SBIR-STTR Award

Military and commercial applications of future diesel engines will require a reduction in the time consuming and costly experimental research, testing, and development currently being used. One component of this resolution will depend on using a numerical model of cylinder-kit dynamics, leading to reductions in engine friction and oil consumption. Understanding the design factors, which must be balanced to provide the good sealing of piston rings required for optimum performance, along with maintaining low friction, low wear, and high reliability, requires utilization of a state of the art numerical model of cylinder-kit dynamics. The Cylinder Kit Analysis System for Engines (CASE System) is based on mathematical models developed for cylinder-kit design studies. A complete 3-D finite element model would offer the potential of modeling all of the dynamics and tribological factors of interest. However, the high number of computer run times necessary to solve the thousands of equations utilized by such a model would make it useless as a design tool. The primary objective of the Phase I project will be to integrate the newly develop oil-film, wear and oil-consumption models (all 3-D) and determine the feasibility of using this new set of models as a design tool. The CASE System (Cylinder Kit Analysis System for Engines) is a computerized system of models that formalizes a structured approach for the analysis and design of pistons, piston rings and other cylinder kit components. At this point in time, only a few modelers actually understand the complex tribological/dynamic interactions that occur within the cylinder kit. The proposed strategy for commercializing the CASE System encompasses the preparation of a book that would describe and explain the models and sub-models that have been implemented within the CASE System. This will be published and commercially available to students and engineers. As part of the purchase price of the book, a copy of the executable version of the program will be supplied. The increase in sales and usage of the book, by a worldwide group of engineers, will stimulate further software developments and therefore make the simulations more realistic. For those that want to write their own submodels, the necessary outputs of CASE will allow them to do this without paying a royalty fee. Individually developed new modules, to be integrated within the CASE System, would require that a license be negotiated with Mid Michigan Research. This combined effort will make the CASE System available to a wider array of students and engineers, whose visionary enthusiasm and intensity would improve the piston engine cylinder kit simulations and the concurrent development of new engines.

Military and commercial applications of future engines require a reduction in the time consuming and costly experimental research, testing, and development currently necessary. One method of reducing the time required for design of new systems, while ensuring the critical performance standards necessary for military operations, is to develop numerical simulations of cylinder-kit dynamics. These simulations will lead to the comprehension necessary to design a proper balance between the good sealing required for optimum performance and a high reliability, while simultaneously maintaining low friction and low wear. The Phase II technical effort includes verification of the predicted cylinder-kit kinematics and fluid transport using firing engine data from engines of interest and flow studies in an optical engine. Submodels of CASE will then be examined and improvements made where necessary. The final task of Phase II will deal with the commercialization aspects of the CASE System. This task will encompass the preparation of a book to describe the models and submodels implemented in the CASE System. An executable student version of the CASE System will be included as part of the purchase price of the book. This will stimulate the development of new cylinder-kit systems by providing a design tool, which at present is not readily available worldwide to large groups of engineers and students. The tribological research to be conducted in the Phase II effort is highly relevant to advanced diesel engines, for both the commercial and the military sector. The critical performance tradeoffs of diesel engine fuel economy, performance, durability, oil consumption, smoke, and other considerations, cannot currently be made without huge expenditures of time and money. A scientifically based engineering approach is being developed to serve as a guide to the advancement of higher power, density diesel engines. The numerical simulation, proposed to be further developed and verified in this Phase II project, offers the possibility of not only improving diesel engine designs, but also significantly reducing the cost of these improvements. In addition to developing an advanced simulation tool that can be used by engine designers, the work conducted during this effort will provide significant experimental verification of the models implemented in the CASE System, stimulating further confidence in its usefulness.

Keywords:
cylinder-kit, modeling, verification, tribology, kinematics, blowby, oil consumption, wear