Automotive Spark-Ignited Direct-Injection Gasoline Engines

The development of four-stroke, spark-ignition engines that are designed to inject gasoline directly into the combustion chamber is an important worldwide initiative of the automotive industry. The thermodynamic potential of such engines for significantly enhanced fuel economy, transient response and cold-start hydrocarbon emission levels has led to a large number of research and development projects that have the goal of understanding, developing and optimizing gasoline direct-injection (GDI) combustion systems. The processes of fuel injection, spray atomization and vaporization, charge cooling, mixture preparation and the control of in-cylinder air motion are all being actively researched, and this work is reviewed in detail and analyzed. The new technologies such as high-pressure, common-rail, gasoline injection systems and swirl-atomizing gasoline fuel injectors are discussed in detail, as these technologies, along with computer control capabilities, have enabled the current new examination of an old objective; the direct-injection, stratified-charge (DISC), gasoline engine. The prior work on DISC engines that is relevant to current GDI engine development is also reviewed and discussed. The fuel economy and emission data for actual engine configurations are of significant importance to engine researchers and developers. These data have been obtained and assembled for all of the available GDI literature, and are reviewed and discussed in detail. The types of GDI engines are arranged in four classifications of decreasing complexity, and the advantages and disadvantages of each class are noted and explained. Emphasis is placed upon consensus trends and conclusions that are evident when taken as a whole. Thus the GDI researcher is informed regarding the degree to which engine volumetric efficiency and compression ratio can be increased under optimized conditions, and as to the extent to which unburned hydrocarbon (UBHC), NOx and particulate emissions can be minimized for specific combustion strategies. The critical area of GDI fuel injector deposits and the associated effect on spray geometry and engine performance degradation are reviewed, and important system guidelines for minimizing deposition rates and deposit effects are presented. The capabilities and limitations of emission control techniques and aftertreatment hardware are reviewed in depth, and areas of consensus on attaining European, Japanese and North American emission standards are compiled and discussed. All known research, prototype and production GDI engines worldwide are reviewed as to performance, emissions and fuel economy advantages, and for areas requiring further development. The engine schematics, control diagrams and specifications are compiled, and the emission control strategies are illustrated and discussed. The influence of lean-NOx catalysts on the development of late-injection, stratified-charge GDI engines is reviewed, and the relative merits of lean-burn, homogeneous, direct-injection engines as an option requiring less control complexity are analyzed. All current information in the literature is used as the basis for discussing the future development of automotive GDI engines.