Hybrid Engines

Toyota Prius hybrid car engine.

NTRC scientists are developing and applying new diagnostic tools and control strategies to help American automakers and engine companies improve the efficiency of internal combustion engines (ICEs), while simultaneously reducing their harmful exhaust emissions to levels so low they are difficult to measure.

Because modern diesel engines are 30 to 50% more efficient than gasoline engines in cars and light trucks, NTRC scientists have set their sights on drastically reducing the emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter, which threaten respiratory health, so the vehicles will meet federal environmental standards and become more acceptable to American consumers.

For several years NTRC's Fuels, Engines, and Emissions Research Center (FEERC), led by Johney Green and Ron Graves, has focused research on emissions controls and catalyst-based after-treatment technologies for exhaust from diesel engines. Two unique FEERC inventions, the SpaciMS and a phosphor thermography instrument, were used together to map the dynamic, subtle changes in the chemical composition and temperature of emissions passing through a catalyst.

By combining FEERC's diagnostic tools with state-of-the-art electronic engine controls, the center's scientists are elucidating the interactions of exhaust species and the operation of lean-NOx traps, a leading technology for controlling diesel emissions.........