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Maintaining low NOx emissions over the operating range of diesel engines continues to be a major issue. However, optical measurements of nitric oxide (NO) are lacking particularly in the core of diesel jets, i.e. in the region of premixed combustion close to the spray axis. This is basically caused by severe attenuation of both the laser light and fluorescent emission in laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) applications. Light extinction is reduced by keeping absorption path lengths relatively short in this work, by investigating diesel jets in a combustion vessel instead of an engine. Furthermore, the NO-detection threshold is improved by conducting 1-d line measurements instead of 2-d imaging. The NO-LIF data are corrected for light attenuation by combined LIF and spontaneous Raman scattering. The quantified maximum light attenuation is significantly lower than in comparable previous works, and its wavelength dependence is surprisingly weak.

With increasing interest in new biofuel candidates, 1-octanol and di-n-butylether (DNBE) were presented in recent studies. Although these molecular species are isomers, their properties are substantially different. In contrast to DNBE, 1-octanol is almost a gasoline-type fuel in terms of its auto-ignition quality. Thus, there are problems associated with engine start-up for neat 1-octanol. In order to find a suitable glow-plug position, mixture formation is studied in the cylinder under almost idle operating conditions in the present work. This is conducted by planar laser-induced fluorescence in a high-speed direct-injection optical diesel engine. The investigated C8-oxygenates are also significantly different in terms of their evaporation characteristics. Thus, in-cylinder mixture formation of these two species is compared in this work, allowing conclusions on combustion behavior and exhaust emissions.

Pilot injection (PI) during the negative-valve-overlap (NVO) period is one method to improve control of combustion in gasoline controlled auto-ignition engines. This is generally attributed to both chemical and thermal effects. However, there are little experimental data on active species formed by the combusting PI and their effect on main combustion in real engines. Thus, it is the objective of the current study to apply and assess optical in-cylinder diagnostics for these species. Firstly, the occurrence and nature of combustion during the NVO period is investigated by spectrally-resolved multi-species flame luminescence measurements. OH*, CH*, HCO*, CO-continuum chemiluminescence, and soot luminosity are recorded. Secondly, spectrally-, spatially-, and cycle-resolved laser-induced fluorescence measurements of formaldehyde are conducted. It is attempted to find a cycle-resolved measure of the chemical effect of PI.

High levels of exhaust temperature or rich mixtures are necessary for the regeneration of today's diesel particulate filters or NOx catalysts. Therefore, late main injection or post injection is an effective strategy but leads to the well-known problem of lubricating oil dilution depending on the geometry, rail pressure and injection strategy. In this paper a method is developed to simulate fuel entrainment into the lubricating oil wall film in the diesel combustion chamber to predict oil dilution in an early design stage prior to hardware availability for durability testing. The simulation method integrates a newly developed droplet-film interaction model and is compared to results of an optical single-cylinder diesel engine and a similar thermodynamic single-cylinder test engine. Phenomena of diesel post injection like igniting early post injection or split post injections with short energizing times are considered in this paper.

Fuel properties are always considered as one of the main factors to diesel engines concerning performance and emission discussions. There are still challenges for researchers to identify the most correlating and non-correlating fuel properties and their effects on engine behavior. Statistical analyses have been applied in this study to derive the most un-correlating properties. In parallel, sensitivity analysis was performed for the fuel properties as well as to the emission and performance of the engine. On one hand, two different analyses were implemented; one with consideration of both, non-aromatic and aromatic fuels, and the other were performed separately for each individual fuel group. The results offer a different influence on each type of analysis. Finally, by considering both methods, most common correlating and non-correlating properties have been derived.

The requirement of reducing worldwide CO₂ emissions and engine pollutants are demanding an increased use of bio-fuels. Ethanol with its established production technology can contribute to this goal. However, due to its resistive auto-ignition behavior the use of ethanol-based fuels is limited to the spark-ignited gasoline combustion process. For application to the compression-ignited diesel combustion process advanced ignition systems are required. In general, ethanol offers a significant potential to improve the soot emission behavior of the diesel engine due to its oxygen content and its enhanced evaporation behavior. In this contribution the ignition behavior of ethanol and mixtures with high ethanol content is investigated in combination with advanced ignition systems with ceramic glow-plugs under diesel engine relevant thermodynamic conditions in a high pressure and temperature vessel.

Within the Cluster of Excellence “Tailor-Made Fuels from Biomass” at RWTH Aachen University, the Institute for Combustion Engines carried out an investigation program to explore the potential of future biofuel components in Diesel blends. In this paper, thermodynamic single cylinder engine results of today's and future biofuel components are presented with respect to their engine-out emissions and engine efficiency. The investigations were divided into two phases: In the first phase, investigations were performed with rapeseed oil methyl ester (B100) and an Ethanol-Gasoline blend (E85). In order to analyze the impact of different fuel blends, mixtures with 10 vol-% of B100 or E85 and 90 vol-% of standardized EN590 Diesel were investigated. Due to the low cetane number of E85, it cannot be used purely in a Diesel engine.

The fulfillment of the aggravated demands on future small-size High-Speed Direct Injection (HSDI) Diesel engines requires next to the optimization of the injection system and the combustion chamber also the generation of an optimal in-cylinder swirl charge motion. To evaluate different port concepts for modern HSDI Diesel engines, usually quantities as the in-cylinder swirl ratio and the flow coefficient are determined, which are measured on a steady-state flow test bench. It has been shown that different valve lift strategies nominally lead to similar swirl levels. However, significant differences in combustion behavior and engine-out emissions give rise to the assumption that local differences in the in-cylinder flow structure caused by different valve lift strategies have noticeable impact. In this study an additional criterion, the homogeneity of the swirl flow, is introduced and a new approach for a quantitative assessment of swirl flow pattern is presented.

Today's biofuels require large amounts of energy in the production process for the conversion from biomass into fuels with conventional properties. To reduce the amounts of energy needed, future fuels derived from biomass will have a molecular structure which is more similar to the respective feedstock. Butyl levulinate can be gained easily from levulinic acid which is produced by acid hydrolysis of cellulose. Thus, the Institute for Combustion Engines at RWTH Aachen University carried out a fuel investigation program to explore the potential of this biofuel compound, as a candidate for future compression ignition engines to reduce engine-out emissions while maintaining engine efficiency and an acceptable noise level. Previous investigations identified most desirable fuel properties like a reduced cetane number, an increased amount of oxygen content and a low boiling temperature for compression ignition engine conditions.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of spray-bowl interaction on combustion, and pollutants formation at one specific high-load point of a single-cylinder small-bore diesel engine through computational analysis. The simulations are performed using Representative Interactive Flamelet (RIF) model with detailed chemical kinetics. Detailed chemistry-based soot model is used for the prediction of soot emissions. The simulations are performed for five different injection timings. Model-predicted cylinder pressure and exhaust emissions are validated against the measured data for all the injection timings. A new method - Two-part analysis - is then applied to investigate the spray-bowl interaction. Two-part analysis splits the volume of the combustion chamber into two, namely the piston bowl and the squish volume. Through analysis, among others the histories of soot, carbon monoxide (CO) and nitric oxide (NO ) emissions inside both volumes are shown.

Fuels derived from biomass will most likely contain oxygen due to the high amount of hydrogen needed to remove oxygen in the production process. Today, alcohol fuels (e. g. ethanol) are well understood for spark ignition engines. The Institute for Combustion Engines at RWTH Aachen University carried out a fuel investigation program to explore the potential of alcohol fuels as candidates for future compression ignition engines to reduce engine-out emissions while maintaining engine efficiency and an acceptable noise level. The soot formation and oxidation process when using alcohol fuels in diesel engines is not yet sufficiently understood. Depending on the chain length, alcohol fuels vary in cetane number and boiling temperature. Decanol possesses a diesel-like cetane number and a boiling point in the range of the diesel boiling curve. Thus, decanol was selected as an alcohol representative to investigate the influence of the oxygen content of an alcohol on the combustion performance.

Within a public founded project test cell investigations were undertaken to identify parameters which predominantly influence the development of critical deposits in injection nozzles. A medium-duty diesel engine was operated in two different coking cycles with a zinc-free lubricant. One of the cycles is dominated by rated power, while the second includes a wide area of the operation range. During the experiments the temperatures at the nozzle tip, the geometries of the nozzle orifice and fuel properties were varied. For a detailed analysis of the deposits methods of electron microscopy were deployed. In the course of the project optical access to all areas in the nozzle was achieved. The experiments were evaluated by means of the monitoring of power output and fuel flow at rated power. The usage of a SEM (scanning electron microscope) and a TEM (transmission electron microscope) revealed images of the deposits with a magnification of up to 160 000.

Regulated emissions, CO2-values, comfort, good driveability, high reliability and costs, this is the main frame for all future powertrain developments. In this frame, the diesel powertrain, not only for passenger cars, but also for commercial vehicle applications, faces some challenges in order to fulfil the future European and current US emission legislations while keeping the fuel consumption benefit, good driveability and an acceptable cost frame. One of these challenges is the varying fuel qualities of diesel fuel in different countries including different cetane number, volatility, sulphur content and different molecular composition. In addition to that in the future, more and more alternative fuels with various fuel qualities and properties will be launched into the market for economical and environmental reasons. At present, the control algorithms of the injection system applied in most diesel engines is open loop control.

Combustion and pollutant formation in a new recently introduced Common-Rail DI Diesel engine concept with roof-shaped combustion chamber and tumble charge motion are numerically investigated using the Representative Interactive Flamelet concept (RIF). A reference case with a cup shaped piston bowl for full load operating conditions is considered in detail. In addition to the reference case, three more cases are investigated with a variation of start of injection (SOI). A surrogate fuel consisting of n-decane (70% liquid volume fraction) and α-methylnaphthalene (30% liquid volume fraction) is used in the simulation. The underlying complete reaction mechanism comprises 506 elementary reactions and 118 chemical species. Special emphasis is put on pollutant formation, in particular on the formation of NOx, where a new technique based on a three-dimensional transport equation within the flamelet framework is applied.

The HSDI Diesel engine contributes substantially to the decrease of fleet fuel consumption thus to the reduction of CO2 emissions. This results in the rising market acceptance which is supported by desirable driving performance as well as greatly improved NVH behavior. In addition to the above mentioned requirements on driving performance, fuel economy and NVH behavior, continuously increasing demands on emissions performance have to be met. From today's view the Diesel particulate trap presents a safe technology to achieve the required reduction of the particle emission of more than 95%. However, according to today's knowledge a further, substantial NOx engine-out emission reduction for the Diesel engine is counteracts with the other goal of reduced fuel consumption. To comply with current and future emission standards, Diesel engines will require DeNOx technologies.

In view of limited crude oil resources, alternative fuels for internal combustion engines are currently being intensively researched. Synthetic fuels from natural gas offer a promising interim option before the development of CO2-neutral fuels. Up to a certain degree, these fuels can be tailored to the demands of modern engines, thus allowing a concurrent optimization of both the engine and the fuel. This paper summarizes investigations of a Gas-To-Liquid (GTL) diesel fuel in a modern, post-EURO 4 compliant diesel engine. The focus of the investigations was on power output, emissions performance and fuel economy, as well as acoustic performance, in comparison to a commercial EU diesel fuel. The engine investigations were accompanied by injection laboratory studies in order to assist in the performance analyses.

This paper focuses on start-up technology for fuel processing systems with special emphasis on gasoline fueled burners. Initially two different fuel processing systems, an autothermal reformer with preferential oxidation and a steam reformer with membrane, are introduced and their possible starting strategies are discussed. Energy consumption for preheating up to light-off temperature and the start-up time is estimated. Subsequently electrical preheating is compared with start-up burners and the different types of heat generation are rated with respect to the requirements on start-up systems. Preheating power for fuel cell propulsion systems necessarily reaches up to the magnitude of the electrical fuel cell power output. A gasoline fueled burner with thermal combustion has been build-up, which covers the required preheating power.

In the recent years diesel engine developers and manufacturers achieved a great progress in reducing the most important diesel engine pollutants, NOX and particulates. But nevertheless big efforts in diesel engine development are necessary to meet with the more stringent future emission regulations. To improve the knowledge about particle formation and emission an insight in the cylinder is necessary. By using the fast gas sampling technique samples from the cylinder were taken as a function of crank angle and analyzed regarding the soot particle size distribution and the particle mass. The particle size distribution was measured by a conventional SMPS. Under steady state conditions the influence of aromatic and oxygen content in the fuel on in-cylinder particle size distribution and particle mass inside a modern 4V-CR-DI-diesel-engine were determined. After injection and ignition, mainly small soot particles were formed which grow and in the later combustion phase coagulate.