The high-expansion-ratio gasoline engine for the hybrid passenger car

Abstract

A 50% reduction in CO 2 and fuel consumption has been achieved by the Toyota Hybrid System, which has been in mass production since 1997. This is achieved by the combination of two permanent magnet motors and a newly developed gasoline engine that is optimized in terms of its displacement and heat cycle. Delaying the closing timing of the intake valves effectively separates the compression ratio and expansion ratio, so that the expansion ratio, which is normally set from 9 : 1 to 10 : 1 to suppress knocking, can be set to 13.5 : 1. This new engine shows better than 230 g/kWh BSFC over a wide operating range. Motor-assisted quick start, improved catalyst warm-up, and the elimination of light-load firing allow the system to achieve very clean emissions levels.