Hydrogen-Enhanced Gasoline Stratified Combustion in SI-DI Engines

ABSTRACT Experimental investigations were carried out to assess the use of hydrogen in a Gasoline Direct Injection (GDI) engine. Injection of small amounts of hydrogen (up to 27% on energy basis) in the intake port creates a reactive homogeneous background for the direct injection of gasoline in the cylinder. In this way, it is possible to operate the engine with high EGR rates and, in certain conditions, to delay the ignition timing as compared to standard GDI operation, in order to reduce NOx and HC emissions to very low levels and possibly soot emissions. The results confirmed that high EGR rates can be achieved and NOx and HC emissions reduced, showed significant advantage in terms of combustion efficiency and gave unexpected results relative to the delaying of ignition, which only partly confirmed the expected behavior. A realistic application would make use of hydrogen-containing reformer gas produced on board the vehicle, but safety restrictions did not allow using carbon monoxide in the test facility. Thus pure hydrogen was used for a best-case investigation. The expected difference in the use of the two gases is briefly discussed

Impact of a split injection strategy on mixing, ignition and combustion behavior in Premixed Charge Compression Ignition combustion

Mixing, ignition and combustion behavior in a rapid compression and expansion machine operated under Premixed Charge Compression Ignition (PCCI) relevant conditions are investigated by combined passive optical and laser-optical high-speed diagnostics. The PCCI concept is realized using a split injection schedule consisting of a long base load injection and two closely separated short injections near top dead center. Previous studies of close-coupled double injections under constant ambient conditions showed an increased penetration rate of the subsequent fuel spray. However, the aerodynamic gain from the preceding injection is counteracted by the density rise during the compression stroke under transient engine conditions. The study confirms that the rate of mixing of the subsequent fuel spray is significantly increased. Regarding combustion behavior, the thermodynamic analysis exhibits contributions of low temperature oxidation reactions of more than 20 % to the total heat release, with a notable amount of unburnt fuel mass varying from 25 to 61 %. The analysis of the optical data reveals the multi-dimensional impact of changes in operating parameters on the local mixture field and ignition dynamics. The onset of low temperature reactivity of the first short injection is found to be dominated by the operating strategy, while the location is strongly related to the local mixing state. Low temperature ignition of the consecutive fuel spray is significantly promoted, when upstream low temperature reactivity of the preceding injection is sustained. Likewise, it is shown that high temperature ignition is accelerated by the entrainment of persistent upstream low temperature reactivity

Transferability of Insights from Fundamental Investigations into Practical Applications of Prechamber Combustion Systems

Efforts to reduce CO2 emissions from spark ignition engines have driven engine development to lean-burn or high-dilution operation, which results in high combustion variability as well as increased unburned hydrocarbon emissions. A widely used technology to reduce these issues are prechamber ignition systems, in which the external ignition source is located in a separate small volume, connected to the main chamber via small orifices. This setup allows for design of favourable ignition conditions near the ignition source, which results in fast and repeatable early flame propagation. The pressure increase resulting from combustion taking place inside the prechamber leads to the ejection of jets containing hot combustion products and possibly active radicals into the main chamber, which ignite the lean or diluted mixture; this process is often dubbed turbulent jet ignition or TJI. The use of TJI systems in engines allows the combustion of very lean/diluted mixtures, resulting in higher efficiencies and lower NOx emissions. In this work we shed light into the importance of quenching for practical applications involving turbulent jet ignition. This is achieved through optical investigations in a generic, constant volume test-rig, combined with zero-dimensional (0-D) model calculations. The 0-D model is applied to the generic setup and in real engine applications under varying operating conditions, in order to highlight the relative importance of quenching under the various thermochemical conditions encountered. The results indicate that thermal quenching in the nozzle should not be expected due to the small flame thickness under high pressure encountered in internal combustion engines. Nevertheless, under the jet mixing conditions expected in engines, hydrodynamic quenching due to mixing of burned products with unburned (cold) main chamber mixture can be expected. In most engine conditions, the re-ignition process of the initially quenched jet after their exit from the prechamber is expected to be so fast, that quenching will not be apparent in most measurements

Experiments and Simulations of n -Heptane Spray Auto-Ignition in a Closed Combustion Chamber at Diesel Engine Conditions

Auto-igniting n-heptane sprays have been studied experimentally in a high pressure, high temperature constant volume combustion chamber with optical access. Ignition delay and the total pressure increase due to combustion are highly repeatable whereas the ignition location shows substantial fluctuations. Simulations have subsequently been performed by means of a first-order fully elliptic Conditional Moment Closure (CMC) code. Overall, the simulations are in good agreement with the experiment in terms of spray evolution, ignition delay and the pressure development. The sensitivity of the predictions with respect to the measured initial conditions, the spray modelling options as well as the chemical mechanism employed have been analysed. Strong sensitivity on the chemical mechanism and to the initial temperature on the predicted ignition delay is reported. The primary atomisation model did not affect strongly the predicted auto-ignition time, but a strong influence was found on the ignition location predictio

Entropic Lattice Boltzmann Simulation of the Flow Past Square Cylinder

Minimal Boltzmann kinetic models, such as lattice Boltzmann, are often used as an alternative to the discretization of the Navier-Stokes equations for hydrodynamic simulations. Recently, it was argued that modeling sub-grid scale phenomena at the kinetic level might provide an efficient tool for large scale simulations. Indeed, a particular variant of this approach, known as the entropic lattice Boltzmann method (ELBM), has shown that an efficient coarse-grained simulation of decaying turbulence is possible using these approaches. The present work investigates the efficiency of the entropic lattice Boltzmann in describing flows of engineering interest. In order to do so, we have chosen the flow past a square cylinder, which is a simple model of such flows. We will show that ELBM can quantitatively capture the variation of vortex shedding frequency as a function of Reynolds number in the low as well as the high Reynolds number regime, without any need for explicit sub-grid scale modeling. This extends the previous studies for this set-up, where experimental behavior ranging from $Re\sim O(10)$ to $Re\leq 1000$ were predicted by a single simulation algorithm.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Int. J. Mod. Phys.

Optical Investigation of Sooting Propensity of n-Dodecane Pilot/Lean-Premixed Methane Dual-Fuel Combustion in a Rapid Compression-Expansion Machine

International audienceThe sooting propensity of dual-fuel combustion with n-dodecane pilot injection in a lean-premixed methane-air charge has been investigated using an optically accessible Rapid Compression-Expansion Machine to achieve engine relevant pressure and temperature conditions at start of pilot injection. A Diesel injector with a 100 µm single-hole coaxial nozzle, mounted at the cylinder periphery, has been employed to admit the pilot fuel. The aim of this study was to enhance the fundamental understanding of soot formation and oxidation processes of n-dodecane in presence of methane in the air charge by parametric variation of methane equivalence ratio, charge temperature and pilot fuel injection duration. The influence of methane on ignition delay and flame extent of the pilot fuel jet has been determined by simultaneous OH* chemiluminescence and Schlieren imaging. The sooting behavior of the flame has been characterized using the 2D-DBI imaging methodology. The apparent soot black-body temperature has been measured 1D-resolved along the injector axis by applying an imaging spectrograph. Addition of methane into the air charge considerably prolongs the ignition delay with an increasing effect under less reactive conditions and with higher methane equivalence ratios. Therefore, the influence of methane on the formation of soot is twofold: in case of short pilot injection, the presence of methane was found to decrease the soot formation due to the leaner pilot fuel mixture at time of ignition. For longer pilot fuel injections, methane enhances the soot production by decreasing oxygen availability and introducing additional carbon. In all cases, methane strongly defers the oxidation of soot due to the lower availability of oxygen

Relaxation Redistribution Method for model reduction

The Relaxation Redistribution Method (RRM) is based on the notion of slow invariant manifold (SIM) and is applied for constructing a simplified model of detailed multiscale combustion phenomena. The RRM procedure can be regarded as an efficient and stable scheme for solving the film equation of dynamics, where a discrete set of points is gradually relaxed towards the slow invariant manifold (SIM). Here, the global realization of the RRM algorithm is briefly reviewed and used for auto-ignition and adiabatic premixed laminar flame of a homogeneous hydrogen-air ideal gas mixture

The global relaxation redistribution method for reduction of combustion kinetics

An algorithm based on the Relaxation Redistribution Method (RRM) is proposed for constructing the Slow Invariant Manifold (SIM) of a chosen dimension to cover a large fraction of the admissible composition space that includes the equilibrium and the initial state. The manifold boundaries are determined with the help of the Rate Controlled Constrained Equilibrium (RCCE) method, which also provides the initial guess for the SIM. The latter is iteratively refined until convergence and the converged manifold is tabulated. A criterion based on the departure from invariance is proposed to find the region over which the reduced description is valid. The global realization of the RRM algorithm is applied to constant pressure auto-ignition and adiabatic premixed laminar flames of hydrogen-air mixture

Schweizer Energiesystem 2050 : Wege zu netto null CO2 und Versorgungssicherheit

Eine sichere Energieversorgung in der Schweiz mit netto null Treibhausgasemissionen 2050 ist mit einem koordinierten Vorgehen über alle Energiesektoren realisierbar. Basis dafür sind ein starker Ausbau der erneuerbaren Stromproduktion im Inland und der Import synthetischer Brenn- und Treibstoffe. Eine vollständige Energieautarkie ist kaum möglich und wenn überhaupt nur mit sehr hohen Kosten

Decarbonisation of transport: options and challenges

This EASAC report reviews options for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from European transport. It argues for stronger policies to bridge the gap between the GHG emission reductions that will be delivered by current policies and the levels needed to limit global warming to less than 2°C or even 1.5°C (Paris Agreement). The report focusses on road transport because, in the EU, this contributes 72% of transport GHG emissions. EASAC recommends a combination of transitional measures for the next 10-15 years and sustainable measures for the long term, based on a three level policy framework: avoid and contain demand for transport services; shift passengers and freight to transport modes with lower emissions (trains, buses and ships); and improve performance through vehicle design, more efficient powertrains and replacing fossil fuels with sustainable energy carriers including low-carbon electricity, hydrogen and synthetic fuels. Opportunities for the EU to strengthen its industrial competitiveness and create high quality jobs are also discussed