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To find an ignition and combustion control strategy in a gasoline-fueled HCCI engine equipped with the BlowDown SuperCharging (BDSC) system which is previously proposed by the authors, a one-dimensional HCCI engine cycle simulator capable of predicting the ignition and heat release of HCCI combustion was developed. The ignition and the combustion models based on Livengood-Wu integral and Wiebe function were implemented in the simulator. The predictive accuracy of the developed simulator in the combustion timing, combustion duration and heat release rate was validated by comparing to experimental results. Using the developed simulator, the control strategy for the engine operating mode switching between HCCI and SI combustion was explored with focus attention on transient behaviors of air-fuel ratio, A/F, and gas-fuel ratio, G/F.

Low temperature plasma ignition has been proposed as a new ignition technique as it has features of good wear resistance, low energy release and combustion enhancement. In the authors’ previous study, lean burn limit could be extended by low temperature plasma ignition while a voltage drop during discharge, leading to the transition to arc discharge, was found. In this study, the structure of plug and power supply’s performance with steep voltage rising with time, dV/dt, are examined to investigate the effects on combustion performance. As a result, comparing three power sources of conventional, IES and steep dV/dt, steep dV/dt showed small cycle-to-cycle variation and shorter combustion period, leading to higher peak value of the rate of heat release and better indicated thermal efficiency by relatively 6% and 4% compared to CIC and IES, respectively.

PFI (Port Fuel Injection) gasoline engines for motorcycles have some problems such as slow transient response because of wall wet of fuel caused by the injector's layout. Hence, it is important to understand the characteristics of fuel sprays such as droplet size and distribution of fuel concentration. Considering the spray formation in a port, there are three kinds of the essential elements: breakup, evaporation and wall impingement. However, it is difficult to observe three of them at the same time. Therefore, the authors have made research step by step. In the authors' previous study, the authors focused on the wall collision, droplet sizes, droplet speeds and the space distribution of the droplets. In this study, the authors focused on evaporation. A direct sampling method using FID (Flame Ionization Detector) for evaporating fuel was established and the concentration distribution of evaporating fuel in the port was measured and analyzed.

Low temperature plasma ignition has been proposed as a new ignition technique as it has features of good wear resistance, low energy release and combustion enhancement. In the authors’ previous study, lean burn limit could be extended slightly by low temperature plasma ignition while the power supply’s performance with steep voltage rising with time (dV/dt), showed higher peak value of the rate of heat release and better indicated thermal efficiency. In this study, basic study of low temperature plasma ignition system was carried out to find out the reason of combustion enhancement. Moreover, the durability test of low temperature plasma plug was performed to check the wear resistance.

An improvement of thermal efficiency of internal combustion engines is strongly required. Meanwhile, from the viewpoint of refinery, CO2 emissions and gasoline price decrease when lower octane gasoline can be used for vehicles. If lower octane gasoline is used for current vehicles, fuel consumption rate would increase due to abnormal combustion. However, if a Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) engine were to be used, the effect of octane number on engine performance would be relatively small and it has been revealed that the thermal efficiency is almost unchanged. In this study, the engine performance estimation of HCCI combustion using lower octane gasoline as a vision of the future engine was achieved. To quantitatively investigate the fuel consumption performance of a gasoline HCCI engine using lower octane fuel, the estimation of fuel consumption under different driving test cycles with different transmissions is carried out using 1D engine simulation code.

In order to extend the HCCI high load operational limit, the effects of the distributions of temperature and fuel concentration on pressure rise rate (dP/dθ) were investigated through theoretical and experimental methods. The Blow-Down Super Charge (BDSC) and the EGR guide parts are employed simultaneously to enhance thermal stratification inside the cylinder. And also, to control the distribution of fuel concentration, direct fuel injection system was used. As a first step, the effect of spatial temperature distribution on maximum pressure rise rate (dP/dθmax) was investigated. The influence of the EGR guide parts on the temperature distribution was investigated using 3-D numerical simulation. Simulation results showed that the temperature difference between high temperature zone and low temperature zone increased by using EGR guide parts together with the BDSC system.

The purpose of this paper is to find a way to extend the high load limit of homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) combustion. This paper presents the effect of in-cylinder flow and stratified mixture on HCCI combustion by experiments and three-dimensional computer fluid dynamics coupled with a detailed chemical reaction calculation. The first study was conducted using a rapid compression and expansion machine (RCEM) equipped with a flow generation plate to create in-cylinder turbulent flow and with a control unit of in-cylinder wall temperature to create in-cylinder temperature distribution. The study assesses the effect of the turbulent flow and the temperature distribution on HCCI combustion. In the second study, the numerical simulation of HCCI combustion was conducted using large eddy simulation coupled with a detailed chemical reaction calculation. The study analyzes the interaction between in-cylinder turbulent flow and mixture distribution and HCCI combustion.

For a disaster relief and automatic inspections, an unmanned helicopter is strongly expected. To develop this, a very high power density source is required. A Wankel-type rotary engine can be the best candidate for the power source. In this study, the development of a very small rotary engine with a displacement of 30 cc is targeted. In order to improve the combustion efficiency, gas exchange and stable ignition, a multi dimensional simulation inside the combustion chamber was carried out. At first, the effect of volumetric efficiency on the maximum power is mentioned. Secondly, the effect of scavenging efficiency is discussed. Thirdly, a blow off through a plug hole is described. The position of plug hole was found important to reduce the blow off amount. Finally, the effect of combustion speed on the engine performance is predicted. As a result, the proposed design will be tested using a proto-type engine.

Knocking occurs within the high-speed range of small two-stroke engines used in handheld work equipment. High-speed knock may be affected by the engine speed and delivery ratio. However, evaluation of these factors independently using experimental methods is difficult. Therefore, in this study, these factors were independently evaluated using numerical calculations. The purpose of this study was to clarify the mechanism by which the intensity of high-speed knocking that occurs in small two-stroke engines becomes stronger. The results suggest that temperature inhomogeneity due to insufficient mixing of fresh air and previously burned gas may induce high-speed knocking in the operating range at high engine speeds.

In order to measure the spatial distribution of fuel jet concentration quantitatively, a technique combining methods of fluorescence with absorption was developed. LIF method can obtain the spatial fuel distribution qualitatively, but quantitative measurement is difficult. Meanwhile, laser-beam absorption method can quantitatively obtain the integrated jet concentration on the light-path. In addition, scanning the laser-beam allows for a quasi 2-D quantitative measurement of the jet concentration. Firstly, in this study, this measurement system was tested in a homogeneously charged field while varying the dopant NO2 concentration, the laser-beam scanning speed, and the ambient pressure. As a result, some data-correction techniques were developed to produce a quantitative measurement. Secondly, this system was applied to gaseous jet fields in a constant volume bomb.

A Direct Injection Stratified Charge Rotary Engine ( DISC-RE ) with a pilot flame ignition system has been studied to find the possibility of simultaneous reductions of fuel consumption rate and HC exhaust gas emissions. Firstly, combustion characteristics in a model combustion chamber, which simulates the DISC-RE were examined from the viewpoints of calculation and experiment. The high speed photography and the indicated pressure analysis were experimentally performed while numerical calculations of the mixture formation and combustion processes were also carried out. As a result, it has been found that the combustion using the pilot flame ignition system is much activated and a better ignitability is attained under lean mixtures than using a spark ignition system. Secondly, a single rotor with 650 cc displacement DISC-RE was built as a prototype. Combustion characteristics and its performance were tested using a combustion analyzer.

Control of turbulence during the compression stroke is suggested by both theoretical calculations and experimental results obtained with an LDV measurement in a motored engine. The authors have found experimentally that when an axial distribution of swirl intensity exists, a large-scale annular vortex is formed inside the cylinder during the compression stroke and this vortex generates and transports turbulence energy. A numerical calculation is adopted to elucidate this phenomenon. Then, an axial stratification of swirl intensity is found to generate a large-scale annular vortex during the compression stroke by an interaction between the piston motion and the axial pressure gradient. The initial swirl profile is parametrically varied to assess its effect on the turbulence parameters. Among calculated results, turbulence energy is enhanced strongest when the swirl intensity is highest at the piston top surface and lowest at the bottom surface of the cylinder head.

It has been widely known that thermal and fuel stratifications of in-cylinder mixture are effective to reduce in-cylinder pressure rise rate during high load HCCI operations. In order to optimize a combustion chamber design and combustion control strategy for HCCI engines with wide operational range, it is important to know quantitatively the influence of the temperature and fuel concentration distributions on ignition and heat release characteristics. At the same time, it is important to know the influence of in-cylinder flow and turbulence on the temperature and fuel concentration distributions. In this study, a numerical simulation of HCCI combustion were conducted to investigate the effects of the in-cylinder flow and turbulence, and the distributions of temperature on ignition and combustion characteristics in HCCI combustion.