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NOx emissions from diesel passenger vehicles affect the atmospheric environment. It is difficult to evaluate the NOx emissions influenced by environmental conditions such as humidity and temperature, traffic conditions, driving patterns, etc. In the authors’ previous study, real-driving experiments were performed on city and highway routes using a diesel passenger car with only an exhaust gas recirculation system. A statistical prediction model of NOx emissions was considered for simple estimations in the real world using instantaneous vehicle data measured by the portable emissions measurement system and global positioning system. The prediction model consisted of explanatory variables, such as velocity, acceleration, road gradient, and position of transmission gear. Using the explanatory variables, NOx emissions on the city and highway routes was well predicted using a diesel vehicle without NOx reduction devices.

In recent years, improvements in the fuel economy and exhaust emission performance of internal combustion engines have been increasingly required by regulatory agencies. One of the salient concerns regarding general purpose engines is the larger amount of CO emissions with which they are associated, compared with CO emissions from automobile engines. To reduce CO and other exhaust emissions while maintaining high fuel efficiency, the optimization of total engine system, including various design parameters, is essential. In the engine system optimization process, cycle simulation using 0-D and 1-D engine models are highly useful. To define an optimum design, the model used for the cycle simulation must be capable of predicting the effects of various parameters on the engine performance. In this study, a model for predicting the performance of a general purpose SI (Spark Ignited) engine is developed based on the commercially available engine simulation software, GT-POWER.

IMEP can be generally calculated by numerical integration on the PV diagram. However, this method requires a great number of sampled data per cycle, in order to ensure high accuracy in calculation. The present method is a to use only the primary and secondary components of engine speed from the pressure diagram based on the Fourier series. Owing to this method, calculation errors have become smaller than conventional method even though the number of samples is reduced, and calculation time is also reduced by the conventional method. Using present method, a Fourier series type combustion analyzing system has been developed. Real-time IMEP measurement is allowed in this system owing to the characteristic features described above, and the validity of calculated results is confirmed by comparing the results with the IMEP values obtained by batch processing through the numerical integration.

The use of virtual prototyping early in the design stage of a product has gained popularity due to reduced cost and time to market. The state of the art in vehicle simulation has reached a level where full vehicles are analyzed through simulation but major difficulties continue to be present in interfacing the vehicle model with accurate powertrain models and in developing adequate formulations for the contact between tire and terrain (specifically, scenarios such as tire sliding on ice and rolling on sand or other very deformable surfaces). The proposed work focuses on developing a ground vehicle simulation capability by combining several third party packages for vehicle simulation, tire simulation, and powertrain simulation. The long-term goal of this project consists in promoting the Digital Car idea through the development of a reliable and robust simulation capability that will enhance the understanding and control of off-road vehicle performance.

In order to reduce fuel consumption, companies have been looking at hybridizing vehicles. So far, two main hybridization options have been considered: electric and hydraulic hybrids. Because of light duty vehicle operating conditions and the high energy density of batteries, electric hybrids are being widely used for cars. However, companies are still evaluating both hybridization options for medium and heavy duty vehicles. Trucks generally demand very large regenerative power and frequent stop-and-go. In that situation, hydraulic systems could offer an advantage over electric drive systems because the hydraulic motor and accumulator can handle high power with small volume capacity. This study compares the fuel displacement of class 6 trucks using a hydraulic system compared to conventional and hybrid electric vehicles. The paper will describe the component technology and sizes of each powertrain as well as their overall vehicle level control strategies.

Modeling plume interaction and collapse for direct-injection gasoline sprays is important because of its impact on fuel-air mixing and engine performance. Nevertheless, the aerodynamic interaction between plumes and the complicated two-phase coupling of the evaporating spray has shown to be notoriously difficult to predict. With the availability of high-speed (100 kHz) Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) experimental data, we compare velocity field predictions between plumes to observe the full temporal evolution leading up to plume merging and complete spray collapse. The target “Spray G” operating conditions of the Engine Combustion Network (ECN) is the focus of the work, including parametric variations in ambient gas temperature. We apply both LES and RANS spray models in different CFD platforms, outlining features of the spray that are most critical to model in order to predict the correct aerodynamics and fuel-air mixing.

Striving for sustainable transportation solutions, hydrogen is often identified as a promising energy carrier and internal combustion engines are seen as a cost effective consumer of hydrogen to facilitate the development of a large-scale hydrogen infrastructure. Driven by efficiency and emissions targets defined by the U.S. Department of Energy, a research team at Argonne National Laboratory has worked on optimizing a spark-ignited direct injection engine for hydrogen. Using direct injection improves volumetric efficiency and provides the opportunity to properly stratify the fuel-air mixture in-cylinder. Collaborative 3D-CFD and experimental efforts have focused on optimizing the mixture stratification and have demonstrated the potential for high engine efficiency with low NOx emissions. Performance of the hydrogen engine is evaluated in this paper over a speed range from 1000 to 3000 RPM and a load range from 1.7 to 14.3 bar BMEP.

A methodology has been developed for identifying the combination of battery characteristics which lead to least-cost electric vehicles. Battery interrelationships include specific power vs, specific energy, peak power vs. specific energy and DOD, cycle life vs. DOD, cost vs. specific energy and peak power, and volumetric and battery size effects. The method is illustrated for the “second car” mission assuming lead/acid batteries. Reductions in life-cycle costs associated with future battery research breakthroughs are estimated using a sensitivity technique. A research prioritization system is described.

The Modular Automotive Technology Testbed (MATT) is a flexible platform built to test different technology components in a vehicle environment. This testbed is composed of physical component modules, such as the engine and the transmission, and emulated components, such as the energy storage system and the traction motor. The instrumentation on the tool enables the energy balance for individual components on drive cycles. Using MATT, a single set of hardware can operate as a conventional vehicle, a hybrid vehicle and a plug-in hybrid vehicle, enabling direct comparison of petroleum displacement for the different modes. The engine provides measured fuel economy and emissions. The losses of components which vary with temperature are also measured.

Traditional Lagrangian spray modeling approaches for internal combustion engines are highly grid-dependent due to insufficient resolution in the near nozzle region. This is primarily because of inherent restrictions of volume fraction with the Lagrangian assumption together with high computational costs associated with small grid sizes. A state-of-the-art grid-convergent spray modeling approach was recently developed and implemented by Senecal et al., (ASME-ICEF2012-92043) in the CONVERGE software. The key features of the methodology include Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR), advanced liquid-gas momentum coupling, and improved distribution of the liquid phase, which enables use of cell sizes smaller than the nozzle diameter. This modeling approach was rigorously validated against non-evaporating, evaporating, and reacting data from the literature.

A mixed timescale subgrid model of a large eddy simulation was used to simulate the turbulence regime in diesel engine combustion. The combustion model used the direct integration approach with a diesel oil surrogate mechanism (developed at Chalmers University of Technology and consisting of 70 species and 309 reactions). Additional reactions for the generation and consumption of OH*, CO2*, and CH* species were added from recent kinetic studies. Collisional quenching and spontaneous emission resulted in de-excitation of the excited state radical. A phenomenological soot formation model (developed at Waseda University) was combined with the LES code. The following important steps were considered in the soot model: particle inception where naphthalene grows irreversibly to form soot, surface growth with the addition of C2H2, surface oxidation (induced by OH radicals and O2 attack), and particle coagulation.

There are many challenges in implementing grid aware plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) charging systems with local load control. New opportunities for innovative load control were created as a result of changes to the 2014 National Electric Code (NEC) about automatic load control definitions for EV charging infrastructure. Stakeholders in optimized dispatch of EV charging assets include the end users (EV drivers), site owner/operators, facility managers and utilities. NEC definition changes allow for ‘over subscription’ of more potential EV charging station load than can be continuously supported if the total load at any time is within the supply system safety limit. Local load control can be implemented via compact submeter(s) with locally hosted control algorithms using direct communication to the managed electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE).

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) technologies have the potential for considerable petroleum consumption reductions, possibly at the expense of increased tailpipe emissions due to multiple “cold” start events and improper use of the engine for PHEV specific operation. PHEVs operate predominantly as electric vehicles (EVs) with intermittent assist from the engine during high power demands. As a consequence, the engine can be subjected to multiple cold start events. These cold start events may have a significant impact on the tailpipe emissions due to degraded catalyst performance and starting the engine under less than ideal conditions. On current hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), the first cold start of the engine dictates whether or not the vehicle will pass federal emissions tests. PHEV operation compounds this problem due to infrequent, multiple engine cold starts.

Road vehicles can expend a significant amount of energy in undesirable vertical motions that are induced by road bumps, and much of that is dissipated in conventional shock absorbers as they dampen the vertical motions. Presented in this paper are some of the results of a study aimed at determining the effectiveness of efficiently transforming that energy into electrical power by using optimally designed regenerative electromagnetic shock absorbers. In turn, the electrical power can be used to recharge batteries or other efficient energy storage devices (e.g., flywheels) rather than be dissipated. The results of the study are encouraging - they suggest that a significant amount of the vertical motion energy can be recovered and stored.

The 4th Workshop of the Engine Combustion Network (ECN) was held September 5-6, 2015 in Kyoto, Japan. This manuscript presents a summary of the progress in experiments and modeling among ECN contributors leading to a better understanding of soot formation under the ECN “Spray A” configuration and some parametric variants. Relevant published and unpublished work from prior ECN workshops is reviewed. Experiments measuring soot particle size and morphology, soot volume fraction (fv), and transient soot mass have been conducted at various international institutions providing target data for improvements to computational models. Multiple modeling contributions using both the Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) Equations approach and the Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) approach have been submitted. Among these, various chemical mechanisms, soot models, and turbulence-chemistry interaction (TCI) methodologies have been considered.

This work presents a simple fan model that is based on the actuator disk approximation, and the blade element and vortex theory of a propeller. A set of equations are derived that require as input the rotational speed of the fan, geometric fan data, and the lift and drag coefficients of the blades. These equations are solved iteratively to obtain the body forces generated by the fan in the axial and circumferential directions. These forces are used as momentum sources in a CFD code to simulate the effect of the fan in an underhood thermal management simulation. To validate this fan model, a fan experiment was simulated. The model was incorporated into the CFD code STAR-CD and predictions were generated for axial and circumferential air velocities at different radial positions and at different planes downstream of the fan. The agreement between experimental measurements and predictions is good.

The authors investigated the reasons of how a preignition occurs in a highly boosted gasoline engine. Based on the authors' experimental results, theoretical investigations on the processes of how a particle of oil or solid comes out into the cylinder and how a preignition occurs from the particle. As a result, many factors, such as the in-cylinder temperature, the pressure, the equivalence ratio and the component of additives in the lubricating oil were found to affect the processes. Especially, CaCO3 included in an oil as an additive may be changed to CaO by heating during the expansion and exhaust strokes. Thereafter, CaO will be converted into CaCO3 again by absorbing CO2 during the intake and compression strokes. As this change is an exothermic reaction, the temperature of CaCO3 particle increases over 1000K of the chemical equilibrium temperature determined by the CO2 partial pressure.

A new combustion method of high compression ratio SI engine was studied and proposed in order to achieve higher thermal efficiency of SI engine comparable to that of CI engine. Compression ratio of SI engine is generally restricted by the knocking phenomena. A combustion chamber profile and a cranking mechanism are studied to avoid knocking with high compression ratio. Since reducing the end-gas temperature will suppress knocking, a combustion chamber was considered to have a wide surface at the end-gas region. However, wide surface will lead to high heat loss, which may cancel the gain of higher compression ratio operation. Thereby, a special cranking mechanism was adopted which allowed the piston to move rapidly near TDC. Numerical simulations were performed to optimize the cranking mechanism for achieving higher thermal efficiency. An elliptic gear system and a leaf-shape gear system were employed in the simulations.

In reciprocating internal combustion engines, the piston stops in a moment at top dead center (TDC), so there exists a necessary time to proceed combustion. However more slowing piston motion around TDC, does it have a possibility to produce the following effects? The slowed piston motion may expedite combustion proceed and increase cylinder pressure. This may lead to an increase of degree of constant volume. As a result, thermal efficiency may be improved. In order to verify this idea, two types of engines were tested. The first engine attained high cylinder pressure as expected. The P-V diagram formed an almost ideal Otto cycle. However, this did not contribute to the improvement in the thermal efficiency. Then the second engine with further slower piston motion by active piston control was tested in order to examine the above reason.

In an effort of providing better understanding of regeneration mechanisms of diesel particulate matter (PM), this experimental investigation focused on evaluating the amount of heat release generated during the thermal reaction of diesel PM and the concentrations of soluble organic compounds (SOCs) dissolved in PM emissions. Differences in oxidation behaviors were observed for two different diesel PM samples: a SOC-containing PM sample and a dry soot sample with no SOCs. Both samples were collected from a cordierite particulate filter membrane in a thermal reactor connected to the exhaust pipe of a light-duty diesel engine. A differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) were used to measure the amount of heat release during oxidation, along with subsequent oxidation rates and the concentrations of SOCs dissolved in particulate samples, respectively.