Search Results

A transient analysis simulation program is developed for studying the response of an indirect injection, naturally aspirated, diesel engine after a rapid increase in load when this is equipped with various types of indirect acting governors. Analytical expressions are presented for the better simulation of engine mechanical friction, inertia moments and heat loss to the walls under transient conditions, governor dynamics for both the sensing element and the servopiston, soot emissions and the fuel pump operation. Various types of governor sensing elements (i.e. mechanical, electrical, two-pulse) and feedbacks (i.e. unity and vanishing) for the servomechanism are studied. Explicit diagrams are given to show how each combination of governor type and technical parameters (i.e. mass and number of flyweights, geometrical dimensions, amplification factors) affects the speed response as well as the speed droop and the recovery period of the particular engine.

The fuel supply chain faces challenges associated with microbial contamination symptoms. Microbial growth is an issue usually known to be associated with middle distillate fuels and biodiesel, however, incidents where microbial populations have been isolated from unleaded gasoline storage tanks have also been recently reported. Alcohols are employed as gasoline components and the use of these oxygenates is rising, especially ethanol, which can be a renewable alternative to gasoline, as well. Despite their alleged disinfectant properties, a number of field observations suggests that biodeterioration could be a potential issue in fuel systems handling ethanol-blended gasoline. For this reason, in this study, the effect of alcohols on microbial proliferation in unleaded gasoline fuel was assessed. Ethanol (EtOH), iso-propyl alcohol (IPA) and tert-butyl-alcohol (TBA) were evaluated as examples of alcohols utilized in gasoline as oxygenates.

The present work investigates the effect of low levels CO2 addition on the combustion characteristics inside a single cylinder optical engine operated under low load conditions. The effects of dilution levels (up to 7.5% mass flow rate CO2 addition), the number of pilot injections (single or double pilot injections) and injection pressure (25 or 40 MPa), are evaluated towards the direction of achieving a partially premixed combustion (PPC) operation mode. The findings are discussed based on optical measurements and via pressure trace and apparent rate of heat release analyses in a Ricardo Hydra optical light duty diesel engine. The engine was operated under low IMEP levels of the order of 1.6 bar at 1200 rpm and with a CO2 diluent-enhanced atmosphere resembling an environment of simulated low exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) rates. Flame propagation is captured by means of high speed imaging and OH, CH and C2 line-of-sight chemiluminescence respectively.

This study investigates the impact of mid-high biodiesel blends on the criteria and PAH emissions from a modern pick-up diesel vehicle. The vehicle was a Euro 4 (category N1, subclass III) compliant common-rail light-duty goods pick-up truck fitted with a diesel oxidation catalyst. Emission and fuel consumption measurements were performed on a chassis dynamometer equipped with CVS, following the European regulations. All measurements were conducted over the certification New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) and the real traffic-based Artemis driving cycles. Aiming to evaluate the fuel impact on emissions, a soy-based biodiesel, a palm-based biodiesel, and an oxidized biodiesel obtained from used frying oils were blended with a typical automotive ultra-low-sulfur diesel at proportions of 30, 50 and 80% by volume. The experimental results revealed that CO₂ emissions and fuel consumption exhibited an increase with biodiesel over all driving conditions.

A comprehensive transient analysis simulation model is used for the calculation of diesel engine performance under variable speed and load conditions. The analysis includes a detailed description of engine subsystems under transient conditions, thus accounting for the continuously changing character of transient operation, simulating among others the fuel injection, transient mechanical friction, heat losses to the walls and governor operation. The results of engine performance, at every time step during the transient event, are used as inputs for the formulation of thermal boundary conditions, which are needed for the calculation in a parallel way of the thermal transients propagating inside the engine structure.

This paper describes some of the recent work carried out in our laboratory regarding the effects of novel oxygen and nitrogen containing compounds on the antiknock quality of unleaded gasoline and their effects on some other gasoline properties. In particular, the research included Research Octane Number (RON) measurements and the evaluation of the effects of the most effective antiknock compounds on Dry Vapour Pressure Equivalent (DVPE), distillation temperatures, aromatic content, olefins, and oxygen content. Emphasis was given in studying chemical structures that can be derived from renewable raw materials. The compounds tested included substituted phenols, furan derivatives, aliphatic amines, various amide structures and Mannich base phenols. Methyl t-butyl ether (MTBE), the most widespread oxygenate currently used in gasoline, was used as a yardstick for assessing the quality of the compounds tested.

This work includes an assessment of the lubricity of Greek road diesel fuel of low sulfur content, and the effect of the addition of two different types of biodiesel which can be produced from raw materials abundant in the Mediterranean area. In this study, a series of representative fuels of the Greek fuel market were tested. In some of them, the lubricity was measured three times, during a period of three months from the day of each sample was produced. In all cases a decrease of the wear scar diameter (WSD) was measured; this behaviour could be attributed to the oxidation reactions that take place during the storage period. In order to monitor the effect of the addition of biodiesel on the lubricity of road diesel, biodiesels produced from sunflower oil and olive oil were used. The use of rape seed oil biodiesel as a diesel fuel substitute is a commercial event in Central Europe; in the United States the soybean oil biodiesel has been examined in detail.

For many years Rancimat was the only standardized method for measuring the oxidation stability of FAME and FAME/diesel blends. However this method is not applicable to pure conventional petroleum products and so the effect of FAME on diesel fuel stability could not be evaluated directly. Recently a Rapid Small Scale Oxidation Test (RSSOT) that covers the determination of the stability of biofuels and petroleum products was developed and standardized. In this study the oxidation stability of seven different types of FAMEs was assessed, either neat or blended with three types of ULSD fuel, by employing both the Rancimat and the RSSOT accelerated oxidation methods. The determinations from either test were analyzed and a comparative assessment of these two method was carried out.

The Diesel engine and especially the direct injection type one is considered to be one of the most efficient thermal engines known to man up to now. It has an efficiency that in some cases is 30 to 40% higher than its competitor the spark ignition engine. The efficiency of the direct injection diesel engine has been considerably improved during the last decade resulting to low fuel consumption and lower absolute values of pollutant emissions. If we consider the green house effect caused by the emitted CO2 it is revealed the environmental importance of high engine efficiency. In the present work a theoretical investigation is conducted using a detailed simulation model for engine performance prediction, to examine the possibilities for improving engine efficiency. The simulation model used is a complete open cycle model for the engine and its subsystems. Such phenomenological models are very suitable for the prediction of engine performance.

Renewable substitutes for transportation fuels have had an important role in the recent years. Hydrotreated vegetable oils (HVO) are produced from two stage hydrotreating process of vegetable oils. The second stage of this hydroteating process is used to convert normal paraffins to isoparaffins in order to improve cold flow properties of these fuels. As this stage is a high energy consuming process, it is of interest to investigate the characteristics and the usability of the first stage of hydrotreatment of lipids. This paper examines the properties of alternative fuel derived from the hydrotreatment of used cooking oil (UCO). Used cooking oil is a difficult feedstock for biodiesel production. The hydrotreating of UCO converts triglycerides mainly into normal paraffins within the diesel fuel range. The hydrotreated UCO (HUCO) has an excellent cetane number and cetane index (>90), but very poor cold flow properties.

The scope of this work is to examine the use of hydroprossed used cooking oils as substitute for automotive diesel fuel. Hydroprocessing is an alternative method for the transformation of vegetable oils into high quality transport fuels, even if the quality of the oils is low, such as used cooking oils. In the present work, the utilization of hydroprocessed used cooking oil (HUCO) as neat fuel was proved to be very difficult, due to its very poor cold flow properties; therefore, mixtures of the HUCO with low quality middle distillates (a low cetane number gasoil and a light cycle oil) were prepared and evaluated. Throughout the process the formed blends were evaluated according to the european standard EN 590. The following points were mainly recorded: The lower density of HUCO was beneficial, permitting the use of poor quality distillates, in specific concentrations, and the high cetane number of HUCO was appreciable, improving the worse behavior of the other components.

Despite the improvement in HD Diesel engine out emissions future emission legislation requires significant reduction of both NOx and particulate matter. To accomplish this task various solutions exist involving both internal and external measures. As widely recognized, it will be possibly required to employ both types of measures to meet future emission limits. Towards this direction, it is necessary to reduce NOx further using internal measures. Several solutions exist in that area, but the most feasible ones according to the present status of technical knowledge are EGR, water injection or fuel/water emulsions. These technologies aim to the reduction of both the gas temperature and oxygen concentration inside the combustion chamber that strongly affect NOx formation. However, there remain open points mainly concerning the effectiveness of water addition techniques and penalties related to bsfc and soot emissions.

The transient operation of a Diesel engine when the turbocharger compressor is driven to its unstable region was examined though detailed simulation. This was accomplished by using a mathematical model, capable of predicting the behavior of a compression system including the case where compressor surging occurs. This model was tested for a simple compression system, and validated against available experimental data. After that, it was incorporated into a detailed reciprocating engine simulation code. Transient engine operation cases in which compressor surging occurred were simulated and the derived results for the behavior of the compressor and engine are presented.

In the present work, a multi-zone model is presented for the simulation of HCCI engines. This model is an improvement of a previous one developed by the authors. The present model describes the combustion, heat and mass transfer processes for the closed part of the engine cycle, i.e. compression, combustion and expansion. The zones occupy geometrical positions within the engine cylinder and exchange heat and mass throughout the compression and expansion strokes, based on their spatial configuration. Heat exchange is considered between zones and to the cylinder wall. A phenomenological model has been developed to describe mass exchange between zones and the flow of a portion of the in-cylinder mixture in and out of the crevice region. The crevice flow is a new feature and is included in the present model since the crevice regions are considered to contribute to unburned HC emissions. Another new feature is the incorporation of chemical kinetics, based on combustion chemistry reactions.

In this study, the transesterification process of 4 different vegetable oils (sunflower, rapeseed, olive oil and used frying oil) took place utilizing ethanol, in order to characterize the ethyl esters and their blends with diesel fuel obtained as fuels for internal combustion engines. All ethyl esters were synthesized using calcium ethoxide as a heterogeneous solid base catalyst. The ester preparation involved a two-step transesterification reaction, followed by purification. The effects of the mass ratio of catalyst to oil, the molar ratio of ethanol to oil, and the reaction temperature were studied on conversion of sunflower oil to optimize the reaction conditions in both stages. The rest of the vegetable oils were converted to ethyl esters under optimum reaction parameters. The optimal conditions for first stage transesterification were an ethanol/oil molar ratio of 12:1, catalyst amount (3.5%), and 80 °C temperature, whereas the maximum yield of ethyl esters reached 80.5%.

A three-dimensional multi-zone combustion model is developed for the description of the combustion mechanism inside the engine cylinder of direct injection diesel engines. Various multi-zone models have been proposed in the past for the prediction of DI diesel engine performance and emissions. These models offer an alternative tool if one wants to avoid the use of other more complicated and sophisticated flow models that require high computational times. Most of them have the disadvantage that they focus mainly on emissions, failing to predict at the same time engine performance adequately. In almost all multi-zone models the resulting fuel jet after injection, which is divided into zones, is assumed to be symmetrical around its axis. In the present work a different approach is followed. The fuel jet is divided into zones in the three dimensions overcoming the need for the previous symmetry assumption.

The fuel injection system of diesel engines is of great importance since it controls the combustion mechanism. The rate of injection and the speed of injected fuel are important parameters for engine operation, controlling the combustion and pollutants formation mechanisms. A fuel injection system simulation capable of predicting the performance of the injection system to a good degree of accuracy has been developed. The simulation is based on a detailed geometrical description of the injection system and in modeling each subsystem as a separate control volume. The simulation starts at the driving mechanism of the fuel pump and describes all parts of the system pump chamber, delivery valve, delivery chamber, connecting pipe and injector. The components of the system are put together and interact as they do in reality. From the cam geometry an analytical expression is derived that gives the pump piston lift as a function of the engine crank angle.

During the past years most fundamental research worldwide has been concentrated on the direct injection diesel engine (DI). This engine has a lower specific fuel consumption when compared to the indirect injection diesel engine (IDI) used up to now in most passenger cars. But the application of the direct injection engine on passenger cars and light trucks has various problems. These are associated mainly with its ability to operate at high engine speeds due to the very low time available for combustion. To overcome these problems engineers have introduced various techniques such as swirl and squish for the working fluid and the use of extremely high pressure fuel injection systems to promote the air-fuel mixing mechanism. The last requires the solution of various problems associated with the use of the high pressure and relatively small injector holes.

Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) engines have the potential of reducing NOx emissions as compared to conventional Diesel or SI engines. Soot emissions are also very low due to the premixed nature of combustion. However, the unburned hydrocarbon emissions are relatively high and the same holds for CO emissions. The formation of these pollutants, for a given fuel, is strongly affected by the temperature distribution as well as by the charge motion within the engine cylinder. The foregoing physical mechanisms determine the local ignition timing and burning rate of the charge affecting engine efficiency, performance and stability. Obviously the success of any model describing HCCI combustion depends on its ability to describe adequately both the chemistry of combustion and the physical phenomena, i.e. heat and mass transfer within the cylinder charge. In the present study a multi-zone model is developed to describe the heat and mass transfer mechanism within the cylinder.

During the last years a great deal of effort has been made for the reduction of pollutant emissions from direct injection Diesel Engines. Towards these efforts engineers have proposed various solutions, one of which is the use of gaseous fuels as a supplement for liquid diesel fuel. These engines are referred to as dual combustion engines i.e. they use conventional diesel fuel and gaseous fuel as well. The ignition of the gaseous fuel is accomplished through the liquid fuel, which is auto-ignited in the same way as in common diesel engines. One of the fuels used is natural gas, which has a relatively high auto-ignition temperature. This is extremely important since the CR of most conventional diesel engines can be maintained. In these engines the released energy is produced partially from the combustion of natural gas and from the combustion of liquid diesel fuel.