Measurement of flame temperature and soot amount for effective NOx and PM reduction in a heavy duty diesel engine

Abstract

To reduce exhaust NOx and smoke, it is important to measure flame temperature and soot amount in combustion chamber. In diesel combustion it is effective to use the two-color method for the measurement of the flame temperature and KL factor, which is related with soot concentration. The diesel flame was directly and continuously observed from the combustion chamber at running engine condition by using a bore scope and a high-speed video camera. The experimental single cylinder engine has 2.0-liter displacement and has the ability with up to five times of the boost pressure than the naturally aspirated engine by external super-charger. The devices of High Boost, Wide Range and High EGR rate at keeping a relatively high excess air ratio were installed in this research engine in order to reduce exhaust NOx emission without smoke deterioration from diesel engines. The video camera nac GX-1 was used in this study. From observed data under the changing EGR rates, the flame temperature and KL factor were obtained by the software of two-color method analysis. The diesel combustion processes are understood well by analyzing high-speed movies of the diesel flame motion and its temperature. The NOx and smoke are mutually related to maximum flame temperature and also it is possible to reduce simultaneously both NOx and soot emissions by high EGR rate in a single cylinder diesel engine.