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Modern diesel engine injection systems are largely computer controlled. This opens the door for tailoring the fuel rate. Rate shaping in combination with increased injection pressure and nozzle design will play an important role in the efforts to maintain the superiority of the diesel engine in terms of fuel economy while meeting future demands on emissions. This approach to studying the potential of rate shaping in order to reduce NO formation is based on three sub-models. The first model calculates the fuel rate by using standard expressions for calculating the areas of the dimensioning flow paths in the nozzle and the corresponding discharge coefficients. In the second sub-model the heat release rate is described as a function of available fuel energy, i.e. fuel mass, in the cylinder. The third submodel is the multizone combustion model that calculates NO for a given heat release rate under assumed air /fuel ratios.

Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) combustion is limited in maximum load due to high peak pressures and excessive combustion rate. If the rate of combustion can be decreased the load range can be extended. From previous studies it has been shown that by using a deep square bowl in piston geometry the load range can be extended due to decreased heat release rates, pressure rise rates and longer combustion duration compared to a disc shaped combustion chamber. The explanation for the slower combustion was found in the turbulent flow field in the early stages of the intake stroke causing temperature stratifications throughout the charge. With larger temperature differences the combustion will be longer compared to a perfectly mixed charge with less temperature variations. The methods used for finding this explanation were high-speed cycle-resolved chemiluminescence imaging and fuel tracer planar laser induced fluorescence (PLIF), together with large eddy simulations (LES).

A Volvo 9.6L diesel engine was converted to run on 100 percent compressed natural gas in order to demonstrate “significantly reduced exhaust emissions.” A descendent of the natural gas 9.6L engine developed on this project is being used in bus applications in Göteborg, Sweden. At the time this paper was written, Volvo had manufactured two out of 20 gas buses for the city of Goteborg. A lean-burn, stratified-charge combustion system was originally chosen for this project which included a precombustion chamber (prechamber) located in the cylinder head. The prechamber was used to replace the original diesel fuel injector and was fitted with its own fuel supply and spark plug. A near stoichiometric air/fuel mixture was produced in the prechamber and ignited by the spark plug. As combustion progressed in the prechamber, a violent jet was produced that ignited a lean mixture in the main combustion chamber.

Laser induced fluorescence (LIF) imaging during the expansion stroke, exhaust gas emissions, and cylinder pressure measurements were used to investigate the influence on combustion and CO/UHC emissions of variations in squish height and fuel spray targeting on the piston. The engine was operated in a highly dilute, partially premixed, low-temperature combustion mode. A small squish height and spray targeting low on the piston gave the lowest exhaust emissions and most rapid heat release. The LIF data show that both the near-nozzle region and the squish volume are important sources of UHC emissions, while CO is dominated by the squish region and is more abundant near the piston top. Emissions from the squish volume originate primarily from overly lean mixture. At the 3 bar load investigated, CO and UHC levels in mixture leaving the bowl and ring-land crevice are low.

Laser-Rayleigh imaging has been employed to measure the relative fuel concentration in the gaseous jet region of DME sprays. The measurements were performed in an optically accessible diesel truck engine equipped with a common rail injection system. A one-hole nozzle was used to guarantee that the recorded pressure history was associated with the heat release in the imaged spray. To compensate for the low compression ratio in the modified engine the inlet air was preheated. Spray development was studied for two levels of preheating, from the start of injection to the point where all fuel was consumed. The results indicate that there is a strong correlation between the amount of unburned fuel present in the cylinder and the rate of heat release at a given time. The combustion can not be described as purely premixed or purely mixing-controlled at any time, but always has an element of both. After all fuel appears to have vanished there is still an extended period of heat release.

A transparent HSDI CI engine was used together with a high speed camera to analyze the liquid phase spray geometry of the fuel types: Swedish environmental class 1 Diesel fuel (MK1), Soy Methyl Ester (B100), n-Heptane (PRF0) and a gas-to-liquid derivate (GTL) with a distillation range similar to B100. The study of the transient liquid-phase spray propagation was performed at gas temperatures and pressures typical for start of injection conditions of a conventional HSDI CI engine. Inert gas was supplied to the transparent engine in order to avoid self-ignition at these cylinder gas conditions. Observed differences in liquid phase spray geometry were correlated to relevant fuel properties. An empirical relation was derived for predicting liquid spray cone angle and length prior to ignition.