Investigation of the Effect of Injection and Control Strategies on Combustion Instability in Reactivity-Controlled Compression Ignition Engines

Author(s):  
David T. Klos ◽  
Sage L. Kokjohn

This paper uses detailed computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling with the kiva-chemkin code to investigate the influence of injection timing, combustion phasing, and operating conditions on combustion instability. Using detailed CFD simulations, a large design of experiments (DOE) is performed with small perturbations in the intake and fueling conditions. A response surface model (RSM) is then fit to the DOE results to predict cycle-to-cycle combustion instability. Injection timing had significant tradeoffs between engine efficiency, emissions, and combustion instability. Near top dead center (TDC) injection timing can significantly reduce combustion instability, but the emissions and efficiency drop close to conventional diesel combustion levels. The fuel split between the two direct injection (DI) injections has very little effect on combustion instability. Increasing exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) rate, while making adjustments to maintain combustion phasing, can significantly reduce peak pressure rise rate (PPRR) variation until the engine is on the verge of misfiring. Combustion phasing has a very large impact on combustion instability. More advanced phasing is much more stable, but produces high PPRRs, higher NOx levels, and can be less efficient due to increased heat transfer losses. The results of this study identify operating parameters that can significantly improve the combustion stability of dual-fuel reactivity-controlled compression ignition (RCCI) engines.

Author(s):  
David T. Klos ◽  
Sage L. Kokjohn

This paper uses detailed CFD modeling with the KIVA-CHEMKIN code to investigate the influence of injection timing, combustion phasing and operating conditions on combustion instability. Using detailed computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, a large design of experiments (DOE) is performed with small perturbations in the intake and fueling conditions. A response surface model (RSM) is then fit to the DOE results to predict cycle-to-cycle combustion instability. Injection timing had significant tradeoffs between engine efficiency, emissions and combustion instability. Near TDC injection timing can significantly reduce combustion instability, but the emissions and efficiency drop to close to conventional diesel combustion (CDC) levels. The fuel split between the two DI injections has very little effect on combustion instability. Increasing EGR rate, while making adjustments to maintain combustion phasing, can significantly reduce PPRR variation until the engine is on the verge of misfiring. Combustion phasing has a very large impact on combustion instability. More advanced phasing is much more stable, but produces high peak pressure rise rates, higher NOx levels, and can be less efficient due to increased heat transfer losses. The results of this study identify operating parameters that can significantly improve the combustion stability of dual-fuel RCCI engines.


Author(s):  
Khanh Cung ◽  
Toby Rockstroh ◽  
Stephen Ciatti ◽  
William Cannella ◽  
S. Scott Goldsborough

Unlike homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) that has the complexity in controlling the start of combustion event, partially premixed combustion (PPC) provides the flexibility of defining the ignition timing and combustion phasing with respect to the time of injection. In PPC, the stratification of the charge can be influenced by a variety of methods such as number of injections (single or multiple injections), injection pressure, injection timing (early to near TDC injection), intake boost pressure, or combination of several factors. The current study investigates the effect of these factors when testing two gasoline-like fuels of different reactivity (defined by Research Octane Number or RON) in a 1.9-L inline 4-cylinder diesel engine. From the collection of engine data, a full factorial analysis was created in order to identify the factors that most influence the outcomes such as the location of ignition, combustion phasing, combustion stability, and emissions. Furthermore, the interaction effect of combinations of two factors or more was discussed with the implication of fuel reactivity under current operating conditions. The analysis was done at both low (1000 RPM) and high speed (2000 RPM). It was found that the boost pressure and air/fuel ratio have strong impact on ignition and combustion phasing. Finally, injection-timing sweeps were conducted whereby the ignition (CA10) of the two fuels with significantly different reactivity were matched by controlling the boost pressure while maintaining a constant lambda (air/fuel equivalence ratio).


Author(s):  
Yifeng Wu ◽  
Rolf D. Reitz

Reactivity Controlled Compression Ignition (RCCI) at engine high load operating conditions is investigated in this study. The effects of EGR and boost pressure on RCCI combustion were studied by using a multi-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code. The model was first compared with a previous CFD model, which has been validated against steady-state experimental data of gasoline-diesel RCCI in a multi-cylinder light duty engine. An RCCI piston with a compression ratio of 15:1 was then proposed to improve the combustion and emissions at high load. The simulation results showed that 18 bar indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP) could be achieved with gasoline-diesel RCCI at an EGR rate of 35 % and equivalence ratio of 0.96, while the peak pressure rise rate (PPRR) and engine combustion efficiency could both be controlled at reasonable levels. Simulations using both early and late direct-injection (DI) of diesel fuel showed that RCCI combustion at high load is very sensitive to variations of the exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) amount. Higher IMEP is obtained by using early diesel injection, and it is less sensitive to EGR variation compared to late diesel injection. Reduced unburned hydrocarbon (HC), carbon monoxide (CO), soot and slightly more nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions were seen for early diesel injection. HC, CO and soot emissions were found to be more sensitive to EGR variation at late diesel injection timings. However, there was little difference in terms of peak pressure, efficiencies, PPRR and phasing under varying EGR rates. The effect of boost pressure on RCCI at high load operating conditions was also studied at different EGR rates. It was found that combustion and emissions were improved, and the sensitivity of the combustion and emission to EGR was reduced with higher boost pressures. In addition, cases with similar combustion phasing and reasonable PPRR were analyzed by using an experimentally validated GT-Power model. The results indicated that although higher IMEP was generated at higher boost pressures, the brake mean effective pressure (BMEP) was similar compared to that obtained with lower boost pressures due to higher pumping losses.


Author(s):  
Yifeng Wu ◽  
Reed Hanson ◽  
Rolf D. Reitz

The dual fuel reactivity controlled compression ignition (RCCI) concept has been successfully demonstrated to be a promising, more controllable, high efficiency, and cleaner combustion mode. A multidimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code coupled with detailed chemistry, KIVA-CHEMKIN, was applied to develop a strategy for phasing control during load transitions. Steady-state operating points at 1500 rev/min were calibrated from 0 to 5 bar brake mean effective pressure (BMEP). The load transitions considered in this study included a load-up and a load-down load change transient between 1 bar and 4 bar BMEP at 1500 rev/min. The experimental results showed that during the load transitions, the diesel injection timing responded in two cycles while around five cycles were needed for the diesel common-rail pressure to reach the target value. However, the intake manifold pressure lagged behind the pedal change for about 50 cycles due to the slower response of the turbocharger. The effect of these transients on RCCI engine combustion phasing was studied. The CFD model was first validated against steady-state experimental data at 1 bar and 4 bar BMEP. Then the model was used to develop strategies for phasing control by changing the direct port fuel injection (PFI) amount during load transitions. Specific engine operating cycles during the load transitions (six cycles for the load-up transition and seven cycles for the load-down transition) were selected based on the change of intake manifold pressure to represent the transition processes. Each cycle was studied separately to find the correct PFI to diesel fuel ratio for the desired CA50 (the crank angle at which 50% of total heat release occurs). The simulation results showed that CA50 was delayed by 7 to 15 deg for the load-up transition and advanced by around 5 deg during the load-down transition if the precalibrated steady-state PFI table was used. By decreasing the PFI ratio by 10% to 15% during the load-up transition and increasing the PFI ratio by around 40% during the load-down transition, the CA50 could be controlled at a reasonable value during transitions. The control strategy can be used for closed-loop control during engine transient operating conditions. Combustion and emission results during load transitions are also discussed.


2021 ◽  
pp. 146808742110136
Author(s):  
Huiquan Duan ◽  
Ming Jia ◽  
Jinpeng Bai ◽  
Yaopeng Li

To improve the trade-off between thermal efficiency and peak heat release rate (HRR) of partially premixed combustion (PPC) and the combustion efficiency of reactivity-controlled compression ignition (RCCI), the combustion mode with premixed high-reactivity fuel and direct-injection (DI) low-reactivity fuel, called RCCI with reverse reactivity stratification (R-RCCI), was explored at low loads in a light-duty diesel engine in this study. Compared with diesel, polyoxymethylene dimethyl ethers (PODEn) has better volatility, which is beneficial for the formation of premixed charge, so it was used as the premixed high-reactivity fuel for R-RCCI in this work. The gasoline and P20G80 (PODEn/gasoline blends with the volume fraction of 20%/80%) were respectively applied as the DI low-reactivity fuel. By investigating the combustion characteristics of R-RCCI, it is found that R-RCCI can break the trade-off between combustion efficiency and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions. This is because the combustion efficiency of R-RCCI is dominated by the spray location of the DI fuel rather than the 50% burn point (CA50). As the start of injection (SOI) timing is retarded, the fuel injected within the piston bowl increases, and combustion efficiency, as well as indicated thermal efficiency (ITE), is considerably promoted. Meanwhile, CA50 progressively retards with delayed SOI timing, which effectively reduces NOx emissions. The soot emissions of R-RCCI are also extremely low. The maximum ITE of PODEn/P20G80 R-RCCI is significantly higher than that of PODEn/gasoline R-RCCI. This occurs because the higher reactivity of P20G80 can reduce the sensitivity of CA50 to SOI timing and improve combustion stability, so a more delayed SOI timing is allowed to improve ITE. With the same engine configurations, R-RCCI can reduce peak pressure rise rate and improve combustion stability, while enhancing combustion efficiency and ITE compared with RCCI at the low-load conditions tested in this study.


2003 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Canakci ◽  
R D Reitz

Homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) is receiving attention as a new low-emission engine concept. Little is known about the optimal operating conditions for this engine operation mode. Combustion under homogeneous, low equivalence ratio conditions results in modest temperature combustion products, containing very low concentrations of NOx and particulate matter (PM) as well as providing high thermal efficiency. However, this combustion mode can produce higher HC and CO emissions than those of conventional engines. An electronically controlled Caterpillar single-cylinder oil test engine (SCOTE), originally designed for heavy-duty diesel applications, was converted to an HCCI direct injection (DI) gasoline engine. The engine features an electronically controlled low-pressure direct injection gasoline (DI-G) injector with a 60° spray angle that is capable of multiple injections. The use of double injection was explored for emission control and the engine was optimized using fully automated experiments and a microgenetic algorithm optimization code. The variables changed during the optimization include the intake air temperature, start of injection timing and the split injection parameters (per cent mass of fuel in each injection, dwell between the pulses). The engine performance and emissions were determined at 700 r/min with a constant fuel flowrate at 10 MPa fuel injection pressure. The results show that significant emissions reductions are possible with the use of optimal injection strategies.


Author(s):  
Valentin Soloiu ◽  
Cesar E. Carapia ◽  
Justin T. Wiley ◽  
Jose Moncada ◽  
Remi Gaubert ◽  
...  

Abstract The focus of this study is to reduce harmful NOx and soot emissions of a compression ignition (CI) engine using reactivity-controlled compression ignition (RCCI) with n-Butanol. RCCI was achieved with the port fuel injection (PFI) of a low reactivity fuel, n-butanol, and a direct injection (DI) of the highly reactive fuel ULSD #2 (Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel) into the combustion chamber. The reactivity, ID, and CD where determined using a Constant Volume Combustion Chamber (CVCC) where ID for n-butanol was found to be 15 times slower than ULSD. The emissions and combustion analysis was conducted at 1500 RPM at an experimental low engine load of 4 bar IMEP; the baseline for emissions comparison was conducted using conventional diesel combustion (CDC) with an injection timing of 16° BTDC at a rail pressure of 800 bar. RCCI was conducted utilizing 75% by mass PFI of n-butanol with 25% ULSD DI, showed a simultaneous reduction of both NOx and soot emissions at a rate of 96.2% and 98.7% respectively albeit with an increase in UHC emissions by a factor of 5. Ringing Intensity was also significantly reduced for Bu75ULSD25 (RCCI Experiment) with a reduction of 62.1% from CDC.


2021 ◽  
pp. 146808742098457
Author(s):  
Yoshimitsu Kobashi ◽  
Tu Dan Dan Da ◽  
Ryuya Inagaki ◽  
Gen Shibata ◽  
Hideyuki Ogawa

Ozone (O3) was introduced into the intake air to control the ignition in a gasoline compression ignition (GCI) engine. An early fuel injection at −68 °CA ATDC was adopted to mix the fuel with the reactive O-radicals decomposed from the O3, before the reduction of the O-radicals due to their recombination would take place. The second injection was implemented near top dead center to optimize the profile of the heat release rate. The engine experiments were performed around the indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP) of 0.67 MPa with a primary reference fuel, octane number 90 (PRF90), maintaining the 15% intake oxygen concentration with the EGR. The quantity of the first injection, the second injection timing as well as the ozone concentration were changed as experimental parameters. The results showed that the GCI operation with the ozone addition makes it possible to reduce the maximum pressure rise rate while attaining high thermal efficiency, compared to that without the ozone. Appropriate combinations of the ozone concentration and the first injection quantity achieve low smoke and NOx emissions. Further, the ozone-assisted GCI operation was compared with conventional diesel operation. The results showed that the indicated thermal efficiency of the ozone-assisted GCI combustion is slightly lower than that of the conventional diesel combustion, but that GCI assisted with ozone is highly advantageous to the smoke and NOx emissions.


Author(s):  
Yifeng Wu ◽  
Reed Hanson ◽  
Rolf D. Reitz

The dual fuel reactivity controlled compression ignition (RCCI) concept has been successfully demonstrated to be a promising, more controllable, high efficiency and cleaner combustion mode. A multi-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code coupled with detailed chemistry, KIVA-CHEMKIN, was applied to develop a strategy for phasing control during load transitions. Steady-state operating points at 1500 rev/min were calibrated from 0 to 5 bar brake mean effective pressure (BMEP). The load transitions considered in this study included a load-up and a load-down load change transient between 1 bar and 4 bar BMEP at 1500 rev/min. The experimental results showed that during the load transitions, the diesel injection timing responded in 2 cycles while around 5 cycles were needed for the diesel common-rail pressure to reach the target value. However, the intake manifold pressure lagged behind the pedal change for about 50 cycles due to the slower response of the turbocharger. The effect of these transients on RCCI engine combustion phasing was studied. The CFD model was first validated against steady-state experimental data at 1 bar and 4 bar BMEP. Then the model was used to develop strategies for phasing control by changing the direct port fuel injection (PFI) amount during load transitions. Specific engine operating cycles during the load transitions (6 cycles for the load-up transition and 7 cycles for the load-down transition) were selected based on the change of intake manifold pressure to represent the transition processes. Each cycle was studied separately to find the correct PFI to diesel fuel ratio for the desired CA50 (the crank angle at which 50 % of total heat release occurs). The simulation results showed that CA50 was delayed by 7 to 15 degrees for the load-up transition and advanced by around 5 degrees during the load-down transition if the pre-calibrated steady-state PFI table was used. By decreasing the PFI ratio by 10 % to 15 % during the load-up transition and increasing the PFI ratio by around 40 % during the load-down transition, the CA50 could be controlled at a reasonable value during transitions. The control strategy can be used for closed-loop control during engine transient operating conditions. Combustion and emission results during load transitions are also discussed.


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