Air Intake Manifold Research Articles

Borealis is pushing the boundaries with its new lightweight Fibremod™ portfolio

Borealis, a leading provider of innovative, value-creating plastics solutions, has been supplying polyolefin plastic materials for engineering applications in the automotive industry for over 50 years. Using its unique and proprietary Borstar® technology and its Fibremod™ post-reactor technology for fiber reinforced polypropylene (PP) compounds, Borealis delivers ideal replacement solutions for conventional materials such as metal, rubber and engineering polymers. In the automotive industry, Borealis’ leading-edge polyolefin plastic materials are used in a wide range of exterior, interior, and under-the-bonnet applications, including bumpers, body panels, trims, dashboards, door claddings, climate control and cooling systems, air intake manifolds and battery cases. Most recently, Borealis has announced a capacity expansion at their Fibremod polypropylene long glass fiber (PP-LGF) production facility in Monza, Italy, introduced new innovative solutions for composite applications and launched a portfolio of carbon fiber reinforced polypropylene grades.

Performance of CI engine operating with hydrogen supplement co-combustion with jojoba methyl ester

The present work experimentally investigates the performance of compression ignition (CI) engine which operates on hydrogen and Jojoba methyl ester (JME). The hydrogen is introduced by enriching air-intake manifold with hydrogen gaseous supplement at the atmospheric condition which is co-combusted in the presence of pilot flame that is initiated by jojoba methyl ester. The engine is supplied with a range of hydrogen-JME fuel mixture proportions to study the effect of hydrogen supplement on combustion and exhaust emissions. Under fixed flow rate of JME, the data shows that hydrogen supplement enhances diesel engine thermal efficiency while reducing specific fuel consumption. The gas emission results shows that as hydrogen supplement increases, NOx emission mildly increases while opacity majorly increases. Hydrogen supplement affects the internal combustion by causing an increase in internal pressure, pressure rise rate and maximum heat release rate. The experiment shows that hydrogen-JME duel fuel smoothly combust in compression ignition engine.

Life cycle assessment of a plastic air intake manifold

Nowadays, some engine components subjected to mechanical stress and high temperature are made of thermoplastic materials. The air intake manifold (AIM) is one of these parts. In the past, AIM was made of aluminium or magnesium alloy, while today, engine manufacturers prefer to use lighter materials such as nylon reinforced with glass fibre. The scope of this work is to assess from an environmental point of view the adoption of two alternative thermoplastic materials (polyamide reinforced with 30 % of glass fibre and polypropylene reinforced with 35 % of glass fibre) for the construction of a Magneti Marelli® AIM and the introduction in the production stage of new additional design solutions (scraps recycling and brass inserts elimination). The outcome of the paper would contribute both to establish a baseline for comparison with other composite AIMs and to improve the knowledge of materials and manufacturing technologies related to the product. The study has been performed applying the LCA methods as described in the ISO standards 14040 and 14044. The life cycle inventory (LCI) captures the whole AIM life-cycle (LC) subdivided in four stages: materials supply, production, use and end-of-life (EoL). For the LCI data collection, primary data have been provided by the AIM manufacturer, while available databases have been used as source for secondary data. Unlike previous LCAs regarding AIM, the environmental profile is assessed through a broader range of life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) impact categories as provided by the CML 2001 framework in its November 2010 release. The results show that for both the polyamide composite and the polypropylene composite, the AIM the most influential LC stages are use and materials supply. Such outcome is due to the considerable quantity of fuel consumed during the whole LC and the energy/resources consumption involved by the raw materials extraction and production processes. The substitution of polyamide composite with polypropylene composite reduces the potential environmental impacts for all the categories and for each stage of the AIM LC. Contribution analysis by LC stage of potential environmental impact evidences that the change of material involves a remarkable increase of the use stage quota with no notable mutation of production and EoL contributions. The introduction of scraps recycling and brass inserts elimination entails no significant impact reduction for all the categories with the only exception of abiotic depletion potential (ADPe). The substitution of polyamide composite with polypropylene composite involves considerable reduction of the AIM LC impact, while the introduction of scraps recycling and brass inserts elimination entails negligible effects.

Feasibility of Supporting Diesel Engine Using Solar–Hydrogen Energy Cycle

This experimental study evaluates the feasibility of supporting compression ignition engine that primary run on diesel fuel with hydrogen gas that is produced by solar-hydrogen cycle. A photovoltaic panel is used to produce hydrogen through electrolysis from solar energy. Different mass ratio of hydrogen enrichment to liquid diesel fuel are tested on an engine operating under fixed torque of 14.7 N-m and engine rotational speed of 1100 rpm. Under same loading condition, the study shows that hydrogen can be used to reduce diesel fuel consumption and CO2 emission however this comes on the cost of increasing of NOx emission. The results show that beyond a maximum mass ratio of hydrogen-to-diesel of 9.7%, the engine starts knocking. The experiment shows that adding hydrogen to the air intake of a diesel requires a simple pluming operation in which hydrogen is allowed to enter the engine from the air intake manifold and hence the cost of retrofitting of current diesel engine is considered marginal.

Hydrogen supplement co-combustion with diesel in compression ignition engine

The present work investigates experimentally the behavior of compression ignition engine while boosting the combustion by enriching air-intake manifold with hydrogen supplement at the atmospheric condition. The study reports the engine thermal efficiency, NOx emissions and engine exhaust temperature while varying hydrogen content, engine speed and ignition timing. The results show that thermal efficiency of the compression ignition engine increases as hydrogen content increases in the air-intake manifold for the same diesel mass flow rate. The effect of hydrogen supplement on engine efficiency is more pronounced at low engine speed and part-load. The hydrogen supplement causes an increase in NOx emissions which is attributed to the increase in the combustion temperature and as a result, lower smoke opacity numbers are attained.

Effect of hydrogen addition on criteria and greenhouse gas emissions for a marine diesel engine

Abstract Hydrogen remains an attractive alternative fuel to petroleum and a number of investigators claim that adding hydrogen to the air intake manifold of a diesel engine will reduce criteria emissions and diesel fuel consumption. Such claims are appealing when trying to simultaneously reduce petroleum consumption, greenhouse gases and criteria pollutants. The goal of this research was to measure the change in criteria emissions (CO, NO x , and PM 2.5 ) and greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), using standard test methods for a wide range of hydrogen addition rates. A two-stroke Detroit Diesel Corporation 12V-71TI marine diesel engine was mounted on an engine dynamometer and tested at three out of the four loads specified in the ISO 8178-4 E3 emission test cycle and at idle. The engine operated on CARB ultra-low sulfur #2 diesel with hydrogen added at flow rates of 0, 22 and 220 SLPM. As compared with the base case without hydrogen, measurements showed that hydrogen injection at 22 and 220 SLPM had negligible influence on the overall carbon dioxide specific emission, EF CO 2 . However, in examining data at each load the data revealed that at idle EF CO 2 was reduced by 21% at 22 SLPM (6.9% of the added fuel energy was from hydrogen) and 37.3% at 220 SLPM (103.1% of the added fuel energy was from hydrogen). At all other loads, the influence of added hydrogen was insignificant. Specific emissions for nitrogen oxides, EF NO x , and fine particulate matters, EF PM 2.5 , showed a trade-off relationship at idle. At idle, EF NO x was reduced by 28% and 41% with increasing hydrogen flow rates, whilst EF PM 2.5 increased by 41% and 86% respectively. For other engine loads, EF NO x and EF PM 2.5 did not change significantly with varying hydrogen flow rates. One of the main reasons for the greater impact of hydrogen at idle is that the contribution of hydrogen to the total fuel energy is much higher at idle as compared to the other loads. The final examination in this paper was the system energy balance when hydrogen is produced by an on-board electrolysis unit. An analysis at 75% engine load showed that hydrogen production increased the overall equivalent fuel consumption by 2.6% at 22 SLPM and 17.7% at 220 SLPM.

Prediction of fiber orientation distribution in injection molded parts using Moldex3D simulation

In the automotive industry, glass‐filled thermoplastics are used in air intake manifolds, radiator tanks, and many other parts. However, widespread application of glass‐filled thermoplastic materials has been limited in many cases by the inability to accurately predict performance and durability. Since a more accurate fiber orientation prediction will lead to more accurate local mechanical property predictions, this work investigated a recently proposed mathematic model of fiber suspension rheology, which considers the anisotropic fiber diffusion and fiber–matrix interaction from a microscopic viewpoint. The new model proved able to predict many details of the fiber orientation distribution and could be applied advantageously as part of the product and manufacturing development processes. POLYM. COMPOS., 35:671–680, 2014. © 2013 Society of Plastics Engineers

Optimize Vane Length to Improve In-Cylinder Air Characteristic of CI Engine Using Higher Viscous Fuel

Environmental issues and the depletion of worldwide crude oil sources have developed the requirement for an alternative fuel to power internal combustion engines. Vegetable oil, waste cooking oil and biodiesel are all renewable, environmentally sustainable and compatible with current Compression Ignition (CI) engines with little to no engine modification necessary. These fuels however have a higher viscosity than conventional petro-diesel and may be referred to as Higher Viscous Fuels (HVF). HVF have reduced in-cylinder combustion efficiency when compared with petro-diesel which reduces the engine performance in terms of output power, torque and fuel efficiency. A possible solution to the reduced efficiency is through the use of a Guide Vane Swirl and Tumble Device (GVSTD). This device when installed in front of the air intake manifold may produce improved air flow characteristics. This improves the efficiency of the evaporation processes and air-fuel mixing and therefore improves overall combustion efficiency. The effect of GVSTDs on in-cylinder air flow was studied using 3D Internal Combustion (IC) engine simulation under motored engine conditions. This was done using ANSYS-CFX. The base model engine was adapted from the Hino W04D model CI engine. The model throughout all simulations was run at a constant speed of 1500 rpm. There are four parameters to consider for GVSTD models; vane length, vane height, vane angle and the number of vanes. For the purpose of this study, the vane height, vane angle and the number of vanes were maintained as constants leaving the vane length as the variable parameter. 11 GVSTD models were simulated each varying from 1.5 to 4.5 times the radius of the intake runner (R) in 0.3R increments. To analyze the air-flow characteristics, the maximum in-cylinder pressure, Turbulence Kinetic Energy (TKE) and velocity were measured. It was found that for the constant values for vane height, vane angle and the number of vanes of 0.2R, 35° twist angle and 4 perpendicularly-arranged respectively, the in-cylinder pressure, TKE and velocity were optimum for the vane lengths of 3.6 to 3.9 times R.

Effect of DEE Injection in Pongamia Pinnata Biodiesel Fulled CI Engine Using Hydrogen as Secondary Fuel

In advancing modern world, the recent technological advancements especially in the field of automobile and industrial sectors have created a hike in energy demand. The fossil fuels, which are the main sources of energy, are non-renewable. Due to excessive exploitation, the fossil fuels are depleting rapidly and have created a need for alternate fuel. The researches have been conducted on various biodiesel worldwide to acquire an efficient biodiesel. The biodiesel of pongamia pinnata is one such feasible alternative since the tropical climatic conditions of Asia supports its large cultivation. This paper investigates the characteristics of engine fuelled by pongamia pinnata biodiesel. The use of biodiesel as primary fuel causes reduction in the engine performance. The performance of biodiesel fuelled engine is improved by the induction of hydrogen into air intake manifold. The induction of hydrogen increases the brake thermal efficiency by 3.41%. The hydrogen induction increases NOXin the exhaust. In order to reduce the NOXemission, Diethyl ether is injected in to the engine at constant rate of 0.7 gm/min. The DEE injection reduces the NOXand also increases the engine performance to a significant level.

Hydro-Petrol Engine: Study on Fuel Consumption and Effect on Environment

Over the years, global energy demand has been enormously increased as a result of industrial development and population growth. Supply of energy is far less than the actual demand which contributes to unstable worlds oil price. Furthermore, it is proven that fossil fuel is the major contributor for harmful aspects of human activity and biophysical environment issues. This paper attempts to investigate performance of hydro-petrol engine system as an alternative to reduce dependencies to fossil fuel; emitting less harmful gaseous to the environment. For this system, Oxy-hydrogen (HHO) or also known as brown gas was produced through electrolysis method before channeled into air intake manifold of a typical 4 strokes petrol engine. The research measured petrol consumption as well as the by product gaseous. It was found that the fuel consumption reduced to 22% while the CO2 and HC gases reduced to 15% and 20% respectively when compared to unmodified engine system. Feasibility of the concluded research data will become a pathway for more comprehensive and in depth study on Hydro-petrol engine to prove its capability to reduce dependencies on fossil fuel and provide alternatives for a more environmental friendly energy approach.

Optimizing the Filling Time and Gate of the Injection Mold on Plastic Air Intake Manifold of Engines

Optimizing the Filling Time and Gate of the Injection Mold on Plastic Air Intake Manifold of Engines

Study on Packing Process of the Plastic Air Intake Manifold of Engines

Packing pressure directly influences quality of the plastic part. It is an important stage of plastic injection molding. This paper introduces the packing process.CAE software Moldflow provided the possibility to simulate the flow process of the plastic air intake manifold at different pressure and to predict the position of air traps. Packing pressure is determined by comparing analysis results and avoided mold adjustment and mold repairing. Analytic result shows that packing pressure at 70MPa can make the maximum injection pressure, melt flow rate, the required maximum clamp force smaller. And at that time, The air traps situation is also better. Practice proves that it is perfect of the finished sample of the plastic air intake manifold on basis of simulation.

Air System and Diesel Combustion Modeling for Hardware in the Loop Applications

The development of engine control unit (ECU) systems for series production requires an important validation phase. In order to reduce the number of time consuming and expensive vehicle tests, the ECU is validated using hardware in the loop (HIL) test bench. The HIL simulates the engine behavior in real-time simulations to generate consistent sensor values for all engine operating points, e.g., starting phase, transient behavior, static behavior, etc. Mean value engine models (MVEM) are able to run in real time and are appropriate for HIL test systems. In this paper we present a full MVEM taking into account all engine components: air system (air filter, turbocharger, charge air cooler, throttle valve, intake and exhaust manifolds, EGR valve, and turbine), oxidation catalyst (OxiCat), and diesel particulate filter (DPF). Additionally, combustion models have been developed to simulate the influence of the injection strategies (pre, main, post, and late injections) on the exhaust temperature and the unburned hydrocarbon emission (HC). These are taken into consideration in the exothermal reactions models inside OxiCat and DPF. The results show that the model prediction in term of pressure and temperature are in good agreement with the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) project data. The after treatment temperature evolutions in the OxiCat and DPF are well reproduced by the proposed model.

Assessing the effects of partially decarbonising a diesel engine by co-fuelling with dissociated ammonia

The proven feasibility of ammonia combustion in compression-ignition engines has led to it being considered as a carbon-free replacement for diesel fuel. Due to its high auto-ignition temperature, however, a more realistic strategy would be to aim for a step-change reduction in carbon emissions by co-fuelling a diesel engine with ammonia. In assessing this strategy, ammonia gas was introduced into the air-intake manifold of a compression-ignition engine, while diesel fuel was injected directly into the cylinder to ignite the mixture. By substituting only 3% of the air intake by ammonia, the diesel consumption and the CO2 emissions decreased by 15%. The combustion and emission characteristics were then compared when the same percentage of air intake (by mass) was substituted by either dissociated ammonia (a mixture of H2, N2 with small percentages of NH3) or pure hydrogen, to mimic the other possible forms in which the co-fuel can be delivered to the engine. The addition of pure hydrogen resulted in the best engine performance, both in terms of combustion efficiency and regulated emission quality. The thermal combustion efficiency declined by only ∼0.5% when the H2 was replaced by undissociated ammonia at low load, but N2O now appeared in the emissions. Co-fuelling the engine with dissociated ammonia may provide the ideal compromise in terms of thermal combustion efficiency and emission quality, while also providing a waste-heat recovery mechanism.

Intake Manifold Noise Prediction Due to the Combined Effects of Combustion Loads and Fluid Flow

Reduced engine noise has contributed greatly to the comfort of today’s passenger vehicles. The trend towards lighter vehicles has led to massive increase in the use of plastic parts, especially for engine components such as intake manifolds and intake air pipes. The primary purpose of using a plastic material instead of conventional aluminum cast for intake manifold is to reduce its weight and cost. The engine power can be increased with the help of improved interior surface roughness and lowered air temperature. The increased usage of plastics for air intake manifold (AIM) production, in place of metallic materials, made the NVH optimization more complicated. In recent years, automotive engine manufacturers are increasingly focusing their attention on noise generated by plastic air intake manifolds (AIMs). The main objective is to predict the B12D engine intake manifold noise due to the combined effects of combustion loads and fluid flow pressure at various engine speeds (2000rpm-6400rpm). The meshing of intake manifold was done in finite analysis software HYPERMESH. The post processing was done in NASTRAN software to get the noise levels in AIM. The analytical results were validated by using experimental results.

Optimum Gate Design of the Injection Mold on Plastic Air Intake Manifold of Engine Based on CAE Technique

For plastic air intake manifold, the warpage is difficult to solve. By simulating injection process with Moldflow, researched warpage, air traps, weld lines of intake manifold. Analytic result showed four gates are better to Xiali 4GB plastic air intake manifold, and obtained the best gate’s location. Summarized some important experience on designing injection mould of plastic air intake manifold. Made out very instructive work to succeed to design injection mould of plastic air intake manifold.

English

Intake-air manifolds have a major effect on a vehicle’s engine performance and emission of noise and pollutants. Differences in engine outputs and applications require different designs of intake-air manifolds in order to achieve the best volumetric efficiency and thus the best engine performance. In the present work, the flow characteristics of air flowing in various designs of air-intake manifold of a 200-cc fourstroke Go-Kart engine are studied. The study is done by three dimensional simulations of the flow of air within six designs of air-intake manifold into the combustion chamber by using commercial CFD software, Fluent version 6.2. The simulation results are validated by an experimental study performed using a flow bench. The study reveals that the variations in the geometry of the air-intake system can result in a difference of up to 20% in the mass flow rate of air entering the combustion chamber.

Mechatronic Design of a Shape Memory Alloy Actuator for Automotive Tumble Flaps: A Case Study

The continuous advance in mechatronics has long attracted researchers toward the development of new highly integrated actuators for automotive applications where reduced space and low weight are common constraints. In this context, Shape Memory Alloys (SMAs) offer many peculiar characteristics that make this technology very attractive for the construction of miniature mechatronic actuators. This paper presents the design, the prototype fabrication, and the functional testing of a case study, where an SMA binary actuator is used for automotive tumble flaps. The innovative solid-state actuation system is proposed as an alternative to electromagnetic and pneumatic effectors, traditionally used to drive the tumble shaft of an air intake manifold for internal combustion engines. Original features of the linear actuator involve the mechanical architecture and the control structure. On the mechanical side, two contrasting sets of SMA springs are used to actively generate the net actuating force during both out-stroke and in-stroke. On the control side, a current feedback is exploited for sensorless real-time monitoring of the working temperature of the SMA springs during electrical supply. Major shortcomings of the proposed solution are a low response time and a power consumption higher than pneumatic and electromagnetic counterparts.

Vibration Welding Quality Control using Piezoelectric Shear Stress Transducers

The quality control (QC) of welded parts is a critical manufacturing step. Although QC can be performed on the finished part, identification of defects during the manufacturing process is preferred to minimize the value associated with defective parts. In this paper, the use of piezoelectric shear stress transducers mounted on vibration welding fixtures is presented as a real-time QC tool. Laboratory studies complemented with welding trials on industrial air-intake manifolds show that this technology can be used to identify defects such as incomplete weld beads.

The effects of Electrostatic Precipitator in EGR system on the combustion and exhaust gas of marine diesel engines

Exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) is an effective way of reducing NOx, especially in the exhaust gas from automotive engines that has low particulate concentration, by suppressing the peak combustion temperature. Unlike automotive engines, exhaust gas from marine diesel engines that use low-grade fuel with high concentrations of sulphur and abrasive particles cannot be supplied to engine for EGR, unless the particulate is reduced. The author’s previous research indicates that an electrostatic precipitator (ESP) can successfully reduce marine diesel particulate matter. Hence, in this research, a combined EGR and ESP system capable of simultaneously reducing NOx and particulate matter (PM) was developed. The exhaust gas that was treated by ESP was supplied to the air intake manifold under various conditions, and the results show that a combined EGR/ESP system reduces NO and PM concentrations in exhaust gas. The combination system also improves the rate of heat release.