Minimum Fuel Consumption Design of a Turbo-Charged V-6 Engine

The design of a turbocharged, gasoline fueled, four-stroke engine is considered with the goal of selecting design and operating variables to minimize fuel consumption. The development of the engine simulation code and the effect of model assumptions on the results are presented. The optimization includes constraints on detonation, exhaust emissions, and torque. Variables are bounded to assure the validity of the simulation. A number of observations about the interaction between the thermo-fluid model and the nonlinear programming algorithm are made and general strategies to enhance the optimization under such circumstances are discussed. The method is illustrated by exploring the design of a turbocharged Buick V-6 engine on an IBM PC/AT personal computer. Stock design variables, and operating variables that provided a design away from the constraints imposed by torque, emission, and detonation were chosen as the starting point for the optimization. Application of the optimization strategy resulted in an 18 percent reduction in predicted fuel consumption at 50 miles per hour. Significant specific recommendations included a reduction in combustion chamber volume, an increase in intake manifold pressure, an increase in intake duration, a decrease in exhaust duration, and relatively small changes in valve geometry. The paper clearly demonstrates that it is feasible to do relatively sophisticated engineering design and optimization on personal computers, and it sets the stage for further work in this area.