Accelerating Warm-up Through Active Management Of Engine Lubricant

The high thermal capacity of engine lubricant has a negative impact on warm-up times and hence emissions. This article shows how Castrol’s Nexcel innovation business has addressed this challenge by developing a new active lubrication system. The architecture of the system also allows a replace-and-return ecosystem that will reduce the volume of drained oil lost into the environment, while facilitating a significant increase in the volume of used oil that can be returned to its original grade.

THREE SIGNIFICANT CHALLENGES

As the auto industry steps away from outdated emissions test cycles towards procedures that better reflect real-world driving, the importance of aligning emissions control strategies with the way vehicles are actually used becomes increasingly important. The shift is the result not just of a desire to improve the standards by which emissions performance is compared, but by a genuine need to better protect our planet from the environmental impact of mobility.

That impact is far more wide-ranging than exhaust emissions. In engine lubrication, we see two further areas where vehicle technology can bring a significant improvement in sustainability. First, by introducing on-vehicle technologies that enable a higher proportion of vehicle lubricant to be returned for re-refining back to the original grade rather than used for lower-value purposes. Second, by addressing the challenge of the substantial volume of used engine lubricant that is currently released into the environment. An article in The Economist claimed that in America, around 200 mn US gallons (750 mn l) of used engine oil is poured into “trash cans”, on to land or down the drain every year [1].

Although these three challenges may seem only loosely related, Castrol believes they have a single solution that can be implemented by vehicle manufacturers. To achieve this, the company has given Nexcel, an in-house innovation business, the challenge of bringing the lubrication system into the digital age. As well as reducing real-world emissions and helping to solve the sustainability challenge, the resulting new technology could provide new opportunities for engineers striving to make further improvements to downsized engines that have already been highly optimised.

FASTER WARM-UP FOR TODAY’S SHORTER JOURNEYS