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Low temperature combustion modes, such as Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) and Partially Premixed Combustion (PPC), have been researched over recent decades since the concepts show promise for high efficiency and low emissions compared to conventional diesel combustion. PPC is an intermediate combustion type ranging from HCCI-like combustion to diesel-like combustion. The purpose of this paper is to study optically how the combustion and ignition are affected by different start of injection (SOI) timings. The study is carried out in an optically accessible heavy-duty single-cylinder engine with swirl. The intake pressure was kept constant while the intake temperature was varied to keep the combustion phasing (CA50) constant at ∼3 CAD atdc during an SOI sweep. The fuel used is a mix of primary reference fuels with octane number 81. To determine where the combustion starts, high-speed combustion imaging is used to detect the natural luminosity.

Partially premixed combustion (PPC) is a promising way to achieve high efficiency and low engine-out emissions simultaneously in a heavy-duty engine. Compared to Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI), it can be controlled by injection events and much lower HC and CO emissions can be achieved. This work focuses on the transition from HCCI to PPC and combustion and emissions characteristics during the process are investigated. Injection strategies, EGR and boost pressure were the main parameters used to present the corresponding effect during the transition.

In a previous study, in order to investigate the effect of charge stratification on combustion behavior such as combustion efficiency and combustion phasing which also largely affects the emissions, an experiment was conducted in a heavy-duty compression ignition (CI) metal engine. The engine behavior and emission characteristics were studied in the transition from HCCI mode to PPC mode by varying the start of injection (SOI) timing. To gain more detailed information of the mixing process, in-cylinder laser diagnostic measurements, namely fuel-tracer planar laser induced fluorescence (PLIF) imaging, were conducted in an optical version of the heavy-duty CI engine mentioned above. To the authors’ best knowledge, this is the first time to perform fuel-tracer PLIF measurements in an optical engine with a close to production bowl in piston combustion chamber, under transition conditions from HCCI to PPC mode.