The Department of Mechanical Engineering – Engineering Mechanics Graduate Seminar:
Thursday, March 26, 2014 4:00 – 5:00 p.m. Room 103 EERC Bldg.
Dr. William de Ojeda, Navistar
Title: Relevant Research Areas in Heavy-Duty Engines
The drivers for technologies in the Heavy Duty truck market are cleaner emission regulations and higher fuel efficiency standards. This presentation will illustrate how increased engine efficiencies have been attained by more capable injection and charge air systems, while at the same time engine designers work to increase the mechanical limits of the engine to allow operation at higher compression ratios and higher peak cylinder pressures. Reduction of parasitic losses and effective designs to recover the heat energy are also active areas of development. Increased efficiency is accompanied by highly integrated emission reduction technologies. Effective operation of these aftertreatment units require strict thermal management and this presentation will provide insight from novel approaches such as provided by variable valve timing over conventional techniques that require excess fuel. Finally, the area of fuels opens new possibilities for advanced combustion modes. The use of natural gas with Diesel pilot ignition, or gasoline like fuels with Diesel, of oxygenated fuels like Dimethyl Ether represent current areas of research and development and will be briefly reviewed here.
Further advances in HD powertrains with these new fuels will require continuous aligning and successful migration of basic research into the applied work of industry.
Dr. de Ojeda is a senior engineer in Powertrain Group at Navistar where he has led several advanced engine development programs. More recently he directed Navistar’s High Efficiency Vehicle-Engine Supertruck DOE Program based on the Navistar MAXXFORCE13 engine. Dr. de Ojeda holds multiple patents and publications in the
area of electro-hydraulics, variable valve train systems, combustion and controls. He has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from The Cooper Union in New York, a M.S. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from The University of Virginia and a Ph.D. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.