Advanced heavy duty diesel engine piston

During this Phase I project, a high-performance diesel engine piston will be developed, which can operate continuously at surface temperatures up to 600°C and camber pressures of 275 bar. This novel piston will allow for increased diesel engine power density, reducing competition between the vehicle’s locomotion and other functional systems. Additive manufacturing technology enables Advanced Cooling Technologies (ACT) to develop a piston with complex cooling systems and geometries that can be fabricated from high-performance alloys. ACT will leverage their experience with high-temperature vapor chambers and heat pipes to design similar piston-integrated thermal management solutions that minimize surface hot spots and efficiently transfer heat through the body of the piston. Wayne State University will use CFD-based design tools to optimize piston crown geometries, leading to further improvements in the piston’s structural and thermal performance. Piston geometry will be optimized for maximum thermal and structural performance using similar finite element analyses (FEA) optimization techniques. At the conclusion of Phase I, a 3D-printed prototype piston will be fabricated from an advanced alloy to demonstrate the fabrication feasibility of the optimized design. This Phase I work will form the basis for manufacturing and testing of similar full-scale pistons during Phase II.