Initial Results on a New Light-

Ashwin Salvi
Achates Power, Inc.,
San Diego, CA 92101
Duty 2.7-L Opposed-Piston
e-mail: [email protected]
Gasoline Compression Ignition
Reed Hanson
Achates Power, Inc.,
San Diego, CA 92121
Multi-Cylinder Engine
e-mail: [email protected]
Gasoline compression ignition (GCI) is a cost-effective approach to achieving diesel-like
Rodrigo Zermeno efficiencies with low emissions. The fundamental architecture of the two-stroke Achates
Achates Power, Inc., Power Opposed-Piston (OP) Engine enables GCI by decoupling piston motion from cylin-
San Diego, CA 92121 der scavenging, allowing for flexible and independent control of cylinder residual fraction
e-mail: [email protected] and temperature leading to improved low-load combustion. In addition, the high peak cyl-
inder pressure and noise challenges at high-load operation are mitigated by the lower brake
mean effective pressure (BMEP) operation and faster heat release for the same pressure
Gerhard Regner rise rate of the OP Engine. These advantages further solidify the performance benefits of
Achates Power, Inc.,
the OP Engine and demonstrate the near-term feasibility of advanced combustion technol-
San Diego, CA 92121
ogies, enabled by the opposed-piston architecture. This paper presents initial results from
e-mail: [email protected]
steady-state testing on a brand new 2.7-L OP GCI multi-cylinder engine (MCE) designed
for light-duty truck applications. Successful GCI operation calls for a high compression
Mark Sellnau ratio (CR), leading to higher combustion stability at low loads, higher efficiencies, and
Delphi Technologies,
lower cycle HC + NOX emissions. Initial results show a cycle average brake thermal effi-
Auburn Hills, MI 48326
ciency (BTE) of 31.7%, which is already greater than 11% conventional engines, after
e-mail: [email protected]
only ten weeks of testing. Emissions results suggest that Tier 3 Bin 160 levels can be
achieved using a traditional diesel after-treatment system. Combustion noise was well con-
Fabien Redon trolled at or below the United States Council for Automotive Research limits. In addition,
Achates Power, Inc., initial results on catalyst light-off mode with GCI are also presented.
San Diego, CA 92121 [DOI: 10.1115/1.4053518]
e-mail: [email protected]
Keywords: air emissions from fossil fuel combustion, energy conversion/systems, fuel
combustion, power (co-) generation, transportation

Opposed-Piston Engine Fundamentals geometry (VG) turbocharger, and backpressure valve positions (sche-
matically shown in Fig. 2). This configuration minimizes engine
Reduced Heat Transfer Losses. The Achates Power Opposed-
pumping losses as the cylinder does not need to be fully scavenged
Piston Engine configuration has two pistons facing each other in the
every cycle, i.e., during idle or low-load conditions, only a fraction
same cylinder, combining the stroke of both pistons to increase the
of the exhaust gases are scavenged and replaced with fresh air, just
effective stroke-to-bore ratio. The Opposed-Piston (OP) Engine
sufficient enough for the next combustion cycle. This architectural
architecture eliminates the cylinder head of a conventional engine,
advantage is a key enabler to the flat fuel map of the OP Engine.
thus reducing the surface area-to-volume ratio, reducing heat transfer
Partial scavenging of the cylinder also enables control over the
losses, and increasing thermal efficiency [1–6]. A conceptional com-
trapped residual fraction, enabling high combustion stability and
parison between a conventional engine and the OP Engine is shown
rapid engine warm-up from cold start [7–9].
in Fig. 1. At the same piston bore and stroke, the surface area-
An additional pumping advantage of the OP Engine is the larger
to-volume ratio is reduced by more than 30% for the OP Engine.
intake and exhaust port flow area compared to a conventional
Further heat loss reductions are enabled due to higher wall tem-
engine, reducing choked and restricted flow and further decreasing
peratures of the two piston crowns from two-stroke operation com-
pumping losses.
pared a cooling stroke and presence of a cylinder head in
conventional engines, reducing the temperature differential
between hot combustion gases and the wall. Earlier and Faster Combustion. Equation (1) describes the
An additional benefit of the reduced heat losses in the OP Engine first law of thermodynamics for conventional and OP Engines,
is the reduction in radiator size and fan power, enabling lower where Q is the heat released, θ is the crank angle, γ is the ratio of
vehicle drag losses and increasing vehicle fuel efficiency. specific heats, p is the cylinder pressure, and V is the cylinder
volume. The larger combustion volume resulting from Fig. 1, high-
lighted by the grey boxes in Eq. (1), for the given amount of energy
Lower Pumping Losses. The pistons in an OP Engine are decou- released also enables a shorter combustion duration while preserv-
pled from inducting fresh air and exhausting combustion products. ing the same maximum pressure rise rate [10]. The faster combus-
The scavenging of the cylinder is governed by the pressure ratio tion improves thermal efficiency by reaching a condition closer to
across the intake and exhaust ports. Intake manifold pressure, air constant volume combustion.
flowrate, and exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) rate are controlled Earlier combustion, closer to top dead center or
by the supercharger, supercharger bypass valve, EGR valve, variable minimum volume, provides higher indicated efficiency, but if com-
bustion is too early, it can lead to increased heat transfer losses
and lower efficiency. Combustion that is too far delayed in relation
Contributed by the Internal Combustion Engine Division of ASME for publication
in the JOURNAL OF ENERGY RESOURCES TECHNOLOGY. Manuscript received October 1,
to minimum volume leads to higher exhaust energy and lower effi-
2021; final manuscript received January 5, 2022; published online February 9, 2022. ciency. The impact of heat transfer can be seen in Fig. 3. The lower
Assoc. Editor: Cosmin E. Dumitrescu. surface area-to-volume ratio results in lower heat transfer losses in

Journal of Energy Resources Technology Copyright © 2022 by ASME SEPTEMBER 2022, Vol. 144 / 092302-1
 Fig. 1 OP Engine schematic, figure not to scale

the OP Engine, enabling combustion timing closer to minimum Cleaner Combustion. Due to the elimination of the cylinder
volume. This increases the effective expansion ratio and reduces head, fuel is introduced tangentially to the piston surface; thus,
fuel consumption compared to conventional engines. the OP Engine does not use the piston to break apart the fuel
Equation 1: First law of thermodynamics showing a faster rate of spray as in conventional diesel engines. This allows for the optimi-
heat release with OP Engine at same pressure rise rate zation of the piston shape to generate high turbulent kinetic energy
while minimizing combustion surface area-to-volume ratio there-
fore heat transfer, leading to improved spray atomization, vaporiza-
tion, and lower soot emissions. An illustrative schematic of an OP
combustion bowl and fuel injection event is shown in Fig. 4, high-
lighting the diametrically opposed injectors injecting fuel tangen-
tially to the piston and the unique combustion volume.
Additionally, the lower load two-stroke operation of the OP
Engine and ability to retain internal EGR without incurring addi-
tional pumping work results in lower NOX emissions.

Combining Opposed-Piston and Gasoline Compression

Ignition
A significant amount of pioneering research has been conducted
on gasoline compression ignition [11–25]. Traditional challenges
with GCI arise at low-load conditions due to low charge

Fig. 3 Lower OP Engine heat transfer losses enable earlier com-

Fig. 2 OP Engine air handling schematic bustion phasing for lower fuel consumption

092302-2 / Vol. 144, SEPTEMBER 2022 Transactions of the ASME

 Table 1 2.7-L OP GCI engine specifications

Displacement (L) 2.7

Cylinders 3
Compression ratio 18.5
(–)
Power (kW) 200 @ 3600 RPM
Torque (Nm) 650 @ 1600–2100 RPM
Bore (mm) 80
Stroke (mm) 177
Exhaust crank lead 8–12
(deg)a
Air handling VG turbocharger, supercharger, high-pressure EGR
Fuel injection system Delphi Technologies injectors, 2 per cylinder,
capable of 6 injection events per injector
Engine control unit Pi Innovo Open
a
Exhaust crank lead defines an advancement of the exhaust piston in crank
angle relation to the intake piston. This provides an exhaust blow-down
Fig. 4 Diametrically opposed fuel injectors injecting fuel event, promotes cylinder scavenging, and increases exhaust crankshaft
tangentially to the piston surface torque.

temperatures causing combustion instability and at high-load condi- Charge Temperature Management. At low loads, GCI
tions due to peak cylinder pressure and noise limitations. The requires higher temperatures for combustion than diesel fuel. Four-
opportunities and lessons learned form the basis for GCI on the stroke engines normally push nearly the entire content of the cylin-
OP Engine, with the added benefit of the opposed-piston architec- der out during the exhaust stroke and therefore require a complex
ture addressing some of the four-stroke GCI challenges. The funda- variable valvetrain to re-open the exhaust valve during the intake
mental architecture of the OP Engine enables GCI by decoupling stroke to re-induct the exhaust back in the cylinder to increase the
piston motion from cylinder scavenging, allowing for flexible and charge temperature to the level necessary for GCI ignition.
independent control of cylinder residual fraction and temperature The OP Engine, however, can retain exhaust gas in-cylinder after
leading to improved low-load combustion. In addition, the high combustion, even at low loads when relatively little additional intake
peak cylinder pressure and noise challenges at high-load operation oxygen is required, by reducing the scavenging of the cylinder. At
are mitigated by the lower brake mean effective pressure operation low loads, the OP Engine can reduce the supercharger work used
and faster heat release for the same pressure rise rate of the OP to boost the intake manifold pressure. Reducing scavenging has
Engine. four benefits: (1) it reduces the amount of work by the supercharger,
reducing pumping; (2) it keeps in-cylinder temperatures high for
good combustion stability; (3) it provides a natural or internal EGR
Mixture Preparation. Robust and clean GCI combustion effect for low NOX combustion; and (4) it provides high exhaust
requires a stratified charge, with locally lean and rich areas, and gas temperatures for catalyst light-off and sustained activity.
multiple injection events. The OP injection environment offers sig-
nificant potential to improve charge stratification. Diametrically
opposed dual injectors spray across the diameter of the cylinder.
Each injector can be independently controlled to more easily 2.7-L Opposed-Piston Multi-Cylinder Design
manage staggered injections for ideal mixture distribution and, Engine Specifications. A new multi-cylinder OP Engine was
therefore, efficient and controlled heat release [26,27]. designed and built from scratch and is geared toward the light-duty

Fig. 5 Isometric computer-aided design (CAD) view of the new 2.7-L OP GCI engine

Journal of Energy Resources Technology SEPTEMBER 2022, Vol. 144 / 092302-3

Fig. 6 2.7-L OP Engine geartrain connecting intake and exhaust
crankshafts

vehicle sector. Specifications for the engine are shown in Table 1, Fig. 7 2.7-L OP Engine fuel injection system, with two
with a labeled CAD image of the engine shown in Fig. 5. independent pumps, rails, and injectors
The intake piston crank is located on top of the engine, with the
exhaust piston crank on the bottom of the engine. The cylinders are
tilted 30 deg from vertical to package into currently existing vehi-
cles. The mechanical connection that links the two crankshafts
together is a novel three gear geartrain, with power take-off on
the exhaust crankshaft and is shown in Fig. 6.
The air handling of the engine is packaged on the opposite side of
the tilted cylinders, giving the visual impression of a Vee-style
engine. The airpath is as follows (Fig. 2): air is inducted by the tur-
bocharger compressor, mixed with high-pressure EGR (HP EGR),
cooled by a charge air cooler, compressed by a supercharger,
flow is split between supercharger recirculation and flow through
an intercooler, and finally into the intake chest. After combustion,
exhaust gases split between the high-pressure EGR loop and VG
turbine flow. After the VG turbocharger, the exhaust gas flows
through a close-coupled after-treatment system (not studied in this
paper), through a backpressure valve, through an underfloor selec-
tive catalyst reduction (SCR) (not studied in this paper), and then to
the test cell air management system.
An electric water pump was used for engine cooling, and the
power consumption is accounted for in the brake numbers pre- Fig. 8 Delphi Technologies diesel unit pump with roller lifter
sented. An alternator efficiency of 60% was assumed. and inlet metering valve

Fuel System Specifications. The fuel injection process and fuel low viscosity relative to diesel, back leak flows will be significantly
sprays are key to achieving a successful combustion system with increased, and more pump work will be required. This injector fea-
high efficiency, low emissions, and low combustion noise. The tures a pressure balanced control valve, which greatly reduces back
injection pressure requirement of 1800 bar is higher than gasoline leak flows, especially at higher pressures. The injector features fast
fuel systems currently. Therefore, a diesel fuel system was specified response for near square injection profiles. Figure 9 shows typical
for operation on US E10 gasoline with a lubricity additive. injection rate and drive current at 1200 bar fuel pressure.
A CAD rendering of the fuel system is shown in Fig. 7. It is com-
prised of two independent systems, each with one pump, one rail,
Testing Specifications. Gasoline fuel specifications are shown
high-pressure lines, and three injectors for each side of the
in Table 2. The fuel flow is measured using a Resol fuel system
engine. Two injectors are mounted diametrically opposed in each
(model number RS474BCX-40), the air flow is measured using a
cylinder. The two fuel rails may be operated at different pressures.
Meriam laminar flow element (model number Z50MH10-5), CO,
This configuration provides great flexibility in the injection process
O2, CO2, and HC emissions are measured using a California Ana-
for fuel quantity, timing, and splits.
lytical Instruments (CAI) emissions analyzer, NOX emissions are
Two diesel unit pumps with roller lifters are mounted on the
measured using a MKS Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectro-
front cover of the engine and are driven simultaneously by
meter, and soot values are measured with an AVL 415 smoke meter.
the intake crankshaft with a three-lobe cam. The pumps (Fig. 8)
are compact, are lubricated by engine oil, and are mechanically
efficient.
The injectors shown in Fig. 7 were specially built for an opposed- Initial Results
piston engine operating on gasoline fuel. The injector features top Initial Cycle Average Results. The following results are after
feed fuel inlet, electrical connection on the body side, and short only ten weeks of testing the brand new 2.7-L OP GCI engine. Oper-
overall injector length (137 mm). Since gasoline fuels have very ating the engine over a 10-mode steady-state representation of the

092302-4 / Vol. 144, SEPTEMBER 2022 Transactions of the ASME

 Fig. 10 Cylinder pressure, combustion profile, and fuel
injection traces at 1275 RPM, 173 Nm
Fig. 9 Injection rate and drive current at 1200-bar fuel pressure

Table 2 Gasoline fuel specifications

Fuel Gasoline

Ethanol (%vol) 10
Research octane number (–) 91
Motor octane number (–) 83
Antiknock Index (–) 87

Table 3 2.7L OP GCI hot LA4 cycle average results

BSFC 272.1 g/kWh BSNOX 2.0 g/kWh

ISFC 204.7 g/kWh BSSoot 0.03 g/kWh Fig. 11 GCI indicated and brake thermal efficiency over 10
BTE 31.7 % Fuel BSCO 3.5 g/kWh modes
ITE 42.1 % Fuel BSHC 1.3 g/kWh
Pumping loss 1.8 % Fuel
Friction loss 8.5 % Fuel FTP75 NOX 0.82 g/mi
FTP75 Soot 0.011 g/mi
FTP75 HC 0.553 g/mi

transient Federal Test Procedure 75 (FTP75) cycle yields a cycle

average BTE of 31.7% on the hot LA4 cycle (Table 3, modal data
provided in the next section). Even after minimal development
time, the engine is already showing an 11% BTE improvement com-
pared to a competitive Model Year (MY) 2015 four-stroke engine.1
Table 3 also shows the cycle average emissions. The initial
targets for the OP GCI engine are U.S. Enivronmental
Protection Agency (EPA) light-duty (LD) Tier 3 Bin 160, which
has a tailpipe NMOG + NOX requirement of 160 mg/mile, CO
Fig. 12 50% mass fraction burn location and combustion
requirement of 4.2 g/mile, and PM requirement of 3 mg/mile, and duration
a final target of U.S. EPA light-duty Tier 3 Bin 30. An initial mod-
eling study with an after-treatment supplier using off-the-shelf
diesel after-treatment components and the 10-mode approximation
of a transient cycle indicated the successful achievement of Bin 160
levels. Tier 3 Bin 30 emissions levels are expected with a gasoline-
specific after-treatment implementation of catalyst thermal manage-
ment, and an actual transient cycle instead of a steady-state
approximation.
A sample cylinder pressure, combustion profile, and fuel injection
traces are shown in Fig. 10 at 1275 RPM, 173 Nm of torque. An early
pilot is utilized during the compression stroke of the engine and a
main injection event near the minimum volume location, which is
similar to other published works [13,15,28]. The early timing is
required to overcome the longer ignition delay of gasoline fuel and

1
https://www.epa.gov/vehicle-and-fuel-emissions-testing/benchmarking-advanced-
low-emission-light-duty-vehicle-technology - test-data, 2018. Accessed June 1, 2018. Fig. 13 Pumping and friction loss over 10 modes

Journal of Energy Resources Technology SEPTEMBER 2022, Vol. 144 / 092302-5

Fig. 14 Scavenging efficiency and scavenging ratio over the 10
modal points Fig. 16 GCI measured combustion noise and USCAR noise
limits

helps to premix part of the fuel with air, creating a homogenized data illustrates the high thermal efficiencies of the OP GCI engine
mixture. The main injection timing occurs around the premixed com- at part load/low-load conditions, which is due to lower heat transfer
bustion spike of the pilot fuel mixture. This serves to control the rate losses and lower pumping work inherent to the opposed-piston
of heat release, reducing combustion noise and increasing combus- architecture. Figure 12 illustrates the 50% mass fraction burn loca-
tion controllability. The main injection event results in a diffusion tion for the 10 modes, in degrees after minimum volume (aMV). As
flame, similar to that of diesel combustion. The fuel split between stated earlier in Fig. 3, the 50% mass fraction burn location tends to
the pilot and the main at this condition is 30% pilot, 70% main; be earlier, and combustion duration tends to be shorter for the OP
however, the split depends on the engine load. Engine.
The pumping loss resulting from supercharger work (Fig. 13),
while lower for the OP Engine compared to conventional engines,
Modal Data. Figure 11 shows the preliminary indicated and has considerable opportunity for improvement through cylinder
brake thermal efficiencies across the 10 modes. This preliminary ports, turbocharger, and backpressure optimization. As this paper

Fig. 15 2.7-L OP Engine friction breakdown

092302-6 / Vol. 144, SEPTEMBER 2022 Transactions of the ASME

 Fig. 17 GCI combustion efficiency over 10 modes

Fig. 18 GCI CoV of IMEP over 10 modes

Fig. 19 Brake-specific NOX, CO, HC over 10 modes

Journal of Energy Resources Technology SEPTEMBER 2022, Vol. 144 / 092302-7

 Fig. 20 Brake-specific soot over 10 modes

Combustion noise was well controlled at or below the guidelines

from United States Council for Automotive Research (USCAR) 2 at
all of the points except one, as shown in Fig. 16. The ability of the
OP Engine to control scavenging, the high flexibility of the fuel
injection system, and the high-pressure fuel injection strategy are
all key enablers in controlling the pressure rise rate and combustion
noise. The high compression ratio (CR) enabled by GCI operation
enables more favorable autoignition characteristics from increased
cylinder pressure and temperature, stretching out combustion
slightly compared to lower compression ratio configurations,
further reducing combustion noise. Combustion noise is a calibra-
tion parameter and can be adjusted to meet relevant requirements.
The higher compression ratio enabled by GCI operation also
achieves high combustion efficiency, yielding gasoline combustion
efficiencies that are greater than 98.5% at all points (Fig. 17). The
combustion efficiencies are very similar to diesel values, however
Fig. 21 Catalyst light-off mode with gasoline compression
ignition are generated with gasoline fuel. The ability to reduce cylinder
scavenging at low loads, which lowers the pumping work of the
engine, also enables high trapped temperatures. The hotter cylinder
charge enables better fuel vaporization and higher chemical kinetic
discusses initial results from the new engine, air path optimization is rates, leading to more robust, low coefficient of variation (CoV) of
the subject of future work. The friction loss increases at low loads indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP) combustion (Fig. 18).
due to the low fueling quantity and low engine out power. The brake-specific oxides of nitrogen (BSNOX), brake-specific
However, friction reduction is expected for production-intent carbon monoxide (BSCO), and brake-specific hydrocarbons
designs as this prototype incorporated off the shelf components (BSHC) values are shown in Fig. 19, with BSNOX as a calibration
that were not optimized for use on this engine. target. Higher compression ratios tend to increase NOX emissions;
Pumping is required to scavenge the cylinder and introduce a however, the combination of lower BMEP operation of the OP
fresh charge for the next combustion cycle. Two scavenging Engine combined with lower temperature combustion with gasoline
metrics related to pumping loss are scavenging efficiency (ratio of compression ignition compared to diesel keep NOX formation low.
delivered air mass retained to mass of trapped cylinder charge) BSCO and BSHC values are low, especially compared to an early
and scavenging ratio (ratio of delivered air mass to mass of injection strategy with GCI [10], due in part to the higher compres-
trapped cylinder charge) and are shown in Fig. 14. For most sion ratio of the engine as well as the higher combustion efficiency
cases, the scavenging efficiency is similar to the scavenging ratio. [30]. Even though higher compression ratios increase NOX from the
However, when the scavenging ratio is greater than scavenging effi- higher cylinder temperatures, the decreased HC and CO emissions
ciency, the fresh charge is escaping the cylinder through the exhaust lower the overall non-methane organic gas (NMOG) + NOX total
ports, incurring additional pumping loss. As load increases, the emission.
scavenging ratio starts to exceed scavenging efficiency due to the The resulting brake-specific soot (BSSoot) is shown in Fig. 20.
boost and airflow required to meet efficiency and emissions The partial pre-mixing of the fuel with an early pilot homogenizes
targets for that speed and load point. the cylinder charge and lower soot formation. The main injection
The friction loss from the engine is also shown in Fig. 13. The event then controls the rate of heat release and lowers combustion
new 2.7-L engine incorporated several frictional improvements noise as shown previously. The high volatility and partial oxygen-
over the research-grade Achates Power 4.9-L multi-cylinder ation of gasoline fuel promote better fuel mixing and availability of
engine discussed in previous publications [8,29]; however, addi- oxygen, further reducing soot formation, especially during diffusion
tional friction improvements are still in development. The current combustion.
friction breakdown for an LA4 cycle averaged speed and load
point is illustrated in Fig. 15. Piston rings are identified as the
higher contributor to OP Engine friction, followed by the piston
2
skirt and oil pump, and are active areas of research. https://uscar.org/publications/, 2018. Accessed June 1, 2018.

092302-8 / Vol. 144, SEPTEMBER 2022 Transactions of the ASME

 Fig. 22 Anticipated cycle brake thermal efficiency improvements with respect to program
targets

Catalyst Light-Off Mode. Previous papers [8,9] have discussed Catalyst light-off mode was explored with GCI. The flexibility of
the unique ability of the OP Engine for rapid after-treatment catalyst the OP Engine architecture to control scavenging and the controlla-
light-off and emissions control using diesel fuel. To understand the bility of the fuel injection system created stable combustion while
commercial and emissions potential of GCI, catalyst light-off mode generating hot exhaust gas at very low emissions. The combination
was explored in a separate 1.6-L single-cylinder version of the of hot exhaust gases and low emissions lights off the emissions
opposed-piston engine. system quickly, satisfying stringent emissions requirements and
Figure 21 highlights the cylinder pressure, rate of heat release, enabling transition to high-efficiency strategies more quickly. After-
and integrated normalized heat release representative of an elevated treatment simulations using initial results and off-the-shelf diesel
idle condition using gasoline fuel. A similar injection strategy (pilot components show successful achievement of Tier 3 Bin 160
and main) is used in this condition and, however, is phased much levels, with an end target of Tier 3 Bin 30.
later in the expansion stroke.
The flexibility of the scavenging and combustion system in the
OP Engine allows for trapping high-temperature residuals, which
enables robust and stable gasoline combustion ignition with a
Future Work
1.1% CoV of IMEP, even with a combustion phasing of 30 deg After only 10 weeks of development, the new 2.7-L OP GCI
after minimum volume. Catalyst light-off mode generates high engine is already significantly more efficient than comparable gas-
IMEP with low BMEP and results in 365 °C exhaust gas tempera- oline engines. Considerable efforts are in progress to increase the
ture while keeping emissions low at 1 g/kWh NOX and 0.01 g/kWh brake thermal efficiency from the current 31.7% cycle average to
soot. The hot exhaust gases combined with low emissions during 36.5% with advancements in friction, pumping, and combustion.
cold start are essential to satisfying stringent emissions Friction reduction tasks include reducing piston and liner friction,
requirements. geartrain windage, and coolant and oil circuits. Tasks related to
reducing pumping loss include optimizing scavenging, increasing
air handling efficiency, and reducing system restriction. Combus-
tion improvements stem from optimization of the combustion
Conclusions chamber, optimization of fuel injection parameters, and reducing
A brand new 2.7-L multi-cylinder OP Engine was designed and heat transfer losses from the combustion volume. The details of
built to integrate into a light-duty pickup truck. The cylinders are the increase in brake thermal efficiency are proprietary; however,
tilted 30 deg from vertical, balanced by the air system on the oppo- a schedule of the anticipated improvements is shown in Fig. 22
site side and giving the engine the appearance of a Vee shape. The along with the program target.
engine uses a high-pressure fuel system capable of generating dif-
ferent rail pressures for the two common rails for combustion flex-
ibility. Engine friction results are encouraging, with piston rings
contributing the most; however, frictional improvements are an Acknowledgment
active research area. The authors would like to thank the U.S. Department of Energy’s
Initial results show a cycle average brake thermal efficiency of Advanced Research Projects Agency—Energy (ARPA-E) for their
31.7%, which is already greater than 11% conventional engines, intellectual and financial support. The information, data, or work
after only ten weeks of testing. Combustion noise was well con- presented herein was funded in part by the ARPA-E, U.S. Depart-
trolled at or below the USCAR limits. For a given NOX calibration, ment of Energy, under Award Number DE-AR0000657. The views
soot emissions were very low. The cleaner combustion of gasoline and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or
fuel enabled the use of a higher compression ratio, which increased reflect those of the United States Government or any agency
engine thermal efficiency while reducing low-load CoV of IMEP thereof. The authors would also like to specifically acknowledge
and combustion noise. The increased compression ratio increased the contribution of their colleagues in this work, namely Argonne
combustion efficiency, reducing HC and CO emissions. National Laboratory, Delphi Technologies, and ARPA-E.

Journal of Energy Resources Technology SEPTEMBER 2022, Vol. 144 / 092302-9

Conflict of Interest [12] Sellnau, M., Sinnamon, J., Hoyer, K., and Husted, H., 2011, “Gasoline Direct
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