Major 3 Emerging trends in automotive engineering
Not many people know the automotive trends the way the staff do at the Automotive Research Center at Ohio State University (OSU CAR). This interdisciplinary research center at OSU's School of Engineering focuses on advanced electric propulsion and energy storage systems, alternative engines and fuels, intelligent vehicle transport and communication systems, stand-alone vehicles, vehicle chassis systems and vehicle safety . "One of the biggest trends currently in automotive engineering is improving engine efficiency and fuel economy," says Giorgio Rizzoni, director of OSU CAR. "This includes downsizing, down-speeding, direct fuel injection, and augmentation." Other engineering trends focus on improving transmissions (adding speeds), reducing the load of accessories through intelligent power management of other vehicle components, vehicle electrification, hybridization, improved battery management systems , New chemical batteries and power electronics.
1. Battery systems
Battery management systems are being designed to meet the performance, life and warranty goals of both batteries and their monitoring and management systems. "Car manufacturers need to understand how operating limits vary in battery life through extensive testing and modeling, followed by the development of sophisticated algorithms to track and predict various parameters such as load state and state Health over the life of the battery, "comments Rizzoni.
In order to expand the range of battery operation and reduce costs, some researchers are designing and testing new chemical batteries and subsystems. Advanced chemicals could allow batteries to operate through higher temperature extremes, last longer, and reduce weight and cost. Further efforts are being made to reduce the cost of auxiliary systems, such as cooling, to further reduce the total cost of the battery system.
2. Reduction of size and overload
The two main benefits in reducing the size of an internal combustion engine are thermodynamic and mechanical. "From the thermodynamic point of view, the engine operation will move to higher loads, where the engine efficiency is higher," says Rizzoni. "From the mechanical point of view, the positive aspect lies in the reduction of friction in the piston units, along with the reduction of the number of cylinders."
Reduced engines are lighter than conventional engines, which reduces the mass of the vehicle and improves the vehicle's fuel consumption. Turbocharging recovers the energy of the exhaust gases to increase the induced load, thus increasing the power-displacement ratio. "A small, turbocharged engine has the potential to have the same or better performance than a normally aspirated, non-aspirated engine with the benefit of a significant increase in fuel efficiency," says Rizzoni.
3. Advanced Combustion Modes
Engineers are working to increase the efficiency of internal combustion engines by developing several advanced combustion modes. One of these modes is called (homogeneous charge compression ignition) HCCI. In the combustion of HCCI, a highly homogenized mixture of air, fuel and combustion products from the previous cycle is self-ignited by compression. "This mode of combustion aims to combine the advantages of the modern combustion processes of diesel and gasoline, namely, low emissions and high efficiency," says Rizzoni.
Another research trend focuses on ways to recover energy that is normally dissipated through refrigerant and exhaust systems from automotive powertrains using innovative waste heat recovery devices. These systems can convert thermal energy into mechanical or electrical energy, thus increasing overall vehicle efficiency. Organic Rankine cycle systems, thermoelectric systems, turbocompounding and recovery thermal management systems have the potential to significantly increase engine efficiency.
A smaller, but still significant, aspect of fuel efficiency research is called "intelligent energy management." "This ability to more intelligently control ancillary loads on a vehicle - such as the alternator or power steering, etc. - will also help improve gasoline consumption," says Rizzoni. "With smarter control of these loads and the addition of stop-start technology there can be significant increases in fuel economy, with little or no increase in the total cost of the vehicle."