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.

Correlation of Performance, Exhaust Gas Temperature and Speed of a Spark Ignition Engine Using Kiva4

The objective of this study was to investigate performance characteristics of a spark ignition engine, particularly, the correlation between performance, exhaust gas temperature and speed, using Kiva4. Test data to validate kiva4 simulation results were conducted on a 3-cylinder, four-stroke Volkswagen (VW) Polo 6 TSI 1.2 gasoline engine. Three different tests were, therefore, carried out. In one set, variations in exhaust gas temperature were studied by varying the engine load, while keeping the engine speed constant. In another test, exhaust gas temperature variations were studied by keeping the engine at idling whilst varying the speeds. A third test involved studying variations in exhaust gas temperature under a constant load with variable engine speeds. To study variations in exhaust gas temperatures under test conditions, a basic grid/mesh generator, K3PREP, was employed to write an itape17 file comprising of a 45° asymmetrical mesh. This was based on the symmetry of the combustion chamber of the engine used in carrying out experimental tests. Simulations were therefore performed based on the input parameters established in the conducted tests. Simulations with the kiva4 code showed a significant predictability of the performance characteristics of the engine. This was evident in the appreciable agreement obtained in the simulation results when compared with the test data, under the considered test conditions. A percentage error, between experimental results and results from simulations with the kiva4 code of only between 2% to 3% was observed.

Influence of Combustion Chamber Design Parameters and Intake Environments on Spark Ignition Engine Performance and Exhaust Gas Emission

In the present paper, the effect of the combustion chamber design parameters on the improvement of combustion efficiency (the heat generated inside the combustion chamber) and the enhancement in the pollution rates (heat emissions) from a four-stroke, spark-ignition engine has been studied experimentally and theoretically. Two different programs, Gaseq and Ansys, were used to simulate the effect of the combustion chamber shape, turbulent kinetic energy, intake temperature, intake pressure, parity ratio, compression ratio, and engine speed on reducing specific fuel consumption in the engine, reducing carbon dioxide emissions, and increasing overall engine efficiency. The results showed increasing the intake temperature increased the amount of heat produced in the combustion chamber. This leads to increases in the overall efficiency of the engine, but leads to increasing the carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions. Increasing the intake pressure has a positive effect on the combustion temperature and pressure, but it has a negative effect on carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides. Raising the pressure ratio improved the overall efficiency of the engine by increasing the combustion heat, but increasing specific fuel consumption and emissions. Also, increasing the engine speed above the permissible limit has an adverse effect on the spraying speed due to the piston speed being higher than the flame speed, which leads to a reduction in the engine brake torque. An increase in the compression ratio leads to higher fluid pressure and output capacity, but combustion methods occur. An increase in the kinetic energy of the turbulence leads to good combustion. A bowl in a piston has the highest rate of rotation and rotation compared to flat and hemispherical pistons. That is, the design of the cylinder head of this type leads to an improvement in the combustion efficiency and thus the efficiency of the engine.

Development of artificial neural network to predict the performance of spark ignition engine fuelled with waste pomegranate ethanol blends

In this study,an artificial neural network(ANN)is developed to predict the performance of a spark-ignition engine using waste pomegranate ethanol blends.A series of experiments on a single-cylinder,four-stroke spark-ignition engine yielded the data needed for neural network training and validation.70 percent of the experimental data was used to train the network using the feed-forward back propagation(FFBP)algorithm.The developed network model’s performance was evaluated by contrasting its output with experimental results.Input parameters included engine speed,ethanol blends,and output parameters included indicated and brake power,thermal,volumetric,and mechanical efficiencies.Training and testing data had regression coefficients that were almost identical to one.The research revealed that the ANN model can be a better option for predicting engine performance with a higher level of accuracy.

Measuring Fuel Stratification in Cylinder of a Spark Ignition Engine by a Two-Tracer PLIF System

A two-tracer PLIF system was developed to measure fuel stratification in cylinder of a spark ignition engine which is achieved by producing a strong tumbling flow and introducing two fuels through two separate intake ports.Two tracers,3-pentanone and N,N-dimethylaniline(DMA),were doped in two fuels,hexane and iso-octane,respectively.A spectroscopic test result showed that when subject to irradiation by a XeCl Excimer laser(308 nm),3-pentanone and DMA emit fluorescence within different wavelength regions.Their fluorescence can be separated by two band-pass optical filters and recorded into a single intensified CCD camera through a specially designed image doubling system.The advantage of the measurement method is that both fuel distributions in cylinder can be visualized by one shot.Measurement results showed that two fuels were well stratified in the cylinder.

Numerical Simulation of a Spark Ignited Two-Stroke Free-Piston Engine Generator

A numerical program is built to simulate the performance of a spark ignited two-stroke free-piston engine coupled with a linear generator. The computational model combines a series of dynamic and thermodynamic equations that are solved simultaneously to predict the performances of the engines. The dynamic analysis performed consists of an evaluation of the frictional force and load force introduced by the generator. The thermodynamic analysis used a single zone model to describe the engine＇ s working cycle which includes intake, scavenging, compression, combustion and expansion, and to evaluate the effect of heat transfer based on the first law of thermodynamics and the ideal gas state equation. Because there is no crankshaft, a time based Wiebe equation was used to express the fraction of fuel burned in the combustion. The calculated results were validated by using the experimental data from another research group. The results indicate that the free-piston generator has some advantages over conventional engines.

The Advantages of Non-Thermal Plasma for Detonation Initiation Compared with Spark Plug

In this paper,the characteristics of detonation combustion ignited by AC-driven non-thermal plasma and spark plug in air/acetylene mixture have been compared in a doubletube experiment system.The two tubes had the same structure,and their closed ends were installed with a plasma generator and a spark plug,respectively.The propagation characteristics of the flame were measured by pressure sensors and ion probes.The experiment results show that,compared with a spark plug,the non-thermal plasma obviously broadened the range of equivalence ratio when the detonation wave could develop successfully,it also heightened the pressure value of detonation wave.Meanwhile,the detonation wave development time and the entire flame propagation time were reduced by half.All of these advantages benefited from the larger ignition volume when a non-thermal plasma was applied.

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.

Development of a High Power Programmable Precise Time-Delay Trigger/Ignition System for MFCG

High-power precise delay trigger/ignition system is a programmable pulse generator developed for experiment controlling in explosively driven magnetic flux compression generators. Precise delay pulses are generated by the digital circuit, after being magnified and sharpened through multistage isolated amplifiers and rising edge sharpening device, high-voltage steep delay pulses with precision less than μs level are obtained. This system has been used in our compact magnetic flux compression generator experiments in place of the traditional primaeord delay device.

Combustion and emission characteristics of a dual injection system applied to a DISI engine

Concerns about environmental pollution and energy shortages have increased worldwide. One approach to reduce CO2 emissions from gasoline engines is to achieve stratified charge combustion with various injection ratios using port fuel injection （PFI） and direct injection. The combustion and emission characteristics of a 4-valve direct injection spark ignition （DISI） engine equipped with a dual injection system were investigated while the injection ratio was varied. When the direct injection ratio increased, the lean limit A/F was extended. This suggests that the dual injection gasoline engine with both PFI and direct injection can meet severe vehicle emission and fuel economy requirements. The dual injection system had higher combustion pressure than that of either a conventional or direct injection systems. Therefore, the engine power of a dual injection DISI engine would be higher than that of a single injection DISI engine. However, NOx emissions increased compared with the emission levels in both PFI and DISI systems.

Thermodynamic Analysis of Turbo-Charged Power Generating System

Turbochargers have been known in compression ignition engines for power generation.Recent trends in power generation through gas cycles have recorded successes via turbochargers application in spark ignition engines as well.When power cycles are turbocharged,there is a general expectation of a higher power and performance output from the cycle as compared to when they are naturally aspirated.This research was conducted to estimate the thermodynamic properties of a spark ignition engine power generating system when it is both naturally aspirated and when the same system is turbocharged to 2.5 times the amount of air in natural aspiration.Octane fuel was employed for petrol approximation during this study.The system process was broken down into stages of charging between natural aspiration and turbocharged;thus MATLAB program was applied to model the system for the case of natural aspiration and turbocharging with no increase in fuel supply.The results were used for both analyses and comparison which showed that the system generates slightly more power with turbocharging at 0%increase in fuel consumption.The natural aspiration achieved values are 2.8232 kJ/mol and 55.26%for output and efficiency respectively,while the turbocharged engine produced optimal values of 2.8833 kJ/mol and 56.51%for output and efficiency.The air fuel ratio by mole for the turbocharged engine was 145.18:1,which shows a greater fuel economy of 59%as compared to the 59.5:1 A/F(air/fuel)ratio of the naturally aspirated engine.

Spark Ignites a Prairie Fire

CHINA’S economic reform began in ruralareas in the late 1970’s. Millions offarmers were stimulated to seek better liveswith the establishment of the contractresponsibility system based around theindividual family. Then production relations inChina’s rural areas experienced a significantchange. Entering the 1980’s, townshipenterprises developed rapidly and the ruraleconomy was active as never before.Specialized and commercial agriculturalproduction made farmers understand theimportance of science and technology and thusaroused their enthusiasm for study of thesciences. In May 1985, the State Science andTechnology Commission submitted a

SI Engine Fueled with Gasoline, CNG and CNG-HHO Blend: Comparative Evaluation of Performance, Emission and Lubrication Oil Deterioration

Hydroxy gas (HHO) is one of the potential alternative fuels for spark ignition (SI) engine,notably due to simultaneous increase in engine performance and reduction in exhaust emissions.However,impact of HHO gas on lubrication oil for longer periods of engine operation has not yet been studied.Current study focuses on investigation of the effect of gasoline,CNG and CNG-HHO blend on lubrication oil deterioration along with engine performance and emissions in SI engine.HHO unit produces HHO gas at 4.72 L/min by using 6 g/L of KOH in the aqueous solution.CNG was supplied to the test engine at a pressure of 0.11 MPa using an electronically controlled solenoid valve.Engine tests were carried out at different speeds at 80%open throttle condition and various performance parameters such as brake power (BP),brake specific fuel consumption(BSFC),brake thermal efficiency (BTE),exhaust gas temperature and exhaust emissions (HC,CO_(2),CO and NO_(x))were investigated.In addition,various lubrication oil samples were extracted over 120 h of engine running while topping for drain out volume and samples were analyzed as per ASTM standards.CNG-HHO blend exhibited better performance i.e.,15.4%increase in average BP in comparison to CNG,however,15.1%decrease was observed when compared to gasoline.CNG-HHO outperformed gasoline and CNG in the case of HC,CO_(2),CO and brake specific fuel consumption (31.1%decrease in comparison to gasoline).On the other hand,CNG-HHO produced higher average NO_(x) (12.9%) when compared to CNG only.Furthermore,lubrication oil condition(kinematic viscosity,water contents,flash point and total base number (TBN)),wear debris (Iron (Fe),Aluminum(Al),Copper (Cu),Chromium (Cr)) and additives depletion (Zinc (Zn),Calcium (Ca)) presented a significant degradation in the case of CNG-HHO blend as compared to gasoline and CNG.Lubrication oil analyses illustrated 19.6%,12.8%and 14.2%decrease in average viscosity,flash point and TBN for CNG-HHO blend respectively.However,average water contents,Fe,Al and Cu mass concentration appeared 2.7%,25×10^(-6),19×10^(-6),and 22×10^(-6) in lubrication oil for CNG-HHO respectively.

Simple adaptive air-fuel ratio control of a port injection SI engine with a cylinder pressure sensor

The problem of air-fuel ratio(AFR) control of the port injection spark ignition(SI) engine is still of considerable importance because of stringent demands on emission control. In this paper, the static AFR calculation model based on in-cylinder pressure data and on the adaptive AFR control strategy is presented. The model utilises the intake manifold pressure, engine speed, total heat release, and the rapid burn angle, as input variables for the AFR computation. The combustion parameters, total heat release,and rapid burn angle, are calculated from in-cylinder pressure data. This proposed AFR model can be applied to the virtual lambda sensor for the feedback control system. In practical applications, simple adaptive control(SAC) is applied in conjunction with the AFR model for port-injected fuel control. The experimental results show that the proposed model can estimate the AFR, and the accuracy of the estimated value is applicable to the feedback control system. Additionally, the adaptive controller with the AFR model can be applied to regulate the AFR of the port injection SI engine.