A phenomenological combustion analysis of a dual-fuel natural-gas diesel engine

2016 ◽  
Vol 231 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuonan Xu ◽  
David Anderson ◽  
Mark Hoffman ◽  
Robert Prucka ◽  
Zoran Filipi
Keyword(s):  
Diesel Engine ◽  
Natural Gas ◽  
Heat Release ◽  
Diesel Fuel ◽  
Fuel Injection ◽  
Dual Fuel ◽  
Injection Timing ◽  
Heavy Duty ◽  
Engine System ◽  
Wiebe Function

Energy security concerns and an abundant supply of natural gas in the USA provide the impetus for engine designers to consider alternative gaseous fuels in the existing engines. The dual-fuel natural-gas diesel engine concept is attractive because of the minimal design changes, the ability to preserve a high compression ratio of the baseline diesel, and the lack of range anxiety. However, the increased complexity of a dual-fuel engine poses challenges, including the knock limit at a high load, the combustion instability at a low load, and the transient response of an engine with directly injected diesel fuel and port fuel injection of compressed natural gas upstream of the intake manifold. Predictive simulations of the complete engine system are an invaluable tool for investigations of these conditions and development of dual-fuel control strategies. This paper presents the development of a phenomenological combustion model of a heavy-duty dual-fuel engine, aided by insights from experimental data. Heat release analysis is carried out first, using the cylinder pressure data acquired with both diesel-only and dual-fuel (diesel and natural gas) combustion over a wide operating range. A diesel injection timing correlation based on the injector solenoid valve pulse widths is developed, enabling the diesel fuel start of injection to be detected without extra sensors on the fuel injection cam. The experimental heat release trends are obtained with a hybrid triple-Wiebe function for both diesel-only operation and dual-fuel operation. The ignition delay period of dual-fuel operation is examined and estimated with a predictive correlation using the concept of a pseudo-diesel equivalence ratio. A four-stage combustion mechanism is discussed, and it is shown that a triple-Wiebe function has the ability to represent all stages of dual-fuel combustion. This creates a critical building block for modeling a heavy-duty dual-fuel turbocharged engine system.

scholarly journals Research on Fuel Efficiency and Emissions of Converted Diesel Engine with Conventional Fuel Injection System for Operation on Natural Gas

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 2413 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lebedevas ◽  
Pukalskas ◽  
Daukšys ◽  
Rimkus ◽  
Melaika ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Natural Gas ◽  
Fuel Injection ◽  
Injection System ◽  
Dual Fuel ◽  
Injection Timing ◽  
Fuel Injection System ◽  
Significant Deterioration ◽  
Engine Operation ◽  
Conventional Fuel

This paper presents a study on the energy efficiency and emissions of a converted high-revolution bore 79.5 mm/stroke 95 mm engine with a conventional fuel injection system for operation with dual fuel feed: diesel (D) and natural gas (NG). The part of NG energy increase in the dual fuel is related to a significant deterioration in energy efficiency (ηi), particularly when engine operation is in low load modes and was determined to be below 40% of maximum continuous rating. The effectiveness of the D injection timing optimisation was established in high engine load modes within the range of a co-combustion ratio of NG ≤ 0.4: with an increase in ηi, compared to D, the emissions of NOx+ HC decreased by 15% to 25%, while those of CO2 decreased by 8% to 16%; the six-fold CO emission increase, up to 6 g/kWh, was unregulated. By referencing the indicated process characteristics of the established NG phase elongation in the expansion stroke, the combustion time increase as well as the associated decrease in the cylinder excess air ratio (α) are possible reasons for the increase in the incomplete combustion product emission.

Combustion heat release analysis of ethanol or n-butanol diesel fuel blends in heavy-duty DI diesel engine

Fuel ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 90 (5) ◽  
pp. 1855-1867 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.C. Rakopoulos ◽  
C.D. Rakopoulos ◽  
R.G. Papagiannakis ◽  
D.C. Kyritsis
Keyword(s):  
Diesel Engine ◽  
Heat Release ◽  
Diesel Fuel ◽  
Heavy Duty ◽  
Combustion Heat ◽  
Fuel Blends ◽  
Release Analysis ◽  
Di Diesel Engine

Development of a Phenomenological Combustion Simulation for a Dual Fuel Engine

2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yafeng Liu ◽  
Stuart R. Bell ◽  
K. Clark Midkiff
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Diesel Fuel ◽  
Fuel Injection ◽  
Air Entrainment ◽  
Dual Fuel ◽  
Nox Emissions ◽  
Cycle Simulation ◽  
Specific Performance ◽  
Combustion Simulation ◽  
Reduce Emissions

Abstract A phenomenological cycle simulation for a dual fuel engine has been developed to mathematically simulate the significant processes of the engine cycle, to predict specific performance parameters for the engine, and to investigate approaches to improve performance and reduce emissions. The simulation employs two zones (crevice and unburned) during the processes of exhaust, intake, compression before fuel injection starts, and expansion after combustion ends. From the start of fuel injection to the end of combustion, several, zones are utilized to account for crevice flow, diesel fuel spray, air entrainment, diesel fuel droplet evaporation, ignition delay, flame propagation, and combustion quenching. The crevice zone absorbs charge gas from the cylinder as pressure increases, and releases mass back into the chamber as pressure decreases. Some crevice mass released during late combustion may not be oxidized, resulting in emissions of hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide. Quenching ahead of the flame front may leave additional charge unburned, yielding high methane emissions. Potential reduction of engine-out NOx emissions with natural gas fueling has also been investigated. The higher substitution of natural gas in the engine produces less engine-out NOx emissions. This paper presents the development of the model, baseline predictions, and comparisons to experimental measurements performed in a single-cylinder Caterpillar 3400 series engine.

A Study on Adaptability of the Engine Control Module of an Existing Heavy Duty Diesel Engine to Optimize the Engine Performance With F-T Diesel Fuel

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Praveen Kandulapati ◽  
Chuen-Sen Lin ◽  
Dennis Witmer ◽  
Thomas Johnson ◽  
Jack Schmid ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Diesel Engine ◽  
Diesel Fuel ◽  
Load Condition ◽  
Engine Performance ◽  
Injection Timing ◽  
Heavy Duty ◽  
Synthetic Fuels ◽  
Control Module ◽  
Heavy Duty Diesel Engine ◽  
Heavy Duty Diesel

Synthetic fuels produced from non-petroleum based feedstocks can effectively replace the depleting petroleum based conventional fuels while significantly reducing the emissions. The zero sulfur content and the near zero percentage of aromatics in the synthetic fuels make them promising clean fuels to meet the upcoming emissions regulations. However due to their significantly different properties when compared to the conventional fuels; the existing engines must be tested extensively to study their performance with the new fuels. This paper reports a detailed in-cylinder pressure measurement based study made on adaptability of the engine control module (ECM) of a modern heavy duty diesel engine to optimize the engine performance with the F-T diesel fuel. During this study, the F-T and Conventional diesel fuels were tested at different loads and various injection timing changes made with respect to the manufacturer setting. Results from these tests showed that the ECM used significantly different injection timings for the two fuels in the process of optimizing the engine performance. For the same power output the ECM used a 2° advance in the injection timing with respect to the manufacturer setting at the full load and 1° retard at the no load condition. While the injection timings used by the ECM were same for both the fuels at the 50% load condition. However, a necessity for further changes in the control strategies used by the ECM were observed to get the expected advantages with the F-T fuels.

Experimental investigations on combustion of jatropha methyl ester in a turbocharged direct-injection diesel engine

2008 ◽  
Vol 222 (10) ◽  
pp. 1865-1877 ◽  
Author(s):  
K Anand ◽  
R P Sharma ◽  
P S Mehta
Keyword(s):  
Diesel Engine ◽  
Methyl Ester ◽  
Diesel Fuel ◽  
Fuel Injection ◽  
Peak Pressure ◽  
Direct Injection ◽  
Pressure Rise ◽  
Experimental Investigations ◽  
Injection Timing ◽  
Gas Temperature

Suitability of vegetable oil as an alternative to diesel fuel in compression ignition engines has become attractive, and research in this area has gained momentum because of concerns on energy security, high oil prices, and increased emphasis on clean environment. The experimental work reported here has been carried out on a turbocharged direct-injection multicylinder truck diesel engine using diesel fuel and jatropha methyl ester (JME)-diesel blends. The results of the experimental investigation indicate that an increase in JME quantity in the blend slightly advances the dynamic fuel injection timing and lowers the ignition delay compared with the diesel fuel. A maximum rise in peak pressure limited to 6.5 per cent is observed for fuel blends up to 40 per cent JME for part-load (up to about 50 per cent load) operations. However, for a higher-JME blend, the peak pressures decrease at higher loads remained within 4.5 per cent. With increasing proportion of JME in the blend, the peak pressure occurrence slightly advances and the maximum rate of pressure rise, combustion duration, and exhaust gas temperature decrease by 9 per cent, 15 per cent and 17 per cent respectively. Although the changes in brake thermal efficiencies for 20 per cent and 40 per cent JME blends compared with diesel fuel remain insignificant, the 60 per cent JME blend showed about 2.7 per cent improvement in the brake thermal efficiency. In general, it is observed that the overall performance and combustion characteristics of the engine do not alter significantly for 20 per cent and 40 per cent JME blends but show an improvement over diesel performance when fuelled with 60 per cent JME blend.

Cyclic Variability in Diesel/Gasoline Dual-Fuel Combustion on a Medium-Duty Diesel Engine

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiafeng Sun ◽  
Joshua A. Bittle ◽  
Timothy J. Jacobs
Keyword(s):  
Diesel Engine ◽  
Heat Release ◽  
Gasoline Fraction ◽  
Fuel Spray ◽  
Intake Manifold ◽  
Dual Fuel ◽  
Injection Timing ◽  
Fuel Injector ◽  
Cyclic Variability ◽  
Diesel Operation

Most studies comparing diesel/gasoline dual-fuel operation and single-fuel diesel operation in diesel engines center on time-averaged results. It seems few studies discuss differences in cyclic variability. Motivated by this, the present study evaluates the cyclic variability of combustion in both dual-fuel and single-fuel operations of a diesel engine. Steady-state tests were done on a medium duty diesel engine with conventional direct injection timings of diesel fuel into the cylinder at one speed and three loads. In addition to single-fuel (diesel) operation, dual-fuel (gasoline and diesel) operation was studied at increasing levels of gasoline fraction. Gasoline fuel is introduced via a fuel injector at a single location prior to the intake manifold (and EGR mixing location). Crank-angle resolved data including in-cylinder pressure and heat release rate obtained for around 150 consecutive cycles are used to assess cyclic variability. The sources of cyclic variability, namely the factors causing cyclic variability or influencing its magnitude, especially those related to cylinder charge amount and mixture preparation, are analyzed. Fuel spray penetration and cyclic variability of cylinder charging, overall A/F ratio, and fuel injection timing, tend to increase cyclic variability of combustion in dual-fuel operation. On the other hand, fuel type and fuel spray droplet size tend to increase cyclic variability in single-fuel operation. The cyclic variability in dual-fuel operation in this study is more serious than that in single-fuel operation, in terms of magnitude, indicated by metrics chosen to quantify it. Most measures of cyclic variability increase consistently with increasing gasoline fraction. Variations of gasoline amount and possibly gasoline low temperature heat release cause higher combustion variation in dual-fuel operation primarily by affecting premixed burning. Statistical methods such as probability density function, autocorrelation coefficient, return map, and symbol sequence statistics methods are used to check determinism. In general, the parameters studied do not show strong determinism, which suggests other parameters must be identified to establish determinism or the system is inherently stochastic. Regardless, dominant sequences and optimal sequence lengths can be identified.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document