Energy 27 (2002) 757775 www.elsevier.

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Optimization of variable valve timing for maximizing performance of an unthrottled SI enginea theoretical study
E. Sher , T. Bar-Kohany
The Pearlstone Center for Aeronautical Engineering Studies, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel Received 25 May 2001; received in revised form 16 April 2002

Abstract Previous investigations have demonstrated that improvements in gasoline engine performance can be accomplished if the valve timing is variable. In this work valve timing strategies for maximizing engine torque and minimizing bsfc in terms of the exhaust opening (EO), intake opening (IO) and intake closing (IC) timings of a commercial SI engine are studied. The MICE (Modeling Internal Combustion Engines) computer program, which simulates an actual SI cycle, has been used. Overall performance characteristics such as the cycle efciency, engine power, and exhaust gas composition are calculated. The model has been calibrated with data obtained from a measured indicator diagram, and validated against the overall performances of the engine. It is concluded that when both valves and spark timings are optimized, the optimal timing of each valve, depends apparently linearly on the engine load, linearly (in a good approximation) on the engine speed, while the slope depends in a weak manner on the engine load. When VVT is employed, the maximum engine power has been increased by 6%, and the engine bsfc has been decreased by 13%. The maximum torque has been shifted towards a lower engine speed. The present results are summarized as working maps for the engine designer. These show the inuence of the intake and exhaust valve timing on the engine performance at the entire range of operation conditions (engine load and speed). 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Variable valve timing relates to both the opening time and opening duration. In customary internal combustion engines the intake and exhaust valve timing is xed. The timing is selected such as an optimal performance is achieved at a single well-dened design point (corresponds to a specic engine speed and load).

Corresponding author. Fax: +972-8-627-1474. E-mail address: sher@menix.bgu.ac.il (E. Sher).

0360-5442/02/$ - see front matter 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 3 6 0 - 5 4 4 2 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 0 2 2 - 1

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Nomenclature A cp cv D E f g h K k m N p Q R SL T t up V W X y instantaneous port area, availability specic heat at constant pressure specic heat at constant volume bore internal energy residual mass fraction gravitation constant enthalpy thermal conductivity specic heat ratio mass engine speed pressure heat universal gas constant laminar burning velocity temperature time piston linear velocity volume work mass fraction of the burned mixture inside the cylinder pressure ratio

Greek letters b hch l n q qig qspark qb r s t Constant, mass fraction of fresh charge in the exhaust gases fuel-air equivalence ratio charging efciency delivery ratio dimensionless air-fuel equivalence ratio kinematic viscosity crank-angle start of combustion (in crank-angle) spark time (in crank-angle) combustion duration (in crank-angle) density Stefan-Boltzmann constant dimensionless crank-angle

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Subscripts and superscripts a b c e H i L ref std w fresh charge burnt gas, constant combustion, constant exit,equilibrium upstream intake downstream reference value standard wall

Abbreviations BC bsfc EC EO fmep IC IO TC VVT Bottom center brake specic fuel consumption exhaust valve closes exhaust valve opens friction mean effective pressure intake valve closes intake valve opens top center variable valve timing

Traditionally, valve timing has been designed to optimize operation at high engine speed, and wide-open throttle operating conditions [1]. Controlling valves events can improve the torque curve, the brake power curve, or the indicator power curve of a given engine design. Variable valve timing can also be used to reduce fuel consumption and to a small extent the engine emissions [2]. This is achieved by controlling the in-cylinder maximum temperature, and the amount of residuals remaining at the commencement of the compression stroke (EGR control). In a previous paper [3] we have presented a strategy for varying valve timing (VVT) in a throttled SI engine with the aim of maximizing its torque. It is expected however, that a more signicant benet of using VVT will be achieved in an unthrottled engine. It appears that in gasoline engines, load control can be obtained without throttling by using variable intake closing time [4], i.e., severe throttling losses normally experienced at low loads, can be substantially reduced by reducing the intake valve duration with decreasing load, thus, regulating the amount of induced mixture. Several methods were suggested to regulate the load with VVT. Lenz et al. [5], claim that without throttling, control of the charge in SI engines can be realized by means of an early closure of the intake valve. Under low engine speeds, closing the intake valve at a proper time will increase

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the volumetric efciency of the gas exchange process. An early intake valve closing time (before BC), will cause the fresh mixture to expand till BC and therefore its temperature at the commencement of the compression stroke will be lower. As a result, lower amount of NOx, but higher amount of HC are expected to be emitted. A way of controlling the load while improving the fuel economy was suggested by Ma [6]. Ma has concluded that a late intake valve closing is shown to be a practical concept applicable to engines with two intake valves per cylinder where the intake valves can be phased relative to each other to extend the total intake-opening period. In diesel engines, the most promising application is the control of the valve overlap in highly turbocharged engines [4]. Better starting performance in controlled valve-overlap diesel engines has also been argued. Because of the difculties associated with providing a variable valve timing mechanism with acceptable cost, durability and reliability, only few automotive engines in normal production have ever been equipped with variable timing valves (see review and classication of variable valve timing mechanisms in Dresner and Barkan [1], and Gray [7]). However, owing to recent technology developments associated with electromagnetic and hydraulic valve control (see for example [8] and [9]), and owing to recent progress in microprocessors utilization, application of VVT in the near future is quite feasible [10]. Moreover, since the advent of the more recent federal gas mileage and emission requirements, with their emphasis on lower engine speed and low pollution emissions, alternate valve timing strategies have to be considered. Continuously variable valve timing permits optimization of valve events for each operating condition without any compromise. Strategies for optimizing intake and exhaust valve timings and recent developments in the application of VVT to gasoline engines can be found in some recent publications; Duckworth and Barker [11], have examined the effect of the valve overlap on an engine performance with an emphasize on the internal EGR, Leone et al. [12] have examined different variable camshaft timing strategies for reducing NOx, CO and HC emissions from a part-load operating engine, Shiga et al. [13] have looked at the effect of early-closing of intake-valve on the cylinder pressure and engine performance, and Badami et al. [14], and Ueda et al. [15] have examined the inuence of late intake valve closing on the idle and part load performance of the engine. Moro et al. [16], examined theoretically a possible strategy to control engine load by means of both intake and exhaust variable valve timing. They showed that when the IVC and EVC correlate linearly with the engine load, such as the intake pressure and EGR amount are controlled, the cycle efciency is improved from 31 to 37% at partial loads. Bozza et al. [17] have developed a 1-D mathematical model to simulate the operation of a SI engine equipped with VVT. They examined the effect of the two valves timing on the engine performance, and demonstrated the potential of employing variable inlet and exhaust valve timing. They did not propose any strategy of optimizing the valve timing to maximize the engine performance. Nakayasu et al. [18] developed a variable intake and exhaust control valve system for in-line four-cylinder motorcycle engine for realization of the concept potential. Two modes were provided to the intake control, and three for the exhaust. They showed that the engine output power has been increased by 10% as compared to the original engine design. No further study has been performed to optimize the valve timing. It is the purpose of the present paper to analyze the performance of an unthrottled SI engine installed with VVT. This is in order to postulate optimal valve timing strategies for minimizing fuel consumption or maximizing engine torque in terms of the intake valve duration, and the opening and closing timings of the exhaust valve.

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2. Theoretical considerations In order to analyze the complete cycle with the objective of predicting the engine performance vs. the valves timings, the following approach has been employed. 2.1. Cylinder content The cylinder content is divided into two zones; fresh charge and burned gases (the latter include residual gases from the previous cycle). The pressure inside the cylinder is calculated by using a global energy balance: dE W Q dt

m ehe

m ihi

(1)

dV w, c Q ), Q Q dt c is the rate of heat releases during combustion, Q w is the rate of heat transferred from the Q dE is the rate of energy increase inside the open system cylinder wall to the cylinder contents, dt (which is equal to d(mcvT) / dt) and he and hi are the enthalpies of the leaving and entering molecules through the ports, respectively. The rate of the pressure change inside the cylinder is obtained by introducing the ideal gas law in the form of: is the rate of work done by the open system (which is equal to p where W p dp dT dm dV V mR RT dt dt dt dt (2)

into Eq. (1). Then after rearranging: dp dt (k1)(Q

m ecpTe V

dV m icpTi)kp dt (3)

where k is the instantaneous specic heat ratio. The instantaneous mass owrate, m , through any port in any direction (including backows through the intake and exhaust ports) is determined by: m A where,

2kpHrHg k1

1/2

y1/k 1y

k1 k

1/2

(4)

pL 2 pL for y pH pH k 1 and 2 y k1

k k1

(5)

k k1

(6)

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for critical ow. A is the instantaneous effective port area, which was taken as 80% for its actual value, and H and L denote upstream and downstream conditions, respectively. 2.2. Valve overlap period A semi-empirical model, the S shape model [19], is employed to simulate the gas exchange process inside the cylinder during the valve overlap period. The model is based on the assumption that the time variation of the mass fraction of fresh charge content in the gas passing through the exhaust port, b, exhibits a sigmoid type curve. The instantaneous charging efciency, may therefore be estimated by: d b dt hch b (1b)Tb / Ta

t 0

(7)

where Tb and Ta are the temperatures of the burned gas and the fresh charge, respectively, is the delivery ratio, t is the dimensionless crank-angle which is dened by: t qqIO qECqIO (8)

and b, by denition is calculated by: b 1exp 1.7

qqIO qECqIO

2.0

(9)

Here q is the crank-angle, and qIO and qEC are the angles at which the intake valve opens and exhaust valve closes, respectively. The period between qIO and qEC is the valve overlap period. In this equation, the form and shape factors were set to b 2.0 and c 1.7 [19]. 2.3. Combustion process The combustion process is assumed to occur through a one step global reaction scheme. The mass fraction of the burned mixture at any time is calculated by using the Wiebe function as follows [20]: X 1exp c

qqig q b
b

(10)

where qig is the crank-angle at which the combustion starts, qb is the crank-angle interval from start to completion (90%) of combustion, c is an efciency parameter and b is the form factor. The values of b and c were determined by matching the computed pressure-crank angle diagram with experimental measurements. The crank-angle interval from the spark onset to the start of combustion (qsparkqig), as well as the interval from the start to completion of combustion, qb, were estimated by using the proposed correlations of Hires et al. [21]:

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qsparkqig N (qsparkqig)ref Nref N qb qb,ref Nref

1 3

1 3

SL,ref SL

2 3

(11)

where N is the engine speed and SL is the laminar burning velocity,

SL,ref SL
a

2 3

(12)

The laminar burning velocity of the fuel-air mixture, SL, is calculated by using the correlation of Metghalchi and Keck [22], as follows: SL

T Tstd

p d (12.1f) pstd

(13)

where f is the mass fraction of the residuals, std stands for standard, a 2.180.8(1) d 0.16 0.22(1) is the fuel-air equivalence ratio, and, 0.27580.7834(1.11)2 2.4. Composition of the cylinder content For the present case, a stoichiometric (or lean) mixture is used (l1), and therefore the cylinder content is assumed to be composed of fuel (CaHb), CO2, H2O, O2 and N2. Consequently, the following global reaction has been considered: b CaHb lJO2 3.76lJN2aCO2 H2O J(l1)O2 3.76lJN2 2 where Ja b 4 (18) (17) (16) (14) (15)

In the present work, the gasoline is represented best by a 8.26 and b 15.5. The exact amount of each species is determined by the instantaneous mass fraction of the burned mixture, X [Eq. (10)], and the residuals mass fraction, f. 2.5. Heat transfer The instantaneous heat interaction between the cylinder content and its conned walls is calculated by using the empirical expression of Annand [23] for four-stroke SI engine as follows: w K u pD Q 0.26 A D n

0.75

(TTw) 0.69s(T4T4 w)

(19)

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where K is the thermal conductivity of the gas, n is its kinematic viscosity, up the instantaneous piston linear velocity, D, cylinder bore, s the Stefan-Bolzmann constant, and Tw the temperature of the inner side of the cylinder wall. For the present calculations, the wall temperature was taken as 780 K to t best the indicator-diagram expansion process. 2.6. Friction power The friction power is estimated by using fundamentally based scaling laws for reciprocating spark-ignition engines, as recommended by Patton et al. [24]. Friction between the piston and the cylinder liner, piston rings and cylinder liner (which include the effect of the increasing cylinder pressure), the connecting rod bearings, and valve system, were taken into consideration. These are represented by the rst nine terms of the comprehensive expression [24] for the total engine friction mean effective pressure (fmep). 2.7. Nitric oxide formation In the present study, the kinetic model for NO is based on the theory developed by Lavoie et al [25]. In this model, only the process occurring in the burned gas behind the reaction zone are considered, and it is assumed that the rates of the energy-producing reactions in a ame are sufciently fast so that the burned gases are close to thermodynamic equilibrium. For the calculation of the NO concentration, we may therefore assume equilibrium concentrations for all the species involved except for the NO. Lavoie et al. [25] have shown that on the time scale of interest, only the following three kinetic reactions are important (the extended Zeldovich mechanism): N NON2 O k1 21011 N O2NO O k2 21011exp(7.1 / RT) N OHNO H k3 71011 (20) (21) (22)

where ki is in units of cubic centimeters per second. An explicit equation for nitric oxide formation is then obtained to yield: R1 1 d([NO]V) 2(1a2) V dt 1 aR1 / (R2 R3) (23)

where Ri is the one-way equilibrium rate of the ith reaction (for example R1 k1[N]e[NO]e with the subscipt e denoting equilibrium concentration), and a [NO] / [NO]e. An equilibrium model (Weinberg [26]), was used to determine the species concentrations required for the NO formation rate equation. In this model, 14 elementary reactions were considered. 2.8. Carbon monoxide formation In this model the CO concentration followed the same trend as the peak equilibrium value. However, during expansion, the CO concentration was found to lag between the current equilibrium value and the peak equilibrium value obtained in the cycle. Benson and Baruah [27],suggested that the following simple model may best t experimental observations:

E. Sher, T. Bar-Kohany / Energy 23 (2002) 757775 Table 1 Engine specications Engine model Engine type Cylinder stroke/bore Displacement volume Rated power

765

VW Passat Four-cylinder, 4-stroke, spark-ignited, water-cooled engine 73.4/75 mm 1297 cm3 44 kW at 4800 rpm

[CO] [CO]e f([CO]peak [CO]e)

(24)

where the factor f is a calibration constant, which lies between 0 and 1. Following a previous work (Hacohen and Sher [28]), a value of 0.2 was adopted. 3. Model validation and calibration In order to calibrate the relevant constants used in the theoretical model, a set of well-controlled experimental tests has been performed. A 1297 cm3 VW Passat four-cylinder (Table 1) has been mounted on a test bench which included a controlled load (a calibrated electric generator), temperature and pressure gauges, a Kistler pressure transducer type UP4 to record the cylinder pressure trace, and a BEI encoder having a resolution of 0.6 crank angle degree. The transducer signal was amplied by a Hewlett-Packard amplier model 2460 A MI, and then was stored in a PC. The indicator diagram was then analyzed with the aid of an EXCEL software. The following parameters have been calibrated to best t the computed to the measured indicated diagram at the engine rated conditions (full engine load at 4800 rpm): For the ignition and combustion processes [Eq. (11) and (12)]: (qsparkqig)ref 7, qb,ref 49, Nref 3000 rpm, SL,ref 1.283 m / s. For Eq. (10): b 2, c 5, and relative air-fuel ratio, l 1.00. The average cylinder wall temperature [Eq. (19)]: Tw 780 K. Fig. 1(a) shows a typical calculated indicated diagram. Under these operation conditions the

Fig. 1. Calculated indicated diagram on linear pressure-volume co-ordinates (a) and logarithmic pressure-volume coordinates (b), at the rated engine conditions (full load at 3800 rpm).

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Fig. 2. Predicted and measured engine brake power, at partial engine load. Exhaust and intake valve timings are xed.

pressure in the cylinder reaches a maximum value of 5600 kPa while the corresponding cylinder volume is slightly higher than the clearance volume, this corresponds to a crank angle of 18 after TC. Though our model considers the temperature dependence of the heat capacity of each of the relevant species and thus the weighted heat capacity of the cylinder charge at any time step, it is interesting to note that the polytropic coefcients of each, the compression and expansion processes in the entire range of operation conditions, may be considered quite closely as constants [Fig. 1(b)]. The rst stage of the compression stroke which spans between IC (intake valve close) and about 20 before the spark onset seems to t well a polytropic process with a constant polytropic coefcient of 1.31. The second stage of the expansion stroke, which spans between a short time after the end of combustion and EO (exhaust valve open) seems to t a polytropic process with a constant polytropic coefcient of 1.26. Fig. 2 and 3 show a comparison between the predicted and measured engine performance characteristics. These include the engine brake power and maximum cylinder pressure vs. engine

Fig. 3. Predicted and measured maximum cylinder pressure at full engine load. Exhaust and intake valve timings are xed.

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Fig. 4. The effect of exhaust port opening time on the engine torque (a), its specic fuel consumption (b), CO (c), and NOx (d), emissions under full engine load at different engine speeds. Intake opening time and intake closing time are optimized. Exhaust closes at top center.

speed all at full engine load. Exhaust and intake valve timings were set to those selected by the engine manufacturer. The model seems to predict quite well the experimental observation within an error of 5%. The predicted value of the engine speed at which a maximum brake power is obtained seems to occur at 4800 rpm which is in total agreement with the observed value. Since the curvature of the indicated power curve is strongly affected by the ow phenomena at the exhaust and intake valves, the good tting indicates that these phenomena were predicted quite close to reality. The friction losses are the main contributors to the deviation of the brake power curve from the indicated curve. Here again, the predictions seem to t well the experimental results. Another parameter to be compared is the maximum cylinder pressure. Fig. 3 shows how close are the model predictions to the experimental observations.

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Fig. 5. The effect of exhaust port opening time on the engine torque (a), its specic fuel consumption (b), CO (c), and NOx (d), emissions under 35% engine load at different engine speeds. Intake opening time and intake closing time are optimized. Exhaust closes at top center.

4. Results 4.1. The effect of the exhaust port opening time (EO) Fig. 4 and 5 show the effect of the exhaust port opening time on the engine torque, its specic fuel consumption, CO and NOx emissions under 35% and 100% engine full load at different engine speeds. Intake opening time and intake closing time are optimized, while the exhaust closes at top center. It is expected that for a given engine speed, an early opening will shorten the expansion stroke, thus reducing the work done on the piston and therefore the engine torque. Owing to the ow dynamic through the exhaust port, a late exhaust opening, will not allow enough time for the in-cylinder pressure to reach the ambient pressure, and a high work will be required to displace the exhaust gas during the exhaust stroke. For an engine speed of 2000 rpm at full engine load, an advance or retard of 10 will deteriorate the engine torque by about 2%.

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Fig. 6. The effect of intake port closing time on the engine torque, its specic fuel consumption, CO and NOx emissions under engine full load at different engine speeds. Exhaust opening time and intake opening time are optimized. Exhaust closes at top center.

A similar trend appears at partial engine load (35%). At higher engine speeds, the optimal EO should clearly be advanced. It seems that an increasing of the engine speed from 1000 to 4000 rpm at full load, requires an EO advance of 32, from 158 to 128. At partial load a smaller advance of 30 is neededfrom 174 to 144. It seems that the optimal EO for minimizing bsfc occurs when the engine torque maximizes in the entire range of operation conditions. It also appears that the CO and NOx emissions are practically insensitive to the EO time. 4.2. The effect of the intake port opening time (IO) The effect of the intake port opening time on the engine torque, its specic fuel consumption, CO and NOx emissions under 35% and 100% engine full load at different engine speeds, has been examined in a similar manner as demonstrated above for the exhaust opening time. For any of the above criteria (max. torque, min. bsfc, and min CO and NOx emissions), the optimal time (IO) was found to be practically insensitive to the engine speed, and to a very limited degree of

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Fig. 7. Calculated optimization strategy of exhaust valve opening time (EO), intake valve opening time (IO), and intake valve closing time (IC,) for minimum bsfc, vs engine speed for full and partial load.

sensitivity to the engine load. Optimal IO time of 330 (30 before TC) was found to be suitable for the full engine load, and 370 (10 after TC) for a partial engine load of 35%. The sensitivity of any of these parameters in this range is less than 0.5%. 4.3. The effect of the intake port closing time (IC) For a given engine speed, it is expected that an early intake valve closing time will not permit enough fresh charge to enter the cylinder. This will reduce the amount of available energy at IC and thus reduce the engine bmep (or alternatively the engine torque). A late intake closing allows the charge to ll-up the cylinder volume, but short time afterwards allows the charge to ow back through the intake port before IC due to the upwards moving of the piston. A late intake closing after BC will also shorten the compression stroke, thus reducing the maximum pressure and temperature in the cycle, and therefore the maximum engine torque. The existence of an optimal timing for closing the intake valve at full engine load is thus clear. Fig. 6 shows the

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771

Fig. 8. Calculated optimization strategy of intake valve opening time (IO), and intake valve closing time (IC), for minimum bsfc, vs engine load at an engine speed of 4000 rpm.

effect of the intake port closing time on the engine torque, its specic fuel consumption, CO and NOx emissions. Here, exhaust opening time and intake opening time are optimized, while the exhaust closes at top center. At high engine speeds, the optimal IC should clearly be retarded. It seems that an increase of the engine speed from 1000 to 5000 rpm at full load, requires an IC retard of 22, from 541 to 563. It appears that the optimal IC for minimizing bsfc occurs in a good approximation when the engine torque maximizes. It also transpires that the CO and NOx emissions are practically insensitive to the IC time. For partial load, the load control can be obtained without throttling by using variable intake closing time. Throttling losses normally experienced at low engine loads, can be substantially reduced by advancing the intake valve closing time with decreasing load, thus regulating the amount of induced mixture. 4.4. Optimal timing strategy and optimal performances Because the IC timing affects the amount of the cylinder charge, it thus affects the maximum temperature and pressure in the cycle and therefore the progress of the combustion process. As a result, the optimal timing of the exhaust valve is also affected by the IC timing and should be set accordingly. Also, since the efciency of the gas exchange process may be inuenced, by the timing of the exhaust valve, variation in EO timing may affect the optimized closing timing of the intake valve. It is therefore expected that when the timing of both valves are considered to be controllable, both the EO and IC timings should be optimized simultaneously. Fig. 7 shows the calculated optimization strategy for the exhaust valve open and intake valve open and close timings, respectively. Spark timing has been optimized (MBT) for each set of operating conditions. It appears that the optimal timing of each valve depends linearly (in a good approximation), on the engine speed, while the slope depends apparently in a weak manner on the engine load. For an example, at full load conditions when the engine speed increases from 2000 to 5000 rpm, in order to operate the engine under optimal operation conditions for minimum bsfc, the exhaust valve opening timing should be advanced from 152 to 123, the intake valve opening time should

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Fig. 9. Calculated engine torque, bsfc, and major pollutants vs engine speed at full load conditions, with optimal VVT, and without VVT, for minimum bsfc.

be kept at a xed crank-angle of 330, and the intake closing timing should be retarded from 536 to 550. Fig. 8 shows the calculated optimization strategy of the intake valve opening time (IO), and the intake valve closing time (IC), for minimum bsfc, vs engine load at an engine speed of 4000 rpm. As expected, when a higher power is required, the IC time has to be retarded and the IO be advanced. This results also in a signicant increase in the intake port opening duration. An increase in the engine load from 35% to full load, requires an IO advance from 370 to 300, and IC retard from 440 to 560 [Fig. 7(b)]. This results in an increase in the opening duration from 50 to 200. A comparison between the full-load performances envelop of an original engine (having xed valves timing), and a modied engine operating with VVT (when the valve timing is optimized), is shown in Fig. 9. It appears that while the CO and NOx emissions are not improved nor noticeably deteriorated, both the engine torque and the engine bsfc are improved (though to a small extent) specically at low engine speed. An improvement of 6% in the torque, and 2% in the

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Fig. 10. Calculated engine torque, bsfc, and major pollutants vs engine speed at partial conditions, with optimal VVT, and without VVT, for minimum bsfc.

bsfc is observed. For a partial engine load of 35% (Fig. 10), a torque increase of 4% and bsfc decrease of 6% is observed at low engine speed of 2000 rpm, and a torque increase of 3% and bsfc decrease of 14% at high engine speed of 5000 rpm. As expected, it also appears that while the CO is lower when VVT is in operation, in the entire range of engine speed, the NOx is slightly higher. It is important to note that when VVT is applied, the maximum torque at any engine load, is shifted towards a lower engine speed. The advantage of using VVT in particular at low engine load is clearly demonstrated. 5. Conclusions In the present work the performance of a commercial unthrottled SI engine installed with VVT were analyzed. This is in order to postulate optimal valve timing strategies for maximizing engine torque in terms of the exhaust opening, intake opening and intake closing timings. The following conclusions have been drawn:

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1. The optimal EO and IC for minimizing bsfc occurs in a good approximation when the engine torque maximizes in the entire range of operation conditions. 2. It appears that the CO and NOx emissions are practically insensitive to the EO and IC time. 3. The optimal IO is practically insensitive to the engine speed, and to a very limited degree of sensitivity to the engine load. 4. The optimal timing of each valve depends apparently linearly on the engine load, linearly (in a good approximation) on the engine speed, while the slope depends in a weak manner on the engine load. 5. When VVT is employed, the CO and NOx emissions are not improved nor noticeably deteriorated. The engine torque and the engine bsfc are however improved, in particular at partial load and low engine speed. 6. When VVT is applied, the maximum torque at any engine load, is shifted towards a lower engine speed. References
[1] Dresner T, Barkan P. A review and classication of variable valve timing mechanisms, SAE paper 890674, 1989. [2] Nagumo S, Hara S. Study of fuel economy improvement through control of intake valve closing timing: cause of combustion deterioration and improvement. JSAE Review 1995;16:139. [3] Kohany T, Sher E. Using the 2nd law of thermodynamics to optimize variable valve timing for maximizing torque in a throttled SI engine, SAE paper 1999-01-0328, 1999. [4] Stone R, Kwan E. Variable valve actuation mechanisms and the potential for their application, SAE paper 890673, 1989. [5] Lenz HP, Wichart K, Gruden D. Variable valve timinga possibility to control engine load without throttle, SAE paper 880388, 1988. [6] Ma TH. Effect of variable engine valve timing on fuel economy, SAE paper 880390, 1988. [7] Gray C. A review of variable engine valve timing, SAE paper 880386, 1988. [8] Schechter MM, Levin MB. Camless engine, SAE paper 960581, 1996. [9] Moriya Y, Watanabe A, Uda H, Kawamura H, Yoshioka M, Adachi M. A newly developed intelligent variable valve timing systemcontinuously controlled cam phasing as applied to a new 3 liter inline 6 engine, SAE paper 960579, 1996. [10] Jost K. Spark-ignition engine trends. Automotive Engineering International 2002;Jan:2639. [11] Duckworth RF, Barker L. A comparative study of variable camshaft phasing and port throttling for performance and emissions, SAE paper 960580, 1996. [12] Leone TG, Christenson EJ, Stein RA. Comparison of variable camshaft timing strategies at part load, SAE paper 960584, 1996. [13] Shiga S, Morita M, Yagi S, Matsumoto T, Nakamura H, Karasawa T. Effect of early-closing of intake-valve on the engine performance in a spark-ignition engine, SAE paper 960586, 1996. [14] Badami M, Marzano MR, Nuccio P. Inuence of late intake-valve opening on the si engine performance in idle condition, SAE paper 960586, 1996. [15] Ueda N, Sakai H, Iso N, Sasaki J. A naturally aspirated miller cycle gasoline engineits capability of emission, power and fuel economy, SAE paper 960589, 1996. [16] Moro D, Ponti F, Serra G. Thermodynamic analysis of variable valve timing inuence on SI engine efciency, SAE paper 2001-01-0667, 2001. [17] Bozza F, Gimelli A, Senatore A, Caraceni A. A theoretical comparison of various VVA systems for performance and emission improvements of SI-engines, SAE paper 2001-010-0670, 2001. [18] Nakayasu T, Yamada H, Suda T, Iwase N. Takahashi K. Intake and exhaust systems equipped with a variable valve control device for enhancing of engine power, SAE paper 2001-01-0247, 2001.

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