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Emissions from CI engines fueled with dimethyl ether (DME) were discussed in this paper. Thanks to its high content of fuel oxygen, DME combustion is virtually soot free. This characteristic of DME combustion indicates that the particulate filter will not be needed in the aftertreatment system for engines fueled with DME. NOx emissions from a CI engine fueled with DME can meet the US 2007 regulation with a high EGR rate. Because 49% more fuel mass must be delivered in each DME injection than the corresponding diesel-fuel injection, and the DME injection pressure is lower than 500 bar under the current fuel-system technology, the DME injection duration is generally longer than that of diesel-fuel injection. This is unfavorable to further NOx reduction. A multiple-injection strategy with timing for the primary injection determined by the cylinder temperature was proposed.

This paper discusses the performance of the radial plunger pump used in the contemporary diesel common-rail fuel systems for rail-pressure supply. On the ground of the pump mechanism, the transient flow, drive torque, and efficiency of the pump are analyzed for various operation conditions. The analysis shows that the number of plungers and utilization of the pump capacity govern fluctuations in the pump discharge. The pump flow can be characterized by a discharge function which applies to both full- and part-capacity pump flows. At the full pump capacity, the discharge fluctuation is determined solely by the number of plungers: a pump with an odd number of plungers has more ripples and lower amplitudes in its discharge than a pump with an even number of plungers does. A pump operates at a part capacity has more fluctuations in the discharge than when at the full capacity.

A comparative study of characteristics of diesel fuel and dimethyl ether sprays was conducted on the basis of momentum conservation. The analysis reveals that the DME spray in the diesel combustion system may not develop as well as that of diesel fuel at high engine loads and speeds due primarily to the following reasons. (1) Because 42% more fuel volume must be injected into the engine to reach the diesel-fuel equivalent and because the DME injection pressure is lower than that of diesel fuel, longer injection duration for DME is needed even if with the enlarged orifice diameters.

On the basis of the molecular thermodynamics for fluids, the thermodynamic properties of DME are developed for pressure p ≤ 500 bar and temperature T ≤ 200 °C, which covers pressures and temperatures that a DME fuel system for the CI-engine application would experience. The properties cover subcooled, two-phase, and superheated/supercritical regions, including p-v-T properties, enthalpy, entropy, latent heat, heat capacity, speed of sound in vapor, liquid and two-phase mixtures, bulk modulus, and surface tension. A volume-cubic equation of state for DME also is developed, which allows calculating the DME density at any given pressure and temperature analytically. All the properties are given in equations as well as in charts. For convenience in two-phase-flow applications, e.g., design of the fuel tank and cavitation analysis, the saturated properties are also given in tables, listed in both pressure and temperature up to the critical point.

Compression ignition delay of DME is studied theoretically. Physical phenomena that would influence the ignition delay, characteristics of the DME spray and evaporation of DME droplets in the spray, are analyzed. It is found that the short ignition delay of DME revealed in engine tests is due largely to the short physical delay of DME: The evaporation rate of DME droplets is about twice that of diesel-fuel droplets at the same cylinder condition and, the stoichiometric mixture in a DME spray can be established immediately - in comparison, the stoichiometric mixture in a diesel-fuel spray cannot be established before temperatures of diesel-fuel droplets become higher than 225 °C. The high droplet evaporation rate of DME is also responsible for the irregular boundary and tip of the DME spray as observed by many investigators. On the basis of experimental data reported in the literature, cetane number of DME is estimated to be 68.

In this paper, dependence of liquid-DME viscosity on temperature and pressure was studied theoretically. It was found that in the saturated-liquid state, the DME viscosity is 0.37 cSt at - 40 ° C and it drops to 0.17 cSt when temperature increases to 80 ° C. In the subcooled-liquid state, viscosity varies linearly with pressure at a given temperature; at 20 ° C, viscosity of the subcooled liquid is 0.23 cSt at 5.3 bar and it increases to 0.33 cSt at 500 bar. The predicted liquid-DME viscosity and its pressure dependence agree with those obtained by measurement. Lubricity of liquid DME also was studied. Polar-headed, long-chain alcohols and fatty acids with chain length of C15 ∼ C22 were found to be candidates of lubricity additives for DME. Castor oil (chemically, it is basically a C18 fatty acid) was found to be a good additive for improving the DME lubricity.

A novel fuel tank for storing liquid dimethyl ether (DME) has been developed. This fuel tank was made of cast aluminum with a water capacity of 40 liters. It contains two fluids: liquid DME and a vapor-liquid mixture of propane. A diaphragm separates the two fluids. The propane in the tank is a pressurizing fluid that pressurizes DME into a subcooled-liquid state; and, it also functions as a driving fluid that pumps the liquid DME from the tank to the injection pump using its vapor pressure. These features characterize the tank as a thermodynamic pump. Several hundred hours of tank tests at various temperatures have been conducted. Results of tank filling-discharge cycles simulating those in vehicle applications demonstrated that the concept of the two-fluid thermodynamic pump works and that the tank design is successful.

This paper analyzed chemical and thermophysical properties of dimethyl ether (DME) as an alternative fuel for compression-ignition engines. On the basis of the chemical structure of DME and the molecular thermodynamics of fluids, equations have been developed for most of the DME thermophysical properties that would influence the fuel-system performance. These equations are easy to use and accurate in the pressure and temperature ranges for CI engine applications. The paper also pointed out that the DME spray in the engine cylinder would differ significantly from that of diesel fuel due to the thermodynamic characteristics of DME. The DME spray pattern will affect the mixing and combustion processes in the engine cylinder, which, in turn, will influence emissions from combustion.

A variable-displacement, 275-bar dimethyl-ether pump for a common-rail injection system has been developed successfully. The pump is an inlet-throttled, wobble-plate-actuated, multi-plunger system. Results of the pump tests/simulations show that the pump can deliver fuel according to the engine requirement at different speeds due to its variable-displacement feature, which is obtained by controlling the discharge phase angle via the two-phase filling characteristic of the pump. Although the pump is designed for dimethyl ether, its concept is general and thus may be applied to the common-rail systems for other fuels.

A novel, electronically controlled, common rail fuel injection system has been designed and developed by the authors under a contract from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). This system was specifically designed for direct injection of liquid dimethyl ether (DME) to achieve ultra-low emissions of NOx & particulate matter from conventional diesel engines. However, the system's basic characteristics also make it suitable for direct injection of ethanol & methanol in compression-ignition engines, and direct injection of liquid propane and gasoline in spark-ignition engines.