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This article presents a study related to application of pre-chamber ignition system in heavy duty natural gas engine which, as previously shown by the authors, can extend the limit of fuel-lean combustion and hence improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions. A previous study about the effect of pre-chamber volume and nozzle diameter on a single cylinder 2 liter truck-size engine resulted in recommendations for optimal pre-chamber geometry settings. The current study is to determine the dependency of those settings on the engine size. For this study, experiments are performed on a single cylinder 9 liter large bore marine engine with similar pre-chamber geometry and a test matrix of similar and scaled pre-chamber volume and nozzle diameter settings. The effect of these variations on main chamber ignition and the following combustion is studied to understand the scalability aspects of pre-chamber ignition. Indicated efficiency and engine-out emission data is also presented.

Drilling is one of the most costly and labour-intensive operations in aircraft assembly. Rather than automating with expensive fixtures and precise machinery, our approach is to make use of standard low-cost robot equipment in combination with sensor feedback. The focus is to eliminate the sliding movement of the end-effector during the clamp-up, called the skating effect, and to keep the end-effector orthogonal to the surface, thus avoiding holes that are not perpendicular. To that end, force feedback is used for building up pressure to clamp up an end-effector to the work-piece surface prior to drilling. The system, including the planning of force parameters for each hole to be drilled, was programmed in DELMIA. The drilling was accomplished with the aid of an extension to the ABB Rapid language called ExtRapid, which is an XML-like code that is interpreted by the force feedback controller downstream in the process.

NOx pollution from diesel engines has been stated as causing over 10 000 pre-mature deaths annually and predictions are showing that this level will increase [1]. In order to decrease this growing global problem, exhaust after-treatment systems for diesel engines have to be improved, this is especially so for vehicles carrying freight as their use of diesel engines is expected to carry on into the future [2]. The most common way to reduce diesel engine NOx out emissions is to use SCR. SCR operates by injecting aqueous Urea solution, 32.5% by volume (AUS-32), that evaporates prior the catalytic surface of the SCR-catalyst. Due to a catalytic reaction within the catalyst, NOx is converted nominally into Nitrogen and Water. Currently, the evaporative process is enhanced by aggressive mixer plates and long flow paths.

In order to reduce nitrogen oxides (NOx) and soot emissions while maintaining high thermal efficiency, more advanced combustion concepts have been developed over the years, such as Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) and Partially Premixed Combustion (PPC), as possible combustion processes in commercial engines. Compared to HCCI, PPC has advantages of lower unburned hydrocarbon (UHC) and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions; however, due to increased fuel stratifications, soot emissions can be a challenge when adding Exhaust-Gas Recirculation (EGR) gas. The current work presents particle size distribution measurements performed from HCCI-like combustion with very early (120 CAD BTDC) to PPC combustion with late injection timing (11 CAD BTDC) at two intake oxygen rates, 21% and 15% respectively. Particle size distributions were measured using a differential mobility spectrometer DMS500.

Diesel engine manufacturers strive towards further efficiency improvements. Thus, reducing in-cylinder heat losses is becoming increasingly important. Understanding how location, thermal insulation, and engine operating conditions affect the heat transfer to the combustion chamber walls is fundamental for the future reduction of in-cylinder heat losses. This study investigates the effect of a 1mm-thick plasma-sprayed yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) coating on a piston. Such a coated piston and a similar steel piston are compared to each other based on experimental data for the heat release, the heat transfer rate to the oil in the piston cooling gallery, the local instantaneous surface temperature, and the local instantaneous surface heat flux. The surface temperature was measured for different crank angle positions using phosphor thermometry.

Partially premixed combustion (PPC) in internal combustion engine as a low temperature combustion strategy has shown great potential to achieve high thermodynamic efficiency. Methanol due to its unique properties is considered as a preferable PPC engine fuel. The injection timing to achieve methanol PPC conditions should be set very close to TDC, allowing to utilize spray-bowl interaction to further improve combustion process in terms of emissions and heat losses. In this study CFD simulations are performed to investigate spray-bowl interaction for a number of different piston designs and its impact on the heat transfer and the overall piston performance. The validation case is based on a single cylinder heavy-duty Scania D13 engine with a compression ratio 15. The operation point is set to low load 5.42 IMEPg bar with SOI -3 aTDC.

Variability in composite manufacture and the limitations in positional accuracy of common industrial robots have hampered automation of assembly tasks within aircraft manufacturing. One way to handle geometry variations and robot compliancy is to use force control. Force control technology utilizes a sensor mounted on the robot to feedback force data to the controller system so instead of being position driven, i.e. programmed to achieve a certain position with the tool, the robot can be programmed to achieve a certain force. This paper presents an experimental case where a compliant rib is aligned to multiple surfaces using force feedback and an industrial robot system from ABB. Two types of ribs where used, one full size carbon fiber rib, and one smaller metal replica for evaluation purposes. The alignment sequence consisted of several iterative steps and a search procedure was implemented within the robot control system.

Automation in aerospace industry is often in the form of dedicated solutions and focused on processes like drilling, riveting etc. The common industrial robot has due to limitations in positional accuracy and stiffness often been unsuitable for aerospace manufacturing. One major cost driver in aircraft manufacturing is manual assembly and the bespoke tooling needed. Assembly tasks frequently involve setting relations between parts rather than a global need for accuracy. This makes assembly a suitable process for the use of force control. With force control a robot equipped with needed software and hardware, searches for desired force rather than for a position. To test the usefulness of force control for aircraft assembly an experimental case aligning a compliant rib to multiple surfaces was designed and executed. The system used consisted of a standard ABB robot and an open controller and the assembly sequence was made up of several steps in order to achieve final position.

Gas engines (fuelled with CNG, LNG or Biogas) for generation of power and heat are, to this date, taking up larger shares of the market with respect to diesel engines. In order to meet the limit imposed by the TA-Luft regulations on stationary engines, lean combustion represents a viable solution for achieving lower emissions as well as efficiency levels comparable with diesel engines. Leaner mixtures however affect the combustion stability as the flame propagation velocity and consequently heat release rate are slowed down. As a strategy to deliver higher ignition energy, an active pre-chamber may be used. This work focuses on assessing the performance of a pre-chamber combustion configuration in a stationary heavy-duty engine for power generation, operating at different loads, air-to-fuel ratios and spark timings.

The liquid phase penetration of diesel sprays under reacting conditions is measured in an optical heavy-duty Direct Injection (DI) diesel engine. Hot gas reservoirs along the diffusion flames have previously been shown to affect the liftoff length on multi hole nozzles. The aim of this study is to see if they also affect the liquid length. The inter-jet spacing is varied together with the Top Dead Center density and the inlet temperature. To avoid unwanted interferences from the natural flame luminosity the illumination wavelength is blue shifted from the black body radiation spectrum and set to 448 nm. Filtered Mie scattered light from the fuel droplets is recorded with a high speed camera. The liquid fuel penetration is evaluated from the start of injection to the quasi steady phase of the jets. Knowledge of jet-jet interaction effects is of interest for transferring fundamental understanding from combustion vessels to practical engine applications.

The effect of pre-chamber volume and nozzle diameter on performance of pre-chamber ignition device in a heavy duty natural gas engine has previously been studied by the authors. From the analysis of recorded pre- and main chamber pressure traces, it was observed that a pre-chamber with a larger volume reduced flame development angle and combustion duration while at a given pre-chamber volume, smaller nozzle diameters provided better ignition in the main chamber. The structure of pre-chamber jet and its mixing characteristics with the main chamber charge are believed to play a vital role, and hence CFD simulations are performed to study the fluid dynamic aspects of interaction between the pre-chamber jet and main chamber charge during the period of flame development angle, i.e. before main chamber ignition. It has been observed that jets from a larger pre-chamber penetrates through the main chamber faster due to higher momentum and generates turbulence in the main chamber earlier.

In the last couple of decades, countries have enacted new laws concerning environmental pollution caused by heavy-duty commercial and passenger vehicles. This is done mainly in an effort to reduce smog and health impacts caused by the different pollutions. One of the legislated pollutions, among a wide range of regulated pollutions, is nitrogen oxides (commonly abbreviated as NOx). The SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction) was introduced in the automotive industry to reduce NOx emissions leaving the vehicle. The basic idea is to inject a urea solution (AdBlue™) in the exhaust gas before the gas enters the catalyst. The optimal working temperature for the catalyst is somewhere in the range of 300 to 400 °C. For the reactions to occur without a catalyst, the gas temperature has to be at least 800 °C. These temperatures only occur in the engine cylinder itself, during and after the combustion.

The use of Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) is becoming increasingly more popular as a way of reducing NOx emissions from heavy duty vehicles while maintaining competitive operating costs. In order to make efficient use of these systems, it's important to have a complete system approach when it comes to calibration of the engine and aftertreatment system. This paper presents a simplified model of a heavy duty SCR catalyst, primarily intended for use in combination with an engine-out emissions model to perform model based offline optimization of the complete system. The traditional way of modelling catalysts using a dense discretization of the catalyst channels and non-linear differential equation solvers to solve the heat and mass balance equations, requires too much computational power in this application. The presented model is also useful in other applications such as model based control.