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To investigate the combustion stability in a natural gas engine at idle, the burn parameters are determined on a cycle-by-cycle basis through the analysis of the engine pressure data. Combustion analysis based on cylinder-pressure provides a mechanism through which a combustion researcher can understand the combustion process. The parameters lowest normalized value (LNV) introduced by Hoard and Rehagen and coefficient of variation (COV) are used to investigate the combustion stability at idle. Measurements of combustion pressure are used to determine values for these parameters in a Ricardo research engine. The fuel used natural gas, and compression ratios between 6 and 14 are explored. The objective of this work is to identify whether these variables are a significant source of cycle-by-cycle combustion variability in a natural gas engine at idle.

A gasoline spark-ignition (SI) engine with an electronically controlled fuel injection system has substantially better fuel economy and lower emissions than a carburetted engine. In general, the stability of engine operation is improved with fuel injection, but the combustion stability at idle is not improved compared to a carburetted engine. The combustion variability in SI engines limits the use of lean mixtures, the amount of recycled exhaust the engine will tolerate, and lower idle speeds because of increased emissions and poor engine stability. In addition, the increase in time that an engine is at idle due to traffic congestion has an effect on the engine stability and vehicle reliability. Therefore, in this research, we will study the influence of ignition energy, fuel injection timing, spark timing, and air-fuel ratio on gasoline engine stability at idle.