Reverse breathing in diesel engines for aftertreatment thermal management

Abstract

Approximately 40% of typical heavy-duty vehicle operation occurs at loaded idle during which time conventional diesel engines are unable to maintain aftertreatment component temperatures in a fuel-efficient manner. Fuel economy and thermal management at this condition can be improved via reverse breathing, a novel method in which exhaust gases are recirculated, as needed, from exhaust to intake manifold via one or more cylinders. Resultant airflow reductions increase exhaust gas temperatures and decrease exhaust flow rates, both of which are beneficial for maintaining desirable aftertreatment component temperatures while consuming less fuel via reduced pumping work. Several strategies for implementation of reverse breathing are described in detail and are compared to cylinder deactivation and internal exhaust gas recirculation operation. Experimental data demonstrate 26% fuel consumption savings compared to conventional stay-warm operation, 60 °C improvement in turbine outlet temperature and 28% reduction in exhaust flow compared to conventional best fuel consumption operation at the loaded idle condition (800 r/min, 1.3 bar brake mean effective pressure). The incorporation of reverse breathing to more efficiently maintain desired aftertreatment temperatures during idle conditions is experimentally demonstrated to result in fuel savings of 2% over the heavy-duty federal test procedure drive cycle compared with conventional operation.