Automotive Science and Engineering

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Turbocharging an engine boosts its power by increasing the amount of input air. This task is accomplished by using the exhaust gas to power a turbine which is engaged with a compressor. The Variable Geometry Turbocharger, VGT is a unique turbocharger that the diffuser vane angle can be changed over a wide range of positions. The mathematics of turbomachinery flow analysis is intensive and uses iterative methods. Most of the flow analyses in the area of turbochargers are either experimental or numerical. Three-dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), two-dimensional multiple streamline and one dimensional mean line is the three primary numerically available methods. In this paper a mean line method has been used for predicting the performance of a centrifugal compressor with variable diffuser vane angle position at subcritical Mach numbers. The calculation is based on common thermodynamic and aerodynamic principles, and empirical correlations for losses in a mean line analyses. The model calculates the velocities, pressures, temperatures, pressure losses, work consumption, and efficiencies for a specified set of turbocharger geometry, atmospheric conditions, rotational speed, and fluid mass flow rate. The obtained numerical results are validated with the in house measured experimental data and good agreement observed. The purpose for compressor model analysis is to generate overall characteristic map and identify the impact of the diffuser vane angles on the performance. The overall characteristic map is generated by this method demonstrate very good agreement and the effect of variable vane angle in pressure ratio and operating range observed.

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Running the industrial components at a proper temperature is always a big challenge for engineers. Internal combustion engines are among these components in which temperature plays a big role in their performance and emissions. With the development of new technology in the fields of ‘nano-materials’ and ‘nano-fluids’, it seems very promising to use this technology as a coolant in the internal combustion engines. In this study, a nano-fluid (Al2O3-Water/Ethylene Glycol (EG)) is used as an engine coolant along with an optimized heat exchanger to reduce the warm-up timing. The effect of nano-fluid concentration is considered here by using their corresponding governing equations, such as momentum and energy. The engine coolant thermal behavior calculation is carried out based on the lumped method. The obtained results indicated that using different percentage of nano-fluid mixtures (by volume), such as Al2O3- Water/EG as engine coolant enhances the heat transfer coefficient and reduces the warm-up timing which, in turn, results in reduced emissions and fuel consumption.