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The aim of this research is to develop the diesel combustion simulation (UniDES: Universal Diesel Engine Simulator) that incorporates multiple-injection strategies and in-cylinder composition changes due to exhaust gas recirculation (EGR), and that is capable of high speed calculation. The model is based on a zero-dimensional (0D) cycle simulation, and represents a multiple-injection strategy using a multi-zone model and inhomogeneity using a probability density function (PDF) model. Therefore, the 0D cycle simulation also enables both high accuracy and high speed. This research considers application to actual development. To expand the applicability of the simulation, a model that accurately estimates nozzle sac pressure with various injection quantities and common rail pressures, a model that accounts for the effects of adjacent spray interaction, and a model that considers the NOx reduction phenomenon under high load conditions were added.

We have developed a novel engine cycle simulation program (UniDES: universal diesel engine simulator) to reproduce the diesel combustion process over a wide range of engine operating parameters, such as the amount of injected fuel, the injection timing, and the EGR ratio. The approach described in this paper employs a zoning model, where the in-cylinder region is divided into up to five zones. We also applied a probability density function (PDF) concept to each zone to consider the effect of spatial non-homogeneities, such as local equivalence ratios and temperature, on the combustion characteristics. We linked this program to the commonly used commercial GT-Power® software (UniDES+GT). As a result, we were able to reproduce transient engine behavior very accurately.

Natural gas homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) engines require high compression ratios and intake air heating because of the high auto-ignition temperature of natural gas. In the first study, the natural gas fueled HCCI combustion with internal exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) was achieved without an intake air heater. The effects of the combustion chamber configuration, turbocharging, and external EGR were investigated for expanding the operating range. As a result, it was cleared that the combination of internal / external EGR and turbocharging is effective for expanding the HCCI operational range toward high loads. Meanwhile, the HCCI combustion characteristics at high engine speeds were unstable because of an insufficient reaction time for auto-ignition. Although the engine operation with a richer air-fuel ratio was effective for improving the combustion stability, the combustion noise (CN) was at an unacceptable level.

Through the basic research of the plasma assisted catalyst system using DeNOx catalysts and the gas analysis of the system, its conceptual use for automobile diesel engine applications has been studied. This study has shown that the length between the plasma reactor and the catalyst reactor does not affect the NOx conversion. To obtain an efficient NOx conversion, the plasma should affect both the HC as the reductant and NOx at the same time. In the case of γ-Al2O3 and C3H6, the main component for NOx reduction was CH3CHO generated by the plasma. Under 250 deg. C, the temperature was too low for the γ-Al2O3 to become effective. Therefore, the NOx conversion became low. At 400 deg. C, the NOx conversion became high. However, at 600 deg. C, the CH3CHO for reducing NOx was not generated, and the NOx conversion decreased.

NOx reduction activity in an oxidizing exhaust gas was significantly improved by discharging non-thermal plasma and catalysts (plasma assisted catalysis). We investigated effective catalyst for plasma assisted catalysis in view of hydrocarbon-selective catalytic reduction(HC-SCR). Plasma assist was effective for γ-alumina and alkali or alkaline earth metals loaded zeolite and γ-alumina showed the highest NOx conversion among these catalysts. On the other hand, Plasma assist was not effective for Cu-ZSM-5 and Pt loaded catalyst. The NOx conversion for the plasma assisted γ-alumina decreased by formation of a deposit on the catalyst below 400°C. It is shown that indium loading on γ-alumina improved the NOx reduction activity and suppressed the degradation of the NOx reduction activity at 300°C with plasma assist.

NOx reduction was estimated on various axial distributions of precious metal through a catalyst based on a numerical model of diesel NOx selective reduction by HC which takes into account the adsorption and desorption of HC. We had a qualitative agreement with the experimental results. We can obtain the behavior of distributions of adsorbed HC amount by our calculations, which we hardly obtain by experiments. This is a very useful information for a design of HC-SCR systems. We have developed a new method of optimization of diesel selective NOx reduction systems with a supplemental HC to improve the efficiency of HC-SCR.

A new method that optimizes the control map of hydrocarbon addition to diesel exhaust gas for hydrocarbon selective catalyst reduction (HC-SCR) has been developed. This method is comprised of a numerical HC-SCR model and a new optimization technique using Evolutionary Programming based on the evolution of living things. As a result of this evaluation, the number of calculations to obtain the optimized control map with this method was one third that using the conventional method. By using the obtained optimized control map, the NOx conversion was found to be greater by 18% than that with the constant addition of hydrocarbon.

The objects of this work is to develop a method of evaluating the thermal sensation of an automobile occupant and predicting its transition for the development of a new control system for automobile air-conditioners. An automobile air-conditioner is designed only to control the air-temperature of a passenger compartment. However, The most important factor in controlling automobile air-conditioner is the thermal amenity for occupants when an air-conditioner is controlled. For the control of the thermal amenity, it is necessary to quantitatively evaluate the thermal sensation of occupants. This paper presents a new method using neural networks, which was developed to evaluate the thermal sensation of an automobile occupant and to predict its transition from the occupant's skin temperature and temperature of the passenger compartment. Experiments were performed in an environmental chamber.