The introduction of Real World Emissions measurement into global emissions regulations has had a dramatic impact on the way powertrains and vehicles are developed. This is because the powertrain and vehicle are now “worked” across a much broader range of operating engine speed and loads than traditional “legacy” test-drive cycles. To this end, the powertrain must therefore be developed not only to achieve excellent fuel economy and emissions conversion efficiency under typical light-duty driving, but also under heavy acceleration and full-power applications.

With the implementation of Real Driving Emissions (RDE) regulations in the EU, powertrain and vehicle tailpipe emissions must also meet the legislative requirements when tested at any combination of the RDE moderate and extended boundary conditions that cover temperature, altitude and driving style. To understand how the powertrain and vehicle will react under any combination of the factors mentioned above, physical testing alone is insufficient due to the unlimited combinations of RDE boundary conditions that exist. Therefore, a significant majority of the powertrain and vehicle development must be frontloaded using virtual tools, Engine-in-the-Loop (EiL) and Vehicle-in-the-Loop (ViL) testing and development.

To highlight the need for frontloading, a test engine was installed as part of HORIBA’s Road to Rig (R2R) RDE+ EiL strategy and tested using a virtual vehicle driven over a number of virtualised RDE routes (themselves derived from real road test routes) whilst adopting different driving styles, altitudes, temperatures and humidity that all exist within the RDE moderate and extended boundary conditions. A significant spread in engine performance and emissions was recorded in addition to highlighting inadequacies in the air-handling strategy, fuel injection and aftertreatment specification. By adopting the frontloading strategy outlined in the current report, these shortfalls could have been addressed further upstream in the development process before a tangible powertrain and vehicle combination was available.


Rde Plus \u2013 Frontloading Powertrain and Vehicle Development Utilising Engine-in-the-Loop and Virtual Tools

Division / Sponsors: 
Internal Combustion Engine Division (ICED)

Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/ICEF/ICEF2020/volume/84034

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