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To reduce heat transfer between hot gas and cavity wall, thin Zirconia (ZrO2) layer (0.5mm) on the cavity surface of a forged steel piston was firstly formed by thermal spray coating aiming higher surface temperature swing precisely synchronized with flame temperature near the wall resulting in the reduction of temperature difference. However, no apparent difference in the heat loss was analyzed. To find out the reason why the heat loss was not so improved, direct observation of flame impingement to the cavity wall was carried out with the top view visualization technique, for which one of the exhaust valves was modified to a sapphire window. Local flame behavior very close to the wall was compared by macrophotography. Numerical analysis by utilizing a three-dimensional simulation was also carried out to investigate the effect of several parameters on the heat transfer coefficient.

Impingement of a spray flame on the periphery of the piston cavity strongly affects heat loss to the wall. The heat release rate history is also closely correlated with the indicated thermal efficiency. For further thermal efficiency improvement, it is thus necessary to understand such phenomena in state of the art diesel engines, by observation of the actual behavior of an impinging spray flame and measurement of the local temperature and flow velocity. A top-view optically accessible engine system, for which flame impingement to the cavity wall can be observed from the top (vertically), was equipped with a high speed digital camera for direct observation. Once the flame impinged on the wall, flame tip temperature decreased roughly 100K, compared to the temperature before impingement.