Laboratory Analysis

LABORATORY ANALYSIS

SOUTHWEST RESEARCH INSTITUTE

San Antonio, Texas
Division of AUTOMOTIVE PRODUCTS AND EMISSIONS RESEARCH

Report on A LABORATORY TEST OF THE FUEL ECONOMY BENEFITS OF GENESIS IN AN AUTOMOBILE ENGINE

Conducted for Taylor Products Co., Inc. Houston, Texas

Howard Langan
Staff Engineer
Specialized Tests Section
Automotive Products & Emissions Research
November 30, 1995

INTRODUCTION

The test program covered by this report was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of GENESIS in reducing engine friction and improving fuel economy in an automobile gasoline engine. The product is one which, the manufacturer states, conditions metal surfaces in an engine and this effect persists or carries-over thru at least several oil changes. The evaluation was run in a laboratory engine dynamometer installation using a modified Sequence VI test procedure.

The ASTM Sequence VI test has been used by the Oil and Additive Manufacturers and the Automotive industry for many ears to measure the fuel economy improvements gained with fuel efficient engine oils. The test is highly developed and runs entirely under computer control, yielding results which correlate with the earlier ASTM 5-Car Test Procedure. The 5-Car test ran the same urban and highway cycles still in use to determine the car manufacturer's Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFÉ) values.

The standard sequence VI test, in part, ages the candidate oil in a laboratory engine installation and then the fuel economy is measured repetitively under 2 operating conditions with considerable precision. The candidate oil is then thoroughly flushed out of the engine and is replaced with 20W30 ASTM HR Reference Oil, against which all oils are compared. The HR oil is only aged 2-1/2 hours and then the fuel economy is measured exactly as was done with the candidate oil. The results of these two back-t-back (candidate and the HR) phases of the test are compared and the fuel economy improvement is calculated using a weighted correlation equation which yields an equivalent fuel economy improvement (EFEI)- which would be equivalent to the results to be expected from a test of the same candidate oil in the ASTM 5-Car test. An outline of the steps in a Standard Sequence VI test is included in the Appendix.

Since the GENESIS was expected to exhibit an intended carry-over characteristic it was necessary to reverse the order of the above phases and run the baseline HR oil test first. The engine was then treated with GENESIS during 45 minutes of operation. The oil was then thoroughly flushed out and was replaced with another fresh charge of HR oil. This oil charge was aged 31-1/2 hours and was then subjected to the same type repetitive precise fuel economy measurements that had been performed with the HR baseline oil previously.

Basically, this type test runs under constant rpm, load, air/fuel ration and temperature conditions. Reductions in friction and the resulting improvement in fuel economy are reflected in a reduction in the fuel flow rate. For each step and each test state in the rest, the engine operating conditions were stabilized for one hour and then 6 sets of readings were taken a 5 minute intervals over the next 30 minutes. A brake specific fuel consumption (BASFC) value, in terms of the pounds of fuel consumed per horsepower hour, was calculated for each of the 6 sets of readings and the resulting 6 BSFC values were averaged to obtain the representative values listed in Table 1 on page 3. The 6 individual rpm, load and fuel flow rat entries come from integrated measurements that the computer calculated over a 100 second interval. CO in the exhaust is measured and integrated similarly to maintain the air/fuel ratio within narrow limits. All other parameter entries are instantaneous values (updated once every second) that existed at the moment the computer recorded them.

The sequence of the 26 steps in this program and the resulting fuel economy measured during each step is summarized in Table 1 on page 3. To further explain this table:

The 3 oils used were the certified ASTM Sequence VI Calibrations Oils. The low reference (LR) oil is an SAE 50 lubricant. The High Reference (HR) oil is a fully formulated 20W30 product. The FM oil is HR with a friction modifier added. Another Sequence VI Oil (FO) used during certain flushes is a high detergent version of HR, but no economy measurement are made with this oil. No other oils were used in the program.

The brackets on the left side of the page designate phases of the test. The initial calibration is run at the start of all Sequence VI tests. This determines the viscometric response of the engine when the economies with the LR and HR oil are compared, both running the 150 Stage type operation. The semi-boundry response of the engine is determined from a comparison of the economies with FM at State 275 versus HR at State 150. The Sequence VI procedure imposes limits on these response measurement. This requirement demonstrates the engine's capability to respond to viscometric and boundry type lubrication and to appraise whether an engine has undergone any apparent changes from test to test. The results of the calibration sequences, however, do no correlate with how an engine responds to a particular candidate lubricant.

A second calibration sequence was run at the end of the program to appraise the extent of the friction modification remaining in the engine from the earlier treatment with the GENESIS.

The two sets of brackets in the middle of the table include all of the data to be compared to appraised the effect of the GENESIS treatment on a "Before" and "After"basis.

The added repeat calibrations at the bottom of the table duplications of Steps 20 and 22 after a shut down period.

The numbers following the letter identification (in the stage column) of the oils refer to the test stage operating temperatures. The test runs continuously at 1500 rpm, 8 horsepower output, 30.55 inches of Mercury (absolute) exhaust backpressure, 1.50% CO in the exhaust and 80 degrees Fahrenheit inlet air containing 80 grains of moisture per pound of dry air flowing to the carburetor under a pressure of 0.2 inches of water. Coolant flow is 30 gallons per minute and all of these values have narrow tolerances. Only the coolant-out of the engine and the oil gallery temperatures are changed for each of the three stages.

Stages	Coolant-Out	Oil Gallery
150	130 degrees F	150 degrees F
225	200 degrees F	225 degrees F
275	230 degrees F	275 degrees F

The brake specific fuel consumption figures are average pounds of fuel consumed per horsepower hour taken from 6 individual sets of readings at 5 minute intervals over a 30 minute period. The C.V. value is the coefficient of variation among the 6 BSFC values

Table 1 is followed by a calculation of the overall Sequence VI Equivalent Fuel Economy Improvement (EFEI) resulting from the GENESIS treatment and 16 pages which present tabulations of the 6 entries for each of the critical parameters recorded during the 26 measurement periods. Critical parameters (rpm, load, air/fuel ration, exhaust backpressure, oil & water temperature) are those which exert the most influence on the measurement of fuel economy in the engine and these pages document the very stable performance as recorded by the computer during this test program..

The GENESIS treatment process mentioned in the fourth paragraph of this report was comprised of running the already warmed-up engine at 225 degrees Fahrenheit oil gallery and 200 degree Fahrenheit water-out of the engine temperatures while maintaining 2000 rpm and no load. Under these conditions, 4 fluid ounces of GENESIS was slowly poured into the engine over a period of about 2 minutes. These operating conditions were then maintained for 30 minutes. The rpm was then reduced to 1500 for another 15 minutes. The oil was then drained out of the engine and the engine was flushed with the high detergent RO Oil. This was followed by further flushes with fresh HR Reference Oil. The Sequence VI installation allows the oil to be changed in about 20 seconds while the engine continues to run by routing fresh incoming oil to the engine oil gallery while the oil in the oil pan and the external oil head/cool circuit are pumped out, so all oil changes were done in this manner. Careful test have shown this flush system is very thorough.

The appendix to this report included further details concerning the original program procedural outline step-by-step details of the oil flushing procedures, the operating conditions and tolerances allowed for each parameter in the Sequence VI test, a graph of the hourly BSFC values recorded during the 32 hour aging period (after the engine had been treated with GENESIS), the minimum, maximum and average values for every parameter monitored during the 26 measurement periods and a listing of the engine compression measurements taken before the texts started and after the test program had been completed.

Go on to see the test results.

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