Review of Advancement in Variable Valve Actuation of Internal Combustion Engines
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applied sciences Review Review of Advancement in Variable Valve Actuation of Internal Combustion Engines Zheng Lou 1,* and Guoming Zhu 2 1 LGD Technology, LLC, 11200 Fellows Creek Drive, Plymouth, MI 48170, USA 2 Mechanical Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected] Received: 16 December 2019; Accepted: 22 January 2020; Published: 11 February 2020 Abstract: The increasing concerns of air pollution and energy usage led to the electrification of the vehicle powertrain system in recent years. On the other hand, internal combustion engines were the dominant vehicle power source for more than a century, and they will continue to be used in most vehicles for decades to come; thus, it is necessary to employ advanced technologies to replace traditional mechanical systems with mechatronic systems to meet the ever-increasing demand of continuously improving engine efficiency with reduced emissions, where engine intake and the exhaust valve system represent key subsystems that affect the engine combustion efficiency and emissions. This paper reviews variable engine valve systems, including hydraulic and electrical variable valve timing systems, hydraulic multistep lift systems, continuously variable lift and timing valve systems, lost-motion systems, and electro-magnetic, electro-hydraulic, and electro-pneumatic variable valve actuation systems. Keywords: engine valve systems; continuously variable valve systems; engine valve system control; combustion optimization 1. Introduction With growing concerns on energy security and global warming, there are global efforts to develop more efficient vehicles with lower regulated emissions, including hybrid electrical vehicles, electrical vehicles, and fuel cell vehicles. Hybrid electrical vehicles became a significant part of vehicle production because of their overall efficiency, and they still pose a significant cost penalty, resulting in a stagnant market penetration of 3.2% and 2.7% in 2013 and 2018, respectively, in the United States (US), for example [1]. Electrical vehicles reached a market penetration of 1.3% in the US in 2018 [1], still limited by high cost and concerns on well-to-wheel CO2 emissions, charging speed, driving range, battery safety, and battery recycling issues. Fuel cell vehicles offer truly low overall emissions with driving range and fueling time comparable to vehicles powered by internal combustion engines. Hydrogen [2], the favorable fuel for fuel cells, can be generated from diverse sources, including natural gas, nuclear, coal, and renewable sources such as solar, wind, biomass, hydro, and geothermal sources. The development of fuel cell vehicles [3] is still in its infancy because of issues in technology maturity, cost, and performance, with only a few thousands of pilot vehicles on the road worldwide. Internal combustion engines are believed to remain as a major part of vehicle powertrains in the foreseeable future, either standing alone or being part of highly electrified powertrains such as hybrid electrical vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles, and range extender vehicles, unless there is a major technology breakthrough in battery and/or fuel cell technology. For these reasons, it is imperative to continue advancement in more efficient and less polluting internal combustion engines. Appl. Sci. 2020, 10, 1216; doi:10.3390/app10041216 www.mdpi.com/journal/applsci Appl. Sci. 2020, 10, x FOR PEER REVIEW 2 of 19 The combustion in an internal combustion engine involves three key components: in-cylinder fuel, air, and ignition. In gasoline engines, the fuel injection process evolved from a pure mechanical process such as via a carburetor to an electronically controlled process such as via port fuel injection Appl.or the Sci. recently2020, 10, 1216adopted direction injection (see Figure 1). Spark ignition via a spark plug is completely2 of 20 electronically controlled for spark energy and timing. With its gaseous state, low density, and, thus, large volume, the electronic control of air exchange was a slow evolution process, from variable valve 1.1. 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