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Lean burn is one method for improving thermal efficiency in spark ignition (SI) engines. Suppression of knocking provides higher thermal efficiency, and ethanol blending is considered an effective way to suppress knocking due to its high octane and high latent heat of evaporation. We investigate the effect of ethanol blending on knocking in an SI engine under lean operating conditions. The Livengood-Wu (LW) integral was performed based on ignition delay duration estimated from a zero-dimensional detailed chemical reaction calculation with pressure and temperature histories. Knocking was suppressed and thermal efficiency increased with ethanol-gasoline blending fuel, even at 0.5 equivalence ratio. Decrease in unburned gas temperature by latent heat of evaporation had a comparable influence on knocking suppression, which was supported by LW integral analysis.

This paper proposes a battery state estimation on a battery management system (BMS) for hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and electric vehicles (EVs). It is important to estimate a state of charge (SOC) and parameters of the battery such as a state of health (SOH), internal resistances and dynamics of electrochemical reactions. The BMS can provide information on the driving range of the EVs to the drivers by accurately estimating SOC and SOH. It can also calculate a state of power (SOP) to use the battery safely by accurately estimated SOC, internal resistances and others. For that purpose, this paper proposes the BMS adopted a simultaneous state of charge (SOC) and parameter estimation method using log-normalized unscented Kalman filter (LnUKF). The key idea is a lognormalization of the parameters to improve numerical stability and robustness of the algorithm. The proposed system is verified by a series of simulations using experimental data with EVs.

The characteristics of cycle-to-cycle variations of indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP) with combustion-phasing retard have been investigated experimentally and computationally in an homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) engine using dimethyl ether (DME). The experiments were conducted in a single-cylinder HCCI research engine equipped with an exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) passage for external EGR and a two-stage exhaust cam for rebreathed EGR. To understand the chemical effects of rebreathed EGR, which is assumed to contribute to the autoignition enhancement, the computations were performed with a single-zone model of CHEMKIN using a chemical-kinetic mechanism developed by combining DME mechanism and NOx submechanism.

This study tried to find a potential of dedicated EGR (d-EGR) system added to the four-cylinder spark ignition (SI) engine to decrease heat loss (Qheatloss) and improve thermal efficiency (ηth). Test fuels were chosen by methane and propane. PREMIX code in CHEMKIN-PRO was employed to calculate laminar burning velocity (SL) and flame temperature (Tf). Wiebe function and Wocshni's heat transfer coefficient were considered to calculate ηth. The results show that the d-EGR system increased ηth and it was higher than that of stoichiometric combustion of conventional SI engines due to the low Tf and fast SL.

CNG/diesel dual-fuel engine is using CNG as a main fuel, and injects diesel only a little as an ignition priming. In this study, remodeling an existing diesel engine into dual-fuel engine that can inject diesel with high pressure by CRDI (Common Rail Direct Injection), and injecting CNG at intake port for premixing. The results show that CNG/diesel dual-fuel engine satisfied coordinate torque and power with conventional diesel engine. And CNG alternation rate is over 89% in all operating ranges of CNG/diesel dual-fuel engine. PM emission is lower 94% than diesel engine, but NOx emission is higher than diesel engine. The output of dual fuel mode is 95% by the diesel mode. At this time, amount of CO₂ and PM are decreased while CO, NOx, and THC are increased. In NEDC mode, exhaust gases except NOx are decreased.

This work has been investigated the potential of in-cylinder EGR stratification for reducing the pressure rise rate of DME HCCI engines, and the coupling of both thermal stratification and fuel stratification. The numerical analyses were done by using five-zone version of CHEMKIN-II kinetics rate code, and kinetic mechanics for DME. The effects of inert components were used for the presence of EGR in calculation. Three cases of EGR stratification were tested on both thermal stratification and fuel stratification at the fixed initial temperature, pressure and fueling rate at BDC. In order to explore the appropriate stratification of EGR, EGR width was employed from zero to thirty percent. Firstly, EGR homogeneity case which means EGR width zero was examined. Secondly, EGR is located densely in hotter zone for combining with thermal stratification or in richer zone for a combination with fuel stratification. Lastly, the case was judged inversely with the second case.

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.

A significant drawback to HCCI engines is the knocking caused by rapid increases in pressure. Such knocking limits the capacity for high-load operation. To solve this problem, thermal stratification in the combustion chamber has been suggested as possible solution. Thermal stratification has the potential to reduce the maximum value of the rate of pressure increase combustion by affecting the local combustion start time and extending the duration of combustion. The purpose of this study was to experimentally obtain fundamental knowledge about the effect of thermal stratification on the HCCI combustion process. Experiments were conducted in a rapid compression machine (RCM) equipped with a quartz window to provide optical access to the combustion chamber. The machine was fueled with DME, n-Butane, n-Heptane and iso-Octane, all of which are currently being investigated as alternative fuels and have different low temperature characteristics.

The Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) engine is possible to achieve high thermal efficiency and low emissions. One of the main challenges with HCCI engines is structuring the systems to control combustion phasing, crank angle of 50% heat release (CA50), for keeping high thermal efficiency and avoiding an excessive rate of pressure rise which causes knocking, when operating conditions vary. Though some HCCI combustion control systems, for example Variable Valve Timing System and Variable Compression Ratio System, have been suggested, these control systems are complex and heavy. In this study, for the development of a lightweight and small-sized generator HCCI engine fuelled with Dimethyl Ether (DME) which is low-emission and easy to autoignite, a simple HCCI combustion control system is suggested, and the control system is evaluated experimentally.

The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of the effects of in-cylinder gas temperature stratification on reducing the pressure-rise rate in HCCI combustion. HCCI combustion was investigated using an optically accessible engine and direct visualization of the combustion chemiluminescence. The engine was fueled with Di-Methyl Ether. Computational work was conducted on the gas compression and expansion strokes in HCCI engine with simple 0-dimensinal multi-zones model. When fuel inhomogeneous charging in experiment, maximum heat release rate decreased. Combustion duration got longer. Maximum pressure-rise rate decreased. Chemiluminescence, of which transition was identified from the side of intake valve to the side of exhaust valve, was observed. It is need for total moderate heat release to get local moderate combustion with not overall but continuous combustion in chamber.

Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) engine attracts much attention because of its high thermal efficiency and low NOx, PM emissions. On the other hand, Di-Methyl Ether (DME) is expected as one of alternative fuel for the internal combustion engines. In this study, four-stroke HCCI engine running on DME is developed to make it realistic application in production engines. This paper shows construction of the control method using both internal EGR at high temperature and external EGR at low temperature and estimates the performance of developed HCCI engine. Besides combustion characteristics of DME and the effects of EGR are researched with experiment and numerical calculation with elementary reactions. As a result, developed HCCI engine got comparable high thermal efficiency to conventional diesel engine but much lower Indicated Mean Effective Pressure (IMEP) than that. Meanwhile it can be said that DME is suitable fuel for the HCCI engines in combustion characteristics.

In this study, attention was paid to the method of mixing fuel to solve one of problems of the HCCI engine, which is the avoidance of knocking. The objectives of the work reported in this paper were to research the characteristics of HCCI combustion of the Methane/DME/air pre-mixture in the experiment and to check the oxidation reaction in two cases: when DME was used as an ignition accelerator for the Methane/air pre-picture, and when Hydrogen was used as ignition accelerator. Furthermore, from these results reference was made about basic specifications required fuel for an HCCI engine.

In the HCCI Engine, inhomogeneity in fuel distribution and temperature in the pre-mixture exists microscopically, and has the possibility of affecting the ignition and combustion process. In this study, the effect of charge inhomogeneity in fuel distribution on the HCCI combustion process was investigated. Two-dimensional images of the chemiluminescence were captured by using a framing camera with an optically accessible engine in order to understand the spatial distribution of the combustion. DME was used as a test fuel. By changing a device for mixing air and fuel in the intake manifold, inhomogeneity in fuel distribution in the pre-mixture was varied. The result shows that luminescence is observed in a very short time in a large part of the combustion chamber under the homogeneous condition, while luminescence appears locally with considerable time differences under the inhomogeneous condition.