SEMINAR REPORT

MULTI AIR ENGINE

1.INTRODUCTION
Fiat Group was one of the first manufacturers to adopt what has become the increasingly common practice of improving official fuel economy and CO2 emissions by creating a small forced-induction engine which uses fuel at a modest rate when the turbocharger isn't operating but produces similar power to a much larger unit when it is. In 2 ! " it has ta#en the idea a stage further by introducing various versions the !.$-litre %ulti&ir petrol engine to the 'unto (vo and &lfa )omeo %i*o ranges. In the Geneva &uto +how to launch a new engine technology which could ultimately be as important as the common rail diesel technology it invented !, years ago. -ubbed %ulti&ir" the hydraulically-actuated variable valve timing .//*0 technology was first announced as a concept two years ago" and offers a more controllable flow of air during the combustion cycle in comparison with mechanical //* systems. /astly reduced fuel consumption and emmissions plus significantly more power are claimed" and the technology is even more effective when used with a supercharger or a diesel engine. Fiat claims %ultiair is a fundamental brea#through in petrol engine design that will dramatically cut fuel consumption" as well as significantly boosting power and tor1ue" cutting carbon dio2ide emissions by between ! and 2, percent" and up to a 3 percent reduction in other engine pollutants. *his higher output will allow Fiat to replace larger engines with smaller" more efficient ones" and the company's !. liter and !.$ liter engines will be the first to get the new technology" along with a new 4 cc twin cylinder engine. 5nli#e the common rail diesel technology" which it sold to 6osch during a financial crisis" and has regreted ever since" FI&* will not be relin1uishing ownership of the new %ultiair system" having announced it will license it to other manufacturers or provide entire engines.

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History
*he %ultiair technology too# over a decade to get finished. *he vice president of Fiat 'owertrain )esearch 7 -evelopment )inaldo )inolfi led the team who developed the technology. -evelopment costs were over 8! million. *here was also delay in development" in the time .2 -2 ,0 when Fiat was in partnership with General %otors.

Other systems
Currently ready alternatives to industriali9ation do not e2ist" but there are under development also totally camless systems. *he /alvetronic system used by 6%: allows the valve timing and lift to be varied but not the cam profile. *he ability to vary the latter is characteristic of camless and the %ultiair systems.

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Development of the Fiat MultiAir system

In the last decade" the development of Common )ail technology for diesel engines mar#ed a brea#through in the passenger car mar#et. *o be e1ually competitive in the field of petrol engines" Fiat Group decided to follow the same approach and focus on brea#through technologies. *he aim was to provide customers with substantial benefits in terms of fuel economy and driving pleasure" while maintaining the engine;s intrinsic refinement" based on a smooth combustion process and on light structures and components. *he #ey parameter to control diesel engine combustion and therefore performance" emissions and fuel consumption" is the 1uantity and characteristics of the fuel in<ected into the cylinders. *hat is the reason why the Common )ail electronic diesel fuel in<ection system was such a fundamental brea#through in direct in<ection diesel engine technology. =owever" the #ey to controlling petrol engine combustion" and therefore performance" emissions and fuel consumption is the 1uantity and characteristics of the fresh air charge in the cylinders. In conventional petrol engines the air mass trapped in the cylinders is controlled by #eeping the inta#e valve opening constant and ad<usting upstream pressure through a throttle valve. One of the drawbac#s of this simple conventional mechanical control is that the engine wastes about ! per cent of the input energy in pumping the air charge from a lower inta#e pressure to the atmospheric e2haust pressure. & fundamental brea#through in air mass control" and therefore in petrol engine technology" is based on direct air charge metering at the cylinder inlet ports by means of advanced electronic actuation and control of the inta#e valves" while maintaining a constant natural upstream pressure. )esearch on this #ey technology started in the ;> s" when engine electronic control reached the stage of a mature technology.

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&t the outset" world-wide research efforts were focused on the electromagnetic actuation concept" by which valve opening and closing is obtained by alternatively energising upper and lower magnets with an armature connected to the valve. *his actuating principle had the intrinsic appeal of ma2imum fle2ibility and dynamic response in valve control" but despite a decade of significant development efforts" the main drawbac#s of the concept ? it being intrinsically not fail-safe and its high energy absorption ? could not be fully overcome. &t this point most automotive companies fell bac# on the development of the simpler" robust and well-#nown electromechanical concepts" based on valve lift variation through dedicated mechanisms" usually combined with camshaft phasers to allow control of both valve lift and phase. *he main limitation of these systems is low fle2ibility in valve opening schedules and a much lower dynamic response@ for e2ample" all the cylinders of an engine ban# are actuated simultaneously" thereby e2cluding any cylinder selective actions. %any similar electromechanical valve control systems were subse1uently introduced over the past decade. In the mid ;4 s" Fiat Group research efforts switched to electro-hydraulic actuation" leveraging on the #now-how gained during its Common )ail development. *he goal was to reach the desired fle2ibility of valve opening schedule air mass control on a cylinder-by-cylinder and stro#e-by-stro#e basis. *he electro-hydraulic variable valve actuation technology developed by Fiat was selected for its relative simplicity" low power re1uirements" intrinsic failsafe nature and low cost potential.

MultiAir Technology: how it works

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*he operating principle of the system" applied to inta#e valves" is the followingA a piston" moved by a mechanical inta#e camshaft" is connected to the inta#e valve through a hydraulic chamber" which is controlled by a normally open onBoff solenoid valve. :hen the solenoid valve is closed" the oil in the hydraulic chamber behaves li#e a solid body and transmits to the inta#e valves the lift schedule imposed by the mechanical inta#e camshaft. :hen the solenoid valve is open" the hydraulic chamber and the inta#e valves are de-coupled@ the inta#e valves do not follow the inta#e camshaft anymore and close under the valve spring action. *he final part of the valve closing stro#e is controlled by a dedicated hydraulic bra#e" to ensure a soft and regular landing phase in any engine operating conditions. *hrough solenoid valve opening and closing time control" a wide range of optimum inta#e valve opening schedules can be easily obtained. For ma2imum power" the solenoid valve is always closed and full valve opening is achieved following completely the mechanical camshaft" which is specifically designed to ma2imise power at high engine speed .long opening time0. For low-rpm tor1ue" the solenoid valve is opened near the end of the camshaft profile" leading to early inta#e valve closing. *his eliminates unwanted bac#flow into the manifold and ma2imises the air mass trapped in CARMEL POLYTECHNIC [13] AUTOMOBILE DEPT

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the cylinders. In engine part-load" the solenoid valve is opened earlier" causing partial valve openings to control the trapped air mass as a function of the re1uired tor1ue. &lternatively the inta#e valves can be partially opened by closing the solenoid valve once the mechanical camshaft action has already started. In this case the air stream into the cylinder is faster and results in higher incylinder turbulence. *he last two actuation modes can be combined in the same inta#e stro#e" generating a so-called %ultilift mode that enhances turbulence and combustion rate at very low loads.

Further Potential of MultiAir Technology

&ll brea#through technologies open a new world of further potential benefits" which are usually not fully e2ploited in the first generation. Common )ail technology" a Fiat Group worldwide premiere in !44C" paved the way to more than a decade of further technological evolutions such as CARMEL POLYTECHNIC [13] AUTOMOBILE DEPT

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%ultiDet for multiple in<ections" small diesel engines" and the recent %odular In<ection technology" soon to be launched on the mar#et. +imilarly" %ulti&ir technology will pave the way to further technological evolutions for petrol enginesA Integration of the %ulti&ir -irect air mass control with direct petrol In<ection to further improve transient response and fuel economy. Introduction of more advanced multiple valve opening strategies to further reduce emissions. Innovative engine-turbocharger matching to control trapped air mass through a combination of optimum boost pressure and valve opening strategies. :hile electronic petrol in<ection developed in the ;C s and Common )ail developed in the ;4 s were fuel-specific brea#through technologies" %ulti&ir (lectronic /alve Control technology can be applied to all internal combustion engines whatever fuel they burn. %ulti&ir" initially developed for spar# ignition engines burning light fuel ranging from petrol to natural gas and hydrogen" also has wide potential for diesel engine emissions reduction.

Intrinsic EO2 reduction of up to 3 per cent can be obtained by internal e2haust gas recirculation .i(G)0 realised with inta#e valves reopening during the e2haust stro#e" while optimal valve control strategies during cold start and warm-up bring up to $ per cent =C and CO reduction of emissions. Further substantial reductions come from the more efficient management and regeneration of the diesel particulate filter and EO2 storage catalyst" than#s to the highly dynamic air mass flow control during transient engine operation.

-iesel engine performance improvement is similar to that of the petrol engine and is based on the same physical principles. Instead" fuel consumption benefits are limited to few percentage points because of the low pumping losses of diesel engines" one of the reasons for their superior fuel economy. In the future" powertrain technical evolution might benefit from a progressive unification of petrol and diesel engine designs. & %ulti&ir engine cylinder head can therefore be conceived and developed" where both combustion systems can be fully optimised without compromise. CARMEL POLYTECHNIC [13] AUTOMOBILE DEPT

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*he %ulti&ir electro-hydraulic actuator is physically the same" with minor machining differences" while internal sub-components are all carried over from Fiat;s FI)( and +G( applications.

Difference between MultiAir an e!isting variable valve timing "##T$ systems

Current //* systems rely on mechanical systems to open and close the valves. (ngineers have long understood the benefits of changing valve opening and closing times to twea# an engine's power and emissions performance" depending on the need for power or parsimony. /alves are an engine's nose and mouth ? it inhales through inlet valves and e2hales through e2haust valves. +ounds simple enough" but actually engines are a lot li#e people. -epending on what they're doing" they need to breathe more or less air and the timing and rate of their breathing needs to vary. Fi#e competitive swimmers who time their breathing to match the stro#e" an engine wants to ta#e long deep breaths when it's wor#ing hard CARMEL POLYTECHNIC [13] AUTOMOBILE DEPT

SEMINAR REPORT and short shallow ones when it isn't.

MULTI AIR ENGINE

*rouble is" it can't. *he ancient method of opening and closing valve" the camshaft" is still in use today because it's simple to ma#e" robust and very effective. (ach valve is opened by a rotating cam on the camshaft whose shape and si9e controls how the valve opens and shuts and when it does so. *he valve is closed by a simple spring because" in ! years" no-one's found a better tool for the <ob. 6ut what's right for developing high power at high rpm isn't right for that tor1uey" low-speed slog around town and greater variability of valve opening and closing helps reduce consumption and CO2 emissions too. & lot of modern engines try to overcome the inade1uacies of the traditional valvetrain with phasers to vary the timing of when valves open and shut. *hey may also have cam profile switching .li#e the =onda /*(C system0" which switches to a hotter cam profile at higher revs. 6ut the effect is limited. If the engine were a swimmer" it would still be gagging to get the right amount of air at e2actly the right time" li#e when its face was under water.

*he %ulti&ir system replaces the twin camshafts of a four-valves-per-cylinder engine. It's so cleverly designed" not only can it be incorporated in new engines" it fits e2siting motors too ? so potentially all sorts of engines .not <ust Fiat's0 could use it. *he single camshaft opens up all four valves. (2haust valves are not variable and are opened in the usual way by mechanical cam lobes. 6ut between the inlet cam lobes and inlet valves are hydraulic chambers from which oil can be released by electronic solenoid valves.

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MultiAir Technology benefits

%a2imum power is increased by up to ! per cent than#s to the adoption of a power-orientated mechanical camshaft profile. Fow )'% tor1ue is improved by up to !, per cent through early inta#e valve closing strategies that ma2imise the air mass trapped in the cylinders. (limination of pumping losses brings a ! per cent reduction in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions" both in naturally aspirated and turbocharged engines with the same displacement. %ulti&ir turbocharged and downsi9ed engines can achieve up to 2, per cent fuel economy improvement over conventional naturally aspirated engines with the same level of performance. Optimum valve control strategies during engine warm-up and internal e2haust gas recirculation" realised by reopening the inta#e valves during the e2haust stro#e" result in emissions reductions ranging from $ per cent for unburnt hydrocarbons and carbon mono2ide .=CBCO0" and up to a 3 per cent cut in o2ides of nitrogen" .EO20. Constant upstream air pressure" atmospheric for CARMEL POLYTECHNIC [13] AUTOMOBILE DEPT

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naturally aspirated and higher for turbocharged engines" together with e2tremely fast air mass control" cylinder-by-cylinder and stro#e-by-stro#e"

result in a superior dynamic engine response" and enhanced driving pleasure. %ulti&ir is applicable to all internal combustion engines" regardless of the fuel used. It can be adapted for diesel engines to reduce their EO2 emissions and ma#e particulate filters significantly more effective.

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%onclusion
In short" an engine e1uipped with Fiat %ulti&ir technology is more powerful" more responsive across the entire engine speed range" uses considerably less fuel" and reduces all types of e2haust emissions by a substantial amount. It will also assist in enabling Fiat to maintain its lead in low emissions and low fuel consumption technology" which has seen Fiat CARMEL POLYTECHNIC [13] AUTOMOBILE DEPT

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crowned for the past two years as the number one car ma#er for the lowest range-wide CO2 emissions. *he first new engine to be e1uipped with %ulti&ir will be the !3-valve !.$ litre family of naturally aspirated and turbocharged engines" and the first car to go on sale with %ulti&ir installed will be the &lfa %i*o at the end of 2 4. Its second application will be as an integral part of a new two cylinder engine family.

&'F'&'(%')
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