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Hydrogen engines have problems of knocking, lower thermal efficiency and NOX emission. These problems are caused by the hydrogen characteristics of high burning velocity. This study tried to reduce rapid combustion of hydrogen. Hydrogen was injected directly into the combustion chamber and the hydrogen-jet was ignited by a spark plug. Moreover, this kind of combustion system was applied to a newly developed engine employing Z-crankshaft mechanism. This mechanism can realize a quasi-constant volumetric cycle. In the result, the engine realizes knock-less combustion with low NOX emission. In addition, Z-crankshaft engine can keep high thermal efficiency even at late ignition timing.

Diesel spray evaporation in a high pressure and high ambient temperature close to actual diesel engine condition was investigated in this study. A nano-spark shadowgraph photography technique and a rapid compression machine were applied in this experiment. By using this method, relatively clear image of liquid phase, vapor phase and droplets was obtained. In order to quantify the spray characteristics in the spray liquid area and vapor phase area, an image analysis method was applied. An algorithm was developed to quantify the droplets size and number of the droplets characteristic in the vapor phase. Experimental results have revealed that the injection pressure and the ambient temperature do not affect the spray penetration length apparently. In the case of ambient temperature Ti = 700K, the liquid core is observed in the region near the spray axis. Meanwhile, the vapor exists mostly in the outer region in the middle of the spray.

This study investigates the effect of using waste cooking oil (WCO) and Bio-diesel Fuel (BDF) of WCO on combustion performance and exhaust emissions compared with diesel fuel (JIS#2) in a direct injection diesel engine. Results show that WCO and BDF emit higher concentration of SOF at low load compared with JIS#2. A study on blending WCO and BDF with several percentage of JIS#2 reveals that reduction of kinematic viscosity would be able to improve SOF emissions at low load. SOF emission also can be reduced by using high squish combustion chamber which continues high turbulence combustion in the chamber.

The chemical behaviors of diesel fuel and the effects of aromatic content on combustion characteristics and NOx histories were experimentally investigated using a rapid compression machine and a total-gas sampling device. The aromatic content was changed under constant cetane number. Composition of the individual hydrocarbons, inorganic gases and NOx under various ambient temperatures and fuel injection pressures were analyzed with aromatic-free and aromatic-containing fuels. The results indicate that injected fuel is rapidly decomposed and dehydrogenated during the ignition delay period. The decomposed low boiling-point hydrocarbons consist of mainly unsaturated hydrocarbons such as C2H4, C2H2 and C3H6 at the initial combustion phase. At the diffusion combustion phase, the low boiling-point hydrocarbons consist of mainly CH4.

The aim of this study is to develop a plasma-assisted after-treatment system for simultaneous reduction of NOx and PM in diesel exhaust, which is less sensitive to the fuel sulfur. The work presented focuses on development of a high-frequency dielectric barrier discharge reactor for oxidation of NO to NO2 in diesel exhaust and low-temperature oxidation of diesel soot with NO2. The first part of this paper describes the combustion characteristics of carbonaceous matters with pure NO2 and discusses the difference when oxygen is used as oxidation agent. The second part focuses on the development of a high-frequency dielectric barrier plasma reactor and describes the effects of plasma reactor configuration, energy density and gas composition on the NO conversion into NO2, and last part describes the soot oxidation with the plasma gas. The results reveal that NO can be efficiently oxidized into NO2 using the developed plasma reactor.

Effects of water-emulsified fuel on diesel combustion and emission reduction process were investigated under various ambient temperatures, equivalence ratios and water addition ratios using a rapid compression machine and a total-gas sampling device. The results indicate that promoted diffusion combustion of emulsified fuels offers a shorter combustion duration and an increase in amount of heat release when compared with those of gas oil. NOx concentration decreases with increasing the water content in emulsion fuels. This reduction is due to low NO formation rate and short duration of NO formation. Laser extinction measurement of the in-chamber KL factor shows that soot oxidation is promoted for emulsified fuels during the diffusion combustion stage.

The objective of this investigation is to characterize the influence of injection parameters and spray-wall interaction on atomization and gas entrainment processes of high-pressure non-evaporative sprays injected into a high-pressure vessel using several imaging techniques. The effects of injection pressure on the droplet distribution, size and velocity were quantified using single and double nano second exposure photography techniques. A laser-sheet imaging method was employed to measure the two-dimensional gas velocity around the spray and to clarify the effects of the above parameters on the gas entrainment into the impinging sprays. It was found that increasing the injection pressure causes an increase in droplet number in both free and wall-jet regions of the sprays. Spray-wall impingement creates a large-scale gas vortex around the spray, which promotes the gas entrainment into sprays typically at the impinging zone, and it also affects the spatial distribution of droplets.

This study investigates the effects of fuel properties on combustion characteristics and emissions such as NOx, smoke, THC and particulates in a direct-injection diesel engine. Fuel properties, such as cetane number and aromatic content, are varied independently in the experiments to separate their effects. The engine tests are carried out at steady operation with changed load, injection timing and injection pressure. The results show that reducing cetane number results in the increase of NOx and decrease of particulate emission at high load. This is because the low cetane number fuel has the long ignition delay and causes the high maximum heat release rate and the short combustion duration. However, high THC emission is produced at low load for the low cetane number fuel.

In this study it is tried to reduce NOx and particulate emissions simultaneously in a direct injection diesel engine based on the concept of two-stage combustion. At initial combustion stage, NOx emission is reduced with fuel rich combustion. At diffusion combustion stage, particulate emission is reduced with high turbulence combustion. The high squish combustion chamber with reduced throat diameter is used to realize two-stage combustion. This combustion chamber is designed to produce strong squish that causes high turbulence. When throat diameter of the high squish combustion chamber is reduced to some extent, simultaneous reduction of NOx and particulate emissions is achieved with less deterioration of fuel consumption at retarded injection timing. Further reduction of NOx emission is realized by reducing the cavity volume of the high squish combustion chamber. Analysis by endoscopic high speed photography and CFD calculation describes the experimental results.

A single nano-spark back light photography method has been developed to record the image of non-evaporating diesel sprays injected into high pressure nitrogen gas. Relatively clear image of fine droplets and spray was obtained. An image analysis method has been developed to quantify the droplet characteristics which are in focus, such as droplet size and shape. Spatial and temporal distribution of droplets has been clarified. It was observed that the number of droplets around the nozzle tip region decreases by time, however a large number of droplets were observed at X=13∼25 mm from nozzle tip at t=300∼700 μs from injection start. Double-nano spark photography of diesel sprays was carried out and relatively clear double exposure images of droplets were obtained on the same film. Two dimensional size and velocity measurement of droplets were simultaneously carried out based on these photographs.

A systematic study on particulate mass emission from a high-speed direct-injection diesel engine was conducted using a mini-dilution sampling method. Effects of fuel-air equivalence ratio, engine speed, injection timing, and swirl intensity are presented and discussed with special regard to soluble organic fraction (SOF) and hydrocarbons. Results show that these concentrations are greatly affected by ignition delay or by temperature level in the engine cylinder. As the sources of SOF and hydrocarbons, local and bulk quenching of the charge, interaction of the fuel spray with the combustion chamber walls, and slow thermal decomposition of fuel are considered and discussed. Among them, the significance of the fuel decomposition is pointed out, by separate experiments on a simulated engine by using an in-cylinder gas-sampling technique.

A high-speed gas-sampling technique has been applied to reveal the time development of spatial distributions of several chemical species produced during combustion in the swirl and the main chambers. To enable traversed gas-sampling in each chamber, experiments have been made by using a double-scavenged two-stroke cycle engine with a simulated two-dimensional chamber configuration. By these experiments the following matters have been examined in detail; the extent of fuel-rich zones, their decay with time, the action of swirling air motion, the formation of nitric oxide, the formation of hydrocarbons and of carboneous substance, the state of the outflow of gas from the swirl chamber into the main chamber, and the flame spread within the main chamber. Besides, the influences of some operating conditions and of design parameters, such as overall fuel-air ratio, injection timing, dimension of connecting passage, and direction of the fuel spray, upon these items have been investigated.