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| Looking into the future, new technologies, new solutions |
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It is said that necessity is the mother of invention. There are many imperatives affecting the automotive industry, the most important of which are increasing fuel economy and reducing emissions, and MAHLE Powertrain is at the forefront of research into improving the efficiency of the internal combustion engine to meet these aims.
Working alongside development engineers in MAHLE's various mainstream product lines, our researchers are studying a variety of technologies that may seem theoretical at present but which may, one day, become commonplace. We use the latest tools and equipment, including an optical engine developed in-house, to investigate the effects of these innovations.
Our focus is on the development of core gasoline technologies and well-to-wheel energy efficiency, but not to the exclusion of other fuels including diesel, hydrogen, natural gas, alcohols and, of course, biofuels. In order to develop fuel economy methods, we are also furthering our knowledge of analysis and calibration tools and techniques.
Amongst the projects being addressed are:
- Downsizing, through the development of Gasoline Direct Injection (GDI) turbocharged engines
- Inlet port design including tumble control, whereby we refine both the mixture motion and the swirl within the cylinder to maximize compression on each cycle
- Controlled Auto Ignition (CAI), both increasing fuel economy and reducing emissions, and Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI)
- New prediction methods, utilizing Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
- Variable Valve Timing
- Cylinder de-activation
- Knock modeling
- The application of Model Based Calibration (MBC) to charge and torque model mapping
- 'Well-to-wheel' analysis, to create a strategy via a full greenhouse gas contribution model
All of our research activity is designed to enable our customers to maximize the benefits of innovation at the earliest opportunity and so every project is measured carefully to balance cost versus benefit.