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Hydrogen produced from regenerative sources has the potential to be a sustainable substitute for fossil fuels. A hydrogen internal combustion engine has good combustion characteristics, such as higher flame propagation velocity, shorter quenching distance, and higher thermal conductivity compared with hydrocarbon fuel. However, storing hydrogen is problematic since the energy density is low. Hydrogen can be chemically stored as a hydrocarbon fuel. In particular, an organic hydride can easily generate hydrogen through use of a catalyst. Additionally, it has an advantage in hydrogen transportation due to its liquid form at room temperature and pressure. We examined the application of an organic hydride in a spark ignition (SI) engine. We used methylcyclohexane (MCH) as an organic hydride from which hydrogen and toluene (TOL) can be reformed. First, the theoretical thermal efficiency was examined when hydrogen and TOL were supplied to an SI engine.

Characteristics of dimethyl ether spray formation were observed using schlieren photography, and the combustion characteristics and performance of a dimethyl ether-operated diesel engine were investigated. Accordingly, this paper describes the basic characteristics of engine performance and the potential for decreased exhaust emissions, as well as discussing problems concerning the practical application of dimethyl ether-operated diesel engines.

Recently, dimethyl ether (DME) has been attracting much attention as a clean alternative fuel, since the thermal efficiency of DME powered diesel engine is comparable to diesel fuel operation and soot free combustion can be achieved. In this experiment, the effect of ambient pressure on DME spray was investigated with observation of droplet size such as Sauter mean diameter (SMD) by the shadowgraph and image processing method. The higher ambient pressure obstructs the growth of DME spray, therefore faster breakup was occurred, and liquid column was thicker with increasing the ambient pressure. Then engine performances and exhaust emissions characteristics of DME diesel engine were investigated with various compression ratios. The minimum compression ratio for the easy start and stable operation was obtained at compression ratio of about 12.

Dimethyl Ether (DME) is one of the major candidates for the next generation fuel for compression ignition (CI) engines. It has good self-ignitability and would not produce particulate, even at rich conditions. DME has proved to be able to apply to ordinary diesel engines with minimal modifications, but its combustion characteristics are not completely understood. In this study, the behavior of a DME spray and combustion process of a direct injection CI engine fueled with DME was investigated by combustion observation and in-cylinder gas sampling. To distinguish evaporated and non-evaporated zones of a spray, direct and schlieren imaging were carried out. The sampled gas from a DME spray was analyzed by gas chromatography, and the major intermediate product histories during ignition period were analyzed.

Based on the knowledge that cavitation in a nozzle enhances the atomization of fuel spray, fuel modification is conducted by blending Dimethyl Ether (DME). Because the boiling point of DME is -24.8°C, it may easily take place during the cavitation in an injection nozzle. Furthermore, there is a soot reduction effect caused by the oxygenated fuels. The oxygen content in the DME is 34.8%, which accelerates soot reduction in the combustion chamber. The experimental results are compared with those of DiMethoxyMethan (Methylal: DMM), a blend of gas-oil. The ignition temperatures of DME and DMM are 235°C and 236°C, the boiling temperatures of DME and DMM are -24.8°C and 42.1°C, and the oxygen contents of DME and DMM are 34.8% and 42.1%, respectively. In addition to the oxygenated fuel, a propane blend of gas-oil was also used as a blended fuel in order to examine the effects of the boiling point and oxygen content of the fuel.

In this study, the NO emission characteristics of a dimethyl ether fueled compression ignition (CI) engine were studied, and a suitable combustion control concept was developed. A three-zone thermo-chemical model was used to understand the basic NO formation characteristics with dimethyl ether. The experimental study was carried out using a small direct-injection diesel engine. Comparison of the experimental and calculated results showed that the dimethyl ether / air mixing process was relatively slow compared with diesel fuel, which is the main reason for the relatively high NO emissions with dimethyl ether operation, in spite of its lower adiabatic flame temperature. To reduce the high temperature period, turbulence was introduced into the combustion chamber by a high-turbulence combustion system, which reduced NO emissions. It became clear that acceleration of the mixing process is an important factor for NO reduction with dimethyl ether spray combustion.

Dimethyl Ether (DME) is a promising new alternative fuel for compression ignition DI engines. However, some problems arise from the poor lubricity of DME. Breakdown of the film bearing between needle and sleeve of the injector can lead to mechanical wear and leakage, a problem that is not mitigated easily. For example, the application of returning the leakage to fuel tank could raise a back pressure on the injection needle. This pressure can affect injection rate and consequently engine performance. In this study, fuels based on various DME to gas oil (diesel fuel) ratios were investigated, in part. Physical and chemical properties of DME and gas oil are shown to lead to mutual solubility at any ratio. Blended fuels have a higher lubricity compared with pure’ DME and a better injection spray compared with pure gas oil.

Reduced emissions from the spark-ignition engine, when fueled by gasoline containing small amounts of MTBE, have led us to explore similar positive results in compression-ignition (CI) engine combustion by adding this oxygenate compound to Diesel fuel. This study was performed in two separate laboratories by employing the respective experimental apparatus. When a pre-chamber type CI engine was operated by using Diesel fuel mixed with several volume portions of MTBE, including 5, 10 and 15%, several positive results were obtained, as compared with those from the baseline neat Diesel-fueled operations: (1) The engine delivers overall comparable or better performance characteristics; (2) The brake thermal efficiency is higher at the advanced and late injection times; (3) Some considerable reduction of both soot and NOx emissions is found; (4) The ignition delay increases but the combustion duration decreases.

Effects of the intake air oxygen enrichment (IOE) on the combustion processes and performance of a spark ignition (SI) engine were investigated when the engine was operated under part load conditions both after and during the warm-up period. The study was performed by comparing the direct measurements of engine performance and emission characteristics with instantaneous digital imaging of in-cylinder reaction processes obtained using our high-speed dual-spectra infrared imaging system developed at Rutgers. The IOE under the partial load operations of an SI engine produced some comparable improvements in the thermal efficiency and mean effective pressure to those from the full load operations. Although no dramatic reduction of unburned hydrocarbon emissions with the IOE was realized in the present measurement, the insignificant increase of Nox under the same condition is noteworthy.

A direct fuel-injection two-stroke cycle engine operated with neat methanol was investigated. The engine performance, combustion and exhaust-gas characteristics were analyzed experimentally and compared for operation with a carburetor, EFI injection at the intake manifold, and EFI injection at the scavenging port. The power and the brake thermal efficiency of the direct fuel-injection engine were higher than those of engines operated with a carburetor and either of the two EFI methods. The exhausted unburnt fuel of the direct fuel-injection engine was lower than that for operation with a carburetor, and formaldehyde and the CO concentration were of the same level as for operation with the carburetor and EFI methods. The NOx concentration of the direct fuel-injection was half the level of the result of carburetor operation.

The impact of minutely oxygen-enriched air on spark-ignition (SI) engine combustion was studied by obtaining engine performance measurements and investigating in-cylinder reactions. This study was initiated to determine if development of a new air-cleaner method, which may employ molecular sieve or membrane technology to slightly increase the oxygen concentration in the inducted air, is beneficial for engine operations. The air introduced into a single-cylinder SI engine was added with oxygen to produce oxygen concentrations of 21, 22 and 23%. Some results from engine tests performed with the oxygen enrichment are: The heat release lag, cycle variation and combustion period decreased; substantial reduction of emissions of unburned hydrocarbon emission and noticeable decrease of carbon monoxide were observed; and the brake thermal efficiency and engine output increased.

A water/Oil type emulsified fuel has been demonstrated to decrease the harmful exhaust emissions and increase a thermal efficiency of internal combustion engine experimentally(1)*. However, an emulsified fuel is not currently used for internal combustion engines. When we try to use an emulsified fuel for the internal combustion engines, especially for a compression ignition engine, we should clear the physical properties of emulsified fuel. Because the viscosity of the emulsified fuel affects the spray characteristics and following combustion characteristics. It is commonly recognized that the viscosity of emulsified fuel is much higher than that of the base fuels. However, there are no data which show the viscosity increase of emulsified fuel. We proposed an newly introduced specific surface area Sp/Se to estimate the viscosity of the emulsified fuel.

Under accelerating or decelerating operation, it is demanded to improve the performance and to reduce the exhaust smoke of diesel engines. Regarding the exhaust smoke regulation for a vehicle engine under transitional operation, the so-called free or controlled accelerating operation, are adopted as the simple measuring method. And the engine applied the construction or agricultural use is always operating under the load conditions of stepwise or periodical changes. For two-stroke cycle engines, in particular, the effects of operating conditions on the engine performance and the smoke character are unclear. In order to meet such demand, it is necessary to make clear the transitional character of each transfer element, i.e., the fuel injection system, the combustion process and the frictional loss.

The engine performance, combustion characteristics and exhaust emission of pre-chamber type compression ignition engine operated by various biomass fuels were investigated experimentally. The biomass fuel investigated in this report are an emulsified fuel made with gas oil and hydrous ethanol or hydrous methanol, an emulsified fuel made with hydrous methanol and rape-seed oil, and neat rape-seed oil, and gas oil. There are small deviations of the experimental results between the biomass fuels, however, the general tendencies of the engine performances and exhaust gas characteristics operated by biomass fuels are as follows: The brake thermal efficiency during biomass fuel operation becomes maximum at a certain injection timing as well as those of the gas oil operation. And this injection timing is advanced with increasing the biomass content in the fuel.

Under the accelerating or decelerating operation, it is demanded to improve the performance and reduce the exhaust smoke of diesel engines. Regarding the exhaust smoke regulation for a vehicle engine under transitional operation, the so-called free or controlled accelerating operation, are adopted as the simple measuring method. And the engine applied for the construction or agriculture is always operating under the load conditions of stepwise or periodical changes. For two-stroke engines, in particular, the effects of operating conditions on the engine performance and the smoke character are unclear. In order to meet such demand, it is necessary to make clear the transitional character of each transfer element, i.e., the fuel injection system, the combustion process and the frictional loss.

Reduction of soot and NOx emissions from a prechamber-type diesel engine is studied by employing both chemical and physical aspects of the fuel and induction method. Fuel modification was performed to produce several forms of composite fuel: solution of alcohol and gas oil (JIS No. 1); emulsification and mixture of methyl alcohol-gas oil prepared by off- and in-line fuel systems; and separate injection of fuels into the pre- and main-chamber.

A two-stroke engine has various advantages. It is simple in structure, light in weight, high in mechanical efficiency, superior in accelerating ability, etc. However, its fuel consumption is bad, its combustibility under partial load is poor and it is usually accepted that its exhaust gas is problematic. With increasing traffic flow volume, it has become recently necessary to operate transiently each vehicle with frequent stops and starts, as well as decelerations and accelerations. From this standpoint, the authors have formed a simple dynamic model of two-stroke engine, and by means of simulation investigated how its performance can be improved while it is transiently operated, in combination with experiment. The results confirm that the calculations from the model coincide approximately with experiment. The influences of various factors on the performance have been revealed.

In this study, accordingly, methanol fuel was supplied in suction pipe with carburetor and with electronically-controlled fuel injector (EFI), which located in front of the suction valve, to clear experimentally the influence of various factors, such as the methanol-gasoline ratio (M/F), the difference in fuel feed system, the number of times of injection [ni], the injection timing (θinj), the engine speed (N), the volumetric efficiency (η v), the suction pipe wall temperature (tw), the water content in fuel (yw) etc., on the engine performance (the output and the thermal efficiency), the exhaust characteristics (NOx, CO, UBF and HCHO concentrations) and combustion variation as well as obtaining a guideline to establish the optimum condition. The authors will be report about the results of above-mentioned.

Many studies on the Cyclic variation of combustion process are made with a spark ignition engine. However, there are scarcely such studies with a diesel engine. Because, in general, the combustion of diesel engine is believed very stable. However, there exist some combustion variations in a diesel engine. As it is universally known, the combustion in a diesel engineis the series of a pre-mixed and a diffusion combustion, which is completely different from the combustion of a spark ignition engine. Therefore, it is impossible to determine the combustion variation of diesel engine by a direct application of the results of spark ignition engine. In this report, we discuss the several factors which indicate the combustion variation with a pre-chamber type diesel engine. The maximum pressure Pmax, the maximum rate of pressure rise (dP/dθ )max, the combustion pressure at each crank angle, etc. are analyzed from the continuous five handred of combustion pressure histories statistically.

It is important not only to increase a thermal efficiency of a spark ignition engine, but also to decrease a driving loss of auxiliary component of engine such as a cooling system. For example, there is a limitation of cooling performance when a requirement of aerodynamics design of a motorcycle or an automobile is severe. We propose an active application of ejector pump drove by exhaust energy to the cooling system. There were several applications of ejector system to the intake or exhaust system, but there was nothing for the design of it. In this report, one of the fundamental researches conducted in our laboratory, the effects of the dimensions of the ejector on the ejector performance are discussed. The results are followings: (1) The more the engine speed decreases, the more the ejector efficiency (G2/G1: G1 is the mass of charging air in the engine, G2 is the mass of entrained air by the ejector system) increases.