Earticle

This paper presents a model predictive control (MPC) based on a neural network (NN) model for air/fuel ration (AFR) control of automotive engines. The novelty of the paper is that the severe nonlinearity of the engine dynamics are modelled by a NN to a high precision, and adaptation of the NN model can cope with system uncertainty and time varying effects. A single dimensional optimization algorithm is used in the paper to speed up the optimization so that it can be implemented to the engine fast dynamics. Simulations on a widely used mean value engine model (MVEM) demonstrate effectiveness of the developed method.

The purpose of this study is to verify the effects of a port throttling and 1/4 diagonal port masking of an intake port of an SI engine. The fuel consumption rate increased with port throttling and masking under all operating conditions. However, the rapid combustion effect was increased in all operating conditions. It is consider that this is more influential on the suction resistance than the combustion efficiency increase through intake control. In addition, the increase in the burning velocity indicates that the flame propagation speed is increased by increasing the swirl moment during combustion.

The effect of gasoline-ethanol blends on performance and NOx emission was investigated in a SI engine with port and direct fuel injection systems. The 1-D cycle simulation program of GT-Power was utilized to analyze the performance of thermodynamic cycle. The results showed that the brake torques are increased with the addition of ethanol to gasoline because of the improvements of volumetric efficiency. The engine with direct ethanol blends injection system has more power than that with port gaoline injection system, which is caused by the higher latent heat of ethanol.

An AVL research engine, type 520, is modified to adapt to the 3.5L four-valve SI engine. With these given engine configurations, a test rig is constructed which allows easy changing of the different pistons and engine heads with a motoring capacity up to 3500 rpm. Nearly complete optical access to the inside of the cylinder is obtained by installing a transparent quartz cylinder on an AVL single cylinder engine. To avoid lubrication and to minimize scratches in the quartz cylinder the piston rings are made of Rulon-LD. With this experimental engine, researches for the in-cylinder flow characteristics by changing the induction system have been carried out using the laser based flow diagnostic techniques. In accordance with the previous result, it is evident that larger sized particles would be required in order to observe the flow characteristics of interest. The flow visualization taken with microballoon particles shows significant improvement. This provide detailed information.

In-cylinder flows in a motored 3.5L four-valve SI engine are investigated quantitatively using three-dimensional LDV system to determine how intake system affects the flow field. For this study, the same engine head, cylinder, and piston are used. The purpose of this work is to develop quantitative methods which correlate in-cylinder flows to engine performance. The LDV results reveal that collision regions and zones around vortices can be traced as the origins of turbulent kinetic energy. High levels of turbulent kinetic energy are found in regions of high shear flow, attributed to the collisions of intake flows. These specific results support the more general conclusion that the inlet conditions play the dominant role in the generation of the turbulence fields during the intake stroke.

This experimental work was performed to reveal the effect of intake air temperature on the improvement of performance and exhaust emissions in a SI engine. To achieve this, fuel consumption rate, combustion pressure, rate of heat release, and reduction of exhaust emissions were measured and compared in 4-cylinder spark ignition engine. It was founded that lower intake air temperature can lead higher combustion pressure and heat release rate due to the higher intake air flow rate, volumetric efficiency, and fuel consumption rate. At the same time, higher intake air temperature leads to the longer ignition delay time, therefore, retarded ignition of engine was observed. Lower CO and HC values were also observed as the intake air temperature increases.

The effects of intake system on turbulent kinetic energy for the in-cylinder flow of a four-valve SI engine were studied. For this study, the same head, cylinder, and the piston were used to examine turbulence characteristics in two different intake systems. In-cylinder flow measurements were conducted using three dimensional LDV system. The measurement method, which simultaneously collects 3-D velocity data, allowed a evaluation of turbulent kinetic energy inside a cylinder. High levels of turbulent kinetic energy were found in regions of high shear flow, attributed to the collisions of intake flows. These specific results support the more general conclusion that the slightly offset direction of the intake system produced higher in-cylinder velocities on the +x-axis side of the cylinder which caused some asymmetric flow patterns about the z-axis. Higher levels of turbulent kinetic energy prevailed in zones of mean velocity collisions and regions where significant directional changes in the mean velocity patterns occurred.

On cold start operation of an SI engine, a catalyst shows poor performance before it reaches activation temperature. Therefore, fast warmup of the catalyst is very crucial to reduce harmful emissions. In this study, an appropriate control strategy is investigated to increase exhaust gas temperature through changes of spark timing. Combustion stability is also considered at the same time. Exhaust gas temperature and pressure of combustion chamber are measured to investigate the effects of spark timings on cold start and idle performance. Experiments showed that retarded spark timing promotes the combustion at the end of expansion stroke and increases exhaust gas temperature during cold start.

On cold start operation of an SI engine, a catalyst shows poor performance before it reaches activation temperature. Therefore, fast warmup of the catalyst is very crucial to reduce harmful emissions. In this study, an appropriate control strategy is investigated to increase exhaust gas temperature through changes of spark timing and exhaust valve timing. Combustion stability is also considered at the same time. Experiments showed that retarded spark timing promotes the combustion at the end of expansion stroke and increases exhaust gas temperature during cold start.An advance of exhaust valve timing decreases residual gas in cylinders due to decrease of valve overlap period. It helps improvement combustion stability by virtue of reduced residual gas. A control strategy of proper valve timing and spark timing is suggested in order to achieve fast light-off of the catalyst and stable operation of the engine in a cold start and idle operation

The current scenario of the transportation sector reflects the urgent need to address issues such as depletion of traditional fuel reserves and ever growing pollution levels. Researchers around the world are focussing on alternatives as well as optimisation of currently employed devices to reduce the pollution levels generated by the commonly used fuels. One such optimisation involves the study of air flow within the intake manifolds of SI engines. It is a well-known fact that alterations in the air manifolds of engines have a significant impact on the engine performance parameters, fuel consumption and emission levels. Previous works have demonstrated the impacts of runner lengths, diameter, plenum volume, taper angle of distribution manifolds and other factors on in-cylinder fluid motion and engine performance. However, a static setup provides an optimal configuration only at a specific engine speed. This paper aims to investigate the variations in the same parameters on a four stroke, naturally aspirated single cylinder SI engine through varying the cross section design over the intake runner with the aid of Computational Fluid Dynamics. The system consists of segments that form the intake runner with projections on the inside that allow various permutations of the intake runner segments. The various configurations provide the optimised fluid flow characteristics within the intake manifold at specific engine speed intervals. The variations such as turbulence, air fuel mixing are analysed using the three dimensional CFD software FLUENT. The results can be used further for developing an automated or manually adjustable intake manifold.

Emission reduction in the cold start period of SI engines is crucial to meet stringent emission regulations such as SULEV Emissoin reduction is the starting point of the study in the which the variable valve timing (VVT) technology may be one promising method to minimize cold start emissions while maintaining engine performance. This is because it is possible to change valve overlap and residual gas fraction during cold start and idle operations. Our previous study showed that spark timing is another important factor for reducing cold-start emissions since it affects warm-up time of close-coupled catalysts (CCC) by changing exhaust gas temperature. However, even though these factors may be favorable for reduction of emissions, they may deteriorate combustion stability in these operating conditions. This means that the two variables should be optimized for best exhaust emissions and engine stability. This study investigated the effects of valve and spark timings in idle performance such as combustion stability and exhaust emissions. Experiments showed that valve timings significantly affected engine stability and exhaust emissions, especially CO and $NO_x$, due to change in residual gas fraction within the combustion chamber. Spark timing also affects HC emissions and exhaust gas temperature. Yet it has no significant effects on combustion stability. A control strategy of proper valve timing and spark timing is suggested in order to achieve a reduction in exhaust emissions and a stable operation of the engine in a cold start and idle operation.

A single cylinder SI engine with a VVA system is modeled by the coupling of a commercial 1D simulation package and an additional combustion model and validated by comparison with experimental data. A number of simulations are carried out to investigate the effects of five different VVA systems on the performance and fuel efficiency of the baseline engine. Finally, the simulation model is applied to an extensive computational study to map out the strategies to operate the engines with dual CVVT and dual CVVT-2 step VVL systems in a fuel-efficient manner.

The analysis and evaluation of the transient performance by the transient response specifications under various acceleration speeds and types based on driver's typical acceleration habit are implemented by the experimental study to provide the appropriate direction for the transient control in a gasoline engine. The concept of the transient response specifications which consist of delay time, rising time, maximum overshoot and settling time, and the analysis method using them are introduced to evaluate the characteristics of the transient performance quantitatively. Furthermore four acceleration speeds and four acceleration types are set respectively to realize the various transient states which are similar to the real drive. Several performance parameters in terms of engine speed, manifold absolute pressure, fuel injection duration and air excess ratio are measured simultaneously during the various acceleration using a throttle actuator controlled by a PC. The transient response specifications characterized well the transient performance for the various acceleration speed and types quantitatively. Delay and rising time with increment of the acceleration speed became shorter, but settling time did longer. Intensified acceleration type appeared to be the most economical in view of fuel consumption, and linear acceleration type was found to have the least harmful emission concentration.

It is necessary to understand the combustion process and cycle-by-cycle variation in combustion to improve the engine stability and consequently to improve the fuel economy and exhaust emissions. The pressure related parameters instead of mass fraction burned were compared for the effect of initial combustion pressures on the following combustion and the analysis of cycle-by-cycle variation in combustion for two pen injected SI engines. The correlation between IMEP and pressures at referenced crank angles showed almost the same trends for equivalence ratios, but the different mixture preparations indicated different tendency. The dependency of IMEP on pressure at the referenced crank angles increases as the mixture becomes leaner for both engines. The mixture distribution in the combustion chamber was varied with the coolant temperature and intake valve deactivation due to the evaporation of fuel and air motion. The correlation between pressure related parameters were also compared for the coolant temperatures and air motion.

Simultaneous 3-D LDV measurements of the in-cylinder flows of three different engine setups were summarized for the quantification of the flow characteristics in each vertical or horizontal plane, and in entire cylinder volume. The ensemble averaged-velocity, tumble and swirl motions, and turbulent kinetic energy during the intake and compression strokes were examined from the measured velocity data (approximately 2,000 points for each engine setup). The better spatial resolution of the 3-D LDV allows measurements of the instantaneous flow structures, yielding more valuable information about the smaller flow structures and the cycle-to-cycle variation of these flow patterns. Tumble and swirl ratios, and turbulent kinetic energy were quantified as planar and volumetric quantities. The measurements and calculation results were animated for the visualization of the flow, and hence ease to analysis.

This paper experimentally investigates the effects of oxygen-enriched air (OEA) on the running behaviors of an LPG SI engine during both start/warm-up (SW) and hot idling (HI) stages. The experiments were performed on an air-cooled, single-cylinder, 4-stroke, LPG SI engine with an electronic fuel injection system and an electrically-heated oxygen sensor. OEA containing 23% and 25% oxygen (by volume) was supplied for the experiments. The throttle position was fixed at that of idle condition. A fueling strategy was used as following: the fuel injection pulse width (FIPW) in the first cycle of injection was set 5.05 ms, and 2.6 ms in the subsequent cycles till the achieving of closed-loop control. In closed-loop mode, the FIPW was adjusted by the ECU in terms of the oxygen sensor feedback. Instantaneous engine speed, cylinder pressure, engine-out time-resolved HC, CO and NOx emissions and excess air coefficient (EAC) were measured and compared to the intake air baseline (ambient air, 21% oxygen). The results show that during SW stage, with the increase in the oxygen concentration in the intake air, the EAC of the mixture is much closer to the stoichiometric one and more oxygen is made available for oxidation, which results in evidently-improved combustion. The ignition in the first firing cycle starts earlier and peak pressure and maximum heat release rate both notably increase. The maximum engine speed is elevated and HC and CO emissions are reduced considerably. The percent reductions in HC emissions are about 48% and 68% in CO emissions about 52% and 78%; with 23% and 25% OEA, respectively, compared to ambient air. During HI stage, with OEA, the fuel amount per cycle increases due to closed-loop control, the engine speed rises, and speed stability is improved. The HC emissions notably decrease: about 60% and 80% with 23% and 25% OEA, respectively, compared to ambient air. The CO emissions remain at the same low level as with ambient air. During both SW and HI stages, intake air oxygen enrichment causes the delay of spark timing and the increased NOx emissions.

The tumble or swirl flow is used to promote mixing of air and fuel in the cylinder and to enlarge turbulent intensity in the end of the compression stroke. Since the in-cylinder flow is a kind of transient state with rapid flow variation, which is non-steady state flow, the tumble or swirl flow has not been analyzed sufficiently whether they are applicable to combustion theoretically. In the investigation of intake turbulent characteristics using PIV method, typical flow characteristics were figured out by SCV configurations. An engine installed SCV had higher vorticity and turbulent strength by fluctuation and turbulent kinetic energy than a baseline engine, especially near the cylinder wall and lower part of the cylinder. Above all, the engine with SCV 8 was superior to the others in aspect of vorticity and turbulent strength. For energy dissipation, a baseline engine had much higher energy loss than the engine installed SCV because flow impinged on the cylinder wall. Consequently, as swirl flow was added to existing tumble flow, it was found that fluctuation increased and flow energy was conserved effectively through the experiment.

There are many methods to test engine emissions depending on the regulations used such as FTP-75(CYS-75) mode, 10-15 mode and ECE-15 mode. Most of these modes consist of transient conditions such as cranking, rapid acceleration or deceleration modes. In this experimental research, the transient characteristics including cranking and accelerating mode in SI engines were studied to compare pure gasoline with methanol-reformulated fuels for performance and exhaust emissions. The results show that methanol-reformulated fuels have a better emissions reduction rate than that of pure gasoline especially for HC, CO and NOx emissions during cranking mode. The acceleration performances conform to the results of the distillation curve and the CO concentration for RM50 varies slightly in acceleration mode.

A heat transfer model of the intake valve in a spark ignition engine is presented, which is calibrated with a number of the valve temperature profiles measured during engine warm-up for the gaseous fuel(propane). The valve is divided into four identical elements for which the assumption of lumped thermal mass is applied. The calibration is made so that the difference between the measued and simulated valve temperatures becomes minimal. Then the model is applied to the cases of the liquid fuel(indolene) to estimate the amount of the liquid fuel vaporized from the intake valve by assuming that fuel evaporation accounts for the deficit of the heat balance budget. The results of the model show quantitative contribution of each heat transfer source to the heat balance. The behavior of the calculated mass fraction of the fuel vaporized from the intake valve explains how the liquid fuel evaporate during engine warm-up. The mass fraction at warmed-up condition is closely related with the fraction directly targeted on the valve back by the fuel spray geometry.

In this study, the variations of swirl center according to evaluating position have been investigated in a steady flow bench of SI engine. For the experiments, two engine heads with different intake valve angles ($11^{\circ}$ and $26^{\circ}$) were tested in the flow bench by varying the evaluating position (1.75~6.0B) and valve lift (2~10 mm). Particle image velocimetry was used to measure the velocity field inside the engine cylinder. The swirl center position is found with a critical point theory and the intensity of turbulence is calculated from PIV velocity data. The results show that the center of swirl is located closer to the center of cylinder and turbulence intensity is lower, when the intake valve angle is the smaller. It is conventional to evaluate the swirl ratio at 1.75B position in the steady flow bench of SI engine. At this position, however, the distance of swirl center from the cylinder center scatters significantly for the variation of valve lift, and the turbulence intensity is much stronger regardless of the valve angle. Thus, to estimate the flow at the end of compression stroke in a real engine from the data in the steady flow experiments, the evaluation position should be moved further downstream more than 4.5B.