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A multi-functional membrane filter was developed through deposition of agglomerated Three-Way Catalyst particles with a size of 1 ~ 2 microns on the conventional bare particulate filter. The filtration efficiency reaches almost 100 % from the beginning of soot trapping with a low pressure drop and both reductions of NO and CO emission were achieved.

The combination of super-lean burn spark ignition engine (excess air ratio λ ≈ 2) and in-cylinder water injection (WI) makes it possible to achieve thermal efficiency higher than 50%. Toward future fuel diversification including carbon-neutral fuels, technologies to improve SI engine thermal efficiency applicable to various fuels are required. In this study, the effect of in-cylinder WI on SI engine performance with a compression ratio of 17 and λ = 1.85 is investigated using premium gasoline, 5 components surrogate fuels for premium gasoline (S5H), and for regular gasoline (S5R). In the case of premium gasoline and S5H, spark timing can be advanced to MBT (minimum advance for best torque) by WI and gross indicated thermal efficiency (gITE) increases to 51.2% (premium gasoline) at water/fuel weight ratio (W/F) = 57.7% and 50.8% (S5H) at W/F = 62.9%. In the case of S5R, on the other hand, a strong knock forces a large spark retard at no-water condition.

In recent years, particulate matter (PM) emitted from direct-injection gasoline vehicles is becoming an increasingly concerning problem. In addition, it is often reported that ammonia (NH3) is emitted from gasoline vehicles equipped with a three-way catalyst. These emissions might be largely emitted especially when driving in on-road driving conditions. In this study, we investigated the emissions, NOx, NH3, and PM/PN (particulate number) of a light-duty direct-injection gasoline vehicle when driving on actual roads. Using a small direct-injection gasoline vehicle equipped with a three-way catalyst, experiment was conducted 8 times on the same route, and these emissions were measured. In this study, vehicle specific power (VSP) was introduced, which can be calculated using vehicle parameters, vehicle speed, and road gradient. The effects of parameters acquired through on-board diagnostics (OBD) port and VSP on emissions were investigated.

Diesel engines are high thermal efficiency because of high compression ratio but produce high concentration of particulate matter (PM) because of direct injection fuel diffusion combustion. PM must be removed from the exhaust gas to protect human health. This research describes biodiesel engine performance, efficiency and combustion behavior using combustion pressure analyzer. It was clearly observed that PM emitted from CI engines can be reduced by using renewable bio-oxygenated fuels. The morphology and nanostructure of fossil fuel and biofuel PMs were investigated by using a Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The morphology of biodiesel and diesel doesn’t have much different in the viewpoint of particulate matter trapping using DPF micro surface pores. The agglomerated ultrafine particles and primary nanoparticles sizes of diesel and biodiesel engine’s PM are approximately 50-500 nm and 20-50 nm, respectively.

The diesel particulate membrane filter (DPMF) is a good solution to the problem of high pressure drop that exists across diesel particulate filters (DPFs) as a result of the soot trapping process. Moreover, DPMFs that have a membrane layer composed of SiC nanoparticles can reduce the oxidation temperature of soot and the apparent activation energy. The SiC nanoparticles have an oxide layer on their surface, with a thickness less than 10 nm. From the visualization of soot oxidation on the surface of SiC nanoparticles by an environmental transmission electron microscope (ETEM), soot oxidation is seen to occur at the interface between the soot and oxide layers. The soot oxidation temperature dependency of the contact area between soot and SiC nanoparticles was evaluated using a temperature programmed reactor (TPR). The contact area between soot and SiC nanoparticles was varied by changing the ratio of SiC nanoparticles and carbon black (CB), which was used as an alternative to soot.

A direct numerical simulation of turbulent premixed flames in a constant volume vessel is conducted to understand flame-wall interactions and heat loss characteristics under the pressure rising condition. The contribution of the burnt region to the total heat flux is more significant compared to the reaction region. The velocity profiles indicate inward and outward motions. The profile of the turbulent kinetic energy is damped by the wall, and no distinct turbulence production is observed. Since the turbulence is weakened in the burnt region, the effect of near wall turbulence to the total wall heat flux is considered to be limited.

Surface pores that are open to the inlet channel below the surface play a particularly important role in the filtration of particulate matter (i.e., soot) inside the walls of a diesel particulate filter (DPF); they are closely related to the pressure drop and filtration efficiency through the DPF as well as the performance of the regeneration process. In this study, a scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used to dynamically visualize the soot deposition process at the particle scale as “time-lapse” images corresponding to the different increases in the pressure drop at each time step. The soot was first trapped at the deepest areas of the surface pores because the porous channels in this area were constricted by silicon carbide grains; soot dendrite structures were observed to grow and finally cause obstructions here.

A simultaneous multi-composition analyzing (SMCA) resonance enhanced multi-photon ionization (REMPI) system was used to investigate gasoline engine exhaust. Observed peaks for exhaust were smaller mass numbers than those from diesel exhaust. However, large species up to three ring aromatics were observed suggesting that soot precursor forms even in the gasoline engine. At low catalyst temperature condition, the reduction efficiencies of a three-way catalyst were higher for higher mass numbers. This result indicates that the larger species accumulate in the catalyst or elsewhere due to their lower vapor pressures. To evaluate the emission of low volatility species, the accumulation should be taken into account. In the hot mode, reduction efficiencies for aromatic species of three-way catalyst were almost 99.5% however, they fall to 70% in the cold start condition.

Real-time analysis of benzene in automobile exhaust gas was performed using the Jet-REMPI (supersonic jet / resonance enhanced multi-photon ionization) method. Real-time benzene concentration of two diesel trucks and one gasoline vehicle driving in Japanese driving modes were observed under ppm level at 1 s intervals. As a result, it became obvious that there were many differences in their emission tendencies, because of their car types, driving conditions, and catalyst conditions. In two diesel vehicle, benzene emission tendencies were opposite. And, in a gasoline vehicle, emission pattern were different between hot and cold conditions due to the catalyst conditions.

In order to investigate early soot formation process in diesel combustion, spectral analysis and optical thermometry of early soot formation region in a transient spray flame under diesel-like conditions (Pg2.8 MPa, Tg620-820K) was attempted via laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) from pyrene (C16H10) doped in the fuel. Pyrene is known to exhibit a temperature\-dependent variation of LIF spectrum; the ratio of S2/S1 fluorescence yields, from the lowest excited singlet state S1 and the second excited singlet state S2, depends on temperature. In the present study, pyrene was doped (1%wt) in a model diesel fuel (0-solvent) and the variation of LIF spectra from the pyrene in the spray flame in a rapid compression machine were examined at different ambient temperatures, ambient oxygen concentrations, measurement positions and timings after start of fuel injection.

The influence of the head shape on intracranial responses under impact was investigated by using Finite Element Method. Head shape models of 52 young adult male Japanese were analyzed by Multi Dimensional Scaling (MDS), and a 2 dimensional distribution map of head shapes was obtained. Five finite element models of the Japanese head were constructed by a transformed finite element model of an average European adult male (H-Head model) using Free Form Deformation (FFD) technique. The constructed models represent the 5th and 95th percentile of the first 2 scales obtained by MDS. The same acceleration pulse was applied to the H-Head model and the five finite element models. The cause of the difference was considered to be differences in pressure distribution in the brain caused by the differences in the head shape. Variation in the head shape should be taken into account in simulating the effects of impact using a finite element model.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the turbulent mixing in a diesel spray by large eddy simulation (LES). As the first step for the numerical simulation of diesel spray by LES, the LES of transient circular gas jets and particle laden jets were conducted. The simulation of transient circular jets in cylindrical coordinates has numerical instability near the central axis. To reduce the instability of calculation, azimuthal velocity around the central axis is calculated by the linear interpolation and filter width around the axis is modified to the radial or axial grid scale level. A transient circular gas jet was calculated by the modified code and the computational results were compared with experimental results with a Reynolds number of about 13000. The computational results of mean velocity and turbulent intensity agreed with experimental results for z/D>10. Predicted tip penetration of the jet also agreed to experimental data.

Measurements of Excitation-Emission Matrix (EEM) of shock-heated vapors of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) at high temperature (750-1500K) and high pressure (0.3-1.3MPa) conditions were conducted using a multi-wavelength excitation laser in order to demonstrate the potential of the single-measurement EEM fluorometry for investigation of soot precursors. Argon-diluted vapors of naphthalene and pyrene, as PAH model compounds, were heated in an optically accessible shock tube. The PAH vapors were excited by a coherent multi-wavelength “rainbow” laser light generated by converting the 4th harmonic (266nm) of a pulsed Nd:YAG laser using a Raman cell frequency converter filled with high-pressure (2MPa) methane-hydrogen mixture.

To investigate the ignition process in a diesel spray, the ignition in a transient fuel spray is analyzed numerically by a discrete droplet spray model (DDM) coupled with the Shell kinetics model at various operating conditions. Predicted results show that the fuel mixture injected at the start of injection, which travels along midway between the spray axis and the spray periphery, contributes heavily to the first ignition in a spray. The equivalence ratio and temperature of the first ignited mixture are kept nearly constant until the start of hot ignition. The temperature of the first ignited mixture is kept at a constant value of higher temperature than the thermodynamic equilibrium temperature of the mixture before the hot ignition starts. The equivalence ratio of the first ignited mixture is around 1.6 at initial gas temperatures between 750 K and 850 K.

A thermodynamic two-zone model which assumes a stoichiornetric burned gas region and unburned air region is presented in an attempt to calculate more precise rate of heat release of diesel combustion. A comparison is made of the rate of heat release obtained by the two-zone model with that obtained by the conventional single-zone model. It shows around 10 % increase in the rate of heat release with the two-zone model. The effect of state equation of gas is also examined with the single-zone model and the use of a real gas law in stead of the perfect gas law is found to yield minor difference in the rate of heat release at a high boost operating condition.

A one-dimensional numerical calculation has been performed on a new reciprocating heat engine proposed on the basis of super-adiabatic combustion in porous media. The system consists of two pistons and a thin porous medium in a cylinder; one being a displacer piston and the other a power piston. These create reciprocating motions with a phase relation angle. By means of the reciprocating flow system, the residual combustion gas enthalpy is effectively regenerated to induce enthalpy increase in the mixture through the porous medium. Due to heat recirculation, the thermal efficiency reaches to 58% under the condition of the compression ratio of 2.3.

The turbulent dispersion of particles in an unsteady two dimensional particle-laden jet was simulated by a discrete vortex method coupling with a model of gas/particles interaction. Numerical analysis of a spray yielded the distributions of vorticity, fuel mass concentration and local Sauter mean diameter (SMD) of droplets in a spray. The predicted distribution of local SMD of droplets in a spray demonstrated that the size of droplets in the spray periphery is larger than that of droplets in the center region of spray. This trend of distribution of drop size coincided with that of measured one. The predicted distributions of drop size and vorticity revealed that the larger droplets are easily centrifuged to the periphery of the spray. The effects of the pattern of injection rate on the mixing process in a transient spray were also investigated.

To measure the fuel vapor concentration in an unsteady evaporating spray injected into nitrogen atmosphere, the exciplex-forming method, which produces spectrally separated fluorescence from the liquid and vapor phase, was applied in this study. Two experiments were conducted to investigate the qualitative and quantitative applicability of the technique in a high temperature and high pressure atmosphere during the fuel injection period. One is to examine the thermal decomposition of TMPD dopant at a high temperature and a high pressure nitrogen atmosphere during a short period of time. The other is to calibrate the relationship between fluorescence intensity and vapor concentration of TMPD at different vapor temperatures. And then, the qualitative measurement of fuel vapor concentration distributions in diesel sprays was made by applying the technique.

Soot concentration is very high in the periphery near the head of an unsteady spray flame which is achieved in a quiescent atmosphere in a rapid compression machine. To reduce soot concentration in this region, it was intended to improve fuel-air mixing by letting the flame impinge on a turbulence-generating plate. Two types of turbulence-generating plates, one donut-type, the other cross-type, were tested. Soot concentration in the flame was imaged using the laser shadow technique. The effect of injection pressure on soot reduction by the flame impingement was also investigated. The overall soot concentration is reduced significantly in the case when the flame impinges on the cross-type turbulence-generating plate at 50 mm (333 nozzle diameters) from the nozzle exit. The flame impingement on the cross-type turbulence-generating plate at 333 nozzle diameters makes soot reduction little dependent on injection pressures.

The structure of dense sprays was investigated using 2-D imaging techniques. To investigate the mechanism of atomization, the liquid phase in a non-evaporating spray was visualized by a thin laser sheet formed by a single pulse from a Nd:YAG laser at the distance from 4 to 19 mm from the nozzle orifice with the injection pressure and the surrounding gas density as parameters. A new technique for the visualization of vapor phase in an evaporating spray, the SSI (Silicone particle Scattering Imaging) method, was proposed to investigate the structure of the vapor phase regions of the spray.