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VCC (variable combustion chamber) piston technology would be one of the best substitutes for VCR (variable compression ratio) technology due to its extremely fast dynamic response with simple structure. One of the key issues of VCC piston technology is its dynamic response, which means fast, timely and enough variation of the combustion chamber volume during combustion in each working cycle while excess in-cylinder pressure occurs. Two key design features, ball-profiles and a reset cam, are introduced in order to ensure the availability of transient dynamic characteristics of VCC piston. Several formulas are derived from the structural analysis on VCC piston to describe the relationship between VCC piston design and its dynamic characteristics.

As efficient and low-pollution alternative fuel, dimethyl ether (DME) has shown its excellent performance of combustion and emissions. There is a phenomenon of DME gasification in the in-line fuel pump of DME-diesel engine. DME gasification can result in “vapor lock” and serious inequality of the fuel supply in DME-diesel fuel system. This paper presents a simple solution to improve DME gasification in DME-diesel fuel system. The key feature of the solution is just a bypass check valve, which is assembled between the intake fuel supply and the plunger chamber of the in-line pump. DME gasification in the in-line pump can be effectively eliminated by means of the bypass valve design.

A patented VCC (variable combustion chamber) piston mechanism is presented, by which excess in-cylinder pressure would be able to be limited effectively based on each working cycle while a spark-ignition engine running with higher CR (compression ratio) of 12.0:1. A conventional engine can be converted to a VCC engine just by replacing its typical pistons with VCC pistons. Besides the benefits that VCR (Variable Compression Ratio) has been still pursued so far, there would be other advantages for VCC engine, such as excellent fuel economy at each load not only at light loads, and the improvement of cycle-by-cycle variation of in-cylinder pressure, and high reliability with simple structure. The innovative design of VCC piston is introduced. The main design features of VCC piston are a VCC mechanism assembled between the piston crown and the piston skirt, and a special reset cam assembled at the wrist-pin end of the connecting rod.

This article presents a set of formulas for estimating the impact of reformed ethanol fuel on volumetric efficiency in I.C. engines. Both partial and complete usages of reformed ethanol fuel are discussed. Analysis suggests that volumetric efficiency drastically decreases as the level of fuel reforming increases in S.I. engines. Such impact on volumetric efficiency is reduced when the reformed fuel is partially used in diesel engines. A formula for calculating the impact of intake air temperature variation on volumetric efficiency is also presented. This formula is validated against engine simulation on factors such as engine load, speed, displacement, intake air temperature and reformed fuel temperature. Validation results show a maximum of 0.5% error, indicating an accurate approximation and hence high feasibility of this formula.