CYLINDER DEACTIVATION

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 INTRODUCTION

With alternatives to the petrol engine being announced ever so often you could be
forgiven for thinking that the old favorite the petrol engine is on its last legs but nothing
could be further from the truth and possibilities for developing the petrol engines are endless.
One of the most crucial jobs on the agenda is to find ways of reducing fuel consumption,
cutting emissions of the green house gas CO2 and also the toxic emissions which threaten air
quality. One such fast emerging technology is cylinder deactivation where a number of
cylinders are shut down when less is needed to save fuel.

Fig 1.1 Cylinder deactivation for a 6 cylinder engine

The simple fact is that when you only need small amounts of power such as crawling
around town what you really need is a smaller engine. To put it another way an engine
performs most efficiently when its working harder so ask it to do the work of an engine half
its size and efficiency suffers. Pumping or throttling losses are mostly to blame. Cylinder
deactivation is one of the technologies that improve fuel economy, the objective of which is
to reduce engine pumping losses under certain vehicle operating conditions.

When a petrol engine is working with the throttle wide open pumping losses are
minimal. But at part throttle the engine wastes energy trying to breathe through a restricted

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airway and the bigger engine, the bigger the problem. Deactivating half the cylinders at part
load is much like temporarily fitting a smaller engine.

During World War II, enterprising car owners disconnected a spark plug wire or two
in hopes of stretching their precious gasoline ration. Unfortunately, it didn’t improve gas
mileage. Nevertheless, Cadillac resurrected the concept out of desperation during the second
energy crisis. The “modulated displacement 6.0L V-8- 6-4” introduced in 1981 disabled two,
then four cylinders during part-throttle operation to improve the gas mileage of every model
in Cadillac’s lineup. A digital dash display reported not only range, average mpg, and
instantaneous mpg.

This also how many cylinders were operating. Customers enjoyed the mileage boost
but not the side effects. Many of them ordered dealers to cure their Cadillac’s of the shakes
and stumbles even if that meant disconnecting the modulated-displacement system. Like wide
ties, short skirts and $2-per-gallon gas, snoozing cylinders are back. General Motors, the first
to show renewed interest in the idea, calls it Displacement on Demand (DOD).
DaimlerChrysler, the first manufacturer to hit the U.S. market with a modern cylinder shut-
down system calls its approach Multi- Displacement System (MDS). And Honda, who beat
everyone to the punch by equipping Japanese-market Inspire models with cylinder
deactivation, calls the approach Variable Cylinder Management (VCM) The motivation is the
same as before-improved gas mileage. Disabling cylinders finally makes sense because of the
strides achieved in electronic power train controls. According to GM, Computing power has
been increased 50-fold in the past two decades and the memory available for control
algorithms is 100 times greater. This time around, manufacturers expect to disable
unnecessary cylinders so seamlessly that the driver never knows what’s happening under the
hood.

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CHAPTER 2

METHODOLOGY

2.1 CYLINDER DEACTIVATION-MECHANICS

Cylinder Deactivation is the method of deactivating Cylinders as per the Power

requirement of the Engine in order to achieve better Fuel efficiency as well as Emission
Control. Cylinder deactivation works because only a small fraction of an engine’s peak
horsepower is needed to maintain cruising speed. Passenger cars require 25 or so horsepower
to cruise at 60 mph while 35 horsepower is enough to drive a large SUV at that speed. Using
a reduced number of hard working cylinders to produce the necessary power is more efficient
than employing the full complement of lightly loaded cylinders. The energy savings come
from reduced pumping losses. In all gasoline engines, energy is consumed drawing the air
needed for combustion past a partially closed throttle plate.

Shutting down half the cylinders demands a wider throttle setting to ingest the same
amount of air drawn in when all the cylinders are working. The wider throttle position yields
lower pumping losses and better mileage. Operating half the valves also diminishes the
energy spent turning the camshaft. Minimizing the load carried by half the pistons and
connecting rods trims friction and reduces energy losses to the cooling system. The
mechanical components needed to disable cylinders are surprisingly simple. All three systems
scheduled for 2004 implementation use a computer-controlled squirt of oil pressure to slide a
pin inside either selected valve lifters (DaimlerChrysler and GM systems) or half of the
rocker arms (Honda). The normal transfer of motion from a cam lobe to a valve stem is
thereby interrupted. In DCX and GM pushrod applications, the outer portion of each disabled
lifter telescopes over the inner portion to maintain contact with the cam lobe without opening
the valve. The Honda approach is a variation of the VTEC (variable valve timing electronic
control) cam-lobe-switching scheme used for more than a decade. Instead of skipping
between high- and low-lift cam lobes, VCM selects a rocker-arm alignment that delivers no
valve lift. In every case, the engine control computer triggers cylinder deactivation after
studying coolant temperature, vehicle speed and engine load parameters. Each cylinder is
disabled by interrupting not only.

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The operation of the intake and exhausts valves but also spark and fuel delivery.
Deactivation requires only 40 or so milliseconds and is timed to occur immediately after the
power stroke so the disabled cylinder remains filled with exhaust gas. That creates what
amounts to a gas spring.

As the piston rises and falls, nearly all of the energy required to compress the gas
spring on the up stroke is returned to the crankshaft on the down stroke. From this common
ground, the three makers implementing cylinder deactivation go their separate ways. In the
valley between cylinder banks, a Lifter Oil Manifold Assembly (LOMA) routes oil pressure
to four solenoid control valves. When commanded by the power train control computer, the
solenoids direct oil to valve lifters equipped with the switching mechanism. (One solenoid
operates both of the lifters for each disabled cylinder.) To maintain even firing intervals, the
end cylinders on the left bank and the center cylinders on the right bank are disabled.

2.2 METHODS USED FOR CYLINDER DEACTIVATION

 Displacement on demand
 Variable profile cam shaft
 Active valve train technology (AVT)

One of the most employed techniques for cylinder deactivation process now is the
Displacement on demand method using Lifter Pin Control Mechanism developed by Delphi
Automotive Systems which is an Italy based automobile component manufacturer. In this
method we use a system of four components which senses the power requirement and
displaces or deactivate the cylinder. This method is mainly used by General Motors in its
automobiles. This method will be explained in the following pages

Another method used mainly for cylinder deactivation is the Deactivation using
Variable Profile Cam shaft developed by Lotus automotive systems. This method is similar to
the V tech engines used by the famous automobile manufacturer Honda.

Another method which can be employed is Active Valve Train technology (AVT)
which does away with camshafts. But this method’s feasibility and technology is still in
experimental stage.

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2.3 DISPLACEMENT ON DEMAND USING LIFTER PIN CONTROL

MECHANISM.

The Principle of Operation consists of four subsystems in this deactivation hardware system.
They are

 Electronic control module (ECM)

 solenoid valves
 hydraulic subsystem
 lifter locking pin mechanism

When the solenoid valve in the system is energized, the engine oil pressure increases in
the control port. At the same time, the lifters are in continuous contact with the camshaft.
When a lifter is on the cam base circle, the locking pins inside that lifter are free to move. If
the control port is pressurized while in this state, then the pressure force acts on the pins, de-
coupling the camshaft from the valves. The cylinder deactivation hardware is based on
control algorithm which has been developed to characterize the dynamic response of the
deactivation system

2.3.1 Displacement on Demand Using Lifter Pin mechanism

Fig 2.1 Block Diagram

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2.3.2 Electronic Control Module

The Electronic Control Module optimizes engine performance by measuring multiple
instantaneous events to enable real-time control of the Solenoid valve of Lifter Pin
Mechanism. For ECM control purposes, it is crucial to know the dynamic responses of the
deactivation hardware system in order to coordinate the deactivation hardware control with
other engine control functions. Specifically, the total actuation time is critical for proper
design and control of the ECM deactivation system. The total actuation time consists of three
elements: the solenoid plunger response time, the hydraulic subsystem response time and the
lifter locking pin mechanical response time. Characterization of the total actuation time is not
easily achieved given the fact that laboratory testing cannot encompass every possible engine
operating condition.

Therefore, one objective of this study is to develop a high fidelity, yet simple enough
analytical model in order to characterize the dynamic behavior of the deactivation hardware
system. This physical model can provide guidance in calibrating the deactivation timing and
improving robustness of the system.

2.3.3 Solenoid Valve Operation.

A 3-way normally closed direct current ON/OFF solenoid valve controls cylinder
deactivation. The common port of the control valve is connected via an oil gallery to a pair of
spring-biased locking pins inside the valve lifter (a simplified sketch is shown). The common
port is then switched to engine oil pressure for deactivation (valve energized) or to engine
sump for activation (valve de-energized). Lost motion between the camshaft and the engine
valve occurs when engine oil pressure is applied to the spring-biased locking pins inside the
lifter, de-coupling the camshaft from theengine valve. A typical solenoid consists of a
plunger, a spring, a coil, and a pole piece.

2.3.4 ZLocking Pin Mechanism

Lost motion between the camshaft and the engine valve occurs when engine oil
pressure is applied to the spring-biased locking pins inside the lifter, de-coupling the
camshaft from the engine valve. The locking pins inside the deactivation lifter are designed to
change states only on the base circle of the camshaft upon pressurization.

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The common port of the control valve is connected via an oil gallery to a pair of spring-
biased locking pins inside the valve lifter (a simplified sketch is shown in Figure 4 later). The
common port is then switched to engine oil pressure for deactivation (valve energized) or to
engine sump for activation (valve de-energized). inside the lifter, de-coupling the camshaft
from the engine valve. It is desirable to control the switching sequence of the valves cylinder-
by-cylinder and to complete the transition between V8 and V4 modes within one engine
cycle. These requirements define the switching window of the base circle, the size of which is
dependent on the number of cylinders switched at the same time, the cam profile and the
firing order of the engine. As the exhaust valve must deactivate/reactivate first, the switching
must occur after the intake event begins but before the exhaust event commences. The time it
takes for the pins to move to the full travel point (determined by the design criteria) from the
time when the control pressure rises to the critical pressure level, is called the locking pin
response time p Dt, which can be characterized by:

Fig 2.2 Locking Pin Mechanism

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Fig 3.3 Locking Pin Model Diagram

2.4 METHODS USED IN DISPLACEMENT ON DEMAND USING

LIFTER PIN CONTROL MECHANISM

Currently two methods are used for this type of Control.

1. Cylinder Bank Control.

2. Individual Cylinder Control.

The Control type is decided by the Control algorithm used in the Electronic control
hardware. Hardware for the cylinder deactivationsystem exists for both individual cylinder
control mode andcomplete bank control mode. An OHV (Over HeadValve) V8 cam-in-block
(pushrod), 2-valve-per-cylindervalve train engine is used as a test engine for thedeactivation
mechanism. Cylinder selection fordeactivation is determined by engine firing order and
thedesire to keep an even firing order in the deactivated mode. This results in two cylinders
from each bank being selected for activation/deactivation .In bank control mode both
cylinders of each bank are switched at the same time. In cylinder control mode, each cylinder
is switched independently. Cylinder control mode requires four control valves compared to
two control valves for bank control mode. The operating window for cylinder control mode
(intake valve opening to exhaust valve opening of a cylinder) is 180 crank degrees greater
than the operating window for bank control mode (intake valve opening of one cylinder to
exhaust valve opening of the second cylinder). This virtual doubling of the switching window

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for individual cylinder control permits mode switching at higher RPM and increases
robustness to variation.

Cylinder Bank Control is commonly used in Engines which is having Cylinders in

more than one bank. E.g. V engines, Boxer engines.

Individual Cylinder Control is mainly used in inline cylinder engines.

2.5 DEACTIVATION USING VARIABLE PROFILE CAM SHAFT

This technique was developed by lotus automotive systems that allow the engine to
effectively have multiple camshafts. As the engine moves into different rpm ranges, the
engine's computer can activate alternate lobes on the camshaft and change the Cams timing.
This technique uses a Cam Profile Switching tappet (CPS) to switch between two different
Cam profiles.

Cylinder deactivation can be attained by switching between a normal Cam lobe and a
plane circular lobe, which does not produce any lift at all. In this way, the engine gets the best
features of low-speed and high-speed camshafts in the same engine.

This is similar to the patented V-Tech technology used in Honda engines in which
whenever the engine speed increases the combustion time reduces in order to keep the
combustion time nearly constant. Here the valve should be opened a little earlier than normal
condition. This is achieved by varying the position of the cam shaft which is placed in
pressure actuators which is controlled by a micro processor and electronic circuits. Whenever
the engine speed increases these pressure actuators presses or pushes the cam shaft towards
the valve lifter. By doing this the valve can be kept opened for a longer time and the valve
will be opened more than the usual or normal condition.

2.6 CYLINDER DEACTIVATION BY ACTIVE VALVE TRAIN(AVT)

TECHNOLOGY

It’s a dream world of a valve control system operating in real time and adjusting
individual valves according to the demands of the ECU.

A world where the physical link between the crankshaft and the valves is completely
decoupled, thus enabling the opening of valves at every stroke to run as a two-stroke or as a

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conventional four-stroke operation, and event to venture into six-stroke and eight-stroke
combustion.

Multiple exhaust valve events become a reality and a whole spectrum of new
combustion strategies becomes possible.

The Lotus Active Valve Train (AVT) is an electro-hydraulic product which is used
for engine research and incorporates the independent and flexible control of engine valves on
adapted client engines – meaning any number of engine valves can be operated at any one
time using any available lift profile.

It is a sophisticated research tool, for use in engine test cells and incorporates many
engineering disciplines: mechanical and hydraulic, electrical and electronic, software and
control. It is used in a variety of investigative spheres: performance and combustion
strategies, engine and fuel design, emissions control and efficiency. Fig below shows an AVT
hydraulic actuator designed by LOTUS.

Fig 2.4 AVT hydraulic actuator

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Instead of the conventional camshaft and return springs which control engine valve
movement in a fixed relationship, AVT gives true fully flexible and variable engine valve
movement without any need for a Camshaft. It is camless valve operation with no return
springs.

The opening and closing of engine valves is controlled electronically, and operated
hydraulically, which gives full control of individual engine valve lift profiles for client
engines. It provides a tool for faster in-depth research into advanced combustion strategies,
performance and fuel economy and is the enabler for advanced low temperature combustion
techniques such as HCCI/CAI.

A hydraulic power pack supplies pressurized hydraulic fluid to the electro-hydraulic

servo valves which control the flow of hydraulic fluid proportionally to either the top or
bottom of each double-acting actuator piston which connects to an engine valve.

This enables control of the velocity, timing and lift displacement of the engine valves
for each individual crankshaft degree of rotation. It is possible to vary the opening and
closing points of fully definable profiles individually in one-degree increments while lift is
adjustable to any valid figure between 0.01 mm and the maximum travel of the actuator
(around 15 or 16 mm). The system employs a closed-loop control algorithm with
displacement feedback to detect and correct the actual measured displacement towards
achieving the desired displacement (it’s a phase-advanced PID control algorithm).

Further optimization of the profile is achieved by adjusting the algorithm tuning

parameters manually. The effects of this manual tuning can be observed immediately and
gives a visual check on the quality of fit between the demanded and achieved profiles. With a
sampling rate of 40 kHz, the system status is monitored to identify potential malfunctions
triggered by alarms, hydraulic pressure loss or valve to piston clash scenarios, etc.

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CHAPTER 3

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

3.1ADVANTAGES

The advantages of cylinder deactivation are as follows

 Increased fuel efficiency (10-20%)

 Decreased emissions from deactivated cylinders
 Better breathing capability of the engine, thereby reducing power consumed in suction
stroke.

3.2 DISADVANTAGES

The disadvantages of cylinder deactivation are as follows

 Engine balancing- Deactivating cylinders can cause change in engine balancing which
can lead to very violent vibration and increased noise levels. This can be avoided to
some extend using hydraulic engine mounts located at different points on the engine
and using noise reducing materials. The conventional way of attaching counter masses
to the moving parts like crank shaft is very difficult as it is very difficult to calculate
and attach the counter mass.
 Increased cost of manufacturing- Though the process of deactivation will reduce the
operating cost, the cost of the additional parts or the de activation components like
electronic control module and the complexity in the design and manufacture of the
lifter pin mechanism will increase the cost of manufacturing and thus the vehicle
owner will be benefited in a long run only.
 Overall increase in weight- Due to the presence of additional components like
hydraulic lines used in hydraulic sub system, lifter locking mechanism, and solenoid
valves etc. the overall weight of the system increases and thus engine becomes more
bulky and takes more power to run the vehicle.
 Complexity of system makes maintenance difficult. - Complex lifter locking
mechanism and solenoid valves are difficult to maintain. Also, we make several
assumptions that the oil reaches both the side at the same time, the calculations will
not give the true value.

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 Since these methods are still under experimental stage, the reliability of the engine is
not predicted yet.

3.3 KEY PLAYERS USING CYLINDER DEACTIVATION

TECHNIQUE

 GENERAL MOTORS: uses displacement on demand system which is said to save

fuel by 20%
 HONDA: Is conducting research to incorporate cylinder deactivation with its patented
VTECH engine
 PORSHE and SUBARU: Uses lotus designed various cam plus which works almost
similar to V-tech engine
 Mercedes-Benz: optional on certain European market V-8s since 1998; U.S. market
V-12 mileage improved by a claimed 20 percent in 2001 and 2002 model years.
Technology retired (in U.S.) with 2003 arrival of turbocharged V-12 engines.
 INA: German bearing and valve train specialist supplies switching lifters for DC’s
5.7L Hemi V-8 and GM’s 3.9L V-6.
 Eaton Automotive: supplies a portion of the LOMAs and switching lifters for GM’s
5.3L V-8. Also developing valve deactivation systems for light- and heavy-duty
European diesel engines.
 Siemens-VDO Automotive: exploring cylinder deactivation for possible future use.
Delphi Automotive: supplies a portion of the LOMAs and switching lifters for GM’s
5.3L V-8.
 Ford Motor Company: has investigated cylinder deactivation but no applications
planned for near future.
 Nissan and Toyota: no near-term plans to implement cylinder deactivation

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CONCLUSION

The yell for a pollution free environment can be seen even now with developed
countries the number of norms like EUROIII is there in the present world itself and the
number of vehicles is increasing even under developed countries are planning to impose such
norms .Future world demands automobile which burn less fuel .Cylinder deactivation seems
to be a good answer to this problem

With the increase in price of petroleum products, (petrol &diesel) vehicle owners are
also looking for smart engines that determine and burns right amount of fuel according to the
power requirement so we can see a better future for this revolutionary technique. So cylinder
deactivation solve these problems to a great extend without compromising engine on
performance thus satisfying both manufacturer and the customer.

FUTURE TRENDS
Researches are still under progress on Active Valve Train Technology although it has
been implemented in some vehicles by one of the famous automobile manufacturer LOTUS,
which uses valve controls with high speed hydraulic actuators there by eliminating the use of
Cam shaft.

Also a new technology called controlled auto ignition (CAI) which replaces the
conventional spark plugs and fires at carefully timed moment to set the compressed charge of
fuel alight.

Also, researches are going on even by companies which are not mentioned here. So
we can expect more innovative and productive ideas and modifications in the existing
techniques.

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REFERENCES

[1] Research paper published by Quant Zheng , Delphi Motors (2001-01-0669)

[2] Society of Automobile Engineers (SAE) Technical papers

[3] Paper written by Steve Louis on Control Systems, Lotus Engineering

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