Experimental studies on the combustion characteristics and performance of a naturally aspirated, direct injection engine fuelled with a liquid petroleum gas/diesel blend

Abstract

This paper studies the combustion characteristics and performances of a LPG/diesel blend-fuel engine; the influences of mixing ratio of LPG in diesel on the ignition timing, in-cylinder pressure, heat-release rate, specific fuel consumption, power output, and exhaust emissions have been identified. The results indicate that the ignition delay of blend fuel was obviously longer than that of diesel and the higher the mixing ratio of LPG in diesel, the longer the ignition delay. When the mixing ratio of LPG in diesel was 10 per cent, the peak in-cylinder gas pressure and the peak rate of pressure rise were slightly higher than those of diesel, and the corresponding crank angles at which the peak values occurred were almost the same as those of diesel. When the mixing ratio was 30 per cent, the peak in-cylinder pressure and the peak rate of pressure rise were lower than those of diesel, and the corresponding crank angles were retarded. With the increasing of mixing ratio of LPG in diesel, the peak rate of heat release increased and the corresponding crank angles were retarded. The equivalent specific fuel consumption of L10 was the same as that of diesel, but that of L30 was slight higher. The power output of the diesel engine was higher than those of L10 and L30 at speed characteristic of full load, especially at high engine speed. With the increasing of mixing ratio, the smoke emissions and NOx emissions were greatly reduced, and CO emissions decreased too, but HC emissions slightly increased.