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A dimensionless relationship that estimates the maximum bearing load of a 4-cylinder 4-stroke in-line engine has been found. This relationship may assist the design engineer in choosing a desired counterweight mass. It has been demonstrated that: 1) the average bearing load increases with engine speed and 2) the maximum bearing load initially decreases with engine speed, reaches a minimum, then increases quickly with engine speed. This minimum refers to a transition speed at which the contribution of the inertia force overcomes the contribution of the maximum pressure force to the maximum bearing load. The transition speed increases with an increase of counterweight mass and is a function of maximum cylinder pressure and the operating parameters of the engine.

A quasi-dimensional multi-zone model for diesel spray combustion has been developed. The model contains most of the physical processes of diesel spray combustion, and is simplified and economical. The zone formation is based on the fuel injection parameters. For the wall jet penetration velocity, a new equation is used based on the effect of the impinging free jet on the wall jet. For the fuel evaporation, an approximate solution of the instantaneous variations of droplet diameter is given in the simple algebraic equations based on the individual effect of the evaporation and the heat transfer from ambient gas. The soot emission sub-model calculates the soot concentration. This model has been applied for a direct injection diesel engine. The calculated results have shown a reasonable agreement with the experimental results. A parametric study has been carried out.

High-speed video of combustion processes and cylinder pressure traces were obtained from a single-cylinder optical-accessible engine with a production four-valve cylinder head to study the mixture formation and flame propagation characteristics at near-stoichiometric start condition. Laser-sheet Mie-scattering images were collected for liquid droplet distributions inside the cylinder to correlate the mixture formation process with the combustion results. A dual-stream (DS) injector and a quad-stream (QS) injector were used to study the spray dispersion effect on engine starting, under different injection timings, throttle valve positions, engine speeds, and intake temperatures. It was found that most of the fuel under open-valve injection (OVI) conditions entered the cylinder as droplet mist. A significant part of the fuel droplets hit the far end of the cylinder wall at the exhaust-valve side.

With the development of intelligent and electric vehicles, higher requirements are put forward for the active braking and regenerative braking ability of the braking system. The traditional braking system equipped with vacuum booster has difficulty meeting the demand, therefore it has gradually been replaced by the integrated braking system. In this paper, a novel Integrated Braking System (IBS) is presented, which mainly contains a pedal feel simulator, a permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM), a series of transmission mechanisms, and the hydraulic control unit. As an integrative system of mechanics-electronics-hydraulics, the IBS has complex nonlinear characteristics, which challenge the accurate pressure control. Furthermore, it is a completely decoupled braking system, the pedal force doesn’t participate in pressure-building, so it is necessary to precisely identify driver’s braking intention.

The Electronic Stability Program (ESP), as a key actuator of traditional automobile braking system, plays an important role in the development of intelligent vehicles by accurately controlling the pressure of wheels. However, the ESP is a highly nonlinear controlled object due to the changing of the working temperature, humidity, and hydraulic load. In this paper, an accurate pressure control strategy of single wheel during active braking of ESP is proposed, which doesn’t rely on the specific parameters of the hydraulic system and ESP. First, the structure and working principle of ESP have been introduced. Then, we discuss the possibility of Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) control based on the mathematical model of the high-speed switching valve. Subsequently, the pressure building characteristics of the inlet and outlet valves are analyzed by the hardware in the Loop (HiL) experimental platform.

This paper has designed a real time control algorithm to use ISG motor actively compensate the torque ripple produced by the engine, to reduce torsional vibration. This paper consists of 3 parts. In the first section, this paper has introduced the research object and its modification for experiments. Then the development of control strategy is presented. The engine dynamic model is built, and real-time control with a feedforward unit and a feedback unit is derived. Encoder and cylinder pressure is used for engine torque estimator. Then the ISG motor output the counter-waveform to make the overall output smooth. In order to verify the effectiveness of the control strategy, the final section has established a test bench, where two experiments are carried out. One of the experimental conditions is to set the engine at a constant operating point, while the other is to crank the engine from 0 rpm to idle speed with ISG motor.

The objective of this work is to develop a strategy to reduce the penalties in the diesel engine performance, fuel economy and HC and CO emissions, associated with the operation in the low temperature combustion regime. Experiments were conducted on a research high speed, single cylinder, 4-valve, small-bore direct injection diesel engine equipped with a common rail injection system under simulated turbocharged conditions, at IMEP = 3 bar and engine speed = 1500 rpm. EGR rates were varied over a wide range to cover engine operation from the conventional to the LTC regime, up to the misfiring point. The injection pressure was varied from 600 bar to 1200 bar. Injection timing was adjusted to cover three different LPPCs (Location of the Peak rate of heat release due to the Premixed Combustion fraction) at 10.5° aTDC, 5 aTDC and 2 aTDC. The swirl ratio was varied from 1.44 to 7.12. Four steps are taken to move from LTC to ALTC.

Several mechanisms are discussed to understand the formation of both regulated and unregulated emissions in a high speed, direct injection, single cylinder diesel engine using low sulphur diesel fuel. Experiments were conducted over a wide range of injection pressures, EGR rates, injection timings and swirl ratios. The regulated emissions were measured by the standard emission equipment. Unregulated emissions such as aldehydes and ketones were measured by high pressure liquid chromatography and hydrocarbon speciation by gas chromatography. Particulate mass was measured with a Tapered Element Oscillating Microbalance (TEOM). Analysis was made of the sources of different emission species and their relationship with the combustion process under the different operating conditions. Special attention is given to the low temperature combustion (LTC) regime which is known to reduce both NOx and soot. However the HC, CO and unregulated emissions increased at a higher rate.

A better understanding is needed of the electrostatic rotating bell (ESRB) application of metallic basecoat paint to automobile exteriors in order to exploit their high transfer efficiency without compromising the coating quality. This paper presents the initial results from experimental investigation of sprays from an ESRB which is designed to apply water-borne paint. Water was used as paint surrogate for simplicity. The atomization and transport regions of the spray were investigated using laser light sheet visualizations and phase Doppler particle analyzer (PDPA). The experiments were conducted at varying levels of the three important operating parameters: liquid flow rate, shaping-air flow rate, and bellcup rotational speed. The results show that bellcup speed dominates atomization, but liquid and shaping-air flow rate settings significantly influence the spray structure. The visualization images showed that the atomization occurs in ligament breakup regime.

Acetone-Butanol-Ethanol (ABE), an intermediate product in the ABE fermentation process for producing bio-butanol, is considered a promising alternative fuel because it not only preserves the advantages of oxygenated fuel which typically emit less pollutants compared to conventional diesel, but also lowers the cost of fuel recovery for each individual component during the fermentation. With the development of advanced ABE fermentation technology, the volumetric percentage of acetone, butanol and ethanol in the bio-solvents can be precisely controlled. In this respect, it is desirable to estimate the performance of different ABE blends to determine the best blend and optimize the production process accordingly. ABE fuels with different component ratio, (A: B: E: 6:3:1; 3:6:1; 0:10:0, vol. %), were blended with diesel and tested in a constant volume chamber.

Stoichiometric dual-fuel compression ignition (SDCI) combustion has superior potential in both emission control and thermal efficiency. Split injection of diesel reportedly shows superiority in optimizing combustion phase control and increasing flexibility in fuel selection. This study focuses on split injection strategies in SDCI mode. The effects of main injection timing and pilot-to-total ratio are examined. Combustion phasing is found to be retarded in split injection when overmixing occurs as a result of early main injection timing. Furthermore, an optimised split injection timing can avoid extremely high pressure rise rate without great loss in indicated thermal efficiency while maintaining soot emission at an acceptable level. A higher pilot-to-total ratio always results in lower soot emission, higher combustion efficiency, and relatively superior ITE, but improvements are not significant with increased pilot-to-total ratio up to approximately 0.65.

This paper presents an integrated method for rapid modeling, simulation and virtual evaluation of the interface pressure between driver human body and seat. For simulation of the body-seat interaction and for calculation of the interface pressure, besides body dimensions and material characteristics an important aspect is the posture and position of the driver body with respect to seat. In addition, to ensure accommodation of the results to the target population usually several individuals are simulated, whose body anthropometries cover the scope of the whole population. The multivariate distribution of the body anthropometry and the sampling techniques are usually adopted to generate the individuals and to predict the detailed body dimensions. In biomechanical modeling of human body and seat, the correct element type, the rational settings of the contacts between different parts, the correct exertion of the loads to the calculation field, etc., are also crucial.

Polyoxymethylene dimethyl ethers (PODEn) have high cetane number, high oxygen content and high volatility, therefore can be added to gasoline to optimize the performance and soot emission of Gasoline Compression Ignition (GCI) combustion. High speed imaging was used to investigate the spray and combustion process of gasoline/PODEn blends (PODEn volume fraction 0%-30%) under various ambient conditions and injection strategies in a constant volume vessel. Results showed that with an increase of PODEn proportion from 10% to 30%, liquid-phase penetration of the spray increased slightly, ignition delay decreased from 3.8 ms to 2.0 ms and flame lift off length decreased 29.4%, causing a significant increase of the flame luminance. For blends with 20% PODEn, when ambient temperature decreased from 893 K to 823 K, the ignition delay increased 1.3 ms and the flame luminance got lower.

Advanced compression ignition combustion system which reduces simultaneously both nitride oxides (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) is a promising approach to meet future emission regulations. In order to achieve advanced compression ignition, flexible fuel injection is required for ultra-early and post-TDC injections, which conventional injector fails to accomplish due to wall-wetting effect. In this work, special injectors with the spray angle of 60 degree are applied on a 4 cylinder mass-production diesel engine without modification of the engine configuration. For application-oriented study, sweep experiments of injection timings and durations, fuel injection pressure and the boost pressure are carried out to investigate the relationships between the control parameters and the engine performance. Model based calibration and real application tests validate the maximum applicable operation range of maximum speed of 2200 RPM and IMEP of 8.0 bar.

In order to solve the coupling problems between braking safety, economical efficiency of braking and the comfort of drivers, a braking control strategy based on Electronically Controlled Braking System (EBS) and intelligent network technology under non-emergency braking conditions is proposed. The controller utilizes the intelligent network technology’s characteristics of the workshop communication to obtain the driving environment information of the current vehicle firstly, and then calculate the optimal braking deceleration of the vehicle based on optimal control method. The strategy will distribute the braking force according to the ideal braking force distribution condition based on the EBS according to the braking deceleration; the braking force will be converted to braking pressure according to brake characteristics. Computer co-simulations of the proposed strategy are performed, the strategy is verified under different initial speeds.

The direct injection gasoline spray-wall interaction was characterized inside a heated pressurized chamber using various visualization techniques, including high-speed laser-sheet macroscopic and microscopic movies up to 25,000 frames per second, shadowgraph, and doublespark particle image velocimetry. Two hollow cone high-pressure swirl injectors having different cone angles were used to inject gasoline onto a heated plate at two different impingement angles. Based on the visualization results, the overall transient spray impingement structure, fuel film formation, and preliminary droplet size and velocity were analyzed. The results show that upward spray vortex inside the spray is more obvious at elevated temperature condition, particularly for the wide-cone-angle injector, due to the vaporization of small droplets and decreased air density. Film build-up on the surface is clearly observed at both ambient and elevated temperature, especially for narrow cone spray.

This paper presents experimental studies of particulate emissions in a small SI engine fueled with LPG and gasoline fuels. A single cylinder, four-stroke, water-cooled, 125cc EFI engine with gasoline fuel is used as the baseline engine. Characteristics of the particulate emissions of the two fuels are compared. Test results show that: there are great quantities of particulate emissions for both fuels, but the total numbers of particulate emissions for the two fuels are generally in the same level. The distribution of the particulate sizes is in bimodal type for the gasoline, but for the LPG its first peak is not markedly in some conditions. The particulate sizes of the second peak for the two fuels appear at about the same size. At middle loads and 3000r/min, the particulate emissions for both of the two fuels are the greatest.

Recent research has shown that butanol, instead of ethanol, has the potential of introducing a more suitable blend in diesel engines. This is because butanol has properties similar to current transportation fuels in comparison to ethanol. However, the main downside is the high cost of the butanol production process. Acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) is an intermediate product of the fermentation process of butanol production. By eliminating the separation and purification processes, using ABE directly in diesel blends has the potential of greatly decreasing the overall cost for fuel production. This could lead to a vast commercial use of ABE-diesel blends on the market. Much research has been done in the past five years concerning spray and combustion processes of both neat ABE and ABE-diesel mixtures. Additionally, different compositions of ABE mixtures had been characterized with a similar experimental approach.

The characteristics of the diesel engine unit injector were studied both theoretically and experimentally. The transient fuel pressure in the unit injector was indirectly measured by using strain gauges placed in different locations on the drive train, between the cam and plunger. The events which take place during the injection process were analyzed and the effects of several design and operating variables on the different injection parameters were determined. Computer simulation showed a fairly good agreement between computed and experimental results.

Double-hole nozzle and multiple injections have the potential for better fuel atomization and mixing in DI engine. In order to evaluate the behavior of the spray for the double-hole nozzles against traditional single-hole ones, high-speed spray visualization was carried out using a streak film camera and a copper vapor laser, and in combination with a long-distance camera when taking microscopic movies. The spray penetration and the cone angle were measured based on the images and compared for variable injection pressures, and for single and split injections, under ambient and elevated chamber pressure conditions. The results showed that the spray of the double-hole nozzle has comparable penetration but smaller cone angle when viewed from the nozzle end, compared to the single-hole nozzle with the same total hole discharge cross-sectional area. For microscopic view, it was observed that the interaction between the dual sprays is very dynamic.