Advanced Fuel Injection System and Valve Train Technologies

To maintain battlefield superiority, future military vehicles require engines with higher specific power output while maintaining or reducing specific heat rejection and fuel consumption. To that goal, enabling technologies in air-fuel delivery for optimized combustion and advanced combustion strategies are required. A future engine will integrate high pressure fully flexible fuel injection and camless hydraulic valve actuation subsystems operated by an electronic controller. As a further step, such an engine can also utilize an advanced electronic controller employing in-cylinder pressure sensing for combustion feedback. Such a controller would facilitate various engine management strategies that can lead to improved engine performance beyond the current state-of-the-art. With analytical tools, the Phase I effort identified two strategies that fit the scope of a Phase II effort for implementation. The Phase II effort will carry out the detailed design and procurement of the controller hardware, and the design and programming of the controller software. It will also demonstrate the realized benefits through dynamometer engine testing. Sturman Industries, Inc. is uniquely positioned to procure and to successfully demonstrate this closed loop engine controller due to its available injection, HVA, and controls technologies and its long experience in the field.