Intake Air Management for Diesel Engines

Hannu Jskelinen, Magdi K. Khair

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Turbocharger Fundamentals Superchargers Dynamic Charging Charge Air Cooling Charge Air Heating Valves and Ports in Four-Stroke Engines Variable Valve Actuation (VVA) Scavenging in Two-Stroke Engines

Abstract: Managing the supply of air to the combustion chamber is an important process to ensure consistent and reliable performance of modern diesel engines. Air management encompasses all aspects that affect the quantity, composition, temperature, pressure, bulk motion and cleanliness of the combustion air at the start of the heat release period. Details of the intake system, cylinder head and valve train design, pressure boosting technology and charge dilution requirements are all important aspects of intake air management.

Introduction Volumetric Efficiency Pressure Charging Turbocompounding Intake Manifold Design

Introduction
Managing the supply of air to the combustion chamber is a critical aspect of modern diesel engines and can impact emissions, performance and fuel economy. Combustion air management is the process that is used to ensure that the air supplied to the combustion chamber at all operating conditions meets a number of requirements including:

a sufficient quantity of oxygen is available to ensure complete combustion, a sufficient amount of diluent (i.e., EGR) is present to control the combustion temperature, the temperature and pressure (density) of the charge air is controlled, suitable bulk motion and kinetic energy is imparted to the charge air in the cylinder to support the mixing of air, fuel and intermediate combustion products, and

the size and concentration of impurities such as dust and dirt is acceptable.

In older engine designs that did not have to meet stringent exhaust emissions requirements, air management systems could be relatively straightforward. In some cases, it was sufficient to simply ensure that the air was clean, that the flow capacity of the intake system was adequate to ensure peak torque and power objectives were met and sufficient swirl was imparted to the air as it entered the combustion chamber to support the fuel injection system in the task of mixing of air and fuel. Typically, no active control of any intake side hardware was required. Even as many engines started to adopt turbochargers and other forms of intake air compression, it was sufficient to simply ensure a proper match between the engine and compressor. Pressure to lower emissions while maintaining or improving other engine performance parameters required that the intake air properties be better controlled and matched to suit the engine operating condition. This required the introduction more hardware to control these intake air properties. For example, wastegate control on the turbocharger was introduced to enable improved intake air boosting at lower engine speeds and to limit turbine speeds at high engine speeds, valves were introduced to mix some exhaust gas (EGR) into the intake air at some engine operating conditions, turbocharger controls become more complicated to ensure that boost and EGR requirements could be met and higher and higher intake air pressures required that the higher intake air temperatures resulting from compression

be limited. All of this added complexity required that more sophisticated control systems with sensors and sophisticated control algorithms be incorporated to ensure everything functions as expected. This paper covers the basics of pressure chargingincluding turbochargers, superchargers and systems with multiple compressorsas well as turbocompounding and an introduction to intake manifold design. There are a number of additional important aspects of intake air management that will be discussed in separate papers. These include:

Charge Air Temperature Management. Managing the temperature of the air at the time of fuel injection in diesel engines is critical to ensure proper engine operation. There are two aspects of charge air temperature management:
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managing high air temperature by cooling in boosted diesel engines and managing low air temperature by heating to facilitate engine start-up and warm-up at low ambient temperatures.

If temperatures are too high, charge density can suffer and combustion temperatures can become too high. This can limit engine output and lead to increased exhaust emissions. If temperatures are too low, starting the engine at low temperatures can be problematic and/or emissions during engine warm-up can become excessive. Various pieces of engine hardware are commonly used to achieve proper charge air temperature. In boosted engines, charge air coolers are used to keep charge air temperatures from becoming too high, these can transfer heat from the charge air to the engine coolant, the ambient air or a separate lower temperature liquid. Ensuring sufficient charge air temperature for cold starting and to maintain it during warm-up can be achieved with glow plugs, electric grid heaters or flame-type aids.

Exhaust Gas Recirculation. Exhaust gas recirculation (EGR), the process of recirculating some of the exhaust gas back into the intake

system, is an important technology that has allowed modern diesel engines to achieve very low engine out NOx emissions. As can be imagined, introducing relatively high temperature exhaust gas into the intake air can have significant impacts on the temperature and composition of the combustion air supplied to the combustion chamber. In order to ensure proper functioning of an engine with EGR, various hardware components, such as valves and coolers have to be introduced to control the flow, temperature and distribution of EGR supply and the resulting mixture with intake air. As well, turbocharger sizing and technology choices can also be affected and steps must be taken to ensure sufficient oxygen is still available for combustion and sufficient EGR flow is available at all engine operating conditions.

Crankcase Ventilation. Engines with closed crankcase ventilation systems vent gases from the crankcase into the intake air system to be recirculated into the engine. This recirculated blowby must be properly managed. Also, while the recirculated gases are filtered, a small amount of oil and particulate can still be introduced into the intake system and accumulate on critical air management components such as the compressor. Over time, if a sufficient accumulation of this material occurs, it can have a significant impact on the air management system performance.

Control of Flow into and out of the Combustion Chamber. From the intake manifold, the flow must be transferred to the cylinder. In four stroke engines, this is accomplished with a port located in the cylinder head with a poppet type valve to open and close the port. A different set of valve(s) controls the timing of the flow of exhaust gas out of the cylinder and into the exhaust port. Valve timing in four-stroke engines can be either fixed or variable. In two stroke engines, ports in the cylinder liner located near the pistons BDC location that are alternately covered and uncovered by the piston are commonly used to control intake flow. After combustion is complete, the burned gases from a two-stroke are expelled from the

cylinder either through exhaust valves or a different set of exhaust ports located near the pistons BDC position. The portion of the cycle available for expelling exhaust gases and admitting intake gases in two-strokes is relatively short. Generally, the intake gases must be pressurized in order to allow the incoming air to quickly fill the cylinder and scavenge it of exhaust gases.

Turbocharger Construction
A turbocharger consists of a compressor wheel and exhaust gas turbine wheel coupled together by a solid shaft and that is used to boost the intake air pressure of an internal combustion engine. The exhaust gas turbine extracts energy from the exhaust gas and uses it to drive the compressor and overcome friction. In most automotive-type applications, both the compressor and turbine wheel are of the radial flow type. Some applications, such as mediumand low- speed diesel engines, can use an axial flow turbine wheel instead of a radial flow turbine. The flow of gases through a typical turbocharger with radial flow compressor and turbine wheels is shown in Figure 1 [Schwitzer 1991].

Figure 1. Turbocharger Construction and Flow of Gases

Center-Housing. The turbine-compressor common shaft is supported by a bearing system in the center housing (bearing housing) located between the

compressor and turbine (Figure 2). The shaft wheel assembly (SWA) refers to the shaft with the compressor and turbine wheels attached, i.e., the rotating assembly. The center housing rotating assembly (CHRA) refers to SWA installed in the center-housing but without the compressor and turbine housings. The center housing is commonly cast from gray cast iron but aluminum can also be used in some applications. Seals help keep oil from passing through to the compressor and turbine. Turbochargers for high exhaust gas temperature applications, such a spark ignition engines, can also incorporate cooling passages in the center housing.

Figure 2. Sectional View of Turbocharger

Sectional view of an exhaust gas turbocharger for a gasoline engine showing compressor wheel (left) and turbine wheel (right). The bearing system consists of a thrust bearing and two fully floating journal bearings. Note the cooling passages. (Source: BorgWarner)
Turbocharger Bearings

Bearings. The turbocharger bearing system appears simple in design but it plays a key role in a number of critical functions. Some of the more important ones include: the control of radial and axial motion of the shaft and wheels and the minimization of friction losses in the bearing system. Bearing

systems have received considerable attention because of their influence on turbocharger friction and its impact on engine fuel efficiency. With the exception of some large turbochargers for low-speed engines, the bearings that support the shaft are usually located between the wheels in an overhung position. This flexible rotor design ensures that the turbocharger will operate above its first, and possibly second, critical speeds and can therefore be subject to rotor dynamic conditions such as whirl and synchronous vibration. Seals. Seals are located at both ends of the bearing housing. These seals represent a difficult design problem due to the need to keep frictional losses low, the relatively large movements of the shaft due to bearing clearance and adverse pressure gradients under some conditions. These seals primarily serve to keep intake air and exhaust gas out of the center housing. The pressures in the intake and exhaust systems are normally higher than in the turbochargers center housing which is typically at the pressure of the engine crankcase. As such, they would primarily be designed to seal the center housing when the pressure in the center housing is lower than in the intake and exhaust systems. These seals are not intended to be the primary means of preventing oil from escaping from the center housing into the exhaust and air systems. Oil is usually prevented from contacting these seals by other means such as oil deflectors and rotating flingers. Turbocharger seals are different from the soft lip seals normally found in rotating equipment operating at much lower speeds and temperatures. The piston ring type seal is one type that is often used. It consists of a metal ring, similar in appearance to a piston ring. The seal remains stationary when the shaft rotates. Labyrinth-type seals are another type sometimes used. Generally turbocharger shaft seals will not prevent oil leakage if the pressure differential reverses such that the pressure in the center housing is higher than in the intake or exhaust systems.