A Review of Engine Downsizing and its Effects

Abstract

The growing importance in research in automotive development is the replacement of bigger engines with compact yet powerful ones, and the reduction in greenhouse gases through exhaust. Different strategies are applied to comply with stringent emission regulations that are enforced on global automotive market. Internal Combustion(IC) Engine Downsizing is the method that serves both the purposes of providing the needed power and reducing fuel consumption. This report presents a brief information on various engine downsizing techniques used, the advantages of these techniques, their limitations and their effects on the performance of the engine. The report also provides us a few boosting methods used for a downsized engine to improve its performance as of a higher capacity engine, as downsizing an IC engine only may cause a dip in performance while improving other factors. The report draws attention towards the conclusions resulted from some experiments on the downsized engines. Also a brief information is provided on the effects of engine downsizing on an engine.