February 3

Intake System

2012
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THROTTLE BODY
Introduction
Throttle body regulates the amount of air entering the engine depending on the demands of the engine. At higher speeds or while accelerating when more fuel is burned; to yield more power throttle is opened up to increase the amount of air entering the engine while in other conditions throttle remains closed to a degree preventing unrestricted flow of air.

FSAE Constraints
Throttle must be actuated manually; use of electronic throttle is prohibited. The throttle actuation system must use two return springs located at throttle body. Positive pedal stop. Throttle must be placed upstream of the restrictor and no throttling can be done downstream to the throttle. Also the restrictor and the throttle body are to be separate i.e. a single body incorporating both isnt allowed.

Objectives
To maximize the volumetric air flow rate through the throttle body. To keep the weight of system as minimum as possible. Minimize the pressure drop across it. Choose the material so as to reduce the weight as well as withstand the flow pressures. Design the throttle body to minimize stagnation.

Design Options
Barrel Valve: It consists of a barrel like valve with a through hole, when at default position it completely blocks the flow of air through the pipe but as it turns, the mouth of the hole is exposed and allows for the air to flow. However, it is used more in rally racing than FSAE (with only two positions ON and OFF). Also, it does not allow for easy installation of the TPS. The air flow through this valve is also less regular. It allows a faster throttle response but at the expense of throttle control Fluid Flow through a barrel valve:

Fig. Fluid Flow through a closed barrel valve

Fig. Flow through a more open barrel valve

Fig. Flow through a wide open valve or WOT condition

Slider: It works more like a gateway than a valve. It is composed of a slider that slips in and out of the pipe. However, there are several problems associated with it such as sticking. After giving throttle when we pull back

on the valve the slide might get stuck with the plate leading to an open valve or throttling when we are actually not throttling. TPS placement is also an issue with this design of the valve. When the driver would let off the gas at the end of the straight, the high vacuum would suck the slider against its mating surface hard enough for it to stick at partial (but disturbing) throttle positions in the braking zone. Hence we wont be using this design in our car.

Butterfly Valve: Well be using this for throttling. It consists of a butterfly valve that regulates the flow of air into the engine. The valve completely cuts off the supply to the engine but as it turns it presents lesser and lesser area to the incoming air and hence lesser restriction. The butterfly does obstruct airflow even at WOT. Turbulence is bad as the air enters the restrictor. However, turbulence is a problem with barrel valves and sliders too, because while they don't obstruct the center of flow, it is difficult to make the sides of the walls perfectly smooth, and in transients a 90% throttle opening on a slider or barrel is causing a lot of turbulence too. A bigger throttle body ensures more power, but there is a restrictor of 20 mm downstream. Thus the increased size of a throttle body has an impact only to an extent. A 38mm valve produces much more power than a 32mm one and only slightly less than a 50mm or 48 mm valve. The diameter of the valve would be of 32mm and with actual testing we will improve on this with the

results of the prototype. It will be positioned at a distance of about 15 cm above the restrictor but this too would be varied during testing to give optimum results.

Final Design:
Stock throttle body was simulated in Ansys and an inlet pressure of 1 atmosphere was specified. Stagnation post the valve was looked into and throttle response was mapped with varying diameters. Considering the time constraints and the simulation results, it has been decided to go with the stock throttle body of 34mm diameter.

CFD Analysis:

Flow simulation for angles of 300 and 550 Simulation for 75 and 90 degrees

Sensors in the Intake System The sensors associated with the intake system are MAP, TPS and Ambient Air Temperature, lambda sensors. The outputs from these sensors are used as inputs by the engine management unit, and this decides the amount of fuel entering the engine, ignition timing etc. The Manifold Absolute Pressure (MAP) sensor measures the amount of pressure or vacuum in the manifold. This sensor tells the engine load. With more pressure, the engine load increases. With greater load on the engine, more fuel is required. This is an input to a microcontroller and will be a factor when setting the voltage pulse width for the fuel injectors. The Throttle Position Sensor (TPS) returns and senses the position of the throttle plate. When the TPS measures a wider opening, this indicates a greater engine load. When the TPS changes rapidly a hard acceleration is indicated causing a need for more fuel. The TPS senses the position by using a potentiometer that turns when the position of the throttle plate changes. Since this is a potentiometer, there will be a change in voltage at different positions. This voltage is then returned to the microcontroller. The ambient air temperature is measured using a thermistor. A thermistor is a variable resistor that varies with temperature. If a voltage is applied to this thermistor in series with another resistor the voltage between the two will change as temperature changes according to the voltage divider rule.

MAP Sensor:
The MAP sensor detects the pressure in the intake manifold. Knowledge of this pressure is vital for proper engine performance since the amount of fuel necessary for any given engine load is determined by the pressure in the intake manifold. The MAP sensors output is a voltage whose level depends on the manifold pressure in the engine. As engine load increases, the MAP voltage will decrease. The MAP sensors output voltage range is 1V - 6V for an 8V supply. Based on the voltage present at the MAP sensor, the corresponding pressure can be deduced by means of a pressure-voltage graph exclusive to the particular MAP sensor being used The MAP sensor signal is proportional to the fuel that is necessary at any given engine speed. The MAP sensor operates as follows:

Light load (cruise): Low manifold pressure, high voltage at MAP sensor reference (5V) Heavy load (wide open throttle): High manifold pressure, low voltage at MAP sensor reference (1V) High voltage: Smaller fuel pulse width and advance spark timing Low voltage: Larger fuel pulse width and retard spark timing

The previous relationships depict how intake manifold pressure and load affect the MAP sensor output. The spark timing is varied based on the engine speed and the pressure in the intake manifold. The intake manifold pressure and MAP sensor voltage have a linear relationship. Using the

pressure-voltage relationship of our sensor, the pressure in the intake manifold can be determined by the MAP sensor voltage. This pressure along with the RPM of the engine is used to determine a parameter known as the spark-angle (spk). Spark-angle is determined from the spk vs. RPM graph or from look-up tables developed by the ME team during dynamometer testing. Spark-angle is simply the number of degrees of rotation left in the crankshaft before the piston gets to the top of the cylinder. Manifold Absolute Pressure (MAP) Sensor Circuit

Manifold Absolute Pressure (MAP) Sensor Circuit

The MAP sensor returns a voltage between 1V and 6.2V DC depending on manifold pressure. Therefore, a voltage divider is needed to provide the microcontroller with a voltage less than or equal to 5V DC.

Rich/Lean Adjustment Circuit:

Rich/Lean Adjustment Circuit

The rotary switch allows the user to select how rich or lean the engine is to run. When the switch is turned clockwise the pulsewidth is increased making the engine run richer. When it is turned counterclockwise the pulsewidth is decreased to make the engine run leaner. Using a 6V supply and six resistors of 1.8k in series creates a voltage divider circuit in 1V/step increments to ground with a current of 6V/(6 x 1.8 k ) = 0.55mA. As the contact within the switch alternates between each step, the output voltage changes in 1 volt incrememnts. This voltage is then sent to the microcontroller to determine how much to increase or decrease the fuel. It is understood from the circuit diagram that between R1/2 is 5V, R2/3 is 4V, R3/4 is 3V, R4/5 is 2V, and R5/6 is 1V. These five steps will be mapped to rich, semi-rich, stoichometric,semi lean, lean, respectively. Mass Air Flow sensor or MAF is also an option that can be used in place of MAP. It measures the flow of air entering the manifold and determines the load conditions of the engine. MAP and MAF can be interchanged through a speed-density calculation which makes use of the engines current RPM and air temperature to find out the amount of air entering the manifold.

Ambient Air and Throttle Position Sensors:

The final two sensors used are the Ambient Air Temperature sensor (AAS) and the Throttle Position sensor (TPS). The AAS is a thermistor, a device that changes resistance with air temperature, which is used by the microcontroller to make corrections or adjustments to fuel volume. The TPS is a potentiometer, a device that changes resistance when its center terminal changes position. The TPS is mounted on the intake plate to

determine the position of the plate. During a hard acceleration, there can be a delay if the MAP sensor is not quick enough to pick up the pressure change in the intake. The TPS voltage is used by the microcontroller to improve the throttle response.

Lambda Sensor:
They help determine, in real time, if the air fuel ratio of a combustion engine is rich or lean. Since oxygen sensors are located in the exhaust stream, they do not directly measure the air or the fuel entering the engine. But when information from oxygen sensors is coupled with information from other sources, it can be used to indirectly determine the air-to-fuel ratio. Closed-loop feedback-controlled fuel injection varies the fuel injector output according to real-time sensor data rather than operating with a predetermined (open-loop) fuel map. In addition to enabling electronic fuel injection to work efficiently, this emissions control technique can reduce the amounts of both unburnt fuel and oxides of nitrogen entering the atmosphere. The sensor does not actually measure oxygen concentration, but rather the difference between the amount of oxygen in the exhaust gas and the amount of oxygen in air. Rich mixture causes an oxygen demand. This demand causes a voltage to build up, due to transportation of oxygen ions through the sensor layer. Lean mixture causes low voltage, since there is an oxygen excess.

Engine fuel mapping can be done by using TPS or MAP sensors, with naturally aspirated engines TPS fuel mapping is preferred over MAP based mapping, primarily because TPS is easier to implement with easy installation on the throttle body. MAPs give us a curve where interpolation is required to consider a point on

the curve whereas no such trouble exists with TPS. MAP is more accurate but its placement in the intake is tricky with the pressure currents leading to some errors in the readings, hence an iterative method is required for its correct placement.

Measured in degrees of throttle position. When the throttle is closed, it defaults to the top row of the map, but even at idle throttle is at usually 5% with the corresponding pressures being shown.

This is how the generated plot looks like with manifold pressure and RPM being the parameters.