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| Honda, hoping to make its most popular engines in each class the “World’s No. 1 Engines” at the beginning of the 21st century, is now developing the new-generation “i-series” engines. Towards the “Century of the Environment,”
we are pursuing higher goals with all our strength, utilizing the unsurpassed skills of our product development department. |
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Heading the world, Honda unveiled a CVCC engine that met the
criteria of the Muskie Act (the U.S. exhaust gas regulations) in 1972, and has
long been taking measures to achieve cleaner exhaust gas. In the latter half of
the 1990s, various international agreements were made, including the Kyoto Protocol,
which accelerated the global movement towards environmental conservation. Accordingly,
people increasingly demanded higher fuel economy to reduce CO2
emissions from automobiles as part of efforts to reduce global warming.
Under such circumstances, Honda began developing two new types
of engines: a 1.0-liter engine as the main power train for the Honda IMA System
used for Honda’s hybrid car, the Insight; and a 2.0-liter DOHC engine for
Honda’s sports car, the S2000. The former achieved the “ultimate high
fuel economy” of 35 km per liter in the 10·15 mode and the latter achieved
the “ultimate power” of 250 horsepower from a 2.0 liter engine. Exhaust
gases from these two engines were 50% or less than the 2000 exhaust gas emission
standards and the S2000 became the first automobile to meet the 2000 emission
standards. Also, these engines were light and compact, enabling a more flexible
design. As a result, the aerodynamic performance and the energy absorbing ability
of the crushable zone were improved. Thus these engines have greatly contributed
to the provision of products that are excellent in handling, fuel economy, and
safety. Honda, while developing such technologies to achieve “ultimate”
functions, made a new, challenging decision: to introduce the new-generation designs
to various engine classes, to be the world’s No.1 in terms of power, clean
energy, and fuel economy.
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The development and production departments would need to cooperate
together to accomplish the substantial work of developing a new engine, which
requires the creation of hundreds of new parts, including the cylinder block and
cylinder head, which serve as the framework of the engine. Honda, however, decided
to commence this difficult task, thinking it impossible to achieve the high goal
that it had set for the next generation by simply improving existing engines.
The first objective was “downsizing the engines by 10% in
terms of weight, improving their fuel economy by 20%, and increasing their output
by 10%.” For their specifications, the following three issues were decided:
to change the engine’s revolving direction, which had previously been set
reversely from general engines, to install all the engines sideways; and to develop
new transmissions for these engines. As for application technologies, it was decided
to adopt the optimal technologies for each engine, not using the same technologies
for the engines for different models. Thus we started to “develop the ultimate
gasoline engines,” using diverse application technologies and all our skills,
including the advanced technologies accumulated in the development of the Insight
and S2000. |
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As the first result of these efforts, Honda unveiled a 2.0-liter “i-VTEC” engine in 1999.
This new-generation, 2.0-liter, 4-cylinder gasoline engine is characterized by its higher performance and light and compact design, and boasts both high fuel economy and clean emissions. It was applied to the Stream. For this engine, a lean-burn combustion method was adopted. This “i-VTEC” engine was born as a result of trial and error made at the development stage to improve fuel economy and clean performance for higher environmental performance while ensuring satisfactory driving.
The second of the new-generation engine series was the 1.3-liter “i-DSI” engine used for the Fit. In developing this engine, efforts were made to achieve higher fuel economy while meeting other requirements. As a result, the “i-DSI” engine is equipped with two ignition plugs per cylinder and boasts high fuel economy of 23 km per liter in the 10-15 mode.
The “i” included in the engine names signifies “intelligent” engine and Honda plans to replace various engines with its new “i-series” engines. |
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Honda then decided to replace existing engines with new-generation
engines as a part of its production line reforms, in order to improve the efficiency
and flexibility of its production bases within and outside Japan for the manufacturing
of products with higher qualities as well as for the further reduction of its
environmental impact.
Traditionally, at Honda factories, different engines were manufactured
by different production lines and factory operation rate differed depending upon
order quantities. If, however, the production lines were improved to increase
the number of engine types that one production line could handle, more popular
products could be manufactured by multiple lines, and production could be allocated
to various factories. Thus, more options could be provided and the needs of customers
could be met more flexibly, leveling the work load and improving the production
efficiency of each production line at all Honda factories across the world.
To manufacture multiple engine types on one production line,
however, careful consideration must be given to the production process, even as
early as the engine design stage. The replacement of engines was therefore an
important decision to promote production line reforms.
As a result, for the STREAM and the Fit, which had become very
popular with customers, we were able to establish production systems to fully
meet customers’ needs.
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There are presently two types of engines in the “i-series”
the 1.3-liter in-line 4-cylinder “i-DSI” engine and the 2.0-liter in-line
4-cylinder “i-VTEC” engine. The “i-DSI” engine corresponds to
1.2 to 1.5-liter engines and the “i-VTEC” engine corresponds to 2.0 to
2.4-liter engines. We are now planning to expand the application of these new
engines to other models. Also, we are rapidly developing new engines with other
displacements. By 2005, all other Honda models, in addition to the STREAM and
the Fit, will be equipped with “i-series” engines, and thereby all Honda’s
objectives concerning cleaner exhaust emissions and higher fuel economy will
be achieved (see figure below). In addition to the sophistication of gasoline
engines, we will also aggressively take other environmental measures, reducing
CO2 emissions from diesel engines, expanding the
application of hybrid engines, and developing power trains for the next-generation
technologies—including fuel cells. Also, for motorcycles and power equipment,
we will take the necessary measures to reduce their environmental impacts.
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| Clean performance: |
to reduce exhaust emissions to the utmost
limit |
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| Fuel economy: |
to improve fuel economy by 10 to 20%
compared with previous engines |
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| Compactness: |
to downsize the engines by 10 to 15%
in terms of weight to make them the world's most compact |
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| Output: |
to achieve torqueful performance in the
whole speed area |
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| Production technology: |
to achieve higher production efficiency
and more innovative production |
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To achieve clean emissions of 50% or less of the 2000
emission standards for all models by 2002 |
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To reduce the total HC and NOx emissions from new
automobiles by approximately 75% by 2005 |
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To obtain “ULEV” certification for most of
Honda passenger vehicles from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and
Transport by 2005 |
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To achieve the 2010 fuel economy criteria for all
the weight categories by 2005 |
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To improve the average fuel economy by approximately
25% by 2005 (compared with the 1995 level) * [Achieved]
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| * These goals are all domestic goals to be achieved
within Japan. |
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