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The hydrogen-fueled Wanke rotary engine is a promising power system that has both high power and eco-friendly properties. This work investigated the effect of ignition timing on a dual-spark plugs synchronous-ignition hydrogen-fueled Wankel rotary engine under low speed, part load and lean combustion. The results show that with delaying the ignition timing, CA0-10 is shortened first and then lengthened and CA10-90 is consistently shortened. When the CA50 is located between 35 and 40°CA ATDC, the maximum brake torque can be realized. Besides, the selection of ignition timing needs to consider the "trade-off" relationship between the combustion phase and corresponding in-cylinder pressure. The maximum brake torque ignition timing is between 5 and 10°CA ATDC. And there is also a "trade-off" relationship between stability and thermal load when ignition timing is selected. In addition, HC and NO emissions will not become the problem limiting the power performance of hydrogen-fueled Wankel rotary engine under this operating condition. • A modified synchronous ignition hydrogen Wankel rotary engine was used. • The effect of ignition timing on performance of rotary engine was studied. • The power depends mainly on the in-cylinder pressure near 135°CA ATDC. • Selecting ignition timing needs to weigh the stability and thermal load. • Suitable ignition timing makes CA50 located between 35 and 40°CA ATDC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • A CFD model of H 2 -gasoline fueled rotary engine was established and validated. • The CFD model was modified by installing the compound intake ports. • The mean in-cylinder pressure and indicated thermal efficiency were increased. • Combining compound intake with HDI obtained a better engine performance. • CO emission was decreased, but NOx emissions were increased. Abstract The compound intake possesses large port area. Applying it in Wankel rotary engine (WRE) could increase volumetric efficiency and reduce pumping loss. To investigate the effect of the compound intake on the mixture formation and combustion process in gasoline WREs with hydrogen port and direct injected (HPI and HDI) enrichment, a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was established and validated. Investigation results showed that the peripheral-ported intake flow plays a leading role in the compound-ported WRE. Because the peripheral-ported intake flow has the same direction with the rotor movement, the formation time of mainstream flow field is shortened and the mean flow speed is increased, the flame propagation in the same direction with mainstream flow field is accelerated. Meanwhile, the improvements in volumetric efficiency and quality of in-charged mixtures result in the rise of temperature and pressure at spark timing, which could also improve the initial thermal conditions. Therefore, the compound intake effectively accelerates the combustion process in WRE. In HPI conditions, compared with the side-ported WRE, the peak in-cylinder pressure and indicated thermal efficiency in compound-ported WRE are respectively increased by 4.5% and 3.9%. In HDI conditions, the flame could propagate to the rear combustion chamber and eliminate the unburned zone, the maximum in-cylinder pressure and indicated thermal efficiency in side-ported WRE with HDI are 84.7% and 6.6% higher than those of in side-ported WRE with HPI. At the same time, the compound intake could further increase the in-cylinder pressure and indicated thermal efficiency by 6.8% and 2.5%, respectively. However, the improved combustion performance increases the in-cylinder temperature, which provides a suitable thermal-atmosphere for nitrogen oxide (NO x) formation. The compound intake increases mass fractions of NO x emissions from 0.111% to 0.141% in HPI conditions and those from 0.268% to 0.284% in HDI conditions. Considering the compound intake promotes the combustion characteristics and effectively decreases carbon monoxide (CO) emission from 0.043% to 0.033% in HPI conditions, and from 0.008% to 0.003% in HDI conditions, it is a feasible way to improve the performance of WREs. Especially, combining it with HDI could obtain a better engine performance under low engine speed and part load conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The comparative study on performance of the hydrogen/gasoline and hydrogen/n-butanol rotary engines was conducted in the present paper. Considering the stable operation of the engine, for both hydrogen/gasoline case and hydrogen/n-butanol case, the operating conditions were set at: 4000 rpm (engine speed), 35 kPa (intake pressure) and 30 °CA BTDC (spark timing). The total excess air ratio of mixture was maintained at 1.0 through all the tests. The testing results displayed that hydrogen enrichment improved performance of both gasoline and n-butanol rotary engines. To be more specific, brake thermal efficiency was increased, flame development and propagation periods were shortened, the coefficient of variation in flame propagation period was decreased, and the emissions of HC and CO were decreased. NOx emissions were mildly increased after hydrogen addition. Besides, hydrogen/n-butanol rotary engine possessed the similar performance to hydrogen/gasoline rotary engine. Highlights • Performance of HGRE and HBRE was studied. • BTE and Tmax was increased after H 2 blending. • CA0-10, CA10-90 and engine instability were shortened by H 2 addition. • H 2 addition resulted in the reduced HC and CO emissions. • HBRE shares highly similar performance with HGRE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the background of carbon neutral, hydrogen-fueled Wankel rotary engine (WRE) with high power density and compact layout has the potential to become a substitute for current fossil engines. Ammonia as a carbon-free renewable energy is considered alternative energy used in vehicles, however, its application on WRE is lacking. Therefore, the present work aims to investigate the performance of ammonia-enriched hydrogen-fueled WRE to analyze the feasibility of ammonia applied in hydrogen-fueled WRE. The main conclusions are as follows: Under test conditions, the maximum brake torque and thermal efficiency are obtained at about 30% and 40% volume fraction of ammonia in fuel, and compared with pure hydrogen conditions, achieving relative improvements of 21% and 29%, respectively. Slightly rich combustion is recommended to increase power and decrease NO emissions with an acceptable economic loss. In addition, ammonia enrichment can prevent the occurrence of abnormal combustion. [Display omitted] • Performance analysis of NH3-enriched hydrogen-fueled Wankel rotary engine. • NH3 enrichment can improve dynamics and economy with penalties for NO emission. • Slightly rich combustion is recommended for NH3-enriched hydrogen-fueled WRE. • NH3 enrichment is an effective way to prevent abnormal combustion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aims to numerically investigate the combustion and emissions formation processes in a spark-ignition rotary engine fueled with hydrogen-gasoline blends. The Renormalization Group k-ε turbulence coupled with a skeletal primary reference fuel mechanism were adopted to simulate the engine working process under 0%, 2% and 4% hydrogen volume fractions in CONVERGE software. The flow field variation and detailed combustion processes were analyzed and discussed. Results showed that a mainstream flow field along with the rotor movement was formed during the compression stroke and sustained in the combustion chamber until the exhaust valve opening. The center of the burned zone would move in same direction with the mainstream flow. Meanwhile, due to the effect of the mainstream flow, the flame propagation in direction of the mainstream flow was expedited. While the flame propagation in contrary direction was retarded, consequently, the unburned mixtures at rear region of combustion chamber suffered incomplete combustion. The distributions of nitric oxide and carbon monoxide emissions were also dominantly affected by the flow field in the combustion chamber. After hydrogen addition, the increased OH, H and O radicals concentrations combined with the intense flow flied accelerated the combustion process, which resulted in the improvement and advancement of in-cylinder pressure and temperature. Compared with original gasoline case, the peak in-cylinder pressure was increased by 9.1% and 13.7% with 2% and 4% hydrogen blends, respectively. With hydrogen enrichment, the increased in-cylinder temperature promoted the formation of nitric oxide emission. Besides, Carbon monoxide emission was decreased with the increase of hydrogen addition fraction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Idle elimination is a feasible way for reducing the fuel consumption and emissions at idle. The challenge for adopting idle elimination on gasoline engine is the high emissions during restart because rich mixtures have to be used at starting. This paper tries to start the engine with pure hydrogen at the restart for gasoline vehicles which adopt idle elimination. The investigation was done based on models built on AVL CRUISE. In the model, the vehicle was run under the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC). The hydrogen used on the vehicle was online produced and stored by an on-board hydrogen production and storage system. The energy for producing hydrogen is taken into account in the total fuel consumption. The simulation results showed that, with the adoption of gasoline start-idle elimination strategy, the vehicle fuel consumption during NEDC was reduced by 0.69 L/100 km, and NO x emissions were decreased by 5.5% compared with the original vehicle without idle elimination. However, HC and CO emissions at the restart were respectively increased by 87.5% and 18.1% for the gasoline vehicle due to the adoption of rich mixtures. Comparatively, with the adoption of hydrogen start-idle elimination strategy, the vehicle fuel consumption during NEDC was reduced by 0.79 L/100 km, HC and CO emissions were decreased by 70.8% and 13.6%, respectively. This shows a good capability of hydrogen combustion on reducing HC and CO emissions at the restart. However, NOx emissions were slightly increased by 7.9% under the hydrogen restart mode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A two-zone quasi-dimensional model is developed and validated for predicting the performance of a hydrogen-enriched methanol engine. The fractal-based turbulent entrainment model was applied to hydrogen-enriched methanol combustion simulations with a laminar flame speed correlation of hydrogen-methanol-air mixtures. The model accuracy was evaluated under different hydrogen volume fractions, equivalence ratios, loads and speeds. Satisfying agreement between numerical and experimental results was achieved. The validated model was applied to investigate the flame propagation speed, exhaust loss and brake thermal efficiency of hydrogen-enriched methanol engines. The results showed that the hydrogen enrichment could improve the flame propagation speed, reduce the exhaust loss and enhance brake thermal efficiency. Moreover, the results suggested that, for the actual vehicular engine operation, the hydrogen addition should be coupled with the lean burn strategy under low speed and part load conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hydrogen-fueled Wankel rotary engine with excellent power and emission characteristic is under spotlight, while the leakage is still the major problem for Wankel rotary engine, especially the leading spark plug leakage. The peak pressure is increased from 3.34 MPa to 3.52 MPa and the indicated thermal efficiency reaches maximum value of 38.29% when the moving distance of leading spark plug is −6.5 mm, and the mass of leakage fresh mixture is reduced from 0.00311 g to 0 g. When leading spark plug is moved to minor axis, the flow field structure of working chamber is enhanced. However, the peak pressure and indicated thermal efficiency decrease when the moving distance of leading spark plug exceeds −6.5 mm. The excess leakage residual gas has negative effects on combustion. The optimum moving distance of leading spark plug is −6.5 mm at 3000 rpm with λ of 1.6. • The leakage mechanisms of spark plugs are analyzed. • The influence of leading spark plug location on gas leakage is analyzed. • The influence of leading spark plug location on combustion is analyzed. • The influence of leading spark plug location on flow field is analyzed. • The optimum location of leading spark plug is given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hydrogen-enriched gasoline engine is a promising option for future spark-ignited (SI) engines. However, the lack of quasi-dimensional combustion models for hydrogen-gasoline blends restrains the efficient prediction of its performance for varying operating conditions and hydrogen enrichment strategies. In this paper, a quasi-dimensional model was developed and validated for hydrogen-enriched gasoline engines with a new laminar flame speed expression. Correspondence between the calculated and experimentally measured engine combustion parameters was observed for different hydrogen addition levels. The comparison results indicated that the proposed quasi-dimensional model is suitable for engine performance prediction of hydrogen-enriched gasoline engines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engine is proposed to resist the threat of global warming. Wankel rotary engine (WRE) has been proven to be an excellent hydrogen-fueled power device, which can overcome the shortcomings of hydrogen, such as poor power, serious backfire and large storage volume, to some extent when it is used as fuel in the internal combustion engine. However, due to its unique structure, WRE suffers from severe knock. Therefore, the goal of this work is to investigate the impacts of knock type on the heat release process in hydrogen-fueled WRE. This present work is conducted at 2000 r/min and wide-open throttle. The main results are as follows: In hydrogen-fueled WRE, the peak knock pressure of knock caused by rapid and unstable combustion of hydrogen is usually earlier than CA50 and that of knock caused by spontaneous combustion of end gas is usually later than CA50. The sequence between the crank angle of peak knock pressure and CA50 combined with knock intensity can be used to determine the knock type in hydrogen-fueled WRE. Besides, a means for knock detection is proposed according to the distribution of crank angle corresponding to peak knock pressure. In addition, the distribution of CA0-10, CA50 and CA10-90 of 1000 consecutive cycles under two kinds of knock in hydrogen-fueled WRE are discussed in detail, and regular conclusions are drawn. In particular, the limitation of CA50 as a metric for evaluating knock level is also demonstrated. • The impact of knock type on the heat release of hydrogen Wankel engine is discussed. • The distribution of CA0-10, CA50 and CA10-90 with knock intensity are analyzed. • A method is proposed to estimate the knock occur. • A method is proposed to determine the knock type in hydrogen engines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Effect of Spark plug position on hydrogen rotary engine is investigated. • Leading spark plug can obtain higher power and low cyclic variation. • Hydrogen rotary engine's spark plug should locate the front of the minor axis. • Hydrogen rotary engine has excellent emission under lean combustion. • Best CA50 of hydrogen rotary engine locates between 35 and 40°CA ATDC. As a promising power system, hydrogen-fueled Wankel rotary engine with excellent power and emission characteristic have received attention increasingly, which makes it of great interest to investigate it. To make up for blanks, this work was conducted to experimentally investigate the effect of spark plug position on the combustion and emission characteristic of hydrogen-fueled Wankel rotary engine under 1500 r/min, 66 kPa manifold absolute pressure and 1.5 excess air ratio. The results indicate that compared to the trailing spark plug, the leading spark plug is more suitable to hydrogen-fueled Wankel rotary engines, which can realize a wider ignition range, higher maximum brake torque, lower cyclic variation and better nitric oxide emission. The maximum brake torque of adopting trailing spark plug is 31.2 N·m, which is only 87% of the maximum brake torque of 36.0 N·m with adopting leading spark plug. At the maximum brake torque ignition timing, adopting leading trailing spark plug achieves lower cyclic variation and slightly higher thermal load than adopting trailing spark plug. Besides, the optimum central heat-release point of both spark plug positions locate between 35 and 40°CA after the top dead center, and that of leading spark plug is later 2°CA than that of trailing spark plug. Moreover, both spark plug positions obtained 0 nitric oxide emission at maximum brake torque ignition timing, which means that emission will not be a problem to limit the selection of spark plug position under tested conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of hydrogen-fueled Wankel rotary engine is restricted by the leakage problem, especially the apex seal leakage (ASL). In the study, the ASL area is divided into the geometric leakage area (GLA) and the dynamic leakage area (DLA). The models of under-seal pressure prediction and vibration of apex seal are established. The mechanism of GLA and DLA and the effects of key parameters on them are analyzed. Results show that the DLA decreases with the increase of discharge coefficient, clearance between apex seal and slot. There is no DLA when the rotation speed is slower than 2000 rpm or higher than 7000 rpm. Besides, the value of DLA is only 11.23% of GLA and the GLA can be reduced by 88.57% when using a corner-piece structure. The total leakage decreases with the increase of rotation speed. Finally, some measures to reduce the leakage are given. [Display omitted] • The cause of apex seal leakage of the Hydrogen Wankel rotary engine is analyzed. • The prediction model of under-seal pressure of the apex seal is established. • The computational model of the apex seal leakage is established. • The apex seal leakage area and leakage gas mass are calculated. • The suggestions to improve the sealing performance are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to numerically investigate the effects of high compression ratio (CR) on the performance of ammonia-hydrogen engines. In this work, four CRs from 10.7 to 13.7 with scanning spark timing (ST) from 28°CA to 0°CA BTDC were analyzed. The main results are as follows: As the CR increases, there is a trade-off relationship between the dissipation rate of turbulence and the turbulent kinetic energy (TKE). Initially, the TKE rises as the CR increases. As the CR continues to rise, the tendency for an increase in TKE diminishes, while the turbulent dissipation rate consistently rises. Additionally, there is an escalation in heat transfer loss. Therefore, there is a trend of rising and then falling in the flow velocity and turbulence intensity with the increase of the CR. Ammonia-hydrogen flame propagation is susceptible to temperature and flow field, and a high CR can improve ignition stability, shorten combustion duration, minimize cooling loss, and enhance output power. Unfortunately, the emission of NOx gradually rises as the CR increases. At high CR, the combustion performance is optimized by adjusting ST, and the maximum IMEP and ITE are 4 bar and 38.3 %, respectively. The ST for maximum braking torque (MBT) should be gradually delayed toward TDC as the CR increases. • As the compression ratio increases, the flow velocity first rises and then decreases. • The turbulent dissipation rate increases with increasing compression ratio. • A high compression ratio improves ignition stability and combustion velocity. • The NOx gradually increases with the increase of the compression ratio. • A high compression ratio improves the power and economy of NH3-H2 engines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the property of the promising and eco-friendly hydrogen-fueled rotary engine, the effect of excess air ratio on the combustion and emission characteristic of it was explored by experiment. The test was conducted under 1500 rpm and 5 CAD ADTC ignition timing. The test results demonstrated that with the decrease of excess air ratio from 2 to 0.85, the thermal efficiency of the hydrogen-fueled rotary engine increases first and then decreases. Besides, increasing MAP is beneficial to improve thermal efficiency. Among the tested condition, the highest brake thermal efficiency is realized when the rotary engine operates at 1.4 excess air ratio and 88 kPa MAP, about 18.34%. And the excellent HC and NO emissions can be obtained at the highest efficiency point. Besides, with the decrease of excess air ratio and the increase of load, the stability and flame development period gradually decrease. With a decreased excess air ratio, the flame propagation period decrease first and then increases, whereas work capacity and thermal efficiency increase first and then decrease. For NO emission, it will increase sharply near the equivalent ratio and gradually decrease after rich combustion. Also, according to the analytical model, it is found that the power performance of the rotary engine depends on the trade-off relationship of in-cylinder pressure and its angle of action. • A rotary engine was modified to run on hydrogen. • The effects of excess air ratio on combustion and emission were studied. • The best efficiency is obtained when the excess air ratio equals 1.4. • An analytical model is presented and the reasonability also be proved. • The emission corresponding to the best efficiency point is excellent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogen is a renewable fuel with excellent combustion characteristics. However, the direct use of hydrogen in existing engines faces obstacles such as abnormal combustion and high NOx emissions. This study proposes a strategy for controlling the combustion and emissions performance of a port-injection (PI) hydrogen internal combustion engine using ethanol direct injection (DI). The test conditions are 1000 rpm, 1500 rpm, and 2000 rpm respectively, the excess air coefficient is 1, 1.5, and 2, and 3%, 6%, and 9% ethanol is added. The results showed that the addition of ethanol can significantly reduce the pressure rise rate of the hydrogen engine and prolong CA0-10 and CA10-90. The addition of ethanol can promote the BMEP and BTE of the hydrogen engine. The addition of ethanol can reduce NOx emissions under lean burn conditions by 18%. The disadvantage is that the addition of ethanol increases the hydrocarbon emissions of hydrogen engines by about 50%, but the total amount is less. After the addition of ethanol, the flashback phenomenon of the hydrogen engine was significantly improved. [Display omitted] • Proposed ethanol-controlled hydrogen engine backfire strategy. • Studied the effect of ethanol addition on hydrogen engines. • The addition of ethanol increases CA0-10 and CA10-90. • The addition of ethanol improves engine BMEP and ITE. • The addition of ethanol reduces NOx emissions from hydrogen engines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The application of O 2 enrichment in a hydrogen Wankel rotary engine is assessed. • O 2 enrichment can improve power output with penalties in efficiency and emission. • O 2 -enriched level can effectively accelerate the heat release process. • O 2 enrichment will lead to knock, backfire and pre-ignition. • Low O 2 -enriched levels has higher application value than high O 2 -enriched levels. Hydrogen-fueled Wankel rotary engines (WREs) with excellent dynamic and emission characteristics have the potential to become a substitute for current fossil-fueled reciprocating piston engines. Oxygen enrichment can be employed to solve the lower power of hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engines, however, it has not been applied in hydrogen-fueled WRE at present. Hence, the goal of this work is to experimentally assess the application of oxygen enrichment in the hydrogen-fueled WRE. This work is conducted at 1500 r/min, wide-open throttle and 2.0 excess air ratio. The work found that within the test range, oxygen enrichment can effectively improve the brake torque of hydrogen-fueled WRE, however, penalize the brake thermal efficiency and NO emission. When the oxygen fraction in air increases from 21% to 29.1%, the brake torque is increased by about 45% while the brake thermal efficiency is lowered by about 8.5% and NO emission deteriorates by three orders of magnitude. Oxygen enrichment can accelerate flame development and propagation process. Besides, as the oxygen-enriched level is increased, abnormal combustion, including knock, backfire and pre-ignition, began to occur and affected the normal operation of hydrogen-fueled WRE. In general, compared with the high oxygen-enriched level, which has severe penalties on performance except for power output, low oxygen-enriched level has higher application potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Variable valve timing (VVT) and Miller cycle are advanced technologies employed to optimize engine performance by improving airflow exchange, which are seldom investigated based on the direct-injection (DI) hydrogen engine. The objective of this study is to assess the effects of intake valve closing (IVC) and exhaust valve opening (EVO) timing on the gas exchange performance, combustion, and emissions of a DI hydrogen engine, after which a synergistic control strategy of IVC and EVO timing is proposed. This work is conducted under wide-open throttle and 1500 rpm. The results indicate that the synergistic control of IVC and EVO timing can increase volumetric efficiency by more than 40%, enhance gas exchange performance, shorten combustion duration, and reduce cyclic variation, resulting in approximately 43.15% brake thermal efficiency. Furthermore, brake mean effective pressure can be increased by more than 60% and NO emissions are controlled to less than 20 ppm by optimizing valve timings. • A synergistic control strategy of intake and exhaust VVT is proposed. • The airflow exchange and combustion of a DI hydrogen engine are optimized. • The regulation of valve timings can improve gas exchange performance. • The engine can reach 43.15% maximum brake thermal efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to obtain the precise predicted values of methane/hydrogen/air burning velocities from simulations, the performances of GRI mech 3.0, Aramco mech 1.3, USC mech 2.0 and San diego mech mechanisms were systematically studied under various conditions by PREMIX code and compared with experimental data from literature. The conditions where each mechanism gave their good performance are obtained and concluded. The flowrate sensitivity and rate constants of key elementary reactions were analyzed to insight the different behavior of each mechanism. The results showed that all these widely used small hydrocarbon mechanisms could gave reasonable predictions for pure methane and methane hydrogen blends. Nevertheless, they lack sensitivity for rich hydrogen at elevated pressures due to their complex reactions competitions controlled by hydrogen sub model. USC mech 2.0 was found more suitable for being used at low hydrogen contents while San diego mech gained better results at high hydrogen contents. GRI 3.0 gave good predictions for methane hydrogen blends except for high initial pressures. Generally, Aramco mech 1.3 showed the best performance for all testing conditions. Moreover, there was relatively large deviation from the predicted results and experimental data in the transition regime where the hydrogen fractions were between 60% and 80%, it may could be optimized by tuning the rate constants of reactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Driven by issues such as global warming, there is currently great interest and significance in developing zero carbon-emission internal combustion engines. Limited by structural and sealing requirements, there are no experimental studies related to combustion velocity measurement of the hydrogen-fueled Wankel rotary engine (HWRE) with excellent power performance, which is important to investigate its knock characteristic. In this work, a combustion velocity measuring method of dual spark plug HWRE is proposed, besides the obtained combustion, flow and flame velocities are correlated with the knock to explore their influence on the HWRE knock characteristics. The study found that adopting dual spark plugs in HWRE is necessary to reduce the negative impact of the flame not being able to propagate against the flow field. Besides, excess air ratio affects the combustion velocity of HWRE by changing the flame velocity, while the engine speed affects the combustion velocity of HWRE by changing the flow velocity, which basically does not affect the flame velocity. The knock level of HWRE is influenced by its flame velocity and flow velocity, both of which are positively correlated to the knock intensity and the latter has a more significant effect. • A method of measuring Wankel rotary engine combustion velocity is proposed. • Quantifying the combustion, flow and flame velocity of hydrogen Wankel rotary engine. • Investigating the influence of excess air ratio and engine speed. • Quantifying the relationship between knock intensity and above three velocities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Knock of hydrogen-fueled Wankel rotary engine is investigated in this work. • Effect of ignition timing, spark plug location and number, λ and speed are studied. • Knock intensity with distribution, knock duration and cyclic variation are analyzed. • All of aspects studied in this work have significant effects on the knock. Hydrogen-fueled Wankel rotary engine (HWER) is an excellent power device with superior power and emission performances. Besides, unlike hydrogen-fueled reciprocating piston engines, HWRE is less prone to backfire due to its structural advantages. However, limited by its long combustion chamber, knock, one of abnormal combustion in engines, still hinders the development of HWER. Hence, based on this consideration, the goal of this work is to investigate the knock of HWRE from different aspects, including ignition timing, spark plug number, spark plug location, excess air ratio and engine speed, to provide relevant information for the design of hydrogen-specific WRE. The results show that the knock intensity gradually increases as the ignition timing is advanced, the excess air ratio is decreased and the engine speed is increased, but the knock duration shows different variations. Adopting dual spark plugs tends to lead to stronger knock caused by unstable combustion of hydrogen, while only adopting leading spark plug tends to lead to the knock caused by auto-ignition. When dual spark plugs are used, the leading spark plug is more responsible for the knock caused by unstable combustion and the trailing spark plug is more responsible for the knock caused by auto-ignition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Combustion characteristics of NH 3 /H 2 /air with SI and TJI methods were compared. • Effect of fuel composition and equivalence ratio was evaluated under TJI conditions. • Different ignition mechanisms of NH 3 /H 2 /air were found. • Effect of orifice number on ignition and combustion characteristics was evaluated. The mixture of ammonia (NH 3) and hydrogen (H 2) is the potential alternative fuel for internal combustion engines (ICEs). The turbulent jet ignition (TJI) system can provide high ignition energy and turbulent disturbance to promote the combustion of the mixture for NH 3 /H 2 ICEs. Therefore, the combustion characteristics of NH 3 /H 2 /air under passive TJI conditions were experimentally studied in the present study. The experiment was conducted in a constant volume combustion bomb, and the effect of fuel composition and equivalence ratio was investigated. The experimental results show that compared to spark ignition, the combustion of NH 3 /H 2 can be effectively improved by using TJI, especially under high NH 3 fraction conditions. The addition of H 2 has a significant positive effect on the ignition and combustion performance. With the addition of H 2 , the ignition delay and combustion duration decrease evidently. And the H 2 addition is beneficial for improving the ignition mechanism and achieving flame ignition. In addition, poor ignition performance may occur under rich conditions due to the fluid-dynamic quenching of the jet. However, the high flame propagation rate on the rich side still leads to lower combustion duration. Moreover, increasing the orifices number appropriately can enhance the ignition and combustion performance. The jet strength is weakened by the increased total orifice area and the ignition of NH 3 /H 2 can be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The model of HFRE with active pre-chamber TJI was established. • The combustion characteristic of HFRE-SC was analyzed. • The optimum HIT and HID was obtained. Hydrogen can be used as fuel to replace gasoline, with the benefit of reducing harmful emissions of rotary engine (RE). The swirl chamber (SC) coupling spark plug and nozzle will achieve diffusion combustion and higher power as compared to the conventional spark plug. In the current work, a CFD model of a hydrogen-fueled rotary engine with swirl chamber (HFRE-SC) is established to study the impacts of hydrogen injection timing (HIT) and hydrogen injection duration (HID) on combustion characteristics of HFRE-SC. Results reveal that SC combustion system may achieve more combustion efficiency and higher indicated power when compared to port injection (PI). Moreover, lean hydrogen in the rear of combustion chamber (ROCC) can result from retarding HIT and extending HID. In addition, when the rich zone in SC moves toward the spark plug, making it difficult for flames to develop and spread. The best performance can be obtained when using the HIT at 75 °CA BTDC and the HID during 35 °CA, with an 8.42 % up in indicated power compared to the PI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogen-fueled Wankel rotary engine (WRE) suffers from high NOx emissions, high risk of knock and uneven thermal load. The goal of this work is to investigate the application of quantitative control and qualitative control on a hydrogen-fueled WRE and find a suitable load control strategy for hydrogen-fueled WRE to address above-mentioned problems, which is conducted at 1500r/min. The results show that the combination of qualitative control and quantitative control is an effective way to obtain the excellent performance of hydrogen-fueled WRE, which can achieve higher thermal efficiency while effectively improving some drawbacks of hydrogen-fueled WRE, such as uneven thermal load, high tendency of knock and high NOx emissions. Besides, it also can flexibly select control logic according to the priority of emissions, efficiency, stability and power. Compared to quantitative control, the combined control can realize higher brake thermal efficiency under the same brake torque, and the highest relative and absolute improvements are 38.4% and 4.75%. In addition, it also keeps the engine running in an acceptable cyclic variation range. • Effect of quantitative and qualitative control on hydrogen-fueled WRE is studied. • HWRE has low thermal efficiency, high knock risk and NOx, uneven thermal load. • Combination of two strategies can effectively improve the problem of HWRE. • Combination of two strategies allows flexible control logic based on requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogen-fueled Wankel rotary engine, with few available research currently, has excellent power and emission characteristics, however, with lower efficiency. With increasing attention to low-carbon emission, it is of great significance to explore methods to improve the efficiency of hydrogen-fueled Wankel rotary engines. This work aims to study the effect of qualitative control coupling variable engine speeds at the wide-open throttle on the power control. The comparative effect of qualitative control coupling engine speeds from 1000 r/min to 1500 r/min under the wide-open throttle and quantitative control at 1500 r/min on the combustion and emission characteristic of hydrogen-fueled Wankel rotary engine is investigated. The results show that compared with quantitative control, qualitative control coupling variable engine speed can achieve excellent performance. The brake thermal efficiency can be maximally increased by 43.5%, an absolute increase of 6.22%, as well the volumetric efficiency with a maximal 105% improvement. The thermal load and risk of knock can be greatly reduced. Moreover, NO emission also can be reduced by more than an order of magnitude or even by zero. Although there is an increase in cyclic variation, the value is no more than 4%. In addition, qualitative control coupling variable engine speed allows flexible matching of appropriate engine speed and excess air ratio based on the actual requirements of efficiency, stability, durability and emission. • The power control method of the hydrogen Wankel rotary engine is investigated. • Qualitative control achieves better engine performance than quantitative control. • Qualitative control coupling engine speed meets the power and high-efficiency demand. • Lower thermal load, knock tendency and NO emission can be obtained. • Much high excess air ratio isn't recommended due to high cyclic variation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• All tests are conducted under wide-open throttle conditions. • Two progressive strategies to avoid and exploit borderline knocking are proposed. • The interaction mechanism between strategies and combustion knock is revealed. • Pre-ignition may lead to more severe knock. • The DI hydrogen engine achieves knock-free combustion under stoichiometric condition. Knock is one of the crucial challenges facing direct injection (DI) hydrogen engines. In this study, the rational optimization of operating parameters and the proposal of two progressive knock suppression strategies enable the DI hydrogen engine to achieve knock-free operation at wide-open throttle (WOT) and stoichiometric conditions, which may better control the test system's complexity. The present work uses 0.5 bar knock intensity (KI) as the threshold for occurring knock. The test consists of three parts. In Part 1, KI exceeds 0.5 bar at 1.7 λ. Then, considering the suppression effect of the stratified mixture on knock, a strategy for cooperative control of λ and start of injection (SOI) is proposed in Part 2, which can lower λ to 1.4 within the allowable borderline knocking. However, this strategy fails at 70°CA BTDC SOI. Based on the above results, a strategy to synergistically adjust λ and intake variable valve timing is adopted in Part 3, which suppresses knock mainly by varying the airflow exchange process and effective compression ratio. Finally, the strategies presented in Part 2 and Part 3 allow the engine to control the KI to less than 0.5 bar at WOT and stoichiometric conditions, which ensures power performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of alternative fuels is important in the fight against climate change. Both hydrogen and ammonia are renewable energy sources and are carbon-free combustible fuels. In a recent experimental study, the performance and emission characteristics of a spark-ignition engine burning a premixed hydrogen/ammonia/air mixture were evaluated. The manifold absolute pressure was adjusted to 61 kPa and the engine speed was stabilized at 1300 rpm. The difference between a mixture with a 2.2% volume fraction of ammonia and a pure hydrogen fuel was analyzed in comparison. Specifically, the addition of ammonia increased the ignition delay and flame development periods and reduced the rate of in-cylinder pressure rise. In conjunction with the ignition timing strategy, the addition of ammonia did not affect the engine performance. Nitrogen oxides emissions are increased due to the addition of ammonia. The experimental results suggest that ammonia can be used as a combustion inhibitor, which provides a new reference for the development of hydrogen-fuelled engines. • The effect of ammonia addition on hydrogen-fueled engines was studied. • Direct injection and port injection were used for H 2 and NH 3 respectively. • Reduces the rate of pressure rise after ammonia was added. • The addition of ammonia has little effect on peak IMEP and ITE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, ammonia is considered to be an energy medium for hydrogen or energy storage and ammonia/hydrogen can be a potential fuel blend for the spark-ignition engine. Nevertheless, the combustion properties of ammonia/hydrogen mixtures could be distinctive under different initial conditions. In this study, several essential combustion properties, including laminar burning velocity, minimum ignition energy, NOx and ammonia emissions, combustion efficiency, and mixture heating values of ammonia/hydrogen/air premixed combustion were extensively studied under a wide range of equivalence ratios (ϕ), hydrogen fractions (α) and different compression ratio using one-dimensional laminar planar flame and compared with stoichiometric methane, methanol, and ethanol combustion. The behavior of NOx generation changing with ϕ and α was analyzed in detail. Results showed that most properties of ammonia/hydrogen combustion could be comparable to that of hydrocarbon fuels under engine-relevant conditions, except for the mixture heating value is slightly lower in all conditions. Besides, the NO mole fraction non-monotonically changes with ϕ and α due to the competition between the effects caused by the reduction of nitrogen-atom species and the enrichment of H/O radicals. The NO mole fraction of stoichiometric ammonia/hydrogen could be even lower than that of hydrocarbons. Considering the properties of hydrocarbon fuels as a reference, promising working conditions for ammonia/hydrogen mixtures are ϕ from 1.0 to 1.05 and α from 40% to 60%. Besides, a high compression ratio is more suitable for ammonia/hydrogen mixtures due to the excellent knock resistance ability of NH 3 /H 2 and better improvement than hydrocarbon fuels under high compression ratio. • Combustion properties of premixed NH 3 /H 2 /air were assessed under engine conditions. • One dimensional steady flame was simulated under different initial conditions. • NOx generation of NH 3 /H 2 /air combustion is analyzed in detail. • Most combustion properties, including NOx are comparable to light hydrocarbon fuels. • Potential working conditions are suggested based on the analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CO 2 dilution is an effective strategy for combustion control. To understand the detailed dilution effects of CO 2 (including physical effects and chemical effects) on CH 4 and H 2 combustion, an open-source CFD package laminarSMOKE was utilized to simulate the transient one-dimensional outwardly spherical flame combustion process in a closed chamber under 0–15% CO 2 dilution mole fraction (α), at 293 K, 1 bar, stoichiometric ratio. The overall CO 2 dilution effects decrease the unstretched/stretched flame propagation speed, maximum combustion pressure and prolong the combustion duration. In most conditions, physical effects play a dominant role and chemical effects amplify the dilution effects. Typically, the maximum combustion pressure of CH 4 -CO 2 -air flame at α = 15% reduces 1.15 bar compared with the undiluted case, the reduction percentage caused by physical and chemical effects is 12% and 1.5%, respectively. In addition, opposite overall effects of CO 2 dilution on Markstein length (L b) of CH 4 flames and H 2 flame are performed. The physical effects of CO 2 dilution increase the L b of CH 4 flames but decrease that of H 2 flames. Chemical effects are similar to physical effects for CH 4 flames, but non-monotonic behavior is performed for H 2 flame due to the combined effects of density ratio and mixture reactivity changes. • Chemical effects of CO2 dilution on laminar spherical flame were numerically study. • Physical effects play leading roles in all changes of combustion properties. • Chemical effects reduce flame propagation speed, maximum pressure, increase combustion duration. • Chemical effects on Markstein length behave differently in CH 4 and H 2 flame. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Consider using rich-burn strategy to control the performance of an ammonia-hydrogen engine. • The rich burn strategy can reduce NOx of ammonia-hydrogen internal combustion engine. • The rich burn strategy can increase the exhaust temperature of the ammonia-hydrogen engine. In order to achieve climate goals as soon as possible, it is necessary to reshape the energy mix to replace fossil energy with carbon–neutral fuels as soon as possible. Ammonia is a good medium for energy storage, has a large industrial scale and a well-developed infrastructure. To address the problems of NOx emission and low exhaust energy of ammonia-hydrogen engines, this study proposes a rich burn strategy. Firstly, a commercial spark ignition (SI) internal combustion engine (ICE) was modified to achieve a dual fuel supply of ammonia and hydrogen. The engine was run at a steady state of 1500 rpm with the intake manifold absolute pressure (MAP) maintained at 60 kPa, and the ammonia and hydrogen supplies were adjusted to achieve different mixing ratios and excess air ratios. The experimental results showed that the rich burn strategy could significantly reduce the NOx emission and increase the exhaust temperature of the ammonia-hydrogen engine when the excess air coefficient was below 0.8. The rich burn strategy can appropriately increase the engine power output, but it has some influence on the brake thermal efficiency (BTE). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wankel rotary engine (WRE) is welcomed due to its high power density and compact layout and is criticized due to its low efficiency and poor emission. To develop low-carbon emission and high-efficiency WRE, the present work discusses the potential of hydrogen/methane dual-fueled WRE with varied fuel components. The test was conducted at 1500 r/min, 80 kPa manifold absolute pressure and stoichiometric ratio. The results indicate that compared with pure hydrogen or pure methane WRE, hydrogen/methane dual-fueled WRE can achieve higher thermal efficiency and output power, the maximum values of which are 30.7% and 12.4 kW under test conditions, respectively. Besides, it also has satisfactory NO, CO2 and HC emissions. In particular, there is a linear relationship between NO emission and methane volumetric percentage with a 0.9949 determination coefficient in logarithmic coordinates, which means that the NO emission can be easily predicted. In addition, the cyclic variation is acceptable at maximum-efficiency CH4% and the knock can be almost eliminated in hydrogen-methane dual-fueled WRE when the volume ratio of methane exceeds about 40%. In general, WRE is recommended to be fueled by a mixture of hydrogen and methane with a high methane volumetric percentage. • Discussion on the potential of hydrogen/methane dual-fueled Wankel rotary engines. • Dual fuel is better than single fuel in terms of power, efficiency, emission, etc. • There is a linear relationship between NO and CH4% in logarithmic coordinates. • Knock can be almost eliminated when the CH4% exceeds about 40%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Proposed VVT as a method of load regulation for ammonia-hydrogen engines. • Comparing the load control effects of MAP, α NH 3 , λ and VVT. • Proposed load control strategy for ammonia-hydrogen hybrid system. The development of hybrid technology and the use of zero-carbon fuels are effective means to improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions. In this study, the Miller cycle spark ignition engine was used, and four load control strategies of throttle, ammonia-hydrogen ratio, air–fuel ratio, and variable valve timing were used to conduct experimental research on the ammonia-hydrogen engine. The experimental results show that the throttle strategy provides the widest output range, and the BMEP is raised from a minimum of 1 bar to 7.4 bar. The ammonia-hydrogen mixing ratio strategy is suitable for cold start conditions, fully utilizing the good combustion characteristics of hydrogen, and at the same time reducing the amount of hydrogen used in the heat engine process as much as possible. The air–fuel ratio strategy provides the highest thermal efficiency with a maximum BTE approaching 40%. It satisfies the energy-saving demand under the single-point working condition of the engine in the series mode. The variable valve timing strategy can realize switching between BMEP between 3.5 bar and 6.5 bar, and keep BTE above 33%. The valve timing strategy can not only provide a wider load adjustment range but also maintain high thermal efficiency. Finally, combining the effects of the four control strategies and the typical operating modes of the hybrid system, this study suggests that the throttle strategy is suitable for the feed mode, the VVT strategy is suitable for the parallel mode, the ammonia-hydrogen mixture ratio strategy is suitable for the cold start condition, and the air–fuel ratio control is suitable for the series mode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogen and ammonia, as two renewable carbon-free combustibles, are considered to be potentially excellent alternative fuels for internal combustion engines. Since hydrogen and ammonia have opposite and complementary combustion characteristics, the co-combustion of ammonia with hydrogen is reasonable. However, there are few detailed experimental studies of load control strategies for an ammonia‑hydrogen engine. In this study, four load control strategies including the variation of ammonia volume share (AVS), qualitative control, quantitative control, and adjustment of intake variable valve timing (VVT) are proposed and assessed for their applicability in an ammonia/hydrogen dual-fuel engine. The ignition and combustion characteristics of ammonia do not allow for high thermal efficiency, so the Miller cycle is introduced to improve engine performance. The engine employs fuel supply modes of ammonia port injection and hydrogen direct injection at 1500 rpm. In general, the engine achieves higher brake mean effective pressure (BMEP) and brake thermal efficiency (BTE) at different AVS. Moreover, qualitative control and adjustment of intake VVT allow the engine to own a wide regulation range of BMEP and maintain the BTE of more than 37% under most conditions. However, quantitative control appears to be an inadequate strategy for the engine due to the lower BMEP and BTE. • The co-combustion of ammonia with hydrogen and hydrogen direct injection are crucial. • Four load control strategies are proposed for an ammonia/hydrogen dual-fuel engine. • Technologies of the Miller cycle and variable valve timing are used in the engine. • Higher cyclic variation should be avoided when using various load control strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A CFD model of gasoline-H 2 blends Wankel engine was established and verified. • H 2 was direct injected in the rotor chamber under varying mass and directions. • Flame spread and combustion pressure decreased with the widened injection angle. • The optimal engine performance was acquired when α H2 of 3% and IA of 45°. • NO x generations still remained lower, though chamber pressure notably rise. To analyze the effects of hydrogen charge concentration (HCC) and injection angle (IA) on the lean combustion in a gasoline Wankel engine, the present work implemented a numerical simulation model coupling with the kinetic mechanisms and validated with the experimental data. Results found that with the increase in HCC, the penetration of hydrogen injection is enlarged and the area of the high-speed jet flow is expanded. The jet-flow area for IAs of 45° or 135° is larger than that of 90°. Changing IA could obtain the hydrogen distribution at different regions of the rotor chamber and IA of 90° acquires the smallest hydrogen-rich region. Increasing IA brings about the reduced flame speed substantially; the flame area for IAs of 45° and 90° expands with the increment of HCC whereas the contrary pattern is witnessed at the IA of 135°. Smaller IA leads to the major burning occurring untimely, which resulting in less work delivery of the engine. The hydrogen consumption for IAs of 45° and 90° increases as HCC is ascendant while that for IA of 135° is just the reverse. Variations in the mixture distribution and turbulence are the intrinsic mechanism of how the HCC and IA reflects the combustion progress. As hydrogen is injected with larger HCC and smaller IA, a relatively richer mixture and higher turbulent kinetic energy are distributed close in the spark ignition region. The peak combustion pressure reduces and its corresponding crank position delays with the widened IA at any HCC. Considering the fuel combustion and nitric oxide formation, as hydrogen volume fraction is 3% and IA is 45°, the engine could realize the optimized performance under the computational condition. An efficient combustion performance may be performed in engineering application if the hydrogen IA is in accordance with the rotor rotating direction at lower HCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The influences of wall are important in practical combustion devices. In present study, the propagating processes of near wall ignited laminar methane/hydrogen/air flame were explored under different hydrogen fractions in a constant volume combustion vessel mimicking engine geometry. Results showed that both effects of heat losses and wall compression cause difference of local flame speed at different directions. The flow inside burned zone induced by compression accelerates local flame speed at direction opposing to the wall, makes the local flame speed higher than freely propagating laminar flame speed. Meanwhile, flame shape changing process was quantified by fitted ellipses. It was found that flame shapes are strongly affected by the wall compression but not obviously influenced by hydrogen addition. Hydrogen addition exacerbated flame instabilities, notably improved the local and global flame speeds due to both increase of laminar flame speed and flow velocity inside burned zone. The maximum local speed increase from 258 cm/s for 20% hydrogen fraction to 695 cm/s for 80% hydrogen fraction. Maximum combustion pressure and maximum pressure rise rate were slightly increased by hydrogen addition. On contrary, the combustion duration notably decreased nearly 3 times when hydrogen fraction increased from 20% to 80%. Highlights • Near wall ignited lean CH 4 /H 2 /air flame were studied in a constant volume chamber. • Compression induced flow inside burned zone played a role for near wall flame. • Hydrogen addition enhances the flame propagation and compression induced flow. • Effects of heat transfer are more obvious for later combustion stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The effect of intake valve timing on hydrogen-rich ammonia engines was studied. • Delaying the valve timing to increase the power of hydrogen-rich ammonia engines. • Advanced valve timing to improve BTE of hydrogen-rich ammonia engine. • Increasing valve overlap increases the cycle variation of hydrogen-rich ammonia engines. To reduce carbon emissions and increase the efficiency of internal combustion engines (ICEs), it is necessary to use renewable alternative fuels and to use Miller cycle technology. Ammonia is an energy storage medium as well as a hydrogen storage medium. In this experiment, a Miller cycle ICE using ammonia-hydrogen fuel was investigated at 1500 rpm and 60% throttle opening. The excess air factor of 1 and the ammonia volume share of 70% were maintained during the experiment. The objective of the experiment was to vary the intake valve timing and investigate its effect on engine performance. The results show that when the intake valve timing is advanced and the valve overlap angle is kept larger, the combustion stability deteriorates, the flame development period (CA0-10) is prolonged, the cycle variation increases, COV pmax will exceed 25%, and the brake thermal efficiency (BTE) quickly dropped from 32.8% to 30%. When the intake valve timing is retarded by 25°CA, IMEP and BMEP can be increased by 8% and 16% compared with the minimum values. Generally speaking, the Miller cycle hydrogen-enriched ammonia engine is not suitable for the early opening strategy of the intake valve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Ammonia-hydrogen fuel used in miller cycle internal combustion engine. • The stoichiometric and lean-burn conditions of the ammonia-hydrogen engine were compared. • For Miller Cycle ammonia engines, about 20% of hydrogen is required. • Expanded ammonia energy ratio can improve engine BMEP and ITE. Reducing carbon emissions in the transport sector requires technology upgrades to engines and the use of carbon–neutral fuels. Ammonia is a zero-carbon renewable fuel that complements hydrogen. This study is based on a Miller cycle spark ignition engine using ammonia-hydrogen fuel. The effects of the mixture ratio of ammonia and hydrogen under stoichiometric ratio and lean burn condition on the performance of the Miller cycle engine are focused. First, a commercial Miller-cycle ICE was modified to allow a dual fuel supply of ammonia and hydrogen. The engine was run steadily at 1500 rpm with the manifold absolute pressure (MAP) maintained at 60 kPa, and the ammonia and hydrogen supplies were adjusted to achieve different mixing ratios and excess air ratios. The test results showed that an increased ammonia percentage under stoichiometric ratio conditions significantly improved the Braking mean effective pressure (BMEP) and Braking thermal efficiency (BTE) of the ICE. Under lean burn conditions, the changes of BMEP and BTE are small with the increase of the ammonia ratio. The exhaust temperature of the ammonia-hydrogen engine is relatively low, so it is necessary to consider matching a small inertia turbocharger. Ammonia ratios above 80 % by volume resulted in erratic engine operation and even misfires. Ammonia-hydrogen fuel blends lead to higher Nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The Miller cycle and variable valve timing are used in a DI hydrogen engine. • The effects of variable valve timing on the airflow exchange process are analyzed. • The engine can reach 42.22% maximum brake thermal efficiency. • Positive effects of exhaust valve timing on a DI hydrogen engine cannot be ignored. The favorable physicochemical characteristics of hydrogen make it an excellent alternative fuel for IC engines. Compared with hydrogen port injection, hydrogen direct injection provides multiple degrees of freedom for injection strategies and mixture formation, which can effectively suppress abnormal combustion and enhance engine performance. Variable valve timing (VVT) and the Miller cycle, as advanced and effective means of improving engine performance, are less investigated based on a direct-injection (DI) hydrogen engine. Hence, to optimize the performance of a DI hydrogen engine, strategies of the Miller cycle and VVT are introduced. In this work, a 1.5 L direct-injection engine with a VVT system was employed to evaluate the effects of the Miller cycle, intake valve closing (IVC) timing, and exhaust valve opening (EVO) timing on the airflow exchange process, in-cylinder charge characteristics, heat release process, dynamics and emission characteristics. The engine speed was stabilized at 1400 rpm and the strategies of lean combustion and late injection were used. The main results are as follows. As the IVC timing is delayed, the ratio of pumping mean effective pressure to indicated mean effective pressure (PMEP/IMEP) first decreases and then slightly increases, and the engine tends to achieve a high level of brake thermal efficiency (BTE) when PMEP/IMEP is lower. The optimization of intake and exhaust VVT can shorten combustion duration and reduce cyclic variation by increasing volumetric efficiency and improving mixture distribution at ignition timing. Furthermore, the engine reaches 42.22% BTE and a high level of brake mean effective pressure by the cooperative control of IVC and EVO timing. NOx emissions can be controlled below 100 ppm by employing the synergistic effect of the Miller cycle and VVT. It is worth mentioning that exhaust VVT as a way to compensate for the performance of the DI hydrogen engine with the Miller cycle should not be ignored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper introduced an experiment survey focusing on exploring the impact of hydrogen enrichment on improving the lean-burn performance of an n-butanol rotary engine. During the test, the engine speed and intake pressure were roughly set at 4000 rpm and 35 kPa, respectively. A constant spark advance of 45 °CA was adopted through the test. Hydrogen volumetric fraction of the total intake was severally kept at 0% and 3%. The testing results manifested that the brake thermal efficiency and peak chamber temperature were heightened with hydrogen addition. Besides, the ignition delay and rapid combustion duration were both reduced with the hydrogen additive. Engine running stability gained an improvement by hydrogen supplement. Moreover, HC and CO emissions from the original n-butanol rotary engine were reduced after hydrogen adding. NOx emissions were increased with hydrogen enrichment while reduced with the increase of excess air ratio. This indicated that NOx emissions from both the n-butanol and hydrogen-blended n-butanol rotary engines could be reduced by lean combustion strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rotary engine has flat chamber and longs for fuel with high flame speed and small quenching distance. Hydrogen has many excellent characteristics that are suitable for the rotary engine. In this paper, the performance of a rotary engine fueled with pure hydrogen at different excess air ratios was experimentally investigated. The investigation was carried out on a single-rotor hydrogen-fueled rotary engine equipped with port fuel injection system. An online electronic control module was used to govern the hydrogen injection duration and excess air ratio. In this study, the engine was operating at the idle speed of 3000 rpm and different excess air ratios varied from 0.993 to 1.283. The test results demonstrated that the fuel energy flow rate of the hydrogen rotary engine and engine stability were reduced with the increase of excess air ratio. When the excess air ratio increased from 0.993 to 1.283, the hydrogen energy flow rate was decreased from 14.91 to 11.55 MJ/h. Both the flame development and propagation periods were increased with excess air ratio. CO emission was negligible, but HC, CO 2 and NOx emissions were still detected due to the evaporation and possible burning of the lubrication-used gasoline, and oxidation reaction of nitrogen of the intake air. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a rotary engine equipped with an n-butanol and hydrogen port-injection system was developed to investigate the combustion and emissions characteristics of a hydrogen-blended n-butanol rotary engine at part load and stoichiometric conditions. A self-developed hybrid electronic control unit was adopted to adjust the injection durations of n-butanol and hydrogen. The rotary engine was run under the conditions of 4000 rpm, a manifold absolute pressure of 35 kPa and a fixed spark timing of 45 °CA before the top dead center during the whole testing operation. The hydrogen volumetric fraction in the total intake was varied from 0% to 6.30%. The test results manifested that the brake thermal efficiency and chamber temperature were simultaneously increased with hydrogen addition. The hydrogen supplement obviously shortened flame development and propagation periods. Both chamber pressure integral heat release fraction versus crank angle were increased when the hydrogen fraction was enhanced. HC emissions were reduced by 54.5% when hydrogen volume fraction was raised from 0% to 6.30%, CO and CO 2 emissions were also reduced after increasing hydrogen blending fraction. NOx emissions were mildly elevated due to the improved chamber temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present paper, the cyclic variations of a hydrogen-blended gasoline rotary engine operated under various conditions were experimentally investigated. The experiments were carried out on a modified hydrogen-gasoline dual-fuel rotary engine equipped with an electronically-controlled fuel injection system. An electronic control module was specially made to command the fuel injection, excess air ratio and hydrogen volumetric fraction. The tested engine was first run at idle condition with a speed of 2400 rpm and then operated at 4500 rpm to investigate the cyclic variations of a hydrogen-enriched gasoline rotary engine under different hydrogen volumetric percentages in the total intake, excess air ratios and spark timings. The experimental results demonstrated that the coefficient of variations (in peak pressure, engine speed, flame development period and flame propagation period) of the gasoline rotary engine were distinctly decreased with the increase of hydrogen volume fraction under all the tested conditions. In particular, at idle and stoichiometric conditions, the coefficient of variation in CA0-10 and CA10-90 were reduced from 9.25% to 5.01%, 15.40% to 8.70%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aimed to study the effect of spark timing on performance of a hydrogen-gasoline dual-fuel rotary engine. For this aim, a modified rotary engine equipped with a dual-fuel port injection system was developed. An electronic management module (ECM) was specially made to command the fuel injection, excess air ratio and hydrogen volumetric fraction. In this study, the engine was operated at 4500 rpm with a manifold absolute pressure (MAP) of 35 kPa. Hydrogen volumetric percentage of total intake was kept at 0%, 3% and 6%, severally. When the hydrogen volumetric percentage was changed, the gasoline fraction was also adjusted to keep the mixture at the stoichiometric. For a specified hydrogen volumetric fraction, the ignition timing was varied from 24 to 42 °CA BTDC (before top dead center) with a fixed interval of 2 °CA. Experimental results showed that for a specific hydrogen volumetric percentage, the peak combustion pressure and chamber temperature were increased, brake thermal efficiency was first increased and then decreased with the increase of spark advance. Advancing spark timing caused the increased flame development period, the decreased flame propagation period and exhaust temperature. Cyclic variation was initially weaken and then deteriorated after raising spark advance. HC and NOx emissions were reduced after retarding spark timing. Spark timing had little effect on CO emission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presented an experimental study about the idle performance of a rotary engine fueled with hydrogen and gasoline blends. The idle speed was reduced from original 2400 to 2300 and 2200 rpm, and hydrogen energy percentage ( β H2 ) was varied from 0% to 35.0%. Test results showed that cyclic variation was raised with the decrease of idle speed whereas reduced with the increase of β H2 . Both decreasing idle speed and increasing β H2 were effective on reducing engine fuel consumption. Total fuel energy flow rate was effectively dropped from 22.4 MJ/h under “2400 rpm and β H2 = 0%” to 20.01 MJ/h under “2200 rpm and β H2 = 35.0%”. Combustion duration was reduced through increasing β H2 . HC and CO emissions were dropped with the increase of β H2 , but increased after reducing idle speed. CO 2 emission was decreased after reducing idle speed and adding hydrogen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The behavior of CO2 in a hydrogen Wankel rotary engine is investigated. • CO2 can effectively improve the dynamics, economics and emission characteristics. • CO2 has significant effects on the heat release process. • Adding CO2 into intake can be considered an excellent knock suppression method. • CO2 has a better effect on the prevention of knock than N2. To prevent global warming, vigorously developing hydrogen energy has become one of research focuses of various countries and regions in recent years. Hydrogen-fueled engines have been proven to be a potential alternative to current fossil-fueled engines. Among various engines, Wankel rotary engine (WRE) is praised for its simple structure and excellent dynamic characteristics, which can greatly compensate for the low specific-volume heat value of hydrogen. However, hydrogen-fueled WRE suffers from low efficiency, high NOx emission and severe knock. For methanol-reforming hydrogen-fueled ICEs, CO2 as the by-product can be used as variant-cooled-EGR to improve ICEs performance and prevent abnormal combustion. Therefore, this work researches the behavior of CO2 on the hydrogen-fueled WRE. The work is conducted at 1500 r/min and wide-open throttle. The results show that CO2 has a significant influence on the heat release process of hydrogen-fueled WRE. Due to this influence, when the volume fraction of CO2 in intake (CO2%) is increased from 0 to 19.28%, the brake thermal efficiency can be improved by 8% with a 7% decline in power output. The NO emission has two orders of magnitude of reduction with increasing CO2% from 0 to 19.28%.. In addition, compared with cooled-EGR, CO2 has a better effect on knock suppression. If methanol-reforming to produce hydrogen becomes the mainstream of on-board hydrogen production in the future, the application of CO2 is of great significance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because of the limit of properties of gasoline and irregular design of chamber, the pure gasoline rotary engine generally encounters partial burning, increased noxious emissions or even misfire at lean conditions. This situation could be deteriorated at idle because of the high variation in the intake charge and low combustion temperature. Hydrogen addition is proved to remit the deterioration of performance of sparked-ignited (SI) engines at idle and lean conditions. This paper conducted an experiment on a modified rotary engine equipped with gasoline and hydrogen port-injection systems to explore the performance of a hydrogen–gasoline rotary engine (HGRE) at idle and lean conditions. An electronic management unit (EMU) was invented to manage spark and fuel injection. Excess air ratio ( λ ) and hydrogen volumetric fraction in the total intake ( α H 2 ) were also governed through the EMU. For this study, the HGRE was operating at idle and α H 2 was kept at 0% and 3%, respectively. For a specific α H 2 , gasoline flow rate was reduced to make the HGRE run at desired λ . Results indicated that engine fluctuation and fuel energy flow rate were both decreased after hydrogen addition. Combustion duration was cut down and central heat release point was advanced after hydrogen addition. Peak chamber temperature ( T max ), pressure and heat release were enhanced after hydrogen blending. HC, CO and CO 2 emissions were simultaneously reduced because of hydrogen enrichment. Specifically, at λ = 1.00, HC, CO and CO 2 emissions were respectively reduced from 42,411 to 26,316 ppm, 1.86 to 0.78% and 9.96 to 8.58% when 3% hydrogen was added. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because of the unusual structure chamber compared with traditional engines, gasoline rotary engine always encounters partial burning and increased noxious emissions at the idle. Hydrogen-addition could enhance the characteristics of combustion and emissions of sparked-ignited engines at idle. A modified gasoline rotary engine with electronic spark control and fuel (gasoline and hydrogen) port-injection system was developed to study the impact of hydrogen-addition on idle performance of a gasoline rotary engine. A hybrid electronic control unit was invented to manage the spark, fuel injection, hydrogen volume fraction of the total intake and overall excess air ratio. In this study, the engine was operating at the idle speed of 2400 rpm and stoichiometric conditions. The hydrogen volume fraction was gradually varied from 0% to 6.8%. Results showed that the coefficient of variation in speed and fuel energy flow rate were both decreased after the hydrogen-addition. Flame development and propagation periods were shortened owning to hydrogen-addition. The peak chamber temperature was enhanced after the hydrogen-addition due to the high adiabatic flame temperature of hydrogen. Cooling loss was dropped when hydrogen was added into gasoline. HC, CO and CO 2 emissions were reduced by 79.4%, 86.0% and 25.9% when hydrogen volume fraction were raised from 0% to 6.8%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Two calculation methods for the leakage area of spark plug cavities are given. • The leakage gas mass of three types apex seal leakage is calculated. • The effects of three types apex seal leakage on engine performance are compared. • Measures to reduce apex seal leakage are given. • The effects of the movement of leading spark plug on leakage are calculated. Under the background of carbon peaking and carbon–neutral, the hydrogen-fueled Wankel rotary engine with excellent power and emission characteristic is under the spotlight. The leakage problem, especially the apex seal leakage, is considered to be an important engineering problem restricting the development of hydrogen-fueled Wankel rotary engine. To make up for research gaps, this study was conducted to investigate the effects of three types of apex seal leakage on engine performance. Two methods for calculating the leakage area of spark plug cavities are proposed and compared, and the definition method based on leakage direction is more consistent with the experimental results. The leading spark plug leakage and corner seal leakage has the greatest impact on peak pressure and IMEP, which reduce the peak value of pressure by 0.249 MPa and 0.047 MPa, and reduce the IMEP by 8.68 % and 10.51 % respectively. In addition to reducing the leakage area, reducing the distance between leading spark plug and minor axis by 5.5 mm could increase the peak pressure by 0.2 MPa and reduce the leakage from the working chamber to the adjacent chambers from 0.055 g to 0.038 g. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogen-fueled Wankel rotary engine (HWRE) as a promising power device overcomes some of the drawbacks of the hydrogen-fueled reciprocating engine. However, its elongated combustion chamber makes it prone to knock, and little research has been done in this area. Hence, to understand the knock characteristics of HWRE, the present work focus on parameters of HWRE knock at 2000r/min, an excess air ratio of 1.2 and an ignition timing of −7°CA ATDC. The main results are as follows: As with knock intensity, knock duration and maximum pressure rising rate also can characterize the knock of HWRE because of the logarithmic or linear relationship among three parameters. For the knock intensity, two parameters are needed to precisely characterize the HWRE knock, while only one parameter is needed for the knock duration and the maximum pressure rising rate. Considering the computing cost, the maximum pressure rising rate is better than others. The knock intensity has a significant influence on the timed sequence of peak knock pressure and peak in-cylinder pressure. Besides, the mechanism of backfire caused by the knock of HWRE is different from that of the hydrogen-fueled reciprocating piston engine, which results from the inter-cylinder flame leakage. • The knock characteristic of hydrogen-fueled Wankel rotary engine is analyzed. • There are mathematical relationships among parameters characterizing knock. • Maximum pressure rise rate is a better metric to characterize WRE knock. • Misfire caused by knock in WRE is different from reciprocating piston engines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Hydrogen Wankel rotary engine and reciprocating piston engine are compared. • This work studies the comparison from combustion, emission and abnormal combustion. • HWRE can achieve excellent power, but with low efficiency and poor NO emission. • Backfire won't prevent the application of HWRE, but knock will. • Efficiency, thermal load and knock need to be improved in the development of HWRE. Hydrogen-fueled Wankel rotary engine (HWRE) as an excellent power device deserves more in-depth study. The goal of this work is to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the pros and cons of HWRE and what should be done when developing a hydrogen-specific WRE by comparing HWRE with hydrogen-fueled reciprocating piston engine (HRPE), as well as some gasoline-fueled conditions, in terms of combustion, emissions and abnormal combustion. The results show that HWRE can achieve higher power per displacement compared to the RPE fueled by whether gasoline or hydrogen, as well as slightly low brake thermal efficiency and extremely poor NO emission. At 2500 r/min, the maximum power per displacement of HWRE is 1.66 and 1.23 times that of hydrogen and gasoline RPE, respectively, however, accompanying absolute reductions of 4.96% and 3.06% in maximum brake thermal efficiency. In addition, the characteristics and mechanisms of abnormal combustion in HWREs are different compared to HRPEs. In particular, in HWRE, the backfire can be eliminated by the improvement of the spark plug hole, while the knock problem is more prominent. Overall, HWREs have the potential to win a place in the future of zero-carbon engines, however, some works, such as improving thermal efficiency, reducing thermal load and preventing knock, need to be done for the development of hydrogen-specific WRE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper, a laminar burning velocity correlation was proposed for combustion simulation of hydrogen-enriched ethanol engines. This correlation was developed based on the flame–temperature-based mixing rule. Wide ranges of hydrogen mole fraction, equivalence ratio, unburned gas temperature, pressure, and residual gas mass fraction were simultaneously considered in the correlation to cover the burning conditions encountered in the spark-ignited (SI) engine combustion. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) calculations were performed with the implementation of this correlation. This correlation was confirmed to be suitable for engine simulation since the CFD model could well capture the combustion behavior in hydrogen-enriched ethanol engines. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]