Mechanical Engineering Department The Lindbergh Lectures

Thursday, September 15th 12:00 12:50 PM Room 1106 Mechanical Engineering Building Pragmatic Efficiency Limits for Internal Combustion Engines

Prof. Foster
Phil and Jean Myers Professor University of Wisconsin Madison Abstract: This seminar gives an overview of the thermodynamic principles demonstrating that the maximum efficiency theoretically possible with a hydrocarbon fueled internal combustion engine is one hundred percent. From this basis the focus turns to articulating irreversibilities that naturally occur within the processes of converting the chemical energy in the fuel into shaft work. These losses are classified as losses that cannot be eliminated when using the current embodiment of internal combustion engines, and losses that in principle could be reduced through application of advanced technologies. Because power is obtained from the engine via unrestrained chemical reaction, i.e. combustion, we must accept a loss of work potential of between 20 and 25 percent of the fuels energy. Other losses, such as friction, heat loss and exhaust energy account for the balance of the useable energy that is not converted directly into shaft work. The interplay between combustion temperature, the ratio of specific heats of the combustion chamber gases, heat transfer and exhaust availability is presented as support for a postulate that the maximum pragmatic efficiency is most readily achieved through efforts to keep combustion temperatures low, which in turn maximizes the direct conversion of the fuels chemical energy into shaft work while minimizing the available energy lost to heat transfer and exhaust flow. If time permits, a summary of a similar analysis of PEM fuel cells will be included. Biography: Professor David E. Foster, the Phil and Jean Myers Professor of Mechanical Engineering, received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the UWMadison in 1973 and 1975 respectively. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering in 1979 from MIT. He has been a faculty member at the UW since completion of his Ph.D He teaches and conducts research in the areas of thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, fuel chemistry and emission formation processes in internal combustion engines. He is an active member of the Engine Research Center, of which he served as the Director from 1994 through 1999, and as of September 2007 is again serving as Director. He is also the Co-Director of the General Motors ERC Collaborative Research Laboratory, a collaborative research effort between General Motors Research and the ERC that was established in 2003. Professor Foster is an active consultant for industries both in the US and abroad. He has published extensively. Dr. Foster is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Wisconsin and has won departmental, engineering society, and university awards for his classroom teaching. He served as a member of the National Research Council PNGV Review Committee for six years and Fuels Partnership Program and Fuel Economy of Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicles. He is currently serving on National Research Council committees to review the DOE FreedomCAR and the 21st Century Truck Program. He has been awarded the ASME Honda Gold Medal for outstanding contributions in the field of personal transportation and he is a Fellow of SAE.