Development of a Natural Gas-Powered APU for a Hybrid Electric S-10 Pickup Truck

Abstract

An Electromagnetic valve actuation (EVA) system was developed and applied to a Kohler Command Series engine. The EVA system was developed for the Kohler engine by Aura Systems of El Segundo CA. Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) was responsible for evaluating the performance of the EVA equipped engine, running on natural gas, in a laboratory test environment. As part of this effort, SwRI applied a personal computer-based engine control system which managed the fueling, ignition, throttling, and intake/exhaust valve control functions. Advantages from utilizing the EVA system on the engine proved to be increased engine power and tall load efficiency at low speed operation, and increased part load efficiency at all engine speeds.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 1998
Accession Number
ADA338891

Entities

People

  • Daniel J. Podnar

Organizations

  • Southwest Research Institute

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Auxiliary Power Units
  • Calorific Value
  • Computers
  • Control Systems
  • Efficiency
  • Energy Consumption
  • Environment
  • Exhaust Valves
  • Heat Transfer
  • Ignition
  • Ignition Systems
  • Internal Combustion Engines
  • Mechanical Energy
  • Natural Gas
  • Research Facilities
  • Thermal Efficiency
  • Valves

Readers

  • Aerospace Engineering
  • Robotics and Automation.
  • Software Engineering