Up to 65% of the energy produced in an internal combustion engine is dissipated to the engine cooling circuit and exhaust gases [1]. Therefore, recovering a portion of this heat energy is a highly effective solution to improve engine and drivetrain efficiency and to reduce CO_2 emissions, with existing vehicle and powertrain technologies [2,3]. This paper details a practical approach to the utilization of powertrain waste heat for light vehicle engines to reduce fuel consumption. The "Systems Approach" as described in this paper recovers useful energy from what would otherwise be heat energy wasted into the environment, and effectively distributes this energy to the transmission and engine oils thus reducing the oil viscosities. The focus is on how to effectively distribute the available powertrain heat energy to optimize drivetrain efficiency for light duty vehicles, minimizing fuel consumption during various drive cycles. To accomplish this, it is necessary to identify the available powertrain heat energy during any drive cycle and cold start conditions, and to distribute this energy in such a way to maximize the overall efficiency of the drivetrain.
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