Effect of flash boiling injection on combustion and PN emissions of DISI optical engine fueled with butanol isomers/TPRF blends

Direct injection spark ignition (DISI) engines have been widely used in passenger cars due to their lower fuel consumption, better controllability, and high efficiency. However, DISI engines are suffering from wall wetting, imperfect mixture formation, excess soot emissions, and cyclic variations. Applying a new fuel atomization technique and using biofuels with their distinctive properties can potentially aid in improving DISI engines. In this research, the effects of isobutanol and 2-butanol and their blends with Toluene Primary Reference Fuel (TPRF) on spray characteristics, DISI engine combustion, and particle number (PN) emissions are investigated for conditions with and without flash boiling of the injected fuel. Spray characteristics are investigated using a constant volume chamber. Then, the combustion, flame propagation, and PN emissions are examined using an optical DISI engine. The fuel temperature is set to 298 K and 453 K for liquid injection and flash boiling injection, respectively. The tested blending ratio is 30 vol% butanol isomers and 70 vol% TPRF. The results of the spray test reveal that liquid fuel plumes are distinctly observed, and butanol blends show a slightly wider spray angle with lower penetration length compared to TPRF. However, under flash boiling injection, the sprays collapse towards the injector axis, forming a more extended single central vapor jet due to the plumes' interaction. Meanwhile, butanol blends yield a narrow spray angle with more extended penetration compared to TPRF. The flame visualization test shows that the flash boiling injection reduced yellow flames compared to liquid fuel injection, reflecting the improvements in mixture formation. Thus, improvements were noted in the heat release and PN emissions. Butanol addition reduced the PN emissions by 43% under regular liquid injection. Flash boiling injection provided an additional 25% reduction in PN emissions.     

Effects of flash boiling injection on in-cylinder spray,mixing and combustion of a spark-ignition direct-injection engine

Higher engine efficiency and ever stringent pollutant emission regulations are considered as the most important challenges for today's automotive industry. Fast evaporation and combustion technique has caused unprecedented attention due to its potential to solve both of the above challenges. Flash boiling, which features a two-phase flow that constantly generates vapor bubbles inside the liquid spray is ideal to achieve fast evaporation and combustion inside direct-injection (DI) gasoline engines. In this study, three spray conditions, including liquid, transitional flash boiling and flare flash boiling spray were studied for comparison under cold start condition in a spark-ignition direct-injection (SIDI) optical gasoline engine. Optical access into the combustion chamber includes a quartz linear and a quartz insert on the piston. In separate experiments, we recorded the crank angle resolved spray morphology using laser scattering technique, and distribution of fuel before ignition employing laser induced fluorescence technology, as well as time-resolved color images of flame with high-speed camera. The spray morphology during the intake stroke shows stronger plume-plume and plume-air interaction under flash boiling condition, as well as smaller penetration. Then around the end of compression (before ignition), the fuel distribution is also shown to be more homogeneous with less cyclic variation under flash boiling. Finally, from the color images of the flame, it was found that with the increase of superheat degree, the diffusion rate of blue flame (generated by excited molecules) is higher, which is considered to be related with the larger fractal dimension of the flame front. Also, the combustion is more complete with less yellow flame under flash boiling.     

混氢改善汽油机稀燃性能的试验研究

针对汽油机稀燃条件下循环变动大,燃料燃烧不充分的问题,本文在一台加装了电控氢气喷射系统的四缸汽油机上就混氢对改善汽油机稀燃条件下燃烧与排放性能的作用进行了试验研究。在发动机1400r/min,进气道绝对压力为61.5 kPa的条件下,就1%与3%两种进气混氢体积分数对稀燃汽油机燃烧与排放特性的影响进行了研究。试验结果表明,稀燃时发动机制动热效率随混氢分数增加而提高;滞燃期与速燃期随混氢分数增加而缩短;发动机稀燃极限所对应的过量空气系数由原机的1.45提高至混氢1%与3%时的1.55和1.96。混氢后发动机HC与CO排放降低,但NO_x排放有所升高。     

DMM燃料柴油机可控预混合燃烧的研究

本文介绍了在压燃式发动机上进行的预混合燃烧研究。在柴油机的进气道入口处安装了一个电控燃料喷射系统,喷入具有低十六烷值、低沸点的甲缩醛(DMM)燃料,在压缩冲程中形成均匀的混合气,并在上止点附近喷入少量柴油来点燃混合气。本文研究了预混合燃料比、发动机负荷、进气中CO2浓度和喷孔直径对发动机燃烧和排放的影响。试验结果表明,进气道喷射DMM的预混合燃烧能同时大幅降低NOx和碳烟排放,为降低柴油机有害排放提供了一种新途径。     

柴油混合闪蒸喷雾的探索研究

基于同时降低柴油机中的NOx和微粒的想法，作者提出混合闪蒸喷雾的设想，井建立了混合闪蒸试验台，以证实这种设想在喷雾阶段是否能实现．试验证实了混合闪蒸雾化改善柴油雾化的机理．文中分析了水油比、水的温度、压力对雾束形状、油滴平均直径的影响，对混合闪蒸用于实际柴油机的潜力做了估计．     

Simulation of spray development and turbulent combustion processes in low and high speed diesel engines by the CMC-ISR model

Simulation is performed to analyse the characteristics of turbulent spray combustion in conventional low and high speed diesel engine conditions. Turbulence–chemistry interaction is resolved by the Conditional Moment Closure (CMC) model in the spatially integrated form of an Incompletely Stirred Reactor (ISR). After validation against measured pressure traces, characteristic length and time scales and dimensionless numbers are estimated at the locations of sequentially injected fuel groups. Conditional flame structures are calculated for sequentially evaporated fuel groups to consider different available periods for ignition chemistry. Injection overlaps the combustion period in the high rpm engine, while most combustion occurs after injection and evaporation are complete in the low rpm engine. Ignition occurs in rich premixture with the initial peak temperature at the equivalence ratio around 2–4 as observed in Dec [2]. It corresponds to the most reactive mixture fraction of the minimum ignition delay for the given mixture states. Combustion proceeds to lean and rich sides in the mixture fraction space as a diffusion process by turbulence. The mean scalar dissipation rates (SDRs) are lower than the extinction limit to show stability of diffusion flames throughout the combustion period.     

蒸发性对燃油瞬态喷雾撞击壁面的动态传热影响

直喷发动机燃油喷雾撞击壁面形成油膜,导致燃烧效率降低,颗粒物排放增加。伴随撞壁的动态传热过程对油膜蒸发具有重要影响。本文针对正戊烷、甲醇、甲醇汽油混合燃料瞬态喷雾撞击壁面,研究了不同条件下蒸发性对燃油瞬态喷雾撞击壁面动态传热影响。结果表明,提高喷油温度可促进燃油雾化,增大喷油压力或降低喷油距离可提高液滴撞壁强度,缩短液膜存在时间。撞壁瞬态温度与热流密度动态变化特征受燃油蒸发性与喷雾条件联合影响。     

Effects of fuel stratification on ignition kernel development and minimum ignition energy of n-decane/air mixtures

Fuel-stratified combustion has broad application due to its promising advantages in extension of lean flammability limit, improvement of flame stabilization, enhancement of lean combustion, etc. In the literature, there are many studies on flame propagation in fuel-stratified mixtures. However, there is little attention on ignition in fuel-stratified mixtures. In this study, one-dimensional numerical simulation is conducted to investigate the ignition and spherical flame kernel propagation in fuel-stratified n-decane/air mixtures. The emphasis is placed on assessing the effects of fuel stratification on the ignition kernel propagation and critical ignition condition. First, ignition and flame kernel propagation in homogeneous n-decane/air mixture are studied and different flame regimes are identified. The minimum ignition energy (MIE) of the homogeneous n-decane/air mixture is obtained and it is found to be very sensitive to the equivalence ratio under fuel-lean conditions. Then, ignition and flame kernel propagation in fuel-stratified n-decane/air mixture are investigated. The inner equivalence ratio and stratification radius are found to have great impact on ignition kernel propagation. The MIEs at different fuel-stratification conditions are calculated. The results indicate that for fuel-lean n-decane/air mixture, fuel stratification can greatly promote ignition and reduce the MIE. Six distinct flame regimes are observed for successful ignition in fuel-stratified mixture. It is shown that the ignition kernel propagation can be induced by not only the ignition energy deposition but also the fuel-stratification. Moreover, it is found that to achieve effective ignition enhancement though fuel stratification, one needs properly choose the values of stratification radius and inner equivalence ratio.     

Numerical study of premixed HCCI engine combustion and its sensitivity to computational mesh and model uncertainties

This study used a numerical model to investigate the combustion process in a premixed iso-octane homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) engine. The engine was a supercharged Cummins C engine operated under HCCI conditions. The CHEMKIN code was implemented into an updated KIVA-3V code so that the combustion could be modelled using detailed chemistry in the context of engine CFD simulations. The model was able to accurately simulate the ignition timing and combustion phasing for various engine conditions. The unburned hydrocarbon emissions were also well predicted while the carbon monoxide emissions were under predicted. Model results showed that the majority of unburned hydrocarbon is located in the piston-ring crevice region and the carbon monoxide resides in the vicinity of the cylinder walls. A sensitivity study of the computational grid resolution indicated that the combustion predictions were relatively insensitive to the grid density. However, the piston-ring crevice region needed to be simulated with high resolution to obtain accurate emissions predictions. The model results also indicated that HCCI combustion and emissions are very sensitive to the initial mixture temperature. The computations also show that the carbon monoxide emissions prediction can be significantly improved by modifying a key oxidation reaction rate constant.     

A joint experimental and numerical study of ignition in a spray burner

Partly due to stringent restrictions on pollutant emissions, aeronautical engine manufacturers target lean operating conditions which raise new difficulties such as combustion stability as well as ignition and re-ignition at high altitude. The injection of liquid fuel introduces additional complexity due to the spray-flame interaction. It is then crucial to better understand the physics behind these phenomena and to develop the capacity to predict them in an industrial context. In this work, a comprehensive joint experimental and numerical investigation of the academic swirled-confined version of the KIAI-Spray burner is carried out. Experimental diagnostics, such as Phase Doppler Anemometry (PDA), Planar Laser Induced Fluorescence (OH-PLIF), high-speed visualization and high-speed particle image velocimetry (HS-PIV), together with Large Eddy Simulations coupled to Discrete Particle Simulations are used to study spray flame structure and spray ignition. The analysis of the swirled-stabilized spray flame highlights the main effects of the presence of droplets on the turbulent combustion, and the complementarity and validity of the joint experiment and simulation approach. Ignition sequences are then studied. Both experiment and simulation show the same behaviors, and relate the flame kernel evolution and the possible success of ignition to the local non reacting flow properties at the sparking location, in terms of turbulence intensity and presence of droplets.     

Simultaneous 36 kHz PLIF/chemiluminescence imaging of fuel,CH2O and combustion in a PPC engine

The requirements on high efficiency and low emissions of internal combustion engines (ICEs) raise the research focus on advanced combustion concepts, e.g., premixed-charge compression ignition (PCCI), partially premixed compression ignition (PPCI), reactivity controlled compression ignition (RCCI), partially premixed combustion (PPC), gasoline compression ignition (GCI) etc. In the present study, an optically accessible engine is operated in PPC mode, featuring compression ignition of a diluted, stratified charge of gasoline-like fuel injected directly into the cylinder. A high-speed, high-power burst-mode laser system in combination with a high-speed CMOS camera is employed for diagnostics of the autoignition process which is critical for the combustion phasing and efficiency of the engine. To the authors’ best knowledge, this work demonstrates for the first time the application of the burst-system for simultaneous fuel tracer planar laser induced fluorescence (PLIF) and chemiluminescence imaging in an optical engine, at 36?kHz repetition rate. In addition, high-speed formaldehyde PLIF and chemiluminescence imaging are employed for investigation of autoignition events with a high temporal resolution (5 frames/CAD). The development of autoignition together with fuel or CH₂O distribution are simultaneously visualized using a large number of consecutive images. Prior to the onset of combustion the majority of both fuel and CH₂O are located in the recirculation zone, where the first autoignition also occurs. The ability to record, in excess of 100 PLIF images, in a single cycle brings unique possibilities to follow the in-cylinder processes without the averaging effects caused by cycle-to-cycle variations.     

Impact of coolant temperature on piston wall-wetting and smoke generation in a stratified-charge DISI engine operated on E30 fuel

A late-injection strategy is typically adopted in stratified-charge direct injection spark ignition (DISI) engines to improve combustion stability for lean operation, but this may induce wall wetting on the piston surface and result in high soot emissions. E30 fuel, i.e., gasoline with 30% ethanol, is a potential alternative fuel that can offer a high Research Octane Number. However, the relatively high ethanol content increases the heat of vaporization, potentially exacerbating wall-wetting issues in DISI engines. In this study, the Refractive Index Matching (RIM) technique is used to measure fuel wall films in the piston bowl. The RIM implementation uses a novel LED illumination, integrated in the piston assembly and providing side illumination of the piston-bowl window. This RIM diagnostics in combination with high-speed imaging was used to investigate the impact of coolant temperature on the characteristics of wall wetting and combustion in an optical DISI engine fueled with E30. The experiments reveal that the smoke emissions increase drastically from 0.068 FSN to 1.14 FSN when the coolant temperature is reduced from 90 °C to 45 °C. Consistent with this finding, natural flame luminosity imaging reveals elevated soot incandescence with a reduction of the coolant temperature, indicative of pool fires. The RIM diagnostics show that a lower coolant temperature also leads to increased fuel film thickness, area, and volume, explaining the onset of pool fires and smoke.     

四气门发动机可变涡流稀薄燃烧特性研究

本文研究了可变涡流对四气门发动机稀薄燃烧特性的影响情况。在稀薄燃烧情况下,发动机负荷大小对CO和HC排放的影响不大,对NOx排放的影响主要表现在对13～17空燃比范围内NOx排放的影响,负荷越大,NOx排放越大;对空燃比小于13或大于17以后的NOx排放影响较小。阀片位置对发动机排放特性的影响较小,对发动机的燃油经济性存在一定影响,这是因为不同阀片位置的进气涡流比不同所致,同时也表明较强的涡流运动对燃油经济性更有利。涡流运动在不同转速条件下对发动机燃油经济性的影响情况不同,它更有利于改善低速条件下的燃油经济性。     

Flame kernel characterization of laser ignition of natural gas–air mixture in a constant volume combustion chamber

In this paper, laser-induced ignition was investigated for compressed natural gas–air mixtures. Experiments were performed in a constant volume combustion chamber, which simulate end of the compression stroke conditions of a SI engine. This chamber simulates the engine combustion chamber conditions except turbulence of air–fuel mixture. It has four optical windows at diametrically opposite locations, which are used for laser ignition and optical diagnostics simultaneously. All experiments were conducted at 10 bar chamber pressure and 373 K chamber temperature. Initial stage of combustion phenomena was visualized by employing Shadowgraphy technique using a high speed CMOS camera. Flame kernel development of the combustible fuel–air mixture was investigated under different relative air–fuel ratios (λ=1.2?1.7) and the images were interrogated for temporal propagation of flame front. Pressure-time history inside the combustion chamber was recorded and analyzed. This data is useful in characterizing the laser ignition of natural gas–air mixture and can be used in developing an appropriate laser ignition system for commercial use in SI engines.     

Local fuel concentration measurements in internal combustion engines using spark-emission spectroscopy

Spectrally resolved visible and ultraviolet emissions are investigated as a basis for wide-range, individual-cycle measurement of the local fuel concentration in spark-ignition engines. The 388-nm CN emission intensity, normalized by the spark-discharge energy during the observation interval (typically 150 μs at the start of the glow discharge), is found to be the most useful measure of fuel concentration when data are required over a wide range. Calibration data for homogeneous propane–air and isooctane–air mixtures over a wide range of cylinder gas conditions at the time of ignition collapse to a single curve when the fuel concentration is expressed in terms of the number density of carbon atoms. The carbon number densities measured in this study correspond to fuel–air equivalence-ratios in the range 0–3 at 95% throttle conditions. Random and systematic errors are 10% or less. Applied to an engine in which liquid fuel is injected directly into the cylinder, the technique reveals substantial cyclic fluctuations in the fuel concentration at the spark gap for early fuel injection (intended to produce a homogeneous fuel–air mixture in the combustion chamber) and large fuel-concentration fluctuations for late fuel injection (which produces a highly stratified mixture). The results also show that for stratified operation with a fixed fuel-injection timing, a spark timing that is later than optimum leads to incomplete combustion in many cycles due to fuel–air ratios that are too lean for good ignition and rapid flame development. Received: 6 November 2001 / Revised version: 6 May 2002 / Published online: 25 September 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +1-586/986 0176, E-mail: todd.fansler@gm.com     

Infrared borescopic characterization of corona and conventional ignition for lean/dilute combustion in heavy-duty natural-gas engines

Natural gas (NG) is attractive for heavy-duty (HD) engines for reasons of cost stability, emissions, and fuel security. NG requires forced ignition, but conventional gasoline-engine ignition systems are not optimized for NG and are challenged to ignite mixtures that are lean or diluted with exhaust-gas recirculation (EGR). NG ignition is particularly difficult in large-bore engines, where it is more challenging to complete combustion in the time available. High-speed infrared (IR) in-cylinder imaging and image-derived quantitative metrics were used to compare two ignition systems in terms of the early flame-kernel development and cycle-to-cycle variability (CCV) in a heavy-duty, natural-gas-fueled engine that had been modified to enable exhaust-gas recirculation and to provide optical access via borescopes. Imaging in the near IR and short-wavelength IR yielded strong signals from the water emission lines, which acted as a proxy for flame front and burned-gas regions while obviating image intensification (which can reduce spatial resolution). The ignition systems studied were a conventional system and a high-frequency corona system. The air/fuel mixtures investigated included stoichiometric without dilution and lean with EGR. The corona system produced five separate elongated, irregularly shaped, nonequilibrium-plasma streamers, leading to immediate formation of five spatially distinct wrinkled flame kernels around each streamer. Compared to the conventional spark ignition, which produces a single flame kernel that exhibits an initial laminar growth regime before wrinkling, corona ignition's early achievement of higher flame surface areas significantly shortened the ignition delay, resulting in reduced overall combustion duration and CCV for each mixture. Additionally, although the lean, dilute mixture produced higher CCV than the stoichiometric, minimally diluted mixture with both igniters, the mixtures ignited by the corona system suffered less than those ignited by the conventional system. Image-based measurements of CCV agreed with those based on in-cylinder pressure.     

Catalytic ignition and autothermal combustion of JP-8 and its surrogates over a Pt/γ-Al2O3 catalyst

With the aim of utilizing JP-8 fuel for small scale portable power generation systems, catalytic combustion of JP-8 is studied. The surface ignition, extinction and autothermal combustion of JP-8, of a six-component surrogate fuel mixture, and the individual components of the surrogate fuel over a Pt/γ-Al₂O₃ catalyst are experimentally investigated in a packed bed flow reactor. The surrogate mixture exhibits similar ignition–extinction behavior and autothermal temperatures compared to JP-8 suggesting the possibility of using this surrogate mixture for detailed kinetics of catalytic combustion of JP-8. It is shown that JP-8 ignites at low temperatures in the presence of catalyst. Upon ignition, catalytic combustion of JP-8 and the surrogate mixture is self-sustained and robust combustion is observed under fuel lean as well as fuel rich conditions. It is shown that the ignition temperature of the hydrocarbon fuels increases with increasing equivalence ratio. Extinction is observed under fuel lean conditions, whereas sustained combustion was also observed for fuel rich conditions. The effect of dilution in the air flow on the catalytic ignition and autothermal temperatures of the fuel mixture is also investigated by adding helium to the air stream while keeping the flow rate and the equivalence ratio constant. The autothermal temperature decreases linearly as the amount of dilution in the flow is increased, whereas the ignition temperature shows no dependence on the dilution level under the range of our conditions, showing that ignition is dependent only on the type and relative concentration of the active species.     

Optical characterization of methanol compression-ignition combustion in a heavy-duty engine

In the search for renewable fuels, there are very few candidates as compelling as methanol. It can be derived from refuse material and industrial waste, while the infrastructure exists worldwide to support broad and fast adoption, potentially even as a “drop-in” fuel for existing vehicles with only minor modifications. The most efficient engines currently available are compression-ignition engines, however they often come with high emissions or compromises like the soot-NO_x trade-off. Methanol however, is a low sooting fuel that can potentially be used in such engines despite its high resistance to auto-ignition and reduce emissions while maintaining high engine efficiency. Due to the auto-ignition resistance, few studies of methanol compression-ignition exist and even fewer are conducted in an optically accessible engine. Here, two cases of premixed combustion and two of spray-driven combustion of methanol are studied in a Heavy-Duty optically accessible engine. Ignition and combustion propagation are characterized with a combination of time-resolved natural flame luminosity measurements and single-shot, acetone fuel-tracer, laser induced fluorescence. Additionally, Mie-scattering is used to identify the interaction between liquid spray and ignition sites in spray-driven methanol combustion. Results show that methanol combusts drastically different compared to conventional fuels, especially in spray-driven combustion. The evaporative cooling effect of methanol appears to play a major role in the auto-ignition characteristics of the delivered fuel. Ignition sites appear right at the end of injection when the evaporative cooling effect is withdrawn or at liquid length oscillations where, again the effect is momentarily retracted. To the authors’ knowledge, this has not been documented before.     

基于缸内直喷的汽油HCCI燃烧特性的研究

实现汽油机的均质混合气压燃(HCCI)的难点是精确地控制着火时刻、燃烧速率以及扩展高负荷运行范围.在缸内直喷汽油机(GDI)上试验研究了分层混合气和辅助火花点火对HCCI燃烧特性的影响,考察了对不同运行工况时的适应性.开展了负阀重叠与缸内多段喷油相结合控制HCCI着火稳定性的研究,考察了不同喷油控制策略对HCCI燃烧的影响,确定了HCCI运行工况范围.