A comparative study on the combustion of lean NH3/H2/air ignited by pre-chamber turbulent jet ignition modes

Abstract

Internal combustion engines fueled with mixtures of hydrogen (H2) and ammonia (NH3) are potential power devices for reducing carbon emissions. To improve the ignition and combustion performance of NH3/H2, turbulent jet ignition (TJI) can be used. This study aims to investigate NH3/H2/air combustion under TJI modes at low equivalence ratios. Considering that the adoption of the scavenging system is beneficial for improving the reactivity of the pre-chamber, the effect of active TJI with scavenging is also explored. The results show that injecting 1.2 times the initial mixture volume of air is optimal for scavenging, and the scavenging effect becomes significant as the NH3 fraction increases. Using conventional active TJI and active TJI with scavenging effectively improves ignition performance and flame propagation, reducing sensitivity to the equivalence ratio compared to passive TJI mode. Although the adoption of active TJI modes improves the lean flammability limit of NH3/H2, weak flame propagation may occur in the early stage of combustion under ultra-lean conditions. Appropriately increasing the injection of auxiliary H2 can effectively improve this phenomenon.