A Numerical Study of an Electrically Assisted Boosting System for Turbocharged Diesel Engines

Abstract Modern diesel engines are normally turbocharged in order to achieve desired fuel economy and meet emission requirements. The well-known “turbo-lag”, delayed engine torque response to driver’s demand, is the main disadvantage for turbocharged engines operated under transient conditions. In addition, at low engine speed, the peak engine output torque is heavily limited by the available turbine energy. As a result, turbocharged engines have degraded peak torque at low speed and slow transient responses in general. Various technologies (variable geometry turbine, electrically assisted turbocharger, hydraulically assisted turbocharger, etc.) have been developed to improve transient response and low-speed torque performance. This paper presents a numerical study of an electrically assisted boosting (eBoost) system for a turbocharged diesel engine through 1-D simulations. This study focuses on two main areas: the electrical compensation at steady-state and turbo-lag reduction under transient operation. It is shown that the eBoost system is capable of increasing engine fuel economy at mid-speed and greatly improving low-speed peak torque. In addition, the eBoost system improves engine transient performance by reducing response time up to 60%.