Fuel economy

Stringent emission regulations combined with customer demands for improved fuel economy and performance have forced the automotive industry to consider more advanced powertrain configurations than standard port-fuel injected gasoline engines. Modern state-of-the-art powertrain systems may combine several power sources (internal combustion engines, electric motors, fuel cells, etc.) and various exhaust aftertreatment devices (catalytic converters, lean NOx traps, particulate filters, etc.) in addition to conventional engine subsystems such as turbochargers and exhaust gas recirculation. The determination of the way in which these systems need to be operated to meet driver's torque demand, performance and fuel economy expectations while satisfying federal emission regulations is a complex and a multiobjective optimal control problem. This paper reviews some of the approaches to this problem in the context of two case studies

An energy management strategy–torque distribution and charge sustaining control–for a parallel hybrid electric vehicle with continuously variable transmission is proposed in this study. The torque distribution control problem is formulated as a multi-objective nonlinear optimization problem. In order to facilitate the implementation of the proposed approach in real time, the aforementioned multi-objective nonlinear optimization problem is recast as a single objective linear optimization problem by linearization of the objective functions and ...

During short term engine operation, renewable fuels derived from vegetable oils, are capable of providing good engine performance. In more extended operations, some of the same fuels can cause degradation of engine performance, excessive carbon and lacquer deposits and actual damage to the engine. Moreover, temperatures in the area of the injector tip due to advanced diesel injection systems may lead to particularly stubborn deposits at and around the injector tip. In this research, an endurance test was carried out for 250. h on 2 fuel samples; DF (diesel fuel) as baseline and PB20 (20% palm biodiesel and 80% DF) in a single cylinder CI engine. The effects of DF and PB20 on injector nozzle deposits, engine lubricating oil, and fuel economy and exhaust emissions were investigated. According to the results of the investigation, visual inspection showed some deposit accumulation on injectors during running on both fuels. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) analysis showed greater carbon deposits on and around the injector tip for PB20 compared to the engine running with DF. Similarly, lubricating oil analysis presented excessive wear metal concentrations, decreased viscosity and increased density values when the engine was fuelled with PB20. Finally, fuel economy and emission results during the endurance test showed higher brake specific fuel consumption (bsfc) and NO. x emissions, and lower HC and CO emissions, for the PB20 blend compared to DF. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

http://ac.els-cdn.com/S0306261913005436/1-s2.0-S0306261913005436-main.pdf?_tid=fb44ff2e-a9c6-11e3-a685-00000aacb35d&acdnat=1394615963_580ff2c2aedd06e719dd211f966e28c1 
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261913005436

Increasing volumes of municipal solid waste (MSW) pose disposal problems for many cities. Costs are rising as landfilling becomes more difficult. The production of clean transportation fuels (methanol or hydrogen) from MSW is one economically and environmentally promising option for dealing with these problems. An attractive feature is that elimination of essentially all air pollutant emissions is inherent in the

IC engines contribute to global warming through extensive use of fossil fuel energy and emission of combustion by-products. Innovative technologies such as cylinder de-activation (CDA), after-exhaust heat treatment, surface texturing and coatings are proposed to improve fuel economy and reduce emissions of the vehicle fleet. Therefore, study of coating technology through a comprehensive multi-physics analytical model of engine top compression ring is important to ascertain ways of promoting energy savings. This paper presents a multi-scale, multi-physics model of the compression ring-cylinder bore conjunction, using three alternative bore surfaces. The model comprises ring dynamics, contact tribology, heat transfer and gas blow-by. Tribological and thermal properties of advanced coatings, such as Nickel Nanocomposite (NNC) and diamond-like carbon (DLC) are compared with an uncoated steel bore surface as the base line configuration. Such a comprehensive analysis has not hitherto been reported in open literature, particularly with original contributions made through inclusion of salient properties of alternative bore materials for high performance race engines. Power loss and FMEP are evaluated in a dynamometric test, representative of the Worldwide harmonised Light vehicles Test Cycle (WLTC). The NNC coating shows promising tribological improvements. The DLC coating is detrimental in terms of frictional power loss and FMEP, although it can effectively improve sealing of the combustion chamber. The differences in power loss of nominated bore surfaces are represented as fuel mass and CO emissions, using theoretical and empirical relations. For the first time the paper shows that advanced coatings can potentially mitigate the adverse environmental impacts of spark ignition (SI) engines, with significant repercussions when applied to the global gasoline-powered vehicle fleet.