Effect of injection timings and injection pressure on knock mitigation with a compression stroke injection of hydrous ethanol in spark ignition

Abstract

Direct injection fuel systems provide precise control over the amount of fuel injected and can enable higher compression ratio operation and earlier combustion phasing under knock-limited operation, particularly for fuels with a high cooling potential like hydrous ethanol, a blend of 92% ethanol and 8% water. Moving a portion of the total fuel mass from an intake stroke injection to a compression stroke injection can provide a knock suppression benefit, which can enable more efficient operation. In this work, the influence of injection pressure on this split injection spark ignition strategy is examined. The effect of injection pressure on two intake stroke injections were characterized, with an injection pressure of 200 bar improving combustion efficiency by ∼3 percentage points and advancing knock-limited CA50 by 1 crank angle degree over an injection pressure of 30 bar. Then, a compression stroke injection was introduced and swept into the compression stroke while maintaining the two intake stroke injections. Direct injections at an injection pressure of 30 bar enabled a small knock intensity reduction of ∼20%, whereas an injection pressure of 200 bar enabled a larger reduction of ∼90% in knock intensity. The spark timing advance permitted by the reduction in knock intensity with a compression stroke injection timing of −80 degrees after top dead center was 0.3 and 2.0 degrees at an injection pressure of 30 and 200 bar, respectively. Then, the second intake stroke injection was varied at 200 bar to evaluate how the stratification profile prior to the compression stroke injection impacted its ability to reduce knock intensity. It was found that compression stroke injections with an early second intake stroke injection was effective at reducing knock intensity throughout the compression stroke. As the second intake stroke injection was retarded, the early compression stroke injections became less effective at suppressing knock.