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Pre-chamber combustion (PCC) has re-emerged in recent last years as a potential solution to help to decarbonize the transport sector with its improved engine efficiency as well as providing lower emissions. Research into the combustion process inside the pre-chamber is still a challenge due to the high pressure and temperatures, the geometrical restrictions, and the short combustion durations. Some fundamental studies in constant volume combustion chambers (CVCC) at low and medium working pressures have shown the complexity of the process and the influence of high pressures on the turbulence levels. In this study, the pre-chamber combustion process was investigated by combustion visualization in an optically-accessible pre-chamber under engine relevant conditions and linked with the jet emergence inside the main chamber. The pre-chamber geometry has a narrow-throat. The total nozzle area is distributed in two six-hole rows of nozzle holes.

High-pressure internal combustion engines promise high efficiency, but a proper injection strategy to minimize heat losses and pollutant emissions remain a challenge. Previous studies have concluded that two injectors, placed at the piston bowl's rim, simultaneously improve the mixing and reduce the heat losses. The two-injector configuration further improves air utilization while keeping hot zones away from the cylinder walls. This study investigates how the two-injector concept delivers even higher efficiency by providing additional control of spray -and injection angles. Three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes simulations examined several umbrella angles, spray-to-spray angles, and injection orientations by comparing the two-injector cases with a reference one-injector case. The study focused on heat transfer reduction, where the two-injector approach reduces the heat transfer losses by up to 14.3 % compared to the reference case.

Pre-chamber Combustion (PCC) extends the lean operation limit operation of spark ignition (SI) engines, thus it has been of interest for researchers as a pathway for increased efficiency and reduced emissions. Optical diagnostic techniques are essential to understand the combustion process, but the engine components such as the piston geometry, are often different from real engines to maximize the optical access. In this study, ignition and subsequent main chamber combustion are compared in an optically accessible PCC engine equipped with a “flat” and a real engine-like “bowl” piston geometry. An active fueled narrow throat pre-chamber was used as the ignition source of the charge in the main-chamber, and both chambers were fueled with methane. Three pre-chamber fuel effective mean pressure (FuelMEP) ratios (PCFR) namely 6%, 9% and 11% of the total amount of fuel were tested at two global excess air ratios (λ) at values of 1.8 and 2.0.

Heavy-duty vehicles face increasing demands of emission regulations. Reduced carbon-dioxide (CO2) emission targets motivate decreased fuel consumption for fossil fuel engines. Increased engine efficiency contributes to lower fuel consumption and can be achieved by lower heat transfer, friction and exhaust losses. The double compression expansion engine (DCEE) concept achieves higher efficiency, as it utilizes a split-cycle approach to increase the in-cylinder pressure and recover the normally wasted exhaust energy. However, the DCEE concept suffers heat losses from the high-pressure approach. This study utilizes up to three injectors to reduce the wall-gas temperature gradient rendering lower convective heat losses. The injector configuration consists of a standard central injector and two side-injectors placed at the rim of the bowl. An increased distance from side-injector to the wall delivered lower heat losses by centralizing hot gases in the combustion chamber.

Pre-chamber combustion (PCC) allows an extension on the lean limit of an internal combustion engine (ICE). This combustion mode provides lower NOx emissions and shorter combustion durations that lead to a higher indicated efficiency. In the present work, a narrow throat pre-chamber was tested, which has a unique nozzle area distribution in two rows of six nozzle holes each. Tests were carried out in a modified heavy-duty engine for optical visualization. Methane was used as fuel for both the pre-chamber and the main chamber. Seven operating points were tested, including passive pre-chamber mode as a limit condition, to study the effect of pre- and main-chamber fuel addition on the pre-chamber jets and the main chamber combustion via chemiluminescence imaging. A typical cycle of one of the tested conditions is explained through the captured images. Observations of the typical cycle reveal a predominant presence of only six jets (from the lower row), with well-defined jet structures.

Stringent emission regulations and the anticipated climate change call for a paradigm shift in the design of the conventional internal combustion engines. One way to combat this problem is oxy-fuel combustion in which the combustion products are mainly water vapor and carbon dioxide. Water vapor can be easily separated by condensation and carbon dioxide is then easily captured and stored. However, many technical challenges are associated with this mode of combustion. There are many challenges facing oxy-fuel combustion before it find its way to commercial production especially for internal combustion engines. One such challenge is the relatively high temperature of the oxy-fuel combustion. A solution to this problem is the recirculation of the generated CO2 to moderate the in-cylinder temperature. Therefore, careful study of the effect of recirculating the CO2 back to combustion chamber is needed before the implementation of such a concept.

A new concept utilizing multiple fuel injectors was proven effective at reducing heat transfer losses by directing spray plumes further away from the combustion chamber walls. In this concept, two injectors are mounted close to the rim of the piston bowl and point in opposite directions to generate swirling in-cylinder bulk motion. Moreover, a new flat-bowl piston design was also proposed in combination with the multiple fuel injectors for even larger improvements in thermal efficiency. However, all tests were performed at low-to-medium load conditions with no significant EGR. Modern engine concepts, such as the double compression-expansion engine (DCEE), have demonstrated higher thermal efficiency when operated at high-load conditions with a large amount of EGR for NOx control. Thus, this study aims to assess the effectiveness of the multiple-fuel-injector system under such conditions. In this study, a number of 3-D CFD simulations are performed using the RANS technique in CONVERGE.

Isobaric combustion has demonstrated a great potential to reach high thermodynamic efficiency in the advanced Double Compression Expansion Engine (DCEE) concept. It appears as one of few viable choices for applications with high-pressure combustion. At these conditions, releasing heat at a constant pressure minimizes the peak in-cylinder pressure and, hence, mitigates excessive mechanical stress on the engine. This study focuses on the effect of fuels on the multiple-injection isobaric combustion. A single-cylinder heavy-duty engine was utilized to test and compare the isobaric combustion with pure isooctane and n-heptane fuels. The engine was equipped with an optical piston to allow a bottom-view of the combustion chamber. The interactions of multiple injections and the combustion behavior were studied using high-speed acquisition of chemiluminescence. The examined isobaric cases have a peak pressure of 70 bar.

Pre-chamber spark ignition (PCSI) combustion is an emerging lean-burn combustion mode capable of extending the lean operation limit of an engine. The favorable characteristic of short combustion duration at the lean condition of PCSI results in high efficiencies compared to conventional spark ignition combustion. Since the engine operation is typically lean, PCSI can significantly reduce engine-out NOx emissions while maintaining short combustion durations. In this study, experiments were conducted on a heavy-duty engine at lean conditions at mid to low load. Two major studies were performed. In the first study, the total fuel energy input to the engine was fixed while the intake pressure was varied, resulting in varying the global excess air ratio. In the second study, the intake pressure was fixed while the amount of fuel was changed to alter the global excess air ratio.

Textbook engine thermodynamics predicts that SI (Spark Ignition) engine efficiency η is a function of both the compression ratio CR of the engine and the specific heat ratio γ of the working fluid. In practice the compression ratio of the SI engine is often limited due to “knock”. Knock is in large part the effect of end gases becoming too hot and auto-igniting. Knock results in increase in heat transfer to the walls which negatively affects efficiency. Not to mention damages to the piston. One way to lower the end-gas temperature is to cool the intake gas before inducting it into the combustion chamber. With colder intake gases, higher CR can be deployed, resulting in higher efficiencies. In this regard, we investigated the efficiency of a standard Waukesha CFR engine. The engine is operated in the SI engine mode, and was operated with two differing mixtures at different temperatures.

Engine experiments were performed on a single-cylinder heavy-duty engine at relatively high loads to investigate the regions where the combustion characteristics are unchanged regardless of the fuel octane number. Primary Reference Fuels (PRFs) and three different commercial fuels with RON values ranging from 0 to 100 were tested in this study. A sweep of net indicated mean effective pressure (IMEPNet) of 5 to 20 bar, absolute intake pressure of 1.5 to 2.8 bar, exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) of 0 to 40%, and fuel injection pressure of 700 to 1400 bar were performed to investigate the combustion characteristics, ignition delay time, combustion duration, efficiency, and emissions. At the highest load point (IMEPNet = 20 bar), all the fuels burn as in conventional diesel combustion. Despite the wide range of octane numbers, all fuels had similar ignition delay time, combustion duration, indicated efficiency, and emissions at 10 to 20 bar IMEPNet.

Due to stringent emission standards, the demand for higher efficiency engines has been unprecedentedly high in recent years. Among several existing combustion modes, pre-chamber spark ignition (PCSI) emerges to be a potential candidate for high-efficiency engines. Research on the pre-chamber concept exhibit higher indicated efficiency through lean limit extension while maintaining the combustion stability. In this study, a unique pre-chamber geometry was tested in a single-cylinder heavy-duty engine at low load lean conditions. The geometry features a narrow throat, which was designed to be packaged inside a commercial diesel injector pocket. The pre-chamber was fueled with methane while the main chamber was supplied with an ethanol/air mixture.

Partially premixed combustion (PPC) is an operating mode that lies between the conventional compression ignition (CI) mode and homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) mode. The combustion in this mixed mode is complex as it is neither diffusion-controlled (CI mode) nor governed solely by chemical kinetics (HCCI mode). In this study, CFD simulations were performed to evaluate flame index, which distinguishes between zones having a premixed flame and non-premixed flame. Experiments performed in the optical engine supplied data to validate the model. In order to realize PPC, the start of injection (SOI) was fixed at −40 CAD (aTDC) so that a required ignition delay is created to premix air/fuel mixture. The reference operating point was selected to be with 3 bar IMEP and 1200 rpm. Naphtha with a RON of 77 and its corresponding PRF surrogate were tested. The simulations captured the general trends observed in the experiments well.

Homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) experiments were run with the aid of a Cooperative fuel research (CFR) engine, operating at 600 rpm and under very lean conditions (ϕ = 0.3). This study seeks to examine the combustion behavior of different fuels by finding the pressure-temperature (p-t) conditions that instigate the start of combustion, and the transition from low temperature combustion to principal combustion. The pressure-temperature diagram emphasizes p-t conditions according to their traces through the compression stroke. In each fuel tested, p-t traces were examined by a sweep of the intake temperature; and for each experimental point, combustion phasing was maintained at top dead center by adjusting the compression ratio of the engine. In addition to the p-t diagram, results were analyzed using a compression ratio-intake temperature diagram, which showed the compression ratio required with respect to intake temperature.

The present study experimentally examines the low-temperature autoignition area of isooctane within the in-cylinder pressure-in-cylinder temperature map. Experiments were run with the help of a Cooperative Fuel Research (CFR) engine. The boundaries of this engine were extended so that experiments could be performed outside the domain delimited by research octane number (RON) and motor octane number (MON) traces. Since homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) combustion is governed by kinetics, the rotation speed for all the experiments was set at 600 rpm to allow time for low-temperature heat release (LTHR). All the other parameters (intake pressure, intake temperature, compression ratio, and equivalence ratio) were scanned, such as the occurrence of isooctane combustion. The principal results showed that LTHR for isooctane occurs effortlessly under high intake pressure (1.3 bar) and low intake temperature (25 °C).

Our previous research investigated the sensitivity of combustion phasing to intake temperature and injection timing during the transition from homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) to partially premixed combustion (PPC) fuelled with generic gasoline. The results directed particular attention to the relationship between intake temperature and combustion phasing which reflected the changing of stratification level with the injection timing. To confirm its applicability with the use of different fuels, and to investigate the effect of fuel properties on stratification formation, primary reference fuels (PRF) were tested using the same method: a start of injection sweep from -180° to -20° after top dead center with constant combustion phasing by tuning the intake temperature. The present results are further developed compared with those of our previous work, which were based on generic gasoline.

The literature study on PPC in optical engine reveals investigations on OH chemiluminescence and combustion stratification. So far, mostly PRF fuel is studied and it is worthwhile to examine the effect of fuel properties on PPC. Therefore, in this work, fuel having different octane rating and physical properties are selected and PPC is studied in an optical engine. The fuels considered in this study are diesel, heavy naphtha, light naphtha and their corresponding surrogates such as heptane, PRF50 and PRF65 respectively. Without EGR (Intake O2 = 21%), these fuels are tested at an engine speed of 1200 rpm, fuel injection pressure of 800 bar and pressure at TDC = 35 bar. SOI is changed from late to early fuel injection timings to study PPC and the shift in combustion regime from CI to PPC is explored for all fuels. An increased understanding on the effect of fuel octane number, physical properties and chemical composition on combustion and emission formation is obtained.

Gasoline-ethanol-methanol (GEM) blends, with constant stoichiometric air-to-fuel ratio (iso-stoichiometric blending rule) and equivalent to binary gasoline-ethanol blends (E2, E5, E10 and E15 in % vol.), were defined to investigate the effect of methanol and combined mixtures of ethanol and methanol when blended with three FACE (Fuels for Advanced Combustion Engines) Gasolines, I, J and A corresponding to RON 70.2, 73.8 and 83.9, respectively, and their corresponding Primary Reference Fuels (PRFs). A Cooperative Fuel Research (CFR) engine was used under Spark Ignition and Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignited modes. An ignition quality tester was utilized in the Compression Ignition mode. One of the promising properties of GEM blends, which are derived using the iso-stoichiometric blending rule, is that they maintain a constant octane number, which has led to the introduction of methanol as a drop-in fuel to supplement bio-derived ethanol.

In order to reduce nitrogen oxides (NOx) and soot emissions while maintaining high thermal efficiency, more advanced combustion concepts have been developed over the years, such as Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) and Partially Premixed Combustion (PPC), as possible combustion processes in commercial engines. Compared to HCCI, PPC has advantages of lower unburned hydrocarbon (UHC) and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions; however, due to increased fuel stratifications, soot emissions can be a challenge when adding Exhaust-Gas Recirculation (EGR) gas. The current work presents particle size distribution measurements performed from HCCI-like combustion with very early (120 CAD BTDC) to PPC combustion with late injection timing (11 CAD BTDC) at two intake oxygen rates, 21% and 15% respectively. Particle size distributions were measured using a differential mobility spectrometer DMS500.

Partially Premixed Combustion (PPC) is a promising combustion concept with high thermodynamic efficiency and low emission level, and also with minimal modification of standard engine hardware. To use PPC in a production oriented engine, the optimal intake charge conditions for PPC should be included in the analysis. The experiments in this paper investigated and confirmed that the optimal intake conditions of net indicated efficiency for PPC are EGR between 50% and 55% as possible and the lambda close to 1.4. Heat-transfer energy and exhaust gas waste-energy contribute to the majority of the energy loss in the engine. The low EGR region has high heat-transfer and low exhaust gas enthalpy-waste, while the high EGR region has low heat-transfer and high exhaust gas waste-enthalpy. The optimal EGR condition is around 50% where the smallest energy loss is found as a trade-off between heat transfer and exhaust-gas enthalpy-waste.