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To reduce greenhouse gas emissions such as CO2, automakers are actively pursuing alternative propulsion systems. Improvements to current engine technology are being investigated along with new power plant technologies. Fuel Cell Vehicles offer an exciting option by producing electric power through a reaction that combines hydrogen and oxygen to make water. However, hydrogen storage onboard vehicles and construction of an expensive hydrogen distribution and fueling infrastructure remain as challenges today. In addition, greenhouse gas emissions from the production of hydrogen must be considered since most hydrogen is currently produced from non-renewable sources. While these issues are being worked on, Renault has chosen to pursue a fuel cell vehicle with a fuel processor that converts gasoline and other liquid fuels to hydrogen onboard the vehicle.

Studies using a bi-fuelled (autogas/gasoline) Renault Laguna vehicle meeting °the 1996 European exhaust emission legislation has demonstrated that over the European test cycle at 25°C the LPG operated vehicle provides substantial benefits of reduced emissions compared to unleaded reference gasoline. At lower test temperatures (i.e. 5°C) even larger reduction in emissions have been observed. Lower CO (up to 95% at -5°C and 65% at 25°C), HC (90% at -5°C and 40% at 25°C) emissions and lower ozone HC reactivity have been observed and could all offer significant environmental air-quality benefits for LPG. Various autogas mixtures have been tested including 70/30, 30/70 and 49/30/21 (% mass propane / butane / propene). Results show that NOx emissions for this vehicle appear dependent on autogas composition. The two gas mixtures containing only 30% butane gave about 50% more NOx at +25°C than the 70% butane autogas mixture.

3D simulations of internal combustion engines are usually based on statistical approaches (RANS) that may not allow predicting cycle-to-cycle variations (CCV) or transient speeds because part of this information is lost by the averaging procedure. To simulate such phenomena, it requires time resolved approaches. Therefore, large eddy simulation (LES), which only involves a spatial averaging, appears to be a very promising tool. An LES approach is applied to simulate the flow field inside one cylinder taken from a real four-valve diesel engine mounted on an experimental particle image velocimetry (PIV) bench. Preliminary tests are carried out to evaluate the industrial code capabilities. A multi-cycle calculation is computed in cold flow, in order to evaluate its ability to simulate cycle-to-cycle variations (CCV).

Reduction of pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions is one of the main objectives of car manufacturers and innovative solutions have to be considered to achieve this goal. Electric vehicles, and in particular Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles, appear to be a promising alternative. Renault is therefore investigating the technical and economic viability of a Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (FCEV). A basic question of this study is the choice of the fuel that will be used for this kind of vehicle. Liquid fuels such as gasoline, diesel, naphtha, and gas-to-liquid can be a bridge for the introduction of fuel cell technologies while hydrogen infrastructure and storage are investigated. Therefore, multi-fuel Fuel Processor Systems that can convert liquid fuels to hydrogen while meeting automotive constraints are desired. Renault and Nuvera have joined forces to tackle this issue in a 3-year program where the objective is to develop and to integrate a Fuel Processor System (FPS) on a vehicle.

Engine knock is an important phenomenon that needs consideration in the development of gasoline fueled engines. In our days, this development is supported by the use of numerical simulation tools to further understand and subsequently predict in-cylinder processes. In this work, a model tool chain based on detailed chemical and physical models is proposed to predict the auto-ignition behavior of fuels with different octane ratings and to evaluate the transition from harmless auto-ignitive deflagration to knocking combustion. In our method, the auto-ignition and emissions are calculated based on a new reaction scheme for mixtures of iso-octane, n-heptane, toluene and ethanol (Ethanol consisting Toluene Reference Fuel, ETRF). The reaction scheme is validated for a wide range of mixtures and every desired mixture of the four fuel components can be applied in the engine simulation.

This paper presents an innovative methodology and the corresponding results of a study whose goal is to identify the main links between in-cylinder charge motion and the development of combustion without taking into consideration how to create this charge motion (shape of the intake ducts, valve timing, etc …). During this study a specific methodology was developed and used. It is based on the calculation of a “3D numerical test bench” matrix planned following the Design Of Experiments method. Many aerodynamic configurations obtained by combining the three main aerodynamic motions with several different intensities (tumble, cross-tumble or swirl) at the intake valve closing were calculated.

An extensive research program involving the French passenger car and heavy-duty (HD) vehicles manufacturers, sponsored by ADEME and realized by IFP, aimed to characterize in terms of size and composition the particulate emitted by the different engine technologies currently or soon available. The impact of engine settings and fuel composition was also studied. Numerous information was collected in this HD study revealing that fuel composition and particularly non-conventional fuels and engine settings strongly impact the particulate concentration and size distribution. Nucleation is likely to occur when there is less adsorption matter, for instance when post-injection is used or EGR is removed. Particulate composition, particularly PAH and sulfates content, is weakly bound to the size. Mineral elements distribution depends on their origin, lubrication oil or engine wear.

This paper presents a combustion study of gasoline anti-knock quality effects on turbocharged MPI SI engine performances. A comparative analysis between many fuels covering various Research Octane Number (RON), Motor Octane Number (MON) and sensitivity (RON-MON) is described. The study was conducted on steady state test bench, using a four cylinder 2 L engine. In turbocharged gasoline engines, knock resistance is more than ever a crucial issue to achieve high performance and good customer's consumption level. Octane level is therefore a fuel key parameter. Considering thermodynamic aspects of such combustion at full load, performances, fuel consumption and engine thermal strains are evaluated for each tested fuel. An important influence of RON at iso sensitivity was observed. Because of the extreme conditions met on turbocharged gasoline engine, the impact of RON is exacerbated on such engine and illustrates the great benefits of an increase RON fuel.

This presented paper deals with NOx trap sulphur poisoning and its regeneration. Sulphur poisoning has been studied with different SO2 gas concentrations under laboratory and engine test bench conditions. The sulphur poisoning studies have shown that the different NOx-traps available in the market have different behaviours toward SO2 poisoning and are all very sensitive to it. The results outline a non linear relationship of the NOx trap sulphur poisoning as a function of SO2 concentration. For instance, engine bench tests show that with a 50 and a 110ppm sulphur containing gasoline, a decrease of 50% in the NOx-trap storage capacity is respectively observed after 20 and 15 hours. With a gasoline containing 20ppm of sulphur, the same deactivation level is observed after 90 hours.

A new simulation approach to the modeling of the whole fuel injection process within a common-rail fuel injection system for direct-injection gasoline engines, including the pressure-swirl atomizer and the conical hollow-cone spray formed at the nozzle exit, is presented. The flow development in the common-rail fuel injection system is simulated using an 1-D model which accounts for the wave dynamics within the system and predicts the actual injection pressure and injection rate throughout the nozzle. The details of the flow inside its various flow passages and the discharge hole of the pressure-swirl atomizer are investigated using a two-phase CFD model which calculates the location of the liquid-gas interface using the VOF method and estimates the transient formation of the liquid film developing on the walls of the discharge hole due to the centrifugal forces acting on the swirling fluid.

An ongoing program has made further technology advances in onboard fuel processors for use with PEM fuel cells. These systems are being explored as an option for reducing vehicle CO2 emissions and for other benefits such as fuel-flexibility that would allow vehicles to operate on a range of bio-fuels, conventional fuels, and synthetic fuels to support diversification and/or “greening” of the fuel supply. As presented at the 2006 SAE World Congress1, Renault and Nuvera Fuel Cells previously developed fuel processor technology that achieved automotive size (80 liters) and power (1.4 g/s of hydrogen production) and reduced the startup time from more than 60 minutes to between 1.4 and 3.7 minutes to have CO <100 ppm. This paper presents an overview of the multi-fuel fuel cell power plant along with advances in the fuel processing system (FPS) technology and the testing results obtained since those reported in 2006.

The target of substantial CO₂ reductions in the spirit of the Kyoto Protocol as well as higher engine efficiency requirements has increased research efforts into hybridization of passenger cars. In the frame of this hybridization, there is a real need to develop small Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) with high power density. The two-stroke cycle can be a solution to reach these goals, allowing reductions of engine displacement, size and weight while maintaining good NVH, power and consumption levels. Reducing the number of cylinders, could also help reduce engine cost. Taking advantage of a strong interaction between the design office, 0D system simulations and 3D CFD computations, a specific methodology was set up in order to define a first optimized version of a two-stroke uniflow diesel engine. The main geometrical specifications (displacement, architecture) were chosen at the beginning of the study based on a bibliographic pre-study and the power target in terms.

In this study, different designs of intake ports for two-stroke Ultra Low Cost Gasoline Direct Injection Engine (ULC-GE) has been analyzed to conclude on best design using steady state analysis in STAR-CD. The four types of intake ports design with two cylinders, each having fourteen ports, have been studied. The basic differences in designs are horizontal inlet entry (perpendicular to cylinder axis) and vertical inlet entry (in-line with cylinder axis) having rotation of flow clockwise and anticlockwise. Each type is further differentiated in eight cases with varying distances between axis of two-cylinder as 85mm, 88mm, 91 mm, 94 mm, 97 mm, 100 mm, 105 mm and 112 mm. These designs are analyzed for four different pressure drops as 10 mbar, 50 mbar, 100 mbar and 150 mbar.

The objective of this paper is to present the results of the GT Power calibration with engine test results of the air loop system technology down selection described in the SAE Paper No. 2012-01-0831. Two specific boosting systems were identified as the preferred path forward: (1) Super-turbo with two speed Roots type supercharger, (2) Super-turbo with centrifugal mechanical compressor and CVT transmission both downstream a Fixed Geometry Turbine. The initial performance validation of the boosting hardware in the gas stand and the calibration of the GT Power model developed is described. The calibration leverages data coming from the tests on a 2 cylinder 2-stroke 0.73L diesel engine. The initial flow bench results suggested the need for a revision of the turbo matching due to the big gap in performance between predicted maps and real data. This activity was performed using Honeywell turbocharger solutions spacing from fixed geometry waste gate to variable nozzle turbo (VNT).

In order to address the CO₂ emissions issue and to diversify the energy for transportation, CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) is considered as one of the most promising alternative fuels given its high octane number. However, gaseous injection decreases volumetric efficiency, impacting directly the maximal torque through a reduction of the cylinder fill-up. To overcome this drawback, both independent natural gas and gasoline indirect injection systems with dedicated engine control were fitted on a RENAULT 2.0L turbocharged SI (Spark Ignition) engine and were adapted for simultaneous operation. The main objective of this innovative combination of gas and liquid fuel injections is to increase the volumetric efficiency without losing the high knocking resistance of methane.

To improve the prediction of the combustion processes in spark ignition engines, a 0D flame/wall interaction submodel has been developed. A two-zones combustion model is implemented and the designed submodel for the flame/wall interaction is included. The flame/wall interaction phenomenon is conceived as a dimensionless function multiplying the burning rate equation. The submodel considers the cylinder shape and the flame surface that spreads inside the combustion chamber. The designed function represents the influence of the cylinder walls while the flame surface propagates across the cylinder. To determine the validity of the combustion model and the flame/wall interaction submodel, the system was tested using the available measurements on a 2 liter SI engine. The model was validated by comparing simulated cylinder pressure and energy release rate with measurements. A good agreement between the implemented model and the measurements was obtained.