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The use of fuels with tendencies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, particularly gaseous fuels, and improve combustion systems is one of the directions for increasing an internal combustion engine’s attractiveness as a power source. This article presents the effects of combining natural gas combustion with a multi-stage combustion system. A two- and three-stage lean charge combustion system was proposed in order to increase the energy system efficiency. In order to achieve this, a single-cylinder test engine was used, with two interchangeably implemented combustion systems. The tests were carried out with two values of the excess air coefficient (λ = 1.3 and λ = 1.5), as well as two different fuel dose values (qo = 0.35 and 0.55 mg/inj), injected into the prechamber at the same indicated mean effective pressure value (IMEP = 6.5 bar) and the same engine speed (n = 1500 rpm). Based on the obtained research results, it was found that the use of a three-stage system limited the maximum combustion pressure and heat release rate due to the increased resistance of flows between the chambers. At the same time, it was found that the increase in the engine’s indicated efficiency took place in a two-stage system, regardless of the excess air coefficient. Changing the dose of fuel fed into the prechamber significantly affects the engine performance (and efficiency) but only in the two-stage combustion system.

The structure of large biomass circulating fluidized bed (BCFB) boilers is complex, and control schemes for coal-fired boilers cannot be simply applied to biomass boilers. Multivariable coupling and operational disturbances are also common issues. In this study, a state space model of a 130 t/h BCFB boiler was established under different operating conditions. Using the 100% operating point as an example, a model predictive controller was designed and tested under output disturbance and input disturbance conditions. The results show that the predictive control system designed in this study has a fast response speed and good stability.

The development of modern vehicle drives is aimed at reducing fuel consumption (i.e., crude oil) and minimizing the exhaust emission of toxic components. One such development is the implementation of a two-stage combustion system. Such a system initiates ignition in the prechamber, and then the burning mixture flows into the main chamber, where it ignites the lean mixture. The system allows the efficient combustion of lean mixtures, both liquid and gaseous fuels, in the cylinder. This article proposes a solution for internal combustion engines with a cylinder capacity of approx. 500 cm3. The tests were carried out on a single-cylinder engine powered by pure methane supplied through a double, parallel injection system. A wide range of charge ignitability requires the use of an active chamber containing an injector and a spark plug. The tests were carried out at n = 1500 rpm with three load values (indicated mean effective pressure, IMEP): 2, 4 and 6 bar. All of these tests were carried out at a constant value of the center of combustion (CoC), 8 deg CA. This approach resulted in the ignition timing being the control signal for the CoC. As a result of the conducted research, it was found that an increase in the load, which improved the inter-chamber flow, allowed for the combustion of leaner mixtures without increasing the coefficient of variation, CoV(IMEP). The tests achieved a lean mixture combustion with a value of λ = 1.7 and an acceptable level of non-uniformity of the engine operation, CoV(IMEP) < 8%. The engine’s indicated efficiency when using a two-stage system reached a value of about 42% at λ = 1.5 (which is about 8 percentage points more than with a conventional combustion system at λ = 1.0).

Two-stroke engines have higher power density than traditional four-stroke engines, and therefore are suitable for engine downsizing. In this work, a four-stroke single-cylinder diesel engine is modified for two-stroke operation, and the combustion system is designed and optimized using a 3D simulation. Three different combustion chamber profiles and injection spray angles are compared to determine an optimized combustion system. The engine test results show that the two-stroke engine equipped with the newly designed combustion system is able to achieve the same effective power output at a much lower speed than the original four-stroke engine, as well as obtain a better indicated thermal efficiency. This indicates that the poppet-valve two-stroke engine could be an effective technical approach for engine downsizing.

As one of the core components of gas turbines, the combustion system operates in a high-temperature and high-pressure adverse environment, which makes it extremely prone to faults and catastrophic accidents. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor the combustion system to detect in a timely way whether its performance has deteriorated, to improve the safety and economy of gas turbine operation. However, the combustor outlet temperature is so high that conventional sensors cannot work in such a harsh environment for a long time. In practical application, temperature thermocouples distributed at the turbine outlet are used to monitor the exhaust gas temperature (EGT) to indirectly monitor the performance of the combustion system, but, the EGT is not only affected by faults but also influenced by many interference factors, such as ambient conditions, operating conditions, rotation and mixing of uneven hot gas, performance degradation of compressor, etc., which will reduce the sensitivity and reliability of fault detection. For this reason, many scholars have devoted themselves to the research of combustion system fault detection and proposed many excellent methods. However, few studies have compared these methods. This paper will introduce the main methods of combustion system fault detection and select current mainstream methods for analysis. And a circumferential temperature distribution model of gas turbine is established to simulate the EGT profile when a fault is coupled with interference factors, then use the simulation data to compare the detection results of selected methods. Besides, the comparison results are verified by the actual operation data of a gas turbine. Finally, through comparative research and mechanism analysis, the study points out a more suitable method for gas turbine combustion system fault detection and proposes possible development directions.