IMPLEMENTATION OF HIGHLY EFFICIENT THERMODYNAMIC CYCLES IN TWO-STROKE SOLID-FUEL PISTON INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES OF SHIP PURPOSE

Abstract

An analysis of global fuel resources indicates that the most common fossil fuels on earth are solid fuels. Experts believe that while maintaining the current pace of their use, coal reserves will be enough for at least another 400...450 years. The low price of this type of fuel makes their use an attractive prospect for use as engine fuel for internal combustion engines. Attempts to create engines capable of working on solid fuels have been made throughout the entire period of the ICE's existence, starting with the work of R. Diesel to create its rational engine. However, throughout this period, the main efforts of specialists were aimed at adapting existing types of piston engines operating on liquid or gaseous fuels for the use of coal fuel in the form of fine dust directly supplied to the working cylinder, or injected into the combustion chamber in composition of a fuel or water-coal suspension. The first attempt to develop an engine that was specially created for the use of solid fuels and which would maximize the advantages of their state of aggregation was the work of the American engineer Joseph C. Firey, who proposed a design with in-cylinder gasification of solid fuel. Subsequently, the authors have improved this method by organizing a forced purge of a layer of solid fuel in the process of supplying heat to the working medium. The authors have developed and implemented a numerical model of this engine working process, using which a number of studies were carried out aimed at finding new approaches to the organization of working processes in solid-fuel engines with layered combustion, which allow the maximum use of the features of preparing an air charge for combustion and a controlled heat supply process to increase the thermodynamic efficiency of the workflow. This article is devoted to the discussion of the results of this study.