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This paper describes the set-up and testing of a single cylinder 25cc, air cooled, 4-stroke Spark Ignition (SI) engine converted to run in Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) mode with the aid of various combustion control systems. The combustion control systems were investigated regarding their effects on combustion stability and heat release phasing. Engine operation was compared with unique findings from previous work done on a very small 2-stroke HCCI engine. HCCI engine operation was possible between 1000 - 4000 rpm when using Diethyl Ether (DEE) as the test fuel. Maximum operational fuel-air equivalence ratio (Φ) was 0.75 when operating without Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR). This relatively high equivalence ratio was attainable due to thermal gradients induced by the high surface area to volume ratio of the small engine combustion chamber, resulting in high chamber heat transfer.

Knock in Spark Ignited (SI) engines has received significant research attention historically since this phenomenon effectively restricts the compression ratio and hence the thermal efficiency of the engine. The latent heat of vaporization (LHV) of a fuel affects its knock resistance in production engines as well as affecting its Research Octane Number (RON) rating. The reason for this is that evaporative cooling of the fuel lowers in-cylinder gas temperatures resulting in reduced tendency for end-gas auto-ignition. Controlling of the fuel-air mixture temperature to 422 K at the inlet port as per the Motor Octane Number (MON) test method ensures full evaporation of the liquid fuel, and hence LHV is assumed to have little effect during this procedure. LHV therefore has a strong influence on a fuel's Octane Sensitivity (OS) - the difference between its RON and MON values.