Lean burn
Encyclopedia
Lean burn refers to the use of lean mixtures in an internal combustion engine
. The air-fuel ratio
s can be as high as 65:1, so the mixture has considerably less fuel
in comparison to the stoichiometric
combustion ratio (14.7:1 for petrol for example).
The engine
s designed for lean burning can employ higher compression ratio
s and thus provide better performance, efficient fuel use
and low exhaust
hydrocarbon emissions than those found in conventional petrol engine
s. Ultra lean mixtures with very high air-fuel ratios can only be achieved by direct injection
engines.
The main drawback of lean burning is that a complex catalytic converter
system is required to reduce NOx
emissions. Lean burn engines do not work well with modern 3-way catalytic converter
—which require a pollutant balance at the exhaust port so they can carry out oxidation and reduction reactions—so most modern engines run at or near the stoichiometric point. Alternatively, ultra-lean ratios can reduce NOx emissions.
equipped many vehicles with their Electronic Lean Burn (ELB) system, which consisted of a spark control computer and various sensors and transducers. The computer adjusted spark timing based on manifold vacuum, engine speed, engine temperature, throttle position over time, and incoming air temperature. Engines equipped with ELB used fixed-timing distributors without the traditional vacuum and centrifugal timing advance mechanisms. The ELB computer also directly drove the ignition coil, eliminating the need for a separate ignition module.
ELB was produced in both open-loop and closed-loop variants; the open-loop systems produced exhaust clean enough for many vehicle variants so equipped to pass 1976 and 1977 US Federal emissions regulations
, and Canadian emissions regulations through 1980, without a catalytic converter
. The closed-loop version of ELB used an Oxygen sensor
and a feedback carburetor
, and was phased into production as emissions regulations grew more stringent starting in 1981, but open-loop ELB was used as late as 1990 in markets with lax emissions regulations, on vehicles such as the Mexican Chrysler Spirit. The spark control and engine parameter sensing and transduction strategies introduced with ELB remained in use through 1995 on Chrysler vehicles equipped with throttle-body fuel injection.
, biogas
, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) fuelled engines. These engines can either be full-time lean burn, where the engine runs with a weak air-fuel mixture regardless of load and engine speed, or part-time lean burn (also known as "lean mix" or "mixed lean"), where the engine runs lean only during low load and at high engine speeds, reverting to a stoichiometric air-fuel mixture in other cases.
Heavy-duty lean burn gas engines admit as much as 75% more air than theoretically needed for complete combustion into the combustion chambers. The extremely weak air-fuel mixtures lead to lower combustion temperatures and therefore lower NOx formation. While lean-burn gas engines offer higher theoretical thermal efficiencies, transient response and performance may be compromised in certain situations. Lean burn gas engines are almost always turbocharged, resulting high power and torque figures not achieveable with stoichiometric engines due to high combustion temperatures.
Heavy duty gas engines may employ precombustion chambers in the cylinder head. A lean gas and air mixture is first highly compressed in the main chamber by the piston. A much richer, though much lesser volume gas/air mixture is introduced to the precombustion chamber and ignited by spark plug. The flame front spreads to the lean gas air mixture in the cylinder.
This two stage lean burn combustion produces low NOx and no particulate emissions. Thermal efficiency is better as higher compression ratios are achieved.
Manufacturers of heavy-duty lean burn gas engines include GE Jenbacher, MAN Diesel & Turbo
, Wärtsilä
, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
and Rolls-Royce plc
.
This stratified-charge approach to lean-burn combustion means that the air-fuel ratio isn't equal throughout the cylinder. Instead, precise control over fuel injection
and intake flow dynamics allows a greater concentration of fuel closer to the spark plug
tip (richer), which is required for successful ignition and flame spread for complete combustion. The remainder of the cylinders' intake charge is progressively leaner with an overall average air:fuel ratio falling into the lean-burn category of up to 22:1.
The older Honda
engines that used lean burn (not all did) accomplished this by having a parallel fuel and intake system that fed a pre-chamber the "ideal" ratio for initial combustion. This burning mixture was then opened to the main chamber where a much larger and leaner mix then ignited to provide sufficient power. During the time this design was in production this system (CVCC, Compound Vortex Controlled Combustion
) primarily allowed lower emissions without the need for a catalytic converter
. These were carbureted
engines and the relative "imprecise" nature of such limited the MPG abilities of the concept that now under MPI (Multi-Port fuel Injection) allows for higher MPG too.
The newer Honda
stratified charge (lean burn engines) operate on air-fuel ratios as high as 22:1. The amount of fuel drawn into the engine is much lower than a typical gasoline engine, which operates at 14.7:1—the chemical stoichiometric ideal for complete combustion when averaging gasoline to the petrochemical industries' accepted standard of C6H8.
This lean-burn ability by the necessity of the limits of physics, and the chemistry of combustion as it applies to a current gasoline engine must be limited to light load and lower RPM conditions. A "top" speed cut-off point is required since leaner gasoline fuel mixtures burn slower and for power to be produced combustion must be "complete" by the time the exhaust valve opens.
and 1762cc 7A-FE
4 cylinder engines have 2 inlet and 2 exhaust valves per cylinder. Toyota uses a set of butterflies to restrict flow in every second inlet runner during lean burn operation. This creates a large amount of swirl in the combustion chamber. Injectors are mounted in the head, rather than conventionally in the intake manifold. Compression ratio 9.5:1.
The 1998cc 3S-FSE
engine is a direct injection petrol lean burn engine. Compression ratio 10:1.
and optional NEO Di direct injection
.
The 1497cc QG15DE
has a Compression ratio of 9.9:1 and 1769cc QG18DE
9.5:1.
developed and began producing the MVV (Mitsubishi Vertical Vortex) lean burn system first used in Mitsubishi's 1.5 L 4G15
straight-4
single-overhead-cam 1,468-cc engine. The vertical vortex engine has an idle speed of 600 rpm and a compression ratio of 9.4:1 compared with respective figures of 700 rpm and 9.2:1 for the conventional version. The lean-burn MVV engine can achieve complete combustion with an air-fuel ratio as high as 25:1, this boasts a 10-20% gain in fuel economy (on the Japanese 10-mode urban cycle) in bench tests compared with its conventional MPI powerplant of the same displacement, which means lower CO2 emissions.
The heart of the Mitsubishi's MVV system is the linear air-fuel ratio exhaust gas oxygen sensor. Compared with standard oxygen sensors, which essentially are on-off switches set to a single air/fuel ratio, the lean oxygen sensor is more of a measurement device covering the air/fuel ratio range from about 15:1 to 26:1.
To speed up the otherwise slow combustion of lean mixtures, the MVV engine uses two intake valves and one exhaust valve per cylinder. The separate specially shaped (twin intake port design) intake ports are the same size, but only one port receives fuel from an injector. This creates two vertical vortices of identical size, strength and rotational speed within the combustion chamber during the intake stroke: one vortex of air, the other of an air/fuel mixture. The two vortices also remain independent layers throughout most of the compression stroke.
Near the end of the compression stroke, the layers collapse into uniform minute turbulences, which effectively promote lean-burn characteristics. More importantly, ignition occurs in the initial stages of breakdown of the separate layers while substantial amounts of each layer still exist. Because the spark plug is located closer to the vortex consisting of air/fuel mixture, ignition arises in an area of the pentroof-design combustion chamber where fuel density is higher. The flame then spreads through the combustion chamber via the small turbulences. This provides stable combustion even at normal ignition-energy levels, thereby realizing lean burn.
The engine computer stores optimum air fuel ratios for all engine-operating conditions - from lean (for normal operation) to richest (for heavy acceleration) and all points in between. Full-range oxygen sensors (used for the first time) provide essential information that allows the computers to properly regulate fuel delivery.
s can be considered to be lean burning with respect to the total volume, however the fuel and air is not well mixed before the combustion. Most of the combustion occurs in rich zones around small droplets of fuel. Locally rich combustion like this is a source of NOx and particles.
Internal combustion engine
The internal combustion engine is an engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer in a combustion chamber. In an internal combustion engine, the expansion of the high-temperature and high -pressure gases produced by combustion apply direct force to some component of the engine...
. The air-fuel ratio
Air-fuel ratio
Air–fuel ratio is the mass ratio of air to fuel present in an internal combustion engine. If exactly enough air is provided to completely burn all of the fuel, the ratio is known as the stoichiometric mixture, often abbreviated to stoich...
s can be as high as 65:1, so the mixture has considerably less fuel
Fuel
Fuel is any material that stores energy that can later be extracted to perform mechanical work in a controlled manner. Most fuels used by humans undergo combustion, a redox reaction in which a combustible substance releases energy after it ignites and reacts with the oxygen in the air...
in comparison to the stoichiometric
Stoichiometry
Stoichiometry is a branch of chemistry that deals with the relative quantities of reactants and products in chemical reactions. In a balanced chemical reaction, the relations among quantities of reactants and products typically form a ratio of whole numbers...
combustion ratio (14.7:1 for petrol for example).
Principle
A lean burn mode is a way to reduce throttling losses. An engine in a typical vehicle is sized for providing the power desired for acceleration, but must operate well below that point in normal steady-speed operation. Ordinarily, the power is cut by partially closing a throttle. However, the extra work done in pumping air through the throttle reduces efficiency. If the fuel/air ratio is reduced, then lower power can be achieved with the throttle closer to fully open, and the efficiency during normal driving (below the maximum torque capability of the engine) can be higher.The engine
Internal combustion engine
The internal combustion engine is an engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer in a combustion chamber. In an internal combustion engine, the expansion of the high-temperature and high -pressure gases produced by combustion apply direct force to some component of the engine...
s designed for lean burning can employ higher compression ratio
Compression ratio
The 'compression ratio' of an internal-combustion engine or external combustion engine is a value that represents the ratio of the volume of its combustion chamber from its largest capacity to its smallest capacity...
s and thus provide better performance, efficient fuel use
Fuel efficiency
Fuel efficiency is a form of thermal efficiency, meaning the efficiency of a process that converts chemical potential energy contained in a carrier fuel into kinetic energy or work. Overall fuel efficiency may vary per device, which in turn may vary per application, and this spectrum of variance is...
and low exhaust
Exhaust gas
Exhaust gas or flue gas is emitted as a result of the combustion of fuels such as natural gas, gasoline/petrol, diesel fuel, fuel oil or coal. According to the type of engine, it is discharged into the atmosphere through an exhaust pipe, flue gas stack or propelling nozzle.It often disperses...
hydrocarbon emissions than those found in conventional petrol engine
Petrol engine
A petrol engine is an internal combustion engine with spark-ignition, designed to run on petrol and similar volatile fuels....
s. Ultra lean mixtures with very high air-fuel ratios can only be achieved by direct injection
Gasoline direct injection
In internal combustion engines, gasoline direct injection , also known as petrol direct injection or direct petrol injection, is a variant of fuel injection employed in modern two-stroke and four-stroke gasoline engines...
engines.
The main drawback of lean burning is that a complex catalytic converter
Catalytic converter
A catalytic converter is a device used to convert toxic exhaust emissions from an internal combustion engine into non-toxic substances. Inside a catalytic converter, a catalyst stimulates a chemical reaction in which noxious byproducts of combustion are converted to less toxic substances by dint...
system is required to reduce NOx
NOx
NOx is a generic term for the mono-nitrogen oxides NO and NO2 . They are produced from the reaction of nitrogen and oxygen gases in the air during combustion, especially at high temperatures...
emissions. Lean burn engines do not work well with modern 3-way catalytic converter
Catalytic converter
A catalytic converter is a device used to convert toxic exhaust emissions from an internal combustion engine into non-toxic substances. Inside a catalytic converter, a catalyst stimulates a chemical reaction in which noxious byproducts of combustion are converted to less toxic substances by dint...
—which require a pollutant balance at the exhaust port so they can carry out oxidation and reduction reactions—so most modern engines run at or near the stoichiometric point. Alternatively, ultra-lean ratios can reduce NOx emissions.
Chrysler Electronic Lean Burn
From 1976 through 1989, ChryslerChrysler
Chrysler Group LLC is a multinational automaker headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA. Chrysler was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925....
equipped many vehicles with their Electronic Lean Burn (ELB) system, which consisted of a spark control computer and various sensors and transducers. The computer adjusted spark timing based on manifold vacuum, engine speed, engine temperature, throttle position over time, and incoming air temperature. Engines equipped with ELB used fixed-timing distributors without the traditional vacuum and centrifugal timing advance mechanisms. The ELB computer also directly drove the ignition coil, eliminating the need for a separate ignition module.
ELB was produced in both open-loop and closed-loop variants; the open-loop systems produced exhaust clean enough for many vehicle variants so equipped to pass 1976 and 1977 US Federal emissions regulations
Automobile emissions control
Vehicle emissions control is the study and practice of reducing the motor vehicle emissions -- emissions produced by motor vehicles, especially internal combustion engines....
, and Canadian emissions regulations through 1980, without a catalytic converter
Catalytic converter
A catalytic converter is a device used to convert toxic exhaust emissions from an internal combustion engine into non-toxic substances. Inside a catalytic converter, a catalyst stimulates a chemical reaction in which noxious byproducts of combustion are converted to less toxic substances by dint...
. The closed-loop version of ELB used an Oxygen sensor
Oxygen sensor
An oxygen sensor, or lambda sensor, is an electronic device that measures the proportion of oxygen in the gas or liquid being analyzed. It was developed by the Robert Bosch GmbH company during the late 1960s under the supervision of Dr. Günter Bauman...
and a feedback carburetor
Carburetor
A carburetor , carburettor, or carburetter is a device that blends air and fuel for an internal combustion engine. It is sometimes shortened to carb in North America and the United Kingdom....
, and was phased into production as emissions regulations grew more stringent starting in 1981, but open-loop ELB was used as late as 1990 in markets with lax emissions regulations, on vehicles such as the Mexican Chrysler Spirit. The spark control and engine parameter sensing and transduction strategies introduced with ELB remained in use through 1995 on Chrysler vehicles equipped with throttle-body fuel injection.
Heavy-duty gas engines
Lean burn concepts are often used for the design of heavy-duty natural gasNatural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
, biogas
Biogas
Biogas typically refers to a gas produced by the biological breakdown of organic matter in the absence of oxygen. Organic waste such as dead plant and animal material, animal dung, and kitchen waste can be converted into a gaseous fuel called biogas...
, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) fuelled engines. These engines can either be full-time lean burn, where the engine runs with a weak air-fuel mixture regardless of load and engine speed, or part-time lean burn (also known as "lean mix" or "mixed lean"), where the engine runs lean only during low load and at high engine speeds, reverting to a stoichiometric air-fuel mixture in other cases.
Heavy-duty lean burn gas engines admit as much as 75% more air than theoretically needed for complete combustion into the combustion chambers. The extremely weak air-fuel mixtures lead to lower combustion temperatures and therefore lower NOx formation. While lean-burn gas engines offer higher theoretical thermal efficiencies, transient response and performance may be compromised in certain situations. Lean burn gas engines are almost always turbocharged, resulting high power and torque figures not achieveable with stoichiometric engines due to high combustion temperatures.
Heavy duty gas engines may employ precombustion chambers in the cylinder head. A lean gas and air mixture is first highly compressed in the main chamber by the piston. A much richer, though much lesser volume gas/air mixture is introduced to the precombustion chamber and ignited by spark plug. The flame front spreads to the lean gas air mixture in the cylinder.
This two stage lean burn combustion produces low NOx and no particulate emissions. Thermal efficiency is better as higher compression ratios are achieved.
Manufacturers of heavy-duty lean burn gas engines include GE Jenbacher, MAN Diesel & Turbo
MAN Diesel & Turbo
MAN Diesel & Turbo SE is multinational company based in Germany that produces large-bore diesel engines for railway-locomotives, marine propulsion systems, power plant applications and turbochargers. The company was formed in 2010 from the merger of MAN Diesel and MAN Turbo...
, Wärtsilä
Wärtsilä
Wärtsilä is a Finnish corporation which manufactures and services power sources and other equipment in the marine and energy markets. The core products of Wärtsilä include large combustion engines...
, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
, or MHI, is a Japanese company. It is one of the core companies of Mitsubishi Group.-History:In 1870 Yataro Iwasaki, the founder of Mitsubishi took a lease of Government-owned Nagasaki Shipyard. He named it Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works, and started the shipbuilding business on a full scale...
and Rolls-Royce plc
Rolls-Royce plc
Rolls-Royce Group plc is a global power systems company headquartered in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom. It is the world’s second-largest maker of aircraft engines , and also has major businesses in the marine propulsion and energy sectors. Through its defence-related activities...
.
Honda lean burn systems
One of the newest lean-burn technologies available in automobiles currently in production uses very precise control of fuel injection, a strong air-fuel swirl created in the combustion chamber, a new linear air-fuel sensor (LAF type O2 sensor) and a lean-burn NOx catalyst to further reduce the resulting NOx emissions that increase under "lean-burn" conditions and meet NOx emissions requirements.This stratified-charge approach to lean-burn combustion means that the air-fuel ratio isn't equal throughout the cylinder. Instead, precise control over fuel injection
Fuel injection
Fuel injection is a system for admitting fuel into an internal combustion engine. It has become the primary fuel delivery system used in automotive petrol engines, having almost completely replaced carburetors in the late 1980s....
and intake flow dynamics allows a greater concentration of fuel closer to the spark plug
Spark plug
A spark plug is an electrical device that fits into the cylinder head of some internal combustion engines and ignites compressed fuels such as aerosol, gasoline, ethanol, and liquefied petroleum gas by means of an electric spark.Spark plugs have an insulated central electrode which is connected by...
tip (richer), which is required for successful ignition and flame spread for complete combustion. The remainder of the cylinders' intake charge is progressively leaner with an overall average air:fuel ratio falling into the lean-burn category of up to 22:1.
The older Honda
Honda
is a Japanese public multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles.Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, as well as the world's largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume, producing more than...
engines that used lean burn (not all did) accomplished this by having a parallel fuel and intake system that fed a pre-chamber the "ideal" ratio for initial combustion. This burning mixture was then opened to the main chamber where a much larger and leaner mix then ignited to provide sufficient power. During the time this design was in production this system (CVCC, Compound Vortex Controlled Combustion
CVCC
CVCC is a trademark by the Honda Motor Company for an engine with reduced automotive emissions, which stood for "Compound Vortex Controlled Combustion". This technology allowed Honda's cars to meet United States emission standards in the 1970s without a catalytic converter...
) primarily allowed lower emissions without the need for a catalytic converter
Catalytic converter
A catalytic converter is a device used to convert toxic exhaust emissions from an internal combustion engine into non-toxic substances. Inside a catalytic converter, a catalyst stimulates a chemical reaction in which noxious byproducts of combustion are converted to less toxic substances by dint...
. These were carbureted
Carburetor
A carburetor , carburettor, or carburetter is a device that blends air and fuel for an internal combustion engine. It is sometimes shortened to carb in North America and the United Kingdom....
engines and the relative "imprecise" nature of such limited the MPG abilities of the concept that now under MPI (Multi-Port fuel Injection) allows for higher MPG too.
The newer Honda
Honda
is a Japanese public multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles.Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, as well as the world's largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume, producing more than...
stratified charge (lean burn engines) operate on air-fuel ratios as high as 22:1. The amount of fuel drawn into the engine is much lower than a typical gasoline engine, which operates at 14.7:1—the chemical stoichiometric ideal for complete combustion when averaging gasoline to the petrochemical industries' accepted standard of C6H8.
This lean-burn ability by the necessity of the limits of physics, and the chemistry of combustion as it applies to a current gasoline engine must be limited to light load and lower RPM conditions. A "top" speed cut-off point is required since leaner gasoline fuel mixtures burn slower and for power to be produced combustion must be "complete" by the time the exhaust valve opens.
Applications
- 1992–95 Civic VXHonda CivicThe Honda Civic is a line of subcompact and subsequently compact cars made and manufactured by Honda. The Civic, along with the Accord and Prelude, comprised Honda's vehicles sold in North America until the 1990s, when the model lineup was expanded...
- 1996–2000 Civic HxHonda CivicThe Honda Civic is a line of subcompact and subsequently compact cars made and manufactured by Honda. The Civic, along with the Accord and Prelude, comprised Honda's vehicles sold in North America until the 1990s, when the model lineup was expanded...
- 2001-05 Civic HxHonda CivicThe Honda Civic is a line of subcompact and subsequently compact cars made and manufactured by Honda. The Civic, along with the Accord and Prelude, comprised Honda's vehicles sold in North America until the 1990s, when the model lineup was expanded...
- 2002–05 Civic HybridHonda CivicThe Honda Civic is a line of subcompact and subsequently compact cars made and manufactured by Honda. The Civic, along with the Accord and Prelude, comprised Honda's vehicles sold in North America until the 1990s, when the model lineup was expanded...
- 2000–06 InsightHonda InsightThe Honda Insight is a hybrid electric vehicle manufactured by Honda and the first production vehicle to feature Honda's Integrated Motor Assist system. The first-generation Insight was produced from 1999 to 2006 as a three-door hatchback...
Manual transmission only
| Honda lean burn engine applications | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unladen weight | Fuel consumption, Japan 10-15 mode | Fuel tank capacity | Range | ||||||||||||
| Years | Model | Engine | kg | lbs | L/100 km | km/L | mpg UK | mpg US | L | gal UK | gal US | km | mile | Notes | |
| 1991–95 | Civic ETi Honda Civic The Honda Civic is a line of subcompact and subsequently compact cars made and manufactured by Honda. The Civic, along with the Accord and Prelude, comprised Honda's vehicles sold in North America until the 1990s, when the model lineup was expanded... |
D15B | 930 | 2050 | 4.8 | 20.8 | 59 | 49 | 45 | 9.9 | 11.9 | 938 | 583 | 5spd manual, 3dr hatch, VTEC-E | |
| 1995–00 | Civic VTi Honda Civic The Honda Civic is a line of subcompact and subsequently compact cars made and manufactured by Honda. The Civic, along with the Accord and Prelude, comprised Honda's vehicles sold in North America until the 1990s, when the model lineup was expanded... |
D15B | 1010 | 2226 | 5.0 | 20.0 | 56 | 47 | 45 | 9.9 | 11.9 | 900 | 559 | 5spd manual, 3dr hatch, 3 stage VTEC | |
| 1995–00 | Civic Vi Honda Civic The Honda Civic is a line of subcompact and subsequently compact cars made and manufactured by Honda. The Civic, along with the Accord and Prelude, comprised Honda's vehicles sold in North America until the 1990s, when the model lineup was expanded... |
D15B | 1030 | 2226 | 5.3 | 18.9 | 53 | 44 | 45 | 9.9 | 11.9 | 849 | 528 | 5spd manual, 5dr sedan, 3 stage VTEC | |
Toyota lean burn engines
The lean burn versions of the 1587cc 4A-FEToyota A engine
The A Series engines are a family of straight-4 internal combustion engines with displacement from 1.3 L to 1.8 L produced by Toyota Motor Corporation...
and 1762cc 7A-FE
Toyota A engine
The A Series engines are a family of straight-4 internal combustion engines with displacement from 1.3 L to 1.8 L produced by Toyota Motor Corporation...
4 cylinder engines have 2 inlet and 2 exhaust valves per cylinder. Toyota uses a set of butterflies to restrict flow in every second inlet runner during lean burn operation. This creates a large amount of swirl in the combustion chamber. Injectors are mounted in the head, rather than conventionally in the intake manifold. Compression ratio 9.5:1.
The 1998cc 3S-FSE
Toyota S engine
The Toyota S Series engines are a family of straight-4 engines with displacement from 1.8 L to 2.2 L produced by Toyota Motor Corporation. The series has cast iron engine blocks and alloy cylinder heads.-Table of S-block engines:-1S:...
engine is a direct injection petrol lean burn engine. Compression ratio 10:1.
Applications
| Toyota lean burn engine applications | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unladen weight | Fuel consumption, Japan 10-15 mode | Fuel tank capacity | Range | ||||||||||||
| Years | Model | Engine | kg | lbs | L/100 km | km/L | mpg UK | mpg US | L | gal UK | gal US | km | mile | Notes | |
| 1994–96 | Carina SG-i SX-i | 4A-FE Toyota A engine The A Series engines are a family of straight-4 internal combustion engines with displacement from 1.3 L to 1.8 L produced by Toyota Motor Corporation... |
1040 | 2292 | 5.6 | 17.6 | 50 | 41 | 60 | 13.2 | 15.9 | 1056 | 656 | 5spd manual | |
| 1994–96 | Carina SG-i SX-i | 7A-FE Toyota A engine The A Series engines are a family of straight-4 internal combustion engines with displacement from 1.3 L to 1.8 L produced by Toyota Motor Corporation... |
1040 | 2292 | 5.6 | 17.6 | 50 | 41 | 60 | 13.2 | 15.9 | 1056 | 656 | 5spd manual | |
| 1996–01 | Carina Si | 7A-FE Toyota A engine The A Series engines are a family of straight-4 internal combustion engines with displacement from 1.3 L to 1.8 L produced by Toyota Motor Corporation... |
1120 | 2468 | 5.5 | 18.0 | 51 | 42 | 60 | 13.2 | 15.9 | 1080 | 671 | 5spd manual | |
| 1996–00 | Corona Premio E | 7A-FE Toyota A engine The A Series engines are a family of straight-4 internal combustion engines with displacement from 1.3 L to 1.8 L produced by Toyota Motor Corporation... |
1120 | 2468 | 5.5 | 18.0 | 51 | 42 | 60 | 13.2 | 15.9 | 1080 | 671 | 5spd manual | |
| 1998–00 | Corona Premio G | 3S-FSE Toyota S engine The Toyota S Series engines are a family of straight-4 engines with displacement from 1.8 L to 2.2 L produced by Toyota Motor Corporation. The series has cast iron engine blocks and alloy cylinder heads.-Table of S-block engines:-1S:... |
1200 | 2645 | 5.8 | 17.2 | 49 | 41 | 60 | 13.2 | 15.9 | 1034 | 643 | Auto | |
| 1996–97 | Caldina FZ CZ | 7A-FE Toyota A engine The A Series engines are a family of straight-4 internal combustion engines with displacement from 1.3 L to 1.8 L produced by Toyota Motor Corporation... |
1140 | 2513 | 5.6 | 17.6 | 50 | 41 | 60 | 13.2 | 15.9 | 1056 | 656 | 5spd manual | |
| 1997–02 | Caldina E | 7A-FE Toyota A engine The A Series engines are a family of straight-4 internal combustion engines with displacement from 1.3 L to 1.8 L produced by Toyota Motor Corporation... |
1200 | 2645 | 5.6 | 17.6 | 50 | 41 | 60 | 13.2 | 15.9 | 1056 | 656 | 5spd manual | |
| 1997–02 | Spacio Toyota Corolla Spacio The Corolla Verso was a 5-door estate Compact MPV first released by Toyota in 1997 until production of the third generation ceased in 2009. Although the design of the car is based on the Verso's namesake, the Corolla, the Verso does not share a platform with the Corolla, instead being built on a... |
7A-FE Toyota A engine The A Series engines are a family of straight-4 internal combustion engines with displacement from 1.3 L to 1.8 L produced by Toyota Motor Corporation... |
Auto | ||||||||||||
Nissan lean burn engines
Nissan QG engines are a lean-burn aluminum DOHC 4-valve design with variable valve timingVariable valve timing
In internal combustion engines, variable valve timing , also known as Variable valve actuation , is a generalized term used to describe any mechanism or method that can alter the shape or timing of a valve lift event within an internal combustion engine...
and optional NEO Di direct injection
Direct injection
Direct injection may refer to:*A music recording technique more commonly referred to as Direct Input*A method of fuel injection for an internal combustion engine, as in a gasoline direct injection petrol engines and most diesel engines...
.
The 1497cc QG15DE
Nissan QG engine
The QG engine is a 1.3 L, 1.5 L, 1.6 L, and 1.8 L straight-4 piston engine from Nissan. It is a lean-burn aluminum DOHC 4-valve design with variable valve timing and optional NEO Di direct injection....
has a Compression ratio of 9.9:1 and 1769cc QG18DE
Nissan QG engine
The QG engine is a 1.3 L, 1.5 L, 1.6 L, and 1.8 L straight-4 piston engine from Nissan. It is a lean-burn aluminum DOHC 4-valve design with variable valve timing and optional NEO Di direct injection....
9.5:1.
Applications
| Nissan lean burn engine applications | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unladen weight | Fuel consumption, Japan 10-15 mode | Fuel tank capacity | Range | ||||||||||||
| Years | Model | Engine | kg | lbs | L/100 km | km/L | mpg UK | mpg US | L | gal UK | gal US | km | mile | Notes | |
| 1998–01 | Sunny Nissan Sunny The Nissan Sunny is a small car from Nissan. It was launched in 1966 as the Datsun 1000 and although production in Japan ended in 2004, it remains in production today for the African, American and Sri Lankan markets. In the US, the later models were known as the Nissan Sentra; in Mexico, the Sunny... |
QG15DE Nissan QG engine The QG engine is a 1.3 L, 1.5 L, 1.6 L, and 1.8 L straight-4 piston engine from Nissan. It is a lean-burn aluminum DOHC 4-valve design with variable valve timing and optional NEO Di direct injection.... |
1060 | 2865 | 5.3 | 18.9 | 53 | 44 | 50 | 11 | 13.2 | 943 | 586 | 5spd manual, 4dr sedan | |
| 1998–01 | Bluebird Nissan Bluebird Although Nissan's own materials indicate that the Bluebird name emerged in 1959, some records show that the name first adorned a 988 cc, four-door sedan in 1957, which was part of the company's 210 series... |
QG18DE Nissan QG engine The QG engine is a 1.3 L, 1.5 L, 1.6 L, and 1.8 L straight-4 piston engine from Nissan. It is a lean-burn aluminum DOHC 4-valve design with variable valve timing and optional NEO Di direct injection.... |
1180 | 2600 | 5.8 | 17.2 | 49 | 41 | 60 | 13.2 | 15.9 | 1035 | 643 | 5spd manual, 4dr sedan | |
| 1998–01 | Primera Nissan Primera The Nissan Primera is a medium sized family car produced by the Japanese automaker Nissan for the Japanese domestic and European markets.-Nissan Primera P10 :... |
QG18DE Nissan QG engine The QG engine is a 1.3 L, 1.5 L, 1.6 L, and 1.8 L straight-4 piston engine from Nissan. It is a lean-burn aluminum DOHC 4-valve design with variable valve timing and optional NEO Di direct injection.... |
1180 | 2600 | 5.8 | 17.2 | 49 | 41 | 60 | 13.2 | 15.9 | 1035 | 643 | 5spd manual, 4dr sedan | |
| 1998–01 | Avenir Salut Nissan Avenir The Nissan Avenir is a line of station wagons beginning production in May 1990 by Nissan of Japan, with the budget minded delivery van starting out as the Avenir Cargo, then being renamed in 1999 as the ' aimed primarily at the commercial market. It replaced the long-serving Nissan Bluebird... |
QG18DE Nissan QG engine The QG engine is a 1.3 L, 1.5 L, 1.6 L, and 1.8 L straight-4 piston engine from Nissan. It is a lean-burn aluminum DOHC 4-valve design with variable valve timing and optional NEO Di direct injection.... |
1300 | 2865 | 6.7 | 14.9 | 42 | 35 | 60 | 13.2 | 15.9 | 896 | 556 | 5spd manual, 5dr wagon | |
Mitsubishi Vertical Vortex (MVV)
In 1991, MitsubishiMitsubishi Motors
is a multinational automaker headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. In 2009 it was the fifth-largest Japan-based automaker and the 17th-largest in the world measured by production...
developed and began producing the MVV (Mitsubishi Vertical Vortex) lean burn system first used in Mitsubishi's 1.5 L 4G15
Mitsubishi Orion engine
The Mitsubishi Orion or 4G1 engine is series of straight-4 internal combustion engines introduced by Mitsubishi Motors in the 1970s, along with the Astron, Sirius, and Saturn. It was introduced in the Colt and Colt-derived models in 1978...
straight-4
Straight-4
The inline-four engine or straight-four engine is an internal combustion engine with all four cylinders mounted in a straight line, or plane along the crankcase. The single bank of cylinders may be oriented in either a vertical or an inclined plane with all the pistons driving a common crankshaft....
single-overhead-cam 1,468-cc engine. The vertical vortex engine has an idle speed of 600 rpm and a compression ratio of 9.4:1 compared with respective figures of 700 rpm and 9.2:1 for the conventional version. The lean-burn MVV engine can achieve complete combustion with an air-fuel ratio as high as 25:1, this boasts a 10-20% gain in fuel economy (on the Japanese 10-mode urban cycle) in bench tests compared with its conventional MPI powerplant of the same displacement, which means lower CO2 emissions.
The heart of the Mitsubishi's MVV system is the linear air-fuel ratio exhaust gas oxygen sensor. Compared with standard oxygen sensors, which essentially are on-off switches set to a single air/fuel ratio, the lean oxygen sensor is more of a measurement device covering the air/fuel ratio range from about 15:1 to 26:1.
To speed up the otherwise slow combustion of lean mixtures, the MVV engine uses two intake valves and one exhaust valve per cylinder. The separate specially shaped (twin intake port design) intake ports are the same size, but only one port receives fuel from an injector. This creates two vertical vortices of identical size, strength and rotational speed within the combustion chamber during the intake stroke: one vortex of air, the other of an air/fuel mixture. The two vortices also remain independent layers throughout most of the compression stroke.
Near the end of the compression stroke, the layers collapse into uniform minute turbulences, which effectively promote lean-burn characteristics. More importantly, ignition occurs in the initial stages of breakdown of the separate layers while substantial amounts of each layer still exist. Because the spark plug is located closer to the vortex consisting of air/fuel mixture, ignition arises in an area of the pentroof-design combustion chamber where fuel density is higher. The flame then spreads through the combustion chamber via the small turbulences. This provides stable combustion even at normal ignition-energy levels, thereby realizing lean burn.
The engine computer stores optimum air fuel ratios for all engine-operating conditions - from lean (for normal operation) to richest (for heavy acceleration) and all points in between. Full-range oxygen sensors (used for the first time) provide essential information that allows the computers to properly regulate fuel delivery.
Diesel engines
All diesel engineDiesel engine
A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...
s can be considered to be lean burning with respect to the total volume, however the fuel and air is not well mixed before the combustion. Most of the combustion occurs in rich zones around small droplets of fuel. Locally rich combustion like this is a source of NOx and particles.