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Few previous publications investigate the possibility of combining multiple waste heat sources in a combustion engine waste heat recovery system. A waste heat recovery system for a HD truck diesel engine is evaluated for utilizing multiple heat sources found in a conventional HD diesel engine. In this type of engine more than 50% of heat energy goes futile. The majority of the heat energy is lost through engine exhaust and cooling devices such as EGRC (Exhaust gas recirculation cooler), CAC (Charge air cooler) and engine cooling. In this paper, the potential of usable heat recuperation from these devices using thermodynamic analysis was studied, and also an effort is made to recuperate most of the available heat energy that would otherwise be lost. A well-known way of recuperating this heat energy is by employing a Rankine cycle circuit with these devices as heat sources (single loop or dual loop), and thus this study is focused on using a Rankine cycle for the heat recovery system.

Gasoline fuels are complex mixtures which consist of more than 200 different hydrocarbon species. In order to decrease the chemical and physical complexity, oxygenated surrogate components were used to enhance the fundamental understanding of partially premixed combustion (PPC). The ignition quality of a fuel is measured by octane number. There are two methods to measure the octane number: research octane number (RON) and motor octane number (MON). In this paper, RON and MON were measured for a matrix of n-heptane, isooctane, toluene, and ethanol (TERF) blends spanning a wide range of octane number between 60.6 and 97. First, regression models were created to derive RON and MON for TERF blends. The models were validated using the standard octane test for 17 TERF blends. Second, three different TERF blends with an ignition delay (ID) of 8 degrees for a specific operating condition were determined using a regression model.

Phosphor thermometry was used during fuel injection in an optical engine with the glass piston of reentrant type. SiO2 coated phosphor particle was used for the gas-phase temperature measurements, which gave much less background signal. The measurements were performed in motored mode, in combustion mode with injection of n-heptane and in non-combustion mode with injection of iso-octane. In the beginning of injection period, the mean temperature of each injection cases was lower than that of the motored case, and temperature of iso-octane injection cases was even lower than that of n-heptane injection cases. This indicates, even if vaporization effect seemed to be the same at both injection cases, the effect of temperature decrease changed due to the chemical reaction effect for the n-heptane cases. Chemical reaction seems to be initiated outside of the fuel liquid spray and the position was moving towards the fuel rich area as the time proceeds.

An experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of charge stratification on the combustion phasing in a single cylinder, heavy duty (HD) compression ignition (CI) engine. To do this the start of injection (SOI) was changed from -180° after top dead centre (ATDC) to near top dead centre (TDC) during which CA50 (the crank angle at which 50% of the fuel energy is released) was kept constant by changing the intake temperature. At each SOI, the response of CA50 to a slight increase or decrease of either intake temperature or SOI were also investigated. Afterwards, the experiment was repeated with a different intake oxygen concentration. The results show that, for the whole SOI period, the required intake temperature to keep constant CA50 has a “spoon” shape with the handle on the -180° side.

Partially premixed combustion has the potential of high efficiency and simultaneous low soot and NOx emissions. Running the engine in PPC mode with high octane number fuels has the advantage of a longer premix period of fuel and air which reduces soot emissions, even at higher loads. The problem is the ignitability at low load and idle operating conditions. The objective is to investigate the usefulness of negative valve overlap on a light duty diesel engine running with gasoline partially premixed combustion at low load operating conditions. The idea is to use negative valve overlap to trap hot residual gases to elevate the global in-cylinder temperature to promote auto-ignition of the high octane number fuel. This is of practical interest at low engine speed and load operating conditions because it can be assumed that the available boost is limited. The problem with NVO at low load operating conditions is that the exhaust gas temperature is low.

Partially premixed combustion (PPC) with gasoline fuels is a new promising combustion concept for future internal combustion engines. However, many researchers have argued the capabilities of research octane number (RON) and Motor Octane Number (MON) to describe the autoignition behaviour of gasoline fuels in advanced combustion concepts like PPC. The objective of this study is to propose a new method, called PPC number, to characterize the auto ignition quality of gasoline fuels in a light-duty direct injected compression ignition engine under PPC conditions. The experimental investigations were performed on a 4-cylinder Volvo D4 2 litre engine. The ignition delay which was defined as the crank angle degrees between the start of injection (SOI) and start of combustion (SOC) was used to represent the auto ignition quality of a fuel.

Heavy-duty direct injection compression ignition (DICI) engine running on methanol is studied at a high compression ratio (CR) of 27. The fuel is injected with a common-rail injector close to the top-dead-center (TDC) with two injection pressures of 800 bar and 1600 bar. Numerical simulations using Reynold Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS), Lagrangian Particle Tracking (LPT), and Well-Stirred-Reactor (WSR) models are employed to investigate local conditions of injection and combustion process to identify the mechanism behind the trend of increasing nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions at higher injection pressures found in the experiments. It is shown that the numerical simulations successfully replicate the change of ignition delay time and capture variation of NOx emissions.

Simultaneous formaldehyde and OH PLIF have been applied in a direct-injected HCCI engine. The engine is a 0.5 l single-cylinder optical engine equipped with EGR system. PLIF measurements were performed with the engine run with two different fuels of low and high volatility, respectively. Different ratios of EGR were also examined. The aim of the study was to investigate how fuels with different volatility and EGR affect the HCCI combustion and measurements were performed for early and late injection timings. Measurements are presented for different injection timings showing formaldehyde and OH from start of injection until late in the expansion stroke. Also, formaldehyde distributions obtained from after the low temperature regime and before the high temperature regime are studied for different tuning of the start of injection from 300CAD to 20CAD before top dead center.

In the quest for efficiency improvement in heavy duty truck engines, waste heat recovery could play a valuable role. The evaporative cycle is a waste heat recovery technology aimed at improving efficiency and decreasing emissions. A humid air motor (HAM) uses the waste heat from the exhaust of the engine to humidify the inlet air; this humid air, with higher specific heat, reduces NOx emission to a greater extent [1] [2]. Despite this benefit of emission reduction, the increase or decrease in efficiency of the humid air motor compared to the conventional engine is not discussed in the literature [3] [4] [5]. In this paper, an attempt is made to study the efficiency of the HAM using system model simulations of a 13-liter heavy duty Volvo engine with a humidifier. The commercial software GT-SUITE is used to build the system model and to perform the simulations. The efficiency improvement of the HAM comes from the expansion of the vapor mass flow produced as a result of humidification.

The effects of injection pressure and swirl ratio on the in-cylinder soot oxidation are studied using simultaneous PLIF imaging of OH and LII imaging of soot in an optical diesel engine. Images are acquired after the end of injection in the recirculation zone between two adjacent diesel jets. Scalars are extracted from the images and compared with trends in engine-out soot emissions. The soot emissions decrease monotonically with increasing injection pressure but show a non-linear dependence on swirl ratio. The total amount of OH in the images is negatively correlated with the soot emissions, as is the spatial proximity between the OH and soot regions. This indicates that OH is an important soot oxidizer and that it needs to be located close to the soot to perform this function. The total amount of soot in the images shows no apparent correlation with the soot emissions, indicating that the amount of soot formed is a poor predictor of the emission trends.

Simultaneous laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) imaging of formaldehyde and a fuel-tracer have been performed in a high-speed diesel engine. N-heptane and isooctane were used as fuel and toluene was used as a tracer. This arrangement made it possible to make simultaneous measurements of toluene by exciting at 266 nm and detecting at 270-320 nm while exciting formaldehyde at 355 nm and detecting at 400-500 nm. The aim of this study is to investigate how traditional fuel tracer and natural-occurring formaldehyde formed in the cool chemistry are transported in the piston bowl. A range of ignition delays were created by running the engine with different amounts of EGR. During this sweep the area where the low-temperature reactions take place were studied. The measurements were performed in a 0.5-l, single-cylinder optical engine running under conditions simulating a cruise-point, i.e., about 2.2 bar imep.

Alternative fuels have been proposed as a means for future energy-secure and environmentally sustainable transportation. This review and benchmarking show that several of the alternative fuels (e.g. methanol, ethanol, higher alcohols, RME, HVO, DME, and biogas/CNG) work well with several different engine concepts such as conventional SI, DICI, and dual fuel, and with the emerging concepts HCCI, RCCI, and PPC. Energy consumption is in most cases similar to that of diesel or gasoline, with the exception of methanol and ethanol that use less energy, especially in SI engines. Tailpipe emissions of CO2 with respect to engine work output (tank-to-output shaft) can be reduced by more than 15% compared to a highly efficient gasoline SI engine, and are the lowest with CNG / lean-burn SI and with alcohols in several engine concepts. Alternative fuels are considered safe and in most cases are associated with reduced risk with respect to cancer and other health and environmental issues.

This study investigates particulate matter (PM) and regulated emissions from renewable rapeseed oil methyl ester (RME) biodiesel in pure and blended forms and contrasts that to conventional diesel fuel. Environmental and health concerns are the major motivation for combustion engines research, especially finding sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels and reducing diesel PM emissions. Fatty acid methyl esters (FAME), including RME, are renewable fuels commonly used from low level blends with diesel to full substitution. They strongly reduce the net carbon dioxide emissions. It is largely unknown how the emissions and characteristics of PM get altered by the combined effect of adding biodiesel to diesel and implementing modern engine concepts that reduce nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions by exhaust gas recirculation (EGR).

Methanol is today considered a viable green fuel for combustion engines because of its low soot emissions and the possibility of it being produced in a CO2-neutral manner. Methanol as a fuel for combustion engines have attracted interest throughout history and much research was conducted during the oil crisis in the seventies. In the beginning of the eighties the oil prices began to decrease and interest in methanol declined. This paper presents the emission potential of methanol. T-Φ maps were constructed using a 0-D reactor with constant pressure, temperature and equivalence ratio to show the emission characteristics of methanol. These maps were compared with equivalent maps for diesel fuel. The maps were then complemented with engine simulations using a stochastic reactor model (SRM), which predicts end-gas emissions. The SRM was validated using experimental results from a truck engine running in Partially Premixed Combustion (PPC) mode at medium loads.

In this paper, a parametric analysis on the main engine calibration parameters applied on gasoline Partially Premixed Combustion (PPC) is performed. Theoretically, the PPC concept permits to improve both the engine efficiencies and the NOx-soot trade-off simultaneously compared to the conventional diesel combustion. This work is based on the design of experiments (DoE), statistical approach, and investigates on the engine calibration parameters that might affect the efficiencies and the emissions of a gasoline PPC. The full factorial DoE analysis based on three levels and three factors (33 factorial design) is performed at three engine operating conditions of the Worldwide harmonized Light vehicles Test Cycles (WLTC). The pilot quantity (Qpil), the crank angle position when 50% of the total heat is released (CA50), and the exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) factors are considered. The goal is to identify an engine calibration with high efficiency and low emissions.

Soot emissions from diesel engines are the net result of two competing processes: soot formation and soot oxidation. Previous studies have shown poor correlation between soot formation rates and the soot emissions. This article presents a systematic study of a number of parameters affecting soot oxidation rate and how it correlates with the soot emissions. An optical heavy-duty engine is used in conjunction with a laser extinction setup in order to collect time resolved data of the soot concentration in the cylinder during the expansion stroke. Laser extinction is measured using a red (685 nm) laser beam, which is sent vertically through the cylinder and modulated to produce 10 pulses per crank angle degree. Information is obtained about the amount of soot formed and the soot oxidation rate. The parameters studied are the motored density at top dead center (TDC), motored temperature at TDC, injection pressure, engine speed, swirl level and injector orifice diameter.

Simultaneous OH- and formaldehyde planar-LIF measurements have been performed in an optical engine using two laser sources working on 283 and 355 nm, respectively. The measurements were performed in a light duty Diesel engine, using n-heptane as fuel, converted to single-cylinder operation and modified for optical access. It was also equipped with a direct injection common rail system as well as an EGR system. The engine was operated in both HCCI mode, using a single fuel injection, and UNIBUS (Uniform Bulky Combustion System) mode, using two injections of fuel with one of the injections at 50 CAD before TDC and the other one just before TDC. The OH and formaldehyde LIF images were compared with the heat-release calculated from the pressure-traces. Analyses of the emissions, for example NOx and HC, were also performed for the different operating conditions.

Simultaneous OH- and formaldehyde planar-LIF measurements have been performed in an optical engine using two laser sources working on 283 and 355 nm, respectively. The engine used for the measurements was a car Diesel engine converted to single-cylinder operation and modified for optical access. The fuel, n-heptane, was injected by a direct injection common rail system and the engine was also fitted with an EGR system. The engine was operated in both HCCI mode and Diesel mode. Due to the low load, the Diesel mode resulted in low-temperature Diesel combustion and because of limitations in maximum pressure and maximum rate of pressure increase of the optical engine, the Diesel mode was run at a higher EGR percentage than the HCCI mode to slow down the combustion. A third mode, pilot combustion, was also investigated. This pilot combustion is created by an injection at 30 CAD before TDC followed by a second injection just before TDC.

Methanol is not a fuel typically used in compression ignition engines due to the high resistance to auto-ignition. However, conventional diesel combustion and PPC offer high engine efficiency along with low HC and CO emissions, albeit with the trade-off of increased NOx and PM emissions. This trade-off balance is mitigated in the case of methanol and other alcohol fuels, as they bring oxygen in the combustion chamber. Thus methanol compression ignition holds the potential for a clean and effective alternative fuel proposition. Most existing research on methanol is on SI engines and very little exists in the literature regarding methanol auto-ignition engine concepts. In this study, the spray characteristics of methanol inside the optically accessible cylinder of a DI-HD engine are investigated. The liquid penetration length at various injection timings is documented, ranging from typical PPC range down to conventional diesel combustion.

This work investigates the performance potential of an engine running with partially premixed combustion (PPC) using commercial diesel engine hardware. The engine was a 2.01 SAAB (GM) VGT turbocharged diesel engine and three different fuels were run - RON 70 gasoline, RON 95 Gasoline and MK1 diesel. With the standard hardware an operating range for PPC from idle at 1000 rpm up to a peak load of 1000 kPa IMEPnet at 3000 rpm while maintaining a peak pressure rise rate (PPRR) below 7 bar/CAD was possible with either RON 70 gasoline and MK1 diesel. Relaxing the PPRR requirements, a peak load of 1800 kPa was possible, limited by the standard boosting system. With RON 95 gasoline it was not possible to operate the engine below 400 kPa. Low pressure EGR routing was beneficial for efficiency and combined with a split injection strategy using the maximum possible injection pressure of 1450 bar a peak gross indicated efficiency of above 51% was recorded.