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A methodological analysis of combustion parameters and pollutant emissions measuring procedures during transient operation of a D.I. T.C. light duty diesel engine was performed. Combustion process was characterized by ignition delay time, combustion pressure peak value and heat release law measurements during the transient ECE 15 schedule on a dynamic test bed with electronic simulation of inertia. The particulate emission was measured every 0.05 s by an I.R. optical method. In addition some correlations, based on pressure cycle and injection law evolution, were implemented in order to calculate instantaneous fuel delivery and transient NOx emission. Some activities were carried out in order to asses the limits of engine configurations ranking performed with steady state measurements of performances and emissions. Strong differences were detected between carbon emission during transient operations and the value obtained by interpolation from a steady state map.

The present paper describes a calculation procedure aimed to evaluate the evaporative loss of the lubricating oil deposed on the cylinder surface of i.c. engines. The model is based on the simultaneous solution of the diffusion and energy equations referred to the liquid/gas interface. A parametric analysis has been carried out to investigate the influence of some variables on oil evaporative losses. The calculation results show that both cylinder surface temperature and lubricating oil composition are significant parameters. Conversely, the oil film thickness does not seem to play an important role in evaporative loss. Furthermore, it has been ascertained that the lubricating oil evaporation is increased during the intake stroke. In any event, the evaporative loss represents a small percentage (a few percentage points) of total oil consumption if the distillate fractions are not too much light.

In this paper results on in-cylinder pollutant concentration evolution during combustion of six different oxygenated fuels, in comparison with tetradecane and n-octane combustion, are presented. These four fuels are: Ethylene-Glygol-Dimethylether (monoglyme-C4H10O2), Diethylene-Glygol-Dimethylether (diglyme-C6H14O2), Diethylene-Glycol-Diethylether (diethyldiglycol-C8H18O3), butylether (C8H18O). Two techniques were adopted on a single cylinder direct injection diesel engine: two-color pyrometry for the measurement of in-cylinder soot loading and a fast sampling valve for the measurements of in-cylinder combustion products. In addition, the sampling line downstream of the fast sampling valve was adapted for the in-cylinder aldehyde measurements. The main results obtained provide information about the mechanisms that control soot evolution during diesel combustion.

According to the results of several studies concerning the influence of fuel formulation on exhaust emissions from diesel engines, a new matrix of twelve fuels was tested in a single cylinder DI diesel engine of conventional technology. The matrix was designed by the partners of the FLOLEV research project, partly founded by the E.U., in the framework JOULE III program. The aim of the project is to study the influence on pollutants emission reduction of modern refining process and fuel additivation with some alternative fuels and cetane improvers. The fuel matrix is structured into three sub-matrices. The first sub-matrix is constituted by six fuels which represent different products obtainable with the modern refinery technology. The second and third sub-matrices were designed to test the influence of cetane improver additives and high-oxygenated fuels respectively.

In the present paper some results, obtained by the use of modern numerical C.F.D tools, are presented. In particular, starting from the experimental characterization of a conventional design D.I. diesel engine, the empirical constants of the different submodels were tuned to obtain satisfactory results in some key test conditions. After that, in the same points of the engine performance map, the following parameters were systematically varied: Fuel injection system design and operating conditions Intake swirl level Exhaust gas recirculation level. The influence of each parameter on combustion evolution is discussed and the most promising trend for the engine optimization is presented. Taking into account the model formulations limits, the results obtained suggest, from a theoretical point of view, that “common rail” equipped light duty diesel engines are suitable to meet the future European emission regulations.

In the present paper the KIVA3V code is used to model the behaviour of different combustion chambers, to be used in Common Rail engines with a single displacement lower than 0.5l. Some design parameters have been chosen to evaluate their influence on the combustion patterns. The optimum levels of turbulence and air mean motion have been selected with reference to some specific points of the engine map, managed by mean of multiple injection. Therefore the different combustion chambers geometries have been numerically investigated in terms of fluidynamic behaviour as well as in terms of combustion evolution. After that some chamber geometries, especially suitable for the second-generation common rail engines, have been selected.

An experimental and numerical investigation, using the Laser Doppler Anemometry (LDA) technique and a 3D fluid-dynamic code (KIVA 3V), was carried out in a prototype engine under steady-state conditions. The aim of the present activity was the flow field characterization and the effect of the intake geometry on the in-cylinder tumble flow. A new steady flow test rig designed for capturing the tumble motion within a test cylinder, made by a blower and an engine head, was assembled to simulate the intake flow. The engine head was mounted on an aluminum cylinder, having the same bore as the real engine. The cylinder was provided with optical accesses on the periphery and a flat optical window located at the bottom to a depth equal to the stroke of the engine. The cylinder was also equipped with two cylindrical ducts, used as air outflow ports.

This paper describes the project of a "small' single-cylinder direct injection diesel engine (300 cc). It is equipped with optical accesses to analyze the diesel combustion process employing the most recent optical diagnostic techniques. The injection system used is a second-generation common- rail system. The optical accesses are placed on the piston and on the cylinder wall.

The improvements of the solenoid injector and of the Electronic Control Unit of the present Common Rail injection system (C.R.) allow the use of multiple sequential injections. Thanks to this feature this advanced Common Rail system is capable to perform up to five consecutive injections in one engine cycle thus improving control of the combustion process. In particular, in some operating conditions, the activation of a small injection after the main one allows the oxidation of the soot produced in the previous stages of the combustion process, without increasing nitrogen oxide emissions. This paper describes the experimental results obtained with the application of a prototype of this advanced Common Rail system both to a Fiat L4 1.9 JTD 8 valve engine and to a single-cylinder prototype, having the same combustion system and large optical access allowing investigation of the injection and combustion processes.

Aim of this paper was to assess the feasibility of the application of wood pyrolysis oil (WPO) as a fuel for medium-duty Diesel engines. The experimental activity was carried out both on a diesel injection system and on a DI Diesel engine. High-speed visualization was used to highlight the spray characteristics and an instrumented test bench to evaluate engine performance and emissions. No modification was carried out on the engine and the efforts were addressed to make the WPO compatible with engine operation. Accordingly, WPO was not tested as a pure fuel, but in blends with diglyme and in emulsions with Diesel fuel.

This paper reports some results on the emission performance of a CR DI diesel engine burning five model diesel fuels. The fuels were prepared by Agip Petroli S.p.A within the PNRA research program, sponsored by Italian Ministry of Environment and were a base fuel, a synthetic fuel and three oxygenated fuels. The engine employed in the tests was a prototype derived from Fiat M724 1910 cc, installed on Fiat Group class C Cars (1350 kg of mass). The prototype complies with EURO3 regulations. Two test points representative of two zones of ECE15+EUDC test cycle were chosen. Thermodynamic variables, emissions and injection systems parameters were recorded. Tests show the further potential of advanced fuels, obtained by blends of reformulated and oxygenated components, in reducing pollutants emissions.

This paper describes a characterisation of the combustion behaviour in an optical Common Rail diesel engine fed by different advanced fuels, via the application of the two-colour pyrometry technique. The acquired images were processed in order to calculate the instantaneous flame temperature and soot volume fraction. For the measurements, a single test point was chosen as representative of the reference four-cylinder engine performance in the European driven cycle ECE+EUDC. The test point was the 1500 rpm and 22 mm3/stroke of injected fuel volume, correspondent to the engine point of 1500rpm @ 5 bar of BMEP for the 4-cylinder engine of 1.9L of displacement. As general overview, the flame luminosity from combustion of the fuel injected during pilot injection was always below the threshold of sensitivity of the detection system.

This paper reports some results on the performance of an advanced common rail (CR) DI diesel engine burning 12 model diesel fuels. The experiments were carried out within a co-operative research program “NeDeNeF” (New Diesel Engines and New Diesel Fuels), partly sponsored by the Commission of European Communities. Partners of the project with Istituto Motori (IM) were: FEV (Germany), VTT (Finland), NTUA (Greece), Brunel University (UK), Fortum (Finland), LAT (Greece) under the coordination of the IFP (France). The matrix of twelve fuels was prepared by the fuel producer partner (Fortum). The research program of the Diesel Engines and Fuels Department of Istituto Motori aimed at assessing the effect of fuel quality on exhaust emissions. The engine employed in the tests was a Fiat four-cylinder DI CR diesel engine, EURO3 version, of 1.9 litre, installed on Fiat Group class C Cars (1350kg of mass).

This paper refers to the experimental results obtained using two different 4 cylinder diesel engines, with total displacement respectively equal to 1.9l and 1.3l, both equipped with an advanced Common Rail system. An optically accessed prototype engine, having characteristics similar to the four cylinder engine, is used to visualize the in cylinder phenomena. Multidimensional simulations of the combustion and pollutants formation processes are performed, comparing the numerical predictions with the experimental data. By this way, integrating the 3D C.F.D. computations, the visualization techniques of the injection and combustion processes and the field measurements on the real engines, different settings of the multiple injection strategy have been analyzed.

The fluid-mechanic behaviour of straight-sided and re-entrant chamber geometries has been studied using laser doppler anemometry (LDA) technique. Measurements have been carried out during the compression stroke in a direct injection diesel engine, representative of medium size family, operating at 1000 rpm under motored conditions. The mean motion and turbulence intensity have been computed using a filtering procedure on the LDA data. Using the second version of KIVA code, the air flow field evolution during the same crank angle period has been also computed. To perform proper comparisons between measured and computed values of mean velocity and turbulence intensity, a careful choice of the initial conditions for computations has been performed. Reasonable agreement has been found between computed and measured mean swirl velocities for both combustion chamber geometries tested. On the contrary, the computed turbulence intensities underestimate those measured.

An evaluation of emission levels and fuel consumption of urban hybrid vehicles has been performed. Both heavy and light duty vehicles have been considered and a comparison on specific consumptions and emissions has been carried out between the hybrid and traditional configurations. The battery behavior during charge and discharge transients has been taken into account because it is one of the most critical elements of hybrid systems. The results of this investigation indicate the possibility to reach significant reductions of consumption and emissions through the adoption of hybrid systems for urban transports.

Three dimensional computations of Diesel combustion were performed using a modified version of Kiva II code. The autoignition and combustion model were tuned on a set of experimental conditions, changing the engine design, the operating conditions and the fuel characteristics. The sensitivity of the model to the different test cases is acceptable and the experimental trends are well reproduced. In addition the peak of pressure and temperature computed by the code are quite close to the experimental values, as well as the pressure derivatives. Once tuned the combustion model constants, different but simple formulations for the soot formation and oxidation processes were implemented in the code and compared with the experimental measurements obtained both with fast sampling technique and two colors method. These formulations were found unable to give good prediction in a large range of engine operating conditions, even if the model tuning may be very good for each test point.

Cetane number, sulphur content and aromatic structure of Automotive Diesel Oil (ADO) were changed to assess their influence on emissions of light duty direct injection Diesel engine. The detailed chemical analysis of particulate soluble fraction allows to quantify the P.A.Hs emission. In addition also the aldehydes and volatile organic compounds were measured in the gaseous phase. The sulphur content of the fuel and its aromatic structure strongly influence particulate emission. The insoluble fraction of the particulate rises with an increase of the high sulphur content ADOs with about the same back end volatility. Unburned P.A.Hs control P.A.Hs emission at the part loads typical of normalized schedules for emission testing of light duty vehicles in Europe. Finally the level of emissions of benzene and 1-3 butadiene is comparable to the total P.A.Hs emission.

Several methods have been proposed to use pressure signal for air/fuel ratio estimation, knock detection and optimal spark timing selection. In this paper some of these methods were compared, and their accuracy and effectiveness was checked. In order to avoid the misleading effects of measurement errors, the comparison was performed using a database of test conditions obtained by means of the WAVE code (Ricardo). New correlations physically based were introduced to evaluate the trapped air mass and the Exhaust Gas Recycling (EGR), cylinder per cylinder. These correlations can give a very important contribution to balance the air-fuel ratio in each cylinder and to improve EGR control strategies.

A modified version of KIVA II code was used to perform three-dimensional calculations of combustion in a DI diesel engine. Both an ignition delay submodel and a different formulation of the fuel reaction rate were implemented and tested. The experiments were carried out on a single cylinder D.I. diesel of 0.75 I displacement equipped with sensors to detect injection characteristics and indicated pressure. A fast acting sampling valve was also installed in the combustion chamber to allow the measurement of main pollutants during the combustion cycle, by an ensemble average technique. Computational and experimental results are compared and the discrepancies are discussed. Today the demand for light duty engines that produce less emission and consume less fuel is increasing. Thus, if limits on CO2 emissions are established, the direct injection diesel engine for light duty applications will become an attractive option.