The Combustion Engine in the Stress Field of Future Requirements

Authors

Prof. Dipl.-Ing. W. Bockelmann, Member of the Board, Volkswagen AG, Wolfsburg

Year

2004

Print Info

Fortschritt-Berichte VDI, Reihe 12, Nr. 566

Summary

Despite its more than 100 year old history the internal combustion engine still is the key source of modern mobility and one of the major drivers for our national economy. Due to the impressive development of the internal combustion engine especially during the last 15 years it was possible to continuously reduce fuel consumption and emissions of our vehicles despite rising comfort and security demands. In the future the main challenges will be to have success in the market with costefficient solutions in the field of enhanced legislative limitations. At the same time the special needs of the different markets have to be taken into account. On the way to the fuel cell as a possible longterm solution hybrid vehicles show the greatest potential to reduce CO2 emissions, but the ratio between CO2 reduction and production costs has to be carefully weighed. In this respect the further optimization of the conventional drivetrain becomes important. Partly homogenous combustion is one way to reduce the emission disadvantages of diesel engines compared to SI engines. The combination of direct injection and downsizing by charging is a promising way to reduce the fuel consumption especially of high-power SI engines. Finally, with intelligent drivetrain management – as e. g. with the new Volkswagen direct-shift gear box – CO2 emissions and comfort can be further optimized at the same time.

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