Chemical Reaction Analysis of Ignition Inhibiting Effect with Ethanol in Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition Combustion(Thermal Engineering)

Homogeneous charge compression ignition combustion is highly dependent on in-cylinder thermal conditions that are favorable to auto-ignition, and the presence of deposits can dramatically impact the in-cylinder environment. Because fuels available at the pump can differ considerably in composition, and fuel composition and the included additive package directly affect how deposits accumulate in a homogeneous charge compression ignition engine, strategies intended to bring homogeneous charge compression ignition to market must account for this fuel and additive variability. In order to investigate this impact, two oxygenated refinery stream test fuels with two different additives were run in a single cylinder homogeneous charge compression ignition engine. The two fuels had varying chemical composition; one represents a “dirty” fuel with high aromatic content that was intended to simulate a worst-case scenario for deposit growth, while the other represents a California Reformulated Gasoline Blendstock for Oxygenate Blending fuel, which is the primary constituent of pump gasoline at fueling stations across the state of California. The additive packages are typical of technologies that are commercially available to treat engine deposits. Both fuels were run in an experimental, single-cylinder homogeneous charge compression ignition engine in a passive conditioning study, during which the engine was run at steady state over a period of time in order to track changes in the homogeneous charge compression ignition combustion event as deposits accumulated in-cylinder. Both the composition and the additive influenced the structure of the combustion chamber deposit layer, but more importantly, both the rate at which the layer developed and the equilibrium thickness it achieved. The overall thickness of the combustion chamber deposit layer was found to have a significant impact on homogeneous charge compression ignition combustion phasing.

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Development and experimental validation of a field programmable gate array–based in-cycle direct water injection control strategy for homogeneous charge compression ignition combustion stability

International Journal of Engine Research ◽

10.1177/1468087419841744 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 20 (10) ◽

pp. 1101-1113 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

David Gordon ◽

Christian Wouters ◽

Maximilian Wick ◽

Bastian Lehrheuer ◽

Jakob Andert ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Field Programmable Gate Array ◽

Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition ◽

Water Injection ◽

Combustion Stability ◽

Compression Ignition ◽

Field Programmable ◽

Gate Array ◽

Compression Ignition Combustion ◽

Gas Recirculation ◽

Homogeneous Charge

Homogeneous charge compression ignition is a part-load combustion method, which can significantly reduce oxides of nitrogen (NO x) emissions compared to current lean-burn spark ignition engines. The challenge with homogeneous charge compression ignition combustion is the high cyclic variation due to the lack of direct ignition control. A fully variable electromagnetic valve train provides the internal exhaust gas recirculation through negative valve overlap which is required to obtain the necessary thermal energy to enable homogeneous charge compression ignition. This also increases the cyclic coupling as residual gas and unburnt fuel is transferred between cycles through exhaust gas recirculation. To improve combustion stability, an experimentally validated feed-forward water injection controller is presented. Utilizing the low latency and rapid calculation rate of a field programmable gate array, a real-time calculation of residual fuel mass is implemented on a prototyping engine controller. Using this field programmable gate array–based calculation, it is possible to calculate the amount of fuel and the required control interaction during an engine cycle. This controller prevents early rapid combustion following a late combustion cycle using direct water injection to cool the cylinder charge and counter the additional thermal energy from any residual fuel that is transferred between cycles. By cooling the trapped cylinder mass, the upcoming combustion phasing can be delayed to the desired setpoint. The controller was tested at several operating points and showed an improvement in the combustion stability as shown by a reduction in the standard deviation of combustion phasing and indicated mean effective pressure.

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