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Turbocharging of Downsized Gasoline DI Engines

with 2 and 3 Cylinders
Turbocharged DISI engines with four cylinders have established in the
market and provide a performance comparable to larger six-cylinder
engines in the smaller compartment of a four-cylinder engine. In the
Japanese market, also turbo gasoline engines with 500 - 660 cm₃
displacement have a long tradition in Kei-Cars. However, those
engines show a lower specific performance as would be required for
propelling typical small or compact vehicles in Europe. Recently, two-
cylinder turbo engines have come to market, which are found
attractive with respect to sound, package, and also enable low vehicle
fuel consumption in NEDC test.

The paper presents a turbocharger layout study on 2- and 3-cylinder

engines. It discusses the influence of cylinder displacement volume
on the sizing of turbines and compressors, and how specific flow
phenomena in the turbine can be captured in the simulation model.

Christof Schernus, Carsten Dieterich, Carolina Nebbia, Andreas Sehr, Stefan Wedowski and Rolf Weinowski
FEV Motorentechnik GmbH

INTRODUCTION
The reduction of carbon dioxide emissions to mitigate the green-house effect is a major development
target for all automotive manufacturers. As it coincides with saving fuel, future generations will profit
from the conservation of natural resources of oil. Many countries have introduced legal limitations to
carbon dioxide emissions that pose a strong challenge to OEMs and supplier industry. The European Union
for example has defined a limit that depends on vehicle curb weight, which each manufacturer has to
achieve with 63% of his new car sales in 2012 increasing to 100% in 2015 /1/. This fleet limit will be
reduced again in 2019. Currently, a limit to CO2 emission of 95 g/km at a curb weight of 1372 kg is
suggested for 2019.

A comparison of these fleet limits to the fleet fuel consumption of sold new cars in 2009 in Germany
demonstrates that only the best present vehicles meet the target curve for 2012. To achieve the limits of
2019, a further reduction of gasoline engine vehicles by almost 30% is necessary.

Achieving such lower fuel consumption has two key-elements. On the one hand, the scatter-band indicates
very clearly that vehicle mass is a key parameter to lower the fuel consumption of motorcars. On the other
hand, downsizing of engines in conjunction with super- or turbocharging is an attractive measure in any
vehicle class to cut the carbon footprint by some 15% /2, 3, 4/. The vehicle segment of small and compact
vehicle is particularly sensitive to sales prices. Here, a trend toward smaller cylinder numbers, i.e.
replacing four by three cylinder engines, is observed. Engines with two cylinders /5/ are still the
exception at present times, but were not 40+ years back (however naturally aspirated those days).

Looking to the segment of small and lightweight cars, the Smart® has become an icon for combining
lightweight cars with turbocharged small engines in Europe. But it is often overlooked that such engines
have been present in the Japanese Kei-Car market quite a while before. The next chapter shall, therefore,
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Figure 1. CO2 Emission scatter band in NEDC and EU Targets for 2012/2019 /15/

Figure 2. Examples for Japanese Kei-Cars. Left: Mazda AZ-1 (1992-95); Right: Suzuki Cervo (2007-2010) (courtesy of
wikimedia.org)

first give an overview about selected small boosted gasoline engines that have been or are currently being
produced with displacements below one liter.

PAST AND PRESENT SMALL AUTOMOTIVE T/C PETROL ENGINES

Looking for examples at turbocharged gasoline engines of one liter displacement or less, the richest
evidence is found in the Japanese market. Starting in 1949 /6/, the Kei-Cars were limited in their outer
dimensions, engine displacement and rated power output to become eligible to tax benefits. These limits
were increased in several steps in the past decades. The most recent regulations updated in 1998 allow a
displacement of 660 cm3 and a rated power of 47 kW, i.e. 71 kW/ltr, in conjunction with a vehicle body
grown to 3.4 m length and 1.48 m width. Among the earliest small gasoline turbo engines we found in
literature for these Kei-Cars were the 610 kg light 1989 Daihatsu Leeza Turbo Injection with 47 kW out of
a 2-valve 3-cylinder 548 cm3 (s/B=60.5/62.0) engine /9/ and the Mazda AZ-1 sold 1992-1994 with a 4-
valve 3-cylinder 657 cm3 engine and 47 kW /10/. Both cars featured a multi-point port fuel-injection.

Also the Suzuki Cervo was sold with a 3-cylinder turbo. This direct-injection gasoline engine featured a
four-valve cylinder head and a side-mount swirl-type fuel injector. This marks the smallest GDI turbo
engine, of which we found evidence in volume production /7/. Suzuki stopped selling that model in March
2010 /8/ for reasons we don't know at this point.

Looking for turbocharged small two cylinder engines in the past, one finds the Honda motorcycle CX500
turbo released in 1981 and the CX650 turbo in 1983 both produced until 1985 and delivering remarkable
specific power outputs of 121 (CX500) and 109 kW/liter /19/, certainly not facing modern emission
regulations, yet. The turbocharger was mounted in front of the 80° V2, and the wastegate turbine was fed
by a symmetric junction of primary runners (Figure 3).
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Figure 3. frontal view of the Honda CX650 turbo engine with turbocharger and exhaust manifold cover removed.
(Courtesy of Adam Wade, www.turbomotorcycles.org)

In passenger cars, it looks like Subaru has been the only manufacturer selling boosted 2-cylinder engines,
starting with the 544 cm3 REX turbo in 1983. In 1986 it was replaced by the REX supercharger version
with 40 kW out of the same displacement. Since the early 1990s, Subaru changed from two cylinders to
three or even four cylinder engines in this segment.

At present, we find only two gasoline turbos with two cylinders in the market. The Weber motor has well
established as prime mover in snowmobiles e.g. for POLARIS, but also serves to propel vehicles in smaller
numbers built by RINSPEED in Switzerland. Better known to a larger audience is the Fiat TwinAir engine
that was released in the new Fiat 500 in fall 2010. Its displacement of 875 cm3 results from 80.5 mm bore
and 86 mm stroke with a compression ratio of 10.0. With a curb weight of just 1050 kg and automatic
stop/start function, the Nuova 500 fuel consumption was certified in NEDC to 4.1 ltr/100 km, equivalent
to 95 g/km of CO2. On a subjective base, the deeper sound of the engine can be perceived attractive.
Drivers who are used to the sound of a 4-cylinder engine will be surprised to find the tonal sound they
know from 1500 rpm associated with a revolution counter displaying 3000 rpm.

IMPROVING EFFICIENCY BY DOWNSIZING

The idea of downsizing is based on improving fuel efficiency by shifting the engine operation points from
low part load associated to poor brake specific fuel consumption into areas of better efficiency. While this
could be achieved already by substituting a naturally aspirated engine by another one with smaller
displacement, customers would not accept the drawback in driving dynamics. Recovering or exceeding the
full load torque curve of the original engine by boosting the smaller one seems mandatory to obtain an
acceptable compensation for the missing displacement.

SCAVENGING ENGINE PROCESS

Boosted engines with two and three cylinders also make it easier than four-cylinder engines to benefit
from instantaneous scavenging pressure differences, as they can be observed during valve overlap even if
the average exhaust back pressure already is (moderately) higher than the boost pressure level.
Scavenging allows removing more residuals from the combustion chamber, achieving a better lower knock
propensity and higher torque output. However, scavenging goes best together with direct gasoline
injection to avoid losses of fresh fuel into the exhaust, and it requires at least variable cam timing for the
intake - and more favorable for the exhaust, too /4, 16, 17, 18, 21/.

POTENTIAL LIMITATIONS TO DOWNSIZING

The possible degree of downsizing is limited by the knock sensitivity of the combustion system and by the
thermal management in the exhaust system. Retarding spark timing to prevent knock leads to an increase
of exhaust gas temperature, which can be again counteracted by increased amounts of injected fuel. While
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Figure 4. operating points of NEDC drive cycle in the map of a downsized engine, BSFC given in g/kWh

this should obviously be strictly avoided in operating conditions relevant for emission certification, the
real world fuel economy of the vehicle suffers the more from these measures the more often the engine is
operated under such emergency conditions.

In this context, the significantly reduced knocking propensity of a scavenging combustion system may
enable a much more efficient spark timing. Improved process efficiency results in lower exhaust gas
temperatures. This in turn may over-compensate the heat released by exothermic oxidation of HC and CO
from slightly enriched combustion with the oxygen slipped through into exhaust during valve overlap.

For direct-injected gasoline engines there is an additional limitation to reducing cylinder dimensions
caused by wall wetting by fuel spray /7/. Accordingly, small engine displacements will also call for
reducing the number of cylinders.

Also, two- and three-cylinder engines are shorter in length than a four-cylinder engine of the same
displacement /5, 22/. The package of the two-cylinder makes it also interesting for parallel hybrid vehicle
application as it makes room for an integrated flywheel generator /22/.

Moreover, the choice of an engine for small and compact vehicle has a stronger focus on production cost
than in the upper market segments. Therefore, some of the downsizing potential may become sacrificed
for the sake of a simpler engine configuration and lower production cost. This also supports the decision
to focus the study on turbocharging as a wastegate turbo, which can be typically considered less expensive
than a mechanical supercharger.

PERFORMANCE TARGET FOR SIMULATION STUDY

With these in part contradictory requirements in mind, a simulation study was performed for a gasoline
engine downsized to approximately 0.9 liter displacement and a full load performance of 155-160 Nm as
maximum torque and a rated power of 74 kW. Today, such a specific power and torque can be considered
a standard performance for medium size vehicles with a 1.8-2.0 liter four-cylinder TGDI engine. The
simulation study will investigate if such a performance can also be achieved with a much smaller engine,
despite the lower efficiencies of smaller turbo-machinery.
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Table 1. Selected geometry data of the engine models

SIMULATION APPROACH
As the purpose of this study is to investigate the different characteristics from turbocharged downsized
engines with two and three cylinders, first at all a base engine class is defined. The full load performance
indicated above with a torque equivalent to BMEP=2.2 MPa seems appropriate for a vehicle with a curb
weight of 1372 kg, and it may even enable sporty driving characteristics in a vehicle weighing 1000-1100
kg.

CYLINDER GEOMETRY AND FIRING ORDER

The displacement of 0.9 liters results into a cylinder displacement of approximately 450 cm3 for the 2-
cylinder engine and 300 cm3 for the 3-cylinder engine, respectively.

To start the simulation study from a validated base, the 2-cylinder engine model was derived from the
model of the 4-cylinder FEV SGT engine /19/ with 1.8 liter displacement, four valves, central injector
position, double variable cam phasing and single-stage turbo charger. The 2-cylinder engine adopts the
cylinder geometry of the SGT engine, so its displacement is half of the 4-cylinder engine. The 3-cylinder
engine maintains the same stroke/bore ratio of 1.07, but requires valve and port diameters to be adjusted
in order to accommodate the injector in the center of the pent roof combustion chamber. Despite of this,
the total intake and exhaust valve area of the entire engine turns out larger by about 4% or 6%,
respectively, for the three-cylinder engine.

For the sake of turbocharging, both engines shall be fired in even intervals. In both cases the firing
intervals of 240° and 360° avoid overlapping intake and exhaust pulses of subsequently firing cylinders,
and hence allow the gas pulses to pass the air and exhaust ducts one after the other without sharing flow
cross sections. This principally allows designing very compact manifolds in the vicinity of the cylinder
head. On the other hand, the lack of anti-phased pressure waves from neighbor cylinders also prevents
attenuating unfavorable resonances in more distant parts of the intake and exhaust system.

FRICTION LOSSES
The firing orders result into crankshafts with 120° angles between the cranks for the three-cylinder
engine. Its first order mass forces can be compensated completely by counterweights. The 360° intervals
for the engine with two cylinders in straight arrangement lead to the two cranks parallel in line. The
balancing of first order mass forces requires a balance shaft rotating in the opposite sense to the
crankshaft. The three-cylinder engine produces a free mass moment of 1.5th order. But due to the smaller
piston masses, its amplitude can be considered tolerable even without a balance shaft.

The higher pressure and mass forces of the two cylinder engine require larger bearing widths. And larger
crankshaft and connecting rod bearing diameters are necessary to obtain the required stiffness of the
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Figure 5. Comparison of friction mean effective pressure of 2- and 3-cylinder engines. (Pumping losses not included)

crankshaft with the longer stroke of the two cylinder engine. This effect is more dominant than saving one
set of bearings in comparison to the three-cylinder engine. Moreover, the oil feed for the connecting rod
bearings needs a higher oil pressure to overcome the centrifugal forces in the larger crankshaft bearing
journal diameter requiring higher oil pump power.

Even after considering a few other compensating effects from having less friction contacts in valve train
and shorter water passages in the shorter engine block, there is a net disadvantage for the two-cylinder
engine in terms of friction losses /22/.

While almost all friction loss sources show some compensating effects due to their sizes and numbers, the
inevitable balance shaft of the two-cylinder engine can be considered the major cause for the difference
displayed in Figure 5.

TURBOCHARGER MAP TREATMENT

The turbocharging study is based on maps of different KP35 and KP39 type turbochargers by courtesy of
BorgWarner Turbo Systems Engineering GmbH. The measured data that can be obtained on a standard
turbocharger test bench typically covers only a quite limited range of turbine blade speed ratios in the
proximity of the optimal turbine efficiency of each speed. This range of turbine pressure ratios results
from the limited power range of the compressor between surge and choke limits when breathing from
atmospheric conditions. The instantaneous load points of the turbine, however, can easily exceed this
range because of the inertia of the turbocharger rotor. More delicate, the maximum turbine power is often
obtained under instantaneous pressure ratios and flow rates that are way outside the measured data
range /19/. This means the accuracy of turbocharger matching simulation under these conditions relies
on mere extrapolation. With the experience from extended turbocharger mapping, which enables ranges
of turbine pressure ratios 2-5 times wider than conventional testing methods /20/, complemented with
additional run-away speed measurements, the given turbine maps can be extrapolated to higher and
lower pressure ratios. However, especially the two-cylinder engine requires turbine maps to cover even
turbine expansion pressure ratios slightly below 1.0. In order to determine the magnitude of backflow
occurring under such conditions that will determine the pressure difference available for scavenging, 3D
CFD simulations were performed. These simulations served to complete the speed curves for pressure
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Figure 6. Mass flow curves of constant turbine blade tip speed

ratios in particular below the run-away points, but they were performed in measured pressure ratio
ranges too, to validate the approach (Figure 6). Figure 7 shows the flow pattern and the pressure
distribution in an axial section across the turbine in a condition in which the centrifugal acceleration field
in the turbine balances the pressure gradient across the wheel. In fact, the displayed condition is unstable,
alternating between forward flow, stagnation and then backflow to the high pressure side. The average
reduced mass flow rate in this case was zero at a turbine speed of 187 krpm or 340 m/s tip speed,
respectively, and a pressure ratio of 1.1.

It is important to account for this stagnation and backflow phenomena in order to properly predict the
exhaust back pressure level during valve overlap period and hence the potential for scavenging residuals
out of the combustion chamber.

Even though the reduced flow rate curves shown above would even cover choke in backflow, this case is
very unlikely to occur in a combustion engine, because the exhaust manifold volume is rather small.
Hence, it will quickly become replenished by even small amounts of backflow, and the pressure will
recover to at least stagnation pressure ratio. On the other hand, the figure exhibits pretty clearly that an
extension of the speed curves toward the point (PR; ṁred) = (1.0; 0.0) will make the turbine too
permeable and tend to underestimate the turbine inlet pressure in situations of stagnating mass flow, as
can be observed frequently in engines with less than four cylinders feeding a single scroll turbine.

Also turbine efficiency typically needs a correction to prevent an overestimation at low speeds and flow
rates. Measurement data in this range are often offset by elevated compressor outlet temperatures that
are attributed to turbine and compressor shaft power, but in fact result from heat transferred to the
charge air across the turbocharger structure. Figure 8 shows such an efficiency correction applied to the
two lowest speeds of the map. If the data from the entire mapping test is available, it is possible to
compensate for the heat transfer offsets in both turbine and compressor maps. In this case, the according
compressor measurement was unknown, and a standard offset hull curve for maximum efficiency had to
be applied to adjust the low speeds.

Figure 8 underlines the statement that measured turbine data is only available in a small range around
optimum efficiency. However, the maximum power is transferred from the gas to the shaft at higher
pressure ratios, typically related to blade speed ratios to the left of the optimum. And the higher the
pressure peak, the lower the BSR will be and the further away from measured data. Such turbine data
should be measured on a test rig operating the compressor in a closed loop. This allows evacuating or
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Figure 7. Velocity and pressure field in an axial turbine section at stagnation pressure ratio, PR=1.1 at 187000 rpm.

supercharging the inlet of the compressor and enables a much wider range of loads and hence turbine
pressure ratio or BSR, respectively. Usually, the slope of efficiency on the high pressure side of optimum
BSR strives toward zero at BSR=0. The occurrence of choke in the housing may need special
consideration, as it tends to increase the gradient.

INITIAL COMPARISON OF 2- AND 3-CYLINDER BOOSTED ENGINE

BEHAVIOR
In an initial study using scalable standard turbine and compressor maps, a draft turbocharger matching
was performed for the three-cylinder engine that determined desirable range of flow rate and pressure
ratio for the turbo machinery. With this information, a set of turbocharger candidates was selected for a
more product related investigation. It was found that turbochargers with diameters of 38 mm for the
compressor wheel and 34.7 mm for the turbine wheel would give the best trade off between low end
torque build up and rated power.

The same turbocharger was used in the GT-POWER model of the 2- and 3-cylinder engine, and the
following observations were made:

• The 2-cylinder engine's power output is limited by maximum allowable turbo-speed.

• Without an intentional reduction of boost pressure to avoid excessive torsion excitation at low
frequency, the 2-cylinder engine had been able to achieve the maximum torque already at 1250 rpm,
whereas the 3-cylinder engine gets there only at 1500 rpm.
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Figure 8. Turbine net efficiency ηsT · ηm : measured data, raw and corrected at low speeds

Figure 9. Engine process characteristics of 2- and 3-cylinder engine equipped with the same KP35 turbocharger

• Higher friction and higher pumping work of the 2-cylinder engine cause higher specific fuel
consumption. Hence it needs more boost pressure to deliver the same performance, which contributes
again to higher BSFC.

• The instantaneous pressure profiles in intake and exhaust enable scavenging up to about 3000 rpm.

• Both engines achieve or better exceed the previously defined target rated power of 74 kW at 5000 rpm.
However, the 3-cylinder engine would be able to deliver a still higher rated power of up to 80.6 kW at
5000 rpm.

The first two findings suggest that the same turbocharger behaves “smaller” on a 2-cylinder engine than
on a 3-cylinder. In particular the p-V diagram points out that the 2-cylinder engine mainly suffers from a
higher exhaust back pressure (Figure 10).

Figure 12 presents a detailed view of the turbine characteristics for engine full load at 2500 rpm. The 2-
cylinder engine with its larger cylinder displacement expels only two exhaust mass pulses in 360°
intervals. But each single pulse is roughly 50% larger than the 3-cylinder engine ones. According to the
stronger instantaneous mass flow pulses, the peak turbine pressure ratio coinciding with peak mass flow
reaches higher values in the 2-cylinder engine because the effective flow area of the turbine is not adapted
to the higher peak flow. With turbine speed nearly on the same level, the BSR associated to maximum
available exhaust energy is slightly lower in the 2-cylinder engine and calls for an adjustment of
turbocharger matching (Figure 11).
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Figure 10. Pumping loops of 2- and 3-cylinder engine equipped with the same turbocharger, full load, 4000 rpm

Figure 11. Turbine efficiency vs. blade speed ratio, 2- and 3-cylinder engine operating at 2500 rpm, full load

The mass flow diagram in Figure 12 also indicates the need to deploy turbine maps providing reasonable
data for backflow at low pressure ratios. Short after TDC, the pressure ratio drops below stagnation PR
and a small backflow rate sets in. At 2500 rpm, the wastegate is already open to regulate the boost
pressure. Therefore, the exhaust gas driven upstream by the centrifugal forces in the turbine does not
contribute to increasing the manifold pressure, but it escapes again downstream through the wastegate.

The chart of turbocharger speeds indicates that during the stagnation periods, where there is no flow
energy to drive the turbine, the compressor power is delivered by the inertia of the rotor assembly. As
soon as the pressure ratio exceeds again a level of about 1.5, the deceleration ends, and the turbocharger
shaft picks up speed again.

The loops of instantaneous compressor operation points in Figure 13 show that the compressor runs next
to the choke line at 5000 rpm, and there is no margin for compensating lower ambient pressure in high
altitude. At the lower speeds both engines show excursions into the surge area, with wider excursions by
the 2-cylinder engine.

ADJUSTING TURBOCHARGER MATCHING FOR THE 2-CYLINDER ENGINE

Looking to the more pronounced pulse turbocharging in the 2-cylinder case, the logical next step was to
look for a turbine with higher flow capacity to avoid the inappropriately low BSR values associated with
maximum pressure ratio. This can be achieved by using a turbine with either a larger wheel diameter or a
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Figure 12. Instantaneous turbine characteristics, 2- and 3-cylinder engine operating at 2500 rpm, full load

Figure 13. Loops of instantaneous compressor operating points, 2- and 3-cylinder engines operating at full load

different scroll area or trim, or a combination of these measures. As none of the available 34.7 mm
turbines appeared to reduce peak pressure ratio to a desired extent, the use of a larger turbine wheel was
investigated. As the turbo speed is predominantly defined by the compressor operating point, the same
speed in a larger turbine wheel would lead to higher blade tip speed, i.e. to larger BSR at a given pressure
ratio. This in turn would increase the turbine efficiency, if one manages to concentrate the minimum BSR
closer to the optimum.

In consequence to these considerations, the rather unconventional - virtual - combinations of KP39

turbines with the best suited KP35 compressor were investigated. The turbine wheel diameter of 38.5 is
now larger than the one of the compressor (38.0 mm). Two alternative turbine housings shall be
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Figure 14. Efficiency maps of three alternative turbines for the 2-cylinder engines and the operating line at 2500 rpm.

discussed here. The first is indicated as “TWD 38.5” (TWD: turbine wheel diameter) in the following
diagrams. It features the same (A/R)/D5 as the base KP35 turbine matched to the 3-cylinder engine. The
other one has a modified A/R value and for brevity is indicated as “TWD 38.5 +A/R”. It has a higher flow
capacity, and its efficiency map differs from the other two turbines, as it has a monotonously falling trend
toward higher speeds and pressure ratios. Figure 14 displays the three different levels of flow capacity.
And it shows how the increase of diameter and flow capacity contributes to reduce the maximum pressure
ratio. Consequently, the 2-cylinder engine with the “+A/R” turbine has the best pumping work among the
investigated 2-cylinder engines so far.

The increase of diameter and flow capacity contributes to reduce the maximum pressure ratio.
Consequently, the 2-cylinder engine with the “+A/R” turbine has the best pumping work among the
investigated 2-cylinder engines so far. Nonetheless, the pumping work of the 2-cylinder engine is still
significantly larger than the 3-cylinder one (cf. Figure 10, above).

The larger turbine wheels allow the 2-cylinder engine to follow the same torque curve as before, but the
rated power can hardly be increased (75.7 kW → 76.5 kW). While it was the compressor tip speed limiting
the boost before, it is now the turbine blade tip speed getting to the limits. It prevents exploiting the
compressor map up to the choke limit.
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Figure 15. Pumping loops of the 2-cylinder engine equipped with different turbines, full load, 4000 rpm

Figure 16. Operating characteristics of different turbines, 2-cylinder engine, full load, 5000 rpm

Nevertheless, the fuel consumption benefits from the lower backpressure and is improved by
approximately 2% using the TWD 38.5 +A/R turbine. As the fuel consumption is improved, the engine
requires less boost pressure and relieves the turbine.

An investigation of the dynamic flow behavior of the turbine reveals that the “+A/R” version
overcompensates the slightly lower efficiency by a significantly higher peak mass flow rate and thus
provides the same total power to the compressor. But it does so at lower exhaust manifold pressure
(Figure 16). The turbine flow capacity is so much larger that flow almost comes to stagnation at 5000 rpm.
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Figure 17. Transient response on tip-in from 2000 rpm of 3-cylinder engine compared to 2-cylinder engines with
different turbine sizes

The chart at the bottom shows again the difference in speed for the two wheel diameters. While the base
turbocharger TWD 34.7 achieved its maximum rotary speed limited by the structure of the compressor,
the slightly larger turbine wheels become the limiting factor for both TWD 38.5 versions.

Despite the larger turbine wheel inertia, the combination of KP39 turbine and KP35 compressor on the 2-
cylinder engine has a similar response in tip-in conditions as the 3-cylinder engine with KP35. Again, the
KP35 turbine behaves much “smaller” on the 2-cylinder engine than on the 3-cylinder. The response of the
2-cylinder with the larger 38.5 mm turbine wheel with base housing index shows the same response in
terms of BMEP and boost pressure as the 3-cylinder engine and better scavenging of residuals.

The KP39 housing with increased flow capacity, however, has a slower response than the 3-cylinder with
base turbocharger, because it builds up turbine pressure ratio less quick than the other turbines.

Aiming at achieving the same maximum rated power output as the 3-cylinder, the boosting system of the
2-cylinder needs further considerations. With the larger turbine, the compressor cannot deliver the
desired air flow rate because the turbine tip speed limit is reached. In order to achieve the same air flow
rate at lower tip speeds, a larger compressor should be tested.

Recombining the KP39 turbine with a compressor of the same turbocharger model series, however, makes
it necessary to accept that the maximum torque will be reached only at higher engine speeds, because the
boost demand for achieving the maximum torque at 1500 rpm does not comply with the surge limit of the
larger compressor. The rated power of the 2-cylinder engine achieved with the full KP39 turbocharger
matches the one of the 3-cylinder engine with the KP35. A more detailed discussion of the results will
follow in the next paragraphs.

VARIABLE COMPRESSOR WITH PRE-SWIRL DEVICE

In order to improve the low-end torque behavior of the 2-cylinder engine, as a last measure a variable pre-
swirl device can be introduced to make the compressor behave smaller at lower engine speeds. Depending
on the inclination angle, the vanes introduce a swirl into the flow that impinges downstream onto the
rotating compressor wheel. With this pre-swirl device as an add-on, a fixed-geometry turbo compressor
can easily be converted in a variable compressor /12, 13/.

This rotary kinetic energy causes a lower static pressure and density at the compressor inlet, which leads
to shifting the operating point toward larger volume flow rates. Moreover, if the swirl is well adjusted, the
flow impact angle onto the blades of the compressor wheel matches higher turbo speeds. Both measures
allow the compressor to run at higher speeds and pressure ratio. This is particularly beneficial if the
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Figure 18. Flow field after the pre-swirl device in a variable compressor /13/

compressor operation point without pre-swirl would be in the proximity to surge, because any shift to
larger volume flow rates would cause an increase of isentropic efficiency in conjunction with a safer
operation. On the other hand, the specific compression work increases because of the lower compressor
inlet pressure. The more the vanes are opened, the lower is the swirl. And when the vanes are perfectly
aligned with the pipe axis, the flow resistance of this improved design is virtually negligible. The
optimization problem is to find the best ratio of isentropic compressor work and efficiency.

When looking at the variable compressor with pre-swirl device and turbo compressor as one single unit,
the reference thermal state is the one in front of the pre-swirl device. In consequence, the system behavior
has to be incorporated in the 1D gas dynamic model as a set of compressor maps with lumped pressure
ratio and efficiency referenced to air pressure and temperature in front of the variable compressor.
Inclining the vanes against the axis results in a compressor map shrunk in mass flow rate and pressure
ratio. Moreover, a reduction of efficiency is also observed due to the pressure drop. Again, as mentioned
above, the optimization task is to find the best trade-off between shifting the area of optimum efficiency
toward the desired flow rate and boost pressure without worsening the efficiency level too much by
excessively closing the vanes.

Figure 19 shows the average compressor operating points of the 2-cylinder engine equipped with the base
KP35 compressor, the KP39 compressor and with the variable compressor based on KP39. For the
variable compressor, three maps resulting from increasing inclination of the pre-swirl device vanes are
shown. They correlate to vane inclination angles of 0°, 25° and 50° against the pipe axis. The optimized
correlation of vane angle versus full load engine speed is displayed in Figure 20. Figure 19 also features
the trajectories of instantaneous compressor operation points at several engine speeds. These loops show
rather large horizontal excursions in the maps of the two fixed geometry compressors. This way, pressure
fluctuations in the boost air system will be transferred to the low pressure side and excite pulsations of
mass flow and in turn of pressure. From the intake of the air filter, these fluctuations will be radiated as
airborne noise. The presence of the pre-swirl device reduces the mass flow fluctuations at many engine
speeds. The operation points are shifted towards the higher reduced flow rates, where the speed lines
have a steeper gradient. In consequence, the low frequent pressure fluctuations excited by the suction
strokes result into a smaller mass flow excursion and, hence, undergo a better attenuation in the
compressor. Advantages with respect to intake orifice noise can be expected. Moreover, the operation
point loops are safer in regards to respecting the surge limit.

The comparison of the engine full load behavior (Figure 21) reveals that the use of the pre-swirl device on
the KP39 compressor makes the 2-cylinder engine match the 3-cylinder engine full load performance as
well at rated power and at low end torque. Certain drawbacks in full load fuel consumption remain
present and can mostly be attributed to the higher friction losses and pumping losses due to the smaller
total valve curtain area of the 2-cylinder engine (cf. Table 1 above). It should be noted that the 2-cylinder
engine with variable compressor would have further potential to increase the torque at speeds below
1500 rpm, if excursions into the surge area were accepted like in the 3-cylinder engine. But like in the
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Figure 19. Comparison of 2-cylinder operating points in compressor maps with base KP35 turbocharger (upper
diagram), of-the-shelf KP39 turbo (center) and variable compressor (bottom) derived by adding a pre-swirl device to
the KP39 compressor above

Figure 20. Vane angle of the pre-swirl device at full load

comparison in Figure 9 using the same KP35 turbocharger for both engines, the torque was purposefully
reduced in consideration of unfavorable excitation of a two-mass flywheel.

This section leads to the conclusion that a 2-cylinder engine has different requirements to turbocharger
matching as a 3- or even a 4-cylinder engine, because the exhaust mass flow rate is concentrated in two
sequential pulses with significant peaks. In order to avoid excessive exhaust pumping work, the turbine
flow capacity should be larger than in a multi-cylinder engine of the same displacement. In contrast, the
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Figure 21. Comparison of 2- and 3-cylinder engine performance; 3-cylinder w/KP35, 2-cylinder with KP39 with fixed
and variable compressor (index: VC)

compressor would in general not need a different layout. In this study, the choice of a larger compressor
was only motivated by the fact that the larger turbine diameter caused a limitation to further increasing
the turbo speed. The additional introduction of the pre-swirl device helped extending the operation range
of the larger compressor back to the low mass flow rates of the smaller compressor.

SUMMARY/CONCLUSIONS
Two and three cylinder engines with equal total displacement volume have different requirements
regarding the choice of turbochargers. The purpose of this study was not to recommend either the one or
the other cylinder number, but to investigate the characteristic differences in engine breathing and
turbocharging. The turbocharger matching is affected by the different cylinder displacement volumes and
the firing intervals. Due to the higher peak mass flow rates in the exhaust of the 2-cylinder engine, the flow
capacity of the turbine must be larger than in the 3-cylinder in order to avoid excessive exhaust pumping
work and to allow efficient conversion of flow energy into turbine work. The same turbine will behave like
a smaller one on the 2-cylinder engine.

In order to achieve the same torque curve between low-end torque and rated power, the 2-cylinder engine
appears to need a compressor with a wider map between surge and choke limits. Tip speed limitations on
the turbine side, if chosen larger in wheel diameter, may force to deploy a larger compressor on the 2-
cylinder engine. A pre-swirl device in front of the large compressor is helpful to adjust the compressor size
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to the specific requirement of the engine speed and eliminates possible drawbacks regarding low-end
torque engine speed. Its implementation can be helpful also to reduce intake orifice noise radiation by
smaller air flow pulsations in the low pressure clean air duct.

In this study, the 2-cylinder engine was expected to have higher friction losses because of a balance shaft
for first order mass forces and larger crankshaft and connecting rod bearings. In conjunction with slightly
smaller total valve curtain area contributing to higher pumping work, the brake specific fuel consumption
of the 2-cylinder engine was found higher than the one of the 3-cylinder. This drawback, however, can
potentially be compensated for by the lower vehicle mass as the 2-cylinder engine is more compact. Also
the shorter engine length makes the 2-cylinder engine interesting for hybrid powertrains, as it makes
room for the integration of e.g. a flywheel motor-generator. On the other hand, additional components like
balance shaft and maybe a pre-swirl device may have to be considered in the cost-benefit ratio.

Both engines have their advantages and their challenges. The differences observed with respect to fuel
consumption may be reduced after a thorough friction optimization and fine tuning of the flow cross
sections in cylinder head and manifolds. The decision about which engine to employ depends on cost,
package, achievable customer benefit and marketing aspects, in which a branding aspect may play an
important role.

Reproduction from , 2011-09-11