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For various densities of gas jets including very light hydrogen and relatively heavy ones, the penetration length and diffusion process of a single high-speed gas fuel jet injected into air are computed by performing a large eddy simulation (LES) with fewer arbitrary constants applied for the unsteady three-dimensional compressible Navier-Stokes equation. In contrast, traditional ensemble models such as the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equation have several arbitrary constants for fitting purposes. The cubic-interpolated pseudo-particle (CIP) method is employed for discretizing the nonlinear terms. Computations of single-component nitrogen and hydrogen jets were done under initial conditions of a fuel tank pressure of gas fuel = 10 MPa and back pressure of air = 3.5 MPa, i.e., the pressure level inside the combustion chamber after piston compression in the engine.

In our previous reports based on computations and fluid dynamic theory, we proposed a new compressive combustion principle for an inexpensive and relatively quiet engine reactor that has the potential to achieve thermal efficiency over 50% even for small combustion chambers having less than 100 cc. This can be achieved with colliding supermulti-jets that create complete air insulation to encase burned gas around the chamber center. We originally developed two small prototype engine systems for gasoline. First one with one rotary valve for pulsating intake flow and sixteen nozzles of jets colliding has no pistons. Next, we developed the second one having a strongly-asymmetric double piston system with the supermulti-jets colliding, although there are no poppet valves. The second prototype engine can vary point-compression strength due to the supermulti-jets and homogeneous compression level due to piston, by changing phase and size of two gears.

We have proposed the engine featuring a new compressive combustion principle based on pulsed supermulti-jets colliding through a focusing process in which the jets are injected from the chamber walls to the chamber center. This principle has the potential for achieving relatively silent high compression around the chamber center because autoignition occurs far from the chamber walls and also for stabilizing ignition due to this plug-less approach without heat loss on mechanical plugs including compulsory plasma ignition systems. Then, burned high temperature gas is encased by nearly complete air insulation, because the compressive flow shrinking in focusing process gets over expansion flow generated by combustion.

To improve urban air pollution, stringent emissions regulations for heavy-duty diesel engines have been proposed and will become effective in Japan, the EU, and the United States in a few years. To comply with such future regulations, it is critical to investigate the effects of intake and injection parameters and fuel properties on engine performance, efficiency and emissions characteristics, associated with the use of aftertreatment systems. An experimental study was carried out to identify such effects. In addition, the KIVA-3 code was used to gain insight into cylinder events. The results showed improvements in NOx-Smoke and BSFC trade-offs at high-pressure injection in conjunction with EGR and supercharging.

To suppress knock in small gasoline engines, the coolant flow of a single-cylinder engine was improved by using two methods: a multi-dimensional knock prediction method combining a Flamelet model with a simple chemical kinetics model, and a method for predicting combustion chamber wall temperature based on a thermal fluid calculation that coupled the engine coolant and the engine structure (engine head, cylinder block, and head gasket). Through these calculations as well as the measurement of wall temperatures and the analysis of combustion by experiments, the effects of wall temperature distribution and consequent unburnt gas temperature distribution on knock onset timing and location were examined. Furthermore, a study was made to develop a method for cooling the head side, which was more effective to suppress knock: the head gasket shape was modified to change the coolant flow and thereby improve the distribution of wall temperatures on the head side.

A high compression ratio is an effective means for improving the thermal efficiency of an internal combustion engines. However, a high compression ratio leads to a rapid rise in the combustion pressure, as it causes a high impulse force. The impulse force generates vibrations and noise by spreading in the engine. Therefore, reducing the vibration of the combustion (which increases as the compression ratio increases) can improve the thermal efficiency while using the same technology. We are conducting model-based research on technologies for reducing combustion vibration by applying a granular damper to a piston. To efficiently reduce the vibration, we suppress it directly with the piston, i.e., the source of the vibration. Thus, the damping effect is maximized within a minimized countermeasure range.

A numerical study was carried out to investigate auto-ignition characteristics during HCCI predicted by using zero and multi-dimensional models combined with detailed kinetics including 116 chemical species and 689 elementary reactions involving iso-octane. In the simulation, homogeneous charge compression ignition of the fuel was analyzed under the same conditions as encountered in internal combustion engines. The results elucidated the combustible region and oxidation process of iso-octane with the formation and destruction of various chemical species in the cylinder.

To identify ways of achieving good mixture formation and heat release in diesel spray combustion, we have performed Large Eddy Simulation (LES) using a detailed chemical reaction mechanism to study the temporal and spatial distribution of the local equivalence ratios and heat release rate. Here we characterize the effect of the fuel injection rate profile on these processes in the combustion chamber of a diesel engine. Two injection rate profiles are considered: a standard (STD) profile, which is a typical modern common rail injection profile, and the inverse delta (IVD) profile, which has the potential to suppress rich mixture formation in the spray tip region. Experimental data indicate that the formation of such mixtures may extend the duration of the late combustion period and thus reduce thermal efficiency.

It has been recognized that alternative fuels such as liquid petroleum gas (LPG) has less polluting combustion characteristics than diesel fuel. Direct-injection stratified-charge combustion LPG engines with spark-ignition can potentially replace conventional diesel engines by achieving a more efficient combustion with less pollution. However, there are many unknowns regarding LPG spray mixture formation and combustion in the engine cylinder thus making the development of high-efficiency LPG engines difficult. In this study, LPG was injected into a high pressure and temperature atmosphere inside a constant volume chamber to reproduce the stratification processes in the engine cylinder. The spray was made to hit an impingement wall with a similar profile as a piston bowl. Spray images were taken using the Schlieren and laser induced fluorescence (LIF) method to analyze spray penetration and evaporation characteristics.

A variable valve timing (VVT) mechanism has been applied in a high-speed direct injection (HSDI) diesel engine. The effective compression ratio (εeff) was lowered by means of late intake valve closing (LIVC), while keeping the expansion ratio constant. Premixed charge compression ignition (PCCI) combustion, adopting the Miller-cycle, was experimentally realized and numerically analyzed. Significant improvements of NOx and soot emissions were achieved for a wide range of engine speeds and loads, frequently used in a transient mode test. The operating range of the Miller-PCCI combustion has been expanded up to an IMEP of 1.30 MPa.

Performance predictions of advanced turbocharged engines are becoming difficult because conventional engine models are built using performance map data of turbochargers with a proportional integral derivative (PID) controller. Improving prediction capabilities under transient test cycles or real driving conditions is a challenging task. This study applies a machine learning technique to predict turbocharger performances with high accuracy under steady-state and transient conditions. The manipulated signals of engine speed and torque created based on Compressed High-Intensity Radiated Pulse (Chirp signal) and Amplitude-modulated Pseudo-Random Binary Signal (APRBS) are used as inputs to the engine testbed. Data from the engine experiments are used as training data for the AI-based turbocharger model. High prediction accuracy of the AI turbocharger model is achieved with the co-efficient of determination in the model, and cross-validation results are higher than 0.8.

A urea SCR system was combined with a DPF system to reduce NOx and PM in a four liters turbocharged with intercooler diesel engine. Significant reduction in NOx was observed at low exhaust gas temperatures by increasing NH3 adsorption quantity in the SCR catalyst. Control logic of the NH3 adsorption quantity for transient operation was developed based on the NH3 adsorption characteristics on the SCR catalyst. It has been shown that NOx can be reduced by 75% at the average SCR inlet gas temperature of 158 deg.C by adopting the NH3 adsorption quantity control in the JE05 Mode.

A dual fuel natural gas diesel engine suffers from remarkably lower thermal efficiency and higher THC, CO emissions at lower load because of its lower burned mass fraction caused by the lean pre-mixture. To overcome this inevitable disadvantage at lower load, two methods of reducing the number of operating cylinders were examined. One method was to use the two cylinders operation while the second one was to use the quasi-two cylinders operation. As a result, it was found that the unburned hydrocarbons and CO emissions could be favorably reduced with the improvement of thermal efficiency by reducing the number of cylinders to half for a dual fuel natural gas diesel engine. Moreover, it was also found that the quasi-two cylinders operation could improve the torque fluctuation more compared to the two cylinders operation.

Three types of combustion chamber configurations (Types A, B, and C) with compression ratio lower than that of the baseline were tested for improved performance and exhaust gas emissions from an inline-four-cylinder 1.7-liter common-rail diesel engine manufactured for use with passenger cars. First, three combustion chambers were examined numerically using CFD code. Second, engine tests were conducted by using Type B combustion chamber, which is expected to have the best performance and exhaust gas emissions of all. As a result, 80% of NOx emissions at both low and medium loads at 1500 rpm, the engine speed used frequently in the actual city driving, improved with nearly no degradation in smoke emissions and brake thermal efficiency. It was shown that a large amount of cooled EGR enables NOx-free combustion with long ignition delay.

Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) is effective for the simultaneous reduction of soot and NOx emissions in diesel engine. In general, high octane number fuels (gasoline components or gaseous fuels) are used for HCCI operation, because these fuels briefly form lean homogeneous mixture because of long ignition delay and high volatility. However, it is necessary to improve injection systems, when these high octane number fuels are used in diesel engine. In addition, the difficulty of controlling auto-ignition timing must be resolved. On the other hand, HCCI using diesel fuel (diesel HCCI) also needs ignition control, because diesel fuel which has a low octane number causes the early ignition before TDC. The purpose of this study is the ignition and combustion control of diesel HCCI. The effects of parameters (injection timing, injection pressure, internal/external EGR, boost pressure, and variable valve timing (VVT)) on the ignition timing of diesel HCCI were investigated.

A single-point autoignition gasoline engine (Fugine) proposed by us previously has a strongly asymmetric double piston unit without poppet valves, in which pulsed multi-jets injected from eight suction nozzles collide around the combustion chamber center. Combustion experiments conducted on this engine at a low operating speed of 2000 rpm using gasoline as the test fuel under lean burn conditions showed both high thermal efficiency comparable to that of diesel engines and silent combustion comparable to that of conventional spark-ignition gasoline engines. This gasoline engine was tested with a weak level of point compression generated by negative pressure of about 0.04 MPa and also at an additional mechanical homogeneous compression ratio of about 8:1 without throttle valves. After single-point autoignition, turbulent flame propagation may occur at the later stage of heat release.

Computational and theoretical analyses for a new type of engine (Fugine), which was proposed by us based on the colliding of pulsed supermulti-jets, indicate a potential for very high thermal efficiencies and also less combustion noise. Three types of prototype engines were developed. One of them has a low-cost gasoline injector installed in the suction port and a double piston system in which eight octagonal supermulti-jets are injected and collide. Combustion experiments conducted on the prototype gasoline engine show high thermal efficiency comparable to that of diesel engines and less combustion noise comparable to that of traditional spark-ignition gasoline engines. This paper presents some combustion experiments of one of the other piston-less prototype engines having bi-octagonal pulsed multi-jets injected from fourteen nozzles.

A swirl-chamber diesel engine has an indirect injection system in which fuel is injected into a pre-chamber called the swirl-chamber that is separated from the main chamber. Indirect fuel injection systems can be directly mechanically controlled by the camshaft, which is cheaper than electronic control. For these reasons, they are used in diverse industrial applications and automobiles. However, optimization of the swirl-chamber shape and performance tests have been mainly experimental, and there has been insufficient verification of the accuracy of simulations. Thus, we have attempted to verify simulations using a rapid compression and expansion machine that can reproduce the combustion in one engine cycle, with a chamber like a swirl chamber in the cylinder head to visualize the behavior of evaporative sprays and the combustion process. In this study, the authors focused on the wall impingement of the fuel spray and took photos of its liquid phase and ignition.

We have proposed a new compressive combustion principle leading to the auto-ignition of fuel by focusing compression due to the collision of the pulsed supermulti-jets. This principle has the potential of nearly-complete air insulation due to encasing burned gas around the center of the combustion chamber and a high compression ratio around the chamber center while suppressing vibration and noise levels. We have developed the first prototype engine having a very small combustion chamber of a diameter of 18 mm and also 14 side passages for the supermulti-jets colliding at the chamber center. Combustion experimental results indicating air insulation effect and high thrust over 100 N were obtained as basic data for various types of applications, including automobiles and aerospace usage such as for rockets. However, it was found that higher compression due to more jets is necessary to get stabler combustion.

Synthetic fuels can significantly improve the combustion and emission characteristics of heavy-duty diesel engines toward decarbonizing heavy-duty propulsion systems. This work analyzes the effects of engine operating conditions and synthetic fuel properties on spray, combustion, and emissions (soot, NOx) using a supercharging single-cylinder engine experiment and KIVA-4 code combined with CHEMKIN-II and in-house phenomenological soot model. The blended fuel ratio is fixed at 80% diesel and 20% n-paraffin by volume (hereafter DP). Diesel, DP1 (diesel with n-pentane C5H12), DP2 (diesel with n-hexane C6H14), and DP3 (diesel with n-heptane C7H16) are used in engine-like-condition constant volume chamber (CVC) and engine experiments. Boosted engine experiments (1080 rpm, common-rail injection pressure 160 MPa, multi-pulse injection) are performed using the same DP fuel groups under various main injection timings, pulse-injection intervals, and EGR = 0-40%.