Positive Valve Overlap Research Articles

Effects of Waste Cooking Oil Biodiesel on Performance, Combustion and Emission Characteristics of a Compression Ignition Engine

With their higher sustainability index, biofuels, environmentally-friendly and renewable nature is a viable alternative energy source in the transportation sector. This study presents the effect of waste cooking oil (WCO) biodiesel on performance, combustion, and emission from a compression ignition engine. The biodiesel was blended with diesel in varying proportions of 5% biodiesel and 95% diesel (designated as B5), 10% biodiesel in diesel (B10), 15% biodiesel in diesel (B15), 20% biodiesel in diesel (B20), 50% biodiesel in diesel (B50), and 85% biodiesel in diesel (B85). Simulation of a 2-cylinder diesel engine fueled with diesel, biodiesel blends and pure biodiesel was carried out using Ricardo Wave software and the results obtained were validated. The engine speed was varied from 1200 rpm to 3200 rpm at full load condition using a positive valve overlap of 32°. Performance results showed that WCO biodiesel blends at 1200 rpm produce brake-specific fuel consumption of, 0.240109 kg/kWhr, 0.241996 kg/kWhr, 0.244331 kg/kWhr, 0.24661 kg/kWhr, 0.26089 kg/kWhr, 0.27947 kg/kWhr and 0.28798 kg/kWhr for B5, B10, B15, B20, B50, B85 and B100 respectively, as compared to 0.239383 kg/kWhr of diesel fuel while the brake power and torque reduced at full load with varying speed. Combustion analysis showed similar trends between diesel and biodiesel blends whereas biodiesel blends produced shorter ignition delay, shorter combustion duration, and lower heat release rate. Emission levels of CO, reduced by 1%, 10%, 15%, 22%, 48%, 68% and 74% with B5, B10, B15, B20, B50, B85 and B100 respectively at 1600 rpm when compared to diesel fuel. HC emission was reduced by 9% with B100. NO<sub>x</sub> levels slightly increased when B5, B10, B15, and B20 at 1200 rpm and B10 and B15 at 1600 rpm were fueled in the engine. The exhaust gas temperature (EGT) of B5, B10 at 1600 rpm was higher than diesel fuel and B5, B10 at 2400 rpm to 3200 rpm EGT was higher than diesel fuel. Generally, biodiesel blends showed better emission levels and other combustion and performance levels are within acceptable limits.

Development of Two-Step Exhaust Rebreathing for a Low-NOx Light-Duty Gasoline Compression Ignition Engine

The global automotive industry is undergoing a significant transition as battery electric vehicles enter the market and diesel sales decline. It is widely recognized that internal combustion engines (ICE) will be needed for transport for years to come; however, demands on ICE fuel efficiency, emissions, cost, and performance are extremely challenging. Gasoline compression ignition (GCI) is one approach for achieving the demanding efficiency and emissions targets. A key technology enabler for GCI is partially-premixed, compression ignition (PPCI) combustion, which involves two high-pressure, late fuel injections during the compression stroke. Both NOx and smoke emissions are greatly reduced relative to diesel, and this reduces the aftertreatment (AT) requirements significantly. For robust low-load and cold operation, a two-step valvetrain system is used for exhaust rebreathing (RB). Exhaust rebreathing involves the reinduction of hot exhaust gases into the cylinder during a second exhaust lift event during the intake stroke to help promote autoignition. The amount of exhaust rebreathing is controlled by exhaust backpressure, created by the vanes on the variable nozzle turbine (VNT) turbocharger. Because of the higher cycle temperatures during rebreathing, exhaust HC and CO may be significantly reduced, while combustion robustness and stability also improve. Importantly, exhaust rebreathing significantly increases exhaust temperatures in order to maintain active catalysis in the AT system for ultra-low tailpipe emissions. To achieve these benefits, it is important to optimize the rebreathe valve lift profile and develop an RB ON→OFF (mode switch) strategy that is easy to implement and control, without engine torque fluctuation. In this study, an engine model was developed using GT-Suite to conduct steady-state and transient engine simulations of the rebreathing process, followed by engine tests. The investigation was conducted in four parts. In part 1, various rebreathe lift profiles were simulated. The system performance was evaluated based on in-cylinder temperature, exhaust temperature, and pumping work. The results were compared with alternative variable valve actuation (VVA) strategies such as early exhaust valve closing (EEVC), negative valve overlap (NVO), positive valve overlap (PVO). In part 2, steady-state simulations were conducted to determine an appropriate engine load range for mode switching (exhaust rebreathing ON/OFF and vice-versa). The limits for both in-cylinder temperature and exhaust gas temperature, as well as the external exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) delivery potential were set as the criteria for load selection. In part 3, transient simulations were conducted to evaluate various mode switch strategies. For RB OFF, the cooled external EGR was utilized with the goal to maintain exhaust gas dilution during mode switches for low NOx emissions. The most promising mode-switch strategies produced negligible torque fluctuation during the mode switch. Finally, in part 4, engine tests were conducted, using the developed RB valve lift profile, at various low-load operating conditions. The mode switch experiments correlated well with the simulation results. The tests demonstrated the simplicity and robustness of the exhaust rebreathing approach. A robust engine response, low CNL, high exhaust gas temperature, and low engine out emissions were achieved in the low load region.

Variable Valve Strategy Evaluation for Low-Load Operation in a Heavy-Duty Gasoline Compression Ignition Engine

By harnessing gasoline’s low reactivity for partially premixed combustion promotion, gasoline compression ignition (GCI) combustion shows the potential to produce markedly improved NOx-soot trade-off with high fuel efficiency compared to conventional diesel combustion. However, at low-load conditions, gasoline’s low reactivity poses challenges to attaining robust combustion with low unburned hydrocarbons (UHC) and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions. Increasing the in-cylinder charge temperature by using variable valve actuation (VVA) can be an effective means to address these challenges. In this numerical investigation, VVA strategies, including (1) early exhaust valve opening (EEVO), (2) positive valve overlap (PVO), and (3) exhaust rebreathe (ExReb), were investigated at 1375 RPM and 2 bar brake mean effective pressure in a heavy-duty GCI engine using a market-based gasoline with a research octane number (RON) of 93. The total residual gas level was kept over 50% to achieve an engine-out NOx target of below 1.5 g/kWh. For a complete engine system analysis, one-dimensional (1-D) system-level modeling and three-dimensional (3-D) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis were close-coupled in this study. Performance of the VVA strategies was compared in terms of in-cylinder charge and exhaust gas temperatures increase versus brake-specific fuel consumption (BSFC). The EEVO strategy demonstrated in-cylinder charge and exhaust temperature increase up to 130 and 180 K, respectively. For similar in-cylinder charge temperature gains, the ExReb strategy demonstrated 11% to 18% lower BSFC compared to the EEVO strategy. This benefit primarily originated from a more efficient gas-exchange process. The PVO strategy, due to the valve–piston contact constraint, required excessive exhaust back-pressure valve (BPV) throttling for hot residuals trapping, thereby incurring higher BSFC compared to ExReb. In addition, the ExReb strategy demonstrated the highest potential for exhaust temperature increase (up to 673 K) among the three strategies. This was achieved by ExReb’s maximum air-fuel ratio reduction from high internal residuals mass and BPV throttling. Finally, the ExReb profile was optimized in terms of the peak lift, the duration, and the location for maximizing the fuel-efficiency potential of the strategy.

Strategy and potential of homogeneous lean combustion at high load points for turbocharged gasoline engines with direct injection and small displacement

In this paper, a homogeneous lean combustion concept for gasoline engines with direct injection, small displacement and turbocharging is investigated under high-load conditions. A representative operating point was selected for this purpose. The tests were carried out on a single-cylinder research engine. In particular, the influence of the center of combustion, charge motion and pressure ratio is discussed. It has been discovered that the center of combustion has a large influence on the stability of homogeneous lean combustion at high load points. The present investigations provide a method of how to achieve an early center of combustion in knock-limited load points of homogeneous lean combustion. Early centers of combustion enable a high air–fuel ratio with good, smooth running and low NOx emissions. In addition to the high charge motion, operation with a positive scavenging gradient and valve overlap can be applied to flush the hot internal residual gas out of the combustion chamber, whereby knocking can be reduced. With the high air–fuel ratio, specific fuel consumption can be reduced substantially and high combustion efficiency can be achieved. The results can be leveraged as a basis for future developments in gasoline engines.

The effect of advanced ignition system on gasoline low temperature combustion

Engines operating in low temperature combustion during positive valve overlap operation offer significant benefits of high fuel economy over the low temperature combustion during negative valve overlap operation. Significant efficiency improvement was achieved by the increased gamma and lower pumping loss. However, NOx emissions were increased due to reliance on the flame-induced combustion. In this study, the corona ignition system was evaluated to reduce NOx emissions during positive valve overlap operation while maintaining the benefit of efficiency gain. The tests were performed in a 2.2-L multi-cylinder engine. The results show that the ignition delay is always shorter with the corona ignition system than with the spark plug. The corona ignition system is able to support stable combustion (coefficient of variation of indicated mean effective pressure <3%) in a lower load during positive valve overlap operation than the spark plug, which gives us additional efficiency benefit. Since the corona ignition system promotes simultaneous ignition of the mixture at multiple locations in the combustion chamber as opposed to ignition being limited to the spark gap channel, the dependence of the flame burn for stable combustion during positive valve overlap operation minimizes, which leads to lower NOx emissions over the spark plug.

Numerical study on combustion characteristics of six-stroke-cycle gasoline compression ignition engine with continuously variable valve duration valve technology

Engine performance and emissions of a six-stroke gasoline compression ignition engine with a wide range of continuously variable valve duration control were numerically investigated at low engine load conditions. For the simulations, an in-house three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics code with high-fidelity physical sub-models was used, and the combustion and emission kinetics were computed using a reduced kinetics mechanism for a 14-component gasoline surrogate fuel. Variation of valve timing and duration was considered under both positive valve overlap and negative valve overlap including the rebreathing of intake valves via continuously variable valve duration control. Close attention was paid to understand the effects of two additional strokes of the engine cycle on the thermal and chemical conditions of charge mixtures that alter ignition, combustion and energy recovery processes. Double injections were found to be necessary to effectively utilize the additional two strokes for the combustion of overly mixed lean charge mixtures during the second power stroke. It was found that combustion phasing in both power strokes is effectively controlled by the intake valve closure timing. Engine operation under negative valve overlap condition tends to advance the ignition timing of the first power stroke but has minimal effect on the ignition timing of second power stroke. Re-breathing was found to be an effective way to control the ignition timing in second power stroke at a slight expense of the combustion efficiency. The operation of a six-stroke gasoline compression ignition engine could be successfully simulated. In addition, the operability range of the six-stroke gasoline compression ignition engine could be substantially extended by employing the continuously variable valve duration technique.

Reaction-space analysis of homogeneous charge compression ignition combustion with varying levels of fuel stratification under positive and negative valve overlap conditions

Full-cycle computational fluid dynamics simulations with gasoline chemical kinetics were performed to determine the impact of breathing and fuel injection strategies on thermal and compositional stratification, combustion and emissions during homogeneous charge compression ignition combustion. The simulations examined positive valve overlap and negative valve overlap strategies, along with fueling by port fuel injection and direct injection. The resulting charge mass distributions were analyzed prior to ignition using ignition delay as a reactivity metric. The reactivity stratification arising from differences in the distributions of fuel–oxygen equivalence ratio ([Formula: see text]), oxygen molar fraction ([Formula: see text]) and temperature ( T) was determined for three parametric studies. In the first study, the reactivity stratification and burn duration for positive valve overlap valve events with port fuel injection and early direct injection were nearly identical and were dominated by wall-driven thermal stratification. nitrogen oxide (NO) and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions were negligible for both injection strategies. In the second study, which examined negative valve overlap valve events with direct injection and port fuel injection, reactivity stratification increased for direct injection as the [Formula: see text] and T distributions associated with direct fuel injection into the hot residual gas were positively correlated; however, the latent heat absorbed from the hot residual gas by the evaporating direct injection fuel jet reduced the overall thermal and reactivity stratification. These stratification effects were offsetting, resulting in similar reactivity stratification and burn durations for the two injection strategies. The higher local burned gas temperatures with direct injection resulted in an order of magnitude increase in NO, while incomplete combustion of locally over-lean regions led to a sevenfold increase in CO emissions compared to port fuel injection. The final study evaluated positive valve overlap and negative valve overlap valve events with direct injection. Relative to positive valve overlap, the negative valve overlap condition had a wider reactivity stratification, a longer burn duration and higher NO and CO emissions associated with reduced fuel–air mixing.

Effects of ethanol on combustion and emissions of a gasoline engine operating with different combustion modes

The introduction of fuel economy and CO2 emission legislations for passenger cars in many countries and regions has spurred the research and development of more efficient gasoline engines. The pumping loss at part-load operations is a major factor for the higher fuel consumption of spark-ignition gasoline engines than the diesel engines. Various approaches have been identified to reduce the pumping loss at part-load operations, leading to improved fuel economy, including early intake-valve closing, positive valve overlap and controlled auto-ignition combustion. On the other hand, in order to reduce the CO2 emissions from the fossil fuel, ethanol produced from renewable resources is becoming widely used in the gasoline engine. In this article, the performance, combustion and emissions were measured, analysed and compared between gasoline and its mixture with ethanol (E15 and E85) at a typical part-load condition when a direct-injection gasoline engine was operated with the controlled auto-ignition combustion by means of the negative valve overlap and spark-ignition combustion by means of the intake throttled, early intake-valve closing and positive valve overlap. An electro-hydraulic actuated camless system enabled the engine to be operated with controlled auto-ignition combustion and spark-ignition combustion of different valve timings and durations at the same load. The results showed that the controlled auto-ignition combustion reduces nitrogen oxide emissions by more than 90%. The positive valve overlap results in better mixture preparations and improved combustion efficiency and best fuel economy compared to all the other modes. The early intake-valve closing operation led to a moderate improvement in the fuel conversion efficiency over the throttled spark-ignition operation, but it was characterised by the slowest combustion and worst hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide emissions. Fewer and smaller particle numbers were detected in early intake-valve closing using E0 and E15 fuel blends. Using ethanol blends reduces the knocking combustion in controlled auto-ignition modes by about 50%. The use of E85 resulted in an increased number of particulate emissions in early intake-valve closing but increased indicated specific fuel consumption in all the modes. The particulate emission results showed that soot is the dominant particle in the exhaust.

High load performance and combustion analysis of a four-valve direct injection gasoline engine running in the two-stroke cycle

With the introduction of CO2 emissions legislation or fuel economy standards in Europe and many countries, significant effort is being made to improve spark ignition gasoline engines because of their dominant market share in passenger cars and potential for better fuel economy. Amongst several approaches, the engine downsizing technology has been adopted by the automotive companies as one of the most effective methods to reduce fuel consumption of gasoline engines. However, aggressive engine downsizing is constrained by excessive thermal and mechanical loads as well as knocking combustion and low speed pre-ignition (also known as super-knock). In order to overcome such difficulties, a gasoline direct injection single cylinder engine was modified to run under the two-stroke cycle by operating the intake and exhaust valves around bottom dead centre (BDC) at every crankshaft revolution. The combustion products were scavenged by means of a reversed tumble flow of compressed air during the positive valve overlap period at BDC. The engine output was determined by the charging and trapping efficiencies, which were directly influenced by the intake and exhaust valve timings and boost pressures. In this research a valve timing optimisation study was performed using a fully flexible valve train unit, where the intake and exhaust valve timings were advanced and retarded independently at several speeds and loads. A supercharger was used to vary the load by increasing the intake pressure. The effects of valve timing and boost pressure in this two-stroke poppet valve engine were investigated by a detailed analysis of the gas exchange process and combustion heat release. Gaseous and smoke emissions were measured and analysed. The results confirmed that the two-stroke cycle operation enabled the indicated mean effective pressure to reach 1.2MPa (equivalent to 2.4MPa in a four-stroke cycle) with an in-cylinder pressure below 7MPa at an engine speed as low as 800rpm. The engine operation was limited by scavenging inefficiencies and short time available for proper air–fuel mixing at high speeds using the current fuel injector. The large amounts of hot residual gas trapped induced controlled auto-ignition combustion at high speeds, and thus the abrupt heat release limited higher loads.

The effects of thermal and compositional stratification on the ignition and duration of homogeneous charge compression ignition combustion

In this work, the effects of thermal and compositional stratification on the ignition and burn duration of homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) combustion are studied with full-cycle 3D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations with gasoline chemical kinetics performed during the closed portion of the cycle, from intake valve closing (IVC). The stratification was varied through the use of negative valve overlap (NVO) and positive valve overlap (PVO) breathing strategies. To remove charge energy and phasing effects from the simulation results, the fuel mass and ignition timing were held constant, while mean composition effects were isolated from those of local stratification by maintaining the same mean oxygen concentration, fuel–oxygen equivalence ratio and charge heat capacity. Fuel was premixed with the intake to avoid potential stratification effects arising from direct injection. With NVO, the incomplete mixing of the fresh charge with the large mass fraction of product gases retained within the cylinder from the previous combustion cycle leads to a 23% increase in the pre-ignition thermal stratification, and an order of magnitude increase in the levels of stratifications in fuel to oxygen equivalence ratio and oxygen mole fraction relative to the PVO strategy, which employs a premixed mixture of fresh and product gases. Under the conditions studied, the use of NVO resulted in a 30% increase in the 10–90% burn duration (CA10-90) compared to the PVO condition. Two additional analyses were performed to decouple the effects of thermal and compositional stratification. The first examined the reaction space (based on the ignition delay distribution within the charge prior to ignition) for both breathing strategies to quantify the inherent reactivity stratification. The second examined the more stratified NVO case with a quasi-dimensional multi-zone model. These analyses revealed that under the conditions studied, HCCI reactivity and combustion duration are governed primarily by thermal stratification and are largely insensitive to compositional stratification at the time of ignition.

Investigation of combustion, performance and emission characteristics of 2-stroke and 4-stroke spark ignition and CAI/HCCI operations in a DI gasoline

In order to develop more efficient and cleaner gasoline engines, a number of new engine operating strategies have been proposed and researched on different engines, including the spark ignition (SI) and controlled autoignition (CAI) or HCCI in both 2-stroke and 4-stroke cycles in a poppet valve engine. In this work, a single cylinder direct injection gasoline engine equipped with an electro-hydraulic valve-train system has been commissioned and used to achieve seven different operating modes, including: 4-stroke throttle-controlled SI, 4-stroke intake valve throttled SI, 4-stroke positive valve overlap SI, 4-stroke negative valve overlap CAI, 4-stroke exhaust rebreathing CAI, 2-stroke CAI and 2-stroke SI. Their performance and emission characteristics were analysed and compared at a typical engine calibration operating condition of 1500rpm and 3.6bar IMEP in 4-stroke or 1.8bar IMEP in 2-stroke. Results show that 4-stroke positive valve overlap SI, 4-stroke NVO CAI and exhaust rebreathing CAI modes have better fuel economy and lower NOx emissions than the conventional throttled 4-stroke SI operation. The 2-stroke CAI operation was found to produce higher combustion efficiency and lower ISFC but lower brake efficiency than the 4-s-stroke operations at the same power output due to the supercharger’s efficiency. But, at the same IMEP as the 4-stroke operation, the 2-stroke CAI operation results in 29% reduction in BSFC, indicating its potential synergy with highly downsized direct injection gasoline engines for much better fuel economy and performance.

A Comparison of Valving Strategies Appropriate for Multimode Combustion Within a Downsized Boosted Automotive Engine—Part II: Mid Load Operation Within the SACI Combustion Regime

Spark assisted compression ignition (SACI) is a combustion mode that may offer significant efficiency improvements compared to conventional spark-ignited combustion systems. Unfortunately, SACI is constrained to a relatively narrow range of dilution levels and top dead center temperatures. Both positive valve overlap (PVO) and negative valve overlap (NVO) strategies may be utilized to attain these conditions at low and intermediate engine loads. The current work compares 1D thermodynamic simulations of PVO valving strategies and a baseline NVO strategy in a downsized boosted automotive engine with variable valve timing capability. As future downsized boosted engines may employ multiple combustion modes, the goal of this work is the definition of valving strategies appropriate for SACI combustion at low to moderate loads and spark ignition (SI) combustion at moderate to high loads for an engine with fixed camshaft profiles. PVO durations, valve opening timings, and peak lifts are investigated at low to moderate loads and are compared to a baseline NVO configuration in order to assess valving strategies appropriate for multimode combustion operation. A valvetrain kinematic model is used to translate the desired valve lift profiles into camshaft profiles while a kinematic analysis is used to calculate piston to valve clearances and to define the practical limits of the PVO strategies. The NVO and PVO strategies are also compared to throttled SI operation at part load to assess the overall efficiency benefit of operating under the thermodynamic conditions of the SACI combustion regime. While the results of this study are engine specific, there are several camshaft profiles that are appropriate for the use of PVO rebreathing type valve events. For the range of PVO valve events examined and taking into consideration piston to valve interference, the use of high exhaust and low intake lifts with early exhaust valve opening timing and long PVO durations enables high levels of internal exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) with relatively low pumping losses.

A Comparison of Valving Strategies Appropriate For Multimode Combustion Within a Downsized Boosted Automotive Engine—Part I: High Load Operation Within the Spark Ignition Combustion Regime

As future downsized boosted engines may employ multiple combustion modes, the goal of the current work is the definition of valving strategies appropriate for moderate to high load spark ignition (SI) combustion and at low to moderate loads for spark assisted compression ignition (SACI) combustion for an engine with variable valve timing capability and fixed camshaft profiles. The dilution and unburned gas temperature requirements for SACI combustion can be markedly different from those of SI; therefore it is important to ensure that a given valving strategy is appropriate for operation within both regimes. This paper compares one-dimensional (1D) thermodynamic simulations of rated engine operation with positive valve overlap (PVO) and a baseline negative valve overlap (NVO) camshaft design in a boosted automotive engine with variable valve timing capability. Several peak lifts and valve open durations are investigated to guide the down-selection of camshaft profiles for further evaluation under SACI conditions in a companion paper. While the results of this study are engine specific, rated performance predictions show that the duration of both the intake and exhaust camshafts significantly impacts the ability to achieve high load operation. While it was noted that the flow through the exhaust valves chokes for the majority of the exhaust stroke for peak exhaust lifts less than 8 mm, the aggressive engine rating of 194 kW at 5250 rpm could be achieved with peak intake lifts as low as 4 mm and baseline duration. Therefore, camshafts with peak lifts of 8/4 mm exhaust/intake were down-selected to facilitate multimode combustion operation with high levels of PVO. Analysis of high load operation with the down-selected camshafts indicates that peak unburned gas temperatures remain low enough to mitigate end-gas knock, while other variables such as peak cylinder pressure, turbine inlet temperature, and turbocharger speed are all predicted to be within acceptable limits.

The interaction between compression ratio, boosting and variable valve actuation for high load homogeneous charge compression ignition: A modeling study

This study discusses a novel approach toward homogeneous charge compression ignition operation in the 5 - 10 bar net indicated mean effective pressure range. This approach is based on the combination of boosting and variable valve actuation to maximize engine efficiency. Compression ratio plays a key role and determines low-temperature combustion feasibility in modern gasoline compression ignition concepts. In order to explore the interactions between compression ratio, boosting system and variable valve actuation, multi-cylinder engine models were utilized which employed the University of Michigan combustion model. Valve strategies featured switching from low-lift negative valve overlap to high-lift positive valve overlap, and the switching point was found to be dependent on compression ratio. A recent study by the authors suggested that heating the charge from external compression is more efficient than heating by residual gas retention strategies. Use of non-cooled intake air allows for valve events and combustion phasing that promote turbocharger performance and alleviate the backpressure problems often associated with low temperature combustion engines. Elevated intake pressure and reduced pumping work allow for improvements in efficiency with minimal NOx formation and acceptable ringing. It was found that further efficiency benefits can be realized by increasing compression ratio. Identification of trade-offs between engine hardware and combustion mode appears to be critical for homogeneous charge compression ignition operation in the 5 -10 bar net indicated mean effective pressure range. By focusing on this operating range, the present modeling study attempts to shed some light on practical applications of light-duty gasoline compression ignition concepts.

Combustion and emission analysis of the direct DME injection enabled and controlled auto-ignition gasoline combustion engine operation

Controlled auto-ignition (CAI), also known as HCCI combustion has been researched extensively for gasoline engines due to their potential benefits of improved engine efficiency and low NOx emissions. One of the major challenges of typical CAI/HCCI combustion is to control the start and speed of combustion. In order to introduce some control over the heat release process of a premixed gasoline and air mixture, direct DME injection was exploited to enhance the mixture ignitability and control the combustion timing of the combustible mixture. The heat release rate and ignitability were also regulated by the internal exhaust gas recirculation (EGR). In this research, this was achieved and tested in a single cylinder gasoline port fuel injection engine by the use of Positive Valve Overlap (PVO) and direct DME injection via a commercial Gasoline Direct Injection (GDI) injector. Three DME injection strategies, early single injection, split injection and late single injection, were applied to implement pure auto-ignition, hybrid combustion of flame assisted auto-ignition, and flame propagation, respectively, as the engine load increases. Stable combustion was achieved from 1.3bar net IMEP to 9.1bar net IMEP with 90% reduction in NOx emission than the SI combustion operation.

Study on spark assisted compression ignition (SACI) combustion with positive valve overlap at medium–high load

The spark-assisted compression ignition (SACI) is widely used to expand the high load limit of homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI), as it can reduce the high heat release rate effectively while partially maintain the advantage of high thermal efficiency and low NOx emission simultaneously. This research is focused on the SACI combustion using positive valve overlap (PVO) strategy to optimize the gasoline engine performance at medium–high load. The influences of PVO configurations on gas exchange and combustion process are investigated and analyzed, based on the classification through exhaust gas re-breathing way. It is shown that the PVO formed by late exhaust valve closing (LEVC) is beneficial to achieve higher iEGR and higher inhomogeneous in-cylinder distribution than that formed by early intake valve opening (EIVO). Compared with EIVO strategy, the SACI combustion employing LEVC strategy is apt to achieve a relatively high in-cylinder thermal state but with deteriorated pumping loss. The results also reveal that the load of SACI combustion is mainly controlled by PVO and eEGR, and affected by the combustion timing, under stoichiometric operating condition. Within the acceptable combustion stability range, small PVO combined with high eEGR is recommended for better fuel economy at the same engine load. The rules of adjusting SACI combustion with PVO are also concluded, according to the analysis of ideal demand and actual management of iEGR and eEGR. Based on that, the fuel efficient strategy for SACI combustion at medium–high load is identified. Using the optimized PVO strategy, stable SACI combustion is achieved in a wider load range, with significant improvements on fuel economy, pumping loss and NOx emission.

Naturally aspirated and boosted controlled auto-ignition combustion with positive valve overlap in a four-stroke gasoline engine

Extensive engine experiments were carried out on controlled auto-ignition combustion, also known as homogeneous charge compression ignition, in a four-stroke gasoline engine, by internally recycling burned gases through positive valve overlap, variable compression ratio, intake temperature control and boosting. The operational range of controlled auto-ignition combustion was determined for a range of compression ratios and intake air temperatures at wide-open throttle conditions. This was followed by further engine experiments with boosted intake and external exhaust gas recirculation in order to evaluate their effect on the operational range of controlled auto-ignition combustion and the engine’s performance and emissions. It has been found that the controlled auto-ignition operational region could be extended to the higher load region by boosting and running with leaner mixtures, whilst the use of external exhaust gas recirculation allowed the engine to operate controlled auto-ignition combustion optimized in the region between naturally aspirated and lean boosted controlled auto-ignition operational regions. The highest fuel conversion efficiency was obtained when the exhaust heat could be utilized to supply the intake air heating.

Control-oriented modelling of combustion phasing for a fuel-flexible spark-ignited engine with variable valve timing

In an effort to reduce dependence on petroleum-based fuels and increase engine efficiency, fuel-flexible engines with advanced technologies, including variable valve timing, are being developed. Fuel-flexible spark-ignition engines permit the increased use of ethanol–gasoline blends. Ethanol, an alternative to petroleum-based gasoline, is a renewable fuel, which has the added advantage of improving performance in operating regions that are typically knock limited due to the higher octane rating of ethanol. Furthermore, many modern engines are also being equipped with variable valve timing, a technology that can increase engine efficiency by reducing pumping losses. Through control of valve timings, particularly the amount of positive valve overlap, the quantity of burned gas in the engine cylinder can be altered, eliminating the need for intake throttling at many operating points. However, the presence of elevated levels of in-cylinder burned gas and ethanol fuel can have a significant impact on the combustion timing, such that capturing these effects is essential if the combustion phasing is to be properly controlled. This paper outlines a physically based model capable of capturing the impact of the ethanol blend ratio, burned gas fraction, spark timing and operating conditions on combustion timing. Since efficiency is typically tied to an optimal CA50 (crank angle when 50% of fuel is burned), this model is designed to provide accurate estimates of CA50 that can be used for real-time control efforts – allowing the CA50 to be adjusted to its optimal value despite changes in ethanol blend and burned gas fraction, as well as the variations in engine thermodynamic conditions that may occur during transients. The proposed control-oriented model was extensively validated at over 500 points across the engine operating range for four blends of gasoline and ethanol. Furthermore, the model was utilized to determine the impact of ethanol blend and burned gas fraction on the CA50, as well as their impact on the optimal spark timing. This study indicated that the burned gas fraction could change the optimal spark timing by over 20° at some operating conditions and that ethanol content could further affect the optimal spark timing by up to 6°. Leveraging the model in this manner provides direct evidence that accounting for the impact of these two inputs is critical for proper spark-ignition timing control.

Study of Multimode Combustion System With Gasoline Direct Injection

In this paper, a multimode combustion system was developed in a gasoline direct injection engine. A two-stage fuel-injection strategy, including flexible injection timings and flexible fuel quantity, is adopted as a main means to form desired mixture in the cylinder. The combustion system can realize five combustion modes. The homogeneous charge spark ignition (HCSI) mode was used at high load to achieve high-power output density; stratified charge spark ignition (SCSI) was adopted at intermediate load to get optimum fuel economy; stratified charge compression ignition (SCCI) was introduced at transient operation between SI and CI mode. Homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) was utilized at part load to obtain ultralow emissions. Reformed charge compression ignition (RCCI) was imposed at low load to extend the HCCI operation range. In SI mode, the stratified concentration is formed by introducing a second fuel injection in the compression stroke. This kind of stratified mixture has a faster heat release than the homogeneous mixture and is primarily optimized to reduce the fuel consumption. In CI mode, the cam phase configurations are switched from positive valve overlap to negative valve overlap (NVO). The test results reveal that the CI combustion is featured with a high gradient pressure after ignition and has advantages in high thermal efficiency and low NOx emissions over SI combustion at part load.