Roberto Gentili

Computational study of a two-stroke direct-injection reactivity-controlled compression ignition engine:

Reactivity-controlled compression ignition combustion has proved to be effective in reducing the pollutant emissions and the fuel consumption in four-stroke internal-combustion engines. The application of this combustion mode to port-controlled crankcase-scavenged two-stroke engines also seems promising to avoid short-circuiting of fresh charge and to take advantage of the intrinsic residual exhaust gas. Accordingly, a computational study of a small-bore two-stroke dual-fuel direct-injection reactivity-controlled compression ignition engine was made including computational fluid dynamics simulations and zero-dimensional modeling. The zero-dimensional model is used to supply suitable initial conditions for the computational fluid dynamics simulations and to generate useful operating maps. These maps predict the engine behavior, highlighting the conditions where combustion would be controllable by means of in-cylinder reactivity stratification. The computational fluid dynamics simulations were validated against experimental data under motored and fired conditions, and the spray model was calibrated against dedicated bench tests. The in-cylinder behavior was explored to understand the effect and the importance on the engine operation of several types of stratification, including thermal stratification and reactivity stratification caused by the scavenging process and fuel injections. The models emphasize the importance of the exhaust gas thermal content which can promote combustion. Furthermore, its stratification in the combustion chamber due to the scavenging process, together with the reactivity stratification caused by the dual-fuel injection is able to change both the combustion phasing and the combution duration, thereby increasing the efficiency and reducing the combustion roughness.

Two-Step Concept for Low-Pressure Direct Hydrogen Injection

In this paper, a low-pressure hydrogen direct-injection solution is presented that entails low storage residual pressure (∼12 bar). The injection is realised in two steps. First, hydrogen is simply metered by an electro-injector (a conventional one for Compressed Natural Gas - CNG application) that feeds a small intermediate chamber. Next, hydrogen enters the cylinder by means of a mechanically-actuated valve which allows higher flow than any electro-injector. Injection must end early enough to allow good charge homogeneity and, in any case, before in-cylinder pressure rise constraints hydrogen admission. Backfire is avoided by starting injection at intake valve closing. A prototype has been realised modifying a single-cylinder 650 cc production engine with three intake valves. The central one has been modified and properly timed to in-cylinder inject hydrogen from the intermediate chamber. Hydrogen injection through different-shape poppet valves in a quiescent, constant volume has been simulated in order to investigate the effects of valve and seat-valve geometries in controlling fuel-air mixing in the cylinder. Additional predictions for the actual engine configuration indicate that an acceptable fuel distribution can be obtained in the combustion chamber at the spark timing, with equivalence ratios in the ignition region that are inside the flammability range of the mixture for all the operating conditions (loads and speeds) that have been considered.© 2009 ASME

Direct Injection and Charge Stratification in a 50 cc Two-Stroke Engine: CFD Studies and Test Bench Results

Direct fuel injection has become necessary in two-stroke S.I. engines, since it prevents one of the major problems of these engines, that is fuel loss from the exhaust port. Another important problem is combustion irregularity at light loads, due to excessive residual gas in the charge, and can be solved by charge stratification. High-pressure liquid fuel injection is able to control the mixing process inside the cylinder for getting either stratified charge at partial loads or quasi-stoichiometric conditions, as it is required at full load. The feasibility of this solution for a small engine for light motorcycles has been studied using CFD tools. An exhaustive investigation carried out by the KIVA3v code allowed to design a 50 cm3 engine prototype with a satisfactory behaviour even at light loads in unthrottled condition, as proved by good fuel economy and engine stability in dynamometric bench tests. Exhaust gas analysis and indicated pressure behaviour confirm stratification and combustion correctness. For the final part of the research the adoption of the AVL-Fire code has been considered: the possibility to take into account any combustion chamber and transfer duct geometric details and the accuracy of spray breakup and wall film models allow to better understand the engine behaviour throughout the operating range, obtaining useful information in order to efficiently shorten the experimental time required for the EU map-setting.© 2006 ASME

Four Stroke Engine Geometry for Stratified Charge Combustion

In four-stroke engines direct injection increases power and fuel economy, which is further improved by charge stratification, due to pumping loss reduction and better combustion efficiency at partial loads. Charge stratification can be obtained by different techniques and injector designs. In every case late injection is necessary for stratification, which however is impaired by fuel dilution and spreading in consequence of burnt gas expansion, leading to incomplete combustion at very light loads. A numerical study has been carried out modifying KIVA code to handle new piston shapes. An innovative combustion chamber that is split in two volumes and allows fuel confinement during combustion has been conceived. CFD comparison has been made between a conventional combustion chamber and the proposed new one in term of combustion efficiency. Combustion is enhanced by the new design and unburnt emissions are reduced.Copyright

Stable Fuel Confinement in Stratified Charge GDI Engines

Direct fuel injection combined with charge stratification represents a must for two-stroke S.I. engines, since it prevents fuel loss from the exhaust port and incomplete combustion or misfire at light loads. The most difficult aims are keeping stable stratification when engine operating conditions change and, at very light loads, avoiding excessive dilution and spreading of fuel vapour in consequence of burned gas expansion. Two new-concept engine designs are proposed in this paper. In both cases shapes of piston and head, together with scavenging-duct orientation have been optimised to obtain stable in-cylinder flow field features (independently of engine speed) and proper fuel distribution at ignition time. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) predictions at different loads and speeds are reported and discussed.© 2004 ASME

Lean Air-Fuel Mixtures Supplemented with Hydrogen for S.I. Engines: A Possible Way to reduce Specific Fuel Consumption?

Abstract From a theoretical viewpoint, a lean or ultra-lean mixture improves thermal efficiency of internal combustion engines when operating at partial loads. This is confirmed is current practice with compression-ignited motors. However, spark-ignited engines actually reach the lowest specific fuel consumptions at air-fuel ratios not very far from the stoichiometric when the fuel is gasoline, since with leaner mixtures combustion becomes too slow and erratic. Stratified-charge engines allow leaner mixtures, but they require combustion chamber designs that penalize efficiency. The presence of hydrogen in the mixture increases combustion speed and reduces misfiring. As a result, the lowest specific fuel consumptions are obtained with leaner mixtures as a whole and are reduced in amounts, as the ratio of hydrogen to the total amount of fuel supplied is increased. In this work, a new system of hydrogen enrichment is presented: a small amount of hydrogen is stratified around the spark-plug in an open combustion chamber, in order to combine stratified-charge and hydrogen-enrichment benefits. An experimental prototype is described in detail and the first experimental results are reported.

A Preliminary Study Towards an Innovative Diesel HCCI Combustion

Homogeneous-charge, compression-ignition (HCCI) combustion is triggered by spontaneous ignition in diluted homogeneous mixtures and has a gradual trend thanks to suitable solutions. It is considered a very effective way to reduce engine pollutant emissions, however only experimental prototypes have been based on this concept, except for a few small two-stroke engines. HCCI combustion is feasible with fuels both for S.I. and for C.I. engines, but currently it does not cover the whole engine operating field, thus the engine must be built to operate also as a conventional engine. In order to obtain a gradual combustion and not a simultaneous reaction (as it would be in spontaneously ignited homogeneous mixture), lean mixture is used and appropriate solutions, as Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR), are necessary. However, the admission of exhaust gas into the cylinder goes to detriment of engine maximum mean effective pressure. This paper concerns a preliminary study of an innovative concept to control HCCI combustion in Diesel-fuelled engines, apart from exhaust gas presence, the function of which is limited to NOx emission control. The main purpose of the research is the obtaining of Diesel HCCI combustion also with high mean effective pressures rendering the combustion behaviour more controllable as well. The concept consists in forming a pre-compressed homogenous charge outside the cylinder and in gradually admitting it into the cylinder during the combustion process. In this way, combustion can be controlled by the flow rate transfer and high pressure gradients, typical of common HCCI combustion, can be limited as well. A first analysis has been done, considering a cylinder filled with a perfectly stirred mixture of air and diesel fuel through a transfer duct, only to test the validity of the concept, regardless of which effective solution will be adopted. Both Two and Four Stroke operations have been considered to realize the concept. Results in terms of pressure, heat release rate, temperature and emission production have pointed out the validity of the concept. Especially the Two Stroke solution produces more soot than the conventional Diesel, pointing out that the air-fuel mixing is probably not optimized. Regarding NOx emissions, both the proposed solutions give better results than the conventional Diesel engine.Copyright

Flow Dynamics of Charge Stratification in Small GDI Two-Stroke Engines

Direct high-pressure liquid fuel injection is able to control the mixing process inside the cylinder for getting either stratified charge at partial loads or quasi-homogeneous conditions, as it is required at full load. This paper shows the development of this solution for small two-stoke engines, using multidimensional modelling. The aim is investigating how the design of scavenging ducts and combustion chamber influences charge stratification behaviour, taking into account fuel distribution and stratification stability varying engine load and speed.Copyright

Experimental Results Using Ammonia Plus Hydrogen in a S.I. Engine

In the prospective to reduce greenhouse gas emission from vehicles, the use of hydrogen as fuel represents a possible solution. However, if proper engine running with hydrogen has been widely demonstrated, hydrogen storage onboard of the vehicle is a major problem. A promising solution is storing hydrogen in the form of ammonia that is liquid at roughly 9 bar at environmental temperature and therefore involves relatively small volumes and requires light and low-cost tanks. Moreover, liquid ammonia contains 1.7 times by volume as much hydrogen as liquid hydrogen itself. It is well known that ammonia can be burned directly in I.C. engines, however a combustion promoter is necessary to support combustion especially in the case of high-speed S.I. engines. As a matter of fact, the best (and carbon-free!) promoter is hydrogen, which has very high combustion velocity and wide flammability range, whereas ammonia combustion is characterised by low flame speed, low flame temperature, narrow flammability range (combustion is impossible if mixture is just slightly lean), high ignition energy and high self-ignition temperature. The experimental activity shown in the paper was aimed at determining proper air-ammonia-hydrogen mixture compositions for the actual operating conditions of a twin-cylinder 505 cm3 S.I. engine. Hydrogen and ammonia are separately injected in the gaseous phase. The experimental results confirm that it is necessary to add hydrogen to air-ammonia mixture to improve ignition and to speed up combustion, with ratios that depend mainly on load and less on engine speed. This activity is correlated with a larger-scale project, founded by Tuscany Region, in which a partnership of research and industry entities has developed a fully-working plug-in hybrid electric vehicle equipped with a range-extending 15 kW IC engine fuelled with hydrogen and ammonia. Hydrogen is obtained from ammonia by means of on-board catalytic reforming.

Improvements in Efficiency and Mixture Formation for an Innovative Diesel HCCI Concept

Homogeneous-charge, compression-ignition (HCCI) combustion is triggered by spontaneous ignition in dilute homogeneous mixtures. The combustion rate must be reduced by suitable solutions such as high rates of Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) and/or lean mixtures. HCCI is considered to be a very effective way to reduce engine pollutant emissions, however only a few production engines have been built. HCCI combustion currently cannot be extended to the whole engine operating range, especially to high loads, since the use of EGR displaces air from the cylinder, limiting engine mean effective pressure, thus the engine must be able to operate also in conventional mode. This paper concerns a study of an innovative concept to control HCCI combustion in diesel-fueled engines. The concept consists in forming a pre-compressed homogeneous charge outside the cylinder and in gradually admitting it into the cylinder during the combustion process. In this way, combustion can be controlled by the transfer flow rate, and high pressure rise rates, typical of standard HCCI combustion, can be avoided. This new combustion concept has been called Homogenous Charge Progressive Combustion (HCPC). This paper concerns CFD analysis focused on improving efficiency and reducing pollutant emissions considering a new HCPC engine configuration. Results show an indicated efficiency around 45% and a consistent reduction of soot emission compared to conventional diesel engine.Copyright