Effects of Spark Ignition Engine Operating Parameters on Its Cyclic Variation ——Modeling and Simulation

An engine cyclic variation model has been built by using the residual gas temperature for the n th cycle as the input of the model, through constant pressure intake process, adiabatic compression process, constant volume combustion process, adiabatic expansion process, adiabatic blow down process and constant pressure exhaust process to approximate the thermodynamic processes in the cylinder, finally the residual gas temperature for the ( n+1) th cycle can be estimated. Because of the adding of engine operating parameters such as engine speed, spark advance, equivalence ratio, intake air pressure, intake air temperature to the model, effects of these parameters on cyclic variation can be estimated quantitatively. Since residual gas temperature fluctuation between cycles reflects the circumstances of engine cyclic variation, parameters to which residual gas temperature is sensitive are most likely used as the means to control cyclic variation. Model simulation shows that for the nearly stiochiometric mixture, cyclic variation is not obvious or even quite stable, but for the lean mixture, under the circumstances of partial load and larger spark advances, engine cyclic variations occur chaotically or with bifurcation.

Three-Dimensional Models for Analyzing the Cyclic Variations in a Lean Burn CNG Engine

Three-dimensional models, consisting of the flame kernel formation model, flame kernel development model and natural gas single step reaction model, are used to analyze the contribution of cyclic equivalence ratio variations to cyclic variations in the compressed natural gas （CNG） lean burn spark ignition engine. Computational results including the contributions of equivalence ratio cyclic variations to each combustion stage and effects of engine speed to the extent of combustion variations are discussed. It is concluded that the equivalence ratio variations affect mostly the main stage of combustion and hardly influence initial kernel development stage.

Evaluation and Control of Cyclic Variation in Spark Ignited Engines by a Thermodynamic Model

An evaluation method of engine cyclic variation is proposed based on fuzzy mathematics concept. The degree of engine cyclic variation is divided into 4 levels: stable, slight variation, moderate variation and serious variation based on the statistic standard deviation of residual gas temperatures within the specified simulation cycles and the function of cyclic variation is also inducted for the cyclic variation control. Because the degree of engine cyclic variation can be estimated qualitatively, the effective control means can be applied to appease the undesired cyclic variation. Simulation result shows that for a very serious cyclic variation through the proper adjustment of the spark angle and the cyclic variation will disappear.

Influence of Contractility on Myocardial Ultrasonic Integrated Backscatter and Cyclic Variation in Integrated Backscatter

To evaluate the effects of left ventricular contractility on the changes of aver age image intensity (AII) of the myocardial integrated backscatter (IB) and cyclic variation in IB (CVIB), 7 adult mongrel dogs were studied. The magnitude of AII and CVIB were measured from myocardial IB carves before and after dobuta mine or propranolol infusion. Dobutamine or propranolol did not affect the magnitude of AII (13.8±0.7 vs 14.7±0.5, P >0.05 or 14.3±0.5 vs 14.2±0.4, P >0.05). However, dobutamine produced a significant increase in the magnitude of CVIB (6.8±0.3 vs 9.5±0.6, P <0.001) and propranolol induced significant decrease in the magnitude of CVIB (7.1±0.2 vs 5.2±0.3, P <0.001). The changes of the magnitude of AII and CVIB in the myocardium have been demonstrated to reflect different myocardial physiological and pathological changes respectively. The alteration of contractility did not affect the magnitude of AII but induced significant change in CVIB. The increase of left ventricular contractility res ulted in a significant rise of the magnitude of CVIB and the decrease of left ventricular contractility resulted in a significant fall of the magnitude of CVIB.

Optical investigations on lean combustion improvement of natural gas engines via turbulence enhancement

In the global background of“Carbon Peak”and“Carbon Neutral”,natural gas engines show great advantages in energy-saving and pollution reduction.However,natural gas engines suffer from the issues of combustion instabilities when operating under lean burning conditions.In this paper,the role of turbulence enhancement in improving the lean combustion of natural gas was investigated in an optical SI engine with high compression ratios.Variable swirl control valves(SCV)were designed and intake tumble and swirl were combined to regulate turbulent motion and turbulent intensity.Particle image velocimetry was employed to measure in-cylinder turbulence,and transient pressure acquisition and high-speed photography were synchronously performed to quantify combustion evolutions.The results show that incylinder turbulent intensity is enhanced significantly through reducing SCV closing angles.Such that flame propagation speed and thermal efficiency are significantly improved with an increment of turbulent intensity,which indicated that mean effective pressures are not sensitive to spark timing.The analysis of flame images shows that the combined turbulence increases in the radial orientation from the spark plug to the cylinder wall,leading to an earlier flame kernel formation and a faster burning rate.Therefore,the combined turbulence has the potential in reducing the cyclic variations of lean combustion in natural gas engines.

Combustion Characteristics of a Single Cylinder Spark Ignition Engine Fueled with Coal Mine Methane

An experimental investigation was conducted on combustion characteristics of a single cylinder spark ignition engine fueled with coal-mine methane （CMM）.The CMM was simulated by the compressed nature gas （CNG）/nitrogen blend fuels.The cylinder pressure was measured.The maximum heat release ratio,the flame development duration and the main combustion duration were analyzed with the nitrogen volume fraction in the blends changing from 0% to 35%.The results indicate that the maximum cylinder pressure,the maximum rate of pressure,the flame development duration and the main combustion duration increase and the maximum rate of heat release decreases with increasing nitrogen fraction.When the level of nitrogen volume fraction in coalmine methane is lower than 20%,the combustion process of engine is stable.But with the level of nitrogen volume fraction over 30%,the cycle to cycle combustion variation is large,especially under low load condition.

Experimental investigation into the effects of Argemone biodiesel/diesel blends on cyclic variations in a multi-cylinder CRDI engine

Internal combustion engines suffer from high cyclic variations that result in higher emissions,lower efficiency,higher fuel consump-tion and poor drivability.The purpose of this study is to investigate how Argemone mexicana biodiesel(AGB)/diesel blended fuels affect the cyclic variability of combustion parameters such as maximum cylinder pressure(Pmax)and indicated mean effective pressure(IMEP)in a four-cylinder turbocharged intercooled common-rail direct injection engine under various engine loading conditions.The chemical and physical properties of AGB produced from A.mexicana oil were measured and compared according to the ASTM D6751 standards.In various volumetric ratios,AGB and diesel fuel were blended as D100,AB10(10%AGB+90%D100),AB20(20%AGB+80%D100)and AB30(30%AGB+70%D100).The IMEP and Pmax time-series data were collected over 200 consecutive cycles at low,partial and high engine loads at a constant engine speed of 2000 rpm.The coefficients of variation(COV)of combustion parameters(Pmax and IMEP)were measured for different AGB/diesel blends and found to be within acceptable limits.The results show that COV_(Pmax) and COV_(IMEP) decrease as the engine load increases.It was observed that at low load,AB10 has the lowest COV(Pmax,IMEP),and at partial and high load,AB20 has the lowest COV(Pmax,IMEP)among all the blends.