New award for multi-fuel capable engine systems lands in Mechanical Engineering

The UW Engine Research Center (ERC) Altitude and Climatic Testing (ACT) Laboratory, which opened last fall, will play a key role in a major new research effort supported by the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Army Research Laboratory.

UW has been awarded $4.0 million for two years (with a potential for up to $8.5 million over 4 years) for the project Science and Technology for Next-Generation Multi-Fuel Capable Hybrid Engine Systems, led by Mechanical Engineering Professor David Rothamer with co-investigators Sage Kokjohn, Jaal Ghandhi, Scott Sanders, Mario Trujillo, and Luca Mastropasqua.

The logistics of getting fuel to Army units in various hard-to-reach areas is a huge challenge. The Army tries to use one type of fuel for all its vehicles and generators for simplicity, but it isn’t a great match for all engine types. Ideally, Army engines need to be more flexible and capable of running on wide range of fuel types.

To address this known issue, the funded research at UW will focus on developing new engine technologies that can allow engines to run on many kinds of fuel and with fuels of varying quality. These include advanced ignition systems, fuel quality (property) sensing, and control-oriented models that can be used to determine the required control parameters needed to burn the fuel at altitude conditions based on the sensed fuel quality. The research team will use the ACT laboratory and other engine testing facilities in the ERC to test the effectiveness of engine technologies at altitude conditions. They’ll also utilize and develop simulation tools to optimize hardware operation with different combinations of technologies. Finally, they’ll build, test, and demonstrate the engine technologies in an off-road vehicle.

Read more about the UW Altitude and Climatic Testing Laboratory.

David Rothamer is the Robert Lorenz Professor of Mechanical Engineering and College of Engineering associate dean for research.