Grzegorz Przybyla

The impact of air-fuel mixture composition on SI engine performance during natural gas and producer gas combustion

The paper summarizers results of experimental tests of SI engine fuelled with gaseous fuels such as, natural gas and three mixtures of producer gas substitute that simulated real producer gas composition. The engine was operated under full open throttle and charged with different air-fuel mixture composition (changed value of air excess ratio). The spark timing was adjusted to obtain maximum brake torque (MBT) for each fuel and air-fuel mixture. This paper reports engine indicated performance based on in-cylinder, cycle resolved pressure measurements. The engine performance utilizing producer gas in terms of indicated efficiency is increased by about 2 percentage points when compared to fuelling with natural gas. The engine power de-rating when producer gas is utilized instead the natural gas, varies from 24% to 28,6% under stoichiometric combustion conditions. For lean burn (λ=1.5) the difference are lower and varies from 22% to 24.5%.

Late intake valve closing as a way of the throttleless control of SI engine load

The paper tackles the problems connected with the charge exchange in internal combustion engines. The theoretical analysis of the charge exchange process in the SI engine has been presented. The realization of the charge exchange process is connected with the necessity of overcoming the flow resistances, then with the necessity of doing a work, so-called the charge exchange work. The flow resistance caused by throttling valve is especially high at the partial load running of an engine. A system with independent, late intake valve closing has been analysed. The use of the analysed system to governing of an engine load will enable to eliminate a throttling valve from inlet system and reduce the charge exchange work, especially within the range of partial load. The decrease of the charge exchange work leads to an increase of the internal and effective works, which results in an increase of the effective efficiency of the spark ignition engine. The open, theoretical Atkinson-Miller cycle has been assumed as a model of processes proceeding in the engine with variable intake valve actuation. The system has been analysed individually and comparatively with open Seiliger-Sabathe cycle, which is theoretical cycle for the classic throttle governing of engine load. Benefits resulting from application of the system with late intake valve closing have been assessed on the basis of the selected parameters: a fuel dose, a cycle work, relative charge exchange work and cycle efficiency.

CHARGE EXCHANGE CONTROL IN A SI ENGINE BY EARLY EXHAUST VALVE CLOSING

The paper tackles the problems connected with the charge exchange in internal combustion engines. The theoretical analysis of the charge exchange process in the SI engine has been presented. A system with independent, early exhaust valve closing has been analysed. The analysed system enables realization of an internal EGR and elimination of a throttling valve from an inlet system and reduce the charge exchange work, especially within the range of partial load. The decrease of the charge exchange work leads to an increase of the internal and effective works, which results in an increase of the effective efficiency of the spark ignition engine. The open, theoretical cycle has been assumed as a model of processes proceeding in an engine. The system has been analysed individually and comparatively with open Seiliger-Sabathe cycle. Benefits resulting from application of the system with early exhaust valve closing have been assessed on the basis of the selected parameters: a fuel dose, a cycle work, a relative charge exchange work and a cycle efficiency. The best results within decrease of fuel consumption and increase of cycle efficiency are obtained for low engine load. The main parameters characterizing the process of the internal exhaust gas recirculation were also determined. These are the ratio and the multiplicity of the exhaust gas recirculation.

Energy aspects of the SI engine load adjustment by early closing of inlet or exhaust valve

The theoretical analysis of the SI engine load adjustment has been presented. The load especially in SI engine is highly dependent on the process of charge exchange. This process has significant impact on the effectiveness of an engine work because it is connected with the necessity of overcoming the flow resistance, then with the necessity of doing a work, so-called the charge exchange work. The flow resistance caused by throttling valve is especially high during part load operation. The open theoretical cycle has been assumed as a model of processes proceeding in the engine. Using fully variable inlet and exhaust valves timing the cycle can be realized e.g. according to two systems: system with early inlet valve closing (EIVC) and system with early exhaust valve closing (EEVC). Both systems have been analysed individually and comparatively with the open Seiliger-Sabathe cycle, which is theoretical cycle for the classical throttle governing of an engine load. Benefits resulting from application of the systems with independent inlet and exhaust valves control have been assessed on the basis of the selected parameters: a fuel dose, a cycle work, a charge exchange work and a cycle efficiency. The use of the analysed systems to governing of the SI engine load will enable to eliminate a throttling valve from inlet system and reduce the charge exchange work, especially within the range of part load operation. Decrease of the charge exchange work leads to increase of the internal and effective works, which results in increase of the effective efficiency of the spark ignition engine. Additionally, the EEVC enables realization of the internal EGR.

Investigation of waste heat recovery for automobile application based on a thermoelectric module

The article presents a brief discussion about issues of energy harvesting of waste heat generated during the operation of the SI (spark ignition) internal combustion engine (ICE). The available methods of implementation and the problems associated with them were presented. In recent years, there has been an increase in the significance of successful researches on new types of thermoelectric modules. Despite relatively low efficiency of the thermoelectric modules, a systematic growth in their interest is observed. Their application seems to be reasonable because of many advantages mainly the simplicity. The paper contains the literature review in the subject of interest. For the purpose of this work, a test rig was designed and manufactured. The test rig consists of a single thermoelectric module and makes it possible to work in variety of operating conditions for different values of the exhaust gas flow rate and temperature. It is equipped with an automatic, servo controlled, movable element, which control direction of the exhaust gas flow and as a result changes the heat flux transferred via the thermoelectric module. This solution allows achieving the maximum power of the thermoelectric module in a wide range of ICE operating conditions and also allows adjusting operating parameters to actual working conditions of the whole system. The problems encountered during the construction of the test rig and the proposed solutions of practical implementation were described. Experimental research was conducted on a small size automobile petrol engine. The influence of electrical parameters at the output on the whole system was analysed. The results suggest that the actual thermoelectric module parameters, especially the thermal conductivity, vary from declared by the producer. Maximum achieved electric power output reached about 10 W from a single thermoelectric module (57 mm x 54 mm), which is nearly half of the declared value.

THE HEAT TRANSFER COEFFICIENT CALCULATION IN THE ICE CYLINDER BASED ON IN-CYLINDER PRESSURE DATA

In this paper the calculations algorithm of heat-transfer coefficient in the combustion chamber of the internal combustion engine is presented. Developed algorithm is based on the in cylinder pressure data. The proposed algorithm can be helpful to determine the average values of heat-transfer coefficient from working medium to the combustion chamber walls (crown of a cylinder head, cylinder walls and piston head) during combustion process. The calculation method includes modified one zone heat release model in combustion chamber of SI engine. Proposed method consists in closing the energy balance equation by the coefficient which expresses the heat losses to the walls of the combustion chamber. The average value of the heat losses during combustion process is calculated by two steps. Firstly, the integration of the energy balance equation (without specifying the heat losses) leads to designation of the so-called net value of heat released in cylinder. In the next step the amount of the total energy supplied to the cylinder is determined taking into account the chemical energy of the supplied fuel. The difference between the supplied value of chemical energy and heat released net value allows to determine the heat losses average value. In last stage, the heat flow equation leads to calculate the mean value of heat transfer coefficient during combustion process.

Analysis of the ignition control in the HCCI system using dose of monoatomic inert gas

The subject of the analysis presented in the paper is the idea and implementation method of the ignition point of homogeneous air-fuel mixture, used in the IC engine with HCCI system. Autoignition of the combustible mixture can occur only upon reaching the characteristic self-ignition temperature Tz. It should take place during (near end) the load compression. In order to achieve the fuel mixture ignition temperature Tz in the system, usually it is proposed adjusting the engine compression ratio, . However, it is quite cumbersome especially in case of frequent changes of engine load (there are also difficulties with the precise advance angle adjusting of fuel mixture ignition). According to our conception, the other method of autoignition adjustment can be successfully applied. The essence of the new idea consists in proper selection, according to engine load, of the exponent of charge polytropic compression. Introducing the defined dose of monoatomic gas (e.g. argon Ar, 1.667) to air-fuel mixture, the higher values of the polytropic compression exponent of working medium can be achieved. It will result in significant increase of the temperature rise Tmax of the compressed charge and accordingly progressive increase of the advance angle of the mixture ignition.

Energy analysis of a small capacity SI engine fueled with lean air gas mixture

In this paper, the results of the theoretical study of an internal combustion engine, fuelled with lean air – gas mixtures, are presented. Energetic property calculations were done for several chosen gaseous fuels such as methane, landfill gas, and producer gas. Based on these fuels, the performance of a theoretical Seiliger-Sabathe cycle was investigated using variable air excess values. The accurate analysis of the various processes taking place in an internal combustion engine is a very complex problem. If these processes were to be analyzed experimentally, it would be more expensive than theoretical analysis. The Seiliger-Sabathe cycle turns out to be help in theoretical analysis of internal combustion engine performance. Dimensionless descriptive parameters (E, \ ) are very useful at this analysis by combining the properties of fuel with initial thermodynamic parameters of the cycle. Moreover, the experimental results of SI engine fuelled with a lean mixture of natural gas are presented for comparative purposes. The experiments were carried out on a petroleum engine with a low engine displacement. A typical SI engine was selected in order to evaluate the potential application of a gaseous fuel (i.e. natural gas). These types of engines are widely available and commonly used in the automotive sector because of low purchase prices and operating costs. It is expected that after minor modifications, the engine can easily operate in a low power co-generation mode. The main objective is to evaluate the performance of the engine under lean air/fuel mixture conditions. The slight impact of air excess ratio on COV IMEP was noticed. The value decreases insensibly with air excess ratio decreasing. Obtained results are located at acceptable levels for power generation sources and are less than 5 %. Although, the more distinct impact was observed regarding to COV pmax . The maximum value was noted for leaner mixture and it amounts to approximately 7.5%.