Turbo-discharging: predicted improvements in engine fuel economy and performance

The importance of new technologies to improve the performance and fuel economy of internal combustion engines is now widely recognized and is essential to achieve CO2 emissions targets and energy security. Increased hybridisation, combustion improvements, friction reduction and ancillary developments are all playing an important part in achieving these goals. Turbocharging technology is established in the diesel engine field and will become more prominent as gasoline engine downsizing is more widely introduced to achieve significant fuel economy improvements. The work presented here introduces, for the first time, a new technology that applies conventional turbomachinery hardware to depressurize the exhaust system of almost any internal combustion engine by novel routing of the exhaust gases. The exhaust stroke of the piston is exposed to this low pressure leading to reduced or even reversed pumping losses, offering >5% increased engine torque and up to 5% reduced fuel consumption. This method has the distinct advantage of providing performance and fuel economy improvements without significant changes to the structure of the engine, the combustion system or lubrication system. The Turbo-Discharging concept is introduced and analyzed. A combination of filling/emptying models and 1-D gas dynamic simulations were used to quantify the energy flows and identify optimum valve timings and turbomachine characteristics. 1-D gas dynamic simulation was then used to predict primary fuel economy benefits from Turbo-Discharging. Secondary benefits, such as extended knock limits are then discussed