

Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) use electric energy from the grid rather than fuel energy for most short trips, therefore drastically reducing fuel consumption. Different configurations can be used for PHEVs. In this study, the parallel pre-transmission, series, and power-split configurations were compared by using global optimization. The latter allows a fair comparison among different powertrains. Each vehicle was operated optimally to ensure that the results would not be biased by non-optimally tuned or designed controllers. All vehicles were sized to have a similar all-electric range (AER), performance, and towing capacity. Several driving cycles and distances were used. The advantages of each powertrain are discussed.

Due to the rising costs of fuel and increasingly stringent regulations, auto makers are in need of technology to enable more fuel-efficient powertrain technologies to be introduced to the marketplace. Such powertrains must not sacrifice performance, safety or driver comfort. Today's engine and powertrain manufacturers must, therefore, do more with less by achieving acceptable vehicle performance while reducing fuel consumption. One effective method to achieve this is the extreme downsizing of current direct injection spark ignited (DISI) engines through the use of high levels of boosting and cooled exhaust gas recirculation (EGR). Key challenges to highly downsized gasoline engines are retarded combustion to prevent engine knocking and the necessity to operate at air/fuel ratios that are significantly richer than the stoichiometric ratio.

The U.S. National Highway Transportation and Safety Agency's (NHTSA) early estimates of Motor Traffic Fatalities in 2009 in the United States [1] show continuing progress on improving traffic safety on the U.S. roadways. The number of total fatalities and the fatality rate per 100 Million Vehicle Miles (MVM), both show continuing declines. In the 10 year period from 1999 through 2009, the total fatalities have dropped from 41,611 to 33,963 and the fatality rate has dropped from 1.5 fatalities per 100MVM to 1.16 fatalities per 100MVM, a compound annual drop of 2.01% and 2.54% respectively. The large number of traffic fatalities, and the slowing down of the fatality rate decline, compared to the decade before, continues to remain a cause of concern for regulators.

Powertrain electrification is becoming increasingly common in the transportation sector to address the challenges of global warming and deteriorating air quality. This paper introduces a novel “Build Your Hybrid” approach to experience and test various hybrid powertrain concepts. This approach is applied to the light commercial vehicles (LCV) segment due to the attractive combination of a Diesel engine and a partly electrified powertrain. For this purpose, a demonstrator vehicle has been set up with a flexible P02 hybrid topology and a prototype Hybrid Control Unit (HCU). Based on user input, the HCU software modifies the control functions and simulation models to emulate different sub-topologies and levels of hybridization in the demonstrator vehicle. Three powertrain concepts are considered for LCVs: HV P2, 48V P2 and 48V P0 hybrid. Dedicated hybrid control strategies are developed to take full advantage of the synergies of the electrical system and reduce CO2 and NOx emissions.

Consideration of the approaching ‘energy crisis’ reveals two requirements for future light duty automotive engines. 1) maximum economy and 2) the ability (perhaps with detail design re-optimisation) to accept a range of fuels of petroleum or other extract, of differing ignition characteristics. One combustion system which meets these requirements is the MAN ‘FM’, the potential of which has already been demonstrated in truck-size engines but on which little information has been published in light-duty engine bore sizes. The paper describes both design and experimental work carried out to evaluate the application of the FM combustion system to a light duty passenger car engine. Consideration is given to the critical design parameters associated with the application of the FM system to a multi-cylinder gasoline based engine and how the criteria can be met. Details of the design and construction of a single cylinder derivative of the multi-cylinder engine are given.

Dynamic skip fire (DSF) has shown significant fuel economy improvement potential via reduction of pumping losses that generally affect throttled spark-ignition (SI) engines. In DSF operation, individual cylinders are fired on-demand near peak efficiency to satisfy driver torque demand. For vehicles with a downsized-boosted 4-cylinder engine, DSF can reduce fuel consumption by 8% in the WLTC (Class 3) drive cycle. The relatively low cost of cylinder deactivation hardware further improves the production value of DSF. Lean burn strategies in gasoline engines have also demonstrated significant fuel efficiency gains resulting from reduced pumping losses and improved thermodynamic characteristics, such as higher specific heat ratio and lower heat losses. Fuel-air mixture stratification is generally required to achieve stable combustion at low loads.

This study proposes a novel biofuel for spark ignition (SI) engine, α-pinene (C10H16), which is non-oxygenated and thus has a gravimetric energy density comparable to that of hydrocarbon fuels. The ignition characteristics of α-pinene were evaluated in an ignition quality tester (IQT) under standard temperature and pressure conditions. The measured ignition delay time (IDT) of α-pinene is 10.5 ms, which is lower than that of iso-octane, 17.9 ms. The estimated research octane number (RON) for pinene from IQT is 85. A temperature sweep in IQT showed that that α-pinene is less reactive at low temperatures, but more reactive at high temperatures when compared to isooctane. These results suggest that α-pinene has high octane sensitivity (OS) and is suitable for operation in turbocharged SI engines. With these considerations, α-pinene was operated in a single cylinder SI engine.

The Swedish Biomimetics 3000's μMist® platform technology has been used to develop a radically new injection system. This prototype system, developed and characterized with support from Lotus, as part of Swedish Biomimetics 3000®'s V₂IO innovation accelerating model, delivers improved combustion efficiency through achieving exceptionally small droplets, at fuel rail pressures far less than conventional GDI systems and as low as PFI systems. The system gives the opportunity to prepare and deliver all of the fuel load for the engine while the intake valves are open and after the exhaust valves have closed, thereby offering the potential to use advanced charge scavenging techniques in PFI engines which have hitherto been restricted to direct-injection engines, and at a lower system cost than a GDI injection system.