Intelligent Alternator Employment To Reduce Co
2
Emission and to Improve Engine Performance
2011-01-2444
In modern internal combustion engines a greater reduction of CO₂
emissions is required in order to significantly reduce fuel
consumption and minimize the emissions of polluting gases, allowing
them to fall within the strict limits set by current regulations.
In a conventional engine control system, it is not possible to
optimize the efficiency of the alternator in terms of emissions and
fuel consumption, due to a constant voltage which is imposed and is
not modifiable. On the contrary, in a system capable of controlling
the voltage of the alternator, referring to such an alternator as
"smart" hereafter, it would be possible to optimize its
efficiency as a function of the vehicle/engine working points. This
system requires first and foremost a communication protocol between
the alternator and engine control unit, and a special sensor that
gets data on the charging status of the battery.
In this chapter a management strategy is proposed for regulating
the alternator regulation voltage in order to maximize its
efficiency on the basis of the engine and vehicle conditions. This
is done by using an "Intelligent Alternator Module (IAM)"
that communicates using the LIN protocol with the Engine Control
Module (ECM), and an "Intelligent Battery Sensor (IBS),"
which provides the information about the battery State-Of-Charge
(SOC).
These procedures are implemented for both gasoline and diesel
engines and the expected improvement has been achieved: the average
life of the vehicle battery has been increased, fuel consumption
and emission have been reduced. In particular, measurements done
have shown that consumption reduction due to the control system
described above is about 2-3% on NEDC homologation cycle.
Citation: Montalto, I., Tavella lng, D., Casavola PhD, A., and De Cristofaro, F., "Intelligent Alternator Employment To Reduce Co2 Emission and to Improve Engine Performance," SAE Int. J. Alt. Power. 1(1):1-11, 2012, https://doi.org/10.4271/2011-01-2444. Download Citation