Solenoid Valve

Students: R.C. Chladny (Ph.D.), S. Chung (M.Sc.)

The use of solenoid actuators to control the gas exchange valves of a spark ignition internal combustion (IC) engine can significantly improve engine fuel consumption and reduce hazardous exhaust emissions. Performance benefits of solenoid actuation over a conventional camshaft engine result from being able to optimize individual valve timing over the complete engine load-speed range. Although performance gains have been demonstrated in laboratory settings, commercial success depends on the development of accurate models amenable to the design of cost effective, high-performance controllers. This collaborative work with Prof. C.R. (Bob) Koch involves lab validation on a single-cylinder teststand equipped with actuators valves developed at Daimler-Chrysler. This teststand, which includes a single cylinder IC engine, is housed in the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering at the U of A.

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