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
http://carambola.usc.edu
Outline
• Why gasoline-fueled premixed-charge IC engines?
• History 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?
• 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
• 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?
• Alternatives (continued…)
• Solar
» Need ≈ 30 ft x 30 ft collector for 15 hp (Arizona, high noon, mid-
summer)

• Nuclear
» Who are we kidding ???
• Moral - hard to beat gasoline-fueled IC engine for
• 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
• 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
• 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
Spark plug Flame front Fuel injector Fuel spray flame

Fuel + air mixture Air only

Premixed charge Non-premixed charge

(gasoline) (Diesel)
University of Southern California - Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
 History and evolution
• 1923 - Tetraethyl lead - anti-knock additive
• Enable higher CR in Otto-type engines
• 1952 - A. J. Haagen-Smit
• NO + UHC + O2 + sunlight → NO2 + O3
(from exhaust) (brown) (irritating)
• 1960s - Emissions regulations
• Detroit won’t believe it
• Initial stop-gap measures - lean mixture, EGR, retard spark
• 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, soot-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, revolutionize 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
» Burn: Fuel + O2 + N2 → 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 → 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 pollution 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
+ 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
+ Dual-fuel (gasoline + natural gas) easily accommodated
- 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
- 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
» Gasoline - electrically-induced flame wrinkling?
» 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 maximum torque output (throttled conditions)
• Throttling adjusts torque output of engines by reducing
intake density through decrease in pressure ( P = ρ RT)
• Throttling losses substantial at part load
Efficiency (no throttle) 1
Efficiency (throttled) /

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Fraction of maximum load

University of Southern California - Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

The TPCE concept
• Throttleless Premixed-charge Engine (TPCE)
• U. S. Patent No. 5,184,592
• Supported by SCAQMD School Clean Fuels Program
• Preheat air using exhaust heat transfer to reduce ρ
• Preheat provides leaner lean misfire limit - use air/fuel
ratio AND intake temperature to control torque
• Provides Diesel-like economy with gasoline-like power
• 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

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
Natural gas
Efficiency (best TPCE) / Efficiency (throttled) 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 1
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 )
< 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
• Recent experiments & modelling suggest lean-limit rough
operation is a chaotic process
• Feedback via exhaust gas residual
• Could optimize spark timing on a cycle-to-cycle basis
• Need to infer state of gas & predict burn time for next
cycle - need in-cylinder 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
• Longer-term solutions mostly require improved (cheaper)
• Sensors (especially in-cylinder temperature, pressure)
• 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