ACCURATE SPECIFIC FUEL CONSUMPTION MEASUREMENT AND ITS APPLICATION ON PISTON FRICTION REDUCTION FOR A HEAVY-DUTY DIESEL ENGINE

In recent years the attention of the internal combustion engine industry has been on improving fuel economy. These changes not only decrease the amount of fuel used and improve the efficiency of the engine, but also save the end-user on fuel costs, reduce engine emissions, and aid in the achievement of future government fuel economy regulations. An approach to decreasing fuel consumption is through improvements to engine mechanical and thermal efficiency. MAHLE has developed a testing method to accurately measure engine specific fuel consumption (SFC). SFC is an indicator of engine efficiency, hence it is directly effected by a reduction in friction. Since changes in SFC are small, considerable precision was required to measure it. To achieve this high level of accuracy key engine parameters were controlled along with boundary parameters. This study utilized a firing heavy-duty diesel engine running on a dynamometer. Results are presented to depict the repeatability of the technique over speed and load.