Delphi’s Dynamic Skip Fire (DSF) technology is making its production debut in some versions of the fully redesigned 2019 Chevrolet Silverado with 5.3- and 6.2-liter V-8 engines, in which it will be called Dynamic Fuel Management.
For GM, it marks the most significant upgrade the technology has received since it was introduced in its current form in 2005. Chevrolet hasn’t talked Silverado-specific improvements, but Delphi said that, in general, the new technology could boost fuel economy by 5 percent compared with existing deactivation systems that shut off specific cylinders or entire cylinder banks during cruising or coasting.
Cylinder-deactivation systems have been under the hood of a wide range of U.S.-market vehicles for decades?even the V-12 Lamborghini Aventador and the new Mercedes-AMG S63?but the common criticism is that engines so equipped are less refined in their cylinder-cutoff modes and that their transitions on and off are quite noticeable. This new dynamic system could do away with the harsh transitions and vibrations that can accompany such systems.
DSF doesn?t prioritize specific cylinders. While the firing pattern it follows might appear totally random, it?s dictated by an algorithm created by Tula, a California company founded in 2008 by Adya Tripathi, with General Motors one of its original strategic investors. Still, although there’s an algorithm, there are no preordained templates or patterns. The decision on whether ...