Diesel innovations an ongoing tradition at Bosch

As the diesel powered passenger car has turned 75 and the automotive industry is under growing pressure to trim fuel consumption and emissions in passenger vehicles, developers at Bosch Diesel Systems are emphasizing the potential of diesel-powered passenger cars for the near future.

They are predicting a compact-class diesel-powered passenger car by 2015 that could go approximately 60 miles per gallon.

“The consistent improvement of diesel engines for motor vehicles has long been a tradition in Bosch’s 125-year corporate history,” said Ross Sandercock, Director of Diesel Products for Bosch, automotive aftermarket. “The diesel engine’s potential to reduce fuel consumption and exhaust emissions make it a very viable option.”

Bosch provided the injection technology for the world’s first diesel engine in a passenger car 75 years ago and the company founder, Robert Bosch himself issued the development contract for the diesel injection pump in 1922 – initially for use in trucks.

It was in 1936, that the first series-produced diesel passenger car with Bosch injection, a Mercedes-Benz 260D, debuted at the Berlin Automobile Exhibition.

The mid-1980s – the dawn of the electronic era for diesel models – saw the first axial piston pump for diesel direct injection which revolutionized the diesel engine offering better power output and smoothness coupled with low fuel consumption and emissions.

In the 1990s and early 2000s, common rail injection technology further reduced fuel consumption and exhaust emissions.

Bosch expects that the proportion of diesel-powered engines will grow in the United States from 5 percent currently to about 10 percent by 2015.

The future is diesel

Bosch diesel technology will pave the way over the next few years for even more efficient passenger-car drives based on the internal-combustion engine.

Taken together, all the individual technical developments associated with the internal-combustion engine are giving rise to engine concepts that will be ready for the market in 2015.

They will be fitted with a slew of additional products, all of which will combine to increase the efficiency of the powertrain:

• A start-stop system to automatically switch the engine on and off when the vehicle comes to a stop, for instance at lights or in traffic jams. • Thermal management to get the engine quickly up to the optimal operating temperature and keep it there. • A highly efficient alternator that utilizes brake energy as one source for charging the battery.

“Diesel passenger cars of the future will run even more efficiently thanks to Bosch technology,” said Sandercock. “A diesel-powered car in 2015 will consume almost 30 percent less fuel than a 2009 standard diesel model does.

“And, with hybridization, the fuel consumption of diesel engines will be reduced by nearly 40 percent.

“Bosch engineers are already working on systems for future engine concepts that are being devised by automakers and will therefore continue to promote the refinement of internal-combustion engines.”

The significant contributions made by Bosch in the introduction and subsequent development of automotive diesel systems include:

Milestones: 75 years of diesel in passenger cars

• 1921 - Initial trials of diesel injection with Bosch oilers. • 1922 - Official start of development for diesel fuel injection. • 1923 - First prototypes of diesel injection pumps. • 1927 - Series production of injection pumps and nozzles for commercial vehicles. • 1930 - 10,000th diesel injection pump. • 1931 - Regulator for injection pumps. • 1934 - Pneumatic injection pump regulator. • 1934 - 100,000th diesel injection pump. • 1936 - Start of diesel injection system for passenger cars. • 1950 - 1,000,000th diesel injection pump. • 1960 - First VM distributor pump. • 1975 - VE distributor pump. • 1986 - EDC electronic diesel control for distributor pumps. • 1987 - EDC electronic diesel control for in-line pumps. • 1989 - VP37 axial piston distributor pump for direct injection in passenger cars. • 1996 - VP44 radial piston distributor pump. • 1997 - Start of series production of the CP1 high-pressure pump at the Bari plant, Italy. / Start of CRI1 injector production in Bamberg, Germany. / Injection pressure: up to 1,350 bar. • 1998 - Unit injector for passenger cars. • 1998 - Bosch and Fiat awarded the “Paul-Pietsch Prize” for the common rail system as a groundbreaking technical innovation. • 1999 - One millionth common rail system produced. • 2001 - Second-generation common rail for passenger cars. / Injection pressure: up to 1,600 bar. • 2001 - Production of common rail components in Charleston, SC, USA. • 2002 - Ten millionth common rail system produced. • 2003 - Common rail for passenger cars, third generation with piezoelectric injectors. / Injection pressure: up to 1,800 bar. • 2005 - “German Future Prize” for the development of piezoelectric injectors for diesel injection systems. / Start of production for common rail components in Nashik, India. • 2006 - Diesel engines reach a market share of over 50 percent in western Europe. / The Audi R10 TDI with a diesel engine and Bosch injection technology wins the Le Mans race. Additional Le Mans victories in 2007, 2008 and 2010. • 2007 - Bosch produces the world's first 2,000-bar injection system. • 2008 - Bosch Denoxtronic for exhaust-gas treatment in diesel passenger cars, receipt of the “Öko-Globe” environmental prize in the “Supplier Innovation” category. • 2008 - PSA Peugeot Citroën and Robert Bosch GmbH seal a strategic partnership agreement to develop diesel hybrid technology. • 2009 - 50 million common rail systems manufactured by Bosch. • 2009 - First Euro 6 vehicles on the market use clean diesel (five years before Euro 6 becomes compulsory) . • 2011 -First Bosch-equipped diesel hybrid goes into series production at PSA Peugeot Citroën.