Internal Combustion Engine Design

Leveraging our team’s 40+ years of combined experience in cutting-edge powertrain research, we at Optumatics have helped many major automotive clients in improving their internal combustion engine designs to meet:

  • new regulatory requirements for CO2 levels reduction and fuel economy improvement
  • new regulatory requirements for fuel emissions reduction (NOx, soot, hydrocarbons, etc.)
  • higher performance requirements from their engine (e.g., increasing peak power and peak torque, etc.)

We realize how using physics simulation contributes to the understanding of why combustion engines perform in a certain way at different loads and speeds. This understanding has proven to be the key to unlocking the potential for superior engine performance gains and reductions in tailpipe emissions for our clients. 

Engine Downsizing and using Boosting system
We have helped multiple automotive OEMs in downsizing their engines to achieve improved efficiency and reduced carbon emissions. We have also helped our clients in selecting boosting systems such that downsized engines maintain their base engine's performance.
Variable valve train systems and cam Millerization
Millerization and valve timing optimization has been extensively used by our team to reduce the effective compression ratio of engines at higher loads to reduce the peak temperatures inside the cylinder (for knock mitigation and emissions reduction). This has allowed our clients in some instances to use higher compression ratio engines (higher efficiency) while maintaining similar peak performance curves.
Piston, valve and port design
Design modifications to piston, valve and port design have proven to be a very effective method for improving combustion system performance by enhancing fuel mixing, increasing turbulence inducing motions inside the cylinder and promoting healthier flame propagation.
Manifold design
We have worked on designing engine intake and exhaust manifolds both for two-stroke as well as four-stroke engines. Some of the design targets in our modifications were reducing cylinder-to-cylinder variability, enhancing the scavenging of the engine and increasing the engine peak power.
Optimized injection strategies
Our portfolio of previous projects included optimizing both PFI and DI injector timings and utilizing multiple injections pulses. This optimization process was aimed at enhancing fuel mixing inside the cylinder as well as improving the motions inside the cylinder (in the case of DI engines). Both these improvement aspects have proven to be useful in reducing emissions, improving fuel economy and mitigating knock.
Advanced combustion types (e.g., TJI, HCCI, etc.)
Using advanced combustion technologies like turbulent jet ignition and homogeneous charge compression ignition has been an important research topic for various advanced combustion design groups working at the different automotive OEMs. We have helped some of those teams in better understanding these combustion technologies and their drawbacks and bottlenecks.
Two-phase engine cooling (refrigerant)
Two-phase cooling alongside a waste heat recovery system (ORC based system) has been considered by many automotive OEMs as a method of pushing the limits of engine thermal efficiency. This is due to the higher flexibility and controllability of two-phase cooling systems in modifying the coolant temperature, when compared with water-based cooling systems.
Designing EGR systems
Adding external EGR to an engine has several benefits including reducing NOx emissions, improving fuel economy at lower loads and reducing knock propensity at higher loads. We have helped our clients utilize this technology both through 0D/1D based design of overall EGR systems, as well as simulating the effect of added EGR on the in-cylinder combustion system performance.