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Several governments are increasing the blending mandate of renewable fuels to reduce the life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions of the road transport sector. Currently, ethanol is a prominent renewable fuel and is used in low-level blends, such as E10 (10 %v/v ethanol, 90 %v/v gasoline) in many parts of the world. However, the exact concentration of ethanol amongst other renewable fuel components in commercially available fuels can vary and is not known. To understand the impact of the renewable fuel content on the emissions from Euro 6d-TEMP emissions specification vehicles, this paper examines the real-driving emissions (RDE) from four 2020 to 2022 model-year vehicles run on E0 and E10 fuels. CO, CO2, NO, and NO2 were measured through a Portable Emissions Measuring System (PEMS).

Low temperature combustion (LTC) of diesel fuel offers a path to low engine emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter (PM), especially at low loads. Borescopic optical imaging offers insight into key aspects of the combustion process without significantly disrupting the engine geometry. To assess LTC combustion, two-colour pyrometry can be used to quantify local temperatures and soot concentrations (KL factor). High sensitivity photo-multiplier tubes (PMTs) can resolve natural luminosity down to low temperatures with adequate signal-to-noise ratios. In this work the authors present the calibration and implementation of a borescope-based system for evaluating low luminosity LTC using spatially resolved visible flame imaging and high-sensitivity PMT data to quantify the luminous-area average temperature and soot concentration for temperatures from 1350-2600 K.

This study looked into the application of active thermal coatings on the surfaces of the combustion chamber as a method of improving the thermal efficiency of internal combustion engines. The active thermal coating was applied to a production aluminium piston and its performance was compared against a reference aluminium piston on a single-cylinder diesel engine. The two pistons were tested over a wide range of speed/load conditions and the effects of EGR and combustion phasing on engine performance and tailpipe emissions were also investigated. A detailed energy balance approach was employed to study the thermal behaviour of the active thermal coating. In general, improvements in indicated specific fuel consumption were not statistically significant for the coated piston over the whole test matrix. Mean exhaust temperature showed a marginal increase with the coated piston of up to 6 °C.

Chromium-molybdenum alloy steel pistons, which have been used in commercial vehicle applications for some time, have more recently been proposed as a means of improving thermal efficiency in light-duty applications. This work reports a comparison of the effects of geometrically similar aluminium and steel pistons on the combustion characteristics and energy flows on a single cylinder high-speed direct injection diesel research engine tested at two speed / load conditions (1500 rpm / 6.9 bar nIMEP and 2000 rpm/25.8 bar nIMEP) both with and without EGR. The results indicate that changing to an alloy steel piston can provide a significant benefit in brake thermal efficiency at part-load and a reduced (but non-negligible) benefit at the high-load condition and also a reduction in fuel consumption. These benefits were attributed primarily to a reduction in friction losses.

Diesel engine designers often use swirl flaps to increase air motion in cylinder at low engine speeds, where lower piston velocities reduce natural in-cylinder swirl. Such in-cylinder motion reduces smoke and CO emissions by improved fuel-air mixing. However, swirl flaps, acting like a throttle on a gasoline engine, create an additional pressure drop in the inlet manifold and thereby increase pumping work and fuel consumption. In addition, by increasing the fuel-air mixing in cylinder the combustion duration is shortened and the combustion temperature is increased; this has the effect of increasing NOx emissions. Typically, EGR rates are correspondingly increased to mitigate this effect. Late inlet valve closure, which reduces an engine’s effective compression ratio, has been shown to provide an alternative method of reducing NOx emissions.

Model M15 gasoline fuels have been created from pure fuel components, to give independent control of volatility, the heavy end content and the aromatic content, in order to understand the effect of the fuel properties on Gasoline Direct Injection (GDI) fuel spray behaviour and the subsequent particulate number emissions. Each fuel was imaged at a range of fuel temperatures in a spray rig and in a motored optical engine, to cover the full range from non-flashing sprays through to flare flashing sprays. The spray axial penetration (and potential piston and liner impingement), and spray evaporation rate were extracted from the images. Firing engine tests with the fuels with the same fuel temperatures were performed and exhaust particulate number spectra captured using a DMS500 Mark II Particle Spectrometer.

To optimize internal combustion engines (ICEs), a good understanding of engine operation is essential. The heat transfer from the working gases to the combustion chamber walls plays an important role, not only for the performance, but also for the emissions of the engine. Besides, thermal management of ICEs is becoming more and more important as an additional tool for optimizing efficiency and emission aftertreatment. In contrast little is known about the convective heat transfer inside the combustion chamber due to the complexity of the working processes. Heat transfer measurements inside the combustion chamber pose a challenge in instrumentation due to the harsh environment. Additionally, the heat loss in a spark ignition (SI) engine shows a high temporal and spatial variation. This poses certain requirements on the heat flux sensor. In this paper we examine the heat transfer in a production SI ICE through the use of Thin Film Gauge (TFG) heat flux sensors.

A model for the evaporation of a multi-component fuel droplet is presented that takes account of temperature dependent fuel and vapour properties, evolving droplet internal temperature distribution and composition, and enhancement to heat and mass transfer due to droplet motion. The effect on the internal droplet mixing of non-ideal fluid diffusion is accounted for. Activity coefficients for vapour-liquid equilibrium and diffusion coefficients are determined using the UNIFAC method. Both well-mixed droplet evaporation (assuming infinite liquid mass diffusivity) and liquid diffusion-controlled droplet evaporation (iteratively solving the multi-component diffusion equation) have been considered. Well-mixed droplet evaporation may be applicable with slow evaporation, for example early gasoline direct injection; diffusion-controlled droplet evaporation must be considered when faster evaporation is encountered, for example when injection is later, or when the fuel mixture is non-ideal.

Models for the convective heat transfer from the combustion gases to the walls inside a spark ignition engine are an important keystone in the simulation tools which are being developed to aid engine optimization. The existing models have, however, been cited to be inaccurate for hydrogen, one of the alternative fuels currently investigated. One possible explanation for this inaccuracy is that the models do not adequately capture the effect of the gas properties. These have never been varied in a wide range because air and ‘classical’ fossil fuels have similar values, but they are significantly different in the case of hydrogen. As a first step towards a fuel independent heat transfer model, we have investigated the effect of the gas properties on the heat flux in a spark ignition engine.

Particulate Matter (PM) legislation for gasoline engines and the introduction of gasoline/ethanol blends, make it important to know the effect of fuel composition on PM emissions. Tests have been conducted with fuels of known composition in both a single-cylinder engine and V8 engine with a three-way catalyst. The V8 engine used an unleaded gasoline (PURA) with known composition and distillation characteristics as a base fuel and with 10% by volume ethanol. The single-cylinder engine used a 65% iso-octane - 35% toluene mixture as its base fuel. The engines had essentially the same combustion system, with a centrally mounted 6-hole spray-guided direct injection system. Particle size distributions were recorded and these have also been converted to mass distributions. Filter samples were taken for thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) to give composition information. Both engines were operated at 1500 rpm under part load.

Increasing biodiesel content in mineral diesel is being promoted considerably for road transportation in Europe. With positive benefits in terms of net CO2 emissions, biofuels with compatible properties to those of conventional diesel are increasingly being used in combustion engines. In comparison to standard diesel fuel, the near zero sulphur content and low levels of aromatic compounds in biodiesel fuel can have a profound effect not only on combustion characteristics but on engine-out emissions as well. This paper presents analysis of particulate matter (PM) emissions from a turbo-charged, common rail direct injection (DI) V6 Jaguar engine operating with an RME (rapeseed methyl ester) biodiesel blended with ultra low sulphur diesel (ULSD) fuel (B30 - 30% of RME by volume). Three different engine load and speed conditions were selected for the test and no modifications were made to the engine hardware or engine management system (EMS) calibration.

Spray guided Direct Injection Gasoline Engines are a key enabler to reducing CO2 emissions and improving the fuel economy of light duty vehicles. Particulate emissions from these engines have been shown to be lower than from first generation direct injection gasoline engines, but they may still be significantly higher than port fuel injected engines due to the reduced time available for mixture preparation and increased incidence of fuel impingement on the piston crown and combustion chamber surfaces. These factors are particularly severe in the period following a cold start. Both nuclei and accumulation mode particle size and number concentration were measured using a Cambustion differential mobility spectrometer. These data are reported for different coolant temperature intervals during the warm-up period. The bulk composition was determined using thermo-gravimetric analysis, and PM mass fractions are given for different volatility ranges and for elemental carbon.

Tax concessions promote the use of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) fuel for automotive use in Europe. Modelling of the LPG evaporation process shows the importance of drawing the liquid from the tank rather than the gas, otherwise the most volatile component (propane) is used more quickly and the composition of the remaining fuel changes. It is shown that the LPG components have similar calorific values to gasoline, however injecting the LPG as a gas into the inlet port causes a loss of volumetric efficiency and peak power. The experimental results showed: The LPG fuels have similar burn rates and optimum ignition timing to gasoline. The Lean Mixture Limit (LML) of the gaseous fuels was weaker than that for gasoline.

A study has been undertaken with a single-cylinder engine, based on the Mitsubishi GDi combustion system, that has the option of either port injection or direct injection. Tests have been undertaken with pure fuel components (methane, iso-octane, toluene and methanol), and a representative gasoline that has also been tested with the addition of 10% methanol and 10% ethanol. The volumetric efficiency depends both on the fuel and its time and place of injection. For stoichiometric operation with unleaded gasoline, changing from port injection to direct injection led to a 9% increase in volumetric efficiency, which was improved by a further 3% when 10% methanol was blended with the gasoline. The improvements in volumetric efficiency will be used to quantify the extent of charge cooling by fuel evaporation, and these will be compared with predictions assuming the maximum possible level of fuel evaporation.