FY2010 - Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Director’s R&D Fund—
Advanced Energy Systems
investigating techniques to make Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) combustion more
robust and, therefore, commercially applicable to gasoline engines.
Results and Accomplishments
This project added a new VVA engine capability at ORNL. This highly flexible research tool has already
resulted in new program development as well as an upgraded research platform on which to perform
ongoing research. Using this engine, ORNL has demonstrated engine efficiency improvements relative to
conventional spark ignition combustion with overexpanded engine cycles and HCCI combustion.
The thermodynamics of the water injection event for the six-stroke engine cycle were modeled. Results
show that injecting hot water into recompressed exhaust gases yields additional extractable power. The
six-stroke cycle was implemented on the VVA engine, demonstrating the full range of control authority
that can be achieved with the engine valves and actuators. No additional power was recovered with the
water injection due to long water evaporation timescales, but efforts will continue under a DOE-funded
project. Continuing research in this area will implement different injection technology to decrease the
water droplet size and evaporation timescales. The modeling effort resulted in a publication in Energy and
a patent application. Six-stroke cycle results will be published in FY 2011.
A new experimental platform was commissioned that is capable of measuring the performance of
thermoelectric devices. The experiment is highly instrumented and generates temperature and space
velocity conditions relevant to engine exhaust conditions. The thermoelectric research is aimed at
enhancing heat transfer through the thermoelectric devices. Thermoelectric results were published in the
Journal of Automobile Engineering and presented at the Directions in Engine-Efficiency and Emissions
Research (DEER) conference. A second journal publication is currently in draft form.
Information Shared
Conklin, J. C., and J. P. Szybist. 2010. “A Highly Efficient Six-Stroke Internal Combustion Engine Cycle
with Water Injection for In-cylinder Exhaust Heat Recovery.” Energy 35, 1658–1664.
Ibrahim, E. A., J. P. Szybist, and J. E. Parks. 2010. “Enhancement of automotive exhaust heat recovery by
thermoelectric devices.” Proc. IMechE, Part D: J. Automob. Eng. 224, 1097–1111.
Szybist, J. P. 2010. “Evaluation of Variable Compression Ratio on Engine Efficiency.” 2010 Directions in
Engine-Efficiency and Emissions Research Conference, Detroit, September.
Szybist, J. P., and J. C. Conklin. Submitted. “Highly Efficient 6-Stroke Engine Cycle with Water
Injection.” U.S. Patent Application 12/483.388, submitted to U.S. Patent Office on June 12, 2009.
05369
Design of Evanescent-Wave Power Transfer for Parked and Moving
Hybrid Electric Vehicles
Matthew Scudiere and John McKeever
Project Description
As hybrid electric vehicles become more prevalent, there is a need to transfer the power source from
gasoline on the vehicle to electricity from the grid in order to mitigate requirements for onboard storage
as well as reduce dependency on oil by increasing dependence on the grid (our coal, gas, and renewable
instead of their oil). Traditional systems for trains and buses rely on physical contact to transfer electrical
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