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Internal combustion engines development with increased complexity due to CO2 reduction and emissions regulation, while reducing costs and duration of development projects, makes numerical simulation essential. 1D engine simulation software response for the gas exchange process is sufficiently accurate and quick. However, combustion simulation by Wiebe function is poorly predictive. The objective of this paper is to compare different approaches for 0D Spark Ignition (SI) modeling. Versions of Eddy Burn Up, Fractal and Flame Surface Density (FSD) models have been coded into GT-POWER platform, which connects thermodynamics, gas exchange and combustion sub-models. An initial flame kernel is imposed and then, the flame front propagates spherically in the combustion chamber. Flame surface is tabulated as a function of piston position and flame radius. The modeling of key features of SI combustion such as laminar flame speed and thickness and turbulence was common.

Several works have previously shown that the concept of pneumatic-combustion hybrid engine is an interesting alternative to the Electric Hybrid Vehicle, by leading to equivalent fuel savings for a probable lower cost. However, these studies have shown that the thermal insulation of the tank is a problem. Indeed, due to its size and its location, the adiabaticity of the pneumatic tank cannot be guaranteed. During a regenerative braking (pneumatic pump mode) the hot and pressurized air that is send to the tank cools, pressure drops and density increases. When reusing the air in pneumatic motor mode, the mass necessary to fill the cylinder is greater than the one that would have been necessary if the air was not cool at its stay in the tank. This phenomenon is the major cause to the quite low regenerative efficiency that has been observed on a prototype engine.

This paper describes an innovative method to estimate the wall losses during the compression and combustion strokes of a gasoline engine using the cylinder pressure measurement. The estimation during the compression and combustion strokes allows to better represent the system during the combustion. A sliding mode observer is derived from a validated 0-D physical engine model and its convergence and stability are proved. The observer is validated using two different engine models: a one zone engine model and a two zones engine model with flame wall interaction. A good agreement between the estimation results and the model reference is observed, showing the interest of using closed loop strategies to estimate the wall losses in a SI engine.

The objective of this paper is to present and to validate a numerical model of a single-cylinder pneumatic-combustion hybrid engine. The model presented in this paper contains 0-D sub-models for non-spatially distributed components: Engine cylinder, Air tank, wall heat losses. 1-D sub-models for spatially distributed components are applied on the compressive gas flows in pipes (intake, exhaust and charging). Each pipe is discretized, using the Two-Steps Lax-Wendroff scheme (LW2) including Davis T.V.D. The boundaries conditions used at pipe ends are Method Of Characteristics (MOC) based. In the specific case of a valve, an original intermediate volume MOC based boundary condition is used. The numerical results provided by the engine model are compared with the experimental data obtained from a single cylinder prototype hybrid engine on a test bench operating in 4-stroke pneumatic pump and 4 stroke pneumatic motor modes.

This paper presents a new 0D phenomenological approach to predict the combustion process in diesel engines operated under various running conditions. The aim of this work is to develop a physical approach in order to improve the prediction of in-cylinder pressure and heat release. The main contribution of this study is the modeling of the premixed part of the diesel combustion with a further extension of the model for multi-injection strategies. In phenomenological diesel combustion models, the premixed combustion phase is usually modeled by the propagation of a turbulent flame front. However, experimental studies have shown that this phase of diesel combustion is actually a rapid combustion of part of the fuel injected and mixed with the surrounding gas. This mixture burns quasi instantaneously when favorable thermodynamic conditions are locally reached. A chemical process then controls this combustion.

The amount of fresh air induced into the cylinder is the main parameter to be taken into account when developing the engine control laws. However, the instantaneous amount of induced air cannot be directly measured. Additionally, as the engine air ducting becomes more and more complex (high and low pressure exhaust gas recirculation, variable valve timing, pneumatic hybridization…), models used to develop engine control laws must be as predictive as possible. It has therefore been decided to use 1d aerodynamics simulation to provide accuracy to the control laws development and validation process. Commercial engine codes have been tested but did not give satisfactory results in terms of calculation time and flexibility. Additionally, in the case where no experimental data are available to determine valve discharge coefficient, simulation results were in total disagreement with the engine bench measurements.

Model-based tuning is a way followed by car manufacturers to reduce development costs. In this context, a new methodology has been developed in order to adapt a tur-bocharged diesel engine in the case of non-standard external conditions. Indeed, variable geometry turbine and fuel injection command laws are developed for standard conditions (20°C, altitude=0m). Turbocharger and fuel injection actuators pre-positioning maps should be adjusted regarding the inducted air mass density (influenced by the external temperature and pressure), in order to meet thermal, mechanical and pollutant emissions constraints. In order to reduce the use of climatic tests bench and extreme conditions tests in foreign countries, a model of a turbocharged diesel engine coupled to an optimization loop has been used to take into account the effect of non-standard external conditions on pre-positioning maps.

This paper presents energy management strategies for a new hybrid pneumatic engine concept, which is specific by its configuration: It is not a vehicle but only an engine itself which is hybridized. This arrangement could provide as much as 30% of fuel saving depending on the driving cycle. Therefore different energy management strategies are proposed and compared in this paper. The first of them is called Causal Strategy and implements a rule-based control technique. A second strategy called Constant Penalty Coefficient is based on minimization of equivalent consumption, where the use of each energy source is formulated in a comparative unit. The balance between consumption of different energy source (chemical or pneumatic) is reached by introduction of an equivalence factor. The third strategy is called Variable Penalty Coefficient, where the equivalence factor is consider as variable within the amount of pneumatic energy stored in the air-tank.

The development of the Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) cell geometry and DPF size for new applications requires specific tools to predict the pressure drop as a function of filter characteristics, mass flow and filter loading. A 1-D permeability model is most useful for this type of work. This paper presents the development of a 1-D physical model of DPF permeability. This model includes the symmetric and asymmetric channel shape and is able to simulate various functional phases of the DPF through its lifetime: with or without soot and with or without ash. This kind of model needs several physical coefficients, in order to describe the flow behavior. This work explains the determination of the physical coefficients of the 1-D model. The large disparity of the literature is shown. Therefore, it is necessary to carefully determine these coefficients.

This paper describes mid-load experimental tests combining massive EGR rates and multiple injection strategies. Influence of very high EGR rates on combustion has been reviewed, and a response-surface-modeling tool has been used to present main results. Outputs from this empirical model did highlight a dramatic soot increase when oxygen concentration is reduced. The empirical model based on experimental results model was also used to define more precisely the EGR rate needed to reach US 2010 NOx target. This EGR rate being defined, some investigation has been made on dual-injection strategies combining a main injection with an early pilot injection. Both quantity and timing of pilot injection were varied, and experimental results showed large benefits of this strategy to reduce soot emissions without significant increase of NOx emissions or fuel consumption. Better results were also experienced with the addition of a close post-injection.

Porous honeycombs filters have been widely used for diesel particulates filtration in passenger cars applications. In all current DPF applications, filter lifetime and design are dictated by the need to store non combustible ash generated at the exhaust. Therefore, improving the ash storage capacity of a filter appears as a major step towards the development of maintenance free DPF systems. This paper describes a new filter design that was developed to optimize ash storage volume. Numerical simulations and roller bench tests have been performed in order to compare the performances of this new filter to commercial honeycomb filters.

Recrystallized Silicon carbide (R-SiC) honeycombs have been widely used over the last couple of years as filtration media for diesel particulates filtration in passenger cars applications. Although such filters are very reliable thanks to SiC good properties and smart designs, existing devices can still be improved. This paper describes several new features developed for R-SiC honeycomb filters in order to increase their durability and reduce their cost. Durability improvements can be obtained through the optimization of different filter properties such as thermo-mechanical resistance and thermal diffusivity. Specific tests have been performed in order to optimize new R-SiC filters.

To meet future pollutant emissions standards, it is crucial to be able to estimate the cycle by cycle composition of the combustion chamber charge. This charge consists of fresh air, fuel and residual gas from the previous cycle. Unfortunately, the residual gas fraction cannot be directly measured. Therefore, a model of residual gas fraction as a function of engine parameters and operating parameters has been developed. The model has been calibrated with exhaust pipe hydrocarbon measurements using a successive dilution method.

Torque based engine control seems to be the trend for the future for powertrain management (automatic gearbox, hybrid vehicles). Today, torque estimation is best achieved using cylinder pressure transducers. This paper proposes a method to achieve a good accuracy of the torque using Bézier curves to reconstruct the cylinder pressure peak from the low frequency embedded pressure measurements. As is, IMEP cannot be used on a cycle to cycle basis for engine torque control, due to the very high cycle to cycle variability of SI engines. To improve the quality of the IMEP feedback data, this paper proposes a moving horizon filtering method.

This paper presents a new firing concept for internal combustion engines called APIR and its performances. This concept attempts to merge the best of both Compression Ignition (CI) and Spark Ignition (SI) engine worlds. The application of this concept to a standard SI engine, leads to a consequent improvement of the firing and combustion performances. Initiation and combustion develop with a speed and a repeatability incomparable with the spark plug firing case. The use of the APIR device leads to an increase of the engine operating range in terms of lean operating limit and thus lean burn torque range. This paper points out that the APIR device has a lower knock sensitivity and isn't much affected by the in-cylinder aerodynamics. Thus, it can be shown that to take full advantage of the APIR concept in terms of efficiency and pollutants emissions, the SI engine must be redesigned in terms of compression ratio and in-cylinder aerodynamics.

In the last decade, the drastic strengthening of engine emission regulations has conducted the automotive industry towards more and more sophisticated engine control strategies requiring more and more sensor inputs and actuator outputs. The testing and setting up of the ECUs implementing such strategies becomes more and more difficult, requiring numerous engine tests on test benches. ECUTEST is a hardware and software package from KADRA CONSULTANTS that offers the following features: Simulation of sensors including variable reluctance sensor, lambda sensor, knock sensor… Measurement of output signals (injection, ignition, EGR…) timing and amplitude. A predefined test pattern can be replayed on the ECU to perform end of line testing. A real-time model can be used for testing and setting up embedded closed loop strategies. The present paper will cover the implementation of a real-time SI engine model on ECUTEST.

One way of improving electronic engine control is to get an insight into the combustion process, using a direct measurement method: this means the sensor must be put straight into the combustion chamber. The reference for analyzing combustion development is the cylinder pressure sensor. Due to the price of this sensor and the added complexity for cylinder head design and manufacturing, cylinder pressure sensors are not conceivable today for mass production. An alternative to the cylinder pressure sensor is the ionization sensor. It seems to be very promising for electronic engine control. Several publications have already demonstrated the benefits of ionization currents sensing for misfire detection, knock detection, closed loop ignition control, air-fuel ratio estimation. On the contrary, other publications have shown severe limitations of the ionization sensor. For example, fuel composition or additives can influence the ionization current.