Nostrum Energy has introduced its revolutionary new water injection control system at Engine Expo + The Powertrain Technology Show, which will enable developers to meet upcoming Euro 7 emissions targets while maintaining an engine’s performance, without overfuelling. Since introducing the technology, Nostrum has had interest from numerous OEMs, Nostrum’s director of engineering, Sam Barros, reported.
“With Euro 7, overfuelling will be legislated out and there has been research to suggest that there will be about a 20% de-rating on engine power when manufacturers and calibrators are no longer able to rely on excess fuel for exhaust gas temperature control,” he explained.
“The system enables the delivery of octane on demand to the engine by injecting water, enabling the performance envelope of the engine on regular fuel to be raised. It is also a key enabling technology for eliminating the overfuelling that engines rely on today for performance protection.”
Nostrum’s technology uses only a small amount of water injection to control exhaust gas temperature, with up to a 300°C temperature decrease, depending on the fuel ratio.
“We began developing the system eight years ago, but at that time it was essentially an efficiency product. We were using water injection as an enabler for very high compression ratios. It didn’t get a lot of traction with OEMs though; they were interested but skeptical that it wouldn’t work in a mass production vehicle,” Barros commented.
“Then four years ago BMW launched a water-injected vehicle, which was the best thing that could have happened for us because it got the OEMs talking to us again about the technology.”