Periodic Reporting for period 2 - REWARD (REal World Advanced Technologies foR Diesel Engines)
Reporting period: 2016-11-01 to 2018-04-30
Conclusion of the Action: The emissions target (half of EU6 in RDE and WLTC) was reached. The major challenge was to keep both NOx and CO2 below the target in the WLTC. The CO2-emissions were compared to MY 2015 and MY 2018 reference vehicle configurations as no MY 2013 versions of these types are existing. This allowed an even clearer assessment of the new technologies. The target of 5% CO2-improvement under real driving conditions was achieved. Friction reduction with new coatings and lubricants was demonstrated on test rigs (TRL 5). Projections to WLTC showed 1% fuel consumption improvement with ultra-low viscosity hydrocarbon based lubricants and 2% improvement with a novel polyalkylene glycol based lubricant.
The 2-stroke Diesel engine architecture was developed on a single cylinder research engine (TRL 5). Projections to vehicle drives showed that the REWARD NOx targets were reached. However, the fuel consumption target was not achieved.
A new low NOx combustion concept was developed for a 1.6L diesel engine and calibrated and tested in a B/C class passenger car (Renault Kadjar). A new aftertreatment system was laid out. The REWARD emission targets (half of Euro 6) were reached in RDE (on-road) tests with a conformity factor below 1. The CO2-target (5% improvement versus identical vehicle with baseline reference engine) under real driving conditions was also met. In WLTC the targets (emissions and fuel consumption) could not be reached. However, the NOx target (half of Euro 6) was reached with an fuel consumption improvement of 3% instead of the target 5%. The target TRL7 was achieved.
The work on Future 4-stroke D/E class Diesel engine included the approach to reduce the fuel consumption by extreme downsizing and rising the specific engine power to >100kW/l for a E class vehicle (Volvo XC60). This concept enabled friction reduction and more favourable operating conditions related to fuel consumption. The target power level required a high charge air flow with minimum pressure drop. This drove a novel quiescent combustion concept normally only seen in heavy duty engines. The aftertreatment system is a new LNT-SCRF/SCR-u/f SCR concept. The emission calibration had a strong focus on temperature management procedures for catalyst heating with low fuel consumption penalty. With this development approach the REWARD emission targets (half of Euro 6) was reached in RDE (on-road) tests. The CO2-target (5% improvement versus identical vehicle with baseline reference engine) under real driving conditions was also met. The target TRL7 was reached. The new quiescent combustion concept will be pursued in future developments.The final tests were supervised by an independent testing institute.
Exploitable results from the development of aftertreatment systems are new catalyst formulations and technologies for SCR and SCRF. Basic investigations and improved simulation models have been made for predicting the chemical reaction kinetics of the catalysts. This know-how will be exploited by providing consulting and engineering services. Related to the aftertreatment system development work are also engine measures for providing optimum catalyst temperatures which will be invested in new engine and vehicle developments. OEMs and engine engineering providers developed new combustion concepts and specific features for efficiency improvements. The low swirl and quiescent combustion concepts, which have been developed up to TRL 7, will be pursued by the OEMs and at least aspects thereof will be applied in serial production. The reduced engine-out NOx affects the aftertreatment system in terms of size, flow resistance and cost. The challenging development of very complex tasks such as the layout of the combustion concepts and the prototype calibration of demonstrator vehicles also stimulated the development of new methodical approaches. These include the combination of complex layout procedures with experimental and statistical approaches and also systematic procedures for calibration. Such topics have been published and are further applied in development projects. Measures for friction reduction are continuous issues for mechanical engine development. They primarily focus on complex interactions from materials, surface coatings, lubricants, thermal measures. Usually, individual approaches for friction reduction do not lead to big improvement steps but the interaction of various measures provide innovative and enduring solutions which are exploitable in large scale.