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Today's biofuels require large amounts of energy in the production process for the conversion from biomass into fuels with conventional properties. To reduce the amounts of energy needed, future fuels derived from biomass will have a molecular structure which is more similar to the respective feedstock. Butyl levulinate can be gained easily from levulinic acid which is produced by acid hydrolysis of cellulose. Thus, the Institute for Combustion Engines at RWTH Aachen University carried out a fuel investigation program to explore the potential of this biofuel compound, as a candidate for future compression ignition engines to reduce engine-out emissions while maintaining engine efficiency and an acceptable noise level. Previous investigations identified most desirable fuel properties like a reduced cetane number, an increased amount of oxygen content and a low boiling temperature for compression ignition engine conditions.

Partly competing objectives, as low fuel consumption, low friction, long oil maintenance rate, and at the same time lowest exhaust emissions have to be fulfilled. Diminishing resources, continuously reduced development periods, and shortened product cycles yield detailed knowledge about oil consumption mechanisms in combustion engines to be essential. There are different ways for the lubricating oil to enter the combustion chamber: for example as blow-by gas, leakage past valve stem seals, piston rings (reverse blow-by) and evaporation from the cylinder liner wall and the combustion chamber. For a further reduction of oil consumption the investigation of these mechanisms has become more and more important. In this paper the influence of the mixture formation and the resulting fuel content in the cylinder liner wall film on the lubricant oil emission was examined.

With Post Euro 6 emission standards in discussion, stricter particulate number (PN) targets as well as a decreased PN cut-off size from 23 to 10 nm are expected. Sub-23 nm particulates are considered particularly harmful to human health, but are not yet taken into account in the current vehicle certification process. Not considering sub-23 nm particulates during the development process could lead to significant additional efforts for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) to comply with future Post Euro 6 PN emission limits. It is therefore essential to increase knowledge about the formation and filtration of particulates below 23 nm. In the present study, a holistic Gasoline Particulate Filter (GPF) characterization has been carried out on an engine test bench under varying boundary conditions and on a burner bench with a novel ash loading methodology.

The influence of two oxygenated tailor-made fuels on soot formation and oxidation in an optical single cylinder research diesel engine has been studied. For the investigation a planar laser-induced incandescence (PLII) measurement technique was applied to the engine in order to detect and evaluate the planar soot distribution for the two bio fuels within a laser light sheet. Furthermore the OH* chemiluminescence and broad band soot luminosity was visualized by high speed imaging to compare the ignition and combustion behavior of tested fuels: Two C8 oxygenates, di-n-butylether (DNBE) and 1-octanol. Both fuels have the same molecular formula but differ in their molecular structure. DNBE ignites fast and burns mostly diffusive while 1-octanol has a low cetane number and therefore it has a longer ignition delay but a more homogeneous mixture at time of ignition. The two bio fuels were finally compared to conventional diesel fuel.

During a thermal regeneration of a Diesel particulate filter (DPF) the temperature inside the DPF may raise above critical thresholds in an uncontrolled way (thermal shock). Especially driving conditions with a comparable low exhaust gas mass flow and high oxygen content like idle speed may create a thermal shock. This paper presents a concept for an ECU software structure to prevent the DPF from reaching improper temperatures and the methodology in order to calibrate this ECU structure. The concept deals in general with a closed-loop control of the exhaust gas air-fuel-ratio during the critical engine operation phases. Those critical operation phases are identified at the engine test bench during “Drop-to-Idle” and “Drop-to-Overrun” experiments. The experiments show that those phases are critical having on the one hand a low exhaust gas mass flow and on the other hand a high oxygen percentage in the exhaust gas.

The optimization study presented herein is aimed to minimize the fuel consumption and engine-out emissions using commercially available EN15940 compatible HVO (Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil) fuel. The investigations were carried out on FEV’s 3rd generation HECS (High Efficiency Combustion System) multi-cylinder engine (1.6L, 4 Cylinder, Euro 6). Using a global DOE approach, the effects of calibration parameters on efficiency and emissions were obtained and analyzed. This was followed by a global optimization procedure to obtain a dedicated calibration for HVO. The study was aiming for efficiency improvement and it was found that at lower loads, higher fractions of low pressure EGR in combination with lower fuel injection pressures were favorable. At higher loads, a combustion center advancement, increase of injection pressure and reduced pilot injection quantities were possible without exceeding the noise and NOx levels of the baseline Diesel.

With increasing interest in new biofuel candidates, 1-octanol and di-n-butylether (DNBE) were presented in recent studies. Although these molecular species are isomers, their properties are substantially different. In contrast to DNBE, 1-octanol is almost a gasoline-type fuel in terms of its auto-ignition quality. Thus, there are problems associated with engine start-up for neat 1-octanol. In order to find a suitable glow-plug position, mixture formation is studied in the cylinder under almost idle operating conditions in the present work. This is conducted by planar laser-induced fluorescence in a high-speed direct-injection optical diesel engine. The investigated C8-oxygenates are also significantly different in terms of their evaporation characteristics. Thus, in-cylinder mixture formation of these two species is compared in this work, allowing conclusions on combustion behavior and exhaust emissions.

The influence of oil related emissions became more important in the past due to reduced engine-out emissions of combustion engines. Additionally the efficiency of exhaust gas after treatment components is influenced by oil derived components. A balancing of relevant engine oil components (Ca, Mg, Zn, P, S, Mo, B, Fe, Al, Cu) is presented in this paper. The oil components deposited in the combustion chamber, in the exhaust system as well as in the aftertreatment devices were determined and quantified. Therefore a completely cleaned DI Diesel engine with oxidation catalyst, Diesel particulate filter (DPF) and NOx adsorber catalyst (LNT) was operated in different operating conditions for 500 h in a development test cell. The operation included lean/rich cycling for NOx trap regeneration. After finishing the 500 h test procedure the engine was completely disassembled and all deposits were analyzed.

Combustion and pollutant formation in a new recently introduced Common-Rail DI Diesel engine concept with roof-shaped combustion chamber and tumble charge motion are numerically investigated using the Representative Interactive Flamelet concept (RIF). A reference case with a cup shaped piston bowl for full load operating conditions is considered in detail. In addition to the reference case, three more cases are investigated with a variation of start of injection (SOI). A surrogate fuel consisting of n-decane (70% liquid volume fraction) and α-methylnaphthalene (30% liquid volume fraction) is used in the simulation. The underlying complete reaction mechanism comprises 506 elementary reactions and 118 chemical species. Special emphasis is put on pollutant formation, in particular on the formation of NOx, where a new technique based on a three-dimensional transport equation within the flamelet framework is applied.

In this paper a new approach is presented to evaluate the combustion behaviour of homogeneous gasoline engines by predicting burn delay and -duration in a way which can be obtained under the time constraints of the development process. This is accomplished by means of pure in-cylinder flow simulations without a classical combustion model. The burn delay model is based on the local distribution of the turbulent flow near the spark plug. It features also a methodology to compare different designs regarding combustion stability. The correlation for burn duration uses a turbulent characteristic number that is obtained from the turbulent flow in the combustion chamber together with a model for the turbulent burning velocity. The results show good agreement with the combustion process of the analyzed engines.

The fulfillment of the aggravated demands on future small-size High-Speed Direct Injection (HSDI) Diesel engines requires next to the optimization of the injection system and the combustion chamber also the generation of an optimal in-cylinder swirl charge motion. To evaluate different port concepts for modern HSDI Diesel engines, usually quantities as the in-cylinder swirl ratio and the flow coefficient are determined, which are measured on a steady-state flow test bench. It has been shown that different valve lift strategies nominally lead to similar swirl levels. However, significant differences in combustion behavior and engine-out emissions give rise to the assumption that local differences in the in-cylinder flow structure caused by different valve lift strategies have noticeable impact. In this study an additional criterion, the homogeneity of the swirl flow, is introduced and a new approach for a quantitative assessment of swirl flow pattern is presented.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of spray-bowl interaction on combustion, and pollutants formation at one specific high-load point of a single-cylinder small-bore diesel engine through computational analysis. The simulations are performed using Representative Interactive Flamelet (RIF) model with detailed chemical kinetics. Detailed chemistry-based soot model is used for the prediction of soot emissions. The simulations are performed for five different injection timings. Model-predicted cylinder pressure and exhaust emissions are validated against the measured data for all the injection timings. A new method - Two-part analysis - is then applied to investigate the spray-bowl interaction. Two-part analysis splits the volume of the combustion chamber into two, namely the piston bowl and the squish volume. Through analysis, among others the histories of soot, carbon monoxide (CO) and nitric oxide (NO ) emissions inside both volumes are shown.

For gasoline engines controlled autoignition provides the vision of enabling the fuel consumption benefit of stratified lean combustion systems without the drawback of additional NOx aftertreatment. In this study the potential of certain biofuels on this combustion system was assessed by single-cylinder engine investigations using the exhaust strategy "combustion chamber recirculation" (CCR). For the engine testing sweeps in the internal EGR rate with different injection strategies as well as load sweeps were performed. Of particular interest was to reveal fuel differences in the achievable maximal load as well as in the NOx emission behavior. Additionally, experiments with a shock tube and a rapid compression machine were conducted in order to determine the ignition delay times of the tested biofuels concerning controlled autoignition-relevant conditions.

The requirement of reducing worldwide CO₂ emissions and engine pollutants are demanding an increased use of bio-fuels. Ethanol with its established production technology can contribute to this goal. However, due to its resistive auto-ignition behavior the use of ethanol-based fuels is limited to the spark-ignited gasoline combustion process. For application to the compression-ignited diesel combustion process advanced ignition systems are required. In general, ethanol offers a significant potential to improve the soot emission behavior of the diesel engine due to its oxygen content and its enhanced evaporation behavior. In this contribution the ignition behavior of ethanol and mixtures with high ethanol content is investigated in combination with advanced ignition systems with ceramic glow-plugs under diesel engine relevant thermodynamic conditions in a high pressure and temperature vessel.

High levels of exhaust temperature or rich mixtures are necessary for the regeneration of today's diesel particulate filters or NOx catalysts. Therefore, late main injection or post injection is an effective strategy but leads to the well-known problem of lubricating oil dilution depending on the geometry, rail pressure and injection strategy. In this paper a method is developed to simulate fuel entrainment into the lubricating oil wall film in the diesel combustion chamber to predict oil dilution in an early design stage prior to hardware availability for durability testing. The simulation method integrates a newly developed droplet-film interaction model and is compared to results of an optical single-cylinder diesel engine and a similar thermodynamic single-cylinder test engine. Phenomena of diesel post injection like igniting early post injection or split post injections with short energizing times are considered in this paper.

With the implementation of the “Worldwide harmonized Light duty Test Procedure” (WLTP) and the highly dynamic “Real Driving Emissions” (RDE) tests in Europe, different engineering methodologies from virtual calibration approaches to Engine-in-the-loop (EiL) methods have to be considered to define and calibrate efficient exhaust gas aftertreatment technologies without the availability of prototype vehicles in early project phases. Since different types of testing facilities can be used, the effects of test benches as well as real and virtual vehicle operators have to be determined. Moreover, in order to effectively reduce harmful emissions, the reproducibility of test cycles is essential for an accurate and efficient application of exhaust gas aftertreatment systems and the calibration of internal combustion engines.

Cyclic fluctuations of the in-cylinder processes in a Direct Injection Spark Ignition (DISI) engine may strongly affect the engine operation causing misfires or variations in the indicated mean effective pressure (imep). Particularly misfires prevent compliance with current or future exhaust emission legislations. Nevertheless, the origin of cyclic fluctuations is not well understood since fluctuations of in-cylinder air flow, fuel injection and wall interaction have to be considered. This paper focusses on a detailed experimental analysis of the origin of cyclic fluctuations in a DISI engine with an air guided combustion process by means of advanced Laser Induced Exciplex Fluorescence (LIEF) measurements. It reveals that cycle-to-cycle variations primarily originate from the air/fuel ratio at the spark plug.

The current direction for Diesel combustion system development is towards homogenization, in order to reduce particulate and NOx emissions. However, a strong increase of carbon monoxide emissions (CO) is frequently noted in combination with enhanced homogenization. Therefore, the current investigation focuses on a detailed analysis of the particulate - CO trade-off using a laser-optical and multidimensional CFD investigation of the combustion process of a swirl HSDI system. The CFD methodology involves reduced kinetics for soot formation and oxidation and a three-step CO model. These models are validated by a detailed comparison to optical measurements of flow, spray penetration and the spatial distribution of soot, temperature and oxygen concentration. The results obtained show that high concentrations of CO occur as an intermediate combustion reaction product. Subsequently, CO and soot are oxidized in large areas of the combustion chamber.

The main assignment of Controlled Auto Ignition (CAI) operation range expansion is to reduce the burn rate or combustion noise at high load and to minimize misfire at low load. The potential of two principal EGR strategies is well known to initiate CAI in a wide range of operation map by using a variable train system: the Exhaust Port Recirculation (EPR) for higher part load and the Combustion Chamber Recirculation (CCR - also called Negative Valve Overlap) for lower part load. However the detailed comparison of the ignition phenomena with each EGR strategy has not been fully studied yet. In this paper, EPR and CCR were compared with same operational condition (engine speed and load). For the analysis, flame luminescence and Raman scattering method for optical measurement and STAR-CD (CD-adapco) for numerical simulation are used.

Controlled Auto Ignition (CAI) as a promising future combustion process is a concept to strongly reduce fuel consumption as well as NOx emissions. The acceptance and the potential of this combustion process depends on the possible CAI operation range in the engine map and the fuel consumption benefit, as well as the complexity of the variable valve train which is necessary to realize the CAI combustion process. The thermodynamic investigations presented in this paper were done on an engine equipped with an electromechanical valve train (EMVT), featuring Port Fuel Injection (PFI) and direct Injection. They show that the electromechanical valve train is an excellent platform for developing the CAI process. Controlled Auto Ignition has been realized with port fuel injection in a speed range between 1000 and 4500 rpm and in a load range between approximately 1 and 6 bar BMEP (about 5 bar BMEP for pressure gradients lower than 3 bar/°CA) depending on engine speed.