Full spark authority in a highly boosted ethanol DISI prototype engine

Abstract

The need for a reversal of the global climatic condition has stimulated the emergence of various agreements in favour of the environment. Among the most famous are the Paris Conference and the 2020–2030 Route, which have the purpose of reducing the emission of pollutant gases in the atmosphere to avoid a possible climatic catastrophe. Therefore, internal combustion engines are undergoing a period of significant change, since the automotive industry must reduce its environmental impact, mainly by reducing fuel consumption and using sustainable and renewable energy matrices instead of fossil fuels. In this sense, the objective of this work is to propose a combustion technique for a 1.0-l turbocharged engine with direct injection of ethanol, in order to reach the limits of its fuel conversion efficiency. For that purpose, the research has involved a variety of calibration strategies, such as homogeneous mixture preparation, the use of split-injection and the adoption of water injection for mitigating any abnormal combustion phenomenon. Moreover, water injection made it possible to push further up to full spark authority. A numerical approach by a 1D model (GT-Power™) was made to predict the engine’s fuel conversion efficiency and investigate its power at high engine speeds. The experimental results demonstrate a downsizing capability of up to 65%, in addition to achieving a fuel conversion efficiency up to 43.0% using a water injection strategy. Furthermore, the numerical results showed the possibility of achieving up to 45.5% fuel conversion efficiency by means of turbo-matching improvements.