Engine Research Facility and Heavy-Duty Truck Engine Test Cell

GM-Fiat 1.9 Liter Diesel Engine Test Cell

Argonne's Engine Research Facility and Heavy-Duty Truck Engine Test Cell allow engineers to study in-cylinder combustion phenomena under realistic operating conditions and find ways to continually improve diesel engine performance and reliability, increase fuel efficiency, and reduce harmful exhaust emissions. The goal is to discover and evaluate new technologies to determine their technical feasibility and commercial viability.

A new engine dynamometer facility is being set up to evaluate the efficiency of direct-injected hydrogen internal combustion engines and conduct component and system development. This facility will provide researchers with the ability to visualize combustion phenomena at high speeds and loads, a special highly accurate fuel measurement system, hydrogen engine emissions measurement instrumentation, as well as the required safety equipment. Argonne's in-cylinder combustion research will supplement the basic research being conducted at Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, California.

The test cell is equipped with a single-cylinder version of a modern electronically controlled truck engine along with state-of-the-art gaseous and particulate emissions measurement instruments. In-cylinder engine research (e.g., reducing particulate exhaust emissions by using late-cycle air or oxygen-enriched air injection) is based on earlier Argonne engine research and patented technology, and now includes collaboration with companies such as Caterpillar and Mack Truck. Researchers developed a control regime that reduces particle emissions (soot) in diesel engines without increasing nitrogen oxide formation. Argonne engineers use simulation models to understand the effects of angle, timing, pressure, quantity, and composition of air on particulate emissions. Argonne researchers are attempting to link the fuel spray characterization being performed at the Advanced Photon Source to efficiency and emissions reduction characteristics of combustion by conducting controlled engine experiments.