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As climate change continues to be a global concern, renewable fuels are considered to be blended or even to replace petroleum-based diesel fuels. The main objective of this investigation is to study the auto-ignition behavior, including—perhaps for the first time—the physical and chemical ignition delay periods, of Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) and ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD) and their blends in Ignition Quality Tester (IQT). A LabVIEW program for NI DAQ is developed to acquire the data needed to detect the physical delay period. The derived cetane number (DCN) is determined according to ASTM D6890-10 standard where ignition delay is a key parameter. Tests are conducted under steady state conditions at low to intermediate range of charge temperatures. The activation energies are then determined for all the blends. Analysis of the effect of physical properties and chemical composition on auto-ignition is carried out. Correlations are developed for the ignition delay of the different blends of HVO with ULSD for future use in combustion research modeling and design of engine control units.

Detection of combustion related phenomena such as misfire, knock and sporadic preignition is very important for the development of electronic controls needed for the gasoline direct injection engines to meet the production goals in power, fuel economy, and low emissions. This paper applies several types of combustion ionization sensors, and a pressure transducer that directly sense the in-cylinder combustion, and the knock sensor which is an accelerometer that detects the impact of combustion on engine structure vibration. Experimental investigations were conducted on a turbocharged four cylinders gasoline direct injection engine under operating conditions that produce the above phenomena. One of the cylinders is instrumented with a Piezo quartz pressure transducer, MSFI (Multi sensing fuel injector), a standalone ion current probe, and a spark plug applied to act as an ion current sensor. A comparison is made between the capabilities of the pressure transducer, ion current sensors, and the knock sensor in detecting the above phenomena. The signals from in-cylinder combustion sensors give more accurate information about combustion than the knock sensor. As far as the feasibility and cost of their application in production vehicles the spark plug sensor and MSFI appear to be the most favorable, followed by the Standalone mounted sensor which is an addition to the engine.

Surrogates development is important to extensively investigate the combustion behavior of fuels. Development of comprehensive surrogates has been focusing on matching chemical and physical properties of their target fuel to mimic its atomization, evaporation, mixing, and auto-ignition behavior. More focus has been given to matching the derived cetane number (DCN) as a measure of the auto-ignition quality. In this investigation, we carried out experimental validation of a three-component surrogate for Sasol-Isoparaffinic Kerosene (IPK) in ignition quality tester (IQT) and in an actual diesel engine. The surrogate fuel is composed of three components (46% iso-cetane, 44% decalin, and 10% n-nonane on a volume basis). The IQT experiments were conducted as per ASTM D6890-10a. The engine experiments were conducted at 1500 rpm, two engine loads, and two injection timings. Analysis of ignition delay (ID), peak pressure, peak rate of heat release (RHR), and other combustion phasing parameters showed a closer match in the IQT than in the diesel engine. Comparison between the surrogate combustion behavior in the diesel engine and IQT revealed that matching the DCN of the surrogate to its respective target fuel did not result in the same negative temperature coefficient (NTC) profile—which led to unmatched combustion characteristics in the high temperature combustion (HTC) regimes, despite the same auto-ignition and low temperature combustion (LTC) profiles. Moreover, a comparison between the combustion behaviors of the two fuels in the IQT is not consistent with the comparison in the diesel engine, which suggests that the surrogate validation in a single-cylinder diesel engine should be part of the surrogate development methodology, particularly for low ignition quality fuels.

The goal of this investigation is to compare the validation of Sasol-IPK and its surrogate fuel in the IQT and in an actual diesel engine. The surrogate fuel is composed of three components (46% iso-cetane, 44% decalin and 10% n-nonane on a volume basis). IQT experiments were conducted as per ASTM D6890-10a. Engine experiments were conducted at 1500 RPM, two engine loads, and two injection timings. Analysis of the ignition delay, peak pressure, peak RHR and other combustion phasing parameters, showed a closer match in IQT than in the diesel engine. This investigation suggests that validation in a single cylinder diesel engine should be a part of the surrogate validation, particularly for low ignition quality fuels.

Ion current sensing is a low-cost technology that can provide a real-time feedback for the in-cylinder combustion process. The ion current signal depends on several design parameters of the sensing probe in addition to the operating conditions of the engine. To experimentally determine the effect of each of these parameters on the ion current signal, it requires modifications in the engine which would be costly and time consuming. A 3D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model, coupled with a chemical kinetic solver, was developed to calculate the mole fraction of the ionized species formed in different zones in the fuel spray. A new approach of defining a number of virtual ion sensing probes was introduced to the model to determine the influence of sensor design and location relative to the spray axis on the signal characteristics. The contribution of the premixed and the mixing-diffusion controlled combustion was investigated. In addition, the crank angle resolved evolution of key ionization species produced during the combustion process was also compared at different engine operating conditions.

Sasol isomerized paraffinic kerosene (IPK) is a coal-derived synthetic fuel under consideration as a blending stock with jet propellant 8 (JP-8) for use in military equipment. However, Sasol IPK is a low ignition quality fuel with derived cetane number (DCN) of 31. The proper use of such alternative fuels in internal combustion engines (ICEs) requires the modification in control strategies to operate engines efficiently. With computational cycle simulation coupled with surrogate fuel mechanism, the engine development process is proved to be very effective. Therefore, a methodology to formulate Sasol IPK surrogate fuels for diesel engine application using ignition quality tester (IQT) is developed. An in-house developed matlab code is used to formulate the appropriate mixture blends, also known as surrogate fuel. And aspen hysys is used to emulate the distillation curve of the surrogate fuels. The properties of the surrogate fuels are compared to those of the target Sasol IPK fuel. The DCNs of surrogate fuels are measured in the IQT and compared with the target Sasol IPK fuel at the standard condition. Furthermore, the ignition delay, combustion gas pressure, and rate of heat release (RHR) of Sasol IPK and its formulated surrogate fuels are analyzed and compared at five different charge temperatures. In addition, the apparent activation energies derived from chemical ignition delay of the surrogate fuel and Sasol IPK are determined and compared.

Experimental Validation: At the test conditions analyzed, the two-component S2 surrogate fairly reproduced the following characteristics of the target JP-8: -Ignition delays -Pressure, RHR, mass-averaged gas temperature -Engine-out emissions (CO, HC, NOX), with an exception of the absolute PM values. 3D CFD Simulation: -The simulation results were in fairly good agreement with the experimental data for the surrogate. The two-component S2 surrogate could be a reasonable choice for its use in further investigations on the target JP-8.

Surrogates for JP­8 have been developed in the high temperature gas phase environment of gas turbines. In diesel engines, the fuel is introduced in the liquid phase where volatility plays a major role in the formation of the combustible mixture and autoignition reactions that occur at relatively lower temperatures. In this paper, the role of volatility on the combustion of JP­8 and five different surrogate fuels was investigated in the constant volume combustion chamber of the Ignition Quality Tester (IQT). IQT is used to determine the derived cetane number (DCN) of diesel engine fuels according to ASTM D6890. The surrogate fuels were formulated such that their DCNs matched that of JP­8, but with different volatilities. Tests were conducted to investigate the effect of volatility on the autoignition and combustion characteristics of the surrogates using a detailed analysis of the rate of heat release immediately after the start of injection. In addition, the effect of volatility on the spray dynamics was investigated by Schlieren imaging in an optically accessible rapid compression machine (RCM). The images supported the conclusions made in the IQT tests. Furthermore, apparent activation energies of JP­8 and surrogate fuels were determined based on the chemical delay periods, which could be considered as a new parameter for developing surrogate fuel. Sector: Automotive

The control of the combustion process is becoming a necessity for diesel engines in order to meet the upcoming stringent emission regulations. Ion current sensing technology has the potential to provide real-time feedback of the combustion process while using a fairly inexpensive sensor. 3D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) cycle simulation is becoming more complementary in understanding the complex combustion process in diesel engines. In this paper, a CFD study is focused on investigating the characteristics of the ion current signal produced during the combustion process of a Gen-set turbocharged diesel engine. Multiple virtual ion sensing probes are defined in different locations inside the combustion chamber to understand the influence of sensor location on signal characteristics. The n-heptane reaction mechanism and NO mechanism, combined with an ionization mechanism developed at WSU with 11 species, are used in the model to predict the chemical kinetics of combustion and the mole fraction of ionized species produced during combustion. Since the charge in diesel engines is heterogeneous and due to the sensing nature of the ion sensor, this paper explores the effect of sensor sensing diameter and its protrusion depth inside the combustion chamber on the ion current signal development. The simulation is validated by comparing in-cylinder pressure traces, the rate of heat release, and the ion current signal. Further, the model results are validated under different engine loads and injection pressures. This study utilizes the ionization mechanism to give further understanding of the complex formation of ionization species and their amplitudes, particularly at local sensing locations. This can be very vital to identify the potentials of using the ion current sensing and highlight its viability in feedback closed loop combustion control.

This paper presents an approach to develop Sasol IPK (Iso-Paraffinic Kerosene) surrogate fuels for diesel engine application using Ignition Quality Tester (IQT). The methodology includes: 1) in-house developed MATLAB code to formulate the appropriate mixture blends, 2) Aspen HYSYS to develop the distillation curve and compares it to the target Sasol IPK fuel, 3) IQT to measure the derived cetane number (DCN) of surrogate fuels and compare it with the target Sasol IPK fuel, 4) analysis of autoignition and combustion characteristics for Sasol IPK surrogate fuels. The ignition delay, combustion gas pressure, and rate of heat release of Sasol IPK and its formulated surrogate fuel are analyzed and compared at five different charge temperatures. Furthermore, the apparent activation energies derived from chemical ignition delay of the surrogate fuel and Sasol IPK are determined and compared.

Ion current has been the subject of extensive research in gasoline engines forin-cylinder combustion sensing and as a feedback signal for closed-loop engine control. The sources of the ion current in gasoline engines have been identified. Such identification is not the case in diesel engines. This paper presents experimental data and analysis of the ion current produced in a single-cylinder diesel engine equipped with an electronically controlled common-rail-injection system using an accessible engine control unit. The experiments cover a wide range of engine speeds, loads, injection pressures, and injection timings. The effect of each operating parameter on the shape of the ion current signal, as well as its amplitude, timing, and phase shift relative to the rate of heat release, are determined.

The effect of recirculating engine-out gases into the intake manifold on the cold start of direct-injection diesel engines is investigated. Two types of recirculation are examined. The first is low-pressure recirculation of engine-out gases into the intake manifold where their rate is controlled by a gas recirculation (GR) valve installed between the exhaust and intake manifold. The second is high-pressure recirculation by restricting the flow of the engine-out gases using a butterfly (BF) valve, installed in the exhaust system after the turbocharger to increase the back pressure and the rate of recirculated gases. Since there is no combustion during cranking, these gases contain evaporated hydrocarbons and partial oxidation products, mostly formaldehyde (HCHO). Experimental investigations on a four-cylinder direct-injection diesel engine indicated that high rates of cranking gas recirculation (CGR) increase the ignition delay and lengthen the cranking period. Since higher concentrations of hydrocarbons (HC) are expected to enhance the autoignition process, it is suspected that the recirculated HCHO would have an opposite effect. These opposing effects are investigated using the ChemKin diesel cycle simulation model. The model results demonstrated the effect of HCHO on slowing the autoignition and combustion reactions.

The paper presents a complex simulation model for multicylinder, common rail diesel engines developed on a SIMULINK platform. The model consists of the main modules simulating the processes in the ...

Sasol isomerized paraffinic kerosene (IPK) is a coal-derived synthetic fuel under consideration as a blending stock with JP-8 for use in military ground vehicles. Since Sasol IPK is a low ignition quality fuel with derived cetane number (DCN) of 31, there is a need to improve its ignition quality. This paper investigates the effect of adding different amounts of Lubrizol 8090 cetane improver to Sasol IPK on increasing its DCN. The experimental investigation was conducted in a single cylinder research type diesel engine. The engine is equipped with a common rail injection system and an open engine control unit. Experiments covered different injection pressures and intake air temperatures. Analysis of test results was made to determine the effect of cetane improver percentage in the coal-derived Sasol IPK blend on auto-ignition, combustion and emissions of carbon monoxide (CO), total unburned hydrocarbon (HC), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), and particulate matter (PM). In addition, the effect of cetane improver on the apparent activation energy of the global auto-ignition reactions was determined.

A one-dimensional elstohydrodynamic mixed lubrication wear and friction model is developed. The model can predict the effects of surface roughness, asperity contact, temperature-pressure-viscosity on wear, lubrication, and friction of the piston rings and cylinder liner. Wear is predicted based on the surface asperity contact pressure. The cylinder bore wear and the ring pack friction during an engine break-in are simulated and compared with the experimental results. The influence of cylinder wall temperature and surface roughness on friction and wear is investigated. The ring pack friction due to oil viscous shearing and asperity contact is found to reach its minimum at a certain oil temperature.

The (P–ω) method is a model-based approach developed for determining the instantaneous friction torque in internal combustion engines. This scheme requires measurements of the cylinder gas pressure, the engine load torque, the crankshaft angular displacement and its time derivatives. The effects of the higher order dynamics of the crank-slider mechanism on the measured angular motion of the crankshaft have caused the (P–ω) method to yield erroneous results, especially, at high engine speeds. To alleviate this problem, a nonlinear sliding mode observer has been developed herein to accurately estimate the rigid and flexible motions of the piston-assembly/connecting-rod/crankshaft mechanism of a single cylinder engine. The observer has been designed to yield a robust performance in the presence of disturbances and modeling imprecision. The digital simulation results, generated under transient conditions representing a decrease in the engine speed, have illustrated the rapid convergence of the estimated state variables to the actual ones in the presence of both structured and unstructured uncertainties. Moreover, this study has proven that the use of the estimated rather than the measured angular displacement of the crankshaft and its time derivatives can significantly improve the accuracy of the (P–ω) method in determining the instantaneous engine friction torque.

The focus of the study described herein is the characterization of the high-pressure hydraulic electronic unit injector (HEUI) and of the electronic unit injector (EUI) diesel injection systems. The characterization items include injection pressure, injection rate, injector response time, needle lift, start up injection transient, and dynamic discharge coefficient of the nozzles. Macroscopic and microscopic spray visualizations were also performed. The effects of injection conditions and nozzle configurations on injection characteristics were reviewed. Nozzle sac pressure was measured to correlate with the up-stream injection pressure. A LabVIEW data acquisition and controls system was implemented to operate the injection systems and to acquire and analyze data. For an HEUI system, based on the results of the study, it can be concluded that common-rail pressure and length of the injection rate-shaping pipe determine the injection pressure, while the pressure rising rate and injection duration determine the peak injection pressure; it was also found that the nozzle flow area, common-rail pressure, and the length of the rate-shaping pipe are the dominating parameters that control the injection rate, and the rate shape is affected mainly by common-rail pressure, especially the pressure rising rate and length of the rate-shaping pipe. Both injection pressure and ambient pressure affected the spray tip penetration significantly. The penetration increased corresponding to the increase of injection pressure or decrease of ambient pressure. The variation of spray penetration depends on the type of injection system, nozzle configuration, and ambient pressure. The large penetration variation observed on the HEUI sprays could be caused by eccentricity of the VCO (valve-covered-orifices) nozzle. The variation of the mini-sac nozzle was 50% less than that of the VCO nozzle. The near-field spray behavior was shown to be highly transient and strongly depended on injector design, nozzle configuration, needle lift and oscillation, and injection pressure.

Surface texture of an engine cylinder liner at the top-ring reversal point was observed by using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and optical microscopy. Experiments were conducted on a single-cylinder spark ignition engine over the engine break-in period. The surface texture of the cylinder liner was observed before and after the break-in test. The changes of surface texture and the wear mechanisms during the engine break-in were analyzed. The primary wear mechanisms were found to be abrasion and plastic deformation. Presented at the 57th Annual Meeting Houston, Texas May 19–23, 2002

Sasol IPK is a coal-derived synthetic fuel under consideration as a blending stock with JP-8 for use in military ground vehicles. Since Sasol IPK is a low ignition quality fuel with Derived Cetane Number (DCN) of 31, there is a need to improve its ignition quality. This paper investigates the effect of adding different amounts of Lubrizol 8090 cetane improver to Sasol IPK on increasing its DCN. The experimental investigation was conducted in a single-cylinder research type diesel engine. The engine is equipped with a common rail injection system and an open Engine Control Unit (ECU). Experiments covered different injection pressures and intake air temperatures. Analysis of test results was made to determine the effect of cetane improver percentage in the coal-derived Sasol IPK blend on autoignition, combustion and emissions of carbon monoxide (CO), total unburned hydrocarbon (HC), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), and particulate matter (PM). In addition, the effect of cetane improver on the apparent activation energy of the global autoignition reactions was determined.Copyright © 2014 by ASME

The auto-ignition process plays a major role in the combustion, performance, fuel economy, and emission in diesel engines. The auto-ignition quality of different fuels has been rated by its cetane number (CN) determined in the cooperative fuel research engine, according to ASTM D613. More recently, the ignition quality tester (IQT), a constant volume vessel, has been used to determine the derived cetane number (DCN) to avoid the elaborate, time consuming, and costly engine tests, according to ASTM D6890. The ignition delay (ID) period in these two standard tests and many investigations has been considered to be the time period between start of injection (SOI) and start of combustion (SOC). The ID values determined in different investigations can vary due to differences in instrumentation and definitions. This paper examines the different definitions and the parameters that effect ID period. In addition, the activation energy dependence on the ID definition is investigated. Furthermore, results of an experimental investigation in a single-cylinder research diesel engine will be presented, while the charge density is kept constant during the ID period. The global activation energy is determined and its sensitivity to the charge temperature is examined.

With the increasingly stringent emissions and fuel economy standards, there is a need to develop new advanced in-cylinder sensing techniques to optimize the operation of the internal combustion engine. In addition, reducing the number of on-board sensors needed for proper engine monitoring over the lifetime of the vehicle would reduce the cost and complexity of the electronic system. This paper presents a new technique to enable one engine component, the fuel injector, to perform multiple sensing tasks in addition to its primary task of delivering the fuel into the cylinder. The injector is instrumented within an electric circuit to produce a signal indicative of some injection and combustion parameters in electronically controlled spark ignition direct injection (SIDI) engines. The output of the multisensing fuel injector (MSFI) system can be used as a feedback signal to the engine control unit (ECU) for injection timing control and diagnosis of the injection and combustion processes. A comparison between sensing capabilities of the multisensing fuel injector and the spark plug-ion sensor under different engine operating conditions is also included in this study. In addition, the combined use of the ion current signals produced by the MSFI and the spark plug for combustion sensing and control is demonstrated.

This paper investigates the effect of a cetane improver on the autoignition characteristics of Sasol IPK in the combustion chamber of the Ignition Quality Tester (IQT). The fuel tested was Sasol IPK with a Derived Cetane Number (DCN) of 31, treated with different percentages of Lubrizol 8090 cetane improver ranging from 0.1% to 0.4%. Tests were conducted under steady state conditions at a constant charging pressure of 21 bar. The charge air temperature before fuel injection varied from 778 to 848 K. Accordingly, all the tests were conducted under a constant charge density. The rate of heat release was calculated and analyzed in details, particularly during the autoignition period.In addition, the physical and chemical delay periods were determined by comparing the results of two tests. The first was conducted with fuel injection into air according to ASTM standards where combustion occurred. In the second test, the fuel was injected into the chamber charged with nitrogen. The physical delay is defined as the period of time from start of injection (SOI) to point of inflection (POI), and the chemical delay is defined as the period of time from POI to start of combustion (SOC). Both the physical and chemical delay periods were determined under different charge temperatures. The cetane improver was found to have an effect only on the chemical ID period. In addition, the effect of the cetane improver on the apparent activation energy of the global combustion reactions was determined. The results showed a linear drop in the apparent activation energy with the increase in the percentage of the cetane improver. Moreover, the low temperature (LT) regimes were investigated and found to be presented in base fuel, as well as cetane improver treated fuels.Copyright © 2013 by ASME

The speed variation of the crankshaft may be easily and accurately measured using a shaft encoder and counting the pulses of the internal clock of the data acquisition system. If the crankshaft would be a rigid body, the variation of its angular speed could be directly correlated to the total gas-pressure torque. Actually, the variation of the crankshaft’s speed has a complex nature being influenced by the torsional stiffness of the cranks, the mass moments of inertia of the reciprocating masses and the average speed and load of the engine. Analyzing only the lower harmonic orders of the speed variation spectrum can filter out the distortions produced by the dynamic response of the crankshaft. The information carried by these harmonic orders permits to establish correlations between measurements and the average gas pressure torque of the engine, and to detect malfunctions and identify faulty cylinders.

The focus of this study is to investigate the effects of filtering the actual angular displacement, velocity and acceleration of the crankshaft on the computation of the instantaneous engine friction torque. These effects are isolated from those of measurement errors and/or noise by relying on a detailed model of the crank-slider mechanism to generate the rigid and flexible motions of the piston/connecting-rod/crankshaft mechanism along with the engine friction torque. The (P−ω) method is used herein to estimate the instantaneous engine friction torque based on the actual and the filtered angular displacement, velocity and acceleration of the crankshaft. The digital simulation results have demonstrated that the (P−ω) method cannot produce an acceptable estimation of the instantaneous engine friction torque in spite of filtering the actual angular motion of the crankshaft. It should be mentioned that the low-pass filter is commonly implemented to attenuate the measurement noise and the effects of structural deformations on the measured angular velocity of the crankshaft. However, the ineffectiveness of the low-pass filter stems from the non-linearities of the crank-slider mechanism that induced superharmonic and combination resonance frequencies in the angular displacement, velocity and acceleration of the crankshaft. The filter has severely attenuated some of the superharmonic resonance frequencies, which constitute an important part of the rigid-body behavior of the crankshaft that is needed by the (P−ω) method to accurately predict the engine friction torque. Moreover, the filtered signals would still be contaminated by the combination resonance frequencies that may appear in the low-frequency range commonly assumed to be dominated by the frequency components of the rigid-body motion of the crankshaft.

A nonlinear dynamic model is developed in this study to simulate the overall performance of a naturally aspirated, single cylinder, four-stroke, direct injection diesel engine under cold start and fully warmed-up conditions. The model considers the filling and emptying processes of the cylinder, blowby, intake, and exhaust manifolds. A single zone combustion model is implemented and the heat transfer in the cylinder, intake, and exhaust manifolds are accounted for. Moreover, the derivations include the dynamics of the crank-slider mechanism and employ an empirical model to estimate the instantaneous frictional losses in different engine components. The formulation is coded in modular form whereby each module, which represents a single process in the engine, is introduced as a single block in an overall Simulink engine model. The numerical accuracy of the Simulink model is verified by comparing its results to those generated by integrating the engine formulation using IMSL stiff integration routines. The engine model is validated by the close match between the predicted and measured cylinder gas pressure and engine instantaneous speed under motoring, steady-state, and transient cold start operating conditions.

An analysis is made of the sources of the high engine-out hydrocarbon (HC) emissions during cold starting of port-injected gasoline engines. A cycle-by-cycle analysis of the different parameters, which affect engine-out HC emissions, is made during the startup process. The contribution of each cylinder of a four-stroke V6, 3.3 l production engine in the total HC emissions is investigated. The HC emissions were measured in the exhaust port using a fast response flame ionization detector (FID). The effect of the initial startup position of the piston and valves in the cycle on combustion and HC emissions is examined. The mass of fuel injected, burned and emitted was calculated for each of the first 120 cycles. Different approaches to reduce engine-out and tailpipe HC emissions during cold-start are discussed.

A continuous model is developed to predict the rigid and flexible motions of the piston assembly/connecting rod/crankshaft mechanism for a single cylinder engine. The model accounts for the torsional vibration and the out-of-plane transverse deformation of the crankshaft along with the out-of-plane transverse deformation of the connecting rod. The eigenvalue problem of the crankshaft, including the counterweights, the flywheel, and the crank gear, is solved to obtain the analytical expressions for the elastic modes of the crankshaft. The resulting mode shapes are then used in the assumed modes method to approximate the structural flexibility terms. The differential-algebraic equations of motion are obtained by implementing the Lagrange principle. The digital simulation results illustrate the role played by the topological nonlinearities inherent in the system and reveal the relationships with which the rigid and flexible motions of the crank-slider mechanism would interact.

An in situ wear probe was developed to measure the rate of cylinder liner wear and its roughness at the top ring reversal point where severe wear can occur. The wear probe can be removed from the cylinder block and replaced without the need for engine disassembly. The wear probe is scanned at a laser stylus surface measuring station where its topography and wear are analyzed. The engine used is a single-cylinder, air-cooled gasoline engine. A sample of the surface properties and analysis is given. Experimental data are given for the wear rate and different roughness parameters and their variation over the first few hours of the break-in period. Presented at the 51st Annual Meeting in Cincinnati, Ohio May 19–23, 1996

Cylinder liner wear and surface roughness were measured at the topping reversal point of a single-cylinder, air-cooled, spark-ignition (gasoline) engine during break-in. In addition, the instantaneous factional torque of the engine was determined and correlated with the wear rate and surface roughness during this period. The engine friction, liner surface roughness and wear had their highest values at the beginning of the break-in period. The wear rate dropped sharply during the first hour, after which it maintained a steady lower rate. The surface roughness and friction took longer than the wear rate to stabilize. Friction was found to change in three modes. The first mode took one hour and was characterized by a sharp drop in wear rate and a small drop in friction. The second mode was a transition to the third mode, and took about 2.5 hours. The third mode lasted about 20 hours and was characterized by a drop in both surface roughness and friction. The wear rate did not change much during this mode. Aft...

A new approach is developed to determine piston-ring assembly lubrication regimes from the instantaneous frictional torque measured for the whole engine. This is based on the variation of the friction coefficient with the duty parameter in the Stribeck diagram over the mixed and hydrodynamic lubrication regimes. The derived equation determines the lubrication regimes from the slope of the line in the Stribeck diagram. A single cylinder spark ignition engine was instrumented to determine the total instantaneous frictional torque of the engine. Experiments were conducted under different loads at a constant speed. Results show that the regime is mixed lubrication near the top dead center (TDC) and shifts to the hydrodynamic lubrication regime as the piston moves away from TDC. The extent of the mixed lubrication regime depends on engine load and speed.

Injection rate shaping is a method used to control the instantaneous mass flow rate of the fuel during an injection event. The rate at which the fuel is delivered affects the composition of the combustible mixture and its distribution in the combustion chamber, thereby has an impact on the combustion process in the diesel engine. This paper investigates the effects of five different types of injection rate shapes on diesel engine autoignition, combustion, and engine-out emission trends using a three-dimensional computational simulation approach. For this purpose, an n-heptane fuel model is utilized. Initially, a tophat rate-shape, characterized by the constant mass flow rate of the fuel, is assumed to represent the actual injection profile of an actual engine. Then, in order to develop sufficient confidence in the simulation predictions, this assumption together with the calibrated CFD models are validated by reproducing the cylinder gas pressure, the rate of heat release, and engine-out emissions trends for two sets of engine operating conditions. Later, using all the rate shapes the investigation is conducted for one test point considering two different cases of fuel injection: Case 1 - same SOI and duration of injection (DOI), and Case 2 - same combustion phasing and DOI. The results obtained from the computational analysis show that the injection rate shape affects the autoignition, combustion, and emissions of a diesel engine. It is observed that the rate shapes, characterized by high injection rates at the beginning of the injection event, enhance the formation of negative temperature coefficient (NTC) regime. Therefore, the mole fractions of different species are determined during the NTC regime in order to examine the processes relevant to the formation of the NTC regimes for these rate shapes. Further, for the same SOI and DOI case, significant differences in the ignition delays between each rate shapes are observed. The maximum deviation of the ignition delay from the reference tophat is found to be 37%. Furthermore, the paper highlights the differences in the cylinder gas pressure, gas temperature, and rate of heat release due to different fuel delivery rates of different rate shapes. Finally, the comparison of the engine-out emissions for different rate shapes for both the cases of injection are presented and discussed in detail.

This paper investigates the physical and chemical ignition delay (ID) periods in the constant volume combustion chamber of the Ignition Quality Tester (IQT). IQT was used to determine the derived cetane number (DCN) according to ASTM D6890-10a standards. The fuels tested were ultra low sulfur diesel (ULSD), jet propellant-8 (JP-8), and two synthetic fuels of Sasol IPK and F-T SPK (S-8). A comparison was made between the DCN and cetane number (CN) determined according to ASTM-D613 standards. Tests were conducted under steady state conditions at a constant pressure of 21 bars and various air temperatures ranging from 778 K to 848 K. The rate of heat release (RHR) was calculated from the measured pressure trace, and a detailed analysis of the RHR trace was made particularly for the auto-ignition process. Tests were conducted to determine the physical and chemical delay periods by comparing results obtained from two tests. In the first test, the fuel was injected into air according to ASTM standards. In the second test, the fuel was injected into nitrogen. The point at which the two resultant pressure traces separated was considered to be the end of the physical delay period. The effects of the charge temperature on the total ID as defined in ASTM D6890-10a standards, as well as on the physical and chemical delays, were determined. It was noticed that the physical delay represented a significant part of the total ID over all the air temperatures covered in this investigation. Arrhenius plots were developed to determine the apparent activation energy for each fuel using different IDs. The first was based on the total ID measured according to ASTM standards. The second was the chemical delay determined in this investigation. The activation energy calculated from the total ID showed higher values for lower CN fuels except Sasol IPK. The activation energy calculated from the chemical delay period showed consistency in the increase of the activation energy with the drop in CN including Sasol IPK. The difference between the two findings could be explained by examining the sensitivity of the physical delay period of different fuels to the change in air temperature.

Cold starting of diesel engines is characterized by inherent problems such as long cranking periods and combustion instability leading to an increase in fuel consumption and the emission of high concentrations of hydrocarbons which appear as white smoke. The ion current signal has been considered for the feedback control of both gasoline and diesel engines. However, the ion current signal produced from the combustion of the heterogeneous charge in diesel engines is weaker compared to that produced from the combustion of the homogeneous charge in gasoline engines. This presents a problem in the detection of the ion current signal in diesel engines, particularly during starting and idling operations. This paper investigates and addresses the ion current detection problems pertaining to cold starting and various idling speeds. Also, different approaches have been investigated to improve the signal detection under these conditions.

Diesel engines have to meet stringent emissions standards without penalties in performance and fuel economy. This necessitated the use of elaborate after treatment devices to reduce the tail pipe emissions. In order to decrease the demand on the after treatment devices, there is a need to reduce the emissions in the formation stage during combustion. This requires a precise control of the phasing of the combustion process. Currently, diesel engines are controlled by pre-set open loop schedules that require extensive, time consuming and costly laboratory tests and calibration tasks to meet the production target goals which are stricter than the emission standards. Such goals are set as a safe guard against the deterioration during engine life cycle. This paper presents an incremental fuzzy logic controller that adjusts the combustion phasing as per desired targets to meet production goals over the engine life period. An ion current/ glow plug sensor and its circuit are used to produce a signal indicative of different combustion parameters. Signal conditioning and filtering are applied to improve the quality of ion current. The algorithm developed in this paper optimizes the ion current feed back to increase its reliability for stable engine control while maintaining fast controller response, and high accuracy. Experiments are carried out on a four cylinder, turbo-charged, 4.5L heavy duty diesel engine equipped with a common rail injection system and an open ECU. The response of the controller is evaluated from experimental data obtained by running the engine under different steady, and transient operating conditions. The results demonstrate the ability of the closed-loop control system in achieving the desired combustion phasing.