Search Results

Lean-burn combustion is an effective method for increasing the thermal efficiency of gasoline engines fueled with stoichiometric fuel-air mixture, but leads to an unacceptable level of high cyclic variability before reaching ultra-low nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions emitted from conventional gasoline engines. Multi-point micro-flame ignited (MFI) hybrid combustion was proposed to overcome this problem, and can be can be grouped into double-peak type, ramp type and trapezoid type with very low frequency of appearance. This research investigates the micro-flame ignition stages of double-peak type and ramp type MFI combustion captured by high speed photography. The results show that large flame is formed by the fast propagation of multi-point flame occurring in the central zone of the cylinder in the double-peak type. However, the multiple flame sites occur around the cylinder, and then gradually propagate and form a large flame accelerated by the independent small flame in the ramp type.

The combustion in low-speed two-stroke marine diesel engines can be characterized as large spatial and temporal scales combustion. One of the most effective measures to reduce NOx emissions is to reduce the local maximum combustion temperature. In the current study, multi-dimensional numerical simulations have been conducted to explore the potential of Miller cycle, high compression ratio coupled with EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) and WEF (water emulsified fuel) to improve the trade-off relationship of NOx-ISFC (indicated specific fuel consumption) in a low-speed two-stroke marine engine. The results show that the EGR ratio could be reduced combined with WEF to meet the Tier III emission regulation. The penalty on fuel consumption with EGR and WEF could be offset by Miller cycle and high geometric compression ratio.

Clean combustion is critical for marine engines to meet the Tier III emission regulation. In this paper, the effects of EGR and injection strategies (including injection pressure, injection timing as well as multiple injection technology) on the performance and emissions of a 2-stroke, low speed marine diesel engine were investigated by using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to reach the IMO Tier III NOx emissions target and reduce the fuel consumption rate. Due to the large length scale of the marine engine, RANS simulation was performed in combination with the CTC-SHELL combustion model. Based on the simulation model, the variation of the cylinder pressure curve, the average temperature in the cylinder, the combustion heat release rate and the emission characteristics were studied.

Although diesel engines have higher output torque, lower fuel consumption, and lower HC pollutant emissions, larger amounts of NOx and PM are emitted, compared with equivalent gasoline engines. The diesel particulate filters (DPF) have proved one of the most promising aftertreatment technologies due to the more stringent particulate matters (PM) regulations. In this study, the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of DPF was built by utilizing AVL-Fire software code. The main objective of this paper was to investigate the pressure drop and soot regeneration characteristics of hexagonal and conventional square cell DPFs with various inlet mass flow rates, inlet temperatures, cell densities, soot loads and ash loads. Different cell geometry shapes of DPF were evaluated under various ash distribution types.

Although diesel engines offer higher thermal efficiency and lower fuel consumption, larger amounts of Particulate Matters (PM) are emitted in comparison with gasoline engines. The Diesel Particulate Filters (DPF) have proved one of the most promising technologies due to the “particle number” emissions regulations. In this study, the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) multi-channel model of DPF was built properly by utilizing AVL-Fire software code to evaluate the pressure drop and soot accumulation characteristics of DPF. The main objective of this paper was to investigate the effects of soot (capacity and deposit forms) and ash (capacity and distribution factors) interaction on DPF pressure drop and soot accumulation, as well as the effects of DPF boundary conditions (inlet mass flow rate and inlet temperature) on pressure drop.

Poppet-valve two-stroke gasoline engines can increase the specific power of their four-stroke counterparts with the same displacement and hence decrease fuel consumption. However, knock may occur at high loads. Therefore, the combustion with stratified lean mixture was proposed to decrease knock tendency and improve combustion stability in a poppet-valve two-stroke direct injection gasoline engine. The effect of intake pressure and split injection on fuel distribution, combustion and knock intensity in lean mixture conditions at high loads was simulated with a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamic software. Simulation results show that with the increase of intake pressure, the average fuel-air equivalent ratio in the cylinder decreases when the second injection ratio was fixed at 70% at a given amount of fuel in a cycle.

Controlled Auto-Ignition (CAI) combustion, also known as Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI), has the potential to simultaneously reduce the fuel consumption and nitrogen oxides emissions of gasoline engines. However, narrow operating region in loads and speeds is one of the challenges for the commercial application of CAI combustion to gasoline engines. Therefore, the extension of loads and speeds is an important prerequisite for the commercial application of CAI combustion. The effect of intake charge boosting, charge stratification and spark-assisted ignition on the operating range in CAI mode was reviewed. Stratified flame ignited (SFI) hybrid combustion is one form to achieve CAI combustion under the conditions of highly diluted mixture caused by the flame in the stratified mixture with the help of spark plug.

As the impacts of global warming have become increasingly severe, Oxy-Fuel Combustion (OFC) has been widely considered as a promising solution to reduce Carbon Dioxide (CO2) for achieving net-zero emissions. In this study, a one-dimensional simulation was carried out to study the implementation of OFC technology on a practical turbocharged 4-cylinder Gasoline Direct Injection (GDI) engine with economical oxygen-fuel ratios and commercial gasoline. When the engine is converted from Conventional Air-fuel Combustion (CAC) mode to OFC mode, and the throttle opening, oxygen mass fraction, stoichiometric air-fuel ratio (lambda = 1) are kept constant, it was demonstrated that compared to CAC mode, θF gets a remarkable extension whereas θC is hardly affected. θF and θC are very sensitive to the ignition timing, and Brake Specific Fuel Consumption (BSFC) would benefit significantly from applying Maximum Brake Torque (MBT) ignition timing.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of intake air hydrogenation coupled with intake air humidification (IAH) on the combustion and emission of marine diesel engines. A 3D numerical model of four-stroke turbocharged intercooled marine diesel engine was established by using commercial software AVL-Fire. The effects of hydrogen and water injected into the intake port on engine in-cylinder combustion and emission characteristics at 1350 r/min and partial load were studied. The novelty of this study is to combine different hydrogen-fuel ratios and water-fuel ratios, so as to find the optimization method that can reduce NOx and soot emissions and ensure the thermal efficiency of the engine doesn’t decrease.

The potential of diesel/gasoline RCCI combustion coupled with late intake valve closing (LIVC) and double direct injection of diesel for meeting high fuel efficiency with ultra-low emissions was investigated in this study. The study was aiming at high load operation in a heavy-duty diesel engine. Based on the reactivity stratification of RCCI combustion, the employment of double injection of diesel fuel provided concentration stratification of the high-reactivity fuel, which is to further realize effective control of the combustion process. Meanwhile, late intake valve closing (LIVC) strategy is introduced to control the maximum in-cylinder pressure and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions.

In this study, a new system of assessment method was developed to evaluate the characteristics of urban buses based on remote online monitoring. Four types of buses, including China V emission standards diesel bus, lean-burn CNG bus, air-fuel equivalence ratio combustion CNG bus and gas-electric hybrid bus, were chosen as samples to analyze the emission characteristics of urban buses with different engine types in urban scenario. Based on the traffic conditions in Beijing, the actual emission characteristics of buses under newly-built driving conditions were analyzed. Moreover, the emission factor database of urban buses in Beijing was established to analyze the characteristics of excess emission. The research results are shown as follows. 1) Compared with other types of buses, NOX emission factor and emission rate of lean-burn CNG bus are much higher.

Ensuring lower emissions and better economy (fuel economy and after-treatment economy) simultaneously is the pursuit of future engines. An EGR-LNT synergetic control system was applied to a modified lean-burn CA3GA2 gasoline engine. Results showed that the synergetic control system can achieve a better NOx reduction than sole EGR and sole LNT within a proper range of upstream EGR rate and without the penalty in fuel consumption. It also has the potential to save costly noble metals in LNT, but excessive or deficient upstream EGR would make the synergetic control system inefficiency. In order to guarantee the objectivity of the effect of EGR-LNT synergetic control system on NOx reduction, another modified lean-burn CA4GA5 gasoline engine was additionally tested.

An appropriate energy management strategy can further reduce the fuel consumption of P2 hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) with simple hybrid configuration and low cost. The rule-based real-time energy management strategy dominates the energy management strategies utilized in commercial HEVs, due to its robustness and low computational loads. However, its performance is sensitive to the setting of parameters and control actions. To further improve the fuel economy of a P2 HEV, the energy management strategy of the HEV has been re-designed based on the globally optimal control theory. An optimization strategy model based on the longitudinal dynamics of the vehicle and Bellman’s dynamic programming algorithm was established in this research and an optimal power split in the dual power sources including an internal combustion engine (ICE) and an electric machine at a given driving cycle was used as a benchmark for the development of the rule-based energy management strategy.

Pumping Mean Effective Pressure (PMEP) is the main factor limiting the improvement of thermal efficiency in a spark-ignition (SI) engine under low load. One of the ways to reduce the pumping loss under low load is to use Cylinder DeActivation (CDA). The CDA aims at reducing the firing density (FD) of the SI engine under low load operation and increasing the mass of air-fuel mixture within one cycle in one cylinder to reduce the throttling effect and further reducing the PMEP. The multi-stroke cycles can also reduce the firing density of the SI engine after some certain reasonable design, which is feasible to improve the thermal efficiency of the engine under low load in theory. The research was carried out on a calibrated four-cylinder SI engine simulation platform. The thermal efficiency improvements of the 6-stroke cycle and 8-stroke cycle to the engine performance were studied compared with the traditional 4-stroke cycle under low load conditions.

The performance of three different electric turbo-compounding systems under both steady and driving cycle condition is investigated in this paper. Three configurations studied in this paper are serial turbo-compounding, parallel turbo-compounding and electric assisted turbo-compounding. The electric power, global gain of the whole system (engine and power turbine) under steady operating condition is firstly studied. Then investigation under three different driving cycles is conducted. Items including fuel consumption, engine operating point distribution and transient response performance are analyzed among which the second item is done based on statistic method combined with the results obtained under steady operating conditions. Study under steady condition indicates that electric assisted turbo-compounding system is the best choice compared with the other two systems. The performance of serial turbo-compounding is load oriented while parallel configuration is speed oriented.

Hybrid powertrain has been proven to be an effective fuel-saving technology in commercial vehicles, but many hybrid commercial vehicles still use conventional diesel engines, resulting in limited fuel savings. The main purpose of this study is to enhance the thermal efficiency of a dedicated hybrid diesel engine focusing on the characteristic operating conditions. Via fundamental thermodynamics process analysis of internal combustion engine, steel piston with high compression ratio, air system involving two-stage turbocharger(2TC) with an intercooler, and late intake valve closing(IVC) timing are proposed to improve the thermal efficiency of the engine. Experimental results show that high compression ratio and lower thermal conductivity of the combustion chamber surface lead to lower heat release rates, requiring optimization of piston profile to accelerate the mixing rate. Besides, high compression ratio also leads to higher mechanical losses.

In order to improve the fuel consumption and expand the range of low fuel consumption area of a 1.5L Atkinson cycle PFI engine, the effect of the intake manifold length and chamber shape on the engine performance is investigated by setting up a GT-power (1-D) and an AVL-Fire (3-D) computational model which are calibrated with experimental data. After this the new engine was transformed to the test bench to do the calibration experiment. The results demonstrate that the intake manifold case_1 (the length is 300mm, side intake form) matched with a new designed chamber improves combustion in cylinder with a range 1.6∼7.4g/(kW•h) reduced in fuel consumption of speed that has been studied; the case_3 (the length is 100mm, intermediate intake form) matched with the new designed chamber with a range 3.86∼7g/(kW•h) reduced in fuel consumption of speed that has been studied. Both case_1 and case_3 expand the range of low fuel consumption area significantly.

By installing an automated mechanical transmission (AMT) on heavy-duty vehicles and developing a reasonable shift strategy, it can reduce driver fatigue and eliminate technical differences among drivers, improving vehicle performance. However, after detaching from the experience of good drivers, the current shifting strategy is limited to the vehicle state at the current moment, and cannot make predictive judgment of the road environment ahead, and problems such as cyclic shifting will occur due to insufficient power when driving on the ramp. To improve the adaptability of heavy-duty truck shift strategy to dynamic driving environments, this paper first analyzes the shortcomings of existing traditional heavy-duty truck shift strategies on slopes, and develops a comprehensive performance shift strategy incorporating slope factors. Based on this, forward-looking information is introduced to propose a predictive intelligent shift strategy that balances power and economy.