The internal combustion engine has a history of more than 100 years. Due to its convenience, high efficiency and reliable operation, it has been widely used in various fields of industrial and agricultural production. However, new energy vehicles are based on electrochemical technology. While achieving higher thermal efficiency (fuel cell thermal efficiency can reach 50%), it also achieves zero or ultra-low emissions from the vehicle. The internal combustion engine of a traditional automobile is a heat engine that works in a way that heat is generated by the mixed combustion of fuels. It cannot achieve zero emissions and faces the bottleneck of efficiency improvement. Therefore, facing the electric vehicle technology that represents the future electric drive mode, the internal combustion engine technology is facing a huge challenge of being eliminated.
However, pure electric technology still needs to face many problems such as power battery cost, service life, energy density, production consistency and precise control, etc., and cannot meet the requirements of normal vehicle operation for a long time; while fuel cell technology is in cost, There are more and more complex technical problems to be solved in terms of environmental adaptability, reliability, and durability, and it is not possible to accurately predict the timetable for commercialization. For other energy technologies, including gas fuel and hybrid power, the internal combustion engine is still the source of power. Therefore, for a long period of time, while combustion technology and exhaust gas purification technology continue to improve, high-reliability, low-cost internal combustion engines are still the most cost-effective power source, and they are still the first choice for automobiles.
Although the automotive industry unanimously believes that the future development direction of automobiles is pure electric or fuel cell, foreign automobile companies have not given up on the development of internal combustion engine technology, but implemented the “walking on two legs” strategy based on their own conditions, that is, they are developing new energy technologies. At the same time, it also actively promotes the development of advanced internal combustion engine technology. Among them, Japanese auto companies focus on the development of hybrid technology based on new internal combustion engine technology: American auto companies are actively promoting the application of pure electric range extension technology and the development of fuel cell technology, while focusing on promoting bioethanol alternative fuel technology; Europe uses Volkswagen While auto companies represented by Benz, Mercedes-Benz and BMW are actively developing pure electric technology, they are also focusing on the development of high-efficiency diesel engine technology and biodiesel technology.
China’s new regulations set annual fuel consumption standards for companies, with targets ranging from loose to tight. From 2015 to 2020, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China (hereinafter referred to as the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology) set the average fuel consumption targets for the production of passenger cars that year were 69 liters, 6.7 liters, 6.4 liters, 6 liters, 5.5 liters and 5 liters per 100 kilometers. Rise, with an average annual decline of about 6.2%. Related national policies are also promoting the development of internal combustion engines. Among them, the traditional internal combustion engine not only has great potential for energy-saving technology improvement, but also because of its power demand in China’s transportation, construction machinery, defense equipment and other fields, the energy-saving impact will be more profound. Therefore, the traditional internal combustion engine is still energy-saving and emission-reducing. The workhorse.
In recent years, with the gradual deepening of research on the working process of internal combustion engines, with the support of increasingly sophisticated electronic precision control technology, internal combustion engine technology has made continuous progress in the field of combustion technology and exhaust gas purification. Gasoline direct injection (GDI), diesel common rail (CR), variable nozzle turbine (VNT), exhaust gas recirculation (EGR), New technologies such as homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) for engines have been continuously applied in industrial applications, and the efficiency and emission control levels of internal combustion engines have been continuously improved.
We also need to continuously improve the internal combustion engine technology, combine the development direction and implementation strategy of China’s new energy vehicles, take into account the development requirements of hybrid and pure electric range extension technology, and develop special internal combustion engines suitable for hybrid power (for example, the Atkinson cycle Gasoline engine) and an efficient integrated internal combustion engine suitable for the power generation and drive needs of extended-range pure electric vehicles.
