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In HCCI Engine, HCCI combustion characteristics come under the influence of change of compression speed corresponding to engine speed. The purpose of this study is to investigate mechanism of influence of engine speed on HCCI combustion characteristics by using numerical analysis. At first, the Influence of engine speed was showed. And then, In order to clarified the mechanism of influence of engine speed, results of kinetics computations were analyzed to investigate the elementary reaction path for heat release at transient temperatures by using contribution matrix.

Delaying CA50(Crank Angle of 50% Heat Release) of the HCCI engine to expansion stroke can lead to high indicated thermal efficiency as well as the avoidance of knocking. However, this method could induce the problem of cycle variability. In this study, the cycle-to-cycle variation of a HCCI engine fueled with DME was investigated. Experimental parameters of each cycle, such as in-cylinder temperature, pressure and gas flow rate, were recorded by fast response system, and analyzed consequently. Moreover, the interdependency between the combustion and the performance parameters were evaluated.

Thermal and mixing stratifications have been thought as one of the ways to avoid an excessive pressure rise on HCCI combustion. The purpose of this research is to investigate the potential of thermal and mixing stratifications for reducing PRR (Pressure Rise Rate) on HCCI combustion. The pre-mixture with thermal and mixing stratifications is charged in RCM (Rapid Compression Machine). After that, the pre-mixture is compressed and in that process, in-cylinder gas pressure and chemiluminescence images are obtained and analyzed. Furthermore, experimental results are compared with the computational results calculated by using multi-zone model for analyzing these mechanisms.

The HCCI engine is a next generation engine, with high efficiency and low emissions. However a rate of pressure rise is a major limitation for high load range. Recently, we are able to reduce the rate of pressure rise using thermal stratification. Nevertheless, this was insufficient to produce high power. Without the higher equivalent ratio, one way to improve the power is to increase the intake boost pressure. It is suggested that the rate of pressure rise is reduced by thermal stratification and the power is increased by boost pressure at the same time. The objective of this work is to understand the characteristics of combustion, knock and emissions for using both thermal stratification and the boost pressure. The calculations are performed by CHEMKIN and modified SENKIN. As a result of increasing the boost pressure, a higher IMEP was attained while the rate of pressure rise increased only slightly in the HCCI with thermal stratification.

Homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) combustion requires high EGR rate and high intake temperature. HCCI combustion has not yet been made to operate at conditions other than low speed and low load in a four-stroke engine. Two stroke engine, however, have produced reasonable power in the HCCI combustion or active thermo-atmosphere combustion (ATAC) mode. In this paper, the nature of ATAC is discussed by spectroscopic observation to determine why the ATAC (under favorable condition) produces very low cyclic irregularity and low NO emission. ATAC low heat rejection engine and ATAC with alternative fuels are discussed.

ATAC is “bulk-like” and/or “non-propagating” combustion caused by compression autoignition of premixture, and it is stable even in the lean region. And ATAC engine is expected to be an engine using alternative fuels which are difficult to apply to usual engines because of their low cetane number. In this study, a two-stroke ATAC engine test was carried out to evaluate an adaptability of alternative fuels for lean burn. Methanol, ethanol, DME, methane and propane were used as the test fuels, and the influence of fuel characteristics on autoignition timing, combustion duration and autoignition temperature were investigated in the lean region. Using oxygenated fuels, the lean limit of ATAC operation region shifts to lean side. ATAC autoignition temperature is not depend on equivalence ratio, delivery ratio and engine speed, and it is only decided by the kind of fuel. The order of the ATAC autoignition temperature is methanol, ethanol, DME, gasoline from lower side.

The charge stratification has been thought as one of the ways to reduce the sharp pressure rises of HCCI combustion. The objective of this study is to evaluate the potential of equivalence ratio, initial temperature, and EGR gas stratifications for reducing pressure-rise rate of HCCI combustion. Using rapid compression machine, the stratified pre-mixture is charged, and compressed to analyze the change of in-cylinder gas pressure and temperature traces during compression process. Based on the experiment results, numerical calculations by CHEMKIN are conducted to more specifically analyze the potential of equivalence ratio, initial temperature, and EGR gas stratifications on the reduction of pressure rise rate. Multi-zone model is used to simulate the thermal stratification, fuel stratification and EGR gas stratification of in-cylinder charge as like real engine.

Problem of HCCI combustion is knocking due to a steep heat release by the ignition that is occurred in each local area at the same time. It is considered that dispersion of auto-ignition timing at each local area in the combustion chamber is necessary to prevent this problem. One of technique of this solution is to make thermal stratification. It could be made by using two-stage ignition fuel, which has large heat release at low temperature reaction. Dispersion of fuel concentration leads to difference of temperature histories while combustion phasing is dispersed at each local area. Also, EGR gas stratification could make difference of temperature histories at each local area because of that of the characteristics. This study examines the effect of mixing stratification by stratifying the charge of fuel and CO2. A single-cylinder engine equipped with optical access was used in experiments, and numerical analysis was executed.

It has been shown that lean burn is effective for improving the thermal efficiency of gasoline SI engines. This happens because the reduction of heat loss by decrease of flame temperature. On the other hand, the fuel dilution of the premixed gas makes the combustion speed low, and cycle-to-cycle variations of combustion are increased by excessive dilution, it is difficult to increase the thermal efficiency of the gasoline SI engine. Influence of ignition by spark discharge is considered as a factor of combustion variation, and it is necessary to understand the effects of spark discharge characteristics on the lean combustion process. Spark discharge in the SI engines supplies energy to the premixed-gas via a discharge channel in the spark plug gap which ignites the premixed-gas. The discharge channel is elongated by in-cylinder gas flow and its behavior varies in each cycles.

Super lean burn technology is conceived as one of methods for improving the thermal efficiency of SI engines[1][2]. For lean burn, reduction of heat loss and the due to decrease in flame temperature can be expected. However, as the premixed gas dilutes, the combustion speed decreases, so the combustion fluctuation between cycles increases. Also, to improve the thermal efficiency, the ignition timing is advanced to advance the combustion phase. However, when the combustion phase is excessively advanced, knocking occurs, which hinders the improvement of thermal efficiency. Knocking is a phenomenon in which unburned gas in a combustion chamber compressed by a piston and combustion gas suffer compression auto-ignition. It is necessary to avoid knocking because the amplitude of the large pressure wave may cause noise and damage to the engine. Also, knocking is not a steady phenomenon but a phenomenon that fluctuates from cycle to cycle.