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The fuel economy of recent small size DI diesel engines has become more and more efficient. However, heat loss is still one of the major factors contributing to a substantial amount of energy loss in engines. In order to a full understanding of the heat loss mechanism from combustion gas to cylinder wall, the effect of hole size and rail pressure at similar injection rate condition on transient heat flux to the wall were investigated. Using a constant volume vessel with a fixed impingement wall, the study measured the surface heat flux of the wall at the locations of spray flame impingement using three thin-film thermocouple heat-flux sensors. The results showed that the transferred heat was similar under similar injection rate profiles. However, in case of flame luminosity, temperature distribution, characteristic of local heat flux and soot distribution was also similar except the smaller nozzle hole size with higher injection pressure.

Simplified visualization of the fuel spray developing process in a small D.I. diesel engine was made by the liquid injection technique. In this technique, a liquid fuel was injected into another liquid to simulate injection into a high pressure gaseous atmosphere. For obtaining spray characteristics in the liquid similar to a diesel spray in a high-pressure gaseous atmosphere, the similarity principles based on the Reynolds number of the fuel flow at a nozzle hole and empirical equations of the spray penetration including the breakup length were introduced in this study. Especially, the injector was newly designed for the liquid injection technique based on these similarity principles. The behavior of the spray in a swirling flow was investigated. The spray with different breakup length shows different behavior in the same swirling flow.

To get a better understanding of the characteristics of the high pressure gasoline sprays impinging on a wall, a fundamental study was conducted in a high-temperature high-pressure constant volume vessel under the simulated engine conditions of in-cylinder pressures, temperatures, and wall temperatures. The injection pressure was varied from 20 to 120 MPa. The spray tip penetration, vapor mass distribution, and vaporization rate were quantitatively measured with the laser absorption-scattering (LAS) technique. The velocity fields of the wall-impinging sprays under vaporizing conditions were measured with the particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique using silicone oil droplets as tracers. The effects of injection pressure and spray/wall interactions on spray characteristics were investigated. The results showed that the increased injection pressure improved penetration, vaporization, and turbulence of the sprays.

Some experimental investigations have shown that the trade-off curve of NOx vs. particulate of a D.I. diesel engine with split-injection strategies can be shifted closer to the origin than those with a single-pulse injection, thus reducing both particulate and NOx emissions significantly. It is clear that the injection mass ratios and the dwell(s) between injection pulses have significant effects on the combustion and emissions formation processes in the D.I. diesel engine. However, how and why these parameters significantly affect the engine performances remains unexplained. The effects of both injection mass ratios and dwell between injections on vapor/liquid distributions in the split-injection diesel sprays impinging on a flat wall have been examined in our previous work.

Two-stage fuel direct injection (DI) has the potential to expand the operating region and control the auto-ignition timing in a Diesel fuelled homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) engine. In this work, to investigate the dual-injection HCCI combustion, a stochastic reactor model, based on a probability density function (PDF) approach, is utilized. A new wall-impingement sub-model is incorporated into the stochastic spray model for direct injection. The model is then validated against measurements for combustion parameters and emissions carried out on a four stroke HCCI engine. The initial results of our numerical simulation reveal that the two-stage injection is capable of triggering the charge ignition on account of locally rich fuel parcels under certain operating conditions, and consequently extending the HCCI operating range.

An experimental study was made of the two-dimensional distributions of the fuel vapor concentration simulated by Freon-12 in the combustion chamber of a SI engine. Laser Rayleigh scattering was applied for this remote, nonintrusive and highly space- and time-resolved measurement. The original engine was modified to introduce YAG laser-induced sheet light into the combustion chamber and the scattered light was captured by a CCD camera fitted with a gated double-microchannel plate image intensifier. The results showed that the fuel vapor concentration was highly heterogeneous during the intake stroke and the inhomogeneity decreased in the compression stroke. But, even at the end of the compression stroke, a number of small lumps of inhomogeneous mixture still existed randomly in the engine combustion chamber, which is assumed to cause the heterogeneity of the mixture strength field at the spark discharge.

An experimental study on emission formation processes, such as these of nitric oxide, particulate and total hydrocarbon in a small direct injection (D.I.) diesel engine was carried out by using a newly developed total in-cylinder sampling technique. The sampling method consisted of rapidly opening a blowdown valve attached to the bottom of the piston bowl, and quickly transferring most of the in-cylinder contents into a large sampling chamber below the piston. No modification of the intake and exhaust ports in a cylinder head was required for the installation of the blowdown apparatus. The sampling experiment gave a history of spatially-averaged emission concentrations in the cylinder. The effects of several engine variables, such as the length-to-diameter ratio of the nozzle hole, the ratio of the piston bowl diameter to the cylinder bore and the intake swirl ratio, on the emission formation processes were investigated.

Experiments and modeling of a spray impinged onto a cavity wall of a simulated piston were performed under simulated diesel engine conditions (pressure and density) at an ambient temperature. The diesel fuel was delivered from a Bosch-type injection pump to a single-hole nozzle, the hole being drilled in the same direction as the original five-hole nozzle. The fuel was injected into a high-pressure bomb in which an engine combustion chamber, composed of a piston, a cylinder head and a cylinder liner, was installed. Distributions of the spray impinged on the simulated combustion chamber were observed from various directions while changing some of the experimental parameters, such as combustion chamber shape, nozzle projection and top-clearance. High-speed photography was used in the constant volume bomb to examine the effect of these parameters on the spray distributions.

Three-Dimensional visualization technique based on volume rendering method has been developed in order to translate a calculated result of diesel combustion simulation into an realistically spray and flame image. This paper presents an overview of diesel combustion model which has been developed at Hiroshima University, a description of the three-dimensional visualization technique, and some examples of spray and flame image generated by this visualization technique.

The influence of fuel injection pressure and intake pressure on conventional and low temperature diesel combustion was investigated in a light duty diesel engine. The in-cylinder pressure and exhaust emissions were measured and analyzed in each operating condition. The two combustion regimes were classified in terms of intake oxygen concentrations, which were adjusted by varying the amount of exhaust gas recirculation. The fuel injection quantity and injection timing were fixed in order to minimize the influencing factors. Fuel injection pressures of 40 MPa and 120 MPa were used to verify the effect of the fuel injection pressure in both combustion regimes. The injection pressure significantly affected the combustion phase in the low temperature diesel combustion regime due to the longer premixing time relative to the conventional diesel combustion regime.

The effects of charge dilution on low-temperature diesel combustion and emissions were investigated in a small-bore single-cylinder diesel engine over a wide range of injection timing. The fresh air was diluted with additional N2 and CO2, simulating 0 to 65% exhaust gas recirculation in an engine. Diluting the intake charge lowers the flame temperature T due to the reactant being replaced by inert gases with increased heat capacity. In addition, charge dilution is anticipated to influence the local charge equivalence ratio ϕ prior to ignition due to the lower O2 concentration and longer ignition delay periods. By influencing both ϕ and T, charge dilution impacts the path representing the progress of the combustion process in the ϕ-T plane, and offers the potential of avoiding both soot and NOx formation.

Knocking combustion limits the downsized gasoline engines’ potential for improvement with regard to fuel economy. The high in-cylinder pressure and temperature caused by the adaptation of a turbocharger aggravates the tendency of the end-gas to autoignite. Thus, the knocking combustion does not allow for further advancing of the combustion phase. In this research, the effects of the ignition and valve timings on knocking combustion were investigated under steady-state conditions. Moreover, the optimal ignition and valve timings for the transient operations were derived with the aim of a greater fuel economy improvement, based on the steady-state analysis. A 2.0 liter turbocharged gasoline direct injection engine with continuously variable valve timing (CVVT), was utilized for this experiment. 2, 10, and 18 bar brake mean effective pressure (BMEP) load conditions were used to represent the low, medium, and high load operations, respectively.

Two-stage injection strategy was studied in dimethyl-ether homogeneous charge compression ignition engine combustion. An early direct injection, main injection, was applied to form a premixed charge followed by the second injection after the start of heat release. Experiments were carried out in a single-cylinder direct-injection diesel engine equipped with a common-rail injection system, and the combustion performance and exhaust emissions were tested with the various second injection timings and quantities. Engine speed was 1200 rpm, and the load was fixed at 0.2 MPa IMEP. Main injection timing for homogeneous mixture was fixed at −80 CAD, and the fuel quantity was adjusted to the fixed load. Second injection quantity was varied from 1 to 5 mg, and the timing was selected according to the heat release rate of the HCCI combustion without second injection.

A prototype of a small, spark-ignition free-piston engine combined with a linear alternator was designed to produce electric power for portable usage. It has a bore size of 25 mm and maximum stroke of 22 mm. The engine was fueled with liquefied petroleum gas consisting of 98% propane. The electric power generated by the linear alternator is a function of the piston dynamics and the electric conductance. Therefore, the purpose of current research is to investigate the effects of the basic engine controlling parameters such as the equivalence ratio of the mixture and the spark timing on the piston dynamics and study the relationship with the electric power generation performance. The equivalence ratio of the mixture was varied from 1.0 to 1.72, while the spark timing was varied at 3, 4, and 5 mm away from the maximum top dead center. Operating characteristics, namely, indicated mean effective pressure, electric power output, operating frequency and piston stroke were analyzed.

Dimethyl-ether combustion with pilot injection was investigated in a single cylinder direct injection diesel engine equipped with a common-rail injection system. Combustion characteristics and emissions were tested with dimethyl-ether and compared with diesel fuel. The main injection timing was fixed to have the best timings for maximum power output. The total injected fuel mass corresponded to a low heating value of 405 joules per cycle at 800 rpm. The fuel quantity and the injection timing of the pilot injection were varied from 8 to 20% of the total injected mass and from 50 to 10 crank angle degrees before the main injection timing, respectively. Ignition delay decreased with pilot injection. The effects of pilot injection were less significant with DME combustion than with diesel. Pilot injection caused the main combustion to increase in intensity resulting in decreased emissions of hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and particulate matter.

Engine-out CO emission and fuel conversion efficiency were measured in a highly-dilute, low-temperature diesel combustion regime over a swirl ratio range of 1.44-7.12 and a wide range of injection timing. At fixed injection timing, an optimal swirl ratio for minimum CO emission and fuel consumption was found. At fixed swirl ratio, CO emission and fuel consumption generally decreased as injection timing was advanced. Moreover, a sudden decrease in CO emission was observed at early injection timings. Multi-dimensional numerical simulations, pressure-based measurements of ignition delay and apparent heat release, estimates of peak flame temperature, imaging of natural combustion luminosity and spray/wall interactions, and Laser Doppler Velocimeter (LDV) measurements of in-cylinder turbulence levels are employed to clarify the sources of the observed behavior.

The effect of the composition of propane (C₃H₈) and butane (C₄H₁₀) in liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) was investigated in a dual-fuel HCCI engine fueled with di-methyl ether (DME) and LPG. The composition of LPG affects DME-LPG dual fuel HCCI combustion due to the difference in the physical properties of propane that and butane such as octane number, auto-ignition temperature and heat of vaporization. DME was injected directly into the cylinder at various injection timing from 160 to 350 crank angle degrees (CAD). LPG was injected at the intake port with a fixed injection timing at 20 CAD. It was found that power output was increased with propane ratio. This gain in power output resulted from increased expansion work due to the better anti-knock properties of propane. However, higher propane ratio made combustion efficiency decrease because of the suppression in low temperature reaction of DME which determines heat release amount of high temperature reaction.

Dimethyl ether (DME) as a high cetane number fuel and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as a high octane number fuel were supplied together to evaluate the controllability of combustion phase and improvement of power and exhaust emission in homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) engine. Each fuel was injected at the intake port and in the cylinder separately during the same cycle, i.e., DME in the cylinder and LPG at the intake port, or vice versa. Direct injection timing was varied from 200 to 340 crank angle degree (CAD) while port injection timing was fixed at 20 CAD. In general, the experimental results showed that DME direct injection with LPG port injection was the better way to increase the IMEP and reduce emissions. The direct injection timing of high cetane number fuel was important to control the auto-ignition timing because the auto-ignition was occurred at proper area, where the air and high cetane number fuel were well mixed.

In marine or stationary engines, consistent engine performance must be guaranteed for long-haul operations. A dual-fuel combustion strategy was used to reduce the emissions of particulates and nitrogen oxides in marine engines. However, in this case, the combustion stability was highly affected by environmental factors. To ensure consistent engine performance, the in-cylinder pressure measured by piezoelectric pressure sensors is generally measured to analyze combustion characteristics. However, the vulnerability to thermal drift and breakage of sensors leads to additional maintenance costs. Therefore, an indirect measurement via a reconstruction model of the in-cylinder pressure from engine block vibrations was developed. The in-cylinder pressure variation is directly related to the block vibration; however, numerous noise sources exist (such as, valve impact, piston slap, and air flowage).

The combustion, knock characteristics and exhaust emissions in an engine were investigated under homogeneous charge compression ignition operation fueled with liquefied petroleum gas with regard to variable valve timing and the addition of di-methyl ether. Liquefied petroleum gas was injected at an intake port as the main fuel in a liquid phase using a liquefied injection system, while a small amount of di-methyl ether was also injected directly into the cylinder during the intake stroke as an ignition promoter. Different intake valve timings and fuel injection amount were tested in order to identify their effects on exhaust emissions, combustion and knock characteristics. The optimal intake valve open timing for the maximum indicated mean effective pressure was retarded as the λTOTAL was decreased. The start of combustion was affected by the intake valve open timing and the mixture strength (λTOTAL) due to the volumetric efficiency and latent heat of vaporization.