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Engine knock is a major challenge that limits the achievement of higher engine efficiency by increasing the compression ratio of the engine. To address this issue, using a higher octane number fuel can be a potential solution to reduce or eliminate the propensity for knock and so obtain better engine performance. Methanol, a promising alternative fuel, can be produced from conventional and non-conventional energy resources, which can help reduce pollutant emissions. Methanol has a higher octane number than typically gasolines, which makes it a viable option for reducing knock intensity. This study compared the combustion characteristics of gasoline and methanol fuels in an optical spark-ignition engine using multiple spark plugs. The experiment was carried out on a single-cylinder four-stroke optical engine. The researchers used a customized metal liner with four circumferential spark plugs to generate multiple flame kernels inside the combustion chamber.

In order to further study the effects of air and EGR dilution on the fuel economy improvement of natural gas engines under the premise of meeting EU6 legislation, a comparison between stoichiometric operation with EGR and lean burn operation with and without EGR has been conducted at 1600rpm 50% and 75% load. The conversion efficiencies of the catalysts for both NOx and CH4 emissions are assumed at 90% for lean burn operation. Experiment results indicate that under the condition of meeting both NOx and CH4 predetermined engine-out emissions limits for EU6 legislation, lean operation with a small fraction of EGR dilution enables more advanced combustion phasing compared to pure lean operation, which results in much better fuel economy, thus further improvement compared to stoichiometric operation is achieved.

Pumping Mean Effective Pressure (PMEP) is the main factor limiting the improvement of thermal efficiency in a spark-ignition (SI) engine under low load. One of the ways to reduce the pumping loss under low load is to use Cylinder DeActivation (CDA). The CDA aims at reducing the firing density (FD) of the SI engine under low load operation and increasing the mass of air-fuel mixture within one cycle in one cylinder to reduce the throttling effect and further reducing the PMEP. The multi-stroke cycles can also reduce the firing density of the SI engine after some certain reasonable design, which is feasible to improve the thermal efficiency of the engine under low load in theory. The research was carried out on a calibrated four-cylinder SI engine simulation platform. The thermal efficiency improvements of the 6-stroke cycle and 8-stroke cycle to the engine performance were studied compared with the traditional 4-stroke cycle under low load conditions.

Combustion control strategy for high efficiency and low emissions in a heavy duty (H D) diesel engine was investigated experimentally in a single cylinder test engine with a common rail fuel system, EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) system, boost system and retarded intake valve closing timing actuator. For the operation loads of IMEPg (Gross Indicated Mean Effective Pressure) less than 1.1 MPa the low temperature combustion (LTC) with high rate of EGR was applied. The fuel injection modes of either single injection or multi-pulse injections, boost pressure and retarded intake valve closing timing (RIVCT) were also coupled with the engine operation condition loads for high efficiency and low emissions. A higher boost pressure played an important role in improving fuel efficiency and obtaining ultra-low soot and NOx emissions.

The combustion in low-speed two-stroke marine diesel engines can be characterized as large spatial and temporal scales combustion. One of the most effective measures to reduce NOx emissions is to reduce the local maximum combustion temperature. In the current study, multi-dimensional numerical simulations have been conducted to explore the potential of Miller cycle, high compression ratio coupled with EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) and WEF (water emulsified fuel) to improve the trade-off relationship of NOx-ISFC (indicated specific fuel consumption) in a low-speed two-stroke marine engine. The results show that the EGR ratio could be reduced combined with WEF to meet the Tier III emission regulation. The penalty on fuel consumption with EGR and WEF could be offset by Miller cycle and high geometric compression ratio.

An appropriate energy management strategy can further reduce the fuel consumption of P2 hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) with simple hybrid configuration and low cost. The rule-based real-time energy management strategy dominates the energy management strategies utilized in commercial HEVs, due to its robustness and low computational loads. However, its performance is sensitive to the setting of parameters and control actions. To further improve the fuel economy of a P2 HEV, the energy management strategy of the HEV has been re-designed based on the globally optimal control theory. An optimization strategy model based on the longitudinal dynamics of the vehicle and Bellman’s dynamic programming algorithm was established in this research and an optimal power split in the dual power sources including an internal combustion engine (ICE) and an electric machine at a given driving cycle was used as a benchmark for the development of the rule-based energy management strategy.

A feasible method was developed to reconstruct the three-dimensional flame surface of SI combustion based on 2D images. A double-window constant volume vessel was designed to simultaneously obtain the side and bottom images of the flame. The flame front was reconstructed based on 2D images with a slicing model, in which the flame characteristics were derived by slicing flame contour modeling and flame-piston collision area analysis. The flame irregularity and anisotropy were also analyzed. Two different principles were used to build the slicing model, the ellipse hypothesis modeling and deep learning modeling, in which the ellipse hypothesis modeling was applied to reconstruct the flame in the optical SI engine. And the reconstruction results were analyzed and discussed. The reconstruction results show that part of the wrinkled and folded structure of the flame front in SI engines can be revealed based on the bottom view image.

The increasingly stringent requirements in relation to emission reduction and onboard diagnostics are pushing the Chinese automotive industry toward more innovative solutions and a rapid increase in electronic control performance. To manage the system complexity the architecture will require being well structure on hardware and software level. The paper introduces GEMS-K1 (Gasoline Engine Management System - Kit 1). GEMS-K1 is a platform being compliant with Euro IV emission regulation for gasoline engines. The application software is developed using modeling language, the code is automatically generated from the model. The driver software has a well defined structure including microcontroller abstraction layer and ECU abstraction layer. The hardware is following design rules to be robust, 100% testable and easy to manufacture. The electronic components use the latest innovation in terms of architecture and technologies.

Electrically assisted turbochargers are a promising technology for improving boost response of turbocharged engines. These systems include a turbocharger shaft mounted electric motor/generator. In the assist mode, electrical energy is applied to the turbocharger shaft via the motor function, while in the regenerative mode energy can be extracted from the shaft via the generator function, hence these systems are also referred to as regenerative electrically assisted turbochargers (REAT). REAT allows simultaneous improvement of boost response and fuel economy of boosted engines. This is achieved by optimally scheduling the electrical assist and regeneration actions. REAT also allows the exhaust turbine to operate within a narrow range of optimal vane positions relative to the unassisted variable geometry turbocharger (VGT). The ability to operate within a narrow range of VGT vane positions allows an opportunity for a more optimal turbine design for a REAT system.

In decade years, Spark Ignition-Controlled Auto Ignition (SI-CAI) hybrid combustion, also called Spark Assisted Compression Ignition (SACI) has shown its high-efficiency and low emissions advantages. However, high dilution causes the problem of unstable initial ignition and flame propagation, which leads to high cyclic variation of heat release and IMEP. The instability of SI-CAI hybrid combustion limits its dilution degree and its ability to improve the thermal efficiency. In order to solve instability problems and expand the dilution boundary of hybrid combustion, micro flame ignition (MFI) strategy is applied in gasoline hybrid combustion engines. Small amount of Dimethyl Ether (DME) chosen as the ignition fuel is injected into cylinder to form micro flame kernel, which can stabilize the ignition combustion process.

Strategies to suppress knock have been extensively investigated to pursue thermal efficiency limits in downsized engines with a direct-injection spark ignition. Comprehensive considerations were given in this work, including the effects of second injection timing and injector location on knock combustion in a downsized gasoline engine by large eddy simulation. The turbulent flame propagation is determined by an improved G-equation turbulent combustion model, and the detailed chemistry mechanism of a primary reference fuel is employed to observe the detailed reaction process in the end-gas auto-ignition process. The conclusions were obtained by comparing the data to the baseline single-injection case with moderate knock intensity. Results reveal that for both arrangements of injectors, turbulence intensity is improved as the injecting timing is retarded, increasing the flame propagation speed.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of intake air hydrogenation coupled with intake air humidification (IAH) on the combustion and emission of marine diesel engines. A 3D numerical model of four-stroke turbocharged intercooled marine diesel engine was established by using commercial software AVL-Fire. The effects of hydrogen and water injected into the intake port on engine in-cylinder combustion and emission characteristics at 1350 r/min and partial load were studied. The novelty of this study is to combine different hydrogen-fuel ratios and water-fuel ratios, so as to find the optimization method that can reduce NOx and soot emissions and ensure the thermal efficiency of the engine doesn’t decrease.

The effect of the Swirl Control Valve (SCV) on the in-cylinder flow characteristics was studied using LDA measurement in a single cylinder four-valve spark ignition engine with a SCV. Mean velocity, root-mean-square (rms) velocity fluctuation, and frequency structure of the velocity fluctuation were analyzed to illustrate flow features under the SCV open and closed conditions. The results show that when the SCV is open, large-scale flow structure in the cylinder is mainly tumble vortex, which will distort and break up during the late stage of the compression stroke. The rms velocity fluctuation increases during the compression process and reaches its maximum at certain crank angle before TDC. Larger scale eddies and lower frequency structures in the flow field become more near the end of compression process due to breakup of the tumble. The rms velocity fluctuation in the combustion chamber is roughly uniform at the end of the compression process.

In this work, both the ‘SCR-only’ and ‘EGR+SCR’ technical routes are compared and evaluated after the optimizations of both injection strategy and turbocharging system over the World Harmonized Stationary Cycle (WHSC) in a heavy duty diesel engine. The exhaust emissions and fuel economy performance of different turbocharging systems, including wastegate turbocharger (WGT), variable geometry turbocharger (VGT), two-stage fixed geometry turbocharger (WGT+FGT) and two-stage variable geometry turbocharger (VGT+FGT), are investigated over a wide EGR range. The NOx reduction methods and EGR introduction strategies for different turbocharger systems are proposed to improve the fuel economy. The requirement on turbocharging system and their potential to meet future stringent NOx and soot emission regulations are also discussed in this paper.

Controlled Auto-Ignition (CAI) combustion can effectively improve the thermal efficiency of conventional spark ignition (SI) gasoline engines, due to shortened combustion processes caused by multi-point auto-ignition. However, its commercial application is limited by the difficulties in controlling ignition timing and violent heat release process at high loads. Stratified flame ignited (SFI) hybrid combustion, a concept in which rich mixture around spark plug is consumed by flame propagation after spark ignition and the unburned lean mixture closing to cylinder wall auto-ignites in the increasing in-cylinder temperature during flame propagation, was proposed to overcome these challenges.

Particulate matter emissions have become a concern for the development of DISI engines. EGR has been extensively demonstrated as a beneficial technology to migrate knock performance, improve fuel economy and reduce NOX emissions. Recently, the effect of EGR on particulate matter emissions is attracting increased attention. This work investigates the effects of EGR on PN emissions with the variations of engine operating parameters and aims to understand the role of EGR in PN emissions for DISI engines. A 1.8liter turbocharged engine with cooled EGR is used for this study. The engine is operated at steady-state conditions with EGR under various operating parameters including injection timing, excess air ratio, and spark timing to characterize the particle number emissions. The results indicates that there is a high sensitivity of PN emissions to EGR with the variations of those parameters.

Turbulent jet ignition (TJI) has the advantages of improving burning rates and expanding lean burn limitations of gasoline engines. Based on a single cylinder engine, combustion process with different ignition methods, including single spark ignition, twin spark ignition, one-hole TJI and seven-hole TJI, are studied in this work. Experiments are carried out under conditions with different air/fuel equivalence ratios and different engine loads. Results show that the cycle-to-cycle variations of TJI combustion, which is evaluated by coefficient of variations (CoV) of IMEP and CoV of peak pressure, are obviously reduced due to the fast burning rate induced by the jet flame, and one-hole TJI combustion has the best combustion stability, especially for reducing the CoV of peak pressure.

Controlled Auto-Ignition (CAI), also known as Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI), can improve the fuel economy of gasoline engines and simultaneously achieve ultra-low NOx emissions. However, the difficulty in combustion phasing control and violent combustion at high loads limit the commercial application of CAI combustion. To overcome these problems, stratified mixture, which is rich around the central spark plug and lean around the cylinder wall, is formed through port fuel injection and direct injection of gasoline. In this condition, rich mixture is consumed by flame propagation after spark ignition, while the unburned lean mixture auto-ignites due to the increased in-cylinder temperature during flame propagation, i.e., stratified flame ignited (SFI) hybrid combustion.

Methane as an attractive alternative fuel offers the most potential in clean combustion and low CO2 emissions. In this work, combustion characteristics of methane/gasoline dual-fuel were investigated in a spark-ignited engine with port-injection of methane and direct-injection of gasoline, allowing for variations in methane addition and excess air coefficient. Engine experimental results showed that under low load conditions, as methane mass rate was raised, there was a promotion in methane/gasoline dual-fuel combustion, and this became more obvious at lean conditions. Similar observations were also obtained when the engine was operated at intermediate load conditions, but a prolonged combustion duration was found with the methane addition. Further analysis showed that the promotion of methane/gasoline dual-fuel combustion with methane addition mainly occurred in the early stage of combustion, especially for lean conditions.

Engine knock is an abnormal phenomenon, which places barriers for modern Spark-Ignition (SI) engines to achieve higher thermal efficiency and better performance. In order to trigger more controllable knock events for study while keeping the knock intensity at restricted range, various spark strategies (e.g. spark timing, spark number, spark location) are applied to investigate on their influences on knock combustion characteristics and pressure oscillations. The experiment is implemented on a modified single cylinder Compression-Ignition (CI) engine operated at SI mode with port fuel injection (PFI). A specialized liner with 4 side spark plugs and 4 pressure sensors is used to generate various flame propagation processes, which leads to different auto-ignition onsets and knock development. Based on multiple channels of pressure signals, a band-pass filter is applied to obtain the pressure oscillations with respect to different spark strategies.