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Due to the high cost of torque sensors, a calculation model of transient torque is required for real-time coordinating control purpose, especially in hybrid electric powertrains. This paper presents a feedforward calculation method based on mean value model of turbocharged non-EGR diesel engines. A fitting variable called fuel coefficient is defined in an affine relation between brake torque and fuel mass. The fitting of fuel coefficient is simplified to depend only on three variables (engine speed, boost pressure, injected fuel mass). And a two-layer feedforward neural network is utilized to fit the experimental data. The model is validated by load response test and ETC (European Transient Cycle) transient test. The RMSE (root mean square error) of the brake torque is less than 3%.

An experimental fuel surrogate validation approach is proposed for a compression ignition application, and applied to validate a Jet-A POSF 4658 fuel surrogate. The approach examines the agreement of both physical and chemical properties of surrogate and target fuels during validation within a real compression-ignition engine environment during four sequential but distinct combustion phases. In-cylinder Mie Scattering measurements are applied to evaporating sprays to compare the behavior of the surrogate, its target fuel, and for reference, n-heptane. Early mixture formation and low temperature reaction behavior were investigated using 2-D broadband chemiluminescence imaging, while high temperature ignition and combustion chemistry were studied using OH chemiluminescence imaging. The optical measurements were combined with cylinder pressure-based combustion analysis, including ignition delay and premixed burn duration, to validate the global behavior of the surrogate.

A quasi-dimensional multi-zone model for diesel spray combustion has been developed. The model contains most of the physical processes of diesel spray combustion, and is simplified and economical. The zone formation is based on the fuel injection parameters. For the wall jet penetration velocity, a new equation is used based on the effect of the impinging free jet on the wall jet. For the fuel evaporation, an approximate solution of the instantaneous variations of droplet diameter is given in the simple algebraic equations based on the individual effect of the evaporation and the heat transfer from ambient gas. The soot emission sub-model calculates the soot concentration. This model has been applied for a direct injection diesel engine. The calculated results have shown a reasonable agreement with the experimental results. A parametric study has been carried out.

A new formulation is developed for the ignition delay (ID) in diesel engines to account for the effect of piston motion on the global autoignition reaction rates. A differentiation is made between the IDe measured in engines and IDv, measured in constant volume vessels. In addition, a method is presented to determine the coefficients of the IDe correlation from actual engine experimental data. The new formulation for IDe is applied to predict the misfiring cycles during the cold starting of diesel engines at different low ambient temperatures. The predictions are compared with experimental results obtained on a multi-cylinder heavy-duty diesel engine.

Internal combustion engines, as the dominant power source in the transportation sector and the primary contributor to carbon emissions, face both significant challenges and opportunities in the context of achieving carbon neutral goal. Biofuels, such as biodiesel produced from biomass, and zero-carbon fuel ammonia, can serve as alternative fuels for achieving cleaner combustion in internal combustion engines. The dual-fuel combustion of ammonia-biodiesel not only effectively reduces carbon emissions but also exhibits promising combustion performance, offering a favorable avenue for future applications. However, challenges arise in the form of unburned ammonia (NH3) and N2O emissions. This study, based on a ammonia-biodiesel duel-fuel engine modified from a heavy-duty diesel engine, delves into the impact of adjustments in the two-stage injection strategy on the combustion and emission characteristics.

The objective of this work is to develop a strategy to reduce the penalties in the diesel engine performance, fuel economy and HC and CO emissions, associated with the operation in the low temperature combustion regime. Experiments were conducted on a research high speed, single cylinder, 4-valve, small-bore direct injection diesel engine equipped with a common rail injection system under simulated turbocharged conditions, at IMEP = 3 bar and engine speed = 1500 rpm. EGR rates were varied over a wide range to cover engine operation from the conventional to the LTC regime, up to the misfiring point. The injection pressure was varied from 600 bar to 1200 bar. Injection timing was adjusted to cover three different LPPCs (Location of the Peak rate of heat release due to the Premixed Combustion fraction) at 10.5° aTDC, 5 aTDC and 2 aTDC. The swirl ratio was varied from 1.44 to 7.12. Four steps are taken to move from LTC to ALTC.

Simultaneous measurements of the radial and the tangential components of velocity are obtained in a high-speed, direct-injection diesel engine typical of automotive applications. Results are presented for engine operation with fuel injection, but without combustion, for three different swirl ratios and four injection pressures. With the mean and fluctuating velocities, the r-θ plane shear stress and the mean flow gradients are obtained. Longitudinal and transverse length scales are also estimated via Taylor's hypothesis. The flow is shown to be sufficiently homogeneous and stationary to obtain meaningful length scale estimates. Concurrently, the flow and injection processes are simulated with KIVA-3V employing a RNG k-ε turbulence model. The measured turbulent kinetic energy k, r-θ plane mean strain rates ( 〈Srθ〉, 〈Srr〉, and 〈Sθθ〉 ), deviatoric turbulent stresses , and the r-θ plane turbulence production terms are compared directly to the simulated results.

Acetone-Butanol-Ethanol (ABE), an intermediate product in the ABE fermentation process for producing bio-butanol, is considered a promising alternative fuel because it not only preserves the advantages of oxygenated fuel which typically emit less pollutants compared to conventional diesel, but also lowers the cost of fuel recovery for each individual component during the fermentation. With the development of advanced ABE fermentation technology, the volumetric percentage of acetone, butanol and ethanol in the bio-solvents can be precisely controlled. In this respect, it is desirable to estimate the performance of different ABE blends to determine the best blend and optimize the production process accordingly. ABE fuels with different component ratio, (A: B: E: 6:3:1; 3:6:1; 0:10:0, vol. %), were blended with diesel and tested in a constant volume chamber.

Use of ethanol as gasoline replacement can contribute to the reduction of nitrogen oxide (NOx) and carbon oxide (CO) emissions. Depending on ethanol production, significant reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions is possible. Concentration of certain species, such as unburned ethanol and acetaldehyde in the engine-out emissions are known to rise when ratio of ethanol to gasoline increases in the fuel. This research explores on hydrous ethanol fueled port-fuel injection (PFI) spark ignition (SI) engine emissions that contribute to photochemical formation of ozone, or so-called ozone precursors and the precursor of peroxyacetyl nitrates (PANs). The results are compared to engine operation on gasoline. Concentration obtained by FTIR gas analyzer, and mass-specific emissions of formaldehyde (HCHO), acetaldehyde (MeCHO) and methane (CH4) under two engine speed, four load and two spark advance settings are analyzed and presented.

Polyoxymethylene dimethyl ethers (PODEn) have high cetane number, high oxygen content and high volatility, therefore can be added to gasoline to optimize the performance and soot emission of Gasoline Compression Ignition (GCI) combustion. High speed imaging was used to investigate the spray and combustion process of gasoline/PODEn blends (PODEn volume fraction 0%-30%) under various ambient conditions and injection strategies in a constant volume vessel. Results showed that with an increase of PODEn proportion from 10% to 30%, liquid-phase penetration of the spray increased slightly, ignition delay decreased from 3.8 ms to 2.0 ms and flame lift off length decreased 29.4%, causing a significant increase of the flame luminance. For blends with 20% PODEn, when ambient temperature decreased from 893 K to 823 K, the ignition delay increased 1.3 ms and the flame luminance got lower.

Advanced compression ignition combustion system which reduces simultaneously both nitride oxides (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) is a promising approach to meet future emission regulations. In order to achieve advanced compression ignition, flexible fuel injection is required for ultra-early and post-TDC injections, which conventional injector fails to accomplish due to wall-wetting effect. In this work, special injectors with the spray angle of 60 degree are applied on a 4 cylinder mass-production diesel engine without modification of the engine configuration. For application-oriented study, sweep experiments of injection timings and durations, fuel injection pressure and the boost pressure are carried out to investigate the relationships between the control parameters and the engine performance. Model based calibration and real application tests validate the maximum applicable operation range of maximum speed of 2200 RPM and IMEP of 8.0 bar.

Cold starting problems of diesel engines are caused mainly by the failure of the auto-ignition process or the subsequent combustion of the rest of the charge. The problems include long cranking periods and combustion instability leading to an increase in fuel consumption in addition to the emission of undesirable unburned hydrocarbons which appear in the exhaust as white smoke. The major cause of these problems is the low temperature and pressure of the charge near the end of the compression stroke and/or the poor ignition quality of the fuel. This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation of cold starting of a high speed diesel engine with ULSD (Ultra Low Sulphur Diesel) and JP8 (Jet Propulsion) fuels at ambient temperature (25°C). A detailed analysis is made of the autoignition and combustion of the two fuels in the first few cycles in the cold start transient. In addition, a comparison is made between these processes for the two fuels during idle operation.

Experiments were conducted to investigate the characteristics of a common rail fuel injection system using a flow rate test rig and a single cylinder research diesel engine. Experiments covered speeds and loads typical to engine conditions under Hybrid Electric Vehicle operation. Different injection modes were investigated including main injection, main-post injection and pilot-main injection. The analysis indicated that the common rail fuel pressure affects all the injection parameters including the start of fuel delivery, its duration and amount under all modes of injection. Also, the pressure waves produced in the system have an impact on the operation of the nozzle-needle and fuel delivery particularly in the main-post injection mode.

Recent research has shown that butanol, instead of ethanol, has the potential of introducing a more suitable blend in diesel engines. This is because butanol has properties similar to current transportation fuels in comparison to ethanol. However, the main downside is the high cost of the butanol production process. Acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) is an intermediate product of the fermentation process of butanol production. By eliminating the separation and purification processes, using ABE directly in diesel blends has the potential of greatly decreasing the overall cost for fuel production. This could lead to a vast commercial use of ABE-diesel blends on the market. Much research has been done in the past five years concerning spray and combustion processes of both neat ABE and ABE-diesel mixtures. Additionally, different compositions of ABE mixtures had been characterized with a similar experimental approach.

The characteristics of the diesel engine unit injector were studied both theoretically and experimentally. The transient fuel pressure in the unit injector was indirectly measured by using strain gauges placed in different locations on the drive train, between the cam and plunger. The events which take place during the injection process were analyzed and the effects of several design and operating variables on the different injection parameters were determined. Computer simulation showed a fairly good agreement between computed and experimental results.

An experimental setup using rapid compression machine to provide excellent optical access to visualize simulated high-speed small-bore direct injection diesel engine combustion processes is described. Typical combustion visualization results of diesel spray combustion under different EGR, swirl, and injection pressure and nozzle conditions are presented. Different swirl intensities are achieved using an air nozzle with variable orientations and a check valve to connect the compression chamber and the combustion chamber. Different EGR ratios are achieved by pre-injection of diesel fuel prior to the main observation sequence. Clear visualization of the high-pressure fuel injection, ignition, combustion and spray/wall/swirl interactions is obtained. The injection system is a high-pressure common-rail system with either a VCO or a mini-sac nozzle. High-speed movies up to 35,000 frame-per-second are taken using a framing drum camera to record the combustion events.

Wide Distillation Fuel (WDF), with a distillation range from Initial Boiling Point of gasoline to Final Boiling Point of diesel, can be easily gained directly by blending diesel with gasoline. However, the reduced auto-ignitability of WDF could lead to higher HC emissions. Polyoxymethylene Dimethyl Ethers (PODE), with good volatility and oxygen content of up to 49%, have great potential to improve combustion and emission characteristics, especially for soot reduction. Experiments were carried out in a light-duty four-cylinder diesel engine fueled with neat diesel, gasoline/diesel blends (GD), GD/PODE blends (GDP) and the combustion and emission characteristics were carefully examined. Results showed that GDP had the lowest PM emission and diesel had the poorest one among the three fuels. Due to the addition of gasoline and the relatively poor ignitability, GD had lower combustion efficiency and higher Soluble Organic Fraction (SOF) emissions than diesel.

Wide Distillation Fuel (WDF) refers to the fuels with a distillation range from initial boiling point of gasoline to final boiling point of diesel. Recent experimental results have shown WDF by blending 50% gasoline and 50% diesel (G50) exhibits much lower soot emissions than diesel at medium load with similar thermal efficiency. However, the engine performances fueled by G50 at both low load end and high load end are still unknown. In this study, the combustion and emission characteristics of G50 and diesel are compared over a wide load range from 0.2 MPa IMEP to 1.4 MPa IMEP at a light-duty diesel engine. The results shown that at 0.2 MPa IMEP, G50 exhibits low combustion stability and thermal efficiency. With the increase of load, the poor combustion quality of G50 is improved. G50 can achieve soot-free combustion up to 1.0 MPa IMEP, while diesel cannot.

"The Single Fuel Forward Policy" legislation enacted in the United States mandates that deployed U.S. military ground vehicles must be operable with aviation fuel (JP-8). This substitution of JP-8 for diesel raises concerns about the compatibility of this fuel with existing reciprocating piston engine systems. This study investigates the combustion, emissions, and performance characteristics of blends of JP-8 and Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD) fuels with similar cetane numbers (CN), 48 (JP-8) and 47(ULSD), respectively, in a direct injection (DI) compression ignition engine over the load range of 3-8 bar imep at 1400 rpm. The results showed that JP-8 blends and ULSD had ignition delays ranging from approximately 1.0-1.4 ms and an average combustion duration time in the range of 47-65 CAD. Cylinder maximum heat flux values were found to be between 2.0 and 4.4 MW/m₂, with radiation flux increasing much faster than convection flux while increasing the imep.

An air-cooled, four-stroke, 125 cc electronic gasoline fuel injection SI engine for motorcycles is altered to burn ethanol fuel. The effects of nozzle orifice size, fuel injection duration, spark timing and the excess air/ fuel ratio on engine power output, fuel and energy consumptions and engine exhaust emission levels are studied on an engine test bed. The results show that the maximum engine power output is increased by 5.4% and the maximum torque output is increased by 1.9% with the ethanol fuel in comparison with the baseline. At full load and 7000 r/min, HC emission is decreased by 38% and CO emission is decreased 46% on average over the whole engine speed range. However, NOx levels are increased to meet the maximum power output. The experiments of the spark timing show that the levels of HC and NOx emission are decreased markedly by the delay of spark timing.