Improving Engine Oil Warm Up through Waste Heat Recovery

Abstract

In the transportation sector, engine oil thermal management has not yet received the attention it deserves in the path towards carbon dioxide and pollutants reduction. During the homologation cycle (which represents a typical daily trip), oil temperature reaches its thermal steady value, which insures best performances in terms of viscosity, only in the final part of the trip, when most part of the harmful emissions have been already emitted; therefore, a warm up acceleration would surely represent a strong beneficial action. In this paper, a faster warming up of the lubricant oil was done using the heat owned by the exhaust gases, which was almost immediately ready after the engine ignition, in the early part of a driving cycle. An experimental activity has been developed in a turbocharged engine (F1C 3L IVECO), modifying the oil circuit in order to heat up the oil during the cold phase of a homologation cycle by the exhaust gases. A significant reduction of fuel consumption and pollutant emissions savings has been experimentally demonstrated. Also, the interaction between the modified oil circuit, engine, coolant circuit, and exhaust line has been investigated in order to have a system view of the new heating oil technology.