Virtual Multi-Cylinder Engine Transient Test System

• Published in: SAE International journal of fuels and lubricants Vol. 2; no. 2; pp. 346 - 353
• Main Authors: Moskwa, John J., Mangun, Derek A., Lemke, Austin R., Lahti, John L., Snyder, Matthew W., Klick, Stephen J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Warrendale SAE International 2010; SAE International, a Pennsylvania Not-for Profit
• Subjects: Air pressure; Coolants; Cylinders; Engine cylinders; Engine design; Engines; Fuels; Gas dynamics; Heat transfer; Powertrain; Test systems; Trajectories
• ISSN: 1946-3952; 1946-3960; 1946-3960
• DOI: 10.4271/2009-24-0106

Researchers at the Powertrain Control Research Laboratory (PCRL) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have developed a transient test system for single-cylinder engines that accurately replicates the dynamics of a multi-cylinder engine. The overall system can perform very rapid transients in excess of 10,000 rpm/second, and also replicates the rotational dynamics, intake gas dynamics, and heat transfer dynamics of a multi-cylinder engine. Testing results using this system accurately represent what would be found in the multi-cylinder engine counterpart. Therefore, engine developments can be refined to a much greater degree at lower cost, and these changes directly incorporated in the multi-cylinder engine with minimal modification. More importantly, various standardized emission tests such as the cold-start, FTP or ETC, can be run on this single-cylinder engine. These tests are currently only run using multi-cylinder engines, so this moves these important tests more than a year forward in the engine development cycle, and represents a significant competitive advantage. Many other advantages of this new system will be discussed in the paper.