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A diesel piloted natural gas engine's performance varies depending on operating conditions and has performed best under medium to high loads. It can often equal or better the fuel conversion efficiency of a diesel-only engine in this operating range. This paper presents a study performed on a multi-cylinder Cummins ISB 6.7L diesel engine converted to run stoichiometric natural gas/diesel micro-pilot combustion with a maximum diesel contribution of 10%. This study systematically quantifies and ranks the sensitivity of control factors on combustion and performance while operating at medium loads. The effects of combustion control parameters, including the pilot start of injection, pilot injection pressure, pilot injection quantity, exhaust gas recirculation, and global equivalence ratio, were tested using a design of experiments orthogonal matrix approach.

A constant volume spray and combustion vessel utilizing the pre-burn mixture procedure to generate pressure, temperature, and composition characteristic of near top dead center (TDC) conditions in compression ignition (CI) engines was modified with post pre-burn gas induction to incorporate premixed methane gas prior to diesel injection to simulate processes in dual fuel engines. Two variants of the methane induction system were developed and studied. The first used a high-flow modified direct injection injector and the second utilized auxiliary ports in the vessel that are used for normal intake and exhaust events. Flow, mixing, and limitations of the induction systems were studied. As a result of this study, the high-flow modified direct injection injector was selected because of its controlled actuation and rapid closure. Further studies of the induction system post pre-burn were conducted to determine the temperature limit of the methane auto-ignition.

A potential route to reduce CO2 emissions from heavy-duty trucks is to combine low-carbon fuels and a hybrid-electric powertrain to maximize overall efficiency. A hybrid electric powertrain can reduce the peak power required from the internal combustion engine, leading to opportunities to reduce the engine size but still meet vehicle performance requirements. Although engine downsizing in the light-duty sector can offer significant fuel economy savings mainly due to increased part-load efficiency, its benefits and downsides in heavy-duty engines are less clear. As there has been limited published research in this area to date, there is a lack of a standardized engine downsizing procedure.