Industrial Session (new)
Dr. Rahul Mital
Global Technical Specialist, Diesel Aftertreatment
General Motors Company
Automotive Systems: Diesel Aftertreatment Future Challenges and Opportunities
Emission control technologies for on-road and off-road diesel engines have been advancing continuously to keep pace with the stringent emission regulations which necessitate significant reductions of Carbon Monoxide (CO), Hydrocarbon (HC), Soot, and Nitric Oxides (NOx). Diesel aftertreatment systems with Diesel Oxidation Catalyst (DOC), Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF), Lean NOx Trap (LNT) and urea Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) have been increasingly adopted for diesel engines ranging from light to heavy duty, locomotive, and marine applications.
Urea SCR is currently the most promising NOx reduction technology for meeting the stringent emission regulations globally. However, as the emission standards are getting tighter, so are the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFÉ) standards. One approach to meet both these requirements is to trade-off engine out emissions for fuel economy and then demand higher efficiency from the aftertreatment system to meet tailpipe targets. This strategy works well until the warranty due to malfunctioning exhaust systems starts to escalate since the requirement for near perfect aftertreatment system performance leaves no margin for error or variation.
This presentation talks about the sources of variations in the aftertreatment system and the steps that are taken during the design and calibration phase to make the system performance robust. Nevertheless as with any new technology there is always a learning curve. So some of the lessons learned from the field data and from analysis of the warranty returned parts are discussed. With the advent of Cloud Computing and things like OnStar there is great opportunity to develop processes and strategies that will identify field issues quickly and precisely and in some cases take intrusive actions to fix the fault to save the customer from having to make a dealer visit while increasing customer satisfaction and reducing manufacturer’s warranty cost.
Speaker Bio:
Dr. Mital has a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Delhi, India and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University. He has been working in the area of emission control for the last 20 years. Currently Dr. Mital is responsible for diesel aftertreatment system architecture, design, development and release for all GM diesel vehicles globally. Dr. Mital is a recipient of the Boss Kettering award, GM’s top honor for technical innovation. He has over 30 publications and holds 15 U.S. patents.