IC Engine is in a survival mode

Coal Vs petroleum

Steam power was a concept that the ancient world was aware of. But it assumed an industrial and commercial dimension only in the late 18th century when James Watt modernized the existing prototypes. This marked a historic deviation from wind-powered logistics. However, at a low-key level though, the promises of Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) were explored in the western world during the same period. But it took more than a century for ICE to edge out steam engines from the center stage. The basic reason was simple economics. Coal was available aplenty in the western world and fluid state fossil fuels were not in vogue, except for academic curiosity and limited domestic utilities. When Marco Polo, who explored the orient along the classical?silk route crossing?west Asia and central Asia, reported about a black liquid gushing from the earth, very few in the west believed?it.?

The debut of IC engines

In the late 18th century, scientists and engineers in France, Italy, Switzerland, and the UK were toying with the concept of ICE at various levels. The pursuit happened to have industrial and commercial pertinence only in the late 19th century when gifted German entrepreneurs took up the challenge. In 1879, Karl Benz obtained the patent for a gasoline-fueled ICE and in 1886 gasoline-powered motor vehicles hit the German roads. In 1892 the first compression ignition engine was introduced by Rudolf Diesel. These two developments had a standing impact on the roads in the century that followed. As a result, petroleum products obtained more economic value, eclipsing coal, and Standard Oil owned by John Rockefeller hit the jackpot.?In the brutal market dynamics, the winner takes it all and?pragmatism alone is the?governing factor.?As ICE proved to be more feasible and reliable, and petroleum products were fairly cheap, battery-powered automobiles failed to find any traction in the 20th century. Subsequently, huge industrial giants emerged in the automotive industry in Germany, France, Italy, the UK, and the USA. Shortly many Far Eastern powers also joined the race in the gone century.

It was almost smooth sailing up until 1973. The first jolt rocked the applecart when the humiliated west Asian autocracies chose to use petroleum to camouflage their bungled posture and saber-rattling against Israel. The staged petroleum shock was followed by the greenhouse scare and increased environmental vigilance. The petroleum-based automobile industry has ever since been struggling to brave the challenges through bolstered R&D efforts. Fuel efficiency and exhaust gas quality regulations were the governing parameters in the endeavor.?Lately, another rival has seriously made its debut into the arena;- greener substitutes for fossil fuels. Though petroleum is likely to lose its hold as a potent political weapon, brandished for multipronged political leverage, ICE will continue to hold on for some time more transforming itself to take on the emerging legislative and technological challenges.

The challenge

Hydrogen fuel cells, battery cars, hybrid engines, and green energy initiatives are catching momentum. The go green revolution sweeping the world would pose a serious challenge to the fossil fuel economy. As of now, ICE is holding out owing to efficiency and price. The energy transformation rate, which is at best 40%, cannot go up to stunning levels owing to fundamental imperatives of thermodynamics. However, taking recourse to novel and lighter building materials, mileage is steadily on the rise. Indeed light weighting strategy could keep the industry bullish for some time more. Improvements in the gear systems, lower numerical axle ratios, direct fuel injection, reduction of engine accessory loading, advanced vehicle aerodynamics, improved cooling airflow sealing, etc., are areas of improvisation. Many high-tech cars have the start/stop technology in place already to stop the car when idling and to start when the brake is released to improve fuel economy.?There is still space for optimizing the combustion and charging processes. Friction reduction on all moving parts including the gear system, engine, and power transmission to the wheels is another area for improvement.

Technological progression

The trail of ICE finetuning, hand in hand with the emerging technologies, is a long one. For example from the stage gravity flow combustion mixtures and two valve systems, the injection systems are now much more advanced and closely monitored. Similarly, the giants in the field, such as Toyota, Lexus, BMW, Mitsubishi, Holden, Nissan, and Land Rover are offering hybrid engines in which multiple energy sources are provided. In certain cases, when the load is pretty less and acceleration is not needed, the power source could be an electric motor switching off the engine, saving considerable amounts of fuel. Many automobiles can seamlessly switch to LPG or gasoline easily.?Similarly,?the old carburetor system is a thing of the past. In the direct injection system, the charge is collected into the intake manifold, to gush into the cylinders turn-wise. Here the requirement of fuel in each cylinder is controlled and optimized.?In the modern diesel and turbo-diesel engines, 'TDI' (turbo direct injection) also this method is practiced. Variable valve timing (VVT) offers for optimizing valve operation reducing fuel consumption and emissions. Turbocharging, enriching the feed air with the support of fans utilizing the energy lost along with the exhaust gases, has become a common feature in many modern cars, boosting fuel efficiency and more oxidation of the fuel. Turbocharging was first introduced in sleazy sports cars in the late 20th century.?Another method for saving fuel is by selectively and automatically switching off a few cylinders when the power requirement is minimal, such as cruising on the highways at a steady speed. Hydrogen-fueled IC engines might make headway in the future. As of now, there are certain technical hurdles in the way, such as storage, safety, and corrosion management. Once the minor on-the-ground impediments are sorted out, hydrogen fuel could be a promising solution as it has 20% more fuel efficiency and the exhaust gas is only water vapor and thus perfectly environment friendly.

The composition of the fuel is also undergoing conspicuous evolution to make it compatible with stringent environmental regulations. Bio-diesel and ethanol are increasing their presence in the industry. The advantage of ICE is that it has a two centuries-long tradition of technological progression. Piston-crankshaft-based ICE can still continue to improve to be a match for the newly fanged alternate technologies as they need many more years to come of age. Still, there are people who hold the view that the future of ICE is in rotor engines.

There are focused areas of research to further finetune the charging and energy translation processes, optimizing the whole gamut of operations. They include Combustion mechanisms in spark and compression ignition engines; Fuel injection and spray formation; Pollutants formation (particulate matter, NOx, CO, HC, noise); Exhaust after-treatment systems (three-way catalysts, oxidation catalysts, diesel and gasoline particulate filters, SCR, NOx?adsorbers); Internal measures for emission control (EGR, water injection, etc.); Performance and emissions during certification (driving and engine) cycles; Transient engine operation; Turbocharging; Alternative fuels and biofuels effects on engine performance and emissions (ethanol, butanol, biodiesel, dimethyl ether, Fischer Tropsch, etc.); Novel combustion systems (HCCI, PCCI, and RCCI) and many more.

Insights from the Relecura database

Let us take a look at the latest advances in ICE, as the Relecura database divulges. It gives us an insight into the emerging technologies, companies, white spaces, and the strong technology areas in terms of publications. The prominent companies are also highlighted in this exercise, combing the database covering 160 geographies.?

Here is the link to the complete techtracker report: https://tracker.relecura.com/index.php/dashboard/openShareLink/801070a3cb1de138f70228bde5f2894f

Figure 1: Toyota leads the show

When the ultimate parents are considered, the technological giants in the field are Toyota, Bosch, Denso, Honda, Nissan, Hyundai, Hitachi, Mitsubishi, GM, and Sumitomo. It is interesting that Japanese automobile giants have a domineering presence in the area.

Figure 2: Geographical distribution of patents

However, when the volume of publications is considered, China is far ahead of the rest. Japan, the second in line, has 874466 publications. it is followed by the US, South Korea, Germany, and the UK.

Though this is an area of intense research and competition, it is remarkable that after 2020, there is a slackening in publications. But it is too early to prognosticate that this might portent the beginning of the end.

The emerging technologies are mostly in Machine learning, Computers utilizing knowledge-based models, Types of sensors for vehicle control systems, Types of sensors for vehicle control systems, Estimation, calculation of driving parameters for vehicle drive control, Information retrieval; Database structures; File system structures, Advanced driver assistance systems for vehicle drive control, Reading or recognizing printed or written characters, Conjoint control of vehicle sub-units of different type or function, and speech recognition.

There are around twenty emerging companies in the domain and most of them are from China. They include FAW JIEFANG AUTOMOTIVE CO, BEIJING AUTOMOTIVE RESEARCH INSTITUTE, GUANGZHOU XPENG AUTOMOBILE TECH CO LTD, ZHEJIANG LEAPMOTOR TECH CO LTD, and SHANGHAI LANGBO COMM TECH CO LTD to name a few.

Conclusion

IC engines are the cynosures of urban life today. But nothing stands forever. When affordability and resilience reach a certain significant level, the latest nature-friendly sedans will take over. Even then ICE has a pertinence as hydrogen could effectively replace fossil fuels and internal combustion technology could remain intact to a certain degree. The petrodollar-based economy has its political interests and environmental externalities. But time will not permit anything on state more than necessary. As of now, the global economic flywheel is not robust enough to absorb the catastrophic collapse of crude oil economies pegged to the US dollar. The crude-dollar coupling is not crude anymore, it has its tentacles spread across geopolitical boundaries.