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Drift tubes barely the size of a quarter coin have been created and shown to provide analytical performance for detecting volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in air with sensitivity and selectivity comparable to larger analyzers in ion mobility spectrometry (IMS). These new micro-scale drift tubes have been operated under high field radio frequency (RF) regimes so that ion shutters and aperture grids could be removed from the drift tube. This advance also allowed the prototype units to be made with a planar design using manufacturing methods suitable for mass production and low cost. Ion characterization and separation with an RF-IMS drift tube are based upon differential mobilities, of gas phase ions, between high field and low field limits. Analytical measurement performance for a VOCs in air are shown and discussed.

A new methodology for determining the steady-state flow force on a hydraulic spool valve has been developed. From a solid model of the valve and valve body, a commercially available CFD package automeshes the volume grid and determines the 3D steady-state flow field and forces on the valve within 36 CPU hrs. This numerical approach enables the quick determination of optimal valve design aimed at improved valve controllability and reduced wear in the hydraulic circuit. To demonstrate this methodology, several simulations were performed aimed at investigating the influence of valve design and valve operating conditions on the steady-state flow force experienced by the valve. The numerical simulations showed that a tapered spool geometry can introduce significant variations in the axial and radial forces (30%).

A steady-state flowbench measures the mass and angular momentum flux (swirl and tumble) for a given cylinder head intake port design over varying valve lifts and pressure drops. From these two measurements, enhancements in volumetric efficiency and burnrate can be determined. This methodology, however, requires the production and experimental testing of multiple cylinder head castings or soft-prototypes. To help reduce the number of hardware design iterations, an analytical methodology has been developed which uses a new computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation tools called PowerFLOW. From a solid model of the cylinder head, PowerFLOW uses automeshing which produces a 10 million Cartesian volume mesh in 4 CPU hrs. The lattice Boltzmann technique used by PowerFLOW is inherently parallel resulting in steady-state results on this mesh in 36 CPU hrs. This paper present a comparison of numerically obtained mass flow rates from PowerFLOW to experimental flowbench data.

Using a fast-sampling valve, residual-fraction levels were determined in a 2.0L spark-ignited production engine, over varying engine operating conditions. Individual samples for each operating condition were analyzed by gas-chromatography which allowed for the determination of in-cylinder CO and CO2 levels. Through a comparison of in-cylinder measurement and exhaust data measurements, residual molar fraction (RMF) levels were determined and compared to analytical results. Analytical calculations were performed using the General Engine SIMulation (GESIM) which is a steady state quasi-dimensional engine combustion cycle simulation. Analytical RMF levels, for identical engine operating conditions, were compared to the experimental results as well as a sensitivity study on wave-dynamics and heat transfer on the analytically predicted RMF. Similarly, theoretical and experimental NOx emissions were compared and production sensitivity on RMF levels explored.

A methodology is developed that incorporates high resolution CFD flowfield information and a particle trajectory simulation, aimed at addressing Paint Transfer Efficiency (PTE) for bell sprayers. Given a solid model for the bell sprayer, the CFD simulation, through automeshing, determines a high resolution Cartesian volume mesh (14-20 million cells). With specified values of the initial shaping air, transient and steady-state flow field information is obtained. A particle trajectory visualization tool called SpraySIM uses this complicated flowfield information to determine the particle trajectories of the paint particles under the influence of drag, gravity and electrostatic potential. The sensitivity of PTE on shaping air velocity, charge-to-mass ratio, potential, and particle diameter are examined.

A new reaction scheme for NOx production is incorporated into a steady state quasi-dimensional engine combustion simulation. The reaction kinetics includes 67 reactions and 13 chemical species, and assumes equilibrium concentration for all other chemical species. The General Engine SIMulation (GESIM) developed by Ford Motor Company is used to model the engine cycle. The new reaction scheme is a super-extended Zel'dovich mechanism (SEZM) which predicts NOx formation levels to within 10% of engine test data for several engines, whereas the 3 reaction, extended Zel'dovich mechanism (EZM) is shown to have errors of approximately 50% or more for similar conditions. Analytical engine mapping, under NOx constrained calibration, requires accurate modeling of NOx emissions over varying engine operating conditions.

Accurate prediction of engine combustion characteristics, especially burn rates, can eliminate a number of hardware iterations, thus resulting in a significant reduction in design and developmental time and cost. An analytical methodology has been developed which allows the determination of part-load MBT spark timing to within 2 crank-angle degrees. The design methodology employs the in-house-developed steady-state quasi-dimensional engine simulation model (GESIM), coupled with full-field measurement of the in-cylinder fluid motion at bottom dead center (BDC) in the computer-controlled water analog system (AquaDyne). The in-cylinder flow-field measurements are obtained using 3-D Particle Tracking Velocimetry (3-D PTV), also developed in-house. In this methodology, the in-cylinder flow measurement data are used to calibrate both the tumble and swirl models in GESIM.