Search Results

A free piston engine linear generator (FPEG) with potential for compact build, high efficiency and high fuel flexibility was developed in this study. The FPEG consists of a two-stroke combustion system, a linear generator, and a gas spring chamber. There are some technical challenges in ensuring an FPEG can achieve continuous operation over a long period, including lubrication, cooling, and piston motion control. Among these technical challenges, the piston motion control is the most significant factor in improving the robustness and efficiency of the FPEG because the combustion characteristics depend strongly on the piston motion, which is controlled by the linear generator. This paper describes a novel linear generator control method which realizes the simple harmonic oscillation governed by the piston mass and the air spring pressure. In general, the generating efficiency of linear generators is low in the low-speed region.

Free Piston Engine linear Generator (FPEG) that is thin and compact and has high efficiency and high fuel flexibility has been developed. The developed FPEG consists of a two-stroke combustion chamber, a linear generator, and a gas spring chamber. This paper focuses on the control logic of the linear generator, where the generator can be changed instantly to act as a driving motor, according to demand. Both the position and velocity of the piston are selected as feedback parameters for the control logic. The proposed feedback method realizes stable and robust control behavior with respect to abnormal combustion conditions, such as pre-ignition. In addition, the control logic must satisfy the following requirements. First, in order to achieve stable two-stroke combustion, the position of the piston is precisely controlled, especially near the top dead center (TDC) and the bottom dead center (BDC).

Free Piston Engine Linear Generator (FPEG) with features of thin and compact build, high efficiency and high fuel flexibility is developed. The FPEG consists of a two-stroke combustion chamber, a linear generator and a gas spring chamber. The key technologies to realize stable continuous operation are lubricating, cooling, and control logic. This paper proposes the original structure of the FPEG for enabling stable continuous operation. The main feature is a hollow circular step-shaped piston. The smaller-diameter side of the piston constitutes the combustion chamber, and the larger-diameter side constitutes the gas spring chamber. The larger cross-sectional area of the gas spring chamber leads to lower compression temperature of the gas spring chamber and consequently decreased heat loss. In addition, an oil cooling passage is built in the column stay, which ensures the enough cooling ability of the piston.

The aim of this work is to investigate the possibility of heat insulation by “Temperature Swing”, that is temperature fluctuation, on combustion chamber walls coated with low-heat-conductivity and low-heat-capacity materials. Adiabatic engines studied in the 1980s, such as ceramic coated engines, caused constantly high temperature on combustion wall surface during the whole cycle including the intake stroke, even if it employed ceramic thermal barrier coating methods. This resulted in increase in NOx and Soot, decrease in volumetric efficiency and combustion efficiency, and facilitated the occurrence of engine knock. On the other hand, “Temperature Swing” coat on the combustion chamber walls leads to a large change in surface temperature. In this case, the surface temperature with this insulation coat follows the transient gas temperature, which decreases heat loss with the prevention of intake air heating, and also which is expected to prevent NOx and Soot from increasing.

The effects of an increasing boost pressure, a high EGR rate and a high injection pressure on exhaust emissions from an HSDI (High Speed Direct Injection) diesel engine were examined. The mechanisms were then investigated with both in-cylinder observations and 3DCFD coupled with ϕT-map analysis. Under a high-load condition, increasing the charging efficiency combined with a high injection pressure and a high EGR rate is an effective way to reduce NOx and soot simultaneously, which realized an ultra low NOx of 16ppm at 1.7MPa of IMEP (Indicated Mean Effective Pressure). The flame temperature with low NOx and low soot emissions is decreased by 260K from that with conventional emissions. Also, the distribution of the fuel-air mixture plot on a ϕT-map is moved away from the NOx and soot formation peninsula, compared to the conventional emissions case.

The effects of multiple-injection on exhaust emissions and performance in a small HSDI (High Speed Direct Injection) Diesel engine were examined. The causes for the improvement were investigated using both in-cylinder observation and three-dimensional numerical analysis methods. It is possible to increase the maximum torque, which is limited by the exhaust smoke number, while decreasing the combustion noise under low speed and full load conditions by advancing the timing of the pilot injection. Dividing this early-timed pilot injection into two with a small fuel amount is effective for further decreasing the noise while suppressing the increase in HC emission and fuel consumption. This is realized by the reduced amount of adhered fuel to the cylinder wall. At light loads, the amount of pilot injection fuel must be reduced, and the injection must be timed just prior to the main injection in order to suppress a possible increase in smoke and HC.

The effect of the chemical reactivity of diesel fuel on PM formation was investigated using a flow reactor and a shock tube. Reaction products from the flow-reactor pyrolysis of the three diesel fuels used for the engine tests in Part 1(1) (“Base”, “Improved” and Swedish “Class-1”) were analyzed by gas chromatography. At 850C, Swedish “Class-1” fuel was found to produce the most PM precursors such as benzene and toluene among the three fuels, even though it contains very low amounts of aromatics. The chemical analyses described in Part 1 revealed that “Class-1” contains a large amount of branched and cyclic structures in the saturated hydrocarbon portion of the fuel. These results suggest that the presence of such branched and ring structures can increase exhaust PM emissions.

Combustion and exhaust emission characteristics were compared among three representative diesel fuels called “Base (corresponding to a Japanese market fuel)”, “Improved” and Swedish “Class-1” using both a modern small and an optically accessible single-cylinder DI diesel engines. In these tests, the relative amount of PM collected in the exhaust was “Base” >“Class-1” >“Improved” at almost all of the operating conditions. This means that “Class-1” generated more PM than “Improved”, even though “Class-1” has significantly lower distillation temperatures, aromatic content, sulfur, and density compared with “Improved”. There was little difference in combustion characteristics such as heat release rate pattern, mixture formation and flame development processes between these two fuels. However, it was found that “Class-1” contained more branches in the paraffin fraction and more naphthenes.