L52330 Development of an Active Air Control System

Develop an active air control system that, when installed on a turbocharged-engine system, will reduce NOX emissions below the levels of the system alone. While the turbocharged-engine system allows the natural gas compression industry to decrease pollutant emissions via increased air flow, the physics of the system and the environments in which these systems operate restrict further advancements. A new model, the Charge Air Integrated Manifold Engine Numerical Simulation (CAIMENS). The CAIMENS model was used to: Quantify the effects of charge air imbalance between cylinders in terms of NOX production; Illustrate that an imbalance in mass air flow creates a one-to-one imbalance in corrected trapped equivalence ratio Reveal a 5% to 12% imbalance in air flow present in the candidate Cooper GMV engine which correlated to a 65% to 92% imbalance in NOX production; and Provide detailed information that led to the specification of a mass air flow (MAF) sensor coupled with an air flow balancer (AFB), comprising the Active Air Control (AAC) system. The research team proceeded by working with the ERLE team to select cylinder liners for the NGML air flow bench, and then expanded the air flow bench from one cylinder to two cylinders. The specified AAC system was installed on each of the two cylinders. The research team then conducted a series of experiments to evaluate and fine tune the AAC system. The AAC system was able to correct up to a 12.4% air imbalance. The end point of the project was an AAC system that could, with some engineering effort, be applied to field engines. Benefit: The resulting technology was an active air flow control system consisting of an AFB integrated with a MAF sensor. The AFB has characteristics analogous to that of a throttle plate used in a carbureted internal combustion engine.