FEV North America combines strip friction process and benchmarking capabilities to meet customer needs regarding improved fuel consumption and product target setting

AUBURN HILLS, MI--April 7, 2014: A reduced-friction gasoline engine mock up will be exhibited by FEV North America, Inc. (FEV) at the upcoming SAE World Congress at Cobo Center in Detroit, Mich. on April 8 – 10, 2014. The displayed engine is a technology carrier that demonstrates how a combination of FEV capabilities – its unique strip method for friction assessment together with the industry's largest benchmarking database – can assist customers in meeting future fuel economy and CO2 targets while also providing quantitative target-setting information that ranks the performance of a complete engine, subsystem, or even a component part relative to competitor products.

To meet the stringent targets, FEV has demonstrated how a well-managed combination of simulation and measurement tools can be leveraged to achieve an optimized engine. Parasitic energy losses, such as friction, offer a high potential for significant improvements within the engine optimization process. FEV's strip friction reduction process focuses on every area of the combustion engine. The methodology allows FEV to determine the frictional contribution of each component/subsystem individually, adding up to the global engine friction losses.

The process begins by a global baseline friction measurement. Then individual components and/or subsystems are removed and a reassessment is made. Additionally, FEV measures oil and coolant flows and pressures at different locations within the engine. The measurements are conducted over discrete speed sweeps up to maximum speed in predefined rpm increments. In testing, FEV uses a dedicated dynamometer environment that ensures the necessary accuracy, data repeatability and quality.

FEV engineers then perform simulations to assess the contribution of downsizing or component optimization, using a large database of competitor products to accurately predict the benefit of the friction reduction effort. This process will be highlighted in the FEV North America, Inc. exhibit in booth 603 at the SAE World Congress.

The results provided by FEV allow its customers to quickly evaluate potential improvement areas, and provide a sense of where a product is positioned relative to competitors. The results and recommendations from such a program allow a customer to make targeted changes in design, materials, manufacturing processes, and other value engineering options, to decrease the development time cycle and rapidly improve their products.