Study on Valve Strategy and Fuel Benefits of Skip Fire Based on Electromagnetic Valve Train

Abstract

Cylinder deactivation (CDA) is a fuel consumption reduction technology for gasoline engines. Skip fire is a new type of CDA because the load and the density of firing cylinder are in proportion to the torque demand. However, it is difficult to realize because valves need to be switched between valve deactivation and normal operation stroke by stroke. The Electromagnetic valve train (EMVT) provides a fully flexible control method to achieve skip fire. In the paper, a new skip fire strategy based on electromagnetic intake valve train (EMIV) is proposed. Then, the oxygen concentration of the exhaust pipe, energy losses, in-cylinder pressure of the skipped cycle and exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) rate of the firing cycle are studied by the 1D simulation in GT-Power. The results shows the majority of gas sucked into the skipped cylinder is exhaust gas by reasonable control of IVO and IVC, and the exhaust oxygen-rich can be avoided. Meanwhile, EGR rate of the firing cylinder and energy losses of the skipped cylinder are maintained at lower level. At the conditions of 1200 and 1600 rpm, fuel economy has been improved respectively 8.1%-16.6% and 6.4%-14.6% when the brake mean effective pressure (BMEP) ranges from 0.4MPa to 0.2MPa.