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In marine or stationary engines, consistent engine performance must be guaranteed for long-haul operations. A dual-fuel combustion strategy was used to reduce the emissions of particulates and nitrogen oxides in marine engines. However, in this case, the combustion stability was highly affected by environmental factors. To ensure consistent engine performance, the in-cylinder pressure measured by piezoelectric pressure sensors is generally measured to analyze combustion characteristics. However, the vulnerability to thermal drift and breakage of sensors leads to additional maintenance costs. Therefore, an indirect measurement via a reconstruction model of the in-cylinder pressure from engine block vibrations was developed. The in-cylinder pressure variation is directly related to the block vibration; however, numerous noise sources exist (such as, valve impact, piston slap, and air flowage).

The effects of hydrogen ratio and exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) on combustion and emissions in a hydrogen/diesel dual-fuel premixed charge compression ignition (PCCI) engine were investigated. The control of combustion phasing could be improved using hydrogen enrichment and EGR due to the retarded combustion phasing with a higher hydrogen ratio. The indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP) was increased with a higher hydrogen ratio because the hydrogen enrichment intensified the high temperature reactions and thus decreased the combustion duration. Hydrocarbon (HC) and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions were reduced significantly in a hydrogen/diesel dual-fuel PCCI mode with a similar NOx emissions level as that of the diesel PCCI mode.

Spray and combustion of gasoline and diesel were visualized under different ambient conditions in terms of pressure, temperature and density in a constant volume chamber. Three different ambient conditions were selected to simulate the three combustion regimes of homogeneous charge compression ignition, premixed charge compression ignition and conventional combustion. Ambient density was varied from 3.74 to 23.39 kg/m3. Ambient temperature at the spray injection were controlled to the range from 474 to 925 K. Intake oxygen concentration was also modulated from 15 % to 21 % in order to investigate the effects of intake oxygen concentrations on combustion characteristics. The injection pressure of gasoline and diesel were modulated from 50 to 150 MPa to analyze the effect of injection pressure on the spray development and combustion characteristics. Liquid penetration length and vapor penetration length were measured based on the methods of Mie-scattering and Schileren, respectively.

An experimental study was conducted to investigate the impact of injection parameters on the combustion and emission characteristics in a compression ignition engine fuelled with neat waste cooking oil (WCO) biodiesel. A single-cylinder diesel engine equipped with common-rail system was used in this research. The test was performed over two engine loads at an engine speed of 800 r/min. Injection timing was varied from −25 to 0 crank angle degree (CAD) after top dead center (aTDC) at two different injection pressures (80 and 160 MPa). Based on in-cylinder pressure, heat release rate was calculated to analyze the combustion characteristics. Carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbon (HC), nitrogen oxide (NOx) and smoke were measured to examine the emission characteristics. The results showed that the indicated specific fuel consumption (ISFC) of WCO biodiesel was higher than that of diesel. The ISFC was increased as the injection timing was advanced and injection pressure was increased.

In this study, premixed charge compression ignition (PCCI) combustion was implemented using an injector that had a narrow injection angle of 70° and a moderately early injection timing of -40° crank angle after top dead center (CA ATDC). In-cylinder pressure measurements and high-speed direct imaging of the flame were performed in an optically accessible single-cylinder diesel engine. Frequency analysis of the acquired in-cylinder pressure data was carried out to obtain the frequency range of diesel knock. Meanwhile, image segmentation and a tracking algorithm based on YCbCr color space were implemented to determine the frequency range of diesel knock from the obtained high-speed image. The results show that the frequency of diesel knock was dominated by the range from 13 kHz to 15 kHz. Still, frequency with low power existed down until 7 kHz. The frequencies of the area movement were shown to be 13 kHz and, in some cases, 8.67 kHz.

In this study, single and double post injections were applied to diesel premixed charge compression ignition (PCCI) combustion to overcome the drawbacks those are high level of hydrocarbons (HC) and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions in a single-cylinder direct-injection diesel engine. The operating conditions including engine speed and total injection quantity were 1200 rpm and 12 mg/cycle, which are the representative of low engine speed and low load. The main injection timing of diesel PCCI combustion was set to 28 crank angle degree before top dead center (CAD BTDC). This main injection timing showed 32% lower level of nitric oxides (NOx) level and 8 CAD longer ignition delay than those of conventional diesel combustion. However, the levels of HC and CO were 2.7 and 3 times higher than those of conventional diesel combustion due to over-lean mixture and wall wetting of fuel.

In this study, the single-cylinder engine experiment was carried out to investigate the effect of multiple injections on stratified combustion characteristics in a spray-guided direct injection spark ignition engine. The engine was operated at 1200 rpm. The total injection quantity applied was 11 mg/stroke to represent a low-load condition. Single injection and multiple injection were tested. Split ratio of each multiple strategies were 1:1 for double injection and 1:1:1 for the triple injection respectively. Dwell time between each injection was set to 200 μs. In the result of engine experiment with the single injection, indicated mean effective pressure was increased as injection timing was retarded to top dead center due to the increased effective work. However, the retardation of the injection timing was limited by the misfire occurrence resulted from the locally rich mixture generation under the high ambient pressure.

The effect of pilot injection and exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) on premixed charge compression ignition (PCCI) combustion was investigated in a single-cylinder direct-injection diesel engine with low engine speed and low load. The injection timing of PCCI combustion was fixed at 25 ~ 30 crank angle degree before top dead center (°CA BTDC) based on the ignition delay and power output. The level of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions of PCCI combustion was 68% lower than that of conventional diesel combustion owing to the reduction of near-stoichiometric region which is well known as the main source of NOx formation. However, the indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP), hydrocarbon (HC), particulate matter (PM) and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions deteriorated compared with conventional diesel combustion because of early injection, advanced combustion phase and lowered combustion temperature. EGR has been applied to PCCI combustion.

A detailed chemical model was implemented in the KIVA-3V two dimensional CFD code to investigate the effects of the spray cone angle and injection timing on the PCCI combustion process and emissions in an optical research diesel engine. A detailed chemical model for Primary Reference Fuel (PRF) consisting of 157 species and 1552 reactions was used to simulate diesel fuel chemistry. The model validation shows good agreement between the predicted and measured pressure and emissions data in the selected cases with various spray angles and injection timings. If the injection is retarded to -50° ATDC, the spray impingement at the edge of the piston corner with 100° injection angle was shown to enhance the mixing of air and fuel. The minimum fuel loss and more widely distributed fuel vapor contribute to improving combustion efficiency and lowering uHC and CO emissions in the engine idle condition.

Engine-out CO emission and fuel conversion efficiency were measured in a highly-dilute, low-temperature diesel combustion regime over a swirl ratio range of 1.44-7.12 and a wide range of injection timing. At fixed injection timing, an optimal swirl ratio for minimum CO emission and fuel consumption was found. At fixed swirl ratio, CO emission and fuel consumption generally decreased as injection timing was advanced. Moreover, a sudden decrease in CO emission was observed at early injection timings. Multi-dimensional numerical simulations, pressure-based measurements of ignition delay and apparent heat release, estimates of peak flame temperature, imaging of natural combustion luminosity and spray/wall interactions, and Laser Doppler Velocimeter (LDV) measurements of in-cylinder turbulence levels are employed to clarify the sources of the observed behavior.

The More precise control of the multiple-injection is required in common-rail injection system of direct injection diesel engine to meet the low NOx emission and optimal PM filter system. The main parameter for obtaining the multiple-injections is the mechanism controlling the injector needle energizing and movement. In this study, a piezo-driven diesel injector, as a new method driven by piezoelectric energy, has been applied with a purpose to develop the analysis model of the piezo actuator to predict the dynamics characteristics of the hydraulic component (injector) by using the AMESim code and to evaluate the effect of this control capability on spray formation processes. Aimed at simulating the hydraulic behavior of the piezo-driven injector, the circuit model has been developed and verified by comparison with the experimental results.

One of the major problems limiting the accuracy of piezoelectric transducers for cylinder pressure measurements in an internal-combustion (IC) engine is the thermal shock. Thermal shock is generated from the temperature variation during the cycle. This temperature variation results in contraction and expansion of the diaphragm and consequently changes the force acting on the quartz in the pressure transducer. An empirical equation for compensation of the thermal shock error was derived from consideration of the diaphragm thermal deformation and actual pressure data. The deformation and the resulting pressure difference due to thermal shock are mainly a function of the change in surface temperature and the equation includes two model constants. In order to calibrate these two constants, the pressure inside the cylinder of a diesel engine was measured simultaneously using two types of pressure transducers, in addition to instantaneous wall temperature measurement.

A diesel-fueled premixed charged compression ignition (PCCI) combustion technique using a two-stage injection strategy has been investigated in a single cylinder optical engine equipped with a common-rail fuel system. Although PCCI combustion has the advantages of reducing NOx and PM emissions, difficulties in vaporization of a diesel fuel and control of the combustion phase hinder the development of the PCCI engine. A two-stage injection strategy was applied to relieve these problems. The first injection, named as main injection, was an early direct injection of diesel fuel into the cylinder to achieve premixing with air. The second injection was a diesel injection of a small quantity (1.5 mm3) as an ignition promoter and combustion phase controller near TDC. Effects of injection pressure, injected fuel quantity and compression ratio were studied with variation of an intake air temperature.

Dimethyl Ether (DME) has been considered as one of the most attractive alternative fuels for compression ignition engine. Its main advantage in compression-ignition engine application is high efficiency of diesel cycle with soot free combustion though conventional fuel injection system has to be modified due to the intrinsic properties of the DME. Experimental study of the DME and conventional diesel spray employing a common-rail type fuel injection system with a sac type injector was performed in a constant volume vessel pressurized by nitrogen gas. A CCD camera was employed to capture time series of spray images, so that spray cone angles and penetrations of the DME spray were characterized and compared with those of diesel. Intermittent hesitating DME spray appeared at injection pressures of 25MPa and 40MPa in both atmospheric and 3MPa chamber pressures.

Diesel injections with various nozzle geometries were tested to investigate the spray characteristics by optical imaging techniques. Sac-nozzle and VCO nozzle with single guided needle coupled with rotary-type mechanical pump were compared in terms of macroscopic spray development and microscopic behavior. These nozzles incorporated with common-rail system were tested to see the effect of high pressure injection. Detailed investigation into spray characteristics from the holes of VCO nozzles, mostly with double guided needle, was performed. A variety of injection hole geometries were tested and compared to give tips on better injector design. Different hole sizes and taper ratio, represented as K factor, were studied through comprehensive spray imaging techniques. Global characteristics of a diesel spray, such as spray penetration, spray angle and its pattern, were observed from macroscopic images.