Internal Combustion Engines - APL

// Combustion Engine Powertrains

Increasing Efficiency — Reducing Emissions

In order to achieve the overriding social goals of environmental and climate protection, the powertrain must be continuously developed. Conflicts of interest arise from the various target figures to be optimised, such as efficiency, emissions and product costs. Ever shorter development cycles, greater product complexity and a larger number of derivatives require a systematic and efficient approach right from the start of powertrain development. APL is happy to meet this challenge and support its customers throughout the entire development process.

Mechanical Development, Component Testing and Validation

Our powertrain engineering staff take care of all questions raised by our customers. Due to our employees’ precise, particular work methods, abnormal features in the development process are detected early on and damage is avoided.

Varied procedures are used for this purpose:

Online wear and emission analysis to resolve and assign damage mechanisms over time
Oil supply
Friction power analysis
Component and damage analysis, for which we have modern 3D laser scanners at our disposal

Tribology

The reduction of friction in the powertrain to a minimum not only increases efficiency but also the components’ service life. In order to optimally design sliding contacts, a combined approach of surface measurement, 3D-EHD calculation and microwear simulation is applied. The results are validated on component test benches and in realistic operation with radionuclide technology.

Fuel Selection and Testing

The choice of fuel is a decisive factor in continuously optimising target variables such as engine performance, efficiency, emissions and product costs.

APL offers comprehensive know-how in testing, evaluation and development of operating materials. Examples include the evaluation of fuel composition (blending, worst-case & regenerative fuels) with regard to emissions or development of methods for evaluating additives and lubricants and their pre-ignition gradient (low-speed pre-ignition).

Oil Circuit

The combination of constant further development of engine mechanics and increasingly low-viscosity engine oils – to reduce friction – increases the demands on the oil circuit of modern combustion engines. To investigate and validate oil transport concepts, we carry out both gas content measurements and tilt tests on tilting test benchs. Here, the influence of dynamic driving maneuvers is transferred from the vehicle to the engine test bench in order to be able to test the influences of lateral and longitudinal acceleration on all components in the oil circuit.

Broad Range of Measurement Technology

By using various special measuring techniques, we reach our goals much faster. In a solution-oriented manner, we use online measuring methods, combustion diagnostics, exhaust gas analysis systems as well as systems for vibration analysis and early damage detection, thus effectively and efficiently supporting the development process. One example is our mass spectrometers, which enable online oil emission measurements.

Combustion Process, Thermodynamics, Basic Application

Combustion processes of modern gasoline and diesel engines in conjunction with complex exhaust aftertreatment are becoming increasingly complex. APL uses simulation models, state-of-the-art test benches and (imaging) measurement techniques to further improve the quality and robustness of combustion processes.

Exhaust Gas Aftertreatment: Components, Function, Data Processing, Aging, Security

In the development of exhaust gas aftertreatment, the system combination of engine, exhaust gas aftertreatment components and functions must always be considered. APL offers a comprehensive service portfolio for this very purpose – starting with basic analyses (e.g. deposit formation), through component and function development, to validation on the engine test bench or in the vehicle.

On our test benches for hot gas, for example, we examine catalytic converters under reproducible conditions. On our test benches for SCR systems we analyse spray formation and can optimise mixing sections.

During the implementation of development projects there is always a need for aged exhaust aftertreatment components. Both as part of our customer projects and as an independent service, APL offers aging of exhaust systems in the hydrothermal furnace and targeted aging on the engine test bench. The aging parameters are freely selectable and, thanks to aging on several parallel lines or test benches, large quantities can be completed in a short time.

Basis Calibration

As soon as the combustion process and component concepts have been finalised, the basic application, i.e. the basic operation of the engine, begins. This is model-based and, if necessary, includes the development of new functions of the control unit software. The data (e.g. ignition timing, air and fuel path, torque structure), which is usually determined by stationary measurements and simulations, forms the basis for the subsequent application in the drive network or the vehicle.

Drivetrain: Calibration, Testing, Security

APL’s state-of-the-art drive train test benches enable vehicle calibration (driveability, emissions, etc.) even before vehicle prototypes are available. The faster conditioning of the drivetrain allows considerably more test cycles in the same amount of time, compared to the vehicle on the road.

Application, Testing and Validation in the Vehicle, Emissions, OBD

APL’s vehicle topics are broadly diversified. Verification of basic data, vehicle drive optimisation – on the chassis dynamometer test bench and/or the road — certification and monitoring conformity of production (CoP) — read more here!