Browse Topic: Crankcases

Items (166)
Achieving Ultra-Low Oil Consumption in Opposed Piston Two-Stroke Engines2019-01-00681/15/2019
The opposed piston two-stroke (OP2S) engine architecture is widely recognized for its improved fuel efficiency relative to a four-stroke engine. Achates Power Inc. seeks to demonstrate the market readiness of the OP2S engine by proving competitive in other important areas, one of which is oil consumption. Achieving oil consumption competitive to modern four-stroke engines is thus a key step in bringing OP2S technology to market. Two-stroke engines have historically suffered from higher engine lube oil consumption and subsequent emissions and durability challenges. This is primarily due to two main features of traditional two-stroke engines; the direct interaction of the piston skirt and rings with the intake and/or exhaust ports, which results in a direct leak path for lube oil to the combustion chamber and/or exhaust manifold, and crankcase-scavenged architectures which entrain oil into air being pumped through the crankcase. The OP2S engine architecture directly addresses these concerns by utilizing intake and exhaust manifolds, a closed crankcase system, and oil control rings which operate outboard of the ports. Previous work has shown the importance of careful consideration of cylinder liner, piston, and ring design in minimizing oil consumption of the OP2S architecture. This work evaluates further refinements in cylinder form, hone texture and oil retention, port sealing ring design, and oil control ring design. A Da Vinci DALOC sulfur-trace analyzer for real-time oil consumption measurement was used to generate speed vs. load maps of oil consumption of an Achates Power OP2S A48 development engine, operated under typical medium-duty conditions. The engine demonstrated oil consumption levels competitive with modern four-stroke benchmarks and completed a 100-hour durability test with no measured performance loss or increase in oil consumption. This work represents a key step towards proving the potential of the Achates Power OP2S engine architecture in the commercial and passenger vehicle markets.
Chown, DanKoszewnik, JohnMacKenzie, RyanPfeifer, DanCallahan, BrianVittal, MannyFroelund, Kent
Parametrical and Tribological Investigation of Ring Parameters Using Ring Dynamics Simulation for Blow-By, LOC and Friction Reduction2017-28-19547/10/2017
A local and global environmental concern regarding automotive emissions has led to optimize the design and development of Power train systems for IC engines. Blow-by and Engine oil consumption is an important source of hydrocarbon and particulate emissions in modern IC engines. Great efforts have been made by automotive manufacturers to minimize the impact of oil consumption and blow-by on in-cylinder engine emissions. This paper describes a case study of how simulation played a supportive role in improving piston ringpak assembly. The engine taken up for study is a six cylinder, turbocharged, water cooled diesel engine with a peak firing pressure of 140 bar and developing a power output of 227 KW at 1500 rpm. This paper reveals the influence of stepped land, top groove angle, ring face profile, twist features with regard to tweaking of Blow-by & LOC. Relevant design inputs of engine parameters were provided by the customer to firm up the boundary conditions. Predictive simulation techniques with extensive DOE were carried out to develop an optimized ringpak with better ring stability. Simulations were performed under the lubrication condition, mapped with the experimental results, to investigate the influence of piston ring assembly on blow-by, oil consumption and friction. Simulation results have been relatively compared with each parameter along with supportive DOE. Proto samples made with optimal assembly combination were tested and results are on par with simulated values. Improvement in oil consumption by 30 % and blow-by reduction of 30 % was achieved. The results predicted through simulation were comparable with experimental data.
Santhanamm, PremkumarrSreejith, K.Anandan, Avinash
Mass Balancing Measures of a Linkage-Based Extended Expansion Engine2016-32-009611/8/2016
The enhancement of efficiency will play a more and more important role in the development of future (small) internal combustion engines. In recent years, the Atkinson (or Extended Expansion) cycle, realized over the crank drive, attracted increasing attention. Several OEMs have investigated this efficiency-increasing principle in the whole range from small engines up to automotive engines until now. In prior publications, the authors outlined the remarkable efficiency potentials of an Extended Expansion (EE) cycle. However, for an internal combustion engine, a smooth running performance as well as low vibrations and noise emissions are relevant aspects. This is especially true for an Extended Expansion engine realized over the crank drive. Therefore, design measures concerning friction and NVH need to be taken to enable possible series production status. Basically, these measures strongly depend on the reduction of the free mass forces and moments. Hence, the focus of this publication is laid on mass balancing measures of an Extended Expansion engine based on a linkage system. This paper first gives a brief overview of the specific 2-cylinder engine layout of the designed EE prototype engine. The second part deals with the determination of occurring free mass forces and moments. In the following, possible as well as performed mass balancing arrangements are presented and evaluated. Finally, a comparison between the EE prototype engine and other conventional 2-cylinder engines is performed. The determination of free mass forces and moments is based on numerical calculations. They include a kinematic simulation of the crank drive and, derived from that, accelerations of each relevant engine part. The geometry data are determined via CAD and the appropriate masses are calculated according to the corresponding density of the applied materials. In addition, results based on a Fourier transformation are presented, whereas free mass forces and moments are mathematically split into harmonic orders, which are helpful to evaluate balancing measures.
Pertl, PatrickLang, MichaelSchmidt, StephanKirchberger, Roland
Influence of Crankcase Oil Properties on Low-Speed Pre-Ignition Encountered in a Highly-Boosted Gasoline Direct Injection Engine2016-01-227010/17/2016
This paper reports an experimental investigation on the influence of the crankcase oil properties on the engine combustion in the low-speed pre-ignition (LSPI) zone. The investigation was conducted on a highly boosted 1.5L TGDI engine operated at the low-speed-end maximum torque, at which LSPI events were observed most frequently. Six different engine oils were tested, covering SAE 0W-20, 0W-30, 0W-40, 5W-20, 5W-30 and 5W-40. In order to evaluate the evaporative characteristics of the crankcase oil, for each of the selected engine oils, the tests were conducted at two different coolant temperatures, 90°C and 105°C. Because SAE 5W-30 was the base oil for the engine under study, for this particular oil, the investigation was extended to the impact of different levels of the mixture enrichment. Followings were found: 1) LSPI events were observed when the engine was operated with a stoichiometric mixture for all the oils tested. 2) No clear indication on which SAE oil tested had a stronger influence on LSPI than other oils, either promoting or inhibiting LSPI, because the influences on LSPI of the related oil properties might not be as strong as that of the high gasoline content in the oils, which reached about 6% in the tests. 3) Behavior of LSPI was random in all the tests and a particular LSPI pattern observed in a test was difficult to be reproduced under the same condition. This suggests that LSPI may be triggered at a complicated condition with contributions from many variable parameters. It may be meaningful to characterize the behavior of LSPI with a statistical approach.
Teng, HoLuo, XuweiHu, TingjunMiao, RuigangWu, MinChen, BinZeng, Fanhua
A New Two Cylinder Diesel Engine Family for Off-road in Naturally Aspirated and Turbocharged Intercooled Versions2016-01-233510/17/2016
The design and development of a new four-stroke two-cylinder diesel engine family of 1.29 litre capacity for off road are discussed. The engine is in naturally aspirated and turbocharged and intercooled versions and rated from 11.9 kW/1500 rpm to 25.7 kW/2500 rpm. The engines were tuned for air and fuel flows, air utilisation, fuel air mixing, performance and emissions at steady state at a development lab and later certified in national labs. The high altitude capability of the TCIC was checked using a model. The engines rated at less than 19 kW satisfy India Generator set and off road norms of India and Europe equivalent to USTier4 standard, and at higher ratings, standard equivalent to US Tier4-interim. In the second part of the paper, the design of coolant and oil pumps, oil cooler for TCIC engine and the piston with steel oil control ring are discussed. The higher loaded TCIC engines use fillet hardened crankshafts of chromium molybdenum steel. The crankcase integrated with the flywheel housing and the timing case at the front, in conjunction with a cast iron sump makes the engine rigid against torsion and bending in an agricultural tractor. The firing order 0°-360° with the two pistons moving in phase allows lower cyclic irregularity and a light flywheel as well as turbocharging. The resultant primary reciprocating inertia force is neutralized by a counter-rotating balancer shaft and the fluctuations in crankcase pressure are taken care by a valve in the breather to avoid oil carry over.
Lakshminarayanan, P. A.Senthilkumar, P. K.
Design Optimization of a Scooter Main Stand to Improve Durability of Its Crankcase Support2016-01-234110/17/2016
When a scooter is put on main stand, it keeps the vehicle from falling as it rests against the engine crankcase. As the main stand is operated it transmits a large amount of load to the crankcase, thus creating a necessity to check the durability of the later. Practical tests showed that continuous application of the main stand resulted in the failure of its pivot area on the crankcase. This raised questions not just on the feasibility of the crankcase design in terms of durability, but also on the main stand design in terms of a load transmitting member. However, as the project was at its later stage, crankcase design could not be altered; thus it asked for a main stand design optimization. The base main stand model was thus taken for MBD simulation and loads were generated for further FEA analysis. The meshed crankcase model was taken in a commercially available FEA code for checking its durability. Accurate constraints and boundary conditions were applied close to the crankcase’s main stand resting area to replicate real time environment. Loads obtained from MBD simulation were applied in the form of amplitudes to build a quasi-static FEA model. The results showed more stress and less fatigue cycles in the localized main stand support area of the crankcase. It called for a judicial main stand design optimization without largely affecting the styling or cost. The design of the main stand was altered in such a way that now the load on the crankcase was transmitted in a manner which is more evenly distributed. In a similar way as mentioned above, MBD simulation was done to extract the loads for the new main stand design. Using similar boundary conditions and updated loads, the crankcase was simulated. Stress was found to have significantly reduced and fatigue cycles improved significantly. The new design was tested and no crankcase failure was observed.
Ganguly, ArnabAgarwal, Vikas KumarPradeepak, R
Methodology Development for Fatigue Analysis of Crankcase Mounting for Stress Member Type Motorcycle Frame Subjected to Vehicle Dynamic loads2016-01-03914/5/2016
This paper depict the difference in the endurance factor of safety with usage of static and quasi static FE analysis and corrective measures take to solve the problem. The importance of the dynamic loading and subsequent effect of it on the multi axial fatigue analysis. Considering the modern trend prevailing among the vehicle manufacturers and specifically talking about two wheeler industry, it is clear that while the engine remains the same but the frame is changed to cater the market with new models to cut down on the development time. Initially the crankcase was designed for a double cradle frame where the crankcase was mounted on the frame. Later, the frame design was changed to single cradle where engine acts as a stress member link. This kind of arrangement makes the crankcase mountings participate in the chassis loads. Therefore, the crankcase mounting experiences road loads when the vehicle encounter the road irregularities. Earlier the design was verified by static simulation, where the maximum force and the moment were applied for FEA analysis, the results of which couldn’t capture the fluctuation in the load and resulting in greater FOS. The quasi static analysis generated cyclic stress files which was used to determine the endurance factor of safety. The results showed very low factor of safety and thus, the existing crankcase mounting could not be used for the stress member proposal. The mounting were required to be modified to increase the endurance factor of safety. The mounting were brought closer to the crankcase and were reinforced with ribs. This helped us to use same crankcase for different type of frames.
Santra, Tanmay SushantAgarwal, Vikas KumarBhambri, Mihir
Port Design Criteria for 2-Stroke Loop Scavenged Engines2016-01-06104/5/2016
Interest in 2-stroke engines has been recently renewed by several prototypes, developed for the automotive and/or the aircraft field. Loop scavenging, with piston controlled ports is particularly attractive, but the configurations successfully developed in the past for motorbike racing (in particular, the 125cc unit displacement, crankcase pump engines), are not suitable for automotive applications. Therefore, new criteria are necessary to address the scavenging system design of the new generation of 2-stroke automobile/aircraft engines. The paper reviews the transfer ports optimization of a loop scavenged 2-stroke cylinder, whose main parameters were defined in a previous study. The optimization has been carried by means of a parametric grid, considering 3 parameters (2 tilt angles, and the focus distance), and 3 different engine speeds (2000-3000-4000 rpm, assuming a Diesel engine). A set of scavenging CFD-3d simulations have been performed by using a customized version of KIVA-3V. The numerical approach was experimentally calibrated in a previous project (see appendix 1) The simulations results are presented by means of maps showing the influence of the geometrical parameters on the main scavenging coefficients. Finally, a refined mesh has been constructed for the optimum configuration found in the previous parametric analysis, and a set of multi-cycle simulations have been performed. The results demonstrated the very good efficiency of the scavenging process, close to a perfect displacement for delivery ratio up to 1.5, or for residuals fraction higher than 50%
Mattarelli, EnricoRinaldini, Carlo AlbertoSavioli, Tommaso
Development of a High Speed Laser Induced Fluorescence (HSLIF) System in a Single Cylinder Engine for Oil Transport Studies2016-01-06424/5/2016
Understanding oil transport mechanisms is critical to developing better tools for oil consumption and piston skirt lubrication [1]. Our existing Two-Dimensional Laser Induced Fluorescence (2DLIF) system with an acquisition rate of 1 frame every one or two cycles was proven to be effective to display oil accumulation patterns and their evolution over many cycles in the piston ring pack system [2,3,4]. Yet, the existing system is unable to resolve instantaneous oil flow patterns in the piston-liner interface. In this work, a high-speed LIF system was developed. After a number of iterations the finalized high speed LIF system includes a 23 W, 100 kHz, 532 nm laser and a high speed camera capable of 100,000 FPS at 384 × 264 pixel resolution. After each component was selected, optimization of the quality of images taken from the system began. Each component in the optical system was tested for improvement of image quality; such components include: camera lens, beam expander, beam splitter, and optical filter. A few examples will be shown demonstrating the effectiveness of the system at visualizing oil flow mechanisms inside an IC engine. The first demonstrates the importance of understanding oil flow in the skirt region of the piston while the second focuses on the behavior of oil flow through the ring pack; specifically the Oil Control Ring (OCR) gap. Lubrication phenomena such as separation, cavitation, shearing, etc. can be seen using the high speed LIF system allowing for correlations between piston/ring pack design and oil behavior to be derived. Quantitative results are not currently possible with the current system, but will be researched in the near future. Videos produced by the high speed LIF system are also used to further the development of piston and ring pack lubrication models [5].
Zanghi, EricTian, Tian
Influence of Fuel Dilution of Crankcase Oil on Ignitability of Oil Particles in a Highly Boosted Gasoline Direct Injection Engine2015-01-28119/29/2015
The relationship between fuel dilution of the crankcase oil and low-speed pre-ignition (LSPI) was studied experimentally with a highly-boosted 1.8L turbocharged gasoline direct injection (TGDI) engine fueled with RON93 gasoline. It was found that properties of oil particles entered the engine cylinder were affected significantly by fuel dilution. The gasoline content in the oil represents those with long carbon chain or heavy species in gasoline, with much lower boiling points and auto ignition temperatures than those for the undiluted engine oil. Thus, dilution of the engine oil by these gasoline species lowers the volatility and the minimum auto ignition temperature of the engine oil. With 15% fuel content in the oil, the flash point and the fire point of the SAE 5W30 oil dropped from 245 °C to 90 °C and from 265 °C to 150 °C, respectively. The initial boiling point for the diluted oil could be lower than the wall temperatures for some locations on the combustion chamber roof or on the cylinder wall above the top piston ring reverse location. Once attached onto these hot areas, the oil particles entering the engine cylinder could form self-ignitable gaseous mixture easily, and become self ignited in late of the compression stroke under high loads, triggering pre-ignition. It was demonstrated that frequency of LSPI is linked strongly to the minimum auto ignition temperature of the oil particles.
Hu, TingjunTeng, HoLuo, XuweiLu, ChunLuo, Jiankun
Advantages and Challenges of Lean Operation of Two-Stroke Engines for Hand-Held Power Tools2014-32-000911/11/2014
One of the most significant current discussions worldwide is the anthropogenic climate change accompanying fossil fuel consumption. Sustainable development in all fields of combustion engines is required with the principal objective to enhance efficiency. This certainly concerns the field of hand-held power tools as well. Today, two-stroke SI engines equipped with a carburetor are the most widely used propulsion technology in hand-held power tools like chain saws and grass trimmers. To date, research tended to focus on two-stroke engines with rich mixture setting. In this paper the advantages and challenges of leaner and/or lean operation are discussed. Experimental investigations regarding the influence of equivalence ratio on emissions, fuel consumption and power have been performed. Accompanying 3D-CFD simulations support the experiments in order to gain insight into these complex processes. The investigations concentrate on two different mixture formation processes, i.e. CCI (crankcase injection) and LPDI (low pressure direct injection). Further focus is put onto combustion phenomena of lean mixtures. The main issue addressed in this paper is the impact of mixture setting on fuel consumption. Therefore, the losses from theoretical to effective efficiency of different settings calculated by thermodynamic analyses are explained. Savings potential of fuel consumption and HC emissions are demonstrated. The results indicate that fulfillment of required durability and power density using a leaner mixture setting is a significant challenge. Furthermore, the increase of NOx emissions is a fundamental drawback. Here, basic research regarding reduction of NOx engine-out emissions is required.
Trattner, AlexanderGrassberger, HelmutSchoegl, OliverSchmidt, StephanKirchberger, RolandEichlseder, HelmutKölmel, ArminMeyer, StephanGegg, Tim
Numerical Modeling of the Contamination of Engine Oil by Fuel Combustion Byproducts2014-01-257410/13/2014
This paper focuses on the fuel contribution to crankcase engine oil degradation in gasoline fueled engines in view of insoluble formation. The polymerization of degraded fuel is responsible for the formation of insoluble which is considered as a possible cause of low temperature sludge in severe vehicle operating conditions. The main objective of the study is to understand the mechanism of formation of partially oxidized compounds from fuel during the combustion process, before their accumulation in the crankcase oil. A numerical method has been established to calculate the formation of partially oxidized compounds in spark ignition engines directly, by using 3D CFD. To further enable the possibility of running a large number of simulations with a realistic turn-around time, a coupled approach of 3D CFD (with simplified chemical mechanism) and 0D Kinetics (with full chemical mechanism) is proposed here. Information such as pressure, air-fuel ratio, temperature at the time when the flame approaches the wall is extracted from 3D CFD and is applied as initial condition in the detailed analysis of 0D Closed Homogeneous Reactor(CHR) model for the formation of partially oxidized compounds. By using this approach, spatial variation around the combustion chamber can be easily evaluated by sweeping parameters such as pressure, temperature and equivalence ratio, etc. in 0D chemical kinetic calculations.
Shieh, TenghuaYamashita, KiyotakaNitulescu, OanaHirano, SatoshiInami, NorioMoritani, Hiroshi
Measuring the Impact of Engine Oils and Fuels on Low-Speed Pre-Ignition in Downsized Engines2014-01-12194/1/2014
One of the limits on the maximum fuel efficiency benefit to be gained from turbocharged, downsized gasoline engines is the occurrence of low speed pre-ignition (LSPI). LSPI may lead to high pressures and extreme knock (megaknock or superknock) which can cause severe engine damage. Though the mechanism leading to megaknock is not completely resolved, LSPI is thought to arise from local auto-ignition of areas in the cylinder which are rich in low ignition delay “contaminants” such as engine oil and/or heavy ends of gasoline. These contaminants are introduced to the combustion chamber at various points in the engine cycle (e.g. entering from the top land crevice during blow-down or washed from the cylinder walls during DI wall impingement). This paper describes a method for testing the propensity of different contaminants to cause a local pre-ignition in a gasoline engine. During one cycle, a small amount of contaminant is injected into one cylinder of a 4 cylinder engine. The spark is suppressed during this or the following cycle to allow detection of local pre-ignition events after spark timing. If the contaminant is injected on the cycle before, it is the cycle following the injection that has the missed spark. By detecting auto-ignition events before and after spark timing, it is possible to compare contaminants over a broad range of ignition tendencies. Sensitivities of pre-ignition tendencies to intake pressures and temperatures, the amount of contaminant introduced, and fuelling ratios are discussed. Additionally, the importance of contaminant stratification is shown, and pre-ignition is demonstrated to result from the introduction of contaminant as early as the beginning of blow-down of the preceding cycle.
Welling, OrianMoss, JamesWilliams, JohnCollings, Nick
Drivetrain Energy Distribution and Losses from Fuel to Wheel2013-01-911811/20/2013
Depending on a vehicles drive cycle, an improvement of the overall drivetrain efficiency does not necessarily have to go along with an improvement of its mileage. In here the ratio of energy to overcome rolling resistance, aerodynamic drag, acceleration and energy wasted directly in wheel brakes is responsible for potentially differing trends. A detailed knowledge of energy flows, sources and sinks makes up a substantial step into optimizing any drive train. Most fuel energy leaves the drivetrain via exhaust pipes. Next to usable mechanical energy, a big amount is spent to heat up the system directly or to overcome drive train friction, which is converted into heat to warm up the system additionally. An in depth quantification of the most important energy flows for an upper middle-sized class gasoline powered drive train is given as results of warm-up cycle simulations. Combustion engine heat losses are split into four paths to be compared with the heat of ten engine friction components. Total engine friction of engines, started at room temperature in low load cycles used for emission legislation, makes up about one third of the heat input of the thermal system. Energy flow manipulation in terms of thermal management measures are quantified as well as secondary effects and benefits seen in a holistic approach covering all relevant paths from fuel to wheel. Investigated is the effect of a split cooling system, a map controlled thermostat, the use of an electric water pump and combinations of those for a cold started FTP75 test cycle. Split cooling yields a benefit of ∼ 2.2 - 2.4 % fuel reduction potential; the use of an electrical water pump shows ∼ 0.3 - 1.2 %. The benefit of a combination of both measures is simulated to∼ 2.3 - 2.5 %.
Beulshausen, JohannesPischinger, StefanNijs, Martin
Eliminating Engine Performance Degradation Over Time Through Compressor Redesign2013-01-09234/8/2013
Commercially available turbocharged internal combustion engines require robust system performance to maintain driveline power output capability. As in-service runtime increases, the accumulation of wear or deposits can adversely affect component performance levels. In a worst-case scenario, the component performance degradation leads to a vicious loop of declining system performance. Endurance testing of a heavy-duty diesel engine revealed performance deterioration over time. Oil deposits, resulting from oil mist associated with the closed crankcase ventilation loop, were observed on the turbocharger compressor and were tied to the deterioration. Cleaning of the compressor recovered initial performance for a short period of time. A different model of turbocharger, when substituted for the original, did not show the same degradation in output. This paper presents a study into the responsible mechanisms for performance deterioration and the compressor redesign that successfully avoided these issues. The results of numerical and physical investigations aimed at mitigating the system impact are discussed, starting with an overview of the observed engine and compressor performance decline, and an outline of potential areas of performance sensitivity to oil accumulation. Ultimately, the degradation of system performance was tied to the system response of deteriorating compressor characteristics. A compressor was redesigned and endurance tested to verify that the adjustment of engine-compressor matching and compressor characteristics results in improved robustness to oil-mist related performance degradation.
Krivitzky, EricYamamoto, Masashi
Windage Tray Design Comparison Using Crankcase Breathing Simulation2013-01-05804/8/2013
The conflicting requirements of better fuel economy, higher performance and lower emissions from an automobile engine have brought many new challenges that require development teams to look beyond conventional test and seek answers from simulations. One of the relatively unexplored areas of development where frictional losses haven't been completely understood is the flow in the crankcase. Here computational engineering can play a significant role in analyzing flow field in a hidden and complex region where otherwise testing has serious limitations. Flow simulation in the crankcase poses significant complexity and provides an opportunity to enhance the understanding of underlying physics by using multi-physics analyses tools available commercially. In this study, air space under the piston and above the oil level in oil pan is simulated. It is known that bay-to-bay breathing and windage holes account for considerable amount of power losses in the crankcase. Therefore, this study is intended to (but not limited to) the estimation of pumping losses (i.e., power required for piston to overcome the resistance offered by air in the crankcase) in addition to gaining insight into flow field to improve breathing between bays. The simulation is carried out with air as fluid and oil is kept stationary to maintain a constant level in the oil pan. Various meshing and mesh moving techniques were employed. This includes, arbitrary sliding interface (ASI) of counter weights and mesh morphing to replicate piston motion. Time dependent momentum and energy equations were solved for air as compressible media. The study found that one of the major components that can have significant effect in reducing pumping losses and oil aeration is the design of windage tray. The windage tray design can be used for effective oil drainage along with reducing the splashing and sloshing of oil in the crankcase. The openings in the windage tray can be optimized for location and size so as to reduce pumping losses as well as oil aeration. This will have positive impact on engine power as well as fuel efficiency. Windage hole size, number and location also helps in determining the flow through drainbacks, and consequently affect the tuning of PCV and makeup air valves.
Iqbal, OwaisArora, Kunal
Engine Lube-Oil Consumption Stakes and Benefits from Significant Blow-by Oil Mist Reduction2012-01-16179/10/2012
Since many years now, environmental regulations got stricter and stricter, leading modern engines (both Gasoline and Diesel) to integrate more depollution devices, to fit new emissions limits. Moreover, the CO2 emissions regulations led also major powertrain improvements in various fields like friction reduction, weight saving, but also engine specific power implying often higher turbocharging rate, with higher temperatures and higher flow rates. As a direct consequence, modern engines have increased the core value of the exhaust line with more complexes and fragile after treatment devices, while working conditions have ran tougher. Therefore to guaranty long term reliability for exhaust line and even making it smaller and lighter is a new objective. This is confirmed by Environmental Regulations which now requires durability threshold for depollution devices. Lube oil, through oil consumption, has been identified as one of the main contributors of exhaust systems poisoning, which lead to abusive regenerations processes or devices size increase to avoid clogging during vehicle life. But also, lube oil is responsible for other effects like intake line fouling and is part of particulate emission sources. So understanding oil consumption and being able to control and reduce it, is a way to improve complete powertrain durability and even downsize exhaust depollution devices. Bibliographical sources have been compiled to highlight engine oil consumption sources, as well as engine oil consumption effects on the engine. A focus has been made on blow-by gases from crankcase ventilation, highlighting their shared responsibility in those effects, especially on what can be saved or improved from significantly reducing oil mist carried in those blow-by gases. With proposed solution of pleated coalescing media, providing high efficiency oil separation with low impact of pressure drops, significant engine improvements can be expected from a cleaner blow-by.
Arnault, NicolasBonne, Samuel
2-Stroke Externally Scavenged Engines for Range Extender Applications2012-01-10224/16/2012
In this work, the authors assess the potential of the 2-stroke concept applied to Range Extender engines, proposing 3 different configurations: 1) Supercharged, Compression Ignition; 2) Turbocharged, Compression Ignition; 3) Supercharged, Gasoline Direct Injection. All the engines feature a single power cylinder of 0.49l, external air feed by piston pump and an innovative induction system. The scavenging is of the Loop type, without poppet valves, and with a 4-stroke like lubrication system (no crankcase pump). Engine design has been supported by CFD simulations, both 1D (engine cycle analysis) and 3D (scavenging, injection and combustion calculations). All the numerical models used in the study are calibrated against experiments, carried out on engines as similar as possible to the proposed ones. The strong points found for this family of engines are: high power density (up to 122 kW/l) and power-to-weight ratio; low raw emissions; compactness (design integrated with the electric motor); low production costs (no valve train, no EGR system); excellent balance of inertia forces (thanks to the piston pump installed on the same crankshaft, at 90° from the power cylinder); mechanical reliability (no exotic solutions, effective lubrication system); low noise (low engine speeds thanks to the double frequency of the cycle); low specific fuel consumption.
Mattarelli, EnricoRinaldini, Carlo AlbertoCantore, GiuseppeBaldini, Piero
Development of Advanced Oil Separator to Give Uniform Oil Separation Efficiency across Engine Speed and Load Conditions2012-01-01794/16/2012
Common rail direct injection technologies have enabled the development of very high power and torque for a given capacity of the engine. These high performance engines have very high brake mean effective pressures and peak firing pressures. These high pressures increase the blow-by gas flow in cylinder crankcase. Vehicle brake assist systems as well as some actuators on engine need the vacuum. The vacuum is generated by the vacuum pump driven by the engine cam shaft or separately as accessory drive. The air pulled for creating the vacuum gets mixed with the lubricating oil. This air mixture with the lubrication oil gets circulated in the blow by circuit. Collectively, blow-by gases and the vacuum pump oil with air carry substantial engine oil particles. These oil particles need to be separated before connecting to the air intake circuit to reduce oil consumption and to reduce exhaust emissions. Generally cyclone type oil mist separation systems are used on the automobile engines. The efficiency of cyclone type oil mist separator is better in limited range of engine speed and load when optimum velocity of blow-by is achieved. However, the efficiency reduces drastically at other speeds. Hence more oil gets carried over in the air intake system especially during transient speed and load conditions. In the present work, an innovative oil separation concept is used to get good separation efficiency level across engine speed and load transients. The concept is proven to reduce considerable oil carry over into the air intake system. This paper describes new oil separation system development. This system consists of pre-separator baffles integrated in the cylinder head cover and external oil mist separator with impact technology. This external oil mist separator has the special arrangement of impactor where in the blow-by velocity control is provided along with the media which enables good separation efficiency for varied size of oil particles at wide range of engine speed and load. Further the chosen design is verified through the series of tests.
Kolhe, VivekSharma, ManuVeeramani, Kkulkarni, MakarandRavva, Ravindra
Design Concept and Manufacturing Method of a Lightweight Deep Skirt Cylinder Block2012-01-04064/16/2012
An engine cylinder block is generally considered to be the heaviest part within a complete engine. In lowering the fuel consumption and CO2 discharge to the environment, efforts have been made around the world to reduce the weight of cylinder blocks. In general, the efforts are mostly focused on material upgrade from either cast iron to aluminum or from aluminum to magnesium. Although the material upgrade approach is effective in lowering the part weight, it is often accompanied by undesirable cost increase and manufacturing complexity. In moving forward, a new cylinder block concept is proposed that focuses more on material removal rather than material upgrade. The material removal approach is focused more on the high metal concentration areas like the bulkhead, skirt and housing for water pump and thermostat. To ensure that the material removal approach is effective and suitable for mass production, a uniquely designed crankcase inner sand core is applied. In addition, a radical crankcase skirt design is used to achieve small overall size to significantly reduce the metal volume while at the same time increasing the skirt's rigidity and strength. In ensuring that the cylinder block is integrated well with other parts of the engine, other parts like the design of crankshaft, bearing beam, thermostat housing and auxiliaries are also optimized to match the enhancements made to the cylinder block. In studying the concept's effectiveness in reducing the part weight, a cast iron 1.6 liter cylinder block and the related components are designed and modeled in Catia V5. The 3D models are later used for weight comparison with an existing 1.6 liter cast iron cylinder block currently in production.
Osman, Azmi
Optical Analysis and Measurement of Crankcase Lubricant Oil Atomisation2012-01-08824/16/2012
Crankcase emissions are a complex mixture of combustion products and, specifically Particulate Matter (PM) from lubricant oil. Crankcase emissions contribute substantially to the particle mass and particle number (PN) emitted from an internal combustion engine. Environmental legislation demands that the combustion and crankcase emissions are either combined to give a total measurement or the crankcase gases are re-circulated back into the engine, both strategies require particle filtration. There is a lack of understanding regarding the physical processes that generate crankcase emissions of lubricant oil, specifically how the bulk lubricant oil is atomised into droplets. In this paper the crankcase of a motored compression ignition engine, has been optically accessed to visualise the lubricant oil distribution. The oil distribution was analysed in detail using high speed laser diagnostics, at engine speeds up to 2000 rpm and oil temperatures of 90°C. High resolution calibrated images show the passive behavior of lubricant oil once it has been supplied to critical engine components. The major mechanisms of oil atomisation have been identified and quantified from high speed images, the generation of oil droplets dp = 10 μm - 3 mm has been captured. The most significant generation mechanism was atomisation of oil films present on the surface of rotating components. The isolated contribution of the crank and camshafts to the atomised oil droplets present in the top of the engine has been recorded. Further breakup, evaporation and condensation from the surface of the atomised oil droplets will generate coarse and fine PM. Results from imaging data show good correlation with sub-micron PN sampling measurements captured in a previous study [1]; namely an increase in particle number concentration with increasing engine speed.
Johnson, Benjamin T.Hargrave, Graham K.Reid, Benjamin A.Page, Vivian J.wagstaff, Stuart
CFD Analysis of Oil/Gas Flow in Piston Ring-Pack2011-01-14064/12/2011
The oil consumption and blow-by are complex phenomena that need to be minimized to meet the ever changing modern emission standards. Oil flows from the sump to the combustion chamber and the blow-by gases flow from the combustion chamber to the crank case. There are several piston rings on the piston, which form a ring-pack. The ring pack has to be efficiently designed to minimize the oil consumption and blow-by. Since it is difficult and extremely costly to conduct experiments on every series of engines to check for the blow-by and oil consumption, a CFD analysis can be performed on the ring pack to study the blow-by and oil-consumption characteristics. In the CFD analysis described here, the region considered is between the compression chamber and the skirt, between the piston (including the rings) and the cylinder liner. The 3D CFD analysis was conducted for the engine running conditions of 5000 rpm and load of 13.5 kPa, for a 2.4L gasoline engine. The inertia force was provided as a body force term for the fluid domain to simulate the effects of the direction change of the piston. The effects of the position of the rings in the grooves and the position of the end gaps on blow-by and oil consumption were studied using commercially available CFD software. The position of the rings is assumed either at the bottom, at the top or at the middle of the ring groove. Due to the complexity of CFD dynamic meshing, ring motion is not modeled. The studies for ring position is intended to bound the flow behavior, and provide an estimate, along with 2D ring dynamics analysis, to the flow path. The final results of the study helped in a better understanding of blow-by and oil consumption mechanism in the ring pack.
Puthiya Veettil, MaheshShi, Fanghui
Investigation of Combustion Robustness in Catalyst Heating Operation on a Spray Guided DISI Engine2009-01-14894/20/2009
In catalyst heating operation for DISI (Direct Injection Spark Ignition) engines, split injection has been generally known to improve combustion stability which is critical for the trade-off between tailpipe emissions and vehicle idle NVH. This is also the case for a spray guided DISI engine employing multi-hole injectors and with both injector and spark plug centrally located in the chamber. There are some special challenges with regard to combustion robustness because of the close proximity between injector and spark plug. Investigations have been carried out through engine testing and CFD simulation to ensure combustion robustness. For catalyst heating operation, the first injection occurs during induction, which forms a relatively well mixed but lean mixture in the cylinder before ignition, and the second injection occurs close to ignition, which produces a stratified fuel rich mixture in the central region of the combustion chamber. Combustion initialization is found to be sensitive to spark plug protrusion and orientation, injector orientation and 2nd injection timing relative to ignition. In some extreme conditions, misfire can occur. This is likely to be associated with the close proximity between the sprays and spark plug electrodes. However, the exact mechanisms are not so apparent. Various hypotheses have been postulated. Some of findings from the engine experiments and CFD simulations suggest that the sprays close to the spark plug electrodes may affect and interfere with the sparking process either through turbulence, bulk motion or liquid fuel mechanisms. Extensive engine testing has lead to optimized design and calibration that ensure robust combustion.
Chen, XiangdongFu, HuiyuSmith, StephenSandford, Malcolm
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