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This paper aims to validate chemical kinetic mechanisms of surrogate gasoline three components fuel by calculating one-dimensional laminar burning velocity of iso-octane/air mixture. Next, the application of level-set method on premixed combustion without consideration the effect of turbulence eddies on flame front is also studied in three-dimensional computational fluid dynamic (3D-CFD) simulation. In the 3D CFD simulation, there is an option to calculate laminar burning velocity by using empirical correlations, however it is applicable only for particular initial pressure and temperature in spark ignition engine cases. One-dimensional burning velocities from lean to rich of iso-octane/air mixture are calculated by using CHEMKIN-PRO with detailed chemistry and transport phenomena as a function of different equivalence ratios, different unburnt temperature and pressure ranges.

The first objective of this work is to develop a numerical simulation model of the spark ignited (SI) engine combustion, taking into account knock avoidance and heat transfer between in-cylinder gas and combustion chamber wall. Secondly, the model was utilized to investigate the potential of reducing heat losses by applying a heat insulation coating to the combustion chamber wall, thereby improving engine thermal efficiency. A reduction in heat losses is related to important operating factors of improving SI engine thermal efficiency. However, reducing heat losses tends to accompany increased combustion chamber wall temperatures, resulting in the onset of knock in SI engines. Thus, the numerical model was intended to make it possible to investigate the interaction of the heat losses and knock occurrence. The present paper consists of Part 1 and 2.

The objective of this work is to develop a numerical simulation model of spark ignited (SI) engine combustion and thereby to investigate the possibility of reducing heat losses and improving thermal efficiency by applying a low thermal conductivity and specific heat material, so-called heat insulation coating, to the combustion chamber wall surface. A reduction in heat loss is very important for improving SI engine thermal efficiency. However, reducing heat losses tends to increase combustion chamber wall temperatures, resulting in the onset of knock in SI engines. Thus, the numerical model made it possible to investigate the interaction of the heat losses and knock occurrence and to optimize spark ignition timing to achieve higher efficiency. Part 2 of this work deals with the investigations on the effects of heat insulation coatings applied to the combustion chamber wall surfaces on heat losses, knock occurrence and thermal efficiency.

A three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (3D-CFD) code was combined with a detailed combustion chamber heat transfer model. The established model allowed not only prediction of instantaneous combustion chamber wall surface temperature distributions in practical calculation time but also investigation of the characteristics of combustion, emissions and heat losses affected by the wall temperature distributions. Although zero-dimensional combustion analysis can consider temporal changes in the heat transfer coefficient and in-cylinder gas temperature, it cannot take into account the effect of interactions between spatially distributed charge and wall temperatures. In contrast, 3D-CFD analysis can consider temporal and spatial changes in both parameters. However, in most zero-/multi- dimensional combustion analyses, wall temperatures are assumed to be temporally constant and spatially homogeneous.

A numerical simulation model has been developed to predict the direct injection stratified charge combustion in a constant- volume vessel. Important factors such as local fuel concentration, their fluctuation and turbulent flow characteristics were measured throughout the vessel as function of time. These data were utilized to estimate the buring rate composed of the turbulent fuel-air mixing rate and chemical reaction rate. The model can predict the combustion pressures and heat release rates measured for different ignition timings and spark location.

A variable valve timing (VVT) mechanism was applied to achieve premixed diesel combustion at higher load for low emissions and high thermal efficiency in a light duty diesel engine. By means of late intake valve closing (LIVC), compressed gas temperatures near the top dead center are lowered, thereby preventing too early ignition and increasing ignition delay to enhance fuel-air mixing. The variability of effective compression ratio has significant potential for ignition timing control of conventional diesel fuel mixtures. At the same time, the expansion ratio is kept constant to ensure thermal efficiency. Combining the control of LIVC, EGR, supercharging systems and high-pressure fuel injection equipment can simultaneously reduce NOx and smoke. The NOx and smoke suppression mechanism in the premixed diesel combustion was analyzed using the 3D-CFD code combined with detailed chemistry.

With the development of downsized spark ignition (SI) engines, low-speed pre-ignition (LSPI) has been observed more frequently as an abnormal combustion phenomenon, and there is a critical need to solve this issue. It has been acknowledged that LSPI is not directly triggered by autoignition of the fuel, but by some other material with a short ignition delay time. It was previously reported that LSPI can be caused by droplets of lubricant oil intermixed with the fuel. In this work, the ignition behavior of lubricant component containing fuel droplets was experimentally investigated by using a constant volume chamber (CVC) and a rapid compression and expansion machine (RCEM), which enable visualization of the combustion process in the cylinder. Various combinations of fuel compositions for the ambient fuel-air mixture and fractions of base oil/metallic additives/fuel for droplets were tested.

The 1997 Kyoto protocol came into effect in February, 2005 to reduce greenhouse gases within the period 2008-2012 by at least 5 % with respect to 1990 levels. Application of biodiesel fuel (BDF) to diesel engine is very effective to reduce CO2 emission, because BDF is carbon neutral in principle. The purpose of this project is to produce a light-duty biodiesel truck which can be suitable for emission regulation in next generation. The effect of BDF on the performance and emissions of modern diesel engine which was equipped with the aftertreatment for PM and NOx emissions was investigated without modifications of engine components and parameters, as a first step for research and development of biodiesel engine. Rapeseed oil methyl ester (RME) was selected in behalf of BDF, and combustion characteristics, engine performance and exhaust emissions were made a comparison between RME and petroleum diesel fuel by steady operation and Japan transient mode (JE05) tests.

An experimental study has been made of a single cylinder, direct-injection diesel engine having a re-entrant combustion chamber designed to enhance combustion so as to reduce exhaust emissions. Special emphasis has been placed on controlling the inert gas concentration in the localized fuel-air mixture to lower combustion gas temperatures, thereby reduce exhaust NOx emission. For this specific purpose, an exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) system, which has been widely used in gasoline engines, was applied to the DI diesel engine to control the intake inert gas concentration. In addition, supercharging and increasing fuel injection pressure prevent the deterioration of smoke and unburned hydrocarbons and improve fuel economy, as well.

The objective of this paper is to investigate the potential of lean burn combustion to improve the thermal efficiency of spark ignition engine. Experiments used a single cylinder gasoline spark ignition engine fueled with primary reference fuel of octane number 90, running at 4000 revolution per minute and at wide open throttle. Experiments were conducted at constant fueling rate and in order to lean the mixture, more air is introduced by boosted pressure from stoichiometric mixture to lean limit while maintaining the high output engine torque as possible. Experimental results show that the highest thermal efficiency is obtained at excess air ratio of 1.3 combined with absolute boosted pressure of 117 kPa. Three dimensional computational fluid dynamic simulation with detailed chemical reactions was conducted and compared with results obtained from experiments as based points.

An experimental ultra lightweight compact vehicle named “the Waseda Future Vehicle” has been designed and developed, aiming at a simultaneous achievement of low exhaust gas emissions, high fuel economy and driving performance. The vehicle is powered by a dual-type hybrid system having a SI engine, electric motor and generator. A high performance lithium-ion battery unit is used for electricity storage. A variety of driving cycles were reproduced using the hybrid vehicle on a chassis dynamometer. By changing the logics and parameters in the electronic control unit (ECU) of the engine, a significant improvement in emissions was possible, achieving a very high fuel economy of 34 km/h at the Japanese 10-15 drive mode. At the same time, a numerical simulation model has been developed to predict fuel economy. This would be very useful in determining design factors and optimizing operating conditions in the hybrid power system.

This study examines the effects of ethanol content on engine performances and the knock characteristics in spark ignition gasoline engine under various compression ratio conditions by cylinder pressure analysis, visualization and numerical simulation. The results confirm that increasing the ethanol content provides for greater engine torque and thermal efficiency as a result of the improvement of knock tolerance. It was also confirmed that increasing the compression ratio together with increasing ethanol content is effective to overcome the shortcomings of poor fuel economy caused by the low calorific value of ethanol. Further, the results of one dimensional flame propagation simulation show that ethanol content increase laminar burning velocity. Moreover, the results of visualization by using a bore scope demonstrate that ethanol affects the increase of initial flame propagation speed and thus helps suppress knock.

A study has been made of an automotive direct-injection diesel engine in order to identify the effects of the combustion chamber geometry on combustion, with special emphasis focused on a re-entrant combustion chamber. Conventional combustion chambers and a re-entrant one were compared in terms of the combustion process, engine performance and NOx and smoke emissions. Heat transfer calculations and heat release analyses show that the re-entrant chamber tends to reduce ignition lag due to the higher temperatures of the wall on which injected fuel impinges. Analyses of turbulent flow characteristics in each chamber indicate that the re-entrant chamber enhances combustion because of the higher in-cylinder velocity accompanied by increased turbulence. Further, analyses of in-cylinder gas samples show lower soot levels in the re-entrant chamber. As a result, a good compromise can be achieved between fuel economy and exhaust emissions by retarding the fuel injection timing.

Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) is effective for the simultaneous reduction of soot and NOx emissions from diesel engine. In general, high octane number and volatility fuels (gasoline components or gaseous fuels) are used for HCCI operation, because very lean mixture must be formed during ignition delay of the fuel. However, it is necessary to improve fuel injection systems, when these fuels are used in diesel engine. The purpose of the present study is the achievement of HCCI combustion in DI diesel engine without the large-scale improvements of engine components. Various high octane number fuels are mixed with diesel fuel as a base fuel, and the mixed fuels are directly applied to DI diesel engine. At first, the cylinder pressure and heat release rate of each mixed fuel are analyzed. The ignition delay of HCCI operation decreases with an increase in the operation load, although that of conventional diesel operation does not almost varied.

Widespread use of biofuels for automobiles would greatly reduce CO2 emissions and increase resource recycling, contributing to global environmental conservation. In fact, activities for expanding the production and utilization of biofuels are already proceeding throughout the world. For diesel vehicles, generally, fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) made from vegetable oils is used as a biodiesel. In recent years, hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) has also become increasingly popular. In addition, biomass to liquid (BTL) fuel, which can be made from any kinds of biomass by gasification and Fischer-Tropsch process, is expected to be commercialized in the future. On the other hand, emission regulations in each country have been tightened year by year. In accordance with this, diesel engines have complied with the regulations with advanced technologies such as common-rail fuel injection system, high pressure turbocharger, EGR and aftertreatment system.

The application of biodiesel as an alternative fuel for petroleum diesel fuel is very effective for the reduction of CO₂ emission, because biodiesel is produced from renewable biomass resources. In Japan, neat biodiesel derived from waste cooking oil has often been applied to commercial vehicles. However, it is possible that the difference of fuel properties between conventional diesel fuel and biodiesel causes the problems on exhaust emission characteristics of diesel engine. Therefore, it is necessary to clarify the effect of biodiesel fuelling on exhaust emissions from commercial vehicles. Light-duty garbage trucks and heavy-duty diesel buses which were actually fueled with biodiesel in Kyoto, Japan, were used for test vehicles in this study. The exhaust emissions from these vehicles during JE05 mode tests were compared between biodiesel derived from waste cooking oil and conventional diesel fuel.

In this study, we selected four unregulated emissions species, formaldehyde, benzene, 1,3-butadiene and benzo[a]pyrene to research the emission characteristics of these unregulated components experimentally. The engine used was a water-cooled, 8-liter, 6-cylinder, 4-stroke-cycle, turbocharged DI diesel engine with a common rail fuel injection system manufactured for the use of medium-duty trucks, and the fuel used was JIS second-class light gas oil, which is commercially available as diesel fuel. The results of experiments indicate as follows: formaldehyde tends to be emitted under the low load condition, while 1,3-butadiene is emitted at the low engine speed. This is believed to be because 1,3-butadiene decomposes in a short time, and the exhaust gas stays much longer in a cylinder under the low speed condition than under the high engine speed one. Benzene is emitted under the low load condition, as it is easily oxidized in high temperature.

Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) is effective for the simultaneous reduction of soot and NOx emissions in diesel engine. In general, high octane number fuels (gasoline components or gaseous fuels) are used for HCCI operation, because these fuels briefly form lean homogeneous mixture because of long ignition delay and high volatility. However, it is necessary to improve injection systems, when these high octane number fuels are used in diesel engine. In addition, the difficulty of controlling auto-ignition timing must be resolved. On the other hand, HCCI using diesel fuel (diesel HCCI) also needs ignition control, because diesel fuel which has a low octane number causes the early ignition before TDC. The purpose of this study is the ignition and combustion control of diesel HCCI. The effects of parameters (injection timing, injection pressure, internal/external EGR, boost pressure, and variable valve timing (VVT)) on the ignition timing of diesel HCCI were investigated.

Because the transportation industry uses fossil fuels as much as 1/4 of the total, CO2 emission from transport sector should be reduced. Therefore, carbon neutral (CN) fuel has been attracted attention. However, hydrogen and ammonia have low energy density and are difficult to be stored and transported. In this study, synfuel produced by Fischer-Tropsch (FT) reaction. This fuel is produced with carbon dioxide absorbed from the direct air capture and electricity derived from renewable energy, so it is possible to achieve CN. However, FT fuel tends to have less aromatics and a higher cetane number than diesel fuel. Therefore, excessive early ignition occurs at low speed and low load in application to diesel engine. The purpose of this study is to suppress early ignition by controlling the amount of air flowing into the cylinder. The numerical results showed that the ignition timing and combustion could be controlled using Miller cycle by late intake valve closing (LIVC).

A dual fuel natural gas diesel engine suffers from remarkably lower thermal efficiency and higher THC, CO emissions at lower load because of its lower burned mass fraction caused by the lean pre-mixture. To overcome this inevitable disadvantage at lower load, two methods of reducing the number of operating cylinders were examined. One method was to use the two cylinders operation while the second one was to use the quasi-two cylinders operation. As a result, it was found that the unburned hydrocarbons and CO emissions could be favorably reduced with the improvement of thermal efficiency by reducing the number of cylinders to half for a dual fuel natural gas diesel engine. Moreover, it was also found that the quasi-two cylinders operation could improve the torque fluctuation more compared to the two cylinders operation.