Engine R&D

Since 2004, a large part of our work, both professionally and as consultants, has been focused on the design and development of novel, high-efficiency engine concepts and the building of the required analytical and testing infrastructure from scratch.

Sample Project: ARPA-E GENSETS Program

  • Background: Department of Energy sponsored program to develop a high-efficiency, natural gas-powered residential CHP system (click here for additional information on ARPA-E GENSETS)
  • Role of NSES: Co-principal investigator and technical lead for customer, Tour Engine, Inc. (click here for
    additional information)
  • Project Duration/Funding: 5 yrs / $5.1M from private and government sources
  • Contributions by NSES
    • Grant application, project definition, SOW, schedule & budget
    • Specification of test cell, dyno, dyno driveline, instrumentation
    • Design, build and programming of test cell data acquisition system
    • Creation of all pre-/post-processing tools for dyno configuration and test data
    • Overseeing design & manufacturing of engine prototypes
    • Engine testing and performance evaluation
    • System model calibration and performance prediction (GT-Power)
    • Report generation for customer and ARPA-E

Engine R&D Involving Testing

  • Engine Systems Simulations
    • Optimization, DOE, model calibration, performance prediction
    • Software: GT-Power, Ricardo Wave, Optimus/Noesis
  • Structural Analysis
    • Component level (crankshaft, conrod, pistons, etc.)
    • Engine dynamics (rotating & reciprocating masses using GT-Suite)
    • Resonance analysis (engine & dyno driveline using GT-Suite)
  • Thermal Analysis
    • Liquid cooling (pistons, cylinder, etc.)
  • Flow Analysis
    • Transient analysis of scavenging flow using ANSYS
    • Impingement jet cooling of pistons (experimentally and analytically)
    • Cylinder cooling (CHT)

Engine R&D Involving Analysis

  • Testing Infrastructure
    • Defining/building/managing test cells
    • AC dynos and water brake dynos ranging from 5kW to 300kW
    • Instrumentation and sensors (Kistler, NI, Horiba, AVL, FTI, Meriam, etc.)
  • Data Acquisition & Processing
    • Development of complete data acquisition solutions using LabView
    • Development of pre-/post-processing software tools using Visual C++, VBA