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A fully flexible valve actuation (FFVA) system was developed for a single cylinder research engine to investigate high efficiency clean combustion (HECC) in a diesel engine. The main objectives of the study were to examine the emissions, performance, and combustion characteristics of the engine using late intake valve closing (LIVC) to determine the benefits and limitations of this strategy to meet Tier 2 Bin 5 NOx requirements without after-treatment. The most significant benefit of LIVC is a reduction in particulates due to the longer ignition delay time and a subsequent reduction in local fuel rich combustion zones. More than a 95% reduction in particulates was observed at some operating conditions. Combustion noise was also reduced at low and medium loads due to slower heat release. Although it is difficult to assess the fuel economy benefits of LIVC using a single cylinder engine, LIVC shows the potential to improve the fuel economy through several approaches.

A 1.9 liter Volkswagen TDI engine has been modified to accomodate the addition of hydrogen into the intake manifold via timed port fuel injection. Engine out particulate matter and the emissions of oxides of nitrogen were investigated. Two fuels,low sulfur diesel fuel (BP50) and soy methyl ester (SME) biodiesel (B99), were tested with supplemental hydrogen fueling. Three test conditions were selected to represent a range of engine operating modes. The tests were executed at 20, 40, and 60 % rated load with a constant engine speed o 1700 RPM. At each test condition the percentage of power from hydrogen energy was varied from 0 to 40 %. This corresponds to hydrogen flow rates ranging from 7 to 85 liters per minute. Particulate matter (PM) emissions were measured using a scaning mobility particle sizer (SMPS) and a two stage micro dilution system. Oxides of nitrogen were also monitored.

Many dual fuel technologies have been proposed for diesel engines. Implementing dual fuel modes can lead to emissions reductions or increased efficiency through using partially premixed combustion and fuel reactivity control. All dual fuel systems have the practical disadvantage that a secondary fuel storage and delivery system must be included. Reforming the primary diesel to a less reactive vaporized fuel on-board has potential to overcome this key disadvantage. Most previous research regarding on-board fuel reforming has been focused on producing significant quantities of hydrogen. However, only partially reforming the primary fuel is sufficient to vaporize and create a less volatile fuel that can be fumigated into an engine intake. At lower conversion efficiency and higher equivalence ratio, reforming reactors retain higher percentage of the inlet fuel’s heating value thus allowing for greater overall engine system efficiency.

A key challenge for the practical introduction of dual-fuel reactivity controlled compression ignition (RCCI) combustion modes in diesel engines is the requirement to store two fuels on-board. This work demonstrates that partially reforming diesel fuel into less reactive products is a promising method to allow RCCI to be implemented with a single stored fuel. Experiments were conducted using a thermally integrated reforming reactor in a reformed exhaust gas recirculation (R-EGR) configuration to achieve RCCI combustion using a light-duty diesel engine. The engine was operated at a low engine load and two reformed fuel percentages over ranges of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) rate and main diesel fuel injection timing. Results show that RCCI-like emissions of NOx and soot were achieved load using the R-EGR configuration. It was also shown that complete fuel conversion in the reforming reactor is not necessary to achieve sufficiently low fuel reactivity for RCCI combustion.

A system was designed for controlling fuel injection and ignition timing for use on a port fuel injected, gas-fueled engine. Inputs required for the system include manifold absolute pressure, manifold air temperature, a once per revolution crankshaft pulse, a once per cycle camshaft pulse, and a relative encoder pulse train to determine crank angle. A prototype card installed in the computer contains counters and discrete logic which control the timing of ignition and injection events. High current drivers used to control the fuel injector solenoids and coil primary current are optically isolated from the computer by the use of fiber optic cables. The programming is done in QuickBASIC running in real time on a 25 MHz 80486 personal computer. The system was used to control a gas-fueled spark ignition engine at various conditions to map the torque versus air-fuel ratio and ignition timing. Each surface was mapped for a given fuel flow and speed.

Particulate emissions from heavy-duty buses were measured in real time under conditions encountered during the standard Central Business District (CBD) driving cycle. The buses tested were equipped with 1994 Detroit Diesel Engine Corporation 6V92-TA engines, and some included after treatment devices on the exhaust. Instantaneous, time-resolved measurements of CO2 and amorphous carbon concentrations were obtained using an optical extinction technique and compared to simultaneous results obtained using conventional dilution tunnel sampling methods. Good agreement was obtained between the real-time extinction measurements and the diluted CO2 and cycle-integrated filter measurements. The instantaneous measurements revealed that acceleration transients accounted for roughly 80% of the particulate mass emitted during the cycle but only about 45% of the fuel consumption.

A biodiesel / petroleum fuel blend and practical low-cost methods of emission control were sought to obtain reductions in emissions from diesel generators. Little direct testing of biodiesel in diesel-powered electric generators has been done. Laboratory and field evaluations were conducted to determine the influence of using biodiesel on diesel exhaust emissions. B20 (20% biodiesel / 80% petroleum diesel) was chosen because of previously successful studies with this blend level, and there is evidence that the NOx emissions increase that result from using B20 can be controlled using existing technology. B85 was selected because it is a “high blend,” which promised to give a large decrease in PM at the expense of a larger increase in NOx than B20, but still within the range of control with existing technology. Charge-air cooling and a fuel additive were tested as NOx controls. For PM, CO, and HC reduction, a diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC) was evaluated.

Diesel particulate filter (DPF) technology has proven performance and reliability. However, the addition of a DPF adds significant cost and packaging constraints leading some manufacturers to design engines that reduce particulate matter in-cylinder. Such engines utilize high fuel injection pressure, moderate exhaust gas recirculation and modified injection timing to mitigate soot formation. This study examines such an engine designed to meet US EPA Interim Tier 4 standards for off-highway applications without a DPF. The engine was operated at four steady state modes and aerosol measurements were made using a two-stage, ejector dilution system with a scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS) equipped with a catalytic stripper (CS) to differentiate semi-volatile versus solid components in the exhaust. Gaseous emissions were measured using an FTIR analyzer and particulate matter mass emissions were estimated using SMPS data and an assumed particle density function.

In-cylinder reforming of injected fuel during an auxiliary negative valve overlap (NVO) period can be used to optimize main-cycle auto-ignition phasing for low-load Low-Temperature Gasoline Combustion (LTGC), where highly dilute mixtures can lead to poor combustion stability. When mixed with fresh intake charge and fuel, these reformate streams can alter overall charge reactivity characteristics. The central issue remains large parasitic heat losses from the retention and compression of hot exhaust gases along with modest pumping losses that result from mixing hot NVO-period gases with the cooler intake charge. Accurate determination of total cycle energy utilization is complicated by the fact that NVO-period retained fuel energy is consumed during the subsequent main combustion period. For the present study, a full-cycle energy analysis was performed for a single-cylinder research engine undergoing LTGC with varying NVO auxiliary fueling rates and injection timing.