Development of a New Combustion Engine Dedicated to Methane Operation

Authors

Dipl.-Ing. C. Weber, Dr.-Ing. U. Kramer, Dipl.-Ing. R. Friedfeldt, Dr.-Ing. H. Ruhland, Dr.-Ing. F. Krämer, Ford-Werke GmbH, Cologne

Year

2018

Print Info

Fortschritt-Berichte VDI, Series 12, No 807

Summary

This paper describes the development and optimization of a new combustion engine concept dedicated to the exclusive operation with methane as fuel (natural gas, biomethane, power-to-gas methane).
The engine is based on the new Ford 1.0L GTDI Ecoboost engine which has been presented to the public end of 2017.
It is designed to withstand very high combustion pressures in order to utilize the thermodynamic properties of methane at its maximum. The engine delivers a maximum power output of 110 kW and provides a brake mean effective pressure (BMEP) of 30 bar over a wide engine speed range. In order to achieve this high specific torque output and to minimize the fuel consumption at the same time the engine is equipped with an innovative technology bundle as follows:

• Fully variable mechanical actuation of the intake and exhaust valves to allow load dependent adjustments of the intake valve event length, primarily applied to increase the efficiency under part load operation conditions, and for control of the boosting system.
• Parallel sequential two-stage turbocharger system in order to achieve a high specific engine torque over a wide engine speed range.
• Methane direct injection to meet the targeted torque output at low engine speeds and to support superior transient engine performance.

The engine concept and the design of the major engine components are described and first thermodynamic results are presented. Order