Originally Posted By: Brons2
Originally Posted By: Strawdog
https://www.forbes.com/sites/samabuelsam...r/#39910769545e
Unfortunately Forbes will not show you their site anymore without turning off AdBlock Plus, which I personally am not going to do.
The world got its first hint of what would later become EcoBoost in the 2007 Lincoln MKR concept which was “powered” by a 3.5-liter GTDI V6 badged as TwinForce. The MKR debuted at the 2007 North American International Auto Show in Detroit but never made it to production. A year later, then-product development chief Derrick Kuzak announced the EcoBoost strategy along with the Explorer America concept.
While not giving up on its more-expensive hybrid powertrains, EcoBoost was intended to democratize significant bumps in efficiency. Ford’s plan was to sell millions of EcoBoost-powered vehicles with up to 20 percent better fuel efficiency than the larger but similarly powerful engines that would supplanted. Collectively, these would have a much larger impact on greenhouse gas emissions and fuel consumption than a few tens of thousands of hybrids at a much lower per vehicle cost.
The 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 hit the market in mid-2009 under the hood of the Ford Flex, Lincoln MKS and MKT. A year and a half later it was added to the F-150. Today every Ford and Lincoln vehicle except the hybrid-only C-Max and Super Duty pickups are available with at least one EcoBoost option and in many cases several engines. Today’s EcoBoost lineup ranges from the surprisingly powerful 1.0-liter three-cylinder in the Fiesta and Focus to the 3.5 with multiple four and six cylinders in between. In April 2016, the 2.7-liter and 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6s accounted for 62 percent of F-150 sales, split roughly evenly between the two.
For 2017, the original 3.5-liter has been completely redesigned from the sump up. The basic dimensions including bore-spacing and deck height are retained to avoid a costly retooling of the block machining line at the Cleveland engine plant that produces it, but otherwise virtually every part is new including the block and cylinder heads.
The single most significant change to the engine is a new dual fuel system that now includes both port and direct injection. Since the beginning, direct injection (DI) and turbocharging have been the defining characteristics of EcoBoost engines. DI enables the use of higher boost and compression ratios that improve torque and driveability by cooling down the compressed air that the turbos push into the cylinders. They also enable greater fuel delivery precision for better fuel economy and emissions in most conditions. However, at higher flow rates the need for larger holes in the injectors detracts from the flow control resolution.
Gasoline DI engines are also prone to produce higher levels of particulate emissions, especially following a cold start when the fuel is sprayed on cold cylinder walls. The new Tier III emissions regulations that go into effect in 2018 significantly reduce the amount of particulates that all engines are allowed to emit. Al Cockerill, Ford engine systems supervisor for the 3.5-liter engine acknowledges that the addition of port injection will enable this new engine to meet Tier III emissions standards without resorting to a particulate filter of the type that is required on modern diesel engines.
In addition to having two fuel injectors per cylinder, Ford has added electronic wastegate control that will enable the system to better manage boost and exhaust back pressure. The two turbos also have lighter weight turbine wheels that enable faster spinup. In combination with the wastegate control, the new 3.5 liter should be more responsive, with less turbo lag. With maximum boost of 16 psi and a 10.5:1 compression ratio, the redesigned EcoBoost will produce the same 365-horsepower as the 2016 model in mainstream F-150s. Torque increases by 30 lb.-ft. to 450 lb.-ft.
2017 Ford F-150 Raptor (Image credit: Ford Motor Company)
