Research and development of Hyundai FFVs(flexible fuel vehicles)

현대 FFV(Flexible Fuel Vehicle) 개발

This paper describes Hyundai's research and development work on a flexible fuel vehicle (FFV). The work on FFV has been conducted to evaluate its potential as an alternative to the conventional gasoline vehicle. Hyundai FFV described here can be operated on M85, gasoline, or any of their combinations, in which the methanol concentration is measured by an electrostatic type fuel sensor. For that operation, a special FFV ECU(Eletronic Control Unit) has been developed and incorporated in the FFV. The characteristics affecting FFV operation, such as FFV ECU control strategy and injector flow rate, have been investigated and optimized through the experiment. And various development tests have been performed in view of engine performance, durability, cold startability, and exhaust emissions reduction. The exhaust gas aftertreatment system consisting of manifold type catalyst and secondary air injection system shows good emission reduction performance including formaldehyde, and finally, the possibility of the FFVs as the low emission vehicles is evaluated by presenting NMOG(Non-Methane Organic Gases) levels with respect to M0 and M85. With these results, it is concluded that FFV can be a candidate for the low emission vehicles, but more works on its durability improvement is required.