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SuperTruck Program: Engine Project Review

Recovery Act – Class 8 Truck Freight Efficiency 

Improvement Project

PI: Kevin Sisken (Engine)

Detroit Diesel Corporation

May 16, 2013

Project ID: ACE058

This presentation does not contain any proprietary, confidential, or otherwise restricted information
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Overview

 Project start: April 2010

 Project end: March 2015

 Percent complete: 60%

 Getting systems to work together in 

vehicle; new vehicle, new cooling 

system, hybrid, new controllers for 

engine and vehicle, downsized engine, 

new combustion system , new 

turbocharger, high efficiency 

Budget aftertreatment, waste heat recovery, etc.

Timeline Challenges

Partners  Engine Budget $31,633,001

 DOE Share* $8,802,373

 Detroit Share* $8,802,373

* Program spending through February 

2013 for engine R&D; vehicle R&D 

expenses reported separately.

 Department of Energy

 Oak Ridge National Laboratory

 Massachusetts Institute of Technology

 Atkinson LLC

 Daimler Trucks North America

 Daimler Advanced Engineering
Daimler Truck SuperTruck Program

 ARRAVT080 – DTNA SuperTruck vehicle program; PI – Derek Rotz, reported @ Crystal Gateway

 ACE058 – Detroit Diesel SuperTruck engine; PI – Kevin Sisken, reported @ Crystal City

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Approach and Relevance
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SuperTruck Objective

Develop and demonstrate a 50% increase in vehicle freight efficiency:

 30% increase via vehicle improvements.

 20% increase via engine improvements; specifically 50% brake thermal efficiency.

 Identify pathway to 55% brake thermal efficiency via modeling and analysis.

Vehicle:

 42% measured on system level; currently implementing into demonstration vehicle.

Engine:

 15% gain via engine improvements.

 48.1% BTE demonstrated (46.8% engine + 1.3% WHR).

 Hardware in hand to demonstrate 50% BTE.

 Pathway to 55% BTE has been initiated (results end of year 4).

Status

Approach and Relevance
Engine Down-speed and Down-size

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 1  2

 Impact of vehicle 

getting more efficient .

 2  3

 Change gear and axle 

ratio to drop cruise rpm 

toward higher BSFC 

points.

 3  4

 Downsize from 15L to 

11L to increase BMEP 

at road load, giving 

better mpg at road load.

Technical Accomplishments and Progress

500

400

350

300

250

200

150

100 BHP

450

Baseline 

Vehicle 

Baseline ’09 DD15 

SuperTruck 11 liter 

RPM 

Brake Torque 

– Nm 

Gear and 

Axle Ratio 

Aero, Tires, 

etc 

Downsize 

so higher 

% load 

1

2

3/4
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Piston and Compression Ratio

Fuel Injection System

Technical Accomplishments and Progress

 New piston bowl shapes based on extensive 

single cylinder testing; engine hardware 

now available.

 Compression ratio being increased.

 Firing pressure will be increased up to 20% 

over baseline engine.

 Best combinations of injector tip, bowl, 

and compression ratio determined via 

single cylinder testing; best 

combinations being engine tested.

 Design of experiments being utilized to 

optimize injection and engine 

parameters.
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Increased Engine Out NOx

Aftertreatment

Technical Accomplishments and Progress

 Combustion system being optimized with engine out NOx lightly controlled 

(3-5 times higher than baseline engine).

 Good for thermal efficiency; increased demand on SCR system.

 Require very high NOx conversion efficiency.

 System resized for high NOx flux (substrates and DEF doser).

 Backpressure must be reduced for high engine efficiency.
25% 

Two Generations of Aftertreatment Hardware

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 Generation 1 has new DOC, DPF, 

and SCR.

 DOC and DPF met expectations; 

SCR had room for improvement.

 ∆P and NOx conversion 

efficiency below target.

 Generation 2 has new SCR. DOC 

and DPF largely unchanged.

 Gen 2 has lower pressure drop 

and better SCR conversion. 

Performs well at high NOx flux.

 Generation 2 will be on the 

SuperTruck demonstration vehicle.

Technical Accomplishments and Progress
Air System Rematch

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 Best BTE  higher engine out NOx  lower EGR rates  turbocharger rematch 

 Down-speed engine offers rematch opportunities. 

 Baseline turbocharger provides back pressure for high EGR rates. 

 Turbocharger V2 has well matched compressor map. 

 EGR valve still partially closed to reduce EGR rates. 

 Turbocharger V3 being delivered with reduced turbine backpressure.

Technical Accomplishments and Progress
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Parasitic Reductions – Implemented

Technical Accomplishments and Progress

 Water pump, lower viscosity oil, and ring modification 

included in 48.1% BTE demonstration.

Parasitic Reduction – Planned

 Modifications to be tested include :

 Altered cooling to mid-stroke area of the liner (MIT).

 Oil circuit and pump optimizations (MIT).

 New lubricant formulation (MIT + oil supplier).

 Bundled cylinder kit improvements.
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SuperTruck Engine Controls – Objective

 Developed a predictive engine 

controller.

 Includes a fuel efficiency 

optimizer.

 Integrates predictive vehicle 

information.

 Reduced calibration 

complexity.

Technical Accomplishments and Progress
SuperTruck Engine Controller Results

 Controller continues to 

performed well on DD13.

 System prepared for vehicle 

implementation.

 Recalibrated for SuperTruck 

engine in late 2012.

 Controller showed no NOx 

vs. BSFC trade-off.

 Table based calibrations did 

improve BSFC at high NOx.

 Lesson learned: model was 

not trained over a wide 

enough range of actuator 

positions.

 Will re-train controller with 

finalized set of engine hardware 

(pistons, turbo, etc.).

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Technical Accomplishments and Progress

5% 
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Waste Heat Recovery (WHR)

 Waste heat recovery has significant potential 

for meeting efficiency goals.

 Rankine cycle has the most potential 

among available options.

 Will recover energy from exhaust and EGR.

 SuperTruck objective: demonstrate 2% BTE 

improvement via WHR.

 Current Status: demonstrated 1.3% BTE with 

exhaust heat only. EGR boiler on engine and 

will be evaluated for BTE shortly.

Technical Accomplishments and Progress
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WHR -- Test Bed

Technical Accomplishments and Progress

WHR -- Control System

 Test bed control system fully functional.

 Model refinements, diagnostics, and integration 

with other control systems ongoing. 

 Test stand functional with ethanol as the working fluid. 

 Initial system characterization complete. 

 EGR energy recovery now added to engine. 

 Targeting > 2% BTE with this configuration. 
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Generator Controls

Technical Accomplishments and Progress

Generator Development

 ORNL developing new design generator for WHR.

 Low cost wound field generator.

 No inverter required, simple controls for voltage 

regulation, brushless, air cooled.

 Iteration 1 could only generate 20% of desired power.

 Iteration 2 generates desired power; mapping in process. 

 Controls development and performance testing of the integrated 

expander and generator ongoing at ORNL.

 Demonstrated expander speed control and load dumping.
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Waste Heat in Vehicle

 Vehicle packaging of Rankine components complete; 

system assembly in process.

 Build and test in 2013.

Technical Accomplishments and Progress
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Plan to 50% BTE  Need 1.9%

 Engine  need +1.2%

 Combustion system: new bowl 

shape, higher CR, higher PFP, 

fuel system optimized via DOE.

 Turbo with reduced back 

pressure.

 Parasitic reductions: liner 

cooling, cylinder kit 

improvements, oil system 

improvements, new oil.

 WHR  need +0.7%

 Addition of EGR boiler.

 Minor component optimizations 

(plumbing, etc.).

Future Work

48.1% 

50.0% 

40
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Plan to 55% BTE  Need 5.0%

 Engine  need +4.5%

 Baseline model calibrated, will 

be refined for latest and 

greatest hardware when data is 

available (summer 2013).

 Turbocompound will be engine 

tested.

 Over 15 engine improvement 

items will be evaluated.

 WHR  need > +0.5%

 System refinements.

 Potential for coolant and/or 

charge cooler WHR.

 WHR >> 2.5% BTE

 Results at end of year 4

Future Work

50% 

55% 
SuperTruck Partnerships and Collaborations

Collaborations/Partnerships

Department of Energy:  Roland Gravel  Gurpreet Singh

 Ken Howden  Carl Maronde

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Engine

Powertrain/Parasitics Fleet

Hybrid

Transmission

Aero/Cooling

Atkinson LLC 

Aftertreatment
SuperTruck Program Summary

 Achieved significant increase in performance; baseline 42% BTE, currently 48.1% BTE.

 Remaining 2 years of SuperTruck.

 In the next 6 months, demonstrate 50% BTE.

 Combustion system (pistons, CR ratio, fuel injection, etc.), new turbocharger, 

further reduced parasitics (liner cooling, cylinder kit modification, etc.) and 

WHR including from the EGR system.

 Move to final engine validations and implementation into SuperTruck vehicle.

 Define building blocks for 55% BTE.

 Continued system refinements (controls, WHR including generator, etc.).

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Summary and Future Work