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This work aims at investigating the optimal configuration of an internal combustion engine fueled with bio-ethanol for improving its brake power and efficiency as well as for reducing the NOx emissions, in stationary applications. A turbocharged spark ignition engine characterized by a single-point injection was preliminarily considered; subsequently, a direct injection configuration was investigated. For both cases, a 1-D numerical model was developed to compare the injection configurations under stoichiometric conditions and different spark timings. The analysis shows that the direct injection guarantees: a limited improvement of brake power and efficiency when the same spark timing is adopted, while NOx emissions increases by 20%; an increase of 6% in brake power and 2 percentage points in brake thermal efficiency by adopting the knock limited spark advance, but an almost double NOx emissions increase.

Alternative fuels, such as natural and bio-gas, are attractive options for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from combustion engines. However, the naturally occurring variation in gas composition poses a challenge and may significantly impact engine performance. The gas composition affects fundamental fuel properties such as flame propagation speed and heat release rate. Deviations from the gas composition for which the engine was calibrated result in changes in the combustion phase, reducing engine efficiency and increasing fuel consumption and emissions. However, the efficiency loss can be limited by estimating the combustion phase and adapting the spark timing, which could be implemented favorably using a closed-loop control approach. In this paper, we evaluate the efficiency loss resulting from varying gas compositions and the benefits of using a closed-loop controller to adapt the spark timing to retain the nominal combustion phase.

Ammonia shows promise as an alternative fuel for internal combustion engines (ICEs) in reducing CO2 emissions due to its carbon-free nature and well-established infrastructure. However, certain drawbacks, such as the high ignition energy, the narrow flammability range, and the extremely low laminar flame speed, limit its widespread application. The dual fuel (DF) mode is an appealing approach to enhance ammonia combustion. The combustion characteristics of ammonia-diesel dual fuel mode and ammonia-PODE3 dual fuel mode were experimentally studied using a full-view optical engine and the high-speed photography method. The ammonia energy ratio (ERa) was varied from 40% to 60%, and the main injection energy ratio (ERInj1) and the main injection time (SOI1) were also varied in ammonia-PODE3 mode.

Recent legislation banning the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles in Europe from 2035 has shifted the focus of internal combustion engine research towards alternative fuels with net zero tailpipe emissions such as hydrogen. Research regarding hydrogen as a fuel is particularly pertinent to the so-called ‘hard-to-electrify’ propulsion applications, requiring a combination of large range, fast refuelling times or high-load duty cycles. The virtual design, development, and optimisation of hydrogen internal combustion engines has resulted in the necessity for accurate predictive modelling of the hydrogen combustion and autoignition processes. Typically, the models for these processes rely respectively on laminar flame speed datasets to calculate the rate of fuel burn as well as ignition delay time datasets to estimate autoignition timing. These datasets are generated using chemical kinetic mechanisms available in the literature.

Argon power cycle hydrogen engine is an internal combustion engine that employs argon instead of nitrogen of air as the working fluid, oxygen as the oxidizer, and hydrogen as the fuel. Since argon has a higher specific heat ratio than air, argon power cycle hydrogen engines have theoretically higher indicated thermal efficiencies according to the Otto cycle efficiency formula. However, argon makes the end mixture more susceptible to spontaneous combustion and thus is accompanied by a stronger knock at a lower compression ratio, thus limiting the improvement of thermal efficiency in engine operation. In order to suppress the limitation of knock on the thermal efficiency, this paper adopts a combination of experimental and simulation methods to investigate the effects of port water injection on the knock suppression and combustion characteristics of an argon power cycle hydrogen engine.

In order to scrutinize the timing variables impacting the combustion performance and emissions of the Port Fuel Injection hydrogen engine (PFI-H2ICE), a model of a four-cylinder hydrogen engine is meticulously built utilizing the 1D software GT-POWER. The effect of excess air coefficients and timing strategies (including the intake valve opening timing (IVO), the start of injection timing (SOI), and ignition timing) is analyzed in this study. The main conclusions are as follows: The hydrogen engine remold from the Isuzu JE4N28 nature gas engine manifests a lean combustion threshold ranging between 2.0 and 2.5. Notably, advancing intake valve opening timing by 20°CA has proven beneficial to the brake thermal efficiency (BTE) of the hydrogen engine while reducing the NOx emissions by a substantial margin, and advancing intake valve opening timing bears the virtue of strengthen the positive influence of the start of injection timing upon the engine's combustion performance.

Present work investigates the relationship between the combustion parameters of a well-known ECN heavy-duty nozzle called Spray D and marine-size nozzles. The study is carried out in OpenFOAM software within the framework of RANS turbulence modelling, using a flamelet based tabulation technique known as FGM to model the combustion. The large nozzles are tested in a constant volume chamber representative of marine engines, for which a CFD setup is validated against inert data in literature. The reacting results have been validated first with experimental data, initializing the domain with a highly reactive environment (23% oxygen) and engine-like swirl. Then, a less reactive initial condition was set up in the domain (15% oxygen) without swirl, to achieve a Spray D-like environment.

Substantial effort has been devoted to utilizing homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) to improve thermal efficiency and reduce emission pollutants in internal combustion engines. However, the uncertainty of ignition timing and limited operational range restrict further adoption for the industry. Using the spark-assisted compression ignition (SACI) technique has the advantage of using a spark event to control the combustion process. This study employs a rapid compression machine to characterize the ignition and combustion process of Dimethyl ether (DME) under engine-like background temperature and pressures and combustion regimes, including HCCI, SACI, and knocking onsite. The spark ignition timing was swept to ignite the mixture under various thermodynamic conditions. This investigation demonstrates the presence of four distinct combustion regimes, including detonation, strong end-gas autoignition, mild end-gas autoignition, and HCCI.

Ammonia (NH3), a zero-carbon fuel, has great potential for internal combustion engine development. However, its high ignition energy, low laminar burning velocity, narrow range of flammability limits, and high latent heat of vaporization are not conducive for engine application. This paper numerically investigates the feasibility of utilizing ammonia in a heavy-duty diesel engine, specifically through low-pressure direct injection (LP-DI) of hydrogen to ignite ammonia combustion. Due to the lack of a well-corresponding mechanism for the operating conditions of ammonia-hydrogen engines, this study serves only as a trend-oriented prediction. The paper compares the engine's combustion and emission performance by optimizing four critical parameters: excess air ratio, hydrogen energy ratio, ignition timing, and hydrogen injection timing. The results reveal that excessively high hydrogen energy ratios lead to an advanced combustion phase, reducing indicated thermal efficiency.

As global regulations on automotive tailpipe emissions become increasingly stringent, developing precise tailpipe emissions models has garnered significant attention to fulfill onboard monitoring requirements without some drawbacks associated with traditional sensor-based systems. Within the European Union, there is consideration of mandating real-time measurement of emission constituents to enable driver warnings in cases where constituent standards are exceeded. Presently, available technology renders this approach cost-prohibitive and technologically challenging, with most sensor suppliers either unable to meet the demand or unwilling to justify the development costs associated with sensor commercialization. Efforts to circumvent the sensor-based approach through first principle models, incorporating thermokinetics, have proven to be both computationally expensive and lacking in accuracy during transient operations.

As emissions standards become more stringent, OEMs are pushing engines to run on leaner fuel mixtures, which puts increased thermal stress on components, particularly pistons, causing them to operate at higher temperatures. This requires more robust design and rigorous testing of components. Telemetry methods offer accurate and real-time feedback, allowing designers to test components at various operating conditions, providing more flexibility than other traditional methods. Piston temperature measurement is a critical aspect of engine development because it directly affects engine performance and durability. Among the various techniques available for this purpose, telemetry methods have gained considerable attention in recent years. This method involves integrating temperature sensors and transmitter on the piston, which transmit temperature data wirelessly to a receiver outside the engine.

In order to further explore the potential of hydrogen as an alternative fuel, this study aims to validate a computational fluid dynamics model for hydrogen combustion in a port fuel injection spark ignition engine. The engine operates at 1800 rpm with a compression ratio of 10:1, under two lean combustion conditions: excess air ratios of 2.5 and 1.7, at full and part load, respectively. The simulations were performed using the CONVERGE 3.1 software and the C3MechV3.3 reaction mechanism. The predictions were then compared with experimental data to assess the accuracy and validity of the model, enabling the comparison of different lean operating conditions to evaluate important combustion characteristics, such as flame development, apparent heat release and NOx formation. The tested model successfully validated the two experimental conditions, accurately adjusting the in-cylinder pressure profiles for both cases of lean hydrogen mixture combustion.

When a biofuel, methanol is an interesting alternative for internal combustion engines (ICE). Despite drawbacks such as misfiring or instabilities at low loads, methanol has several advantages. Today, dual-fuel systems allow the use of methanol in combination with diesel fuel. This paper will present a different approach, the ability to use methanol in a flex-fuel system. The addition of a combustion enhancer containing alkyl nitrate (CEN) allows the use of methanol in a direct-injection compression ignition (DICI) engine without any changing. In this paper, different volume fractions of this additive are tested. The aim is to show the effect of the CEN on the combustion of methanol. The effect of CEN on methanol has been confirmed thanks to previous tests carried out on a Rapid Compression Machine (RCM). Ignition delay times (IDT) and auto-ignition temperature were reduced with small amounts of CEN.

Methanol is a suitable alternative fuel to relieve the problem of energy shortage and decrease the emission of greenhouse gases. The effect of direct-injection timing of methanol and diesel on the combustion characteristics of a marine diesel engine with bore of 210 mm was simulated with a 3-dimentional computational fluid dynamic (CFD) software AVL-FIRE. The combustion model was set-up and validated by the experimental data from the marine diesel engine. Results show that there are two peaks on the heat release rate (HRR) curves with the normal diesel-methanol combustion process. The first HRR peak is caused by the combustion of diesel. The second HRR peak is resulted from the hybrid combustion process of diesel and methanol. The injection timing of diesel influences the peak pressure rise rate (PPRR) and ignition timing. The indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP), the maximum in-cylinder pressure and combustion duration are influenced by the direct-injection timing of methanol.

It is a well-known fact that HCCI combustion offers the possibility of achieving high efficiency with low emissions, but with the challenges in combustion control and ability to adjust to changing environmental conditions. To resolve the aforementioned challenges, a pre-chamber induced homogeneous charge compression ignition (PC-HCCI) combustion mode was experimentally tested with aim of providing initial operating boundaries in terms of combustion stability and obtaining initial performance results. The single cylinder engine equipped with active pre-chamber and compression ratio (CR) of 17.5 was fueled by gasoline. The initial experiments were performed at the engine speed of 1600 rpm with intake air temperatures varied from 33°C to 100°C to verify the possibility of achieving the PC-HCCI combustion mode and to compare the achieved engine performance and emission results with both PCSI and pure HCCI combustion modes used as reference cases.

Pre-chamber ignition is one of the advanced technologies to improve the combustion performance for lean combustion natural gas engine, which could achieve low NOx, simultaneously. The designing scheme of the orifices, which connects the pre-chamber and the main chamber, is the main challenge limiting the further improvement. In this work, the three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics calculation based on a four-stroke engine with 320 mm cylinder bore was conducted to investigate the effects of orifice structure on the combustion and NOx performance. The results show that the schemes with 7 and 9 orifices lead to the delayed high-temperature jets formation due to the asymmetrical airflow in the pre-chamber, which retards the ignition timing but enhances the combustion in the main chamber. The 6 orifices scheme leads to the insufficient distribution of the high-temperature jets, and the 10 orifices result in the serious interference between the adjacent high-temperature jets.

To achieve higher efficiencies and lower emissions, dual-fuel strategies have arisen as advanced engine technologies. In order to fully utilize engine fuels, understanding the combustion chemistry is urgently required. However, due to computation limitations, detailed kinetic models cannot be used in numerical engine simulations. As an alternative, approaches for developing reduced reaction mechanisms have been proposed. Nevertheless, existing simplified methods neglecting the real engine combustion processes, which is the ultimate goal of reduced mechanism. In this study, we propose a novel simplified approach based on fuel reactivity. The high-reactivity fuel undergoes pyrolysis first, followed by the pyrolysis and oxidation of the low-reactivity fuel. Therefore, the simplified mechanism consists of highly lumped reactions of high-reactivity fuel, radical reactions of low-reactivity fuel and C0-C2 core mechanisms.

Hydrogen energy is a kind of secondary energy with an abundant source, wide application, green, and is low-carbon, which is important for building a clean, low-carbon, safe, and efficient energy system and achieving the goal of carbon peaking and being carbon neutral. In this paper, the effect of nozzle position, hydrogen injection timing, and ignition timing on the in-cylinder combustion characteristics is investigated separately with the 13E hydrogen engine as the simulation object. The test results show that when the nozzle position is set in the middle of the intake and exhaust tracts (L2 and L3), the peak in-cylinder pressure is slightly higher than that of L1, but when the nozzle position is L2, the cylinder pressure curve is the smoothest, the peak exothermic rate is the lowest, and the peak cylinder temperature is the lowest.

Charge dilution in gasoline engines reduces NOx emissions and wall heat losses by the lower combustion temperature. Furthermore, under part load conditions de-throttling allows the reduction of pumping losses and thus higher engine efficiency. In contrast to lean burn, charge dilution by exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) under stoichiometric combustion conditions enables the use of an effective three-way catalyst. A pre-chamber spark plug with hot surface-assisted spark ignition (HSASI) was developed at the UAS Karlsruhe to overcome the drawbacks of charge dilution, especially under part load or cold start conditions, such as inhibited ignition and slow flame speed, and to even enable a further increase of the dilution rate. The influence of the HSASI pre-chamber spark plug on the heat release under EGR dilution and stoichiometric conditions was investigated on a single-cylinder gasoline engine.

Although methane number is widely used to predict knocking occurrence and its intensity, it does not determine a fuel composition uniquely, that means, the knocking intensity by the different composition fuel must show difference even if the same methane number fuels are employed. To establish a novel index, the knocking intensity and the autoignitive propagation velocity, as consequence of spontaneous ignition process, are investigated both experimentally and numerically by using the different composition gaseous fuels with same methane number. Methane/ethane/air and methane/n-butane/air mixtures with the same methane number of 70 and the equivalence ratio of 0.5 were employed. They are rapidly compressed and ignited spontaneously by a Rapid Compression Machine. Ignition delay times, autoignitive propagation velocities, and knocking intensity were measured by acquired pressure histories and high-speed imaging.