Comprehensive Analysis of the Pollutant Characteristics of Gasoline Vehicle Emissions under Different Engine, Fuel, and Test Cycles

Vehicle exhaust emissions have seriously affected air quality and human health, and understanding the emission characteristics of vehicle pollutants can promote emission reductions. In this study, a chassis dynamometer was used to study the emission characteristics of the pollutants of two gasoline vehicles (Euro 5 and Euro 6) when using six kinds of fuels. The results show that the two tested vehicles had different engine performance under the same test conditions, which led to a significant difference in their emission characteristics. The fuel consumption and pollutant emission factors of the WLTC cycle were higher than those of the NEDC. The research octane number (RON) and ethanol content of fuels have significant effects on pollutant emissions. For the Euro 5 vehicle, CO and particle number (PN) emissions decreased under the WLTC cycle, and NOx emissions decreased with increasing RONs. For the Euro 6 vehicle, CO and NOx emissions decreased and PN emissions increased with increasing RONs. Compared with traditional gasoline, ethanol gasoline (E10) led to decreases in NOx and PN emissions, and increased CO emissions for the Euro 5 vehicle, while it led to higher PN and NOx emissions and lower CO emissions for the Euro 6 vehicle. In addition, the particulate matter emitted was mainly nucleation-mode particulate matter, accounting for more than 70%. There were two peaks in the particle size distribution, which were about 18 nm and 40 nm, respectively. Finally, compared with ethanol–gasoline, gasoline vehicles with high emission standards (Euro 6) are more suitable for the use of traditional gasoline with a high RON.

Multiple fuel injection strategy for premixed charge compression ignition combustion engine using biodiesel blends

In the last decade, advanced combustion techniques of the low-temperature combustion (LTC) family have attracted researchers because of their excellent emission characteristics; however, combustion control remains the main issue for the LTC modes. The objective of this study was to explore premixed charge compression ignition (PCCI) combustion mode using a double pilot injection (DPI; pilot-pilot-main) strategy to achieve superior combustion control and to tackle the soot-oxides of nitrogen (NOx) trade-off. Experiments were carried out in a single-cylinder research engine fueled with 20% v/v biodiesel blended with mineral diesel (B20) and 40% v/v biodiesel blended with mineral diesel (B40) vis-à-vis baseline mineral diesel. Engine speed and rate of fuel-mass injected were maintained constant at 1500 rpm and 0.6 kg/h mineral diesel equivalent, respectively. Pilot injection timings (at 45° and 35° before top dead center (bTDC)) and fuel quantities were fixed, while three fuel injection pressures (FIPs) and four different start of the main injection (SoMI) timings were investigated in this study. Results showed that multiple pilot injections resulted in a stable PCCI combustion mode, making it suitable for higher engine loads. For all test fuels, advancing SoMI timings led to relatively lesser knocking; however, engine performance characteristics degraded at advanced SoMI timings. B40 exhibited relatively superior engine performance among different test fuels at lower FIP; however, the difference in engine performance was insignificant at higher FIPs. Fuel injection parameters showed a significant effect on emissions, especially on the NOx and particulates. Advancing SoMI timing resulted in 20%–50% lower particulates emissions with a slight NOx increase; however, the differences in emissions at different SoMI timings reduced at higher FIPs. Somewhat higher particulates from biodiesel blends were a critical observation of this study, which was more dominant at advanced SoMI timings. Qualitative correlation between NOx-total particulate mass (TPM) was another critical analysis, which exhibited the relative importance of different fuel injection parameters for other alternative fuels. Overall, B20 at 700 bar FIP and 20° SoMI timing emerged as the most promising proposition with some penalty in CO emission.

CFD Analysis of a Large Marine Engine Scavenging Process

The scavenging process is an important part of the two-stroke engine operation. Its efficiency affects the global engine performance such as power, fuel consumption, and pollutant emissions. Slow speed marine diesel engines are uniflow scavenged, which implies inlet scavenging ports on the bottom of the liner and an exhaust valve on the top of the cylinder. A CFD model of such an engine process was developed with the OpenFOAM software tools. A 12-degree sector of the mesh was used corresponding to one of the 30 scavenging ports. A mesh sensitivity test was performed, and the cylinder pressure was compared to experimental data for the analyzed part of the process. The scavenging performances were analyzed for real operation parameters. The influence of the scavenge air pressure and inlet ports geometric orientation was analyzed. The scavenging process is analyzed by means of a passive scalar representing fresh air in the cylinder. Isosurfaces that show the concentration of fresh air were presented. The variation of oxygen and carbon dioxide with time and the axial and angular momentum in the cylinder were calculated. Finally, the scavenging performance for the various operation parameters was evaluated by means of scavenging efficiency, charging efficiency, trapping efficiency, and delivery ratio. It was found that the scavenging efficiency decreases with the engine load due to the shorter time for the process. The scavenging efficiency increases with the pressure difference between the exhaust and scavenging port, and the scavenging efficiency decreases with the increase in the angle of the scavenging ports. It was concluded that smaller angles than the industry standard of 20° could be beneficial to the scavenging efficiency. In the investigation, the charging efficiency ranged from 0.91 to over 0.99, the trapping efficiency ranged from 0.54 to 0.83, the charging efficiency ranged from 0.78 to 0.92, and the delivery ratio ranged from 1.21 to 2.03.

Performance of Waste Insulating Mineral Oil-Based Biodiesel in a Direct-Injection CI Engine

Mineral oil has been used as an insulating fluid in the power industry. However, surplus waste oil poses serious environmental threats because of disposal concerns. Waste to biofuel is an excellent way to deal with waste material from various sources. In this study, the trans-esterification method was utilised to convert the waste-insulating mineral oil into a quality bio-fuel. Waste-insulating transformer oil was converted to biodiesel, and it was tested according to ASTM standards. Four different blends of waste-insulating biodiesel with diesel in 25 per cent (WIOBD25), 50 per cent (WIOBD50), 75 per cent (WIOBD75), and 100 per cent fractions (WIOBD100), were used for performance testing in a direct injection compression ignition (DICI) engine. The combustion parameters such as BSFC, EGT, and BTE were evaluated with varying crank angles and constant engine speed. The waste-insulating biodiesel performance results are then compared with diesel fuel. BSFC increased as the biofuel mixture in diesel was raised, and the brake thermal efficiency (BTE) was significantly reduced compared to diesel for all WIOBD diesel mixtures. Due to the combustion process, a high pressure and heat release rate (HRR) were noticed inside the cylinder with the waste-insulating oil-derived biodiesel samples. WIOBD biodiesel blends produced lower levels of hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide, and smoke emissions than diesel fuel, but greater levels of nitrogen oxides (NOx) were produced than diesel fuel. In addition to lower emissions combined with improved engine performance, the WIOBD25 fuel blend has been found to be experimentally optimal for practical application. As a result, the test findings indicated that WIOBD biodiesel might be used as a substitute for conventional diesel fuel.

Study on the cleaning effect of atomized droplets on the aero-engine

The aero-engine will produce fouling during operation, which will affect the engine performance. On-line cleaning can effectively remove fouling, in order to solve the problem of the poor cleaning effect for aero-engine on-wing cleaning and carry out numerical simulation of the on-line cleaning process. The discrete phase model is used to optimize the particle size and mass flow of the cleaning fluid. The erosion rate and vorticity of the droplets on the blade surface are used as the effect target to simulate and optimize the cleaning process parameters to obtain a better particle size range and the ratio of cleaning fluid to air mass flow. Through the evaluation of the cleaning process parameters of the aero-engine on-wing cleaning test and the analysis of the engine exhaust temperature margin (EGTM) data, it is concluded that the cleaning effect is improved by nearly 40%.

Effect of Intake Manifold Geometry on Cylinder-to-Cylinder Variation and Tumble Enhancement in Gasoline Direct Injection Engine

In order to improve the performance of the gasoline direct injection engine system, it is fundamentally important to reduce the cylinder-to-cylinder variation which affected by the intake manifold geometry. Furthermore, the early tumble development which influences the characteristics of the mixture as followed by the atomization and evaporation of the fuel, also greatly affects engine performance. Thus, in this study, the cylinder-to-cylinder variation in volumetric efficiency and tumble for two different type of intake manifold (curved type and straight type) was investigated using computational fluid dynamic program, CONVERE v2.4. And influence of the intake manifold curve radius to the early flow intensity and tumble development was analyzed. As a result, it was advantageous for cylinder-to-cylinder variation in the straight intake manifold compared to the curved intake manifold. When the intake manifold curve radius was increased in the straight intake manifold, it was effective in strengthening the early flow and tumble intensity. At 3000 rpm, the distance from the intake manifold inlet to the port also had an effect. Therefore, it is possible to improve the intake manifold performance by increasing the intake manifold curve radius and adapting turbocharging at engine speeds above 3000 rpm.