The Effects of Oxygen Enrichment of Combustion Air for Spark-Ignition Engines Using a Thermodynamic Cycle Simulation

Author(s):  
Jerald A. Caton

A thermodynamic cycle simulation was used to examine the effects of oxygen enriched combustion air on engine performance for a range of operating conditions and for different sized engines. The use of oxygen enriched combustion air will have a direct effect on the combustion process and on the overall engine thermodynamics. For example, for cases with higher inlet oxygen concentration (and hence less nitrogen dilution), for the same operating conditions, the combustion gas temperatures and engine cylinder heat losses will be higher. In addition, the engine using oxygen enriched combustion air will be smaller than an engine using normal air for the same power output. The major objective of this study was to quantify these expectations for a range of operating conditions. One special feature of a portion of the current study is the constant engine power output by decreasing engine size as the oxygen concentration increased in the combustion air. Results include detail thermodynamic results of temperatures, pressures and properties as functions of the oxygen concentration of the combustion air. Results also include engine performance parameters such as power, torque, fuel consumption, thermal efficiency, and exhaust temperatures. For one comparison, engine performance and fuel consumption were obtained for an equivalence ratio of 1.0, MBT spark timing, and 2500 rpm. For oxygen enriched combustion air with 32% oxygen, equal power output was obtained with 73% of the displaced volume (all else the same). For the higher oxygen case, the brake fuel consumption increased about 11% primarily due to higher heat losses and higher exhaust gas energy which were a consequence of the higher gas temperatures. For the MBT spark timing case, the nitric oxide emissions increased by about 11% as the oxygen concentration increases from 21% to 25%.

Author(s):  
Jerald A. Caton

Abstract A thermodynamic cycle simulation was developed for a spark-ignition engine which included the use of multiple zones for the combustion process. This simulation was used to complete analyses for a commercial, spark-ignition V-8 engine operating at a part load condition. Specifically, the engine possessed a compression ratio of 8.1:1, and had a bore and stroke of 101.6 and 88.4 mm, respectively. A part load operating condition at 1400 rpm with an equivalence ratio of 1.0 was examined. Results were obtained for overall engine performance, for detailed in-cylinder events, and for the thermodynamics of the individual processes. In particular, the characteristics of the engine operation with respect to the combustion process were examined. Implications of the multiple zones formulation for the combustion process are described.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 5548
Author(s):  
Luca Marchitto ◽  
Cinzia Tornatore ◽  
Luigi Teodosio

Stringent exhaust emission and fuel consumption regulations impose the need for new solutions for further development of internal combustion engines. With this in mind, a refined control of the combustion process in each cylinder can represent a useful and affordable way to limit cycle-to-cycle and cylinder-to-cylinder variation reducing CO2 emission. In this paper, a twin-cylinder turbocharged Port Fuel Injection–Spark Ignition engine is experimentally and numerically characterized under different operating conditions in order to investigate the influence of cycle-to-cycle variation and cylinder-to-cylinder variability on the combustion and performance. Significant differences in the combustion behavior between cylinders were found, mainly due to a non-uniform effective in-cylinder air/fuel (A/F) ratio. For each cylinder, the coefficients of variation (CoVs) of selected combustion parameters are used to quantify the cyclic dispersion. Experimental-derived CoV correlations representative of the engine behavior are developed, validated against the measurements in various speed/load points and then coupled to an advanced 1D model of the whole engine. The latter is employed to reproduce the experimental findings, taking into account the effects of cycle-to-cycle variation. Once validated, the whole model is applied to optimize single cylinder operation, mainly acting on the spark timing and fuel injection, with the aim to reduce the specific fuel consumption and cyclic dispersion.


Author(s):  
Vaibhav J. Lawand ◽  
Jerald A. Caton

The use of turbocharging systems for spark-ignition engines has seen increased interest in recent years due to the importance of fuel efficiency, and in some cases, increased performance. An example of a possible strategy is to use a smaller displacement engine with turbocharging rather than a larger engine without turbocharging. To better understand the tradeoffs and the fundamental aspects of a turbocharged engine, this investigation is aimed at determining the energy and exergy quantities for a range of operating conditions for a spark-ignition engine. A 3.8 liter automotive engine with a turbocharger and intercooler was selected for this study. Various engine performance and other output parameters were determined as functions of engine speed and load. For the base case (2000 rpm and a bmep of 1200 kPa), the bsfc was about 240 g/kW-h. At these conditions, the second law analysis indicated that the original fuel exergy was distributed as follows: 34.7% was delivered as indicated work, 16.9% was moved via heat transfer to the cylinder walls, 23.0% exited with the exhaust gases, 20.6% was destroyed during the combustion process, 2.5% was destroyed due to inlet mixing processes, and 1.9% was destroyed due to the exhaust processes. The turbocharger components including the intercooler were responsible for less than 1.0% of the fuel exergy destruction or transfer.


Author(s):  
Dimitrios T. Hountalas ◽  
Spiridon Raptotasios ◽  
Antonis Antonopoulos ◽  
Stavros Daniolos ◽  
Iosif Dolaptzis ◽  
...  

Currently the most promising solution for marine propulsion is the two-stroke low-speed diesel engine. Start of Injection (SOI) is of significant importance for these engines due to its effect on firing pressure and specific fuel consumption. Therefore these engines are usually equipped with Variable Injection Timing (VIT) systems for variation of SOI with load. Proper operation of these systems is essential for both safe engine operation and performance since they are also used to control peak firing pressure. However, it is rather difficult to evaluate the operation of VIT system and determine the required rack settings for a specific SOI angle without using experimental techniques, which are extremely expensive and time consuming. For this reason in the present work it is examined the use of on-board monitoring and diagnosis techniques to overcome this difficulty. The application is conducted on a commercial vessel equipped with a two-stroke engine from which cylinder pressure measurements were acquired. From the processing of measurements acquired at various operating conditions it is determined the relation between VIT rack position and start of injection angle. This is used to evaluate the VIT system condition and determine the required settings to achieve the desired SOI angle. After VIT system tuning, new measurements were acquired from the processing of which results were derived for various operating parameters, i.e. brake power, specific fuel consumption, heat release rate, start of combustion etc. From the comparative evaluation of results before and after VIT adjustment it is revealed an improvement of specific fuel consumption while firing pressure remains within limits. It is thus revealed that the proposed method has the potential to overcome the disadvantages of purely experimental trial and error methods and that its use can result to fuel saving with minimum effort and time. To evaluate the corresponding effect on NOx emissions, as required by Marpol Annex-VI regulation a theoretical investigation is conducted using a multi-zone combustion model. Shop-test and NOx-file data are used to evaluate its ability to predict engine performance and NOx emissions before conducting the investigation. Moreover, the results derived from the on-board cylinder pressure measurements, after VIT system tuning, are used to evaluate the model’s ability to predict the effect of SOI variation on engine performance. Then the simulation model is applied to estimate the impact of SOI advance on NOx emissions. As revealed NOx emissions remain within limits despite the SOI variation (increase).


Author(s):  
Teja Gonguntla ◽  
Robert Raine ◽  
Leigh Ramsey ◽  
Thomas Houlihan

The objective of this project was to develop both engine performance and emission profiles for two test fuels — a 6% water-in-diesel oil emulsion (DOE-6) fuel and a neat diesel (D100) fuel. The testing was performed on a single cylinder, direct-injection, water-cooled diesel engine coupled to an eddy current dynamometer. Output parameters of the engine were used to calculate Brake Specific Fuel Consumption (BSFC) and Engine Efficiency (η) for each test fuel. DOE-6 fuels generated a 24% reduction in NOX and a 42% reduction in Carbon Monoxide emissions over the tested operating conditions. DOE-6 fuels presented higher ignition delays — between 1°-4°, yielded 1%–12% lower peak cylinder pressures and produced up to 5.5% lower exhaust temperatures. Brake Specific Fuel consumption increased by 6.6% for the DOE-6 fuels as compared to the D100 fuels. This project is the first research done by a New Zealand academic institution on water-in-diesel emulsion fuels.


2021 ◽  
pp. 146808742110464
Author(s):  
Yang Hua

Ether and ester fuels can work in the existing internal combustion (IC) engine with some important advantages. This work comprehensively reviews and summarizes the literatures on ether fuels represented by DME, DEE, DBE, DGM, and DMM, and ester fuels represented by DMC and biodiesel from three aspects of properties, production and engine application, so as to prove their feasibility and prospects as alternative fuels for compression ignition (CI) and spark ignition (SI) engines. These studies cover the effects of ether and ester fuels applied in the form of single fuel, mixed fuel, dual-fuel, and multi-fuel on engine performance, combustion and emission characteristics. The evaluation indexes mainly include torque, power, BTE, BSFC, ignition delay, heat release rate, pressure rise rate, combustion duration, exhaust gas temperature, CO, HC, NOx, PM, and smoke. The results show that ethers and esters have varying degrees of impact on engine performance, combustion and emissions. They can basically improve the thermal efficiency of the engine and reduce particulate emissions, but their effects on power, fuel consumption, combustion process, and CO, HC, and NOx emissions are uncertain, which is due to the coupling of operating conditions, fuel molecular structure, in-cylinder environment and application methods. By changing the injection strategy, adjusting the EGR rate, adopting a new combustion mode, adding improvers or synergizing multiple fuels, adverse effects can be avoided and the benefits of oxygenated fuel can be maximized. Finally, some challenges faced by alternative fuels and future research directions are analyzed.


Author(s):  
Daniel Probst ◽  
Sameera Wijeyakulasuriya ◽  
Eric Pomraning ◽  
Janardhan Kodavasal ◽  
Riccardo Scarcelli ◽  
...  

High cycle-to-cycle variation (CCV) is detrimental to engine performance, as it leads to poor combustion and high noise and vibration. In this work, CCV in a gasoline engine is studied using large eddy simulation (LES). The engine chosen as the basis of this work is a single-cylinder gasoline direct injection (GDI) research engine. Two stoichiometric part-load engine operating points (6 BMEP, 2000 RPM) were evaluated: a non-dilute (0% EGR) case and a dilute (18% EGR) case. The experimental data for both operating conditions had 500 cycles. The measured CCV in IMEP was 1.40% for the non-dilute case and 7.78% for the dilute case. To estimate CCV from simulation, perturbed concurrent cycles of engine simulations were compared to consecutively obtained engine cycles. The motivation behind this is that running consecutive cycles to estimate CCV is quite time-consuming. For example, running 100 consecutive cycles requires 2–3 months (on a typical cluster), however, by running concurrently one can potentially run all 100 cycles at the same time and reduce the overall turnaround time for 100 cycles to the time taken for a single cycle (2 days). The goal of this paper is to statistically determine if concurrent cycles, with a perturbation applied to each individual cycle at the start, can be representative of consecutively obtained cycles and accurately estimate CCV. 100 cycles were run for each case to obtain statistically valid results. The concurrent cycles began at different timings before the combustion event, with the motivation to identify the closest time before spark to minimize the run time. Only a single combustion cycle was run for each concurrent case. The calculated standard deviation of peak pressure and coefficient of variance (COV) of indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP) were compared between the consecutive and concurrent methods to quantify CCV. It was found that the concurrent method could be used to predict CCV with either a velocity or numerical perturbation. A large and small velocity perturbation were compared and both produced correct predictions, implying that the type of perturbation is not important to yield a valid realization. Starting the simulation too close to the combustion event, at intake valve close (IVC) or at spark timing, under-predicted the CCV. When concurrent simulations were initiated during or before the intake even, at start of injection (SOI) or earlier, distinct and valid realizations were obtained to accurately predict CCV for both operating points. By simulating CCV with concurrent cycles, the required wall clock time can be reduced from 2–3 months to 1–2 days. Additionally, the required core-hours can be reduced up to 41%, since only a portion of each cycle needs to be simulated.


Aerospace ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 55 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Large ◽  
Apostolos Pesyridis

In this study, the on-going research into the improvement of micro-gas turbine propulsion system performance and the suitability for its application as propulsion systems for small tactical UAVs (<600 kg) is investigated. The study is focused around the concept of converting existing micro turbojet engines into turbofans with the use of a continuously variable gearbox, thus maintaining a single spool configuration and relative design simplicity. This is an effort to reduce the initial engine development cost, whilst improving the propulsive performance. The BMT 120 KS micro turbojet engine is selected for the performance evaluation of the conversion process using the gas turbine performance software GasTurb13. The preliminary design of a matched low-pressure compressor (LPC) for the proposed engine is then performed using meanline calculation methods. According to the analysis that is carried out, an improvement in the converted micro gas turbine engine performance, in terms of thrust and specific fuel consumption is achieved. Furthermore, with the introduction of a CVT gearbox, the fan speed operation may be adjusted independently of the core, allowing an increased thrust generation or better fuel consumption. This therefore enables a wider gamut of operating conditions and enhances the performance and scope of the tactical UAV.


Author(s):  
Zhenkuo Wu ◽  
Zhiyu Han

In the present study, multidimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were carried out to study mixture formation in a turbocharged port-injection natural gas engine. In order to achieve robust simulation results, multiple cycle simulation was employed to remove the inaccuracies of initial conditions setting. First, the minimal number of simulation cycles required to obtain convergent cycle-to-cycle results was determined. Based on this, the in-cylinder mixture preparation for three typical operating conditions was studied. The effects of fuel injection timing and intake valve open scheme on the mixture formation were evaluated. The results demonstrated that three simulation cycles are needed to achieve convergence of the results for the present study. The analysis of the mixture preparation revealed that only in the initial phase of the intake stroke, there is an obvious difference between the three operating conditions. At the spark timing, for 5500 rpm, full load condition mixture composition throughout the cylinder is flammable, and for 2000 rpm, 2 bar operating condition part of the mixture is lean and nonflammable. The fuel injection timing has an insignificant impact on the mixture flammability at the spark timing. It was observed that the designed nonsynchronous intake valve open scheme has stronger swirl and x-direction tumble motion than the baseline case, leading to better mixture homogeneity and spatial distribution. With an increase in volumetric efficiency, particularly at 2000 rpm, full load condition, by 4.85% compared to the baseline, which is in line with experimental observation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mateos Kassa ◽  
Carrie Hall ◽  
Michael Pamminger ◽  
Thomas Wallner

Abstract One of the main factors limiting the efficiency of spark-ignited (SI) engines is the occurrence of engine knock. In high temperature and high pressure in-cylinder conditions, the fuel–air mixture auto-ignites creating pressure shock waves in the cylinder. Knock can significantly damage the engine and hinder its performance; as such, conservative knock control strategies are generally implemented which avoid such operating conditions at the cost of lower thermal efficiencies. Significant improvements in the performance of conventional knock controllers are possible if the properties of the knock process are better characterized and exploited in knock controller designs. One of the methods undertaken to better characterize knocking instances is to employ a probabilistic approach, in which the likelihood of knock is derived from the statistical distribution of knock intensity (KI). In this paper, it is shown that KI values at a fixed operating point for single fuel and dual fuel engines are accurately described using a mixed lognormal distribution. The fitting accuracy is compared against those for a randomly generated mixed-lognormally distributed dataset, and shown to exceed a 95% accuracy threshold for almost all of the operating points tested. Additionally, this paper discusses a stochastic knock control approach that leverages the mixed lognormal distribution to adjust spark timing based on KI measurements. This more informed knock control strategy would allow for improvements in engine performance and fuel efficiency by minimizing knock occurrences.


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