Analysis of the Influence of Dual Spark Plugs on the Combustion Stability of a Shale-Gas Engine

2022 ◽  
Vol 148 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuai Liu ◽  
Libin Zhang ◽  
Zhong Wang ◽  
Zheng Dong
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuai Liu ◽  
Libin Zhang ◽  
Zhong Wang ◽  
Lun Hua ◽  
Qiushi Zhang

Abstract The traditional analysis method of engine combustion cycle variation is a statistical method based on a small amount of data. In essence, the obtained cycle variation is random data. In order to reveal the dynamic nature of the cyclical changes during the combustion of a shale gas engine, a nonlinear dynamics method was used to study the stability of the combustion process. The motion law of the phase space trajectory is analyzed, the influence of the shale gas composition on the trajectory distribution is analyzed, the return mapping point of the average indicated pressure in the cylinder is discussed. The relationship between adjacent combustion characteristic parameters is studied; the chaotic characteristics of the shale gas engine combustion process are discussed. The results show that during the working process of the shale gas engine, the in-cylinder pressure shows a similar quasi-periodic state in the entire phase space, and the working process has a certain chaotic law; with the increase of the CH4, N2 and CO2 content in the shale gas, the combustion cycle variation increases, and the randomness of the engine working process increases. The phase space trajectory shows a monotonously increasing distribution of Poincaré mapping points on the ∑XY+ section. With the increase of the combustion cycle, the linear relationship of the scattered points gradually increases, and the randomness of the combustion process increases. The return map points of the engine combustion characteristic parameters are distributed in a cluster. When the CH4 content increases, the distribution range of the average indicated pressure return map points increases. With the increase of N2 and CO2 content, abnormal combustion phenomena such as partial combustion or misfire occur during the engine combustion process, the uncertainty of the combustion process increases, and the combustion stability decreases. With the increase of engine speed, the correlation dimension and the maximum Lyapunov exponent increase, the randomness of the combustion process increases, and the chaotic characteristics of the engine working process are obvious; the time series of the cylinder pressure is more sensitive to the content of inert gas. With the increase of N2 and CO2 content in the gas, the correlation dimension and the maximum Lyapunov exponent increase significantly, the complexity of the phase space trajectory increases, and the chaotic characteristics become more obvious.


Author(s):  
Harsh D. Sapra ◽  
Youri Linden ◽  
Wim van Sluijs ◽  
Milinko Godjevac ◽  
Klaas Visser

A novel ship propulsion concept employs natural gas to reduce ship emissions and improve overall ship propulsion efficiency. This concept proposes a serial integration of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) and a natural gas engine, while anode-off gas (gas at the fuel cell exhaust) is used in the natural gas engine. This study focusses on SOFC-gas engine integration by experimentally analyzing the effects of adding hydrogen, which is the main combustible component of the fuel cell anode-off gas, in marine natural gas engines. The overall challenge is to employ the anode-off gas to improve the performance of marine natural gas engines. To study the effects of anode-off gas combustion in natural gas engines, experiments with hydrogen addition in a marine natural gas engine of 500 kW rated power were performed. Natural gas was replaced with 10 % and 20 % of hydrogen, by volume, without any penalties in terms of output power. We found that the high combustion rate of hydrogen improved combustion stability, which allowed for better air-excess ratio control. Thus allowing leaning to higher air-excess ratios and extending the, otherwise, limited operating window. Hydrogen addition also improved brake thermal efficiency by 1.2 %, while keeping NOx emissions below the maritime emission regulations. The improvement in engine efficiency with a larger operating window may help improve the load-taking capabilities of marine natural gas engines.


Author(s):  
David L. Ahrens ◽  
Daniel B. Olsen ◽  
Azer P. Yalin

Using a laser, as opposed to a conventional (electrical) spark plug, to create a combustion initiating spark is potentially advantageous for several reasons: flexibility in choosing and optimizing the spark location, in particular to move the spark away from solid heat sinks; production of a more robust spark containing more energy; and obviation of electrode erosion problems. In this paper we present the on-engine test results of the laser ignition system on a large bore natural gas engine. Test results include: mass fraction burn duration, hydrocarbon emissions data, and combustion stability comparisons to the conventional spark plug ignition system. Design and spark location considerations for the laser ignition system were presented in the first paper of this two-paper series.


Author(s):  
Gu¨nther Herdin ◽  
Johann Klausner ◽  
Ernst Wintner ◽  
Martin Weinrotter ◽  
Josef Graf ◽  
...  

Due to market demands aimed at increasing the efficiency and the power density of gas engines, existing ignition systems are rapidly approaching their limits. To avoid this, gas engine manufacturers are seeking new technologies. From the viewpoint of gas engine R&D engineers, ignition of the fuel/air mixture by means of a laser has great potential. Especially the thermodynamic requirements of a high compression ratio and a high power density are fulfilled well by laser ignition. Results of measurements on the test bench confirm the high expectations — with a BMEP of 1.8 MPa it was possible to verify NOx values of a non-optimized system of 30 ppm (70 mg/Nm3 @ 5 % O2) with very high combustion stability. Despite this, considerable developmental steps are still necessary to adapt the laser ignition concept fully to desired objectives (especially costs).


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prasanna Chinnathambi ◽  
Joohan Kim ◽  
Riccardo Scarcelli ◽  
Sibendu Som ◽  
Ashish Shah ◽  
...  

Abstract Lean burn natural gas engines offer low particulate emissions than diesel counterparts and provides higher efficiency when compared to stoichiometric operation. However, with the lean burn strategy, three-way catalysts (TWC) compatibility is lost due to the oxidized exhaust stream. In comparison, the exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) dilution strategy can maintain compatibility with emission after-treatment systems. The maximum tolerated EGR levels are limited by the combustion stability degradation resulting from unfavorable mixture gas composition. Prechamber spark ignition (PCSI) systems, known to increase dilution tolerance in SI engines under lean conditions, was evaluated as a means to improve EGR dilution tolerance. Scavenging of residuals within the pre-chamber is typically a concern with these systems and as such studies on these systems working with various levels of EGR ratios are rare. In this work, an unscavenged (or unfueled, or passive) PCSI system installed in a medium-duty natural gas engine is modeled using CONVERGE CFD code. Simulation results are compared against the experimental data in terms of in-cylinder pressure and heat release rates from low to high (10% to 22%) EGR levels. The prediction capability of two combustion models, a multi-zone well-stirred reactor model and a flamelet-based combustion model, i.e. G-equation, are compared and evaluated under these conditions within the RANS framework. The G-equation model predictions agreed well with experiments up to 18.8% EGR dilution level. In comparison, the MZ-WSR model predicted slow prechamber combustion at all dilution levels which influenced the main chamber combustion phasing.


Author(s):  
Jim Tassitano ◽  
James E. Parks

Large natural gas engines are durable and cost-effective generators of power for distributed energy applications. Fuel efficiency is an important aspect of distributed generation since operating costs associated with fuel consumption are the major component of energy cost on a life-cycle basis; furthermore, higher fuel efficiency results in lower CO2 emissions. Leaner operation of natural gas engines can result in improved fuel efficiency; however, engine operation becomes challenging at leaner air-to-fuel ratios due to several factors. One factor in combustion control is ignition. At lean air-fuel mixtures, reliable and repeatable ignition is necessary to maintain consistent power production from the engine, and spark plug quality and durability play an important role in reliability of ignition. Here research of a novel spark plug design for lean natural gas engines is presented. The spark plug is an annular gap spark plug with a permanent magnet that produces a magnetic field that forces the spark to rotate during spark discharge. The rotating arc spark plug (RASP) has the potential to improve ignition system reliability and durability. In the study presented here, the RASP plug was operated in a small natural gas engine, and combustion stability (measured by the coefficient of variation of indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP)) was measured as a function of air-to-fuel ratio to characterize the ignition performance at lean mixtures. Comparisons were made to a standard J-plug spark plug.


Fuel ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 291 ◽  
pp. 120098
Author(s):  
Shuai Liu ◽  
Libin Zhang ◽  
Zhong Wang ◽  
Lun Hua ◽  
Qiushi Zhang

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