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The reduction of CO2 emissions is one of the most important challenges for the automotive industry to contribute to address global warming. Reducing friction of internal combustion engines (ICEs) is one effective countermeasure to realize this objective. The improvement of engine oil can contribute to reduce fuel consumption by reducing friction between engine parts. Electrification of ICE powertrains increases the overall efficiency of powertrains and reduces the average engine oil temperature during vehicle operation, due to intermittent engine operation. An effective way of reducing engine friction is to lower the viscosity of the engine oil in the low to medium temperature range. This can be accomplished while maintaining viscosity at high temperatures by reducing the base oil viscosity and increasing the viscosity modifier (VM) content to raise the viscosity index (so-called “flat viscosity” concept).

In recent years, the realization of carbon neutrality has become an activity to be tackled worldwide, and automobile manufacturers are promoting electrification of power train by HEV, PHEV, BEV and FCEV. Although interest in BEV is currently growing, vehicles equipped with internal combustion engines (ICE) including HEV and PHEV will continue to be used in areas where conversion to BEV is not easy due to lack of sufficient infrastructures. For such vehicles, low-viscosity engine oil will be one of the most important means to contribute to further reduction of CO2 emissions. Since HEV requires less work from the engine, the engine oil temperature is lower than that of conventional engine vehicles. Therefore, the reduction of viscous resistance in the mid-to-low temperature range below 80°C is expected to contribute more to fuel economy. On the other hand, the viscosity must be kept above a certain level to ensure the performance of hydraulic devices in the high oil temperature range.

For improving the thermal efficiency and the reduction of hazardous gas emission from IC engines, it is crucial to model the heat transfer phenomenon starting from the intake system and predict the intake air’s mass and temperature as precise as possible. Previously, an empirical equation was constructed using an experimental setup of an intake port model of an ICE, in order to be implemented into an engine control unit and numerical simulation software for heat transfer calculations. The empirical equation was based on the conventional Colburn analogy with the addition of Graetz and Strouhal numbers. Introduced dimensionless numbers were used to characterize the entrance region, and intermittent flow effects, respectively.

In order to get better results in the Formula SAE of Japan, it is necessary to develop a small displacement engine with an ideal fuel consumption rate. Therefore, the authors started to improve an existing engine by combining with glow plug heated sub-chamber and lean burn. Lean burn conditions are usually adopted in gasoline engines, having the advantages of high specific heat ratio, low pump loss, and low cooling loss due to requiring a decreased combustion temperature. The combination of these elements can be expected to vastly improve thermal efficiency and fuel consumption. Unfortunately, however, when the mixture becomes lean, the ignition delay increases, and the flame propagation speed reduces. This leads to an increase in combustion fluctuation. The authors intend to solve this problem by installing a glow plug in a newly designed sub-chamber. This type of device would usually be used to heat the sub-chamber of a diesel engine to solve the cold start problem.

This paper provides the importance of helical coil sub-cooled condenser which has a compact structure, large heat transfer area, and high heat transfer capability in comparison to the straight sub-cooled condenser in the automobile vehicle. The HVAC unit has the largest parasitic load on the engine. Hence, by improving the coefficient of performance of the air-conditioning (A/C) system, the reduction in vehicule emissions is possible. Previous studies explain that there is generation of secondary flow inside the fluid in the circular cross-section of the helical coil. By using the effect of the secondary flow generation, authors tried to enhance the heat transfer rate as it leads to heterogeneous temperature distribution across the periphery of the tube and causes a higher heat transfer. For the purpose of the study, a prototype with a square cross-sectional 2.7 mm × 2.7 mm channel with flat fins towards the outer side has been constructed.

Diesel engines need to optimize the fuel injection timing and quantity of each cycle in the transient operation to increase the thermal efficiency and reduce the exhaust gas emissions through the precise combustion control. The heat transfer from the working gas in the combustion chamber to the chamber wall is a crucial factor to predict the gas temperature in the combustion chamber to optimize the timing and quantity of fuel injection. Therefore, the authors developed both the heat loss and the polytropic index prediction models with the low calculation load and high accuracy. In addition, for the calculation of the heat loss and the polytropic index, the wall heat transfer model was also developed, which was derived from the continuity equation and the energy equation. The present study used a single cylinder diesel engine under the condition of engine speed of 1200 and 1500 rpm, and measured the local wall temperature and the local heat flux of the combustion chamber.

Attribute to high heat transfer rate and less complexity, the Helical coil sub-cooled condenser (HCSCC) can provide the most innovative and unique application for the air conditioning system. In the case of automobiles, reduction in air-conditioning load may diminish the vehicular emission, and power consumption as the air-conditioning load is the most power-consuming components after the engine load. Moreover, to solve the problem, we focus on the helical type heat exchanger. It may play a vital role in reducing the weight and increase the performance of the small engine because of the compact structure and lighter weight. The compressor unit is the most vital component of the refrigeration cycle, but the condenser unit is also one of the most critical devices, and the author tried to reduce the power consumption by enhancing the performance of the condenser.

This paper oriented towards spiral coil sub-cooled condenser (SCSCC) which is used for the automotive air conditioning system. Therefore, the effect of curvature diameter has been carefully measured by CFD as it reduces/intensify the centrifugal force. This centrifugal force is responsible for Dean vortices and leads to the generation of secondary flow inside the refrigerant. By taking advantage of this secondary flow, the performance of the SCSCC can be improved. CFD analysis comprises curvature diameter from 13mm to 110mm, which varied the Dean number from 7577 to 2605. The author tried to evaluate the complicated phenomena that occurred within the SCSCC. However, the turbulent kinetic energy which is one of the critical factors of heat transfer coefficient illustrates 0.009m2/s2 and 0.006m2/s2 for large and small Dean number, respectively, toward the outer side of the channel.

This study proposes a method to calculate the limit of piston ring conformability to deformed bore based on measured gas leakage flow rate through ring-bore gap and calculated gap area using a test device that allows the creation of arbitrary bore deformation. As a result, it was clarified that predicted conformability can be matched with measured value by modifying a constant value in the conformability equation for a single order bore deformation proposed by Dunaevsky and Tomanik et al. Furthermore, it has been confirmed experimentally that the conformability limit index ∑U for the complex bore deformation proposed by Tomanik is valid. Using ∑U, area of gap between piston ring and deformed bore under engine operating condition was calculated to derive the relationship between blow-by gas flow rate.

Diesel engine has fuel combustion capability in various high density oil such as residual fuels or biofuels derived from fossil or living matter. But for commercial use, these fuels except bio diesel fuel (BDF) should be heated, separated and filtered by equipment and dosed or mixed with additive or distillate oil etc. before being supplied to the engine in order to improve combustibility. This study aims to illuminate fuel characteristic of blend contained woody pyrolysis oil (WPO) which is high viscosity and incombustible, and dimethyl ether (DME) whose emission of combustion has no soot particle. This paper describes thermo-physical property of neat WPO and the blend on the basis of the evaluation of fuel fluidity by measurement and calculation of viscosity. According to the result, it was confirmed that the fluidity of WPO was improved by mixing DME and the approximate viscosity expressions at any temperature of WPO and the blend were good accuracy.

This paper discusses the compact structure, innovative and unique approach of high performance spiral coil sub-cooled condenser for compact power plant/engine applications. The motivation behind this study is to reduce the engine emission by improving the coefficient of performance for air-conditioning unit. Since the air conditioning system is the most power consumption units after the power plant, so it significantly affects the fuel consumption and the hazardous gas emissions. In the air condition cycle, the condenser unit is addressed as one of the important devices, and thus, the author tried to reduce the energy consumption by improving the performance of the condenser. The most advantage points of this study is to use spiral coil sub-cooled condenser, which elaborates the effect of secondary flow generation inside the fluid and is known as the Dean’s effect.

An empirical equation was developed for modeling the heat transfer phenomena taking place in an intake manifold which included the backflow gas effect. In literature, heat transfer phenomenon at intake system is modeled based on steady flow assumptions by Colburn analogy. Previously, authors developed an equation with the introduction of Graetz and Strouhal numbers, using a port model experimental setup. In this study, to further improve the empirical equation, real engine experiments were conducted where pressure ratio between the intake manifold and engine cylinder were added along with Reynolds number to characterize the backflow gas effect on intake air temperature. Compared to the experimental data, maximum and average errors of intake air temperature estimated from the new empirical equation were found to be 2.9% and 0.9%, respectively.

In motorcycle market, there is demand for technology that makes it possible to drive fast safely. One such technology has already been commercialized; control that prevents front lift while enabling maximum acceleration performance. We have developed a more accurate version of this control. In order to maximize acceleration performance, it is necessary to keep front lift angle as close to zero as possible. Reducing output driving force helps to keep the front lift angle low, but if output driving force is reduced too much, it will degrade acceleration performance. Feedback control that reduces output driving force when front lift is detected is effective for optimizing this trade off, but increasing feedback gain too much to reduce front lift angle will cause output driving force to change suddenly, making for a less comfortable ride.

In the past two decades, internal combustion engines have been required to improve their thermal efficiency in order to limit hazardous gas emissions. For further improvement of the thermal efficiency, it is required to predict the mass of intake air into cylinders in order to control the auto-ignition timing for CI engines. For an accurate prediction of intake air mass, it is necessary to model the heat transfer phenomena at the intake manifold. From this intention, an empirical equation was developed based on Colburn equation. Two new arguments were presented in the derived formula. The first argument was the addition of Graetz number, where it characterized the entrance region thermal boundary layer development and its effect on the heat transfer inside the intake manifold. As the second argument, Strouhal number was included in order to represent intake valve effect on heat transfer.

The electric power steering (EPS) is increasing its number since there are many advantages compared to hydraulic power steering. The EPS saves fuel and eliminates hydraulic fluid. Also, it is more suitable to the cooperation control with the other vehicle components. The EPS is now expanding to the heavier vehicle with the advance in the power electronics. In order to meet customer's needs, such as down-sizing, lower failure rate and lower price, we have developed the new motor control unit (MCU) for the EPS. The motor and the electric control unit (ECU) were integrated for the better installation. We adopted new technologies of redundant 2-drive design for more safe EPS. “2-drive Motor Control technology” which consists of dual winding, two torque sensors and two inverter drive units. In our developed MCU, even if there is a failure in one of the drive unit, the assistance of the EPS can be maintained with the other drive unit.

This paper represents the adaptation of turbo charger to single cylinder 450cc SI engine which is used for the student formula competition. The experiment and 1D engine simulation called as GT-Power were performed to confirm the effect of valve profile, compression ratio and air fuel ratio on the engine performance under the naturally aspirated condition. The maximum valve lift of the intake valves increased 27% and that of the exhaust valves increased 15% as compared with the low profile cam. The compression ratio was increased from 12.3 to 13.5 by changing the piston top land length in order to improve the thermal efficiency. It was confirmed that the torque peak was moved from 6000 rpm to 8000 rpm by changing the valve profile. Furthermore, turbo charger was adapted to the engine as changing the capacity of the turbocharger, the maximum boost pressure and the air fuel ratio.

For further development of the thermal efficiency of SI engines, the robust control of the air-fuel ratio (A/F) fluctuation is one of the most important technologies, because the A/F is maintained at the theoretical constant value, which causes the increase of the catalytic conversion efficiency and the reduction of pollutant emission. We developed the robust controller of the A/F, which is the method to change the fuel injection rate by using the feed-forward (FF) controller considering the heat transfer at the intake system. The FF controller was verified under transient driving conditions for a single cylinder, and the A/F fluctuations were reduced at approximately 84%.

The paper reviews the experimental development of fuel economy of engine powering the 2012 Formula SAE single seat race car of the University of Sophia. The balance of high power and low fuel consumption is biggest challenge of racing engine. It was found that improving the efficiency of engine by supercharging as a way to achieve that. In order to adapt the supercharger for the engine, the important design points are below: It was found that intake air blow-by gas at combustion chamber is increased in low engine speed. To improve that, the valve overlap angle was changed to adopt supercharged engine and improve effective compression ratio. Typically the racing engine demands maximum torque for performance but that does not imply that the air fuel ratio should be rich than theoretical. The point is the maximum torque of the engine is proportional to the amount of air intake. Therefore, supercharged engine is possible to increase the supercharging pressure for bigger torque.

Nowadays, cornering performance of FSAE (Formula SAE) cars are dramatically improved due to less mass, kinematic developments and tires. In such circumstance, under high speed conditions, aerodynamical devices work better. It had been decided to attach aerodynamical devices that consist of front wing, rear wing, diffuser (floor) and deflector for SR11 (Fig. 1, Table 1), a FSAE car developed by Sophia Racing (Japan). Fig. 1 SR11 Table 1Vehicle configuration of SR11 To start with developing aerodynamical devices, it had been assumed that how they work. Lap time simulation had been done with VI-car-realtime, which shows the laptime could be shorten by 2 seconds of 60 seconds for a usual FSAE endurance course with 60kgf at 60km/h downforce. Dragforce had been assumed to work well while once, it had been supposed to have a bad influence for laptime.

1 Many environmental problems, such as global warming, drain of fuel and so on, are apprehended in all over the world today, and down-sizing is one of the wise ways to deal with these problems. It is significant that a decrease of the engine power must not be produced by using a small displacement engine, so more efficient engine system should be designed to increase the torque with a little fuel. This study achieves an improvement of efficiency for mounting the super charging system on the small displacement engine. As a result, comparing a super charged engine and a naturally aspirated one to drive the same course and laps, fuel consumptions are 2547 [cc] and 3880 [cc], respectively, and an improvement of fuel consumption is 52%. Designing points to mount super charging system is introduced below. 1 It can be forecasted that intake air blow-by gas at the combustion chamber is increased in low engine speed because engine for motor cycle is used.