Modem passenger cars have to meet very strict targets for emissions and fuel consumption in an effort to reduce their contribution to atmospheric pollution and the generation of green house gases. Diesel engine vehicles produce considerably less carbon dioxide (the main green house gas) than petrol vehicles because they are more efficient but theydo produce more pollutants especially particulate matter, which is known to have health implications for humans.To achieve future emissions and fuel consumption targets such that the Diesel can be classified as 'clean', a range of low polluting technologies are being developed. These technologies can be very expensive and complex to control, they also interact with each other and sometimes the combination may not have the overall potential that was first envisaged. Such findings may not become evident until a long and costly testing programme has been undertaken. Consequently, there is little consensus as to the best combination of new technologies that will result in a commercially viable clean diesel car. The process still requires many years of research, on-engine testing and vehicle trials to ensure the chosen combination provides the desired effect.This project aims to use computer models to simulate the performance of modern Diesel engines and the vehicle in which they are fitted. We plan to use these models such that will 'interact' and 'talk' with one another with some degree of intelligence such that they can identify the likely technology winners without the need for a lot of time consuming test work. This constitutes a virtual environment for assessing complete system performance, this is a highly attractive possibility but a substantial research effort is required to prove that it has merit.Inevitably, some experimental testing will be required to evaluate how well the models predict performance in a real world environment. Because we are dealing with technology that has still to be refined, or even developed, we will need to use experimental techniques that recreate boundary conditions (manifold states, temperatures etc) which will appear to the engine indistinguishable from those generated by the proposed technologies. By using this approach we will be able to identify the best combination of technologies and demonstrate their potential to reduce pollutants and improve engine efficiency. Additionally, we will need to ensure that the car can still be driven with the same expectations as current products. To this end we will predict subjective vehicle performance when equipped with the proposed technologies.We will be working with a major car company and as the project progresses they will assist us in the acquisition of the technologies we have identified such that they may be fitted onto an engine in a vehicle. We will predict the performance using the modelling tools we have developed and finally we will test the complete vehicle and assess how well it performs and how accurate our predictions have been. This will be the crucial test of the usefulness and robustness of the techniques developed.We plan to demonstrate simulation techniques that can identify and predict where diesel engine improvements can be made by adopting certain technology before it becomes available. If we are successful this will benefit our environment by bringing clean diesel engine cars to garage forecourts much quicker and will also reduce the development costs of the manufacturers.

The hybrid vehicles are known to be capable of dramatically improving the fuel economy, particularly in cities and urban areas where the traffic conditions involve a lot of stops and starts. In such conditions, a large amount of fuel is needed to accelerate the vehicle, and much of this is converted to heat in brake friction during deceleration. Capturing, storing and reusing this braking energy to give additional power can therefore improve fuel efficiency, and this can be achieved by using the momentum of the vehicle during coasting and deceleration to top up an energy storage device and later releasing the energy to propel the vehicle during cruising and acceleration. The proposed work is to study some innovative air hybrid engine concepts and their potentials in improved fuel economy and low emissions through systematic modelling and engine testing. In the proposed air hybrid engine concepts, the engine itself is used as the compressor or expander, transmitting power through the pistons and the crankshaft of the engine thus braking or propelling the vehicle using the existing drivetrain of the vehicle. Pneumatic energy is stored at moderate pressure in a compact compressed air energy storage tank which may be integrated into the vehicle sub-frame. The air hybrid engine will be able to recover the braking energy and stored it for later use to start the engine and help the vehicle to accelerate, allowing significant improvement in fuel economy but without adding the large weight and complexity of the electric hybrid. This is a mild hybrid system in which the engine is used as an air motor for stop/start operation, with the engine switched off when the vehicle stops and restarted quickly with compressed air when the vehicle is launched, thus not using fuel during the idle period. In addition, the stored high pressure air is available readily on demand for other uses to improve driveability and reduce emissions, such as briefly boosting the engine to eliminate turbo-lag in a turbo-charged engine resulting in better response and removal of the black smoke typically seen from accelerating diesel vehicles on the road. The stored air may also be used as a source of secondary air for rapid light-off of the exhaust catalyst during cold start. All these are significant additional benefits uniquely available with the pneumatic hybrid, which are not possible with the other hybrid types. In the proposed research, three new air hybrid engine concepts will be studied using both advanced modelling and engine experiments. The results from the proposed research will be used for the development of a new frontier engines with leapfrog improvements in performance, fuel economy, and exhaust emissions.

The project seeks to explore the science of laser ignition (LI) based control & sensing of combustion, leading towards In-Combustion-Event Feedback (ICEF) control in future internal combustion (IC) engines. The main objectives are to pursue optimisation of LI & sensing for next generation engine configurations, to provide knowledge to extend the stratified GDI combustion envelope by cycle-to-cycle variation reduction, to enhance fuel efficiency by up to 20% & progress towards large-scale engine NOX & HC emissions reduction. The work will explore dynamically varying temporal & spatial multi-point LI, rapid real-time optical sensing of combustion signatures and robust feedback control strategies for multi-point ICEF. It is widely accepted that the IC engine will continue to be the main vehicle power plant over the next 10-15 years, before significant displacement by other technologies (such as fuel cell based plant) takes place. To meet environmental legislation requirements, automotive manufactures continue to address two critical aspects of engine performance: fuel economy & exhaust gas emissions. New engines are becoming increasingly complex, with advanced combustion mechanisms that burn an increasing range of fuels to meet future goals on performance, fuel economy and emissions. In the spark-ignition (SI) engine, the spark plug has remained largely unchanged since its invention and limits the potential for improving efficiency due to its poor ability to ignite highly dilute air-fuel mixtures. Also vital to optimising engine performance is the sensing & diagnostics for high speed feedback control, but accurate real-time in-cylinder sensing is currently prohibitively expensive. LI offers several potential solutions, including the ability to ignite highly dilute air-fuel mixtures. Due to recent laser technology advances, the range of combustion control parameters can now be widened to include laser wavelength, pulse duration, spatial & temporal optical energy distribution, single & multiple ignition events. The opportunity now exists to explore how the dynamic selection of these variables can be optimised for more efficient and cleaner combustion over the widest range of engine operating conditions. The holistic systems approach will include making use of a self-cleaned optical pathway for both LI & feedback sensing purposes, to allow information-rich monitoring and control of combustion to be explored. An extensive programme is needed to establish basic engineering science for highly optimised combustion control by LI to suit specific engine configurations, operating conditions and fuel types. The key research hypothesis is that LI is a viable route to active feedback control of combustion, both cycle-by-cycle & ultimately within the combustion event, by multi-point / event actuation & delay-free self-cleaning laser optic virtual sensing. As well as progress towards the goal of full ICEF control, it will provide shorter term exploitation potential for in cycle-by-cycle combustion feedback control. The research methods to be adopted comprise novel work in: a/ the study of LI mechanisms for combustion control by high-speed ICEF, derived from laser wavelength tuning & spatially & temporally varied energy delivery in multiple foci to suit injection mode, absorption & combustion properties of fuel mixtures; b/ simultaneous use of a self-cleaned optical pathway for real-time in-event light signature capture from LI; c/ the use of sensor data & LI mechanisms for robust optimised ICEF control; d/the use of SLMs as a means to multipoint LI; e/ the optimisation of combustion control using Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) studies. Use of the team's existing engine control facilities & liaison with FMC will allow study of rapid feedback control & its associated computer control issues, conducted through instrumented powertrain control experiments, with control strategies optimised via computational combustion research.

Due to their high fuel economy, diesel engines are widely used in on-road applications. The need to maintain efficiency and performance while meeting increasingly stringent emissions regulations is forcing engine developers to design advanced in-cylinder combustion strategies tailored to minimize emissions and maximize performance at specific operating conditions. These strategies are currently limited by high emissions and poor performance as the engine's speed and load change during transient operation. Even under a wide range of steady-state combustion conditions, there is a shortage of fundamental understanding of the effects of the engine load, charge conditions and charge composition on the combustion process.Transient tests provide information on the effects of a change in the operating mode of an engine. The results of such tests are highly specific to the engine, air exchange, and control system used; it can also be difficult to identify cause and effect relationships relating to the combustion event. As a result, while such tests are necessary for engine development, they do not provide the information needed to develop the improved fundamental understanding being sought in this project. Therefore, this project will adopt well controlled steady-state engine tests with the operating conditions selected to be representative of the charge conditions encountered by individual engine cycles during transient operation. Cycle-to-cycle variability in the composition of the air in the intake and exhaust streams will be measured and will be compared to the observed variability in the combustion event. A variety of tests, including the use of an ignition promoter, will permit evaluation of the principal causes of combustion instability.Combustion instability leads to poor engine performance and high unburned fuel emissions. It is one of the key barriers to the application of high EGR strategies to control diesel engine emissions. Many new diesel engine injection systems have the potential to inject fuel several times within one combustion cycle. This project will use the newly developed fundamental understanding of high-EGR operation to identify novel injection strategies that can improve combustion performance. An optimization process will be used to identify the most promising potential strategies over a range of engine operating conditions similar to those encountered during transient operation. This project will involve two PhD research students (one of whom will be funded by Loughborough University) working under the close supervision of the PI. An advisory panel composed of experienced academic and industrial engine researchers will provide guidance for the project. Technical support will be provided by skilled research technicians. The research will be conducted on a newly installed, state-of-the-art automotive-sized single-cylinder research engine. The overall project methodology will involve first identifying the operating conditions which will be encountered during a transitional mode-shift between low temperature (high EGR) and conventional (low EGR) diesel combustion. Then, steady-state engine tests will be conducted over a range of conditions which are representative of the charge composition and EGR levels encountered during transient operation. Based on these experimental results, those operating conditions which demonstrate high emissions and/or poor combustion stability will be investigated in more detail, including optical in-cylinder evaluation and cycle-resolved emissions measurements. A combustion enhancer will be used to investigate the effects of kinetic limitations at high EGR levels. Finally, a range of multiple-injection strategies will be evaluated to identify techniques for controlling emissions under high-EGR transient operation.

Systems that generate and transmit power (powertrains) in a variety of engineering applications (automotive, aeronautical, marine, turbo-machinery, renewable energy) can suffer from applied disturbances such as impact and impulsive loading, periodic or random excitation. Modern light weight philosophy and increased engine/generator output power often exacerbate the situation. The resulting vibrations increase fuel consumption unavoidably, which also results in increased emissions. Recent studies have demonstrated the potential to save up to 9.3 million tons of automotive CO2 emissions by reducing the effect of cyclic irregularities of internal combustion engines in automotive transmissions (Joachim et al. "How to minimize power losses in transmissions, axles and steerings", VDI Gears 2011). The use of palliatives to suppress drivetrain vibrations increases the product cost. Furthermore, component wear and fatigue are other effects, adding to operational costs. Passively controlled transfer of vibrational energy in coupled systems to a target, where the excess or residual energy eventually diminishes, is a - relatively - new concept called Targeted Energy Transfer (TET). It is based on imposing conditions upon nonlinear resonance between a primary source (the powertrain in this case) and a secondary system in order to achieve transfer of energy from one system to the other in an irreversible manner. The secondary system possesses essential stiffness nonlinearity, thus altering the global dynamics because of the lack of a preferential resonant frequency. Therefore, the latter can act as a Nonlinear Energy Sink (NES) over a broad range of excitation frequencies. Thus, the overarching question in this proposal is "How can one design and develop a sustainable vibration reduction technology for powertrains using the modern TET research method?" This is undertaken with the view of maximising the benefits and limiting the costs to the UK plc, as well as the consumers. Currently, the automotive industry represents 9.2% of the total UK exports (source: Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders). The program of research is split into a number of work-packages in order to address the stated key-objective questions: 1. How can a TET mechanism be conceived for powertrain systems to effectively absorb/harvest the excess energy? Therefore, parametric models for scenario-building simulations will be developed to fundamentally understand the energy exchange mechanisms. 2. How much energy would be absorbed by the NES and under what input conditions? Is this method robust to typical variations (and uncertainties) in system parameters, initial conditions and external excitations encountered in powertrain dynamics? How do TET-based designs compare to alternative currently commercialised designs? The latter will be examined at component and system levels. 3. Could the TET mechanism be used for energy harvesting purposes in real powertrain systems? 4. Lastly, effort will be expended in closing the loop between the above questions and consolidating on practical methods of implementing the outcomes of 1-3 above in powertrains according to specific design objectives. The collaboration between the different project partners will be tightly managed, so that the project objectives are achieved. The generated methods will be made available in the public domain. Automotive systems represent common operating features of powertrains across a variety of engineering applications. Hence, they have been selected for this fundamental generic research. The knowledge and experience accrued in this project can be expanded to a variety of large and small scale power transmission applications for vibration reduction, including aeronautics, marine, renewable energy (wind turbines) and micro-electro-mechanical systems.