Assessing a Hybrid Supercharged Engine for Diluted Combustion Using a Dynamic Drive Cycle Simulation

This study uses full drive cycle simulation to compare the fuel consumption of a vehicle with a turbocharged (TC) engine to the same vehicle with an alternative boosting technology, namely, a hybrid supercharger, in which a planetary gear mechanism governs the power split to the supercharger between the crankshaft and a 48 V 5 kW electric motor. Conventional mechanically driven superchargers or electric superchargers have been proposed to improve the dynamic response of boosted engines, but their projected fuel efficiency benefit depends heavily on the engine transient response and driver/cycle aggressiveness. The fuel consumption benefits depend on the closed-loop engine responsiveness, the control tuning, and the torque reserve needed for each technology. To perform drive cycle analyses, a control strategy is designed that minimizes the boost reserve and employs high rates of combustion dilution via exhaust gas recirculation (EGR). The fully dynamic drive cycle results are compared to steady state (SS) GT-Power projections, using residence time spent in various SS operating points. The fuel consumption benefits enabled by the hybrid supercharger are simulated for the three standard drive cycles, FTP75, HWFET, and US06, and various drivers’ aggressiveness, showing a maximum of 5% improvement.