An Experimental Investigation on Low Load Combustion Stability and Cold-Firing Capacity of a Gasoline Compression Ignition Engine

Gasoline compression ignition (GCI) is one of the most promising combustion concepts to maintain low pollutant emissions and high efficiency. However, low load combustion stability and firing in cold-start operations are two major challenges for GCI combustion. Strategies including negative valve overlap (NVO), advanced injection strategies, fuel reforming, and intake preheating have been proposed in order to solve these difficulties;however, the cold start is still an obstacle. The objective of this work is to study effective methods to achieve GCI engine cold start-up. This work combines NVO, in-cylinder fuel reforming, and intake preheating to achieve quick firing under cold-start conditions and the subsequent warmup conditions. The results show that start of injection (SOI) during the intake stroke yields the best fuel economy, and injection during the compression stroke has the potential to extend the low load limit. Furthermore, SOI during the NVO period grants the ability to operate under engine conditions with cold intake air and coolant. With highly reactive products made by in-cylinder fuel reforming and fast heat accumulation in the combustion chamber, the NVO injection strategy is highly appropriate for GCI firing. An additional assisted technical method, such as intake preheating, is required to ignite the first firing cycle for a cold-start process. With the combination of NVO, in-cylinder fuel reforming, and intake preheating, the GCI engine successfully started within five combustion cycles in the experiment. After the firing process, the engine could stably operate without further intake preheating;thus, this method is appropriate for engine cold-start and warm-up.

Energy-saving technologies for construction machinery:a review of electro-hydraulic pump-valve coordinated system

With the rapid development of the global economy,more and more attention has been paid to the energy conservation of construction machinery.The hydraulic system is the key component of construction machinery,and improving its energy utilization rate has become an important means to achieve energy conservation.In conventional valve-controlled or pump-controlled hydraulic systems of construction machinery,controllability and energy-saving performance typically cannot be considered at the same time.The pump-valve coordinated system combines the energy-saving characteristics of the pump-controlled system and the high-precision and high-frequency response of the valve-controlled system,which has the potential to become a primary research direction of electro-hydraulic systems.This review summarizes the recent research progress in energy-saving technologies based on pump-valve coordinated systems.Particularly,we discuss the structures of hydraulic systems in different categories of construction machinery,various control methods of the electro-hydraulic system,novel hydraulic hybrid energy regeneration systems,and key components.In addition,future directions and challenges of the pump-valve coordinated systems are described,such as independent metering system(IMS),common pressure rail(CPR),and hybrid power source(HPS).

Optimization of tensile strength for new type acetone-urea-formaldehyde furan resin using uniform design

In this study,the 24 h tensile strength of new type acetone-urea-formaldehyde furan resin (nitrogen content 3%) was investigated by uniform design optimization.Four independent variables such as acetone:formaldehyde molar ratio (mol/mol),solution pH value,reaction temperature (℃) and reaction time (min) were considered in the experiments.U13(134) uniform design was employed and the equation of 24 h tensile strength model was obtained after 13 experimentations.The 24 h tensile strength was optimized by applying single factor experiments and stepwise non-linear regression analysis.Minitab (Minitab 15 trial version) and MATLAB (R2010a trial version) were used for data analysis.The t-value and p-value indicate that the major impact factors include the interaction effect of solution pH value and reaction temperature (X2X3),the linear terms of acetone:formaldehyde molar ratio (X1),reaction time (X4) followed by the square effects of acetone/formaldehyde molar ratio (X1X1).The optimized results were achieved with the acetone:formaldehyde molar ratio (mol/mol) at 3:1,solution pH value at 6.0,reaction temperature at 70℃,and reaction time at 140 min,respectively.This method can not only significantly reduce the number and cost of the tests,but also provide a good experimental design strategy for the development of furan resin.The investigation shows that the predicted results of 24 h tensile strength are consistent well with the experimental ones.

Development of electric construction machinery in China:a review of key technologies and future directions

The issues of energy shortage and environmental pollution have accelerated the electrification of construction ma-chinery(CM)industry globally.In China,the amount of electric construction machinery(ECM)has been growing across the industry.The sales of ECM are estimated to reach 600000 vehicles by the end of 2025,while the total demand for battery power will reach 60 GWh.However,the development of ECM still faces critical challenges including reliable power supply and energy distribution among various components.In this review,we primarily focus on important technological breakthroughs and the difficulties faced by the CM industry in China.An overview of ECM including classification and characteristics is given at the beginning.Next,the selection of key components such as the electric motor and the energy storage units,and the control strategy in the pure electric drive system are discussed.The characteristics of the hybrid electric drive system such as structure design and power matching are analyzed in detail.The battery management system(BMS)is critical to ensure appropriate battery health for reliable power supply.Here,we extensively review technical developments in various BMSs.In addition,we roughly estimate the national total of CM emissions and the potential environmental benefits of employing ECMs in China.Finally,we set out future research directions and industrial development of ECM.

Study and practice of decreasing residual stress with residual heat of casting

A new technique for reducing the residual stress within a casting by using of the residual heat in the casting is presented.The new technique has been applied by Guangxi Yuchai Machinery Company Limited and the result shows remarkably applicable.The casting’s residual stress can be reduced to less than 60 MPa while the saving in energy can be about 101.1 kW.h per ton of castings,as compared with traditional technique.