Meeting the targets for reducing pollutant emissions in Brazil and around the world is one of the big challenges the automotive industry faces with new tax incentive programs, like ROTA 2030 for passenger cars and PROCONVE P8 for heavy vehicles. To meet the requirements set by these guidelines, there’s a need for increasing investments in technology to improve energy efficiency and vehicle safety, both in passenger cars and heavy vehicles.
According to Silva (2018), with a market share of 90% expected by 2027, ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) vehicles will continue to be a priority in the Brazilian industry. Only the remaining 10% of the national market will be made up of hybrid and electric vehicles.
Part of this statement can be explained by the fact that the manufacturing chain of an electric car emits more CO2 than that of an ICE vehicle, and the latter, when opting to use ethanol as an energy source—which, besides being a competitive differentiator and a Brazilian asset, is a renewable fuel—ends up having, over its lifetime, a CO2 emissions balance very close to, or even lower than, that of a purely electric car.
These facts underscore the importance of continuously driving investment in R&D to reduce energy losses in ICE vehicles, even with the growing interest and investments in research related to electric and hybrid cars.
In a conventional internal combustion engine, only around 40% of the fuel’s energy is converted into mechanical energy, with the rest being lost through heat and friction. Of the friction losses, a large part (around 10% of the fuel’s energy) is attributed to the internal combustion engine components. So, it’s concluded that if only the friction losses of an engine could be eliminated, fuel savings of about 25% would be possible. This puts Surface Engineering and Tribology technologies in the spotlight when it comes to meeting the new energy efficiency and emission reduction demands set by regulations (Tomanik, E. Dr.; Zabeu, C. (2), 2019).
With the aim of providing companies in the mobility industry with access to a broad and modern R&D and innovation infrastructure for the development of tribological studies and tests focused on the optimization of internal combustion engines, the HEF group invested in the construction of the ICE-T platform (Innovation Center for Engine Tribology), a public-private partnership between the HEF group’s research institute (IRES) and French universities (École Central de Lyon, INSA Lyon, Université Jean Monnet). This structure has a multidisciplinary team of tribology specialists and various resources for simulating the operating conditions of internal combustion engines, focusing on the applied study of Surface Engineering technologies and the tribological analysis of friction and wear mechanisms, in search of competitive and sustainable solutions that can contribute to the mobility industry by increasing energy efficiency, reducing fuel consumption and emissions from internal combustion engines.
There are 800 m2 dedicated to tribology and surface engineering of internal combustion engines, designed for multiscale operation, with 8 tribometers capable of characterizing everything from the performance of simple contacts to the tribological behavior of components operating under real engine operating conditions, providing a wide portfolio of possibilities.
Among these possibilities, the following stand out:
- Simulation of different tribological systems in different motion configurations (ring-on-flat and pin-on-disc tribometers, parallel shafts, crossed shafts), and under different lubrication conditions, adaptable to each client’s specific needs;
- Characterization of piston pin and connecting rod contact (tribometer: conrod/piston pin) and the influence of different coating and lubrication parameters; simulation of cam contact with different camshaft counterparts (tribometer: motored monocam), such as tappets, finger followers, or rocker arms;
- Characterization of valvetrain component wear (tribometer: motored valvetrain) through long-term durability tests;
- Simulation of crankshaft bearing contact under real operating conditions (tribometer: journal bearing);
- Simulation of the contact between the cylinder liner, piston and piston rings under real operating conditions of an internal combustion engine and in different configurations (lubrication, size, profile, coating), allowing different measurements to be taken in a complete combustion cycle (tribometers: fired floating liner monocylinder and piston rings/cylinder liner model).
Being an excellent option for R&D actions in the automotive market focused on surface engineering and tribology of internal combustion engines, in Brazil and worldwide, the ICE-T platform offers companies three access options: service provision for conducting standard tests, medium/long-term collaboration contracts aimed at co-developing customized tests, or tribometer rental allowing specific studies to be carried out by the clients’ own teams with training and support from ICE-T specialists.
Sources:
(1) SAE Brazil Powertrain Symposium, 16, 2018, Campinas. Silva, V. Sr. Analyst. INOVAR AUTO RESULTS AND PERSPECTIVES FOR ROTA 2030.
(2) Tomanik, E. Dr.; Zabeu, C. Prof. Dr. New technologies aimed at increasing energy efficiency: A perspective from the SAE Otto engine committee. São Caetano do Sul, 2019.
Authors:
Grupo HEF