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Reducing Cold Start Fuel Consumption through Improved Thermal Management
APAC15/APAC15-015

Authors

F Lodi - University of Melbourne
H C Watson - University of Melbourne
C Manzie - University of Melbourne
Glen Voice - Ford Motor Co.
Robert Dingli - Ford Motor Co.

Abstract

The paper describes the investigation into the reduction in engine warm-up time and corresponding fuel consumption improvement in cold starting an SI engine. Transient temperatures were measured at over 50 locations in the engine block and cylinder head of a Ford in-line, 6 cylinder engine. Experiments were performed for a range of coolant flow rate from baseline flow rate to zero using an electric water pump. The experiments were performed at an engine speed of 1160 rev/min and 48 Nm engine load, which is an average operating condition for the 760 seconds of engine running over the urban part of the simulated New European Drive Cycle (NEDC). The coolant system was also modified to allow a split cooling supply to the engine block and cylinder head. Reducing the coolant flow rate can halve the engine warm-up time and reduce the fuel consumption. From the results, it is deduced that an adverse change in flow distribution occurs with the electric water pump. Although, the bulk temperature of the oil was not affected significantly, faster heating of the engine block resulted in reducing piston-cylinder wall friction during cold starts and thus fuel consumption.

Keywords: Mechanical Water Pump (MWP), Electric Water Pump (EWP), New European Drive Cycle (NEDC)

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