Cold start engine warm-up strategies

Focus on solutions to tackle primary constituents of automotive pollution

The introduction of RDE and equivalent regulations around the world dictate the need to adhere to lower NOx levels and fleet CO2 requirements, and thus mandate the environment-friendly design of next generation of Internal Combustion (IC) engines. A highlighted concern is the occurrence of inefficient combustion during start of an engine under cold conditions. Technologies have been developed to improve its thermal efficiency at cold-start and rapidly bring it to steady state temperatures, where after-treatment works most effectively. In the EU, fuel consumption figures for newly produced cars will be quantified from WLTP and RDE test procedure, which now capture cold-start tailpipe emissions. Hence, strategies to improve cold-start efficiency are a must to reduce fuel consumption and emissions, which potentially means improvements in fuel injection systems, better lubricants, intricate engine control strategies and employment of advanced exhaust manifolds as well as the fundamental exhaust after-treatment components.