ADELE

Project name: Advanced evolutionary learning based methods for optimal characterisation of non-linear aftertreatment technologies
Project acronym: ADELE
Dates: 01.02.2016 - 31.01.2019
Total budget: 120,000.00 USD
Funding: FORD Global University Research Programs (URP) project

 


Due to the stringent emission regulations for diesel engines, increased attention has been dedicated to after-treatment technologies. The main problem with diesel engines is the significant emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx). Two technologies have been established as main solutions to reduce NOx emissions under lean conditions.

These are the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalysts and the lean NOx trap (LNT) catalysts. While SCR catalysts are becoming prevalent as a solution to the NOx problem LNT, when used in tandem with SCR, they hold great promise for decreasing running costs and improving the performance of exhaust aftertreatment solutions.

An LNT catalyst is a complex nonlinear chemical system designed for cyclic operations, which can be very difficult to model in detail, and a proper model is necessary for good control due to inability to measure key catalyst states.

In the ADELE project, we are using a simplified model, based on the main chemical and physical processes typical to LNT. We are then tuning the model parameters using multiple types of input data and constrained multi-objective genetic algorithms to generate models that will behave well on real world data while respecting expected model behaviour.

The behaviour of an LNT catalyst changes drastically during its lifecycle due to thermal aging and sulfur poisoning. These effects influence the usefulness of the system if left unmodeled. We plan to compensate these effects by using the tuning method on differently aged systems in order to deduce the optimal way to include such effects on the model parameters.

We also plan to investigate the use of deep learning techniques such as recurrent neural networks to model and improve this system.

Project partner: Ford Research And Innovation Center, Aachen, Germany


News

Visit to Ford resarch center in Aachen

Our colleague Ante Zglav visited the Ford research center in Aachen to collaborate on project ADELE. The project's goal is to provide an automatic tuning and extension method for a model of a diesel Lean NOx trap (LNT) catalyst using test data.

Author: Alan Vukić
ADELE project kick-off meeting in...

Prof. Zdenko Kovačić, Goran Vasiljević and Edin Kočo participated in the kick-off meeting of the new LARICS project ADELE organized in the Ford Research Centre in Aaachen. This was the opportunity to introduce our side better and to discuss the first steps to be taken in the project with our partners from Ford.

Author: Alan Vukić

LARICS received a grant from the Ford Motor Company for a 3-year project Advanced evolutionary learning based methods for optimal characterisation of non-linear aftertreatment technologies (ADELE), the main focus of which will be on LNT (Lean NOx Trap) models. The goal is to establish methods and algorithms for the optimal transfer of the measured data into the existing models or to identify the need for specific model features that need to be added or enhanced in order to improve the model prediction quality.

Author: Alan Vukić