This article elaborates the advancement in internal combustion engine technology and explains why internal combustion engines will continue to be integral to the transportation of people and goods for the foreseeable future. The internal combustion engine has seen a remarkable evolution over the past century. Before 1970, the evolution of engine design was driven by quest for performance and increase in octane in the fuel supply. Since then, however, the imperative was the need to meet new emissions and fuel economy regulations. Some game-changing advances in automotive sector in recent years are improvements in engine technologies, sensors, and onboard computing power. This combination of technologies will enable unprecedented control of the combustion process, which in turn will enable real-world implementations of low-temperature combustion and other advanced strategies as well as improved robustness and fuel flexibility. In future, new engine concepts will also blend the best characteristics of both engine types to push the boundaries of efficiency while meeting stringent emissions regulations worldwide.
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December 2015
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Engines of the Future
While Recent Decades may have Produced Incremental Advances in Internal Combustion Engine Technologies, they are Adding up to Create Some Disruptive Opportunities
Robert M. Wagner is the director of the Fuels, Engines, and Emissions Research Center and a distinguished member of the technical staff at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. He is also a Fellow of the Society of Automotive Engineers and a Professor with the Bredesen Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Education at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He is technical chair of the 2015 ASME-ICEF conference in Houston.
Mechanical Engineering. Dec 2015, 137(12): 30-35 (6 pages)
Published Online: December 1, 2015
Citation
Wagner, R. M. (December 1, 2015). "Engines of the Future." ASME. Mechanical Engineering. December 2015; 137(12): 30–35. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.2015-Dec-1
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