Posted on 09/12/2013 12:38:57 PM PDT by Rio
Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed an internal combustion engine that emits less than half the CO2 compared to a regular engine without compromising performance. This corresponds to fuel consumption of less than 2.4 l per 100 km. This natural gas-diesel hybrid engine is based on a system of sophisticated control engineering.
The global energy markets are changing. New extraction methods are tapping into oilfields and natural gas deposits that have been inaccessible until now. The US, for example, is able to cover up to 83% of its total energy needs today; the government is even planning to increase exports of natural gas in the future. And there are new developments on the horizon: natural gas may also become an important fuel for vehicles on America's roads, thanks to the work of Swiss researchers at the Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control at ETH Zurich. They have developed a natural gas-diesel hybrid powertrain that emits just half the CO2 without compromising performance.
Diesel fuel injection instead of an ignition plug
ETH researchers redesigned the conventional diesel engine of a VW Golf to run on 90% natural gas. Instead of a spark plug as is standard with natural gas en-gines, the engine is ignited with a small amount of diesel injected directly into the cylinder. In doing so, the researchers were able to achieve a highly efficient combustion with a maximum efficiency of 39.6%.
Natural gas-diesel engines already exist, and are used industrially where power is generated and used in one place – for example to operate large machinery. "In a vehicle, the engine speed and load change constantly, which means the engine system is far more complicated," explains Tobias Ott, a doctoral student in Professor Lino Guzzella's research group.
Innovative electronic combustion control
Ott developed the innovative electronic combustion control together with senior scientist Christopher Onder as part of his dissertation. A sensor that measures pressure in the cylinders plays a key part: using complex control algorithms, the researchers were able to adapt the amount and timing of diesel continually, allowing an engine system with highest efficiency. The researchers also linked the innovative natural gas-diesel engine to a small electric motor to further reduce consumption. However, it could also be installed in a vehicle without electric hybridisation, which would be crucial for industrial production in larger quantities.
Mass production – a possibility in five years' time
The researchers demonstrated the reduction in emissions with experiments on a specially designed test rig and recently published the results in the specialist journal Energies. This proof of concept also involves solving final technical prob-lems. "At the moment, we are concentrating particularly on the temperature in the catalytic converter," says Ott. For the converter to get up and running, it has to reach at least 300 degrees. "Our combustion engine converts heat energy into mechanical energy with such efficiency that the exhaust gas is not warm enough to create sufficient heat, particularly after start-up," adds Ott. The researchers want to solve the problem by modified control of the engine during the warm-up.
Christopher Onder is convinced that the natural gas-diesel engine can be produced in series production in five years. "The prerequisite is that we find an industrial partner who can take charge of developing a prototype," he explains. The researchers believe that the success of their engine depends critically on its production costs. They stress that their solution may not be cheap, but it is comparatively cost-effective. And because their concept is based on technology that already exists, it can be implemented quickly and is the perfect bridging technology for the next 10 to 20 years. The researchers are already engaged in negotiations with a car manufacturer.
I’m a mechanical engineer and have look at so many “revolutionary” designs that don’t pan out my head spins.
The problem with this one is having to carry two fuels, and complexity. Not saying it isn’t doable. But I am still waiting for the hydrogen car.
what if they just used the deisel/gas hybrid to run at a constant and MOST EFFICIENT rate, to power a small electric generator run the electric vehicle and to recharge the batteries of an electric vehicle?
You would not need really big batteires because you are running on the gas/diesel, really... and the batteries, are on constant recharge and are like a capactor in the system really
You would not need a big motor if it is just powering a little electric generator.
WTF is the government doing PLANNING anything to do with privately owned and distributed resources?
PLANNING is what killed the Soviet Union.
Government PLANNING the economy is what Hayek warns us about in Road To Serfdom.
Government PLANNING caused 50,000,000 dead in China, 33% dead in Cambodia, 2,000,000 dead in North Korea, about 15,000,000 dead in the USSR, etc.
Get Government Planning out of our lives, quick! Before they kill again!
2013 Honda Civic Natural Gas
http://automobiles.honda.com/civic-sedan/civic-natural-gas.aspx
so now i have to have a car that has two fuels in it? i don’t see a win here.
god, stupid thinks it’s wise.
the european diesels can get 50 mpg right now, if they’d let them into the damn country. they bitch about not having enough diesel for trucks and lots of car drivers. up production and let the’better clean diesels in. let em license technology to other makers for better diesels.
But now we need an engine that doubles or triples CO2 output, to adapt to the latest.... AGW Global Cooling.
Way simpler all around to make liquid fuel out of nat gas.
In the drilling industry, we’re converting Diesel engines to run on a bi-fuel system with natural gas. It’s become an easy way to cut the fuel costs in half as well as eliminating the need to deliver fuel to the site once you access the well gas.
Yep. I wish that I could get a Subaru Diesel in the US. They have them in Australia.
In reality, they are slowly approving a few permits for companies to export LNG. The government only regulates it and permits/denies. It doesn't move the gas themselves.
This is the first I’ve heard of natural-gas/diesel hybrid engines.
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Should have been reading Free Republic a few hours earlier.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3065935/posts
I wonder if it will incorporate a Turbo Encabulator?
http://i.imgur.com/FhHJAdM.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLDgQg6bq7o
The problem with this one is having to carry two fuels, and complexity. Not saying it isn’t doable. But I am still waiting for the hydrogen car.
The dual fuel diesel was mentioned in my IC Engines textbook back in 1960, as a practical stationary engine application where NG is cheap and diesel oil isn’t - e.g., Alaska, at that time. And, as matters stood for awhile there recently at least, the lower 48 as well. Book praised the dual-fuel diesel as “may be the most efficient prime mover in existence.”
The issue with NG is that it seems that the cost of drilling/fracking and the payoff in the market for the resulting product hasn’t stabilized. But given time, and (problematic, but there it is) rational energy policy, supply and demand should find a balance at a economic price for suppliers and, hopefully, a long-term good deal for consumers. If in fact NG BTUs end up being cheap, you can’t afford to use anything else. Hydrogen, yeah - if you can make and store the stuff economically.But, what’re you gonna do - strip the hydrogen out of NG and sequester the carbon? At the same time that China is burning more coal than the rest of the world put together? Paper today says that the Obama EPA is gonna put American coal burning out of business. Meanwhile, atmospheric CO2 is gonna increase - if for no other reason than that China is stamping out coal-fired power plants like cookies!
Diesel pickups can have an aftermarket kit installed that injects propane, LPG, or CNG into the engine to boost power. No other cahges are made to the engine, other than adjust the fuel timing. The novel thing about this engine appears to be direct cylinder pressure feedback, and incorporating that into fuel and timing map. Of course, with it being diesel engine, the EPA will immediately ban it for use in a passenger vehicle, unless it’s a GM (government motors).
You would not need really big batteires because you are running on the gas/diesel, really... and the batteries, are on constant recharge and are like a capactor in the system really
You would not need a big motor if it is just powering a little electric generator.
I've been saying that for ages. It's essentially how modern trains work.
My question would be, can a deisel engine operating at whatever its peak operating speed produce enough electricity to power a car? A configuration like this wouldn't need those expensive and dangerous batteries. Maybe it could charge up a capacitor for extra on-demand power. I figure there has to be something fundamentally wrong with this whole thing, or it would have been done.
the biggest size and weigh expense in an electric car is the batteries
but you would not need large batteries if you have a small generator charging at all times
electric engines run very efficient- use some high-torque starting engines for the rear tires and high efficiency driving tires in the front and you got a great electric car with a small battery and small re-charging engine
put some spoked motorcycle tires and a lightweight chassis and you got a great car that I bet you could easily get over 100 miles to the gallon with
I have been toying with this idea maybe even using gears and a shifter linkage from a bicycle and motor and batter from a rascal skooter or hov’r round chair
Thanks Rio.
Once you have access to the well gas, that’s the only sensible thing to do.
I was joking about hydrogen. Sounds great, less filling. Sooo many problems, starting with hydrogen embrittlement.
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