Opportunities and Challenges of Lean

Combustion in Automotive IC Engines

Russ Durrett
GM Global R&D

1
Intro – Diesel Advantage Over Gasoline
¶ Data from EPA show approximately Laboratory 55/45 Fuel Consumption
vs. Vehicle Weight
30% reduction in gallons/100 miles for
diesel (approx. 40% higher MPG)
¶ Why is a diesel engine more efficient
that a conventional gasoline engine?
¶ Common answers:
¶ No throttling losses
¶ Higher compression ratio
¶ These are contributors, but the lean
combustion process of the diesel
engine is the main factor leading to
the efficiency gain

approx.
30% red.

Source: Light-Duty Automotive Technology,

Carbon Dioxide Emissions, and Fuel Economy
Trends: 1975 Through 2012, EPA, 2013 2
Intro – Diesel Advantage Over Gasoline
¶ Use cycle simulation to look at the independent effects of:
¶ Throttling
¶ Compression ratio
¶ Lean combustion
¶ Engine configuration:
¶ 2 liter, in-line 4 cylinder
¶ CR = 9.5
¶ Port fuel injected
¶ Wiebe heat release
¶ Woschni heat transfer
¶ Chen-Flynn friction
¶ 98% Comb. Efficiency
¶ 2000 RPM / 5 bar BMEP
operating condition

3
Intro – Diesel Advantage Over Gasoline
¶ Four cases modeled
1. Baseline case – throttled, stoichiometric, CR = 9.5
2. Un-throttled case - use EIVC to un-throttle the engine
3. High CR case - increase CR from 9.5 to 16.0
4. Lean case - increase lambda from 1.0 to 2.0

4
Intro – Diesel Advantage Over Gasoline
¶ Four cases modeled
1. Baseline case – throttled, stoichiometric, CR = 9.5
2. Un-throttled case - use EIVC to un-throttle the engine
3. High CR case - increase CR from 9.5 to 16.0
4. Lean case - increase lambda from 1.0 to 2.0
100%
¶ Effects are cumulative
90%
for the 4 cases
80%
¶ Bars show percentage of fuel

Percent of Fuel Energy

energy going to: 70%

¶ Brake work 60%

Exh Chem.
50%
¶ Friction losses Exh Thermal
Heat Transfer
40%
¶ Heat transfer losses (coolant) Friction

37.0 %
30% Brake

32.7 %
¶ Exhaust thermal losses

30.7 %
29.0 %
20%
¶ Exhaust chemical losses
10%

0%
thrott EIVC EIVC EIVC
stoich stoich stoich lean
CR = 9.5 CR = 9.5 CR = 16 CR = 16

5
Intro – Diesel Advantage Over Gasoline
¶ Four cases modeled
1. Baseline case – throttled, stoichiometric, CR = 9.5
2. Un-throttled case - use EIVC to un-throttle the engine
3. High CR case - increase CR from 9.5 to 16.0
4. Lean case - increase lambda from 1.0 to 2.0
100%
¶ Effects are cumulative 94.5 %
90% 88.8 %
for the 4 cases

Percent of Baseline Fuel Energy

80% 78.6 %
¶ Bars re-scaled to show equal
brake work for all cases 70%

¶ This reflects the actual fuel 60%

Exh Chem.
energy used in the 4 cases 50% Exh Thermal
Heat Transfer
40%
Friction
30% Brake

20%

10%

0%
thrott EIVC EIVC EIVC
stoich stoich stoich lean
CR = 9.5 CR = 9.5 CR = 16 CR = 16

6
Intro – Diesel Advantage Over Gasoline
¶ Four cases modeled
1. Baseline case – throttled, stoichiometric, CR = 9.5
2. Un-throttled case - use EIVC to un-throttle the engine
3. High CR case - increase CR from 9.5 to 16.0
4. Lean case - increase lambda from 1.0 to 2.0
100%
¶ Effects are cumulative 94.5 %
90% 88.8 %
for the 4 cases

Percent of Baseline Fuel Energy

80% 78.6 %
¶ Bars re-scaled to show equal
brake work for all cases 70%

¶ This reflects the actual fuel 60%

Exh Chem.
energy used in the 4 cases 50% Exh Thermal
Heat Transfer
40%
Friction
30% Brake

20%

10%

0%
thrott EIVC EIVC EIVC
stoich stoich stoich lean
CR = 9.5 CR = 9.5 CR = 16 CR = 16

7
Intro – Diesel Advantage Over Gasoline
¶ Cumulative gains in brake 27.3% 30%

BTE Improvement
thermal efficiency:

Over Baseline
25%
¶ 6% from un-throttling 20%
12.6% 15%
¶ 7% from increased CR 10%
5.8%
¶ 15% from lean combustion 0.0%
5%
0%
¶ Total gain of 27% 100%

¶ Over half of the gain comes from 90%

Percent of Baseline Fuel Energy

the lean combustion process 80%

70%

60%
Exh Chem.
50% Exh Thermal
Heat Transfer
40%
Friction
30% Brake

20%

10%

0%
thrott EIVC EIVC EIVC
stoich stoich stoich lean
CR = 9.5 CR = 9.5 CR = 16 CR = 16

8
Why Lean Combustion
¶ Increased dilution improves
isentropic efficiency by lowering
temperatures and increasing
gamma
¶ Switching from exhaust dilution
to air dilution improves isentropic
efficiency by increasing gamma
¶ Increased dilution improves the
indicated efficiency by lowering
temperatures and decreasing
heat losses

Source: Foster
Combustion Engine Efficiency Colloquium
DOE, 2010 9
Why Lean Combustion
¶ Increased dilution improves
isentropic efficiency by lowering
temperatures and increasing
gamma
Lean w/o EGR
¶ Switching from exhaust dilution
to air dilution improves isentropic
efficiency by increasing gamma Lean w/ EGR

¶ Increased dilution improves the

indicated efficiency by lowering
temperatures and decreasing Stoichiometric
heat losses w/ EGR
Stoichiometric
¶ Ignition and flame propagation w/o EGR
limit the potential of traditional
homogeneous, flame propagation
based combustion systems
¶ Operating lean with high levels of
dilution can improve vehicle-level Source: Foster
efficiency by about 15% Combustion Engine Efficiency Colloquium
DOE, 2010

10
Why Lean Combustion
¶ To maximize efficiency we must migrate to air dilution and use levels of
dilution beyond the limits of traditional homogeneous ignition and flame
propagation
¶ Operating lean with high levels of dilution can improve vehicle-level
efficiency by about 15%

Lean
w/ EGR

Isentropic Stoichiometric
w/ EGR

Indicated Stoichiometric
w/o EGR

13%
3%

11
Challenges of Lean Combustion
¶ Lean combustion offers a significant efficiency advantage as described
¶ However, there are also several challenges associated with implementing
the technology in a practical light duty automotive application:
¶ Combustion stability and robustness over a wide operating range
¶ Boosting system requirements
¶ Controls requirements (including sensors & actuators)
¶ Low exhaust temperature
¶ Advanced lean aftertreatment
¶ Cold start and transient operation

12
Lean Combustion Alternatives
¶ To maximize ICE efficiency it is necessary to operate lean (air dilution)
with overall dilution levels beyond the limits of traditional homogeneous
flame propagation combustion modes

Combustion
Key Challenges
Technology
Ignition and flame propagation limits along with
Lean SI – Gasoline
emission challenges
Lean SI Stratified Charge –
Combustion robustness and emission challenges
Gasoline
SI-HCCI – Gasoline Combustion control and NVH challenges

Gasoline CIDI Combustion control and NVH challenges

RCCI CIDI Multi-fuel requirement and emission challenges

PCCI / LTC Diesel CIDI Emission and NVH challenges

Traditional Diesel CIDI Emissions challenges

13
The Combustion Control Challenge
¶ To maximize the fuel economy
potential of the ICE while 6
minimizing emissions we must
operate in a narrow range of
5
equivalence ratios and Soot formation
temperatures zone

Equivalence Ratio (phi)

¶ We must avoid rich diffusion 4

flames
¶ We must avoid high temperature 3
Soot reduction
homogeneous propagating flames via increased
mixing NOx reduction
¶ We must maintain sufficient 2
via dilution
temperature for complete CO / UHC
oxidations 1 oxidation
limit NOx
¶ We must maintain these ideal zone

conditions over all operating 0

conditions 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000
Temperature (K)

Source: Kamimoto and Bae– SAE 880423

14
The Lean Combustion NVH Challenge
¶ To meet the goals of advanced
lean combustion , the global
community is exploring a range of
LTC concepts – SI-HCCI, Gasoline
CIDI, PCCI, RCCI
¶ All these concepts are challenged
by operating domain constraints –
combustion issues at low loads &
temperatures and dilution/noise
issues at high loads
¶ All these concepts require
sophisticated injection and control
systems to regulate in-cylinder
conditions
¶ All these concepts are sensitive to
ambient conditions and fuel
properties RCCI Mapping, Curran, Gao, Wagner,
Oak Ridge National Labs

15
The Exhaust Temperature Challenge
¶ Increasing the fraction of fuel energy that does useful work means
reducing the energy in the exhaust and this poses aftertreatment
performance challenges

16
The Exhaust Oxygen Challenge
¶ Increasing the extent of lean operation to enhance fuel economy poses
significant aftertreatment cost and robustness challenges

Urea-Free SCR
Low PGM cost
No sulfur poisoning
Lean NOx Trap No secondary tank
High PGM cost
Sulfur poisoning
Fuel Efficiency

Desulfation required
Narrow temperature
window
Urea-SCR
Secondary urea tank with
injection system; high urea
consumption for gasoline
Urea solution freezing
Conventional TWC
Poor NOx efficiency with
DFCO/Lean-idle

Exhaust Oxygen Content

17
Conclusions and Future Research Needs
¶ Developing robust, cost-effective, lean combustion technologies for
automotive gasoline engines will be challenging but the fuel economy
benefits are significant
¶ In-cylinder emissions control is important
¶ Challenges for engine optimization:
¶ Robust combustion control over all operating conditions
¶ Robust emissions control over all operating conditions
¶ Good fuel consumption under real world driving conditions
¶ Low combustion noise
¶ Exhaust temperature
¶ This will require a coordinated effort between air handling, combustion,
aftertreatment and controls – a system optimization approach
¶ In order to do this work effectively it is important to focus research on
fundamental insights that have long-term value critical to achieving
upper-bound efficiency and lower-bound emissions

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Questions?

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