Abstract
In Conventional internal combustion engine cooling system, the
coolant pump is belt-driven by the engine crankshaft. The direct
coupling between engine and cooling pump results in an excessive
low of cooling luid at part-load conditions and waste of energy in
running the pump at engine cold start, which affects the engine
eficiency and, as a consequence, the global fuel consumption. A
study has been conducted on a Maruti 800cc MPFI engine cooling
system in order to ind a way to reduce common overheating
problems at idle conditions and intermediate engine speeds with
restricted airlow. The study involves testing of an engine radiator in
a wind tunnel (calorimeter) to simulate the actual driving conditions.
The coolant low rate, pressure, and temperature characteristics were
monitored at different positions in the cooling system while engine
speed and load was varied. Engine performance test were carried out
for different radiator ram air speeds. The results show that by
adjusting the low rates according to certain variables, the overall
effectiveness of the cooling system can be increased and hence
overheating problems can be minimized. A solution is proposed for
improving the cooling system by employing an epicyclic gear train to
vary the speeds thereby to vary the coolant low rates in accordance
to the coolant temperature.
Introduction
The coolant system is an integral part of an engine to control its
temperature, thermal stress and deformation. As the highest thermal
load of an engine occurs at the highest engine load (i.e., wide open
throttle, WOT) and at the highest speed, the cooling system has to be
designed so that the maximum temperature, thermal stress and
deformation under this condition are well controlled. At a lower
engine speed and WOT, the thermal load is lower. But, suficient
cooling is still needed to suppress engine knocking and reduce charge
heating for higher volumetric eficiency in SI engines. At light engine
loads or during idling, both the thermal load and knocking are no
longer a problem. Instead, HC emissions [1] and friction/heat-transfer
losses become major concerns. The cooling system should allow the
engine temperature to stay high to reduce HC emissions and friction/
heat-transfer losses. During engine cold-start and warm-up, the low
temperatures of the combustion chamber surface and the catalyst
result in increased HC emissions, which are a major problem in
engine exhaust emission control.
An engine in this case needs to be thermally isolated rather than be
cooled. Conventional engine cooling systems cannot completely
satisfy all the requirements. Coolant temperature, coolant low rate,
coolant properties and coolant system pressure are four parameters in
an engine coolant system which directly affects the heat transfer rate.
Among the four parameters, the coolant properties are most dificult
to control in an operating engine. Coolant-system pressure might be
controllable. But, increasing the heat transfer rate by reducing the
system pressure at WOT to promote nucleate boiling may be
jeopardized by ilm boiling. In addition, pump erosion at low pressure
may also become a problem. Therefore, pressure control is not
discussed here. Coolant temperature and coolant low rate, hence, are
the only parameters to be considered.
Kenny et al. [2] proposed an electric thermostat to replace the
mechanical thermostat. The electric thermostat can control the
cooling temperature to achieve high coolant temperature at low
engine loads and low coolant temperature at high engine loads. To
control both the coolant temperature and the coolant low rate,
Couëtouse et al. [3] proposed a cooling system using an electric
pump and an automatic water valve. There is no doubt that the
electric thermostat and the electrically-driven pump can improve the
control over the cooling system. But, there are some issues about the
applications of such systems in production engines. First, because
many new components are needed, such as sensors, micro-
controllers, actuators, and electrical motors, the cost of such cooling
systems may be high. Second, there is an energy loss penalty by such
cooling systems. Power transmission from the engine crank shaft to
the coolant pump is more eficient by mechanical connection than
through an alternator and an electrical motor. The electric thermostat,
actuators and other new components also consume some energy.
Therefore, the beneit from lower friction and heat-transfer losses at
light engine loads due to the use of the electrical pump may be offset,
or overridden, by the energy loss penalty.
Cooling System Optimisation of a Multi - Point Fuel Injection
Engine
2016-28-0085
Published 02/01/2016
M A Vadivelu, C Ramesh Kumar, and C D Naiju
Vit University
CITATION: Vadivelu, M., Kumar, C., and Naiju, C., "Cooling System Optimisation of a Multi - Point Fuel Injection Engine," SAE
Technical Paper 2016-28-0085, 2016, doi:10.4271/2016-28-0085.
Copyright © 2016 SAE International
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