Experimental comparison of performance and emission characteristics of 4-stroke CI engine operated with Roselle and Jatropha biodiesel blends

The environmental degradation, combined with the continuous depletion of the world's fossil fuel reserves, has forced the search for alternative fuels. This study was performed to investigate the performance of novel biodiesels in the CI engine. The experiments were performed at three different compressions ratios (16:1, 17:1, 18:1) and four loading conditions (25%, 50%, 75%, 100%). Different types of fuels such as jatropha biodiesel (JB), roselle biodiesel (RB), and ternary biodiesel (TB) were prepared and analyzed. The thermal performance of different fuels was analyzed in terms of brake thermal efficiency (BTE), brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC), and exhaust gas temperature (EGT). The emission characteristics such as CO₂ emission, NO_x emission, and smoke emission were analyzed for all types of fuels. The results of these fuels in the engine were compared with mineral diesel (MD). The BTE was increased with increasing compression ratios and loads for all types of fuels. The BSFC was increased with increasing compression ratios but decreased with increasing loads. The increase in emission of NO_x was observed at higher compression ratios and loads. However, the CO₂ emission was decreased at higher loads and lower compression ratio. The performance curves achieved with a 20% jatropha biodiesel blend showed results that were approximate to those obtained with pure MD. The comparative analysis between different fuels showed that JB exhibit higher thermal performance as compared to other biodiesels. Therefore, JB can be a better alternative to conventional fuel.     

Maximizing power yield in energy systems - A thermodynamic synthesis

We present a synthesizing thermodynamic approach to modeling and power maximization in various energy converters, such as thermal, solar and chemical engines and fuel cells. Static and dynamical systems are investigated. Thermodynamic analyses lead to converters’ efficiencies in terms of propelling fluxes. Efficiency equations are applied to find maximum power points in static systems. These efficiency equations are also applied to determine maxima of integrated power (work) in dynamical systems, which work with upgrading and downgrading of a resource medium. While optimization of static systems requires using of differential calculus and Lagrange multipliers, dynamic optimization involves variational calculus and dynamic programming. In reacting mixtures balances of mass and energy are applied to derive power yield in terms of an active part of chemical affinity. Power maximization approach is finally applied for fuel cells treated as flow engines driven by fluxes of chemical reagents and electrochemical mechanism of electric current generation. The efficiency decrease is linked with thermodynamic and electrochemical irreversibilities expressed in terms of polarizations (activation, concentration and ohmic). Maximum power data provide bounds for SOFC energy generators, which are more exact and informative than reversible bounds for electrochemical transformation.     

脉冲爆轰发动机的系统性能分析

采用简化的脉冲爆轰推进装置模型,利用热循环效率分析方法,推导了包含进气道总压恢复系数的热循环效率公式. 并在特定来流条件下,考察了一个爆轰循环中进气道总压恢复系数和燃烧室初始温度对热循环效率和比冲的影响. 研究发现,降低来流总压损失有助于提高热循环效率,而提高燃烧室初始温度能更有效地提高热循环效率. 据此,提出了多级重起爆脉冲爆轰发动机概念,利用在突扩截面上解耦的爆轰波的前导激波去再次压缩工质,进一步提高工质的热力学参数,从而提高脉冲爆轰装置的热循环效率. 推导了此种构型PDE的热循环效率计算公式,并对多级重起爆脉冲爆轰发动机进行了原理性论证. 研究结果表明,多级重起爆方法提高了燃烧室的爆前温度,从而有效地提高脉冲爆轰发动机热循环效率. 最后,关于出口工质的非完全膨胀的情况,做了定性的阐述,认为只有降低工质的出口压力,才能更有效增加工质的出口动能,从而提高热循环效率.      

Transient electric charging of dielectric liquids in recirculation systems

This paper describes a transient electric charging phenomenon due to flow-induced electrification during a cold startup of dielectric liquids in a recirculation system. This transitory effect exhibits itself as a static voltage spike in the system. It is argued that simultaneous rise in the liquid temperature and the circulation flow rate can generate conditions for such electrostatic voltage spikes to exist. These spikes have been verified experimentally in the laboratory and we report qualitative agreements between the reported experimental data and the theoretical considerations. With a cold start, this transient charging has the potential to induce a large static voltage and large space charge in the circulating system that can damage other components.     

Effects of pre-spark heat release on engine knock limit

It is well known that spark ignited engine efficiency is limited by end gas autoignition, commonly known as knock. This study focuses on a recently discovered phenomena, pre-spark heat release (PSHR) due to low-temperature chemistry, and its impact on knock behavior. Boosted operating conditions are more common as engines are downsizing and downspeeding in efforts to increase fuel economy and prone to PSHR. Experiments were prone at fixed fueling and air fuel ratio for a range of intake temperature that spanned the threshold for PSHR. It was found that when PSHR occurred, the knock-limited combustion phasing was insensitive to intake temperature; higher intake temperatures did not require retarded timings as it is usual. Inspection of the temperature–pressure history overlaid on ignition delay contours allow the results to be explained. The temperature rise from the low-temperature reactions moves the end gas state into the negative temperature coefficient (NTC) region, which terminates the heat release reactions. The end gas then resides in the long ignition delay peninsula, which inhibits knock.     

A hybrid approach for aeroacoustic analysis of the engine exhaust system

This paper presents a new hybrid approach for prediction of noise radiation from engine exhaust systems. It couples the time domain analysis of the engine and the frequency domain analysis of the muffler, and has the advantages of both. In this approach, cylinder/cavity is analyzed in the time domain to calculate the exhaust mass flux history at the exhaust valve by means of the method of characteristics, avoiding the tedious procedure of interpolation at every mesh point and solving a number of equations simultaneously at every junction. This is done by making use of an interrelationship between progressive wave variables of the linear acoustic theory and those of the method of characteristics. In this approach, nonlinear propagation in the exhaust pipe is neglected and free expansion is assumed at the radiation end of the exhaust pipe. In the case of a muffler proper, expansion from the exhaust pipe into the first chamber is assumed to be a free expansion. Various results of this approach are compared with those of the method of characteristics and the classical acoustic theory, and various peaks and troughs in insertion loss curves are analytically validated.