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The effect of Di-tertiary Butyl Peroxide (DTBP) on Primary Reference Fuels (PRFs) in Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) engines was investigated numerically and was compared with trends from previous experimental observations. A detailed kinetic mechanism for PRF combustion containing more than a thousand species and four thousand reactions was combined with a twenty one species, sixty-nine reaction mechanism for DTBP decomposition. This mechanism predicted the observed experimental trends reasonably well and was used to examine how DTBP addition acts to advance combustion timing and to induce hot ignition for lean and high octane number mixtures. The study suggests that DTBP's predominant mode of action for low Octane Number (ON) fuels is thermal, while for high ON fuels it is chemical. The extended kinetic model compiled for this study and the results obtained can be used to aid in the understanding and development of tailored additives for HCCI engines.

A quasidimensional engine simulation which uses the concepts of fractal geometry to model the effects of turbulence on flame propagation in a homogeneous charge SI engine has been developed. Heat transfer and blowby/crevice flow submodels are included in this code and the submodels chosen are found to be reasonable. The model predictions of cylinder pressure histories are then compared with experimental data over a range of loads, equivalence ratios, and engine speeds. The model is not adjusted in any manner to yield better agreement with the data, other than by tuning the simple turbulence model used so as to yield agreement with data for the nonreacting flow. However, current information about the flame wrinkling scales in an engine is inadequate. Therefore, predictions are made for three different assumptions about the flame wrinkling scales which span the range of physically possible scales.

A quasi-dimensional model for a direct injection diesel engine was developed based on experiments at Sandia National Laboratory. The Sandia researchers obtained images describing diesel spray evolution, spray mixing, premixed combustion, mixing controlled combustion, soot formation, and NOx formation. Dec [1] combined all of the available images to develop a conceptual diesel combustion model to describe diesel combustion from the start of injection up to the quasi-steady form of the jet. The end of injection behavior was left undescribed in this conceptual model because no clear image was available due to the chaotic behavior of diesel combustion. A conceptual end-of-injection diesel combustion behavior model was developed to capture diesel combustion throughout its life span. The compression, expansion, and gas exchange stages are modeled via zero-dimensional single zone calculations.

This paper presents a new global reaction model to simulate the Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) combustion process. The model utilizes seven equations and seven active species. The model includes five reactions that represent degenerate chain branching in the low temperature region, including chain propagation, termination and branching reactions and the reaction of HOOH at the second stage ignition. Two reactions govern the high temperature oxidation, to allow formation and prediction of CO, CO2, and H2O. Thermodynamic parameters were introduced through the enthalpy of formation of each species. We were able to select the rate parameters of the global model to correctly predict the autoignition delay time at constant density for n-heptane and iso-octane, including the effect of equivalence ratio.

We present a multidimensional numerical model that calculates turbulent premixed flame propagation, assuming the flames have fractal geometries. Two scaling transformations, previously developed for laminar flames, are used to incorporate the fractal burning model in KIVA-II1, a numerical hydrodynamics code for chemically reactive flows. In this work the model is implemented for propane/air mixtures. For applications to internal combustion engines, we have also developed a fractal model for early flame kernel growth. Our multidimensional model can be used in experimental comparisons to test postulated fractal parameters, and we begin this task by comparing calculated results with measurements of propane/air combustion in a spark ignition engine. Good agreement is obtained between computed and measured flame positions and pressures in all cases except a low engine speed case.

It is a very challenging problem to reliably ignite extremely lean mixtures, especially for the low speed, high load conditions of large-bore natural gas engines. If these engines are to be use for the distributed power generation market, it will require operation with higher boost pressures and even leaner mixtures. Both place greater demands on the ignition system. The railplug is a very promising ignition system for lean burn natural gas engines with its high-energy deposition and high velocity plasma arc. It requires care to properly design railplugs for this new application, however. For these engines, in-cylinder pressure and mixture temperature are very high at the time of ignition due to the high boost pressure. Hot spots may exist on the electrodes of the ignitor, causing pre-ignition problems. A heat transfer model is proposed in this paper to aid the railplug design. The electrode temperature was measured in an operating natural gas engine.

A reduced chemical kinetic model by Li et al. [1]* for predicting primary reference fuels' reactivity and autoignition behavior was modified to apply to the butanes, and it was correlated to experimental results from the non-fired engine cycles under skip fired conditions. The fuels examined in this work were neat n-butane and n-butane/iso-butane blends (10, 20, and 48 percent by volume iso-butane). In our initial work using measured pressure data from the first skip cycle, we modified Li et al.'s model by only adjusting the fuel specific rate parameters of the alkylperoxy radical (RO2·) isomerization reaction, the reaction of aldehydes with OH·, and the reaction forming cyclic ethers. In this work, analysis was extended to the second skip cycle and additional oxidation rate parameters with high fuel sensitivity were adjusted. Several reactions, which are not significant in butane oxidation, were temporarily made to be inactive in the model.

In Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) engines, fuel oxidation chemistry determines the auto-ignition timing, the heat release, the reaction intermediates, and the ultimate products of combustion. Therefore a model that correctly simulates fuel oxidation at these conditions would be a useful design tool. Detailed models of hydrocarbon fuel oxidation, consisting of hundreds of chemical species and thousands of reactions, when coupled with engine transport process models, require tremendous computational resources. A way to lessen the burden is to use a “skeletal” reaction model, containing only tens of species and reactions. This paper reports an initial effort to extend our skeletal chemical kinetic model of pre-ignition through the entire HCCI combustion process. The model was developed from our existing preignition model, which has 29 reactions and 20 active species, to yield a new model with 69 reactions and 45 active species.

We investigated the ability of a reduced chemical kinetic model of 18 reactions and 13 active species to predict the heat release for a blend of primary reference fuels with octane rating 63 in a motored research engine. Given the initial fuel-air mixture concentration and temperature, the chemical kinetic model is used to predict temperature, heat release and species concentrations as a function of time or crank angle by integrating the coupled rate and energy equations. For comparison, we independently calculated heat release from measured pressure data using a standard thermodynamic model.

An On-Board Distillation System (OBDS) was developed to extract, from gasoline, a highly volatile crank fuel that allows the reduction of startup fuel enrichment and significant spark retard during cold starts and warm-up. This OBDS was installed on a 2001 Lincoln Navigator to explore the emissions reductions possible on a large vehicle with a large-displacement engine. The fuel and spark calibration of the PCM were modified to exploit the benefits of the OBDS startup fuel. Three series of tests were performed: (1) measurement of the OBDS fuel composition and distillation curve per ASTM D86, (2) measurement of real-time cold start (20 °C) tailpipe hydrocarbon emissions for the first 20 seconds of engine operation, and (3) FTP drive cycles at 20 °C with engine-out and tailpipe emissions of gas-phase species measured each second. Baseline tests were performed using stock PCM calibrations and certification gasoline.

As natural gas engines are designed to operate leaner and with increased boost pressure, durability of the spark plugs becomes problematic. Among the various new ignition devices that have been considered to solve some of the problems facing spark plugs, railplugs appear to hold clear advantages in some areas. There are two types of railplugs: coaxial rail and parallel rail. This paper reports the results of an experimental study of various parameters that affect the performance of parallel railplugs. Their performance was quantified by the distance that the arc traveled along the rails from the initiation point. Travel along the rails is thought to be an important performance metric because rail-travel limits excessive local wear and produces a distributed ignition source which can potentially reduce mixture inhomogeneity induced ignition problems.

The 2001 FutureTruck competition involved 15 universities from across North America that were invited to apply a wide range of advanced technologies to improve energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas impact while producing near-zero regulated exhaust emissions in a 2000 Chevrolet Suburban. The modified vehicles designated as FutureTrucks demonstrated improvements in greenhouse gas emissions, tailpipe emissions, and over-the-road fuel economy compared with the stock vehicle on which they were based. The technologies represented in the vehicles included ICE-engines and fuel cell hybrid electric vehicle propulsion systems, a range of conventional and alternative fuels, advanced exhaust emissions controls, and light weighting technologies.

Autoignition chemistry of n-heptane, iso-octane and an 87 octane blend, 87 PRF, was studied in a single-cylinder modified Wisconsin model AENL engine under motored conditions. Use of a fast-acting sampling valve and gas chromatographic analysis allowed measurement of in-cylinder gas composition during the ignition process. Crank angle resolved species evolution profiles were generated for all three fuels at a fixed inlet temperature of 376 K. For n-heptane, the measurements were made during a cyclically repeatable two stage ignition process up to the point of hot ignition (the second stage ignition). These n-heptane experiments were run at ø = 0.3 to avoid excessive pressure rise at hot ignition which might damage our engine. iso-Octane and 87 PRF were run at stoichiometric equivalence ratio which did not have a second stage ignition, and species were measured only during the first stage of ignition.

Research in plug in vehicles (PHEV and BEV) has of course been ongoing for decades, however now that these vehicles are finally being produced for a mass market an intense focus over the last few years has been given to proper evaluation techniques and standard information to effectively convey efficiency information to potential consumers. The first challenge is the development of suitable test procedures. Thanks to many contributions from SAE members, these test procedures have been developed for PHEVs (SAE J1711 now available) and are under development for BEVs (SAE J1634 available later this year). A bigger challenge, however, is taking the outputs of these test results and dealing with the issue of off-board electrical energy consumption in the context of decades-long consumer understanding of MPG as the chief figure of merit for vehicle efficiency.

A survey of the CNG compositions within NGV driving range of Houston was performed. It was found that the statistics for the Texas CNGs were very similar to those from a previous national survey Based upon the present survey results, two extremes of CNG composition were chosen for a study of the effects of composition on emissions, fuel economy, and driveability. Two other CNG compositions were also included to provide for comparisons with the recently completed Auto/Oil Air Quality Improvement Research Program (AQIRP) and to extend the AQIRP database. One of the vehicles used in the AQIRP study was also used in the present investigation. Correlations were investigated for the relationships between the CNG composition and tailpipe emissions, fuel economy, and driveability.

As one of the U.S Department of Energy's (DOE's) vehicle systems benchmarking partners, Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne) has tested many plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) conversions and purpose-built prototype vehicles. The procedures for testing follow draft SAE J1711 and California Air Resources Board (CARB) test concepts and calculation methods. This paper explains the testing procedures and calculates important parameters. It describes some parameters, such as cycle charge-depleting range, actual charge-depleting range, electric range fraction, equivalent all-electric range, and utility factor-weighted fuel economy.

Two limited-production hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) - a 1988 Japanese model Toyota Prius and a 2000 Honda Insight - were tested at Argonne National Laboratory to collect data from vehicle component and systems operation. The test data are used to analyze operation and efficiency and to help validate computer simulation models. Both HEVs have FTP fuel economy greater than 45 miles per gallon and also have attributes very similar to those of conventional gasoline vehicles, even though each HEV has a unique powertrain configuration and operation control strategy. The designs and characteristics of these vehicles are of interest because they represent production technology with all the compromises for production included. This paper will explore both designs, their control strategies, and under what conditions high fuel economy was achieved.

In premixed turbulent combustion models, two mechanisms have been used to explain the increase in the flame speed due to the turbulence. The newer explanation considers the full range of turbulence scales which wrinkle the flame front so as to increase the flame front area and, thus, the flame propagation speed. The fractal combustion model is an example of this concept. The older mechanism assumes that turbulence enables the penetration of unburned mixtures across the flame front via entrainment into the burned mixture zone. The entrainment combustion or eddy burning model is an example of this mechanism. The results of experimental studies of combustion regimes and the flame structures in SI engines has confirmed that most combustion takes place at the wrinkled flame front with additional combustion taking place in the form of flame fingers or peninsulas.

EmiSense Technologies, LLC (www.emisense.com) is commercializing its electronic particulate matter (PM) sensor that is based on technology developed at the University of Texas at Austin (UT). To demonstrate the capability of this sensor for real-time PM measurements and on board diagnostics (OBD) for failure detection of diesel particle filters (DPF), independent measurements were performed to characterize the engine PM emissions and to compare with the PM sensor response. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling was performed to characterize the hydrodynamics of the sensor's housing and to develop an improved PM sensor housing with reproducible hydrodynamics and an internal baffle to minimize orientation effects. PM sensors with the improved housing were evaluated in the truck exhaust of a heavy duty (HD) diesel engine tested on-road and on a chassis dynamometer at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) using their Mobile Emissions Laboratory (MEL).

Condensation of fuel vapor on the cold surfaces within the combustion chamber is investigated as a possible mechanism for increased HC emissions from SI engines during cold start. A one-dimensional, transient, mass diffusion analysis is used to examine the condensation of single-species fuels on the surfaces of the combustion chamber as the pressure within the cylinder rises during compression and combustion, and re-vaporization during expansion, blowdown, and exhaust. The effects of wall temperature, fuel volatility, and engine load and speed on this mechanism are also discussed. This analysis shows that low-volatility fuel components can condense on the surfaces of the combustion chamber when the surface temperatures are sufficiently low. This condensed fuel may re-vaporize during the power and exhaust strokes, or it may remain in the combustion chamber until surface temperatures rise, perhaps tens of seconds later.