Particle and nanoparticle characterization at the exhaust of internal combustion engines

Author(s):  
C Tornatore ◽  
S S Merola ◽  
B M Vaglieco

The aim of this work is the characterization of the emissions of exhaust particles in terms of number size distribution and chemical—physical properties. Laser-induced incandescence and broadband ultraviolet—visible extinction and scattering spectroscopy were used at the exhaust of a common-rail diesel engine and of a port fuel injection (PFI) spark ignition (SI) engine. The optical results were compared with size distributions obtained with an electrical low-pressure impactor and a scanning mobility particle sizer. Moreover, the fundamental engine parameters and the particulate mass and gas concentrations were measured using conventional instrumentation. With respect to the diesel engine, the effect of the exhaust after-treatment was investigated. The exhaust gas recirculation influenced the particle size distribution in terms of number concentration owing to the formation of accumulation mode particles. The catalysed diesel particulate filter strongly reduced the particle number concentration in the loading phase. Effects on the chemical nature of the particles were observed during the filter regeneration phase. With respect to the PFI SI engine, high number concentrations of nanoparticles ( D<50nm) were measured for all the engine operating conditions. The chemical nature of the nanoparticles was investigated.

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zongyu Yue ◽  
Rolf D Reitz

High-pressure fuel injection impacts mixture preparation, ignition and combustion in engines and other applications. Experimental studies have revealed the mixing-controlled and local phase equilibrium characteristics of liquid vaporization in high injection pressure diesel engine sprays. However, most computational fluid dynamics models for engine simulations spend much effort in solving for non-equilibrium spray processes. In this study, an equilibrium phase spray model is explored. The model is developed based on jet theory and a phase equilibrium assumption, without modeling drop breakup, collision and finite-rate interfacial vaporization processes. The proposed equilibrium phase spray model is validated extensively against experimental data in simulations of the engine combustion network Spray A and in an optical diesel engine. Predictions of liquid/vapor penetration, fuel mass fraction distribution, heat release rate and emission formation are all in good agreement with experimental data. In addition, good computational efficiency and grid-independency are also seen with the present equilibrium phase model. The examined operating conditions cover wide ranges that are relevant to internal combustion engines, which include ambient temperatures from 700 to 1400 K, ambient densities from 7.6 to 22.8 kg/m3 and injection pressures from 1200 to 1500 bar for diesel sprays.


2021 ◽  
pp. 146808742098626
Author(s):  
Pooyan Kheirkhah ◽  
Patrick Kirchen ◽  
Steven Rogak

Exhaust-stream particulate matter (PM) emission from combustion sources such as internal combustion engines are typically characterized with modest temporal resolutions; however, in-cylinder investigations have demonstrated significant variability and the importance of individual cycles in transient PM emissions. Here, using a Fast Exhaust Nephelometer (FEN), a methodology is developed for measuring the cycle-specific PM concentration at the exhaust port of a single-cylinder research engine. The measured FEN light-scattering is converted to cycle-resolved soot mass concentration ([Formula: see text]), and used to characterize the variability of engine-out soot emission. To validate this method, exhaust-port FEN measurements are compared with diluted gravimetric PM mass and scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS) measurements, resulting in close agreements with an overall root-mean-square deviation of better than 30%. It is noted that when PM is sampled downstream in the exhaust system, the particles are larger by 50–70 nm due to coagulation. The response time of the FEN was characterized using a “skip-firing” scheme, by enabling and disabling the fuel injection during otherwise steady-state operation. The average response time due to sample transfer and mixing times is 55 ms, well below the engine cycle period (100 ms) for the considered engine speeds, thus suitable for single-cycle measurements carried out in this work. Utilizing the fast-response capability of the FEN, it is observed that cycle-specific gross indicated mean effective pressure (GIMEP) and [Formula: see text] are negatively correlated ([Formula: see text]: 0.2–0.7), implying that cycles with lower GIMEP emit more soot. The physical causes of this association deserve further investigation, but are expected to be caused by local fuel-air mixing effects. The averaged exhaust-port [Formula: see text] is similar to the diluted gravimetric measurements, but the cycle-to-cycle variations can only be detected with the FEN. The methodology developed here will be used in future investigations to characterize PM emissions during transient engine operation, and to enable exhaust-stream PM measurements for optical engine experiments.


2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. I. Gkatzelis ◽  
D. K. Papanastasiou ◽  
K. Florou ◽  
C. Kaltsonoudis ◽  
E. Louvaris ◽  
...  

Abstract. An experimental methodology was developed to measure the nonvolatile particle number concentration using a thermodenuder (TD). The TD was coupled with a high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer, measuring the chemical composition and mass size distribution of the submicrometer aerosol and a scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS) that provided the number size distribution of the aerosol in the range from 10 to 500 nm. The method was evaluated with a set of smog chamber experiments and achieved almost complete evaporation (> 98 %) of secondary organic as well as freshly nucleated particles, using a TD temperature of 400 °C and a centerline residence time of 15 s. This experimental approach was applied in a winter field campaign in Athens and provided a direct measurement of number concentration and size distribution for particles emitted from major pollution sources. During periods in which the contribution of biomass burning sources was dominant, more than 80 % of particle number concentration remained after passing through the thermodenuder, suggesting that nearly all biomass burning particles had a nonvolatile core. These remaining particles consisted mostly of black carbon (60 % mass contribution) and organic aerosol (OA; 40 %). Organics that had not evaporated through the TD were mostly biomass burning OA (BBOA) and oxygenated OA (OOA) as determined from AMS source apportionment analysis. For periods during which traffic contribution was dominant 50–60 % of the particles had a nonvolatile core while the rest evaporated at 400 °C. The remaining particle mass consisted mostly of black carbon with an 80 % contribution, while OA was responsible for another 15–20 %. Organics were mostly hydrocarbon-like OA (HOA) and OOA. These results suggest that even at 400 °C some fraction of the OA does not evaporate from particles emitted from common combustion processes, such as biomass burning and car engines, indicating that a fraction of this type of OA is of extremely low volatility.


Author(s):  
Sungjun Yoon ◽  
Hongsuk Kim ◽  
Daesik Kim ◽  
Sungwook Park

Stringent emission regulations (e.g., Euro-6) force automotive manufacturers to equip DPF (diesel particulate filter) on diesel cars. Generally, post injection is used as a method to regenerate DPF. However, it is known that post injection deteriorates specific fuel consumption and causes oil dilution for some operating conditions. Thus, an injection strategy for regeneration becomes one of key technologies for diesel powertrain equipped with a DPF. This paper presents correlations between fuel injection strategy and exhaust gas temperature for DPF regeneration. Experimental apparatus consists of a single cylinder diesel engine, a DC dynamometer, an emission test bench, and an engine control system. In the present study, post injection timing covers from 40 deg aTDC to 110 deg aTDC and double post injection was considered. In addition, effects of injection pressures were investigated. The engine load was varied from low-load to mid-load and fuel amount of post injection was increased up to 10mg/stk. Oil dilution during fuel injection and combustion processes were estimated by diesel loss measured by comparing two global equivalences ratios; one is measured from Lambda sensor installed at exhaust port, the other one is estimated from intake air mass and injected fuel mass. In the present study, the differences in global equivalence ratios were mainly caused from oil dilution during post injection. The experimental results of the present study suggest an optimal engine operating conditions including fuel injection strategy to get appropriate exhaust gas temperature for DPF regeneration. Experimental results of exhaust gas temperature distributions for various engine operating conditions were summarized. In addition, it was revealed that amounts of oil dilution were reduced by splitting post injection (i.e., double post injection). Effects of injection pressure on exhaust gas temperature were dependent on combustion phasing and injection strategies.


Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 1566 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.D. Martinez-Boggio ◽  
S.S. Merola ◽  
P. Teixeira Lacava ◽  
A. Irimescu ◽  
P.L. Curto-Risso

To mitigate the increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, energy production processes must change from fossil to renewable resources. Bioenergy utilization from agricultural residues can be a step towards achieving this goal. Syngas (fuel obtained from biomass gasification) has been proved to have the potential of replacing fossil fuels in stationary internal combustion engines (ICEs). The processes associated with switching from traditional fuels to alternatives have always led to intense research efforts in order to have a broad understanding of the behavior of the engine in all operating conditions. In particular, attention needs to be focused on fuels containing relatively high concentrations of hydrogen, due to its faster propagation speed with respect to traditional fossil energy sources. Therefore, a combustion study was performed in a research optical SI engine, for a comparison between a well-established fuel such as methane (the main component of natural gas) and syngas. The main goal of this work is to study the effect of inert gases in the fuel mixture and that of air dilution during lean fuelling. Thus, two pure syngas blends (mixtures of CO and H2) and their respective diluted mixtures (CO and H2 with 50vol% of inert gases, CO2 and N2) were tested in several air-fuel ratios (stoichiometric to lean burn conditions). Initially, the combustion process was studied in detail by traditional thermodynamic analysis and then optical diagnostics were applied thanks to the optical access through the piston crown. Specifically, images were taken in the UV-visible spectrum of the entire cycle to follow the propagation of the flame front. The results show that hydrogen promotes flame propagation and reduces its distortion, as well as resulting in flames evolving closer to the spark plug. All syngas blends show a stable combustion process, even in conditions of high air and fuel dilution. In the leanest case, real syngas mixtures present a decrease in terms of performance due to significant reduction in volumetric efficiency. However, this condition strongly decreases pollutant emissions, with nitrogen oxide (NOx) concentrations almost negligible.


Author(s):  
Sungjun Yoon ◽  
Hongsuk Kim ◽  
Daesik Kim ◽  
Sungwook Park

Stringent emission regulations (e.g., Euro-6) have forced automotive manufacturers to equip a diesel particulate filter (DPF) on diesel cars. Generally, postinjection is used as a method to regenerate the DPF. However, it is known that postinjection deteriorates the specific fuel consumption and causes oil dilution for some operating conditions. Thus, an injection strategy for regeneration is one of the key technologies for diesel powertrains equipped with a DPF. This paper presents correlations between the fuel injection strategy and exhaust gas temperature for DPF regeneration. The experimental apparatus consists of a single-cylinder diesel engine, a DC dynamometer, an emission test bench, and an engine control system. In the present study, the postinjection timing was in the range of 40 deg aTDC to 110 deg aTDC and double postinjection was considered. In addition, the effects of the injection pressure were investigated. The engine load was varied among low load to midload conditions, and the amount of fuel of postinjection was increased up to 10 mg/stk. The oil dilution during the fuel injection and combustion processes was estimated by the diesel loss measured by comparing two global equivalences ratios: one measured from a lambda sensor installed at the exhaust port and one estimated from the intake air mass and injected fuel mass. In the present study, the differences of the global equivalence ratios were mainly caused by the oil dilution during postinjection. The experimental results of the present study suggest optimal engine operating conditions including the fuel injection strategy to obtain an appropriate exhaust gas temperature for DPF regeneration. The experimental results of the exhaust gas temperature distributions for various engine operating conditions are discussed. In addition, it was revealed that the amount of oil dilution was reduced by splitting the postinjection (i.e., double postinjection). The effects of the injection pressure on the exhaust gas temperature were dependent on the combustion phasing and injection strategies.


2019 ◽  
Vol 142 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikhil Sharma ◽  
Avinash Kumar Agarwal

Abstract Fuel availability, global warming, and energy security are the three main driving forces, which determine suitability and long-term implementation potential of a renewable fuel for internal combustion engines for a variety of applications. Comprehensive engine experiments were conducted in a single-cylinder gasoline direct injection (GDI) engine prototype having a compression ratio of 10.5, for gaining insights into application of mixtures of gasoline and primary alcohols. Performance, emissions, combustion, and particulate characteristics were determined at different engine speeds (1500, 2000, 2500, 3000 rpm), different fuel injection pressures (FIP: 40, 80, 120, 160 bars) and different test fuel blends namely 15% (v/v) butanol, ethanol, and methanol blended with gasoline, respectively (Bu15, E15, and M15) and baseline gasoline at a fixed (optimum) spark timing of 24 deg before top dead center (bTDC). For a majority of operating conditions, gasohols exhibited superior characteristics except minor engine performance penalty. Gasohols therefore emerged as serious candidate as a transitional renewable fuel for utilization in the existing GDI engines, without requirement of any major hardware changes.


Author(s):  
Brian T. Reese ◽  
Yann G. Guezennec ◽  
Miodrag Oljaca

A novel fuel atomization device (Nanomiser™) was evaluated under laboratory conditions with respect to its ability to reduce SI engine cold-start hydrocarbon emissions. First, comparisons between the level of atomization using the conventional, pintle-type fuel injector and the novel atomizer were carried out using flow visualization in a spray chamber and particle size distribution. The novel atomizer is capable of producing sub-micron fuel droplets, which form an ultra-fine mist with outstanding non-wetting characteristics. To capitalize on these atomization characteristics, this device was compared to a conventional fuel injector in a small, two-cylinder, SI engine under a number of operating conditions. Results show a slightly enhanced combustion quality and lean limit under warm operating conditions and a dramatic reduction in unburned HC emission under cold operating conditions, with cold emissions with the Nanomiser™ matching those with a conventional injector under fully warm conditions.


Author(s):  
C A Finol ◽  
K Robinson

Existing methods for predicting heat fluxes and temperatures in internal combustion engines, which take the form of correlations to estimate the heat transfer coefficient on the gas-side of the combustion chamber, are based on methodology developed over the past 50 years, often updated in view of more recent experimental data. The application of these methods to modern diesels engines is questionable because key technologies found in current engines did not exist or were not widely used when those methods were developed. Examples of such technologies include: high-pressure common rail and variable fuel injection strategies including retarded injection for nitrogen oxides emission control; exhaust gas re-circulation; high levels of intake boost pressure provided by a single- or double-stage turbocharger and inter-cooling; multiple valves per cylinder and lower swirl; and advanced engine management systems. This suggests a need for improved predicting tools of thermal conditions, specifically temperature and heat flux profiles in the engine block and cylinder head. In this paper a modified correlation to predict the gas-side heat transfer coefficient in diesel engines is presented. The equation proposed is a simple relationship between Nu and Re calibrated to predict the instantaneous spatially averaged heat transfer coefficient at several operating conditions using air as gas in the model. It was derived from the analysis of experimental data obtained in a modern diesel engine and is supported by a research methodology comprising the application of thermodynamic principles and fundamental equations of heat transfer. The results showed that the new correlation adequately predicted the instantaneous coefficient throughout the operating cycle of a high-speed diesel engine. It also estimated the corresponding cycle-averaged heat transfer coefficient within 10 per cent of the experimental value for the operating conditions considered in the analysis.


Author(s):  
S. Ahmad Ghazi Mir Saied ◽  
S. Ali Jazayeri ◽  
Amir H. Shamekhi

In internal combustion engines valve events and timings are among the most important parameters which have a major influence on the engine’s operation and volumetric efficiency. By using camless valvetrain strategy, improvement in fuel economy as well as an increase in entering air charge is found throughout the engine map with the largest benefits arising from low speed operating conditions. The system offers a continuously variable and independent control of virtually all parameters of valve motion. This permits optimization of valve events for each operating condition without any compromise. In this paper we describe a phenomenological model for an unthrottled operation of a camless intake process of spark-ignited (SI) engine. Initially the cylinder breathing dynamics is modeled and results are validated with experimental data of a conventional engine with cam-driven valve profile during unthrottled operation. Then we determine the most optimized intake valve profile in order to have the most volumetric efficiency and proper operation for each operating condition based on the existing model and using numerical techniques.


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