Low Temperature Gasoline Combustion With Diesel Micro-Pilot Injection in a Six-Cylinder Heavy Duty Engine

Author(s):  
Florian Bach ◽  
Clemens Hampe ◽  
Uwe Wagner ◽  
Ulrich Spicher ◽  
Christina Sauer

This paper describes the operation of a heavy duty six-cylinder engine in a dual fuel, Low Temperature Combustion (LTC) mode with very low engine-out NOx und soot emissions according to the US EPA Tier IV final emission limits in the corresponding C1 test cycle. This operation mode makes use of a short pilot injection of diesel fuel, which is injected directly into the cylinder, to ignite a highly diluted, premixed gasoline air mixture. Multicylinder engine operation could be demonstrated over the entire engine operating map with loads of up to 2 MPa BMEP. Expensive aftertreatment systems for NOx and soot emissions are not required. This paper also discusses the challenges involved with the implementation of this combustion system on a multicylinder engine. When transferring the dual fuel LTC from a single cylinder research engine to a multicylinder engine, the design of some engine components, e.g. the camshaft and the piston, were changed. The intake manifold is modified with port fuel injectors for ideal gasoline mixture preparation and equal distribution to all cylinders. To avoid cylinder imbalances, it is possible to control the injected masses of gasoline and diesel fuel for the pilot injection on a per-cylinder basis. Achieving high dilution for ignition delay via EGR and boosted intake pressure to avoid high pressure rise rates and knocking presents challenges for the two-stage turbocharger design. Additionally, high EGR rates and EGR cooling for increased loads are addressed. Finally, experiments to determine the significant control parameters for the combustion process are performed on the engine. In the course of these investigations, dual fuel LTC could be transferred from a single cylinder research engine to a multicylinder engine; previously obtained single-cylinder operating conditions could be achieved even at high loads.

Author(s):  
Lorenzo Bartolucci ◽  
Stefano Cordiner ◽  
Vincenzo Mulone ◽  
Sundar R. Krishnan ◽  
Kalyan K. Srinivasan

Abstract Dual fuel diesel-methane low temperature combustion (LTC) has been investigated by various research groups, showing high potential for emissions reduction (especially oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and particulate matter (PM)) without adversely affecting fuel conversion efficiency in comparison with conventional diesel combustion. However, when operated at low load conditions, dual fuel LTC typically exhibit poor combustion efficiencies. This behavior is mainly due to low bulk gas temperatures under lean conditions, resulting in unacceptably high carbon monoxide (CO) and unburned hydrocarbon (UHC) emissions. A feasible and rather innovative solution may be to split the pilot injection of liquid fuel into two injection pulses, with the second pilot injection supporting the methane combustion once the process is initiated by the first one. In this work, diesel-methane dual fuel LTC is investigated numerically in a single-cylinder heavy-duty engine operating at 5 bar brake mean effective pressure (BMEP) at 85% and 75% percentage of energy substitution (PES) by methane (taken as a natural gas surrogate). A multidimensional model is first validated in comparison with experimental data obtained on the same single-cylinder engine for early single pilot diesel injection at 310 CAD and 500 bar rail pressure. With the single pilot injection case as baseline, the effects of multiple pilot injections and different rail pressures on combustion emissions are investigated, again showing good agreement with experimental data. Apparent heat release rate and cylinder pressure histories as well as combustion efficiency trends are correctly captured by the numerical model. Results prove that higher rail pressures yield reductions of HC and CO by 90% and 75%, respectively, at the expense of NOx emissions, which increase by ∼30% from baseline. Furthermore, it is shown that post-injection during the expansion stroke does not support the stable development of the combustion front as the combustion process is confined close to the diesel spray core.


2020 ◽  
Vol 143 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorenzo Bartolucci ◽  
Stefano Cordiner ◽  
Vincenzo Mulone ◽  
Sundar R. Krishnan ◽  
Kalyan K. Srinivasan

Abstract Dual-fuel diesel–methane low-temperature combustion (LTC) has been investigated by various research groups, showing high potential for emissions reduction (especially oxides of nitrogen oxide (NOx) and particulate matter (PM)) without adversely affecting fuel conversion efficiency in comparison with conventional diesel combustion. However, when operated at low load conditions, dual-fuel LTC typically exhibits poor combustion efficiencies. This behavior is mainly due to low bulk gas temperatures under lean conditions, resulting in unacceptably high carbon monoxide (CO) and unburned hydrocarbon (UHC) emissions. A feasible and rather innovative solution may be to split the pilot injection of liquid fuel into two injection pulses, with the second pilot injection supporting CO and UHC oxidation once combustion is initiated by the first one. In this study, diesel–methane dual-fuel LTC is investigated numerically in a single-cylinder heavy-duty engine operating at 5 bar brake mean effective pressure (BMEP) at 85% and 75% percentage of energy substitution (PES) by methane (taken as a natural gas (NG) surrogate). A multidimensional model is first validated in comparison with the experimental data obtained on the same single-cylinder engine for early single pilot diesel injection at 310 crank angle degrees (CAD) and 500 bar rail pressure. With the single pilot injection case as baseline, the effects of multiple pilot injections and different rail pressures on combustion and emissions are investigated, again showing good agreement with the experimental data. Apparent heat release rate and cylinder pressure histories as well as combustion efficiency trends are correctly captured by the numerical model. Results prove that higher rail pressures yield reductions of HC and CO by 90% and 75%, respectively, at the expense of NOx emissions, which increase by ∼30% from baseline still remaining at very low level (under 1 g/kWh). Furthermore, it is shown that postinjection during the expansion stroke does not support the stable development of the combustion front as the combustion process is confined close to the diesel spray core.


1970 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
GA Rao ◽  
AVS Raju ◽  
CVM Rao ◽  
KG Rajulu

In the present work, LPG, a by-product of petroleum refining process is used to replace conventional diesel fuel, partially, for improved combustion efficiency and clean burning. A conventional diesel engine was operated on the dual-fuel mode, using LPG as the primary fuel and diesel as the pilot fuel. A four-stroke, single-cylinder diesel engine, most widely used in agricultural sector, has been considered for the purpose of experimentation. The engine was operated at a constant speed of 1500 rpm at a low engine load of 20% and a high engine load of 80%. Under both these operating conditions, combustion, performance and emission characteristics of the engine have been evaluated and compared with that of baseline diesel fuel operation. At 20 % engine load the brake thermal efficiency of the engine has found to decrease with an increase in the LPG content. On the other hand at 80% engine load, it has increased with an increase in the LPG content. Same trend has been observed with regard to the mechanical efficiency. The volumetric efficiency has decreased with an increase in the LPG content at both the loads. The engine operation is more economical on dual-fuel operation at 80% engine load, whereas at 20% engine load, diesel fuel operation is found to be better. With regard to emissions, smoke density and emissions of NOx were found to reduce with an increase in LPG content at both the loads; however, emissions of HC and CO have shown the reverse trend. Key words: Dual-Fuel; LPG; Diesel; Combustion; Performance; Emissions Load. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjsir.v46i2.8186 Bangladesh J. Sci. Ind. Res. 46(2), 195-200, 2011


2020 ◽  
pp. 146808742094094
Author(s):  
Michał Pyrc ◽  
Michał Gruca ◽  
Arkadiusz Jamrozik ◽  
Wojciech Tutak ◽  
Romualdas Juknelevičius

This study presents experimental examinations of a stationary single-cylinder compression ignition dual fuel engine for the combustion of diesel fuel with water ammonia solution. The effect of 25% water ammonia solution on the combustion, performance, emissions and stability of the dual fuel compression ignition engine was investigated, taking into account its different operating conditions. The experiments were carried out for three modes of engine operation with three loads (35%, 60% and 100%) and a change in the water ammonia solution energy fraction at 60% load, within the range from 0% to 17%. Co-combustion of diesel fuel with water ammonia solution in the test engine contributed to an increase in the ignition delay period and combustion duration, and to an increase in the heat release rate. Compared to the combustion of diesel fuel alone, combustion involving ammonia causes deterioration in the stability of the test engine operation, yet not exceeding the permissible stability indices for reciprocating combustion engines. Addition of water ammonia solution led to reduced nitrogen oxide emissions and increasing carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon emissions and did not result in significant changes in carbon dioxide emissions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinlong Liu ◽  
Hemanth Kumar Bommisetty ◽  
Cosmin Emil Dumitrescu

Heavy-duty compression-ignition (CI) engines converted to natural gas (NG) operation can reduce the dependence on petroleum-based fuels and curtail greenhouse gas emissions. Such an engine was converted to premixed NG spark-ignition (SI) operation through the addition of a gas injector in the intake manifold and of a spark plug in place of the diesel injector. Engine performance and combustion characteristics were investigated at several lean-burn operating conditions that changed fuel composition, spark timing, equivalence ratio, and engine speed. While the engine operation was stable, the reentrant bowl-in-piston (a characteristic of a CI engine) influenced the combustion event such as producing a significant late combustion, particularly for advanced spark timing. This was due to an important fraction of the fuel burning late in the squish region, which affected the end of combustion, the combustion duration, and the cycle-to-cycle variation. However, the lower cycle-to-cycle variation, stable combustion event, and the lack of knocking suggest a successful conversion of conventional diesel engines to NG SI operation using the approach described here.


Author(s):  
Shuonan Xu ◽  
David Anderson ◽  
Mark Hoffman ◽  
Robert Prucka ◽  
Zoran Filipi

Energy security concerns and an abundant supply of natural gas in the USA provide the impetus for engine designers to consider alternative gaseous fuels in the existing engines. The dual-fuel natural-gas diesel engine concept is attractive because of the minimal design changes, the ability to preserve a high compression ratio of the baseline diesel, and the lack of range anxiety. However, the increased complexity of a dual-fuel engine poses challenges, including the knock limit at a high load, the combustion instability at a low load, and the transient response of an engine with directly injected diesel fuel and port fuel injection of compressed natural gas upstream of the intake manifold. Predictive simulations of the complete engine system are an invaluable tool for investigations of these conditions and development of dual-fuel control strategies. This paper presents the development of a phenomenological combustion model of a heavy-duty dual-fuel engine, aided by insights from experimental data. Heat release analysis is carried out first, using the cylinder pressure data acquired with both diesel-only and dual-fuel (diesel and natural gas) combustion over a wide operating range. A diesel injection timing correlation based on the injector solenoid valve pulse widths is developed, enabling the diesel fuel start of injection to be detected without extra sensors on the fuel injection cam. The experimental heat release trends are obtained with a hybrid triple-Wiebe function for both diesel-only operation and dual-fuel operation. The ignition delay period of dual-fuel operation is examined and estimated with a predictive correlation using the concept of a pseudo-diesel equivalence ratio. A four-stage combustion mechanism is discussed, and it is shown that a triple-Wiebe function has the ability to represent all stages of dual-fuel combustion. This creates a critical building block for modeling a heavy-duty dual-fuel turbocharged engine system.


1981 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Lawson ◽  
A. J. Last ◽  
A. S. Desphande ◽  
E. W. Simmons

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoichi Niki

Abstract NH3 has been investigated for its use as an alternative fuel including for use in internal combustion engines. In NH3 combustion, emissions of unburned NH3 with toxicity and N2O as a combustion product with high global warming potential (GWP) are important issues. However, few researchers have investigated NH3 and N2O emissions from NH3 assisted diesel engines operated using NH3–diesel dual fuel. We investigate a combustion strategy to reduce these emissions with a single-cylinder diesel engine mixed NH3 gas into the intake air. We found that an early diesel pilot injection reduced unburned NH3 and N2O emissions while HC and CO emissions increased. It was also reported that NH3 and diesel fuel work as low and high reactivity fuel for reactivity controlled compression ignition combustion (RCCI), respectively. Our previous study reports the aspects of RCCI on NH3–diesel dual fuel engine to some extent. The injection timing of diesel fuel and the quantity of NH3 govern the emissions and performance on RCCI combustion. These effects need to be investigated to manipulate the RCCI combustion and reduce emissions. This paper reports the efficiency and emissions for the diesel pilot injection timing sweep at various NH3 supply quantities and the effects of a split injection on the emissions and a combustion phase. In addition, we estimated the reduction in GHG emissions using a NH3–diesel dual fuel engine, which applied the early diesel pilot injection, compared with the diesel only operation, considering the N2O GWP.


2019 ◽  
Vol 142 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Klingbeil ◽  
Seunghyuck Hong ◽  
Roy J. Primus

Abstract Experiments were conducted on a large bore, medium speed, single cylinder, diesel engine to investigate operation with substitution ratio of natural gas (NG) varying from 0% to 93% by energy. In a previous study by the same group, these data were used to validate an analytical methodology for predicting performance and emissions under a broad spectrum of energy substitution ratios. For this paper, these experimental data are further analyzed to better understand the performance and combustion behavior under NG substitution ratios of 0%, 60%, and 93%. These results show that by transitioning from diesel-only to 60% dual-fuel (DF) (60% NG substitution ratio), an improvement in the NOx-efficiency trade-off was observed that represented a ∼3% improvement in indicated efficiency at constant NOx. Further, the transition from 60% DF to 93% DF (93% NG substitution ratio) resulted in additional efficiency improvement with a simultaneous reduction in NOx emissions. The data suggest that this improvement can be attributed to the premixed nature of the high substitution ratio case. Furthermore, the results show that high cycle-to-cycle variation was observed for some 93% DF combustion tests. Further analysis, along with diesel injection rate measurements, shows that the observed extreme sensitivity of the combustion event can be attributed to critical parameters such as diesel fuel quantity and injection timing. These results suggest a better understanding of the relative importance of combustion system components and operating conditions in controlling cycle-to-cycle variation of combustion process.


Author(s):  
Andrea Aniello ◽  
Lorenzo Bartolucci ◽  
Stefano Cordiner ◽  
Vincenzo Mulone ◽  
Sundar R. Krishnan ◽  
...  

Over the last few decades, emissions regulations for internal combustion engines have become increasingly restrictive, pushing researchers around the world to exploit innovative propulsion solutions. Among them, the dual fuel low temperature combustion (LTC) strategy has proven capable of reducing fuel consumption and while meeting emissions regulations for oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) without problematic aftertreatment systems. However, further investigations are still needed to reduce engine-out hydrocarbon (HC) and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions as well as to extend the operational range and to further improve the performance and efficiency of dual-fuel engines. In this scenario, the present study focuses on numerical simulation of fumigated methane-diesel dual fuel LTC in a single-cylinder research engine (SCRE) operating at low load and high methane percent energy substitution (PES). Results are validated against experimental cylinder pressure and apparent heat release rate (AHRR) data. A 3D full-cylinder RANS simulation is used to thoroughly understand the influence of the start of injection (SOI) of diesel fuel on the overall combustion behavior, clarifying the causes of AHRR transition from two-stage AHRR at late SOIs to single-stage AHRR at early SOIs, low temperature heat release (LTHR) behavior, as well as high HC production. The numerical campaign shows that it is crucial to reliably represent the interaction between the diesel spray and the in-cylinder charge to match both local and overall methane energy fraction, which in turn, ensures a proper representation of the whole combustion. To that aim, even a slight deviation (∼3%) of the trapped mass or of the thermodynamic conditions would compromise the numerical accuracy, highlighting the importance of properly capturing all the phenomena occurring during the engine cycle. The comparison between numerical and experimental AHRR curves shows the capability of the numerical framework proposed to correctly represent the dual-fuel combustion process, including low temperature heat release (LTHR) and the transition from two-stage to single stage AHRR with advancing SOI. The numerical simulations allow for quantitative evaluation of the residence time of vapor-phase diesel fuel inside the combustion chamber and at the same time tracking the evolution of local diesel mass fraction during ignition delay — showing their influence on the LTHR phenomena. Oxidation regions of diesel and ignition points of methane are also displayed for each case, clarifying the reasons for the observed differences in combustion evolution at different SOIs.


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