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The efficiency of the NOx Storage and Reduction (NSR) catalysts used in the aftertreatment of diesel engine exhaust gases can potentially be increased by using reactive reductants such as CO and H₂ that are formed during in-cylinder combustion. In this study, a multi-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code coupled with complex chemical analysis was used to study combustion with various fuel after-injection patterns. The results obtained will be useful in designing fuel injection strategies for the efficient formation of CO.

In order to correspond to the exhaust emissions regulations that become severe every year, more advanced engine control becomes necessary. Engine engineers are concerned about the Hydrocarbons (HCs) that flow through the air-intake ports and that are difficult to precisely control. The main sources of the HCs are, the canister purge, PCV, back-flow gas through the intake valves, and Air / Fuel ratio (A/F) may be aggravated when they flow into the combustion chambers. The influences HCs give on the A/F may also grow even greater, which is due to the increasingly stringent EVAP emission regulations, by more effective ventilation in the crankcase, and also by the growth of the VVT-operated angle and timing, respectively. In order to control the A/F more correctly, it is important to estimate the amount of HCs that are difficult to manage, and seek for suitable controls over fuel injection and so on.

A multi-dimensional numerical method for predicting the warm-up characteristic of automobile catalytic converter systems was developed to effectively design catalytic converter systems which achieve low tail pipe emissions with satisfactory packagebility. The features of the method are; (1) consideration of the governing phenomena such as gas flow, heat transfer, and chemical reactions (2) capability of predicting warm-up characteristic for not only the catalytic converters but also the system as a whole during emission test modes such as the USA LA-4 mode. The description of the method is presented. The experimental verifications of the method were conducted to assure the accuracy of it. The effect of design parameters such as electrically heated catalyst (EHC), high loading of noble metal and thin honeycomb wall on warm-up characteristic of the catalyst are analyzed in the paper.

A new proportional collection system for extremely low tailpipe emission measurement in transient conditions has been developed. The new system can continuously sample a minute flow of exhaust gas, at a rate that is proportional to the engine exhaust rate. A zero grade gas dilution technique is utilized to prevent the influence of pollutants in atmospheric air that are the same concentration level as those in the exhaust gas. The system has accuracy within ±5%. For the direct exhaust gas flow meter, a pitot tube type flow meter is utilized as it is simple, heat resistant, sufficiently accurate and has low flow-resistance characteristic. For the collection and dilution controllers, two mass flow controllers (MFC) were adopted. The MFCs' output can be adversely influenced by variation of the specific heat of the sample gas, resulting in flow reporting error.

The particle number (PN) emission regulation has been implemented since 2011 in Europe. PN measurement procedure defined in ECE regulation No. 83 requires detecting only solid particles by eliminating volatile particles, the concentrations of which are highly influenced by dilution conditions, using a volatile particle remover (VPR). To measure PN concentration after the VPR, a particle number counter (PNC) which has detection threshold at a particle size of 23 nm is used, because most solid particles generated by automotive engines are considered to be larger than 23 nm. On the other hand, several studies have reported the existence of solid and volatile particles smaller than 23 nm in engine exhaust. This paper describes investigation into a measurement method for ultrafine PNCs with thresholds of below 23 nm and evaluation of the VPR performance for the particles in this size range. The detection efficiency of an ultrafine PNC was verified by following the ECE regulation procedure.

The characteristics of exhausted smoke of a methanol DI diesel engine which is ignited by diesel fuel are investigated to clarify the soot formation process. At this engine, very little smoke is exhausted when diesel fuel is kept below a certain amount, so soot and smoke emitting characteristics are studied under the various diesel fuel amounts. By analyzing microstructure of soot, it is found that the soot emitted from the methanol diesel engine is composed of inner core and outer shell, similar to that of the conventional diesel engines. From more detailed qualitative analysis, the calcium percentage from the lubricating oil in outer shell is much higher than that of the conventional diesel engines. In consideration of soot characteristics, spray structure and combustion characteristics, the soot formation process of the methanol diesel engine was clarified.

The effects of multiple-injection on exhaust emissions and performance in a small HSDI (High Speed Direct Injection) Diesel engine were examined. The causes for the improvement were investigated using both in-cylinder observation and three-dimensional numerical analysis methods. It is possible to increase the maximum torque, which is limited by the exhaust smoke number, while decreasing the combustion noise under low speed and full load conditions by advancing the timing of the pilot injection. Dividing this early-timed pilot injection into two with a small fuel amount is effective for further decreasing the noise while suppressing the increase in HC emission and fuel consumption. This is realized by the reduced amount of adhered fuel to the cylinder wall. At light loads, the amount of pilot injection fuel must be reduced, and the injection must be timed just prior to the main injection in order to suppress a possible increase in smoke and HC.

Technologies of 4WD chassis dynamometers (CHDY hereinafter) have advanced dramatically over the past several years, enabling 4WD vehicles to be tested without modifying their drive-train into 2WD. These advances have opened the use of 4WD-CHDY in all fuel economy and emission evaluation tests. In this paper, factors that influence the accuracy of fuel economy tests on 4WD CHDY are discussed. Fuel economy tests were conducted on 4WD CHDY and we found that most of the vehicle mechanical loss is the tire loss and that stabilizing the tire loss of the test vehicle is essential for the test reproducibility.

The present paper describes an application of non-parametric shape optimization to disc brake squeal phenomena. A main problem is defined as complex eigenvalue problem in which the real part of the complex eigenvalue causing the brake squeal is chosen as an objective cost function. The Fre´chet derivative of the objective cost function with respect to the domain variation, named as the shape derivative of the objective cost function, is evaluated using the solution of the main problem and the adjoint problem. A selection criterion of the adoptive mode number in component mode synthesis (CMS), which is used in the main problem, is presented in order to reduce the computational error in complex eigenvalue pairs. A scheme to solve the shape optimization problem is presented using an iterative algorithm based on the H1 gradient method for reshaping. For an application of the optimization method, a numerical example of a practical disc brake model is presented.

A newly-developed time resolved exhaust gas analysis system was utilized in this study. The hydrocarbon compositions upstream and downstream of the catalytic converter were investigated during cold start and warm up of the Federal Test Procedure(FTP), with three fuels of different aromatic contents. Although engine-out hydrocarbon emissions had high concentrations right after cold start, the specific reactivity was low. This can be explained by the selective adsorption of the high boiling point components which had a high Maximum Incremental Reactivity (MIR) in the intake manifold and engine-oil films. Thereafter, the high boiling point components were desorbed rapidly and consequently specific reactivity increased. Hydrocarbon adsorption of high boiling point components and hydrocarbon conversion of low boiling point components occurred simultaneously on the catalyst during warm up.

CARB (California Air Resources Board) has required the evaporative emissions to be restricted to 1/4th of the parameter stated in the 1995 regulations. Furthermore, hydrocarbons (hereafter, HC) from the fuel system must be reduced to near 0.0 grams, according to the PZEV (Partial Zero Emission Vehicle) regulations enforced from 2003. The wet film in intake ports and fuel leaking from the injector nozzles evaporate and diffuse while the car is parked, and consequently may cause HC to leak the air cleaner inlet. The air cleaner which prevents HC leakage from the air intake system is already in mass production. In the course of designing this product to be installed in a vehicle, the authors developed a method to estimate the amount of HC that reaches the air cleaner. Based on detailed investigation on HC distribution and the changes that occur during parking, the HC amount reaching the air cleaner was calculated by both the equation of diffusion and the equation of state.

It has been reported that the middle range of gasoline distillation temperatures strongly affects vehicle driveability and exhaust hydrocarbon (HC) emissions, and that MTBE(CH3-O-C4H9)- blended gasoline causes poor driveability during warm-up. The present paper is concerned with the results of subsequent detailed research on gasoline characteristics, exhaust emissions and driveability. In this paper, first it is demonstrated by using four models of passenger cars having different types of exhaust gas treatment system that decreased 50% distillation temperature (T50) reduces exhaust HC emission. This result indicates lowering T50 in the market will contribute to improving air quality. Secondly gasoline behavior in the intake manifold is investigated by using an engine on the dynamometer in order to clarify the mechanisms of HC emission increase and poor engine response which are caused by high T50.

This report describes the implementation of the spark channel short circuit and blow-out submodels, which were described in the previous report, into a spark ignition model. The spark channel which is modeled by a particle series is elongated by moving individual spark particles along local gas flows. The equation of the spark channel resistance developed by Kim et al. is modified in order to describe the behavior of the current and the voltage in high flow velocity conditions and implemented into the electrical circuit model of the electrical inductive system of the spark plug. Input parameters of the circuit model are the following: initial discharge energy, inductance, internal resistance and capacitance of the spark plug, and the spark channel length obtained by the spark channel model. The instantaneous discharge current and the voltage are obtained as outputs of the circuit model.

The authors have developed an instrument that measures the CO2 concentration in engine combustion chambers using the infrared absorption method. The characteristics of this technology are as follows: 1 Measuring can be carried out while the engine is running at 600r/min to more than 3000r/min, full load operation. (Applicable to all EGR conditions) 2 Quick response; 2ms 3 High linearity; ±1% Full Scale and under (FS: 10%) 4 No aggravation is caused to the intake/exhaust performance of engines This technology contributes to the improvement of the in-cylinder EGR system using, for instance, a variable valve-timing mechanism that is now expanding in number of applications, and also the conventional EGR system.

In recent years, enhancing engine thermal efficiency is strongly required. Since the maximum engine thermal efficiency is especially important for HVs, the technologies for improving engine thermal efficiency have been developed. The current gasoline engines for hybrid vehicles have Atkinson cycle with high expansion ratio and cooled exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) system. These technologies contribute to raise the brake engine thermal efficiency to more than 38%.In the near future the consumers demand will push the limit to 40% thermal efficiency. To enhance engine thermal efficiency, it is essential to improve the engine anti-knock quality and to decrease the engine cooling heat loss. To comply with improving the anti-knock quality and decreasing the cooling heat loss, it is known that the cooled EGR is an effective way.

Means for reducing the particulate matter (PM) from swirl chamber type diesel engines were searched out, and the reducing mechanisms were examined using an optically accessible engine. The following points were clarified in this study. 1. At light load, the suppression of the initial injection rate reduces PM, because SOF is reduced by the change in ignition point and smoke is reduced by the retarded flowout of the dense soot from the swirl chamber 2. Under medium and high load conditions, the main cause of the exhaust smoke is fierce spray-wall impingement which leads to fuel adhesion on the wall and the stagnation of a rich fuel-air mixture. 3. Enlarging swirl chamber volume ratio suppresses the formation of dense soot in the swirl chamber. In the main chamber, however, the soot oxidization becomes insufficient due to the mixing effect reduced by the essentially decreased chamber depth. 4.

This research aimed to identify how combustion characteristics are affected by the addition of hydrogen to methane, which is the main components of natural gas, and to study a combustion method that takes advantage of the properties of the blended fuel. It was found that adding hydrogen did not achieve a thermal efficiency improvement effect under stoichiometric conditions because cooling loss increased. The same result was obtained under EGR stoichiometric conditions. In contrast, under lean burn conditions, higher thermal efficiency and lower NOx than with methane combustion was achieved by utilizing the wide flammability range of hydrogen to expand the lean limit. Although NOx can be decreased easily by the addition of large quantities of hydrogen, the substantially lower energy density of the fuel causes a substantial reduction in cruising range. Consequently, this research improved the combustion of a CNG engine by increasing the tumble ratio to 1.8.

Among the challenges for the future facing the development of gasoline engines, one of the most important is the reduction of particles emissions. This study proposes a critical and objective evaluation of the influence of fuel characteristics on gasoline particles emission through the use of Fuel Particle Indices. For this, a selected fuel matrix composed of 22 fuels was built presenting different volatility and chemical composition (content in total aromatics, heavy cuts and ethanol). To represent the fuel sooting tendency, seven Fuel Particle Indices were selected based on a literature review, namely, Particulate Matter Index (PMI), Particulate Number index (PNI), Threshold Sooting index (TSI), Smoke point (SP), Oxygen Extended Sooting Index (OESI), Simplified index 1 and 2 (sPMI 1, sPMI 2). These indices were computed on the fuel matrix and compared on the basis of three main axes. First, the sensitivity to fuel variation.

Piston ring moving zone in the cylinder is one of the most critical lubrication regimes in diesel engines. This area is susceptible to combustion substances. In particular, abnormal wear is occasionally detected due to Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) system equipment. In Japan, NOx emission requirements for passenger car diesels have become more stringent effective October 1, 1986. OEMs tend to apply EGR systems to reduce NOx in exhaust gas. In order to identify the phenomenon of abnormal cylinder wear of EGR equipped engine, engine bench tests were conducted under varied conditions in EGR equipment, cooling water temperature and fuel sulfur content. The test results suggest that wear caused at low temperature is mainly corrosive wear attributable to sulfuric acid formed by reaction with fuel sulfur and condensed water.

A lean burn engine is effective in reducing fuel consumption. NOX storage-reduction catalysts (NSR catalyst) have been developed for these engines. In order to improve the performance of NSR catalysts, suppression of sulfur poisoning, which is one of the main causes of NSR catalyst deactivation, must be improved. In this paper, the sulfur desorption phenomenon has been analyzed from a novel point of view. Based on these results, an NSR catalyst with improved sulfur resistance has been developed by incorporation of highly dispersed titania, and use of a heat resistant zirconia with enhanced basicity.