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Engine Laboratory

Location:13-126

The Engine Laboratory at Cal Poly is continuously being upgraded through the generous support of the Honeywell Corporation. The current focus is to prepare the laboratory for a potential shift toward automotive research. A series of senior projects, graduate theses, and student club activities allow students to further develop the lab for instructional use, and to attract externally-funded research programs.

Continuing efforts include enhanced emissions testing equipment, hardware-in-the-loop capabilities, advanced combustion studies, and vehicle prototyping and testing. In addition, a simulation community is being developed to model vehicle subsystems and components. This research lends itself to simulation-based, optimal vehicle design; the results from which will be validated and verified through experimentation. The following list briefly describes the various experiments in the Engine Laboratory, all of which have benefited from the yearly Honeywell contribution.

• The Hybrid Vehicle Design Team: This student team prepares students for careers in systems engineering via a multidisciplinary group that draws from a wide range of majors at Cal Poly. Through design, analysis, fabrication, and testing of hybrid electric vehicle systems, students gain a hands-on appreciation for what a real engineering career entails. The team has competed nationally and will now use their vehicle to educate local and state communities about advanced powertrain solutions. The team activities are integrated within the design curriculum, lending ideas to senior projects, graduate theses, and externally-funded research projects.


• HCCI: A Volkswagen 1.9-liter TDI engine has been retrofitted to study the Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) process. Students and faculty plan to incorporate gasoline direct injection, compression ratio variability, advanced combustion detectors, and water injection combustion control.


• Ford Explorer: This V-8 engine was removed from the FutureTruck Team's vehicle and is currently being overhauled. Students will apply what they learn in their classes to define a set of duty cycles representative of the engine's expected use. These driving patterns will then be provided to the new dynamometer controller in order to predict the engine's 'real-life' performance.


• Perkins Diesel: Used mainly for instructional purposes in ME444, students are introduced to compression ignition with this heavy-duty diesel. The effects of varying engine controls on power and emissions outputs are studied. Students perform simulated test schedules and validate the models they develop in individual student projects.


• CFR: The Co-operative Fuel Research (CFR) Engine has been a mainstay in the Engine Lab for many years. Its purpose is to educate students in the fundamental principles involved in engine design, including: compression ratio, spark timing, air-fuel ratio, and manifold tuning. Engine horsepower is measured with a dynamometer, while emissions are acquired and analyzed.


• Water Brake Dynamometers: These dynamometers are used to test the various engines of the SAE teams, as well as provide continuing instruction in various thermal-fluids courses. Two spark ignition engines are attached to these dynamometers at all times for instructional purposes.


• Gas Turbines: Engine Lab contributors also explore power generation using gas turbine engines. As with the reciprocating piston engines, turbine output characteristics are investigated as critical inputs are varied.

View the Engines Lab (Bldg 13-126) Web Camera