The Evolution of the Internal Combustion Engine and Future Design Challenges: Performance, Efficiency, Emissions

Paul D. Ronney Dept. of Aerospace & Mechanical Eng. University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA 90089-1453 USA 90089http://carambola.usc.edu

Outline
Why gasoline-fueled premixed-charge IC engines? gasolinepremixedHistory and evolution Things you need to understand about IC engines before ... Ideas for improvements Conclusions

University of Southern California - Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

Why premixed-charge IC engines? premixed Alternatives

External combustion - "steam engine," "Stirling cycle" Heat transfer is too slow ( 100x slower than combustion) 10 B-747 engines large coal-fueled electric power plant Bcoal Electric vehicles (EVs) Batteries are heavy 1000 lbs/gal of gasoline equivalent Fuel cells better, but still nowhere near gasoline "Zero emissions" myth - EVs export pollution Environmental cost of battery materials Possible advantage: makes smaller, lighter, more streamlined cars acceptable to consumers Prediction: eventual conversion of electric vehicles to gasoline power (>100 miles per gallon)

University of Southern California - Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

Zero emission electric vehicles

University of Southern California - Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

Why premixed-charge IC engines? premixed Alternatives (continued)

Solar Need 30 ft x 30 ft collector for 15 hp (Arizona, high noon, midmidsummer)

Nuclear Who are we kidding ???

Moral - hard to beat gasoline-fueled IC engine for gasoline Power/weight & power/volume of engine Energy/weight & energy/volume of liquid hydrocarbon fuel Distribution & handling convenience of liquids
University of Southern California - Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

History and evolution

1859 - Oil discovered in Pennsylvania 1876 - Premixed-charge 4-stroke engine - Otto Premixed4 1st practical IC engine Power: 2 hp; Weight: 1250 pounds Comp. ratio = 4 (knock limited), 14% efficiency (theory 38%) Today CR = 8 (still knock limited), 30% efficiency (theory 52%)

1897 - Nonpremixed-charge engine - Diesel - higher efficiency due to Nonpremixed Higher compression ratio (no knock problem) No throttling loss - use fuel/air ratio to control power

University of Southern California - Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

Premixed vs. non-premixed charge engines nonSpark plug Flame front Fuel injector Fuel spray flame

Fuel + air mixture

Air only

Premixed charge (gasoline)

Non-premixed charge (Diesel)

University of Southern California - Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

History and evolution

1923 - Tetraethyl lead - anti-knock additive anti Enable higher CR in Otto-type engines Otto-

1952 - A. J. Haagen-Smit Haagen NO + UHC + O2 + sunlight p NO2 + O3 (from exhaust) (brown) (irritating)

1960s - Emissions regulations

Detroit wont believe it Initial stop-gap measures - lean mixture, EGR, retard spark stop Poor performance & fuel economy

1973 & 1979 - The energy crises

Detroit takes a bath

University of Southern California - Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

History and evolution

1975 - Catalytic converters, unleaded fuel
Detroit forced to buy technology More aromatics (e.g., benzene) in gasoline - high octane but carcinogenic, sootsoot-producing

1980s - Microcomputer control of engines

Tailor operation for best emissions, efficiency, ...

1990s - Reformulated gasoline

Reduced need for aromatics, cleaner(?) ... but higher cost, lower miles per gallon Now we find MTBE pollutes groundwater!!!

University of Southern California - Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

Things you need to understand before ...

you invent the zero-emission, 100 mpg 1000 hp engine, zerorevolutionize the automotive industry and shop for your retirement home on the French Riviera Room for improvement - factor of 2 in efficiency
Ideal Otto cycle engine with CR = 8: 52% Real engine: 25 - 30% Differences because of Throttling losses Heat losses Friction losses

University of Southern California - Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

Things you need to understand before ...

Room for improvement - infinite in pollutants
Pollutants are a non-equilibrium effect non Burn: Fuel + O2 + N2 p H2O + CO2 + N2 + CO + UHC + NO OK OK OK Bad Bad Bad Expand: CO + UHC + NO frozen at high levels With slow expansion, no heat loss: CO + UHC + NO p H2O + CO2 + N2 ...but how to slow the expansion and eliminate heat loss? Worst problems: cold start, transients, old or out-of-tune vehicles - 90% of out-ofpollution generated by 10% of vehicles

University of Southern California - Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

Things you need to understand before ...

Room for improvement - very little in power
IC engines are air processors Fuel takes up little space Air flow = power Limitation on air flow due to Choked flow past intake valves Friction loss, mechanical strength - limits RPM Slow burn

Majority of power is used to overcome air resistance - smaller, more aerodynamic vehicles beneficial

University of Southern California - Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

Ideas for improvement - alternative fuels

Natural gas
+ Somewhat cleaner than gasoline, non-toxic non+ High octane without refining or additives ( 110) + No cold start problem + Abundant, domestic supply + Cheap ( 1/5 gasoline) + Half the CO2 emission of EVs charged with coal-generated electricity coal+ Dual-fuel (gasoline + natural gas) easily accommodated Dual- Lower energy storage density ( 1/4 gasoline) - Lower power ( 7% less) Attractive for fleet vehicles with limited territory

University of Southern California - Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

Ideas for improvement - alternative fuels

Alcohols
+ Slightly cleaner than gasoline + High octane ( 95) - Not cost-effective without price subsidy cost- Lower storage density (methanol 1/2 gasoline) - Toxic combustion products (aldehydes) Attractive to powerful senators from farm states

Hydrogen
+ Ultimate clean fuel + Excellent combustion properties + Ideal for fuel cells - Very low storage density (1/10 gasoline) - Need to manufacture - usually from electricity + H2O Attractive when we have unlimited cheap clean source of electricity and breakthrough in hydrogen storage technology
University of Southern California - Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

Ideas for improvements - reduce heat loss

Reduction of heat losses
Heat losses caused by high engine turbulence levels Need high turbulence to Wrinkle flame (premixed charge, gasoline) Disperse fuel droplets (nonpremixed charge, Diesel) "Inverse-engineer" engine for low-turbulence "Inverselow Gasoline - electrically-induced flame wrinkling? electrically Diesel - electrostatic dispersion of fuel in chamber?

University of Southern California - Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

Electrostatic sprays

University of Southern California - Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

Ideas - reduce throttling loss

Premixed-charge IC engines frequently operated at lower than Premixedmaximum torque output (throttled conditions) Throttling adjusts torque output of engines by reducing intake density through decrease in pressure ( P = VRT) Throttling losses substantial at part load
1 0.8 Efficiency (throttled) / Efficiency (no throttle) 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 Fraction of maximum load 1

University of Southern California - Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

The TPCE concept

Throttleless Premixed-charge Engine (TPCE) PremixedU. S. Patent No. 5,184,592 Supported by SCAQMD School Clean Fuels Program Preheat air using exhaust heat transfer to reduce V Preheat provides leaner lean misfire limit - use air/fuel ratio AND intake temperature to control torque Provides Diesel-like economy with gasoline-like power Dieselgasoline Retrofit to existing engines possible by changing only intake, exhaust, & control systems

University of Southern California - Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

TPCE implementation concept

FUEL
CARBURETOR DIVERTER VALVE ADJUSTABLE FUEL CONTROL VALVE

AIR

EXHAUST
HEAT EXCHANGER CONVENTIONAL 4-STROKE ENGINE

University of Southern California - Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

Results
Substantially improved fuel economy (up to 16 %) compared to throttled engine at same power & RPM
1.2
Efficiency (best TPCE) / Efficiency (throttled)

Natural gas Gasoline Theory

1.15

1.1

1.05

1 0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

Load (fraction of maximum)

University of Southern California - Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

Results
NOx performance
< 0.8 grams per kW-hr (10 x lower than throttled engine ) kW< 0.2 grams per mile for 15 hp road load @ 55 mi/hr - half of California 2001 standard

CO and UHC comparable to throttled engine

University of Southern California - Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

Ideas for improvements

Programmable intake/exhaust valve timing
Electrical/hydraulic valve actuation Choose open/close timing to optimize power, emissions, efficiency - can eliminate throttling loss

University of Southern California - Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

Ideas for improvements

Homogeneous ignition engine - controlled knocking
Burn much leaner mixtures - higher efficiency, lower NOx Need to abandon traditional Hail, Mary combustion control strategy

University of Southern California - Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

Ideas - improved lean-limit operation lean Recent experiments & modelling suggest lean-limit rough operation is leana chaotic process Feedback via exhaust gas residual Could optimize spark timing on a cycle-to-cycle basis cycle-to Need to infer state of gas & predict burn time for next cycle - need inincylinder sensors

University of Southern California - Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

Conclusions
IC engines are the worst form of vehicle propulsion, except for all the other forms Despite over 100 years of evolution, IC engines are far from optimized Any new idea must consider many factors, e.g.
Where significant gains can & cannot be made Cost Resistance of suppliers & consumers to change

Easiest near-term change: natural-gas vehicles for fleet & commuters nearnatural Longer-term solutions mostly require improved (cheaper) Longer Sensors (especially in-cylinder temperature, pressure) in Actuators (especially intake valves)

University of Southern California - Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

Thanks to ...
USC Dept. of Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering Gas Research Institute South Coast Air Quality Management District and especially METRANS

University of Southern California - Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering