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Long chain alcohols possess major advantages over the currently used ethanol as bio-components for gasoline, including higher energy content, better engine compatibility, and less water solubility. The rapid developments in biofuel technology have made it possible to produce C 4 -C 5 alcohols cost effectively. These higher alcohols could significantly expand the biofuel content and potentially substitute ethanol in future gasoline mixtures. This study characterizes some fundamental properties of a C 5 alcohol, isopentanol, as a fuel for HCCI engines. Wide ranges of engine speed, intake temperature, intake pressure, and equivalence ratio are investigated. Results are presented in comparison with gasoline or ethanol data previously reported. For a given combustion phasing, isopentanol requires lower intake temperatures than gasoline or ethanol at all tested speeds, indicating a higher HCCI reactivity.

The potential of boosted HCCI for achieving high loads has been investigated for intake pressures (Piⁿ) from 100 kPa (naturally aspirated) to 325 kPa absolute. Experiments were conducted in a single-cylinder HCCI research engine (0.98 liters) equipped with a compression-ratio 14 piston at 1200 rpm. The intake charge was fully premixed well upstream of the intake, and the fuel was a research-grade (R+M)/2 = 87-octane gasoline with a composition typical of commercial gasolines. Beginning with Piⁿ = 100 kPa, the intake pressure was systematically increased in steps of 20 - 40 kPa, and for each Piⁿ, the fueling was incrementally increased up to the knock/stability limit, beyond which slight changes in combustion conditions can lead to strong knocking or misfire. A combination of reduced intake temperature and cooled EGR was used to compensate for the pressure-induced enhancement of autoignition and to provide sufficient combustion-phasing retard to control knock.

This work explores the high-load limits of HCCI for naturally aspirated operation. This is done for three fuels with various autoignition reactivity: iso-octane, PRF80, and PRF60. The experiments were conducted in a single-cylinder HCCI research engine (0.98 liter displacement), mostly with a CR = 14 piston installed, but with some tests at CR = 18. Five load-limiting factors were identified: 1) NOx-induced combustion-phasing run-away, 2) wall-heating-induced run-away, 3) EGR-induced oxygen deprivation, 4) wandering unsteady combustion, and 5) excessive exhaust NOx. These experiments at 1200 rpm show that the actual load-limiting factor is dependent on the autoignition reactivity of the fuel, the selected CA50, and in some cases, the tolerable level of NOx emissions. For iso-octane, which has the highest resistance to autoignition of the fuels tested, the NOx emissions become unacceptable at IMEPg = 473 kPa.

This paper investigates flow and combustion in a full-cycle simulation of a four-stroke, three-valve HCCI engine by visualizing the flow with pathlines. Pathlines trace massless particles in a transient flow field. In addition to visualization, pathlines are used here to trace the history, or evolution, of flow fields and species. In this study evolution is followed from the intake port through combustion. Pathline analysis follows packets of intake charge in time and space from induction through combustion. The local scalar fields traversed by the individual packets in terms of velocity magnitude, turbulence, species concentration and temperatures are extracted from the simulation results. The results show how the intake event establishes local chemical and thermal environments in-cylinder and how the species respond (chemically react) to the local field.

A planar temperature imaging diagnostic has been developed and applied to an investigation of naturally occurring thermal stratification in an HCCI engine. Natural thermal stratification is critical for high-load HCCI operation because it slows the combustion heat release; however, little is known about its development or distribution. A tracer-based single-line PLIF imaging technique was selected for its good precision and simplicity. Temperature-map images were derived from the PLIF images, based on the temperature sensitivity of the fluorescence signal of the toluene tracer added to the fuel. A well premixed intake charge assured that variations in fuel/air mixture did not affect the signal. Measurements were made in a single-cylinder optically accessible HCCI research engine (displacement = 0.98 liters) at a typical 1200 rpm operating condition. Since natural thermal stratification develops prior to autoignition, all measurements were made for motored operation.

Tracer-based PLIF temperature diagnostics have been used to study the distribution and evolution of naturally occurring thermal stratification (TS) in an HCCI engine under fired and motored operation. PLIF measurements, performed with two excitation wavelengths (277, 308 nm) and 3-pentanone as a tracer, allowed investigation of TS development under relevant fired conditions. Two-line PLIF measurements of temperature and composition were first performed to track the mixing of the fresh charge and hot residuals during intake and early compression strokes. Results showed that mixing occurs rapidly with no measureable mixture stratification remaining by early compression (220°CA aTDC), confirming that the residual mixing is not a leading cause of thermal stratification for low-residual (4-6%) engines with conventional valve timing.

This study investigates the potential of partial fuel stratification for reducing the knocking propensity of intake-boosted HCCI engines operating on conventional gasoline. Although intake boosting can substantially increase the high-load capability of HCCI, these engines would be more production-viable if the knock/stability load limit could be extended to allow higher loads at a given boost and/or to provide even higher thermal efficiencies. A technique termed partial fuel stratification (PFS) has recently been shown to greatly reduce the combustion-induced pressure-rise rate (PRR), and therefore the knocking propensity of naturally aspirated HCCI, when the engine is fueled with a φ-sensitive, two-stage-ignition fuel. The current work explores the potential of applying PFS to boosted HCCI operation using conventional gasoline, which does not typically show two-stage ignition. Experiments were conducted in a single-cylinder HCCI research engine (0.98 liters) at 1200 rpm.

A tracer-based single-line PLIF imaging technique using a unique optical configuration that allows simultaneously viewing the bulk-gas and the boundary layer region has been applied to an investigation of the naturally occurring thermal stratification in a HCCI engine. Thermal stratification is critical for HCCI engines, because it determines the maximum pressure rise rate which is a limiting factor for high-load operation. The investigation is based on the analysis of temperature maps that were derived from PLIF images, using the temperature sensitivity of fluorescence from toluene introduced as tracer in the fuel. Measurements were made in a single-cylinder optically accessible HCCI engine operating under motored conditions with a vertical laser-sheet orientation that allows observation of the development of thermal stratification from the cold boundary layers into the central region of the charge.

Laser-induced incandescence (LII) has been explored as a diagnostic for qualitative two-dimensional imaging of the in-cylinder soot distribution in a diesel engine. Advantages of LII over elastic-scatter soot imaging techniques include no interfering signals from liquid fuel droplets, easy rejection of laser light scattered by in-cylinder surfaces, and the signal intensity being proportional to the soot volume fraction. LII images were obtained in a 2.3-liter, single cylinder, direct-injection diesel engine, modified for optical access. To minimize laser sheet and signal attenuation (which can affect almost any planar imaging technique applied to diesel engine combustion), a low-sooting fuel was used whose vaporization and combustion characteristics are typical of standard diesel fuels. Temporal and spatial sequences of LII images were made which show the extent of the soot distribution within the optically accessible portion the combusting spray plume.

Ethanol and ethanol/gasoline blends are being widely considered as alternative fuels for light-duty automotive applications. At the same time, HCCI combustion has the potential to provide high efficiency and ultra-low exhaust emissions. However, the application of HCCI is typically limited to low and moderate loads because of unacceptably high heat-release rates (HRR) at higher fueling rates. This work investigates the potential of lowering the HCCI HRR at high loads by using partial fuel stratification to increase the in-cylinder thermal stratification. This strategy is based on ethanol's high heat of vaporization combined with its true single-stage ignition characteristics. Using partial fuel stratification, the strong fuel-vaporization cooling produces thermal stratification due to variations in the amount of fuel vaporization in different parts of the combustion chamber.

Fuel stratification has been investigated as a means of improving the low-load combustion efficiency in an HCCI engine. Several stratification techniques were examined: different GDI injectors, increased swirl, and changes in injection pressure, to determine which parameters are effective for improving the combustion efficiency while maintaining NOx emissions below U.S. 2010 limits. Performance and emission measurements were obtained in an all-metal engine. Corresponding fuel distribution measurements were made with fuel PLIF imaging in a matching optically accessible engine. The fuel used was iso-octane, which is a good surrogate for gasoline. For an idle fueling rate (ϕ = 0.12), combustion efficiency was improved substantially, from 64% to 89% at the NOx limit, using delayed fuel injection with a hollow-cone injector at an injection pressure of 120 bar.

NO formation during direct-injection (DI) diesel combustion has been investigated using planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) imaging. Measurements were made at a typical medium-speed operating condition in a heavy-duty size-class engine modified for optical access. By combining a unique laser system with a particular spectroscopic scheme, single-shot NO images were obtained at realistic operating conditions with negligible O2 interference. Temporal sequences of NO PLIF images are presented along with corresponding images of combined elastic scattering and natural luminosity. These images show the location and timing of the NO formation relative to the other components of the reacting fuel jet. In addition, total NO formation was examined by integrating the NO PLIF signal over a large fraction of the combustion-chamber volume.

Multi-zone CFD simulations with detailed kinetics were used to model iso-octane HCCI experiments performed on a single-cylinder research engine. The modeling goals were to validate the method (multi-zone combustion modeling) and the reaction mechanism (LLNL 857 species iso-octane) by comparing model results to detailed exhaust speciation data, which was obtained with gas chromatography. The model is compared to experiments run at 1200 RPM and 1.35 bar boost pressure over an equivalence ratio range from 0.08 to 0.28. Fuel was introduced far upstream to ensure fuel and air homogeneity prior to entering the 13.8:1 compression ratio, shallow-bowl combustion chamber of this 4-stroke engine. The CFD grid incorporated a very detailed representation of the crevices, including the top-land ring crevice and head-gasket crevice. The ring crevice is resolved all the way into the ring pocket volume. The detailed grid was required to capture regions where emission species are formed and retained.

Chemiluminescence imaging has been applied to a parametric investigation of diesel autoignition. Time-resolved images of the natural light emission were made in an optically accessible DI diesel engine of the heavy-duty size class using an intensified CCD video camera. Measurements were obtained at a base operating condition, corresponding to a motored TDC temperature and density of 992 K and 16.6 kg/m3, and for TDC temperatures and densities above and below these values. Data were taken with a 42.5 cetane number blend of the diesel reference fuels for all conditions, and measurements were also made with no. 2 diesel fuel (D2) at the base condition. For each condition, temporal sequences of images were acquired from the time of first detectable chemiluminescence up through fully sooting combustion, and the images were analyzed to obtain quantitative measurements of the average emission intensity.

The combustion process in diesel engines deposits soot on the in-cylinder surfaces. Previous works have suggested that these soot deposits eventually break off during cylinder blow-down and the exhaust stroke and contribute significantly to exhaust soot emissions. In order to better understand this potential pathway to soot emissions, the authors recently investigated combusting fuel-jet/wall interactions in a diesel engine. This work, published as a companion paper, showed how soot escaped from the combusting fuel jet and was brought in close proximity to the wall so that it could become a deposit. The current study extends this earlier work with laser-extinction measurements of the soot-deposition rate in the same single-cylinder, heavy-duty DI diesel engine. Measurements were made by passing the beam of a CW-diode laser through a window in the piston bowl rim that was in-line with one of the fuel jets.

Over the past decade, laser diagnostics have improved our understanding of many aspects of diesel combustion. However, interactions between the combusting fuel jet and the piston-bowl wall are not well understood. In heavy-duty diesel engines, with typical fuels, these interactions occur with the combusting vapor-phase region of the jet, which consists of a central region containing soot and other products of rich-premixed combustion, surrounded by a diffusion flame. Since previous work has shown that the OH radical is a good marker of the diffusion flame, planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) imaging of OH was applied to an investigation of the diffusion flame during wall interaction. In addition, simultaneous OH PLIF and planar laser-induced incandescence (PLII) soot imaging was applied to investigate the likelihood for soot deposition on the bowl wall.

Homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) is a new combustion technology that may develop as an alternative to diesel engines with high efficiency and low NOx and particulate matter emissions. This paper describes the HCCI research activities being currently pursued at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and at the University of California Berkeley. Current activities include analysis as well as experimental work. On analysis, we have developed two powerful tools: a single zone model and a multi-zone model. The single zone model has proven very successful in predicting start of combustion and providing reasonable estimates for peak cylinder pressure, indicated efficiency and NOx emissions. This model is being applied to develop detailed engine performance maps and control strategies, and to analyze the problem of engine startability. The multi-zone model is capable of very accurate predictions of the combustion process, including HC and CO emissions.

A four-cylinder 1.9 Volkswagen TDI Engine has been converted to run in Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) mode. The stock configuration is a turbo-charged direct injection Diesel engine. The combustion chamber has been modified by discarding the in-cylinder Diesel fuel injectors and replacing them with blank inserts (which contain pressure transducers). The stock pistons contain a reentrant bowl and have been retained for the tests reported here. The intake and exhaust manifolds have also been retained, but the turbocharger has been removed. A heater has been installed upstream of the intake manifold and fuel is added just downstream of this heater. The performance of this engine in naturally aspirated HCCI operation, subject to variable intake temperature and fuel flow rate, has been studied. The engine has been run with propane fuel at a constant speed of 1800 rpm.

This paper describes the Homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) research activities being currently pursued at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and at the University of California Berkeley. Current activities include analysis as well as experimental work. HCCI is an old combustion technology that may now be developed with expectations of high efficiency, low NOx, and low particulate matter emissions; in short, an alternative to diesel engines. On analysis, we have developed two powerful tools: a single zone model and a multi-zone model. The single zone model has proven very successful in predicting start of combustion and providing reasonable estimates for peak cylinder pressure, indicated efficiency and NOX emissions. This model is being applied to develop detailed engine performance maps and control strategies, and to analyze the problem of engine startability.

Two fundamental aspects of HCCI engine combustion have been investigated using a single-zone model with time-varying compression and the full chemical-kinetic mechanisms for iso-octane, a representative liquid-phase fuel. This approach allows effects of the kinetics and thermodynamics to be isolated and evaluated in a well-characterized manner, providing an understanding of the selected fundamental processes. The computations were made using the CHEMKIN-III kinetic-rate code for an 1800 rpm operating condition. The study consists of two parts. First, low-load HCCI operation was investigated to determine the role of bulk-gas reactions as a source for HC and CO emissions. The computations show that as fueling is reduced to equivalence ratios of 0.15 and lower (very light load and idle), the bulk-gas reactions do not go to completion, leading to inefficient combustion and high emissions of HC and CO.