Lotus and Orbital Form Strategic Alliance
19 February 1998
Lotus and Orbital Form Strategic Alliance
PERTH, Australia, Feb. 19 -- Australia's Orbital Engine
Company (Australia) Pty. Ltd. (Orbital) announces the signing of a Memorandum
of Understanding with Lotus Engineering (the world leading automotive
consultancy engineering division of the British company Group Lotus Limited).
The alliance enables Orbital and Lotus to capitalize on the geographic
location and extensive facilities of each company and to fully exploit the
complimentary engineering expertise and technology existing between the
companies. Through this alliance, Orbital and Lotus will be offering a
complete turn-key package comprising the unique Orbital Combustion Process
gasoline Direct Injection (OCP DI) System along with the world-class
engineering capability of Lotus.
Lotus and Orbital envisage the sharing of each others facilities. Lotus
will have access to Orbital's Australian facilities in close proximity to the
Australasian automotive markets. Similarly, Orbital will be able to have
access to Lotus' state-of-the-art engineering and research facilities in
Britain in order to service and support their European customers on a timely
basis.
The companies will take advantage of the synergistic automotive
engineering expertise of Orbital and Lotus. Kim Schlunke (Orbital) stated
that Lotus' experience in the design and development of fourstroke engines
will be invaluable in servicing Orbital's direct injection customers. Chris
Knight (Lotus) in turn, recognizes the specific advantages of Orbital's direct
fuel injection technology and wishes to promote it as part of their
engineering business marketing portfolio.
Orbital Four-Stroke Air Assisted, Stratified
Charge Direct Injection OCP Technology
The utilization of air assisted direct injection enables lean, stratified
combustion to be achieved on conventional four-stroke engine designs.
Air assisted charge preparation, low penetration rate and late injection
timing (25-30 deg BTDC) of the OCP system enable fuel economy improvements of
up to 20% to be achieved over the European Drive Cycle with simultaneous
control of both HC and NOx emissions.
The design of the OCP system also enables very high tolerance to EGR
levels across a wide operating range. Fuel economy improvements of up to
34% and NOx reduction of up to 95% at the 2000 rev/min 2bar bmep test point
have been demonstrated.
Good control of spray penetration, charge containment and fuel particle
size of the OCP system has enabled hydrocarbon emissions of the test engine to
be maintained at MPI levels despite the addition of up to 40% EGR.
Fuel Spray Characteristics
Central to realizing the fuel economy of DI combustion is the ability to
run a highly stratified, lean combustion process which in turn is highly
dependent on the control of the penetration and dispersion of the fuel cloud
in the combustion chamber. In order to minimize wall-wetting and maximize
stratification at partial loads, a "soft" spray characteristic is desirable,
an inherent quality of the low-pressure air-assisted injection system.
Emissions
The advantage that the Orbital DI4S technology offers engine manufacturers
is the potential to meet the most stringent emissions standards in the world,
such as the 2000 European Stage III standards, at a lower cost than competing
technologies, while delivering significant fuel economy savings.
Cylinder Head Design
The base engine design does not have to change significantly to
incorporate the Orbital DI4S system. This implies that many of the cost,
reliability and performance characteristics of the original engine are
retained. These factors translate to a short lead time to production for the
Orbital DI4S technology.
Orbital Combustion Process benefits
Over the last three years knowledge obtained from the development of the
Orbital Direct Injected two-stroke engine has facilitated application of
Orbital's fuel system and combustion process technology to existing
four-stroke engines to enhance their present fuel economy, power and emissions
control.
By using air assistance and low pressure for atomization and metering, the
Orbital DI4S system does not need the very close tolerances required of high
pressure DI systems. This will allow Orbital DI4S technology to be relatively
insensitive to the production variability, wear and carbon deposit build-up
problems that can degrade high mileage emissions in fuel injected vehicles.
Presently there is a high level of interest in direct injected technology
for four-stroke engines in the automotive industry. Orbital has been
approached by several major automotive companies, as it is recognized as a
leader in direct injection combustion for stratified charge gasoline engines.
NEDC 10-POINT SIMULATION
1360kg ITWC, 2 LITRE, 4 CYL ZETEC ENGINE
FE FE HC(A) CO(A) NOx(A)
(km/1) Saving % (g/km) (g/km) (g/km)
MPI NO EGR 11.70 0.0% 0.85 5.46 1.64
DI WITH EGR 13.64 16.6% 1.10 6.68 0.25
DI DUAL INJ 13.84 18.3% 1.17 5.39 0.25
Hi FLOW EGR 14.05 20.1% 1.30 3.88 0.26
(A) Emissions data measured before catalyst, i.e. feedgas emissions.
SOURCE Orbital Engine Corporation