Effect of jet fuel aromatics on in-flame soot distribution and particle morphology in a small-bore compression ignition engine

This study reports the effect of fuel aromatic content on soot particle development inside the cylinder of an optically accessible engine. A custom-made set of fuels of 4%, 14% and 24% aromatic content was carefully studied under pilot-main injection conditions. Time-resolved imaging of cool frame, OH* chemiluminescence signals and soot luminosity were performed to visualise the overall reaction development. Planar laser induced fluorescence imaging of HCHO and incandescence imaging of soot were also performed to obtain detailed understanding of reactions and soot distributions. Soot is analysed at a particle level. Using the thermophoresis-based particle sampling method, soot aggregates were collected from multiple in-bowl locations. The subsequent transmission electron microscope (TEM) imaging of the collected soot particles enables structural analysis of soot particles as well as sub-nano-scale carbon layers. The results showed that the aromatic content has little impact on reactions and flame development among the tested fuels. However, the soot formation starts to occur earlier, and its growth rate is much higher for a higher aromatic fuel. As a result, both the peak soot and remaining soot is measured higher for a higher aromatic fuel. The carbon-layer fringe analysis shows more mature, graphitised structures with higher aromatics at both formation-dominant and oxidation-dominant stages. The most noticeable trend is observed from larger soot aggregates for a higher aromatic fuel while the overall shapes are similar

Understanding the soot reduction associated with injection timing variation in a small-bore diesel engine

This study shows the in-cylinder soot reduction mechanism associated with injection timing variation in a small-bore optical diesel engine. For the three selected injection timings, three optical-/laser-based imaging diagnostics were performed to show the development of high-temperature reaction and soot within the cylinder, which include OH* chemiluminescence, planar laser–induced fluorescence of hydroxyl and planar laser–induced incandescence. In addition, detailed soot morphology analysis was conducted using thermophoresis-based soot particle sampling from two locations within the piston bowl, and the subsequent analysis of transmission electron microscope (TEM) images of the sampled soot aggregates was also conducted. The results suggest that when fuel injection timing is varied, ambient gas temperature makes a predominant effect on soot formation and oxidation. This is primarily combustion phasing effect as the advanced fuel injection moved the start of combustion closer to the top dead centre, and therefore, soot formation and oxidation occurred at elevated ambient gas temperature. There was an overall development pattern of in-cylinder soot consistently found for three injection timings of this study. The planar laser–induced incandescence images showed that a few small soot pockets first appear around the jet axis, which promptly grow into large soot regions behind the head of the flame marked planar laser–induced fluorescence of hydroxyl. The soot signals disappear due to significant oxidation induced by surrounding OH radicals. When the injection timing is advanced, the soot formation becomes higher as indicated by higher total laser–induced incandescence coverage, increased sampled particle counts and larger and more stretched soot aggregate structures. However, soot oxidation is also enhanced under this elevated ambient temperature environment. At the most advanced injection timing of this study, the enhanced soot oxidation outperformed the increased soot formation with both peak laser–induced incandescence signal coverage and late-cycle coverage showing lower values than those of more retarded injection timings

Low- to High-Temperature Reaction Transition in a Small-Bore Optical Gasoline Compression Ignition (GCI) Engine

This study shows the development of low-temperature and high-temperature reactions in a gasoline-fuelled compression ignition (GCI) engine realizing partially premixed combustion for high efficiency and low emissions. The focus is how the ignition occurs during the low- to high-temperature reaction transition and how it varies due to single- and double-injection strategies. In an optically accessible, single-cylinder small-bore diesel engine equipped with a common-rail fuel injection system, planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) imaging of formaldehyde (HCHO-PLIF), hydroxyl (OH-PLIF), and fuel (fuel-PLIF) has been performed. This was complemented with high-speed imaging of combustion luminosity and chemiluminescence imaging of cool flame and OH*. The diagnostics were performed for two different fuels including conventional diesel as a reference case and then a kerosene-based jet fuel which is a low-ignition quality fuel with cetane number of 30, firstly with single near top dead center (TDC) injection and then a double-injection strategy implementing very early injection and late injection in the same engine. For diesel combustion, it is shown that the cool-flame and HCHO signals appear from the jet axis before spreading downstream towards the bowl wall. The OH radicals present in the high-temperature reaction zones also show a similar development pattern with distinctive reaction zones forming from the jet axis and then near the bowl wall for each nozzle hole. When the reactions occur near the bowl wall, the HCHO and OH radicals coexist. Later, the high-reaction zones merge with each other due to jet-wall and jet-jet interactions. In comparison, the single-injection GCI combustion shows HCHO signals appearing from the bowl-wall region due to extended ignition delay. The OH radicals develop out of this HCHO region and show a more sequential development pattern than diesel combustion. The single-injection GCI also involves multiple ignition kernels that progressively merge to form larger reaction zones. The double-injection GCI combustion has higher charge premixing than the other cases, and due to very early first injection, the mixture homogeneity is also much higher. This is evidenced by a higher consumption rate of HCHO and faster development of OH across the entire reaction zones, indicating faster low- to high-temperature reaction transition. These fundamental findings explain why GCI combustion generates less soot and NO than diesel combustion as well as how double-injection GCI combustion achieves better low-load stability than the single-injection

Morphology and internal structure of soot particles under the influence of jet–swirl and jet–jet interactions in a diesel combustion environment

A new multi-location soot sampling method is used to enhance the knowledge about the structural evolution of in-flame particles in a light-duty optical diesel engine. Through thermophoresis-based particle sampling performed at multiple in-bowl locations, the soot structures are shown for both early formation stage and later stage from the same combustion event. Three different jet-spacing angles of 45°, 90° and 180° were studied to analyse how different levels of jet–jet interaction impact the soot particle morphology and internal structure. One selected jet–jet interaction condition was further analysed to show differences in soot structures between the up-swirl side and down-swirl side of the wall jets. From transmission electron microscopes (TEM) images of the sampled soot particles and their statistical size analysis, it was found soot particles initially formed within 45∘ separated jet–jet interaction region have un-solidified premature aggregates due to limited carbonisation in the locally fuel-rich mixtures. When these soot particles travelled on the down-swirl side of the jets, they became solidified and carbonised while the oxidation was evident from the smaller soot primary particle and longer carbon-layer fringe and lower tortuosity. The higher mixing on the up-swirl side of the jets further enhanced the soot oxidation, resulting in even smaller soot primary particle, fragmentation of large soot aggregates, and even longer and less curved carbon-layer fringes. Regarding jet–jet interaction, the 180° jet spacing angle created no jet–jet interaction condition on the soot sampler locations. For smaller jet-spacing angles, the increase in jet–jet interaction promoted the soot formation as evidenced by larger and more complex soot aggregates formed due to more active soot aggregation and agglomeration. The soot oxidation became limited at higher jet–jet interaction conditions, which led to more amorphous soot internal structures

Liquid spray penetration measurements using high-speed backlight illumination imaging in a small-bore compression ignition engine

The present study optically measures the liquid spray penetration using high-speed backlight illumination imaging in a running small-bore compression-ignition engine. This imaging technique utilizes high-power LED as a light source that is reflected on the flat cylinder head surface except the vaporizing spray region. The boundary detection of this dark region is performed to calculate the spray tip penetration. The liquid spray development was visualized for 3 custom-made fuels exhibiting identical physical properties except the cetane number (CN30, CN40, and CN50) and a range of the distillation curves. Because the applicable injection timing range is more advanced for a lower cetane number fuel and vice versa, it provides an ample opportunity to discuss the effects of varying ambient gas temperature/density on the spray. For all tested conditions, the high-speed backlight illumination imaging was repeated for 30 injections. The results showed similar initial increase of the spray penetration for all tested injection timings and fuels due to the strong injection momentum. However, the later spray penetration showed a measurable variation with the maximum penetration becoming longer for both earlier and later injections off from TDC. The trends indicate increased spray penetration due to decreased mixing-limited vaporization at lower ambient gas temperature/density conditions. This was further supported by longer tip penetration for a fuel with higher distillation temperatures. The trends were successfully predicted using a transient jet mixing model employing discrete control volumes, suggesting indeed mixing-limited vaporization governs the liquid spray penetration in a small-bore engine

11th Asia-Pacific Conference on Combustion, ASPACC 2017

Although swirling flow is known to enhance fuel-air mixing in diesel engines and thereby reducing the engine-out soot emissions, its influence on in-cylinder soot formation is poorly understood. The present study provides a direct comparison of soot particle structures between the wall-jet heads developing on up- and down-swirl sides via the thermophoresis-based soot particles sampling inside the piston bowl of a small-bore diesel engine. The sampled soot particles are imaged using a transmission electron microscope and post-processed to obtain the size of soot primary particles and aggregates as well as the fractal dimension. The TEM images show more significant reduction in soot concentration for the wall-jet head developing from the flame-wall impingement region in the up-swirl direction. The statistical analysis also shows that the increased size of soot aggregates and primary particles as well as the decreased fractal dimension are more apparent on the up-swirl side as the wall-jet travels against the swirl flow

Effect of the jet fuel cetane number on combustion in a small-bore compression-ignition engine

Three custom-made jet fuels with cetane numbers 30, 40 and 51 are investigated in an optically accessible small-bore compression-ignition engine. The low-temperature and high-temperature reactions are visualised using planar laser-induced fluorescence imaging of formaldehyde (HCHO-PLIF) and hydroxyl radicals (OH-PLIF) and is complemented with high-speed, line-of-sight integrated signal imaging of cool-flame and OH* chemiluminescence. For soot measurements, planar laser-induced incandescence (soot-PLII) imaging is performed. The cool-flame chemiluminescence and HCHO-PLIF images show that the low-temperature reaction develops quicker and covers a larger area in the combustion chamber for higher cetane number fuels. Also, the OH* chemiluminescence and OH-PLIF images indicate the transition from low-temperature reaction to high-temperature reaction occurs faster in both spatial distribution/concentration and temporal evolution, indicating the predominant effect of higher fuel reactivity despite lower charge premixing. The results obtained for single injection conditions are extended to pilot-main injection conditions in an attempt to further reduce the charge premixing to the level that its impact becomes measurable. Indeed, the significantly reduced charge premixing condition induces lower HCHO-PLIF and OH-PLIF for CN50 than those of CN40 while the soot-PLII is most intense. The CN30 exhibits the lowest soot-PLII than the other two fuels due to the enhanced charge premixing but the OH-PLIF signals are weaker due to the lower fuel reactivity. This study successfully identifies the important trade-off characteristics between fuel reactivity and charge premixing among the tested fuels and given injection conditions, CN40 shows the most optimised performance with the strong high-temperature reaction and low remaining in-cylinder soot

Direct parameter extraction of SiGeHBTs for the VBIC bipolar compact model

An improved direct parameter extraction method of SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) for the vertical bipolar intercompany (VBIC)-type hybrid-pi model is developed. All the equivalent circuit elements are extracted analytically from S-parameter data only and without any numerical optimization. The proposed technique of the parameter extraction, differing from the previous ones, focuses on correcting the pad de-embedding error for an accurate and invariant extraction of intrinsic base resistance (R-bi), formulating a new parasitic substrate network, and improving the extraction procedure of transconductance (g(m)), dynamic base-emitter resistance (r(pi)), and base-emitter capacitance (C-pi) using the accurately extracted Rbi. The extracted parameters are frequency-independent and reliable due to elimination of any de-embedding errors. The agreements between the measured and model-calculated data are excellent in the frequency range of 0.2-10.2 GHz over a wide range of bias points. Therefore, we believe that the proposed extraction method is a simple and reliable routine applicable to the optimization of transistor design, process control, and the improvement of VBIC compact model, especially for SiGe HBTs.X1136sciescopu

The soot particle formation process inside the piston bowl of a small-bore diesel engine

The present study unveils the soot formation processes occurring inside the piston-bowl of a small-bore diesel engine by conducting the thermophoresis-based soot sampling experiments at various locations along the flame development path. Based on planar laser-induced incandescenece (PLII) and planar laser-induced florescence of hydroxyl (OH-PLIF) imaging performed in the same optical engine previously, it was understood that the sooting flame impinges on and then flows along the bowl wall, suggesting a soot growth and persistence near the fuel-rich wall region. In the present study, a soot sampling probe is placed in five different locations including the flame–wall impingement point and four further downstream regions: two 60° and two 120° from the jet axis with two different distances from the bowl wall in each angle. Methyl decanoate is selected as a surrogate fuel due to its low-sooting propensity and thus reduced laser attenuation in the reference PLII images; however, the fuel produces high enough number of soot particles for the in-flame sampling and their statistical analysis. The transmission electron microscope (TEM) images of the sampled soot particle aggregates and their statistical analysis of sizes and fractal dimensions as well as nanoscale internal pattern of the soot primary particles show that precursor-like, small soot particles with amorphous internal carbon layer structures form in the flame–wall impingement region, which grow in size and become large soot aggregates as travelling along the bowl wall. The detailed analysis clearly indicates that the soot precursors underwent the surface growth, aggregation and coagulation to produce large, long-stretched soot aggregates during which the amorphous soot carbon layers transformed into a typical core–shell structure. At further downstream locations, the continued surface growth increases the size of soot primary particles in the core region of the soot aggregates while the oxidation of the soot primary particles located in the outer region tends to reduce the aggregate size, resulting in more compact structures. In the outer region of the flame, the intensive soot oxidation induced by the hydroxyl attack further reduces the size of large soot aggregates and at the same time, eliminates the small soot aggregates. Throughout these soot formation/oxidation processes, the soot carbon layer gaps continue to decrease, indicating more mature soot primary particles

Effect of after injections on late cycle soot oxidation in a small-bore diesel engine

After injection, for which a short fuel injection follows the main injection, is proved to be effective in reducing soot emissions in diesel engines. The present study aims to better understand this in-cylinder soot reduction mechanism of after injection with a particular emphasis on its efficacy in a small-bore diesel engine in which more significant flame-wall interactions could cause different behaviour compared with extensively studied heavy-duty diesel engines in the literature. With the main injection only case as a baseline, two after-injection cases of close-coupled and long-dwell timings have been investigated in a single-cylinder common-rail optical engine. Various optical/laser-based imaging diagnostics have been performed including line-of-sight integrated chemiluminescence imaging of OH*, planar laser-induced florescence of hydroxyl (OH-PLIF), planar laser-induced incandescence of soot (PLII) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) imaging of thermophoretically sampled in-flame soot particles to visualise the spatial and temporal evolution of high temperature reaction and soot as well as particle structure. The results indicate that both after-injection strategies introduce a secondary heat release that leads to additional bulk gas temperature rise and thereby promoting the late-cycle soot oxidation. However, the efficacy is found to be dependent upon the after-injection timing. The OH-PLIF and PLII images show that the close-coupled after-injection induces additional high-temperature reaction and soot formation due to high ambient gas temperature. The new reaction occurs near the jet–wall impingement point, which is well separated from the main combustion zone as the main fuel jet travelled along the bowl wall due to significant jet–wall interactions. Although the main and after-injection soot are decoupled, soot morphology analysis based on TEM images suggests that the close-coupled after-injection does enhance the oxidation of main combustion-generated soot particles through the breakdown of large soot aggregates at elevated temperatures and with increased OH radicals. In comparison, both OH-PLIF and PLII images show no visual evidences of decoupled after-injection combustion for the long-dwell case due to insufficient temperature as the additional reaction occurs later in the expansion stroke. However, the increased OH radicals and breakdown of soot aggregates in the main combustion region are evident in OH-PLIF and TEM images. Overall, the close-coupled after-injection adds more soot but induces a higher degree of oxidation for the main combustion-generated soot particles. By contrast, the promotion of soot oxidation is less significant for the long-dwell after-injection but it produces no extra soot