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The novel wave-shaped bowl piston geometry design with protrusions has been proved in previous studies to enhance late-cycle mixing and therefore significantly reduce soot emissions and increase engine thermodynamic efficiency. The wave-shaped piston is characterized by the introduction of evenly spaced protrusions around the inner wall of the bowl, with a matching number with the number of injection holes, i.e., flames. The interactions between adjacent flames strongly affect the in-cylinder flow and the wave shape is designed to guide the near-wall flow. The flow re-circulation produces a radial mixing zone (RMZ) that extends towards the center of the piston bowl, where unused air is available for oxidation promotion. The waves enhance the flow re-circulation and thus increase the mixing intensity of the RMZ. This flame-wall interaction is related to the momentum of the injected fuel sprays and therefore it is reasonable to investigate the impact of fuels of different densities that contain varied momentums. Conventional diesel and n-Heptane are tested in a single-cylinder optical heavy-duty compression ignition engine, as the fuels have similar characteristics but different densities. The spray and combustion processes are visualized by natural luminescence, captured by high-speed video. The experiment results indicate that there is a correlation between fuel densities and the flame-wall interaction.

The ignition process, mode of combustion and reaction front propagation in a partially premixed combustion (PPC) engine running with a primary reference fuel (87% iso-octane, 13% n-heptane by volume) is studied numerically in a large eddy simulation. Different combustion modes, ignition front propagation, premixed flame and non-premixed flame, are observed simultaneously. Displacement speed of CO iso-surface propagation describes the transition of premixed auto-ignition to non-premixed flame. High temporal resolution optical data of CH2O and chemiluminescence are compared with simulated results. A high speed ignition front is seen to expand through fuel-rich mixture and stabilize around stoichiometry in a non-premixed flame while lean premixed combustion occurs in the spray wake at a much slower pace. A good qualitative agreement of the distribution of chemiluminescence and CH2O formation and destruction shows that the simulation approach sufficiently captures the driving physics of mixed-mode combustion in PPC engines. The study shows that the transition from auto-ignition to flame occurs over a period of several crank angles and the reaction front propagation can be captured using the described model.

In the challenge to reduce CO2, NOx and PM emissions, the application of natural gas or biogas in engines is a viable approach. In heavy duty and marine, either a conventional dual fuel (CDF), or a reactivity-controlled compression ignition (RCCI) approach is feasible on existing diesel engines. In both technologies a pilot diesel injection is used to ignite the premixed natural gas. However, the influence of injection-timing and -pressure on the start of combustion timing (SOC) is opposite between both modes. For a single operating point these relations can be explained by a detailed CFD simulation, but an intuitive overall explanation is lacking. This makes it difficult to incorporate both modes into one engine application, using a single controller. In an experimental campaign by the authors, on a medium speed engine, the lowest emissions were found to be very close to the SOC corresponding to the transition from RCCI to CDF. This highlights the relevance of having one overall control-scheme for the start of combustion. Principally the start of combustion boils down to having the required equivalence ratio (ϕ) and temperature (T). By using a 1D spray simulation the distribution of ϕ was investigated. Combined with a kinetic scheme and a thermodynamic engine analysis the earliest occurrence of an ignitable ϕ - T combination could be depicted. Graphically shown as an ignitability island during the engine cycle, this gives an intuitive prediction of SOC and its relationship with the start of injection (SOI), rail pressure, and air- and fuel-amount. It also shows the distinction between CDF and RCCI. For CDF the combustion starts when the ignitability island is approached from the rich side. For RCCI it is approached from the lean side. The described relationships could make it possible to incorporate both RCCI and CDF modes into one engine controller.

Improving the efficiency of the powertrain system is of great importance to reduce the greenhouse gas CO2. Advanced combustion engine with Partially Premixed Combustion (PPC) is one of the best solutions. It is proved to have a high engine efficiency and low emission level. Using multiple injections is a good way to achieve PPC. The efficiencies using multiple injections were evaluated on a metal engine with modern architecture and the reasoning behind that was explored on an optical engine. The metal engine results shown that the point with optimized multiple injections is of higher efficiency than a single injection. Optical results demonstrated that the direct interaction of the first and later injection, as well as the interactions of the fuel and the in-cylinder bulk flow fields and surfaces, could affect mixing and fuel movement and, hence the efficiency. One of the reasons why the optimized multiple injections have a higher efficiency is that the center of the fuel is moved close to the center of the cylinder. Thus, the heat transfer between the heat produced from the fuel-gas mixture and the cylinder liner can be reduced by the isolation. This explains how the injections influence the fuel distribution and the heat transfer and, hence, the engine efficiency.

Partially premixed combustion (PPC) is a promising way to achieve high thermal efficiency and low emissions, especially by using multiple injection strategies. The mechanisms behind PPC efficiency are still to be explained and explored. In this paper, multiple injections have been used to affect the gross indicated efficiency in an optical PPC engine modified from a Volvo MD13 heavy-duty diesel engine. The aim is both to improve and impair the gross indicated efficiency to understand the differences. The combustion natural luminosity is captured by a high-speed camera, and the distribution of fuel, oxygen, and temperature during the combustion process has been further explored by CFD simulation. The results show that with the right combination of the pilot, main, and post injection the gross indicated efficiency can be improved. Using a post injection in a triple-injection case show to have less effect on the combustion phasing than pilot injection in a double-injection case, while it can significantly affect combustion efficiency. The later of the double-injection cases tested (c30/16), has less heat transfer losses since the high-temperature region transported away from the cylinder head and piston bowl wall, which can be seen in the CFD-simulations. The highest gross indicated efficiency among the tested cases is given by the triple-injection case d38/24/6 as it reaches the best balance between the mixing and the local temperature through the jet-jet interactions and combustion-jet interactions. (Less)

The partially premixed combustion (PPC) concept is regarded as an intermediate process between the thoroughly mixed Homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) combustion and compression ignition (CI) combustion. It's a combination of auto-ignition mode, a fuel-rich premixed combustion mode, and a diffusion combustion mode. The concept has both high efficiency and low soot emission due to low heat losses and less stratified fuel and air mixtures compared to conventional diesel CI. The mechanisms behind the combustion process are not yet very well known. This work focuses on the efficiency and the in-cylinder process in terms of fuel distribution and the initial phase of the combustion. More specifically, double injection strategies are compared with single injection strategies to achieve different levels of stratification, ranging from HCCI to PPC like combustion as well as poor (43%) to good (49%) of gross indicated efficiency. The experiments were performed in an optical heavy-duty CI engine. To analyze how the efficiency was affected in a transition from HCCI to PPC, the natural luminosity (N.L.) was captured with high-speed video (HSV). To complement the HSV data, fuel, temperature, and oxygen distribution were explored by Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation. The results show that the jet-jet and jet-piston interactions can be modified and can reshape the transition trends of gross indicated efficiency and ignition location compared to a single injection. In the transition region, these interactions can improve the efficiency by shaping the fuel-rich region away from cold areas, like the vertical wall of the piston and the squish region, to avoid fuel wetting and incomplete combustion. However, with double injections in the piston bowl (PPC region), jet-jet interaction can unfortunately inhibit the mixing process of the second fuel jet and oxygen due to interaction with the fuel rich region from the first injection, ending up with a lower combustion efficiency. (Less)

Driven by the Paris agreement and tightening IMO regulations, the marine sector is focusing on lowering engine emissions and moving to low-carbon fossil or renewable fuel such as methane. The dual-fuel concept allows the usage of methane as main energy-source in diesel engines. A small pilot diesel injection acts as an ignition source for the premixed methane. It was investigated how NOx formation, mainly taking place during combustion of the pilot fuel, could be minimized. To better understand the process of ignition of a pilot injection in dual-fuel engines, optical research has been performed on a medium speed dual fuel marine engine. A unique Bowditch 200 mm single cylinder setup enabled high speed recordings of natural luminescence. Both Reactivity Controlled Compression Ignition (RCCI) and Conventional Dual Fuel (CDF) combustion was investigated. The RCCI combustion was created by an early pilot injection, allowing a long mixing time. The CDF cases had a late injection timing. In RCCI operation the higher degree of premixing was recognized by combustion luminescence starting further away from the injector, at a varying location. The diluted pilot combustion generated a limited brightness. The heat release profile was Gaussian/bell-shaped, without the typical diesel premixed peak. In CDF operation the recorded images show that combustion follows the shape of the diesel injector jet. The heat release profile was showing a strong initial peak, resembling the premixed peak known from conventional diesel combustion. This heat release peak in CDF combustion, correlated to NOx emissions, is absent in RCCI mode.

The requirements on high efficiency and low emissions of internal combustion engines (ICEs) raise the research focus on advanced combustion concepts, e.g., premixed-charge compression ignition (PCCI), partially premixed compression ignition (PPCI), reactivity controlled compression ignition (RCCI), partially premixed combustion (PPC), gasoline compression ignition (GCI) etc. In the present study, an optically accessible engine is operated in PPC mode, featuring compression ignition of a diluted, stratified charge of gasoline-like fuel injected directly into the cylinder. A high-speed, high-power burst-mode laser system in combination with a high-speed CMOS camera is employed for diagnostics of the autoignition process which is critical for the combustion phasing and efficiency of the engine. To the authors’ best knowledge, this work demonstrates for the first time the application of the burst-system for simultaneous fuel tracer planar laser induced fluorescence (PLIF) and chemiluminescence imaging in an optical engine, at 36 kHz repetition rate. In addition, high-speed formaldehyde PLIF and chemiluminescence imaging are employed for investigation of autoignition events with a high temporal resolution (5 frames/CAD). The development of autoignition together with fuel or CH2O distribution are simultaneously visualized using a large number of consecutive images. Prior to the onset of combustion the majority of both fuel and CH2O are located in the recirculation zone, where the first autoignition also occurs. The ability to record, in excess of 100 PLIF images, in a single cycle brings unique possibilities to follow the in-cylinder processes without the averaging effects caused by cycle-to-cycle variations.

Although multiple injection strategies have a significant influence on partially premixed combustion (PPC) efficiency, the mechanisms behind the influence are still to be explained and evaluated. In this paper, single, double, and triple injection strategies are used in a heavy-duty optical engine. The effects on engine efficiency are analyzed by an energy balance method. Furthermore, the change of ignition location and combustion process under different injection cases are explored by natural luminescence recorded by a high-speed camera. The results show that, with double injections, the interaction between the main and pilot jets advances the combustion phasing nearly to the top dead center (TDC), resulting in higher efficiency. This interaction also shifts the combustion process into the piston bowl, where it has high potential to reduce heat-transfer loss. With triple injections, the interaction between the main combustion (formed by the pilot and main injections) and the post injection jet significantly affects the combustion losses. In all, the jet-jet interaction and combustion-jet interactions play a significant role in engine efficiency when using multiple injections.

In order to meet the requirements in the stringent emission regulations, more and more research work has been focused on homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) and partially premixed combustion (PPC) or partially premixed compression ignition (PCCI) as they have the potential to produce low NOx and soot emissions without adverse effects on engine efficiency. The mixture formation and charge stratification influence the combustion behavior and emissions for PPC/PCCI, significantly. An ultra-high speed burst-mode laser is used to capture the mixture formation process from the start of injection until several CADs after the start of combustion in a single cycle. To the authors' best knowledge, this is the first time that such a high temporal resolution, i.e. 0.2 CAD, PLIF could be accomplished for imaging of the in-cylinder mixing process. The capability of resolving single cycles allows for the influence of cycle-to-cycle variations to be eliminated. This ability to study individual cycles aids the understanding of the mixture formation process as well as the cycle-to-cycle variations. Strong air entrainment at the boundary layer can be clearly observed and followed as the mixing process progresses. The formation of eddies created by the shear force and their rotational motion can be continuously observed during the mixing process. The interaction between two adjacent spray plumes in the recirculation zone is well captured and studied. In addition, the mixing process resulting in the stratified fuel charge being located in the recirculation zone before the SOC while the areas along the original spray axis are leaned out after the end of injection, can be followed in one time sequence. Moreover, the auto-ignition position and early flame development can be studied, from the high-speed chemiluminescence imaging, together with the fuel distribution in the combustion chamber. (Less)

The influence of the ignition quality of diesel-and gasoline-like fuels on the lift-off length of the jet were investigated in an optical heavy duty engine. The engine was operated at a load of 22 bar IMEPg and 1200 rpm. A production type injector with standard holes were used. The lift-off length was recorded with high speed video Different injection pressures and inlet temperatures were used to affect conditions that consequently affect the lift-off length. No matter which fuel used nor injection pressure or inlet temperature, all lift-off lengths showed equal or close to equal lift-off length when stabilized. The higher octane fuel had a longer ignition delay and therefore the fuel penetrate the combustion chamber before auto ignition. This gave a longer lift-off length at the initial stage of combustion before reaching the same stabilized lift-off length. These results indicate that the hot combustion gases are a dominant factor to the lift-off length. Also, that possible soot reductions using high octanes fuels are feasible because of a longer ignition delay that allow more premixing, and an initially longer lift-off length due to longer penetration into the combustion chamber. (Less)

The partially premixed combustion (PPC) concept has shown high efficiency with low soot emissions. However, the in-cylinder phenomena are still to be explained and evaluated for further progress in the research. This work studies the start of combustion process during a transition from homogenous charge compression ignition (HCCI) to PPC. The process is visualized using a heavy-duty, non-swirling engine modified for optical access. High speed video was used to capture the natural luminosity of the combustion. The fuel used was PRF87. Single and double injection strategies were used at a load kept to the moderate level of 7.5 bar IMEPg. Single injections were swept from early HCCI to retarded PPC conditions whilst running a cycle to cycle temperature sweep, to capture the effect of injection timing and temperature differences simultaneously. Results show that retarded injections show less cycle-to-cycle variation due to temperature variations. Advanced in-bowl injections show a stochastic behavior in the location of the first combustion, due to large variations in local fuel rich zones. For the double injection case the main injection cools the bulk temperature and hence delays the start of combustion before igniting in the fuel rich zones. (Less)

The relatively new combustion concept known as partially premixed combustion (PPC) has high efficiency and low emissions. However, there are still challenges when it comes to fully understanding and implementing PPC. Thus a predictive combustion tool was used to gain further insight into the combustion process in late cycle mixing. The modeling tool is a stochastic reactor model (SRM) based on probability density functions (PDF). The model requires less computational time than a similar study using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). A novel approach with a two-zone SRM was used to capture the behavior of the partially premixed or stratified zones prior to ignition. This study focuses on PPC mixing conditions and the use of an efficient analysis approach. It was done in three steps: a validation of the two-zone SRM against CFD and experimental data, a parametric study using a design of experiment (DOE) approach to late cycle mixing conditions, and analyses of fuel mass distribution with time-resolved probability density functions (TPDF). Results from the investigation show that the two-zone SRM is suitable for prediction of the PPC conditions and is able to run simulations at an average of 25 min/cycle. The findings of the parametric study showed, that a higher mixing intensity is preferable to longer mixing duration before the start of combustion as it decreases pressure rise rate without penalizing combustion efficiency. The TPDF plots offer a good alternative when presenting mixture fraction distributions. However, they may be more suited to smaller amounts of data than are presented in this investigation. (Less)