Diesel for Passenger-Car Application Exploratory Study of the Low-Heat-Rejection Diesel for Passenger-Car Application

Eliminating the conventional liquid cooling system of a diesel engine to conserve energy normally rejected to that heat sink offers promise as a means for improving fuel economy. Such low-heat-rejection (LHR) diesels have generally been advanced for heavy-duty vehicles. In this study, application of the concept is analyzed for a light-duty indirect-injection diesel of the type used in passenger cars. The naturally aspirated LHR diesel is found to offer no fuel economy advantage, principally because of the deteriorated volumetric efficiency arising from hot cylinder walls. It is found that most of the energy conserved by deleting the cooling system is diverted to the exhaust gas. Methods examined for recovering the lost volumetric efficiency and/or harnessing the increased energy content of the exhaust include supercharging, adding a bottoming cycle, and combining the diesel with turbomachinery. The latter option is judged superior for the passenger-car application.