SICE Annual Conference 2011 September 13-18, 2011, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan

A Study of Cooling System of a Spark Ignition Engine to Improve Thermal Efficiency

Tatsuya Kuboyama1, Yasuo Moriyoshi1, Mitsuru Iwasaki2 and Junichiro Hara2
1

Department of Artificial Systems Science, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan (Tel : +81-43-290-3916; E-mail: tkuboyam@faculty.chiba-u.jp) 2 Calsonic Kansei

Abstract: To improve thermal efficiency of gasoline engines, the effect of coolant system on fuel consumption rate is studied in this report. The authors tried to control the flow of cooling water to find an optimized flow system to improve thermal efficiency, especially for the cold start condition. Experiments were carried out using a four-cylinder SI engine. Three test conditions of i) normal cold start, ii) cold start without operating the water pump and iii) cold start but with heated engine oil were measured. Temperatures of cooling water at some positions were measured during the warming-up time. Secondly, the effect of cooling water temperature on thermal efficiency at a steady state condition was examined. As a result, a higher temperature causes an improvement of thermal efficiency due to a reduction in mechanical friction. Keywords: Gasoline engine, Thermal efficiency, Cooling system, Cooling water temperature

1. INTRODUCTION
Improvement of thermal efficiency has been strongly demanded for internal combustion engines. One of the methods to increase theoretical thermal efficiency is an increase in compression ratio. However, the increase in compression ratio is limited by knocking. A reduction in energy loss including cooling loss and mechanical friction also improves brake thermal efficiency. It is well known that cooling water temperature and combustion chamber wall temperature largely affect cooling loss and knocking. Temperature of lubricant oil affects mechanical friction. High oil temperature reduces oil viscosity leading to decreasing friction loss. In summary, thermal management has been more important for combustion engines for improving thermal efficiency. In recent days, electrically controlled water pump and electric thermostat have been utilized to optimize cooling water temperature according to operating conditions[1], [2]. It is considered that the development of these electrically controllable devices allows more precise thermal management for improvement in performance of gasoline engines. In the present study, as a first step to develop a sophisticated controlling method for a cooling system of a gasoline engine, thermal efficiency during cold start operation and steady state operation were experimentally investigated using a commercially available four-cylinder gasoline engine.

2. TEST ENGINE AND CONDITIONS

Table 1 shows the specifications of the test engine. A commercially available four-cylinder gasoline engine was used. The engine has a displacement volume of 1240 cm3, and a compression ratio of 9.8. The ECU (Electronic control unit) which is normally applied to

production engine was used for controlling of engine operating parameters, such as an ignition timing and a fuel injection timing. Figure 1(a) shows cooling water path and measurement locations of cooling water temperature for cold start testing. During the warm up period, thermo-stat closes, and cooling water circulates through the bypass. After a cooling water temperature increases, thermo-stat opens, and cooling water circulates through the radiator which is soaked in the water tank. Figure 1(b) shows a cooling water path and measurement locations of wall temperature for steady state testing. In the steady state testing, the coolant water path for the cylinder block and that for the cylinder head are separated. This allows independent control of temperature and flow rate of cooling water for the cylinder head and the cylinder block of the test engine. In this system, temperature in the water tank is controlled. A cooling water temperature is not directly controlled but determined by the water tank temperature and operating conditions. Cooling water temperature was measured at ten locations shown in figure 1 (Ch 1 Ch 10) during cold start experiment. Additionally, intake and exhaust gas temperature, cylinder head wall temperature at the spark plug location was measured. In-cylinder pressure of #3 cylinder was measured by a piezo-electric pressure transducer (Kister 6117B). Concentrations of exhaust emissions including CO, O2, NO, HC, CO2 and mass ratio of air to fuel (A/F) were measured by an exhaust gas analyzer (HORIBA, MEXA-584L). Experiments were carried out during cold start condition and steady state conditions. During the cold star testing, the engine operation was started with a cooling water temperature of 25 oC, and the cooling water temperature and exhaust emissions were measured for 15 minutes with a sampling rate of 1 Hz. In-cylinder pressure of #3 cylinder was measured at two times, at 4 minutes and 13 minutes after start of engine

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PR0001/11/0000-0467 400 2011 SICE

operation. The cold start testing was conducted with three different conditions. a) Normal cold start operation b) Cold start operation without operating a water pump. In this case, cooling water did not circulate during warm up duration. c) Initial temperature of lubricant oil increases up to 100 oC. Table1 Engine specifications Engine Type Compression ratio Displacement [cc] Bore x Stroke [mm] Connecting rod length [mm] Idle speed [r/min] Thermostat open temperature [oC] Thermostat close temperature [oC] In-line 4-cylinder 9.8 310.0 71.0 x 78.3 120.75 700 821.5 77

Fig.1(a) Cooling water path and cooling water temperature measurement locations for cold start experiment

In the steady state testing, to investigate the effect of cooling water temperature on thermal efficiency, cooling water temperature for the cylinder block and that for the cylinder head were varied as shown in Table 2. Mass averaged cooling water temperature was fixed among the three cases. A higher cooling water temperature for cylinder head would have effect on indicated thermal efficiency because the cylinder head wall temperature affects combustion characteristics and knocking limit. Also, a higher cooling water temperature for the cylinder block is expected to improve a brake thermal efficiency by reducing mechanical friction due to an increase in lubricant oil temperature. In this experiment, the engine was running at 2000 rpm. Spark timing was set at the minimum advance for best torque (MBT). The engine load was varied from IMEP of 300 kPa to 900 kPa. Table 2. Experimental conditions Cylinder block Cylinder head coolant water coolant water temp. C temp. C Case 1 80 C 80 C Case 2 60 C 100 C Case 3 100 C 60 C

Figure 1 (b) Cooling water path and wall temperature measurement locations for steady state experiment up operation. It is found that difference in measured temperature at location Ch 2 and Ch 8 is 20 oC. This indicates that there is temperature difference between the cylinders. Cylinder wall temperature distribution should be reduced to improve total performance of a gasoline engine, because engine operating parameters, such as ignition timing, are determined and restricted by the worst cylinder. Once a cooling water temperature increases (after 590 sec. from start of engine operation), temperature of cooling water suddenly decreases. This is because the thermo-stat begins to work, and relatively low temperature cooling water is introduced into the engine cooling path from the radiator. Shortly after the decrease in cooling water temperature, the thermo-stat closes again, and cooling water temperature increases. After warming up operation, cooling water temperature is kept constant. In case that the water pump is stopped during warm up operation (b), cooling water temperature increases

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Effect of cooling system on engine performance during cold start condition Figure 2 shows temporal variation in cooling water temperature during cold start testing. With a normal cold start operation (a), cooling water temperature increases during warming up operation (until 590 sec after start of engine operation). This is because the thermo-stat does not work during warming

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Engine speed[r/min]

even though thermo-stat opens because low temperature water is not introduced. In case that the initial lubricant oil temperature increases up to 100 oC, temporal variation in cooling water temperature is similar to the normal cold start conditions. However, warm up duration decreases by approximately 95 seconds. High temperature oil would warm up engine components. This would reduce warm up duration. The similar variation in cooling water temperature between different measurement locations to the normal cold start operation is observed in the case (b) and (c). It could be concluded that the cooling water temperature distribution during cold start operation would not be affected by cooling water circulation and lubricant oil temperature. To realize uniform water temperature distribution and uniform cylinder wall temperature distribution, a basic design of the cooling water path must be optimized.
140 120 Temperature[] 100 80 60 40 20 0 0 300 Time[sec] 600 900 CH1 CH2 CH7 CH8

acquisition. From these figures, it can be seen that a large amount of fuel is consumed during first 5 seconds after start of engine operation. It is also found that the amount of fuel consumed during cold start with normal operation (a) is largest among the three cases. Fuel consumption with high initial oil temperature is lowest. Fuel consumption during cold start operation could be improved by 2.6 % with stopping cooling water circulation, and by 3.5 % with an initial high temperature lubricant oil.
1800 1600 1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 0 300 600 Time[sec] 900 Normal Without belt Hot oil start

(a) Engine speed

400 350 Temperature[] 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 0 300 600 Time[sec] 900 Normal Without belt Hot oil start

(a) normal cold start condition

140 120 Temperature[] 100 80 60 40 20 0 0 300 Time[sec] 600 900 CH1 CH2 CH7 CH8

(b) Exhaust gas temperature

70 60 Temperature[] 50 40 30 20 10 Normal Without belt Hot oil start

(b) cold start w/o water pump condition

140 120 Temperature[] 100 80 60 40 20 0 0 300 Time[sec] 600 900 CH1 CH2 CH7 CH8

0 0 300 Time[sec] 600 900

(c) Lubricant oil temperature Fig.3 Temporal variation engine speed, exhaust gas temperature and lubricant oil temperature for different cold start conditions 3.2 Effect of cooling system on engine performance during steady state operation Figure 5 shows effect of cooling water temperature on cylinder head wall temperature. It is found that cylinder head temperature increases with increasing coolant water temperature on cylinder head. Also, it

(c) cold start with initially warmed oil condition Fig.2 Temporal variations of coolant temp. Figure 3 shows engine speed, exhaust gas temperature, lubricant oil temperature during cold start operation. It can be seen that the difference in the experimental conditions does not affects engine speed and exhaust gas temperature. Figure 4 shows fuel consumption rate and cumulative fuel consumption. The engine operation started 2 seconds after start of data

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Wall tempe. (Exh. side) oC

can be seen that the exhaust side wall temperature is more sensitive to the cooling water temperature. Figure 6 shows effect of cooling water temperature on thermal efficiency. Indicated thermal efficiency was not affected by the cooling water temperature. However, brake thermal efficiency could be improved by increasing the cooling water temperature for the cylinder block. Brake thermal efficiency with Case 3 (Block 100 oC) was improved by 3 to 5%, compared to Case 1(Block 80 oC). This is probably because of a reduction in mechanical friction due to an increase in lubricant oil temperature with the increase in a cooling water temperature for the cylinder block. From the results obtained in this study suggest that thermal efficiency could be improved by appropriate controlling of cooling water temperature depending on the operational conditions. As a next step, the authors will try to develop a controlling strategy of cooling water temperature for improving a thermal efficiency.
2.5 Gasoline mass flow rate[g/s] 2 1.5 1 0.5 Normal Without belt Hot oil start

160 150 140 130 120 110 100 90 80 #1 160 150 140 130 120 110 100 90 80 #1

Wall temp. (Intake side) oC

Head 80 /Block 80 Head 100 /Block 60 Head 60 /Block 100

#2 #3 Cylinder number

#4

Head 80 /Block 80 Head 100 /Block 60 Head 60 /Block 100 #2 #3 Cylinder number #4

Fig. 5 The effect of coolant water temperature on cylinder head wall temperature (upper: intake side, lower: exhaust side)
40 35 30 25 20 15 0 40 35 30 25 20 15 0 40 35
Mechanical loss %

Brake thermal efficiency %

0 0 300 Time[sec] 600 900

Head 60 /Block 100 Head 80 /Block 80 Head 100 /Block 60

(a) Fuel mass flow rate

2.5 Gasoline mass flow rate[g/s] 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 0 5 10 Time[sec] 15 20 Normal Without belt Hot oil start

200

400 600 IMEP kPa

800

1000

Brake thermal efficiency %

(b) Fuel mass flow rate (expanded)

12 Gasoline mass flow rate[g] 10 8 6 4 2 0 0 5 10 Time[sec] 15 20 Normal Without belt Hot oil start

Head 60 /Block 100 Head 80 /Block 80 Head 100 /Block 60 200 400 600 IMEP kPa 800 1000

30 25 20 15 10 0 200

Head 60 /Block 100 Head 80 /Block 80 Head 100 /Block 60

(c) Cumulative fuel consumption during cold start oeration Fig.4 Effect of cold start conditions on fuel consumption

Fig.6. The effect of coolant water temperature on thermal efficiency and mechanical loss

400 600 IMEP kPa

800

1000

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As a first step of developing a control strategy of cooling system of gasoline engines for improvement in thermal efficiency, thermal efficiency during cold start operation and steady state operation were experimentally investigated using a commercially available four-cylinder gasoline engine. Experimental results can be summarized as follows; (1) Fuel consumption during cold start operation could be improved by 2.6 % with stopping cooling water circulation, and by 3.5 % with an initial high temperature lubricant oil. (2) During cold start operation, a spatial distribution of cooling water temperature which would result in wall temperature variation between the cylinder was not affected by oil temperature and cooling water circulation. This indicates that a basic design of the cooling water path is dominant factor for the spatial distribution of a cooling water temperature. (3) A higher cooling water temperature for the cylinder block could improve brake thermal efficiency during steady state operation because of a reduction in mechanical friction. With the increase in cooling water temperature for the cylinder block from 60 oC to 100 oC, break thermal efficiency was improved by 3 to 5%.

4. SUMMARY

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors would like to thank Kistler Japan, Co. ltd., for their support in the pressure measurements. Mr. S, Notoya and K. Toida of Chiba University are also acknowledged for their support in the experimental works.

REFERENCES
[1] E.Sonntag et al., The New Family of Small 4 -Cylinder Engines, JSAE paper No.20075365, 2007. [2] A. Eiser et al., The new 1.8L TFSI engine from Audi, Part 1 Base engine and Thermo-management, MTZ vol. 72, pp. 23- 39, 2011.

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