Dipl.- Ing. K-H. Bauer; C. Balis, M.S.E.

G. Donkin, C.Eng; P. Davies, C.Eng

Honeywell Transportation Systems

The Next Generation of Gasoline Turbo Technology

Die nchste Generation der Benzin-Turbotechnologie

Abstract:
The progress in downsizing of gasoline engines in recent years has demonstrated the limits of conventional turbocharger design when it comes to providing more low speed torque, transient response and partial load efficiency. The increased drive towards higher
BMEP at very low engine speeds forces turbocharger engineers to rethink modern boosting layouts.
Honeywell Turbo Technologies has taken a fresh look at the design of the gasoline turbocharger and has redefined the aerodynamic layout of both the compressor and the turbine
stages. It has been able to increase overall turbo efficiencies, especially at low speeds
and in transient conditions and this combined with substantially reduced mechanical inertias has provided significant improvements in engine transient torque response.
This presentation demonstrates a level of engine and vehicle performance that have never
been achieved with conventional gasoline waste gate turbochargers. The concept demon-

33. Internationales Wiener Motorensymposium 2012

strates breakthroughs in transient engine performance without the use of exotic materials
such as Titanium Aluminide or the additional complexity of variable geometry turbines.

Kurzbeschreibung:
Die in den letzten Jahren erzielten Fortschritte beim Downsizing von Benzinmotoren
haben die Grenzen des konventionellen Turbolader-Designs aufgezeigt, wenn es darauf
ankommt, mehr Drehmoment bei niedrigen Geschwindigkeiten sowie ein effizientes
Einschwing- und Teillastverhalten zu realisieren. Der zunehmende Trend zu einem
hheren BMEP bei sehr niedrigen Motorgeschwindigkeiten zwingt die Entwickler von
Turboladern, moderne Turbolader-Layouts zu berdenken.
Honeywell Turbo Technologies hat dem Design des Benzinturboladers ein neues
Aussehen verpasst und das Aerodynamik-Layout sowohl des Verdichters als auch der
Turbinenphasen neu definiert. Das Unternehmen konnte die gesamte Turboeffizienz
verbessern, insbesondere bei niedrigen Geschwindigkeiten und in transienten Zustnden.
In Kombination mit der wesentlich verringerten mechanischen Materialtrgheit hat dies zu
mageblichen Verbesserungen der transienten Drehmomentreaktion des Motors gefhrt.
Diese Prsentation weist ein Ma an Motor- und Fahrzeugleistung auf, das mit
herkmmlichen Wastegate-Benzinturboladern niemals erreicht werden htte knnen. Das
Konzept demonstriert Durchbrche im Bereich der transienten Motorleistung ohne den
Einsatz exotischer Materialien, wie etwa Titanaluminiden, oder die zustzliche Komplexitt
von Turbinen variabler Geometrie.

33. Internationales Wiener Motorensymposium 2012

1.

Introduction

The main reason to boost any engine is to increase its specific torque and power density
to drive downsizing and down-speeding, which in turn lead to better fuel economy whilst
maintaining the vehicles dynamic performance. Turbocharging has long been the standard technology used to boost diesel engines in passenger vehicles, On-Highway trucks
and Off-Highway machines. The majority of gasoline engines however are still naturally
aspirated today, though the market penetration for boosted engines is growing rapidly.
The last 15 years have seen a strong move towards variable turbine geometry for diesel.
However, fixed geometry waste gate controlled turbines have remained the standard for
gasoline for several reasons. Higher exhaust gas temperatures in gasoline engines are of
course a factor, cost is another but the main reason is that the air mass flow varies much
more than in a gasoline engine than in a diesel. A ratio of 80:1 from idle to rated power for
a gasoline engine compares to just 6:1 in a passenger car diesel.
One of the primary challenges to further downsizing and down-speeding of gasoline engines is the necessity to preserve the vehicles dynamic performance. The driver values
this as fun to drive and it must be maintained. At the engine level this translates to transient torque performance. Any enhancements in boosting systems that improve the engines transient torque response can be used to increase the levels of downsizing or
down-speeding. This in turn can realize the further reductions in fuel consumption and
CO2 necessary to meet consumer and regulatory demands.
With this in mind, Honeywell Turbo Technologies (HTT) has developed a new aerodynamic concept called DualBoost, that promises to make a step change in the industry. It
represents a paradigm shift from the classic aerodynamic solution of a single sided centrifugal compressor and a radial inflow turbine that the industry has used for 35 years.
It uses a double-sided compressor wheel in combination with an axial turbine. It has
equivalent overall efficiencies to its conventional competitors but boasts higher turbine
efficiencies under low speed unsteady conditions and up to 50% less rotating inertia without the use of exotic materials such as Titanium Aluminide or the additional complexity of
variable geometry turbines. This means it still reaches regular steady-state targets but delivers exceptional transient performance improving time to torque by 25-35% for the
same or better full-load steady-state torque and BSFC.
This paper presents both the concept and the major effects before going on to present
engine and vehicle results that substantiate these claims.

33. Internationales Wiener Motorensymposium 2012

2.

Power Train Needs

In the ideal case the work done to accelerate a vehicle from state 1 to state 2 can be approximated to the change in its kinetic energy. Also, the work done by the engine to
achieve this can be considered to be the area under the Power vs. Time curve. For two
vehicles with different engines but identical performance, the work done must be equal if
they are to perform in the same way.

Equation (i) - Vehicle Kinetic Energy

Equation (ii) Acceleration Power

This simple concept allows us to calculate the target Power, BMEP and Time to Torque
curves for a typical downsizing and down-speeding problem statement. The baseline used
is a modern 1.8L GDI gasoline engine with VVT developing 240 Nm (~17 Bar BMEP) @
1750 RPM.
Figure 1 highlights the results for 3 cases that were studied.
a) Down-speeding
b) Down-sizing
c) Combined case

14% from 1750 to 1500rpm

11% from 1,8 to 1,6 Litre

Figure 1 :- Down-sizing targets

The numerical results are shown in Table 1 below. The combined case produces targets
of 30% increase in BMEP and 26% reduction in Time to Torque and a doubling of the
boost slope which offers turbo machine designers a challenging problem statement.

33. Internationales Wiener Motorensymposium 2012

Engine
Size

Baseline
a
b
c

Speed BMEP Torque

Time to
Torque

Time to
Torque
50-90%

Boosted
Torque
Slope

Torque
@ 1s

[L]

[RPM]

[Bar]

[Nm]

[s]

[s]

[Nm/s]

[Nm]

1.8
1.8
1.6
1.6

1750
1500
1750
1500

16.8
19.5
18.8
22.0

240
280
240
280

2.70
2.23
2.32
2.00

2.13
1.86
1.91
1.71

42
75
59
95

168
188
162
185

Table 1 :- Down-sizing targets

3.

Turbocharger Targets

A similar kinetic analysis can be applied to a turbocharger by replacing the mass-velocity

(mv) term for the vehicle with a polar moment of inertia-rotational speed (I) term for the
turbocharger rotor. Thus the equations become.

Equation (iii) - Turbo Kinetic Energy

and expanding the power term to Paccel

Pturb Pcomp

Equation (iv) - Acceleration time

Pbrg gives

Equation (v) Acceleration time (expanded)

3.1.

Turbine Efficiency

Turbine efficiency is a function of Blade Speed Ratio (U/Co), where U is the turbocharger
speed and Co is the speed of the inlet gas. It has been degraded over the years because
of the need for increasing compressor diameters as specific engine power increases as
well as the use of downsized low inertia turbines. This issue is exacerbated in a modern
gasoline engine by operating the turbine in a highly pulsating flow environment.

33. Internationales Wiener Motorensymposium 2012

The bulk of the energy in the exhaust is in the high pressure portion of each pulse as seen
in figure 3. A U/Co ratio of 0,2 on the arrival of a pulse at the start of a transient is not unusual. Turbine efficiency at such conditions is normally poor making it difficult to extract
energy and accelerate quickly. Improving the turbine efficiency at low U/Co conditions
would clearly benefit both the transient and steady-state performance of the turbocharger
and engine.

Figure 2 :- Pressure, Mass flow & U/Co vs. Crankshaft rotations

3.2

Turbocharger Problem Statement

To conclude, in order to enable downsizing and down-speeding a new turbocharger design is required that minimizes inertia, optimizes turbine efficiency at low U/Co and for a
given engine operating point, runs the turbocharger faster (higher U thus higher U/Co).

4.

The DualBoost Concept

HTT went back to basics and questioned the traditional aerodynamic concept of a centrifugal compressor paired with a radial turbine. Axial turbines have the advantage over
radials of having better turbine efficiency at lower U/Co values (Fig 3a), especially when
the designer takes advantage of their intrinsically lower mechanical stresses to utilize nonzero inlet angles for the blade. They are also intrinsically low in inertia (Fig 3b).

33. Internationales Wiener Motorensymposium 2012

Axial

Radial
Radial
Axial

Fig. 3a :- Turbine efficiency vs. U/Co

Compressor side

Fig. 3b :- Inertia vs. Turbine Flow

DualBoostTM

Turbine side

Standard Rotor
Figure 4 :- Outline of Standard and DualBoostTM Rotating Group

The DualBoost team at HTT has exploited all these phenomena and its new axial turbine has better turbine efficiency at low U/Co and up to 50% less rotating inertia than an
equivalent flowing radial turbine.
Pairing it with a double-sided parallel flow compressor serves multiple purposes. Firstly, it
accelerates the turbine further up the U/Co curve as its rotational speed is higher for a
given engine operation point than that of a conventional single wheel. Secondly it balances the aero-dynamic thrust load in the machine; to give a quasi zero axial load concept in steady-state and thirdly it has lower inertia again than an equivalent flowing, larger

33. Internationales Wiener Motorensymposium 2012

diameter, conventional compressor. The result can be seen from the outline of the rotor
groups in Figure 4. The DualBoost while longer is clearly the low inertia concept and
achieves this without using any exotic materials.

5.

Engine Test Results

A DualBoost turbocharger has been tested against a conventional radial device. The
testing took place on a Ford 1.6L I4 Gasoline GDI (=1) with Dual VVT.
Rated Torque
Peak Power

280 Nm (22 Bar BMEP) 1500-4500 RPM

132 kW @ 4750-5500 RPM

5.1 Steady-state & Transient Load Steps

Both turbochargers were sized and matched to have the same corrected mass flows at a
2:1 expansion ratio. Fig. 5a shows that both were capable of achieving the target full-load
steady-state torque and power target. The full data showed that they had similar Engine
P and BSFC as well. Fig. 5b however, shows the real difference between the two devices. In a load step from 1500rpm, the transient torque curve for the DualBoost rises
much more steeply than for the standard turbocharger. 180Nm was reached 450ms earlier
and 270Nm was attained more than 600ms before the baseline.
Load step from 1500rpm

1,6L I4 Gasoline

DualBoostTM
600ms

450ms

Standard Turbo

Figure 5a:- Steady-State Performance

Figure 5b:- Transient Torque

Combining the load step results from different engine speeds the overall improvement that
the DualBoostTM delivers can be summarized in Figure 6, in the form of Time from 5090% Torque. The effect of the new architecture widens dramatically at lower engine
speeds. This is due to the ever reducing amount of turbine exhaust energy available to
accelerate the rotor group and the increasing significance that reduced inertia has at these
operating points.

33. Internationales Wiener Motorensymposium 2012

1,6L I4 Gasoline

Standard Turbo

1000ms

450ms

DualBoostTM

Figure 6:- Summary of Transient Performance

5.2 Fuel Economy simulation

At this stage of the project the engine calibration has not yet been optimized sufficiently to
go into formal vehicle testing. Honeywell has however had the opportunity to use full vehicle simulation to assess the potential impact of the DualBoostTM superior performance
on fuel economy.
The baseline Powertrain had a Final Drive Ratio (FDR) 4,067. It was calculated that lengthening the FDR to 3,8:1 would be sufficient to neutralize the transient advantage of the
DualBoostTM but still respect the launch performance and gradeability of the baseline vehicle.
Four principle cycles, NEDC, FTP75, US06 and Highway cruise at 70mph were studied.
The results, in Figure 7, show that Fuel Economy can be expected to increase in the
range of 1,8 2,7% across these cycles. The more dynamic cycles like FTP75 and US06
naturally show the largest improvements.

33. Internationales Wiener Motorensymposium 2012

1,6L I4 Gasoline Simulation

+1,8%

+2,7%

+2,5%

+2,6%

Figure 7:- Fuel economy with shorter FDR

6.

Vehicle Test Results

A production vehicle equipped with a 2.0 l 155 kW gasoline engine and a competitors
production turbocharger was chosen to study the advantages of the DualBoostTM concept
further. Standard back to back tests were made to evaluate the vehicles performance and
drivability. It should be noted that no change to the production calibration was made and
therefore the DualBoostTM performance shown here is not yet considered to be optimized.
6.1.

Vehicle Performance

Figure 8 shows a direct comparison for a wide-open throttle (WOT) acceleration from 0-60
kph in 1st gear. The first thing to note is that the acceleration took approximately 3
seconds.
Both the engine and vehicle speed curves show improvement but its the vehicle acceleration that shows the significant advantage brought by the DualBoost around 1500ms after the kick-down at t = 2 seconds.

33. Internationales Wiener Motorensymposium 2012

2,0L I4 Gasoline

~ +400rpm

~ +5kph

~ +1m/s

Figure 8:- 0-60kph, Wide Open Throttle in 1st Gear

Figure 9 takes a more detailed look at the same maneuver. The classic jump in naturally
aspirated engine torque is clearly visible immediately just after kick-down for both cases.
The DualBoostTM turbochargers acceleration starts immediately because of superior transient efficiency and low inertia. Its acceleration rate is evident to see, approximately 2x
faster than the benchmark competitor unit. This in turn is matched by rises in airflow and
boosted torque, after approximately 1000ms. The immaturity of the calibration is clear to
see as the turbo speed drops in the later part of the acceleration, before accelerating
again towards the end, showing that the results from Figure 8 are probably understated.
2,0L I4 Gasoline

~ +130Nm

~ +200kg/h

DualBoostTM
Acceleration
150k rpm/s

Competitor

Figure 9:- 0-60kph, Wide Open Throttle in 1st Gear

33. Internationales Wiener Motorensymposium 2012

6.2

Vehicle Drivability

Standard test procedures have been developed by the car industry over many years to
describe the transient behavior of an engine. The metric for the gasoline engine is typically
the response to a sudden throttle opening from equal and low constant speed and torque.
Figure 10 demonstrates the engines torque response to a WOT step from 1500 rpm engine. The 2x faster response of the DualBoost is again obvious to see. It is also notable
how smooth and harmonious the rise in engine torque is compared to the production unit.
A delta of around 95Nm of torque was measured after just 1000ms.
2,0L I4 Gasoline

~ +95Nm

Figure 10:- Tip-in, 1500 rpm, 4th Gear

There is a definite limit to the downsizing of a gasoline engine, which is determined by the
capability of the engine and available transmission to launch the vehicle. Specifically manual transmissions require sufficient immediately available low speed torque for the takeoff event. Insufficient engine torque requires increased slip speeds, which lead to overheated launch clutches.
The tip-in behavior at 1200 rpm engine speed is a good measure of the launch performance of an engine. The faster the boost pressure is available the lower the heat losses
in the launch clutch.
Figure 11 demonstrates the DualBoost performance with the vehicle in 6th gear under
these launch conditions. The turbocharger speed again rises more spontaneously and
faster than the production turbocharger. At this lower speed and higher gear there is still
some delay but after 1500ms the developed torque is 95Nm higher than the competitor.

33. Internationales Wiener Motorensymposium 2012

2,0L I4 Gasoline

~ +95Nm

Figure 11:- Tip-in, 1200 rpm, 6th Gear

The key technical enabler for the rapid increase in engine torque is the faster rise of the
boost pressure in the inlet manifold. This pressure rise is a direct result of the fast rotational acceleration of the turbocharger rotational group. As already discussed in the description of the DualBoost concept, it is the combination of the excellent bearing efficiency, the increased aerodynamic efficiency at low U/C0 and the low inertia of the entire
rotor that enable this extraordinary transient performance.

7.

Summary and Outlook

By re-examining the fundamental aerodynamic design of a gasoline turbocharger, Honeywell has been able to demonstrate a new turbocharger concept that :has equivalent steady-state and fuel economy to a conventional turbo.
has superior low speed transient efficiencies
has 50% less inertia compared to a conventional turbocharger
uses only conventional materials and simple fixed geometry.
As a result of this it can :accelerate 2 times faster than its benchmark competitor
provide more than 25% reduction in time to torque at low engine speeds
deliver more than 20% more torque after the first second of a high gear transient.
Thus the concept is believed to be a key enabler for gasoline engine down-sizing and
down-speeding which in turn will deliver improvements in fuel consumption and CO2 reduction that are not achievable with conventional turbochargers with compromising driveability.
HTT is continuing to improve and mature the aerodynamic designs of both the compressor
and turbine and is also engaged in qualifying the concept for series production.

33. Internationales Wiener Motorensymposium 2012

8.

References / Literatur

[1]

J. Lotterman, N. Schorn, D. Jeckel, F. Brinkmann and K.-H. Bauer: New Turbocharger Concept for Boosted Gasoline Engines, 16th Supercharging Conference,
Dresden, 2011.

[2]

Sonner, M., Wurms, R., Heiduk, T., Eiser, A. : Unterschiedliche

Bewertung von zuknftigen Auflandekonzepten am stationren
Motorprfstand und im Fahrzeug. 15. Auflandetechnische Konferenz,
Dresden, 2010

[3]

Kapp, D., 2009, Powertrain Strategies for the 21st Century, Focus on the Future
Automotive Research Conference, Univ. of Michigan

[4]

Grebe, U., Knegstein, A., Wu, K-J., Larsson, P-I., 2008, Differentiated Analysis of
Downsizing Concepts (MTZ 062008, vol 69).

[5]

Baines, N., 2002, Radial and Mixed Flow Turbine Options for High Boost Turbochargers, 7th International Conference on Turbochargers and Turbocharging.

[6]

Hagelstein, D., Theobald, J., Michels, K., Pott, E., Vergleich verschiedener
Aufladeverfahren fr direkteinspritzende Ottomotoren.

[7]

Balje, O.E., 1981, Turbomachinery: A guide to Design, Selection and Theory (John
Wiley & Sons, New York, 1st edition).

33. Internationales Wiener Motorensymposium 2012