Design and Optimization of the 4-Stroke

Opposed-Piston Sleeve Valve Engine

Clayton Naber
Lead Analysis Engineer
Pinnacle Engines

Gamma Technologies UGM, Detroit, 2016

Concept Overview
Opposed Piston 4-stroke
• Reciprocating sleeve valves
• Mfg. on diesel dry-liner tooling
• Circumferential ports
• Good breathing capacity
• Advantageous air motion
CONFIDENTIAL
• Low surface area
• Long stroke – B/S ~0.42
• Reduced heat transfer
• Reduced knock tendency
• Stable Combustion (high turbulence)
• Low temperature combustion system
• Low NOx etc.
2
Sleeve Valve

Traditional
Valve stem seals metal to metal Circumferential
isolate oil circuit gas seal port allows for
from ports optimized
breathing

CONFIDENTIAL 3
Pinnacle Design History
Proof of Concept
250cc, b/s: 51/(60x2)
Tested: 2009-2011 (~1000 hrs)

Scooter “Alpha”
110cc, b/s 39x(46x2)
Tested: 2011-2013 (~4000 hrs)
Passed 400hr durability 400 hrs

Scooter “Beta”
110cc, b/s 39x(46x2)
Tested: 2014-present (~1500 hrs)

224 g/kW-hr BSFC / 35% FE gain

over conventional engines

Idles stably at λ=1.8+

1.2L 3-Cyl
Multi- Phasers
Cylinder
Designs
1.0L 2-Cyl CONFIDENTIAL 4
Modeling Approach

Hybrid GT-SUITE / MATLAB scheme

1. Universal platform for simulation and test data analysis
• GT-SUITE, CONVERGE, Dyno / Test Stand – all .mat based
2. Taps PE proprietary and commercially available MATLAB tools
• DOE generation, model fitting, opposed-piston mechanics etc.

• Auxiliary calculations
• Crank/slider (VCR) design / kinematics
• Balance / vibration / forces
• Parameterization / DOE Construction
• Analysis / Optimization
• Response modeling
• Comparison to test data
• Comparison to CFD
• CFD boundary condition generation
CONFIDENTIAL 5
1.2L 3 cyl Design

Unique VCR Scheme

• Commercially available phasers
• Conventional crank/slider mechanisms
• VCR + VVT together

CONFIDENTIAL 6
Case Overview

1.2L VCR / VVT / EGR Optimization – Alpha 1 Stage

Objective:
Maximize efficiency over 10 speed / load points

Constraints / Design Questions:

Phaser stroke
Ring-to-valve clearance
1

DOF:
1. VCR schedule
2. Intake VVT schedule
3. Exhaust VVT schedule
4. EGR rate Non-Standard Calculations
1. Ring-to-sleeve-valve ,
2. Top land height (vol.) ,
3. Effective piston motion
4. Chamber wall area
5. Friction model
6. Sleeve gas force (post-run)

CONFIDENTIAL 7
Case Workflow

DOE with MATLAB MBC Toolbox

• Point-by-point space-filling design DOE
• EGR circuit flow boundary honored generation

MATLAB scripted GT-SUITE experiment

• Prepare .par file GT
(RPM, Load, control, piston motion etc) Model
Execution
• Submit to cluster & retrieve results

Data analysis in MATLAB

• Fit performance responses
Response
• Calculate dynamic control boundaries Modeling &
• Generate optimized designs Optimization
(GA, gradient methods etc.)

MATLAB scripted GT-SUITE run

• Confirm response model prediction
• Optionally re-execute response Confirmation
and include new data Combustion
CFD BC’s
CONFIDENTIAL 8
Optimization Results

VCR Phase Requirement:

CONFIDENTIAL 9
Design Feedback

Valve-Ring clearance with optimized VVT & VCR settings

Increased crevice loss due to
larger top land required to re-
gain 1mm clearance

• Efficiency advantage for late EVO (requires larger top land)

• Leveraged in-house code to estimate efficiency loss of larger top land
• Net result: improved efficiency despite crevice volume addition

CONFIDENTIAL 10
 Design Feedback

VCR (Crank) Phaser Stroke Requirement

Low RPM swept volume reduction strategy

In-House Codes Used: WOT

1. Crank phase
2. Sleeve force ,

= piston height As breathing requirement increases,

swept volume requirement also increases

This point crank phasing

limited by sleeve valve forces

November 18, 2016 CONFIDENTIAL 11

 Thanks!

Questions...

172 core
14 kW

November 18, 2016 CONFIDENTIAL 12

Appendix

CONFIDENTIAL 13
 CONFIDENTIAL 7

110cc: Engine Dyno Test Data

Test Data

224 [g/kw-hr]
On a 110cc!

2000 RPM, 2 bar BMEP

(Source: AVL 2010)
Pinnacle 110cc 15:1
2k2bar 360 [g/kw-hr]

Bore/stroke: 39x(46x2) Pinnacle 1.2-L VCR

CR: 15:1 (fixed) 314 [g/kw-hr]
Fixed valve events
PFI @3bar. ~68um SMD
Haltermann EC-2005 (95 RON) 110 cc
 CONFIDENTIAL 8

Vehicle Testing – March 2015

2010 Honda Elite Pinnacle
• 108cc (50x55) • 110cc 39x(46x2)
• 11:1 CR • 15:1 CR (fixed)
• Water Cooled • Oil Cooled
• Keihin EFI • Lean Burn
• Pinnacle EFI

Northern California Diagnostics Labs

• EPA & CARB Certified Tests (bag emissions)
• Test Cycle: WMTC Reduced
• ARAI road load coefficients
WMTC Drive Cycle Fuel Economy
Pinnacle 110cc Engine in ‘10 Elite Chassis
BS IV

34%

NCDL rider, same day, test cell, emissions, cycle, road load, etc.
 CONFIDENTIAL 9

Feb ’15 Customer (India) Test Results

Steady-State (road load) ARAI Regulations & Test Results [g/km]

• 20-45% improvement Regulated Pinnacle Lean 2015 to 2020* to

WMTC Results (from cold) Species Test Results 2020* 2025*
• >30% FE Improvement Feb 2015 BS IV BS V
• NOx: 2025 w/o cat CO 0.46 1.403 1.14*
• CO – 40% of regulation
HC 1.07 - -
• HC – Not well catalyzed (needs close cat)
NOx 0.17 (No Cat!) 0.39 0.225*
Acceleration (test track)
• 20% down-speeding same 0-60 km/h HC+NOx 1.24 0.79 0.45*
Bag Emission *Expected
Test Results

68.4 km/L

32%
~52 km/L