scholarly journals Utilizing Exhaust Valve Opening Modulation for Fast Warm-up of Exhaust After-treatment Systems on Highway Diesel Vehicles

Author(s):  
Hasan Üstün BAŞARAN
2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (7) ◽  
pp. 1134-1146
Author(s):  
Kalen R Vos ◽  
Gregory M Shaver ◽  
Mrunal C Joshi ◽  
James McCarthy

Aftertreatment thermal management is critical for regulating emissions in modern diesel engines. Elevated engine-out temperatures and mass flows are effective at increasing the temperature of an aftertreatment system to enable efficient emission reduction. In this effort, experiments and analysis demonstrated that increasing the idle speed, while maintaining the same idle load, enables improved aftertreatment “warm-up” performance with engine-out NOx and particulate matter levels no higher than a state-of-the-art thermal calibration at conventional idle operation (800 rpm and 1.3 bar brake mean effective pressure). Elevated idle speeds of 1000 and 1200 rpm, compared to conventional idle at 800 rpm, realized 31%–51% increase in exhaust flow and 25 °C–40 °C increase in engine-out temperature, respectively. This study also demonstrated additional engine-out temperature benefits at all three idle speeds considered (800, 1000, and 1200 rpm, without compromising the exhaust flow rates or emissions, by modulating the exhaust valve opening timing. Early exhaust valve opening realizes up to ~51% increase in exhaust flow and 50 °C increase in engine-out temperature relative to conventional idle operation by forcing the engine to work harder via an early blowdown of the exhaust gas. This early blowdown of exhaust gas also reduces the time available for particulate matter oxidization, effectively limiting the ability to elevate engine-out temperatures for the early exhaust valve opening strategy. Alternatively, late exhaust valve opening realizes up to ~51% increase in exhaust flow and 91 °C increase in engine-out temperature relative to conventional idle operation by forcing the engine to work harder to pump in-cylinder gases across a smaller exhaust valve opening. In short, this study demonstrates how increased idle speeds, and exhaust valve opening modulation, individually or combined, can be used to significantly increase the “warm-up” rate of an aftertreatment system.


2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (7) ◽  
pp. 758-773 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dheeraj B Gosala ◽  
Aswin K Ramesh ◽  
Cody M Allen ◽  
Mrunal C Joshi ◽  
Alexander H Taylor ◽  
...  

A large fraction of diesel engine tailpipe NOx emissions are emitted before the aftertreatment components reach effective operating temperatures. As a result, it is essential to develop technologies to accelerate initial aftertreatment system warm-up. This study investigates the use of early exhaust valve opening (EEVO) and its combination with negative valve overlap to achieve internal exhaust gas recirculation (iEGR), for aftertreatment thermal management, both at steady state loaded idle operation and over a heavy-duty federal test procedure (HD-FTP) drive cycle. The results demonstrate that implementing EEVO with iEGR during steady state loaded idle conditions enables engine outlet temperatures above 400 °C, and when implemented over the HD-FTP, is expected to result in a 7.9% reduction in tailpipe-out NOx.


2021 ◽  
pp. 146808742096910
Author(s):  
Mrunal C Joshi ◽  
Dheeraj Gosala ◽  
Gregory M Shaver ◽  
James McCarthy ◽  
Lisa Farrell

Rapid warm-up of a diesel engine aftertreatment system (ATS) is a challenge at low loads. Modulating exhaust manifold pressure (EMP) to increase engine pumping work, fuel consumption, and as a result, engine-outlet temperature, is a commonly used technique for ATS thermal management at low loads. This paper introduces exhaust valve profile modulation as a technique to increase engine-outlet temperature for ATS thermal management, without requiring modulation of exhaust manifold pressure. Experimental steady state results at 800 RPM/1.3 bar BMEP (curb idle) demonstrate that early exhaust valve opening with negative valve overlap (EEVO+NVO) can achieve engine-outlet temperature in excess of 255°C with 5.7% lower fuel consumption, 12% lower engine out NOx and 20% lower engine-out soot than the conventional thermal management strategy. Late exhaust valve opening with internal EGR via reinduction (LEVO+Reinduction) resulted in engine-outlet temperature in excess of 280°C, while meeting emission constraints at no fuel consumption penalty. This work also demonstrates that LEVO in conjunction with modulation of exhaust manifold pressure results in engine-outlet temperature in excess of 340°C while satisfying desired emission constraints. Aggressive use of LEVO can result in engine-outlet temperatures of 460°C, capable of active regeneration of DPF at curb idle, without the significant increase in engine-out soot emissions seen in previously studied strategies.


Author(s):  
Rasoul Salehi ◽  
Anna G. Stefanopoulou

This paper proposes to optimally adjust the exhaust valve opening (EVO) timing for faster selective catalytic reduction (SCR) aftertreatment system warm-up during the cold start phase of the federal test procedure (FTP). Early termination of the power stroke by EVO timing advance increases the engine exhaust gas temperature. It, on the other hand, causes exhaust flow rate reduction that decreases the coefficient of the heat transfer from the exhaust gas to the catalyst. The competing effects along with the fuel consumption increase associated with early EVO need careful consideration and the optimal EVO timing is a load-dependent balance of all these effects. This careful balance is achieved in this paper by dynamic programing (DP). Specifically, the minimum time to light-off (TTL) is formulated and applied to the cold phase of the FTP. A high fidelity detailed and verified engine and aftertreatment model is effectively simplified to enable utilizing computationally expensive DP optimization algorithm. Optimization results indicate that advancing the EVO reduces the TTL for the SCR catalyst from 659 s to 500 s, a 24% reduction. This fastest possible increase in the SCR temperature is shown to be with an expense of 4.1% increase in the fuel consumption. The results are dependent to the target light-off temperature and the load profile. Assuming a specific light-off temperature and the FTP, possible rule-based scenarios for online optimization are discussed.


2020 ◽  
pp. 146808741989480 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco J Arnau ◽  
Jaime Martín ◽  
Benjamín Pla ◽  
Ángel Auñón

Due to the need to achieve a fast warm-up of the after-treatment system in order to fulfill the pollutant emission regulations, a growing interest has arisen to adopt variable valve timing technology for automotive engines. Several variable valve timing strategies can be used to achieve an increment in the after-treatment upstream temperature by increasing the residual gas amount. In this study, a one-dimensional gas dynamics engine model has been used to carry out a simulation study comparing several exhaust variable valve actuation strategies. A steady-state analysis has been done in order to evaluate the potential of the different strategies at different operating points. Finally, the effect on the after-treatment warm-up, fuel economy and pollutant emission levels was evaluated over the worldwide harmonized light vehicles test cycle. As a conclusion, the combination of an advanced exhaust (early exhaust valve opening and early exhaust valve closing) and a delayed intake (late intake valve opening and late intake valve closing) presented the best trade-off between exhaust temperature increment and fuel consumption, which achieved a mean temperature increment during low-speed phase of the worldwide harmonized light vehicles test cycle of 27 °C with a fuel penalty of 6%. The exhaust valve re-opening technique offers a worse trade-off. However, the exhaust valve re-opening leads to lower nitrogen oxide (29% less) and carbon monoxide (11% less) pollutant emissions.


Author(s):  
Anand Nageswaran Bharath ◽  
Nitya Kalva ◽  
Rolf D. Reitz ◽  
Christopher J. Rutland

Low Temperature Combustion (LTC) strategies such as Reactivity Controlled Compression Ignition (RCCI) can result in significant improvements of fuel economy and emissions reduction. However, they can produce significant carbon monoxide and unburnt hydrocarbon emissions at low load operating conditions due to poor combustion efficiencies at these operating points, which is a consequence of the low combustion temperatures that cause the oxidation rates of these species to slow down. The exhaust gas temperature is also not high enough at low loads for effective performance of turbocharger systems and diesel oxidation catalysts (DOC). The DOC is extremely sensitive to exhaust gas temperature changes and lights off only when a certain temperature is reached, depending on the catalyst specifications. Uncooled EGR can increase combustion temperatures, thereby improving combustion efficiency, but high EGR concentrations of 50% or more are required, thereby increasing pumping work and reducing volumetric efficiency. However, with early exhaust valve opening, the exhaust gas temperature can be much higher, allowing lower EGR flow rates, and enabling activation of the DOC for more effective oxidization of unburnt hydrocarbons and CO in the exhaust. In this paper, a multi-cylinder engine system simulation of RCCI at low load operation with early exhaust valve opening is presented, along with consideration of the exhaust aftertreatment system. The combustion process is modeled using the 3D CFD code, KIVA, and the heat release rates obtained from this combustion are used in a GT-Power model of a turbocharged, multi-cylinder light-duty RCCI engine for a full system simulation. The post-turbine exhaust gas is fed into GT-Power’s aftertreatment model of the engine’s DOC to determine the catalyst response. It is confirmed that opening the exhaust valve earlier increases the exhaust gas temperature, and hence lower EGR flow rates are needed to improve combustion efficiency. It was also found that exhaust temperatures of around 457 K are required to light off the catalyst and oxidize the unburnt hydrocarbons and CO effectively. Performance of the DOC was drastically improved and higher amounts of unburnt hydrocarbons were oxidized by increasing the exhaust gas temperature.


Author(s):  
Thomas M. Lavertu ◽  
Roy J. Primus ◽  
Omowoleola C. Akinyemi

A reduction in diesel engine fuel consumption at a constant emissions level can be achieved by various means. A power turbine as a means of waste heat recovery (i.e., turbocompounding) and altered intake valve closure timing (Miller cycle) are two such mechanisms. Each of these technologies act as a means of improving the expansion process of the combustion gases, requiring reduced fueling for the same work extraction. When these embodiments are typically implemented, the timing of the exhaust valve opening is maintained. However, optimization of the timing of the exhaust valve opening presents the potential for further improvement in the expansion process. Variations in the exhaust valve opening timing will be investigated for Miller and turbocompounding cycles as well as the combination of the two features. Results will be shown to quantify the impact these variations have in system efficiency. Second law analysis will be used to show how these variations in engine configurations impact individual loss mechanisms. Finally, comparisons will be made to show the relative differences between Miller cycle and turbocompounding with and without optimization of the exhaust valve timing.


2021 ◽  
pp. 146808742199651
Author(s):  
Rasoul Salehi ◽  
Robert J Middleton

In this paper, early exhaust valve opening (EVO) is applied to a diesel engine for fast warm up of the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system with the ultimate goal of tailpipe NOx emissions reduction. By advancing EVO from top dead center, the exhaust gas temperature increases and the exhaust flow reduces, influencing the enthalpy available to warm up the SCR, and the engine-out NOx emissions increase or decrease depending on the engine’s operating conditions. Therefore, proper management of EVO is required to ensure that (1) engine-out NOx emissions do not increase when the SCR catalyst is cold; (2) heat transfer to the SCR increases and it warms up faster than the baseline operation (without EVO phasing); and (3) fuel consumption increase is minimal. A novel model predictive controller (MPC) is proposed for this application, assuming a limited preview of the drive cycle is available. For the MPC, an optimization objective function is applied such that a sequential warm up strategy can be implemented for the aftertreatment system catalysts. Using this technique, the prediction horizon for effective thermal management of the slow SCR system is reduced. In addition, a rule-based logic is offered as an alternative to the predictive controller to calculate the EVO trajectory with less computational power. Observations based on optimization problems solved by dynamic programing (DP) were used to develop the rule-based controller. Both the rule-based logic and model-based MPC are tested with a detailed high fidelity one-dimensional model in a model-in-the-loop simulator. Results indicate the potential of an EVO phasing system with the proposed controllers to reduce tailpipe NOx by 10% and 25% for the world harmonized transient cycle (WHTC) and federal test procedure (FTP), respectively. The rule-based controller has been found to be sensitive to the test drive cycle while the model based MPC shows a consistent performance, that is, independent of the test trajectory.


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