Three-cylinder Engine Research Articles

Process Quality Control Method for Three-Cylinder Engine Balance Shaft System Oriented to Manufacturing Supply Chain

Automobile manufacturers often outsource key components and parts to suppliers, hence ensuring that process quality has been a hot topic in current research. The quality control demands at different stages of the manufacturing supply chain cycle have been ignored in traditional process quality control methods. To solve this issue, this paper takes the three-cylinder engine balance shaft system as the research object, and builds a process quality control model for the three-cylinder engine balance shaft system oriented to the manufacturing supply chain. The metagraph theory is introduced, and parts suppliers in the manufacturing supply chain, product process quality attributes, supply chain revenue function, and other key elements are defined. By constructing the revenue function of the three-cylinder engine balance shaft system process quality control model, the feasibility of the proposed method is verified by taking the process quality control of one certain three-cylinder engine balance shaft system as a verification example. The results show that, with other conditions unchanged, the application of this method can increase the overall profit of the manufacturing supply chain by 100% at the stage of preparation before product machining, and more than 8% at the stage of product performance evaluation. The proposed method of process quality control based on the metagraph theory provides a theoretical basis for building an information sharing platform of product process quality, and effectively reduces the machining cost for product improvement and upgrading in the manufacturing supply chain.

Dimethyl ether fuel injection system development for a compression ignition engine for increasing the thermal efficiency and reducing emissions

In this study, a dedicated fuel injection equipment (FIE) for a 100% dimethyl ether (DME)-fueled three-cylinder engine was developed. DME has a cetane number (>55) higher than baseline diesel (40–50), making it a promising compression ignition (CI) engine fuel. However, some physicochemical properties of DME, namely lubricity, viscosity, density, calorific value, vapour pressure, incompatibility with elastomers, etc., necessitate modifications in the existing FIE to deliver a power output equivalent to baseline diesel fuelled engine. Modifications included customized DME storage tanks, supply lines, return lines, and a pneumatic pre-supply feed pump. In addition, a customized high-pressure pump (HPP) (inline mechanical pump) and a set of modified injectors with larger nozzle hole diameters were used for the DME engine. The engine speed was varied from 1000 to 2000 rpm, and off-road operating conditions were simulated using a non-road steady cycle (NRSC). A detailed evaluation of the FIE for its comparative combustion, performance, and emissions characteristics of DME was conducted vis-à-vis baseline diesel. The DME-fuelled engine showed an increase of ∼4.7% in brake thermal efficiency (BTE) under full load conditions and an increase of ∼8.32% BTE under simulated non-road-testing conditions. In addition, the DME-fuelled engine exhibited no visible smoke and negligible soot in the engine exhaust. DME combustion reduced HC emissions by ∼50% at low and medium engine speeds, and a ∼100% reduction was seen at higher engine speeds compared to baseline diesel engine. The CO emission decreased by ∼90%, and the CO2 emissions were ∼15% lower for DME. Lower exhaust gas temperature (EGT) and lower heat release rate (HRR) during premixed combustion indicated that DME-fuelled engine acted as a low heat rejection (LHR) engine. This study demonstrated a 100% DME-fueled engine with a customized FIE, delivering higher thermal efficiency and lower emissions than conventional diesel engines for on- and off-road applications.

Case Study of Large Three-Dimensional-Printed Slider with Conformal Cooling for High-Pressure Die Casting.

Metal three-dimensional (3D) printing technology brings several benefits to the field of high-pressure die casting of aluminum, which enhances its development. The associated conformal cooling application is already commonly used where there is a need to improve the quality of castings, increase tool life, or reduce the production cycle. However, will this technology withstand the production of a large part (∼270 × 270 × 200 mm), which will be used directly in the serial production of engine blocks? This article describes a slider with a conformal cooling case study, which was redesigned and manufactured using the laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) method. After the slider was put into serial production of 1.0 TSI three-cylinder engine blocks, this tool was thoroughly monitored based on the temperature field by comparing the results of a simulation in SW ProCAST with reality, and furthermore examining the influence of the tool on the quality of castings. There was also an evaluation of repairs performed on the tool in the ŠKODA AUTO tool shop and the foundry. These data were compared with a serial tool. Finally, the costs to produce the slider in conventional and 3D-printed variants are compared with an outline of other possible steps for optimizing these costs. The study results show that relatively large parts can be printed and used in serial production even today. It was also confirmed that conformal cooling influenced improving tool life, and the number of repairs in ŠKODA AUTO production also decreased.

Nonlinear analysis of torsional vibrations of dual mass flywheel in a three-cylinder engine

Torsional vibration of the power transmission system is one of the main factors which affects ride comfort and fatigue of the driveline components. These vibrations are caused by periodic changes in the gas pressure and inertial forces. To reduce these vibrations, dual mass flywheels (DMF) are used in some vehicles. DMFs are usually modelled as two disks connected with linear springs. However large rotation angle in DMFs can invalidate linear assumption. In this research, torsional vibration of a three-cylinder engine with nonlinear DMF is investigated and an analytical solution is obtained for the governing nonlinear equations of torsional vibrations under real engine torsional excitation for the first time. It should be noted that in the previous works, the torsional vibration equations of the DMF had been solved numerically. Analytical solution helps to study the effect of design parameters of DMF more easily. It is shown that the analytical and numerical solutions are well matched in steady-state conditions. Finally, a parametric study is performed and the effects of design parameters on the oscillation amplitude of the engine speed and flywheel output speed are presented.

The Influence of Low Carbon Emission Engine on the Life Cycle of Automotive Products: A Case Study of Three-Cylinder Models in the Chinese Market

There is a development trend for fuel vehicles to adopt low-carbon emission engines. The sales of cars with low-carbon three-cylinder engines in the Chinese market have declined. Is the life cycle of automotive products with three-cylinder engines entering a recession stage? In order to achieve this research objective, which is to investigate whether assembling a three-cylinder engine affects the life cycle of an automotive product, this paper constructs an ecological theory-based approach to measuring the life cycle of automotive products. First, the logistic model is used to measure the intrinsic growth rate, internal inhibition coefficient, and theoretical upper limit of product sales scale before and after the automotive products are equipped with three-cylinder engines. In the second stage, the Lotka–Volterra model is used to calculate the intrinsic growth rate, internal inhibition coefficient, theoretical upper limit, and symbiosis coefficient of the sales scale of the products before and after the three-cylinder engine, taking the Chinese automobile manufacturing enterprises as an example for empirical analysis. The research results show that the selection of three- cylinder engine for automotive products will not lead to the product life cycle entering the recession period ahead of time.

Vibration Characteristics Analysis of O-Shaped Damping Ring to Balance Damping Gear Transmission System for Three-Cylinder Engine

Balance shafts are often used to improve the engine vibration characteristics of three-cylinder engines. The balance damping gear with a damping ring is an important part connecting the crankshaft and the balance shaft transmission. The stiffness characteristics of the damping ring and the unbalance of the gear have an important influence on its vibration suppression performance, but the coupled influence of the stiffness characteristics of the damping ring and the unbalanced characteristics of the vibration damping gear is unknown. In this paper, a multi-body dynamic bending–torsional coupling model of the transmission system of a three-cylinder engine with a balance damping gear is constructed considering the equivalent stiffness of the balance shaft support. Based on the fourth-order Runge–Kutta method, the influence laws of different rotational speeds, load torques, gear unbalance, radial stiffness and torsional stiffness of the damping ring on the vibration characteristics of the transmission system are obtained. The results show that the vibration amplitude increases linearly with the increase in the rotational speed and the amount of unbalance. As the load torque increases, the noise radiation of the system increases. The change in the equivalent torsional stiffness of the damping ring has little effect on the radial vibration suppression effect of the gear. As the equivalent radial stiffness of the damping ring increases, the vibration suppression rate decreases linearly. Combined with the calculation formula of damping ring stiffness, when the inner and outer diameters of the damping ring are relatively large, the vibration suppression performance decreases sharply with the increase in the thickness of the damping ring. Therefore, in order to achieve a better vibration attenuation effect, the inner to outer diameter ratio of the damping ring should be given priority in the design of the damping gear. Thus, the thickness of the design can meet the requirements of the vibration attenuation performance and a vibration attenuation of more than 90% of the radial vibration can be achieved. The model of the damping ring size and the vibration suppression effect established based on the method presented in this paper can be used to guide the design of balance damping gears.

Vibrodynamic parameters of radial piston engines with Pencake mechanism

Introduction (problem statement and relevance). The development of calculation methods at the design stage of the balance and vibration activity of multipurpose converting mechanisms of engines differing in the classical crank mechanism is actual.The purpose of the work was to substantiate such a technique for a FSUE “NAMI” three-cylinder radial engine with a Pencake conversion mechanism designed to drive electric generators.Methodology and research methods. To solve the problem, both classical methods of piston engine dynamics and modern methods based on solid modeling and simulation of forced motion were used. Scientific novelty and results. It was found that in the investigated engines a complete balance of the inertial forces of the first-order translational masses and centrifugal forces could be achieved with the help of two counterweights on the crankshaft. The vibration levels of three-cylinder radial and in-line engines assembled from the same links have been compared and the noticeable advantages of the radial star-shaped engine were marked both in terms of the root-mean-square values of vibration velocity and in its spectral vibration.Practical significance. The results of the work can be used in practical development.

Structure design method of new balanced vibration reduction gear for the three cylinder engine.

Aiming at the engineering requirements of reducing the volume and improving the vibration characteristics of gears in the three-cylinder engine balanced system, a design and optimization method of gear structure is proposed based on the Design of Experiments (DOE) and proxy models. The paper analyzes the structure improvement process based on the gear design model and technical index requirements. By designing the plane characteristics of the weight-increasing module, the weight-reducing module and the elastic module, the calculation model of balance performance indices such as mass, moment of inertia and unbalance of new balanced vibration reduction gear are constructed. Then, a more efficient design method is proposed based on dynamic simulation and multidisciplinary optimization design platform (Isight). The results show that the new design method of gear structure can effectively reduce the structure improvement cycle. At the same time, the improved structure can reduce the thickness of the weight-increasing module by 6.3 mm and the vibration attenuation by more than 90%.

Implementation of new technologies for reducing fuel consumption of automobiles in Brazil according to the Brazilian Vehicle Labelling Programme

The consumption of fossil fuels by motor vehicles has increased greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere. The automotive industry has invested in environmental technologies to reduce these emissions. This study aimed to determine whether in light-duty vehicles deploying environmental technologies met the energy efficiency ratings of the Brazilian Vehicle Labelling Programme (BVLP) in 2013, 2015, and 2017. In 2013, Brazil implemented the ‘INOVAR-AUTO’ regulation to improve vehicle energy efficiency. Based on information from the BVLP database, the actual efficiencies of light-duty vehicles were compared with those mandated by the regulation. The effectiveness of the regulation was assessed using the growth rates of the energy consumption and annual A ratings. The results showed that certain powertrain technologies increased the energy efficiency, resulting in many vehicles with A ratings from the BVLP. The use of three-cylinder engines and variable valve timing (VVT) had the highest positive effects on improving the energy efficiency.

Small Cogeneration Unit with Heat and Electricity Storage

A micro cogeneration unit based on a three-cylinder internal combustion engine, Skoda MPI 1.0 L compressed natural gas (CNG), with an output of 25 kW at 3000 RPM is proposed in this paper. It is a relatively simple engine, which is already adopted by the manufacturer to operate on CNG. The engine life and design correspond to the original purpose of use in the vehicle. A detailed dynamic model was created in the GT-SUITE environment and implemented into an energy balance model that includes its internal combustion engine, heat exchangers, generator, battery storage, and water storage tank. The 1D internal combustion engine model provides us with information on engine start-up time, actual effective power, friction power, and the amount of heat going to the cooling system and exhaust pipe. The catalytic converter was removed from the exhaust pipe, and the engine was always operating at full load; thus, engine power control is not considered. An energy storage system for an island operation of the entire power unit for a large, detached house was designed to withstand accumulated energy for a few days in the case of a breakout. To reach a low initial system cost, the possible implementation of worn-out battery packs toward emission reduction in terms of the second life of the battery is proposed. The energy and emission balance are carried out, and the service life of the engine is also discussed.

Acoustic performance and modal analysis for the muffler of a four-stroke three-cylinder inline spark ignition engine

Acoustic performance and modal analysis for the muffler of a four-stroke three-cylinder inline spark ignition engine

Effect of port water injection on the characteristics of combustion and emissions in a spark ignition direct injection engine

Port water injection techniques, considered as a potential solution to further enhance the combustion performance of internal combustion engines, can suppress engine knock by reducing the cylinder temperature so that the spark timing can be advanced. Although previous literature has discussed some aspects of utilizing port water injection techniques, thorough investigations on port water injection strategies, such as injection schemes, water/fuel mass ratio, etc. and their impacts on engine power output, thermal efficiency, and emissions are still not well understood. This work implements a three-cylinder engine installed with a port water injection system to investigate water injection strategy systematically. Various parameters, such as in-cylinder pressure, exhaust temperature, fuel combustion emissions, engine work, etc., were recorded for analysis. Different engine conditions were tested and recommendations were provided in optimizing the water injection design. Furthermore, this work finds that with knock suppression, port water injection can lead to 3.4%–16.7% improvements in the brake thermal efficiency under different engine operating conditions. Via the cooling effect on the exhaust gas, fuel enrichment strategy used under high speed, full load conditions can be eliminated so that particulate number emissions can be reduced by up to 96.0% with proper water injection.

Optimization of a Radial Turbine for Pulsating Flows

Abstract A turbocharger turbine is exposed to pulsating flow conditions when it is connected to an engine exhaust system due to the opening and closing of the exhaust valves. However, many radial turbines are designed and tested under steady-state conditions without taking into account these unsteady exhaust flows. In order to seek the optimal aerodynamic design of a radial flow turbine (RFT) under pulsating flow conditions, the present research utilizes a numerical simulation approach to optimize the blade shape of a small-scale mixed flow turbine (MFT) under 50 Hz pulses. This corresponds to a four-stroke, three-cylinder engine rotating at 2000 rpm. In order to understand how a less computationally intensive, steady-state optimization compares, the blade shape was also optimized using the peak power point of the pulse. Three turbine features were modified during the optimization process, including blade cone angle, blade axial location, and blade camber angles. The optimization was carried out using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD)–genetic algorithm (GA) coupled approach, targeting at maximizing both energy-weighted efficiency and energy output during a predefined pulse period. To ensure that the new design maintains a similar matching to the engine, the maximum deviation of turbine swallowing capacity is controlled to within ±5% of the baseline for all new blade designs. The design that achieves the maximum pulse cycle-averaged efficiency was produced from unsteady optimization, with a performance benefit of 0.66%. The unsteady optimization also produced a blade shape that delivers the maximum energy output, with an improvement of 5.42%.

Surface virtual texturing of the journal bearings of a three-cylinder ethanol engine

PurposeThis paper aims to numerically investigate the surface texturing effects on the main bearings of a three-cylinder ethanol engine in terms of the power loss and friction coefficient for dynamic load conditions.Design/methodology/approachThe mathematical formulation considers the Partir-Cheng modified Reynolds equation. The mass-conserving Elrod-Adams p-θ model with the JFO approach is used to deal with cavitation. A fluid-structure coupling procedure is considered for the elastohydrodynamic lubrication. Accordingly, a 3-D linear-elastic substructured finite element model obtained from Abaqus is appliedFindingsSimulations were carried out considering different dimple texture designs in terms of location, depth and radius. The results suggested that there are regions where texturing is more effective. In addition, distinct journal rotation speeds are studied and the surface texture was able to reduce friction and the power loss by 7%.Practical implicationsThe surface texturing can be a useful technique to reduce the power loss on the crankshaft bearing increasing the overall engine efficiency.Originality/valueThe surface texturing performance in a three-cylinder engine using ethanol as fuel was investigated through numerical experimentation. The results are supported by previous findings.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-09-2019-0380/

Influence of mass unbalancing of three-cylinder engine on idle vibration based on powertrain model

This paper proposes a model of three-cylinder engine excitation which includes the characteristics of the mass unbalancing. Then, a powertrain model is established to analyze the response of powertrain mounts under different balancing strategy of the mass unbalancing during idle condition. Simulation is performed based on the powertrain model to demonstrate how different balancing strategies of three-cylinder engines influence the design of powertrain mounts.

Low noise, vibration and harshness solutions for in-line three-cylinder range extender and hybrid electric vehicles

Consideration of internal combustion engine formats suitable for hybrid or range extender electric vehicles usually focuses on selecting a power plant, which is as compact as possible to meet the demands and constraints of the installation. In-line three-cylinder engines often provide an attractive solution for such vehicles. This article presents a low emission two-stroke engine of in-line three-cylinder format and draws a comparison with an equivalent four-stroke engine. The particular focus of the analysis is on strategies for minimization of noise, vibration and harshness with significant reduction in piston lateral force compared with the four-stroke unit. The design also considers a balance shaft arrangement to further assist with noise, vibration and harshness reduction. The presented arrangement demonstrates an integrated induction control/balance shaft arrangement, which erodes the usual cost penalties typical of balance shaft consideration in three-cylinder engines.

The New Three-cylinder Gasoline Engine CE12 by PXC

The New Three-cylinder Gasoline Engine CE12 by PXC

In-Cylinder CO2 Sampling Using Skip-Firing Method

Skip-firing (or cylinder de-activation) was assessed as a method of sampling CO2 directly in the cylinder at higher speeds than previously possible. CO2 was directly sampled from one cylinder of a 1 L three-cylinder gasoline engine to determine the residual gas fraction (RGF) using a fast response CO/CO2 analyzer. Acquisition of data for similar measurements is typically limited to engine speeds of below 1300 revolutions per minute (rpm) to allow full resolution of the sample through the analyzer that has an 8 ms finite response time. In order to sample in-cylinder CO2 at higher engine speeds, a skip-firing method is developed. By shutting off ignition intermittently during engine operation, the residual CO2 from the last firing cycle can be measured at significantly higher engine speeds. Comparison of RGF CO2 at low speeds for normal and skip-fire operation shows good correlation. This suggests that skip-firing is a suitable method for directly measuring internal exhaust gas recirculation up to at least 3000 rpm. The measurements obtained may provide a useful tool for validating internal exhaust gas recirculation models and could be used to calculate combustion air–fuel ratio from the CO and CO2 content of the burned gas. These are typically complicated parameters to predict due to the slow response time and sensitivity to hydrocarbons of wide-band oxygen sensors. A differing pattern of RGF change with increasing speed was seen between normal and skip-fire operation.

Optimisation Studies of Cylinder Water Channel Geometry in an Internal Combustion Engine

This paper presents an analysis of the results of simulation studies of optimisation of water channel geometry placed in the head of an opposed-piston three-cylinder engine. For this purpose, six computation cases were prepared, differing in shape and cross-section field of channels located along the axis of one of the cylinders. The research was conducted by means of Ansys Flutent software. The conditions of initiation and boundary have been obtained from previous studies using AVL Boost RT software. A fixed temperature was assumed on the cylinder wall and a fixed temperature was assumed for the coolant at the inlet to the model. The studies were carried out for the model of the designed engine, which carries out a two-stroke diesel cycle. The engine will be equipped with direct injection of diesel fuel. On the basis of the conducted analysis of the test results, the flow velocity distributions and distributions of speed fields of the working medium in the critical cross-sections, the distribution of temperature and heat flow fields were prepared. Pressure drops and heat dissipation were also determined for individual models. This provided the basis for the determination of the influence of the rib's transverse geometry shape on the amount of heat received from the cylinder's smoothing walls.

Multi-Objective Optimization of Counterweights: A Substitute for the Balance Shaft or Mass Unbalancing in Three-Cylinder Engines

Multi-Objective Optimization of Counterweights: A Substitute for the Balance Shaft or Mass Unbalancing in Three-Cylinder Engines