Hybrid Electric Turbocharging

Abstract

Emission regulations applied to marine industry for amongst others the propulsion system of a vessel are becoming stricter due to governmental
agreements to lower the greenhouse gas emissions. Engine manufactures
are enhancing their engine designs to reduce the engine fuel consumption, which is commonly done by implementing a turbocharger to downsize the engine. One large drawback which comes with a turbocharged engine is the low torque development for the low to mid engine speed range due to limitations set to prevent unstable turbocharger phenomena. Moreover, the engine is not able to follow the power request almost instantaneously due to a time delay between the engine and turbocharger response. Formula One engineers close this gap by introducing an integrated electric machine into the turbocharger structure (hybrid electric turbocharger) to, first, take power out from the turbocharger to increase the system efficiency, and second by assisting the turbocharger to improve the engine power delivery response.

However, the understanding of the effects of a hybrid electric turbocharger on both the system efficiency as well as the engine loading capability is lacking. One turbocharger limit, the compressor surge, is not concerned in most literature what rises the need for further research up to which extent the engine can be assisted with the hybrid electric turbocharger. In this work, the effect of taking power from the turbocharger to increase the system efficiency, called turbocompounding, is investigated. Turbocharger assistance is investigated for both steady state as well as dynamic operation. The effect of assisting the turbocharger for steady state operation is investigated to increase the engine’s operating envelope. Dynamic operation comprises the investigating up to which extent the assisting mode improves the dual fuel engine’s loading capability for four types of engine loading. These types of engine loading are: one instant load step, three consecutive load steps from 0 - 100% load, a load ramp and, last, a sinusoidal engine loading.

This has been done with a simulation-based study wherein a mean value dual fuel engine model is composed based on merging two available mean value engine models, after which it is verified and validated. Thereafter power take in/out together with an air excess ratio control strategy is included by means of adding/taking torque to/from the turbocharger shaft and limiting it with eight boundary controllers to avoid impractical situations. With turbocompounding the system efficiency can be increased at the expense of a deteriorated gas exchange and increased thermal loading of the engine. The maximum quantity of recovered energy to be obtained, requires a hybrid electric turbocharger which replaces a waste gated turbocharger instead of a non-waste gated single stage turbocharger. Taking power from the turbocharger lowers the power available for the compressor which leads to reduced inlet receiver pressure and corresponding lowering of the air excess ratio and deterioration of the scavenging process.

Assisting the turbocharger for steady state operation leads to a smaller operating envelope due to the limitation of compressor surge. Combining turbocharger assistance with gas exchange bypass valves, to avoid compressor
surge, results in a rise of the low speed torque output up to an almost constant engine torque output. The system efficiency can be improved for the low speed region when the turbocharger is assisted in combination with the gas exchange valves.

The load step capability, found by limiting the minimum air excess ratio during the load step event, cannot be increased with turbocharger assistance which starts to speed up the turbocharger immediately after the load step is applied to the engine. However, the recovery time needed before a second load step can be taken, is reduced with turbocharger assistance compared to the baseline engine. When the turbocharger assistance starts to speed up the turbocharger a couple of seconds before the load is applied, the load step capability can be improved. A load ramp can be taken in a shorter period of time with turbocharger assistance enabled. For cyclic loading, the hybrid electric turbocharger operates in turbocompounding mode for the lower load frequencies, and assistance is used for the higher load frequencies. With turbocharger assistance the air excess
ratio does follow the sinusoidal engine load while the air excess ratio of the non-assisted engine always lags due to the turbocharger lag.

Further research should be done with regard to a hybrid electric turbocharger for the natural gas combustion of the dual fuel engine. Using the engine speed drop should be implemented as limitation for the loading capability determination instead of the minimum allowable air excess ratio applied in this thesis.