Search Results

Nowadays requirements towards a reduction in fuel consumption and pollutant emissions of Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) keep on pushing manufacturers to improve engines performance through the enhancement of existing subsystems (e.g.: electronic fuel injection, air systems) and the introduction of specific devices (e.g.: exhaust gas recirculation systems, SCR, …). Modern systems require a combined design and application of different after-treatment devices. Mathematical models are useful tools to investigate the complexity of different system layouts, to design and to validate (HIL/SIL testing) control strategies for the after-treatment management. This study presents a mean value model of an exhaust system with SCR; it has been coupled with a common rail diesel engine combustion black box model (Neural Network based). So, dedicated models for exhaust pipes, oxidation catalyst, diesel particulate filter and selective catalytic converter are developed.

Compression-ignited engines are still considered the most efficient and reliable technology for automotive applications. However, current and future emission regulations, which severely limit the production of NOx, particulate matter and CO2, hinder the use of diesel-like fuels. As a matter of fact, the spontaneous ignition of directly-injected Diesel leads to a combustion process that is heterogeneous by nature, therefore characterized by the simultaneous production of particulate matter and NOx. In this scenario, several innovative combustion techniques have been investigated over the past years, the goal being to benefit from the high thermal efficiency of compression-ignited engines, which results primarily from high Compression Ratio and lean and unthrottled operation, while simultaneously mitigating the amount of pollutant emissions.

In the last decades, NOx emissions legislations for Diesel engines are becoming more stringent than ever before and the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) is considered as the most suitable technology to comply with the upcoming constraints. Model-based control strategies are promising to meet the dual objective of maximizing NOx reduction and minimizing NH3 slip in urea-selective catalytic reduction. In this paper, a control oriented model of a Cu-zeolite urea-SCR system for automotive diesel engines is presented. The model is derived from a quasi-dimensional four-state model of the urea-SCR plant. To make it suitable for the real-time urea-SCR management, a reduced order one-state model has been developed, with the aim of capturing the essential behavior of the system with a low computational burden. Particularly, the model allows estimating the NH3 slip that is fundamental not only to minimize urea consumption but also to reduce this unregulated emission.

1 The Selective Catalytic reduction (SCR) using urea as reducing agent is currently regarded as the most promising after-treatment technology in order to comply with strict RDE targets for NOX and particulate in Diesel application. Model-based control strategies are promising to satisfy the demands of high NOX conversion efficiency and low tailpipe ammonia slip. This paper deals with the development of a control oriented model of a Cu-zeolite urea-SCR system for automotive Diesel engines. The model is intended to be used for the real-time urea-SCR management, depending on engine NOX emissions and ammonia storage. In order to ensure suitable computational demand for the on-board implementation, a reduced order one-state model of ammonia storage has been derived from a quasi-dimensional four-state model of the urea-SCR plant.

The increase in the fuel price and more stringent regulations on greenhouse gases (CO2) make the engine compression ignition technology even more attractive in the context of internal combustion engines. This is because the modern turbocharged direct injection engines, with the common rail fuel system, are characterized by high combustion efficiency and power density, that make them particularly suitable both for applications on and off road. On the other hand, the compression ignition engines are subject to a heavy technological developments to meet the more stringent regulations on emissions of exhaust pollutants, especially PM and NOx. The adopted technologies have two main approaches, on the combustion and on the exhaust gas aftertreatment. The measures applied for combustion can reduce emissions, but with the risk of penalizing the other engine performances, such as noise, power output and fuel consumption.

The Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) system installed on the exhaust line is currently widely used on Diesel heavy-duty trucks and it is considered a promising technique for light and medium duty trucks, large passenger cars and off-highway vehicles, to fulfill future emission legislation. Some vehicles of these last categories, equipped with SCR, have been already put on the market, not only in the US, where the emission legislation on Diesel vehicles is more restrictive, but also in Europe, demonstrating to be already compliant with the upcoming Euro 6. Moreover, new and more stringent emission regulations and homologation cycles are being proposed all over the world, with a consequent rapidly increasing interest for this technology. As a matter of fact, a physical model of the Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) supply system is very useful, not only during the product development phase, but also for the implementation of the on-board real-time controller.

Nowadays the high competition reached by the automotive market forces Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) towards innovative solutions. Strict emission standards and fuel economy targets make the work hard to be accomplished. Therefore modern engines feature complex architecture and embed new devices for Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR), turbocharging (e.g. multi-stage compressors), gas after-treatment (e.g. the Selective Catalyst Reduction (SCR)) and fuel injection (either high or low pressure). In this context the Engine Management System (EMS) plays a fundamental role to optimize engine operation. The paper deals with fuel spray and combustion simulation by a multi-zone phenomenological model aimed at the steady-state optimal tuning of the injection pattern.

The Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) system, installed on the exhaust line, is currently widely used on Diesel heavy-duty trucks and it is considered a promising technique for Euro 6 compliancy for light and medium duty trucks and bigger passenger cars. Moreover, new more stringent emission regulations and homologation cycles are being proposed for Euro 6c stage and they are scheduled to be applied by the end of 2017. In this context, the interest for SCR technology and its application on light-duty trucks is growing, with a special focus on its potential benefit in term of fuel consumption reduction, thanks to combustion optimization. Nevertheless, the need to warm up the exhaust gas line, to meet the required NOx conversion efficiency, remains an issue for such kind of applications.

Nowadays, compression-ignited engines are considered the most efficient and reliable technology for automotive applications. However, mainly due to the current emission regulations, that require increasingly stringent reductions of NOx and particulate matter, the use of diesel-like fuels is becoming a critical issue. For this reason, a large amount of research and experimentation is being carried out to investigate innovative combustion techniques suitable to simultaneously mitigate the production of NOx and soot, while improving engine efficiency. In this scenario, the combined use of compression-ignited engines and gasoline-like fuels proved to be very promising, especially in case the fuel is directly-injected in the combustion chamber at high pressure. The presented study analyzes the combustion process produced by the direct injection of small amounts of gasoline in a compression-ignited light-duty engine.

In the past years, stringent emission regulations for Internal Combustion (IC) engines produced a large amount of research aimed at the development of innovative combustion methodologies suitable to simultaneously reduce fuel consumption and engine-out emissions. Previous research demonstrates that the goal can be obtained through the so-called Low Temperature Combustions (LTC), which combine the benefits of compression-ignited engines, such as high compression ratio and unthrottled lean operation, with a properly premixed air-fuel mixture, usually obtained injecting gasoline-like fuels with high volatility and longer ignition delay. Gasoline Partially Premixed Combustion (PPC) is a promising LTC technique, mainly characterized by the high-pressure direct-injection of gasoline and the spontaneous ignition of the premixed air-fuel mixture through compression, which showed a good potential for the simultaneous reduction of fuel consumption and emissions in CI engines.

While the Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) is actually a quasi-standard equipment in the European Diesel passenger cars market, an interesting solution to fulfill NOx emission limits for the next EU 6 legislation is the application of a Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) system on the exhaust line, to drastically reduce NOx emissions. In this context, one of the main issues is the performance of the SCR system during cold start and warm up phases of the engine. The exhaust temperature is too low to allow thermal activation of the reactor and, consequently, to promote high conversion efficiency and significant NOx concentration reduction. This is increasingly evident the smaller the engine displacement, because of its lower exhaust system temperature (reduced gross power while producing the same net power, i.e., higher efficiency).

New and upcoming exhaust emissions regulations and fuel consumption reduction requirements are forcing the development of innovative and particularly complex intake-engine-exhaust layouts. Especially in the case of Compression Ignition (CI) engines, the HC-CO-NOx-PM after-treatment system is becoming extremely expensive and sophisticated, and the necessity to further reduce engine-out emission levels, without significantly penalizing fuel consumption figures, may lead to the adoption of intricate and challenging intake-exhaust systems configurations. The adoption of both long- and short-route Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) systems is one example of such situation, and the need to precisely measure (or estimate) mass flow rates in the various elements of the gas exchange circuit is one of the consequences.