Search Results

An optically accessed, single-cylinder engine capable of operating at both spark ignition and Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) combustion was used to investigate the difference in the initiation and development of HCCI combustion due to charge stratification, internal Exhaust Gas Recirculation (iEGR) or spark discharge. Natural-light images were acquired to visualise the differences in chemiluminescent structure (i.e. reaction structures) at the early and late stages of formation during HCCI combustion in an attempt to find better ways of controlling HCCI combustion at low and high loads. Regardless of charge stratification, the cycle-to-cycle deviation of autoignition from temporal and spatial repeatability was comparatively small. Flame initiation appeared initially at single or spatially adjacent sites and we did not observe the growth of any new, (i.e. “secondary” in time) reacting ‘islands’ separate from the original sites.

A high-swirl, low Compression Ratio (CR), optically accessed engine that was able to produce a stratified charge was used to investigate the differences in HCCI combustion and in the propagation of the autoignition front between a non-stratified and a stratified charge. Furthermore the relevance of charge stratifying an engine using variable injection timing with large temperature inhomogeneities was investigated. The CHEMKIN code and a detailed reaction mechanism were used to simulate the fuel chemistry of ignition and combustion in a low CR engine. The aim of the simulation was to quantify the effect of initial mixture temperature, Ti and A/F ratio on cool flame and main ignition timing and to evaluate the possibility of charge stratifying our engine.

Lean combustion in spark-ignition engines has long been recognised as a means of reducing both exhaust emissions and fuel consumption. However, problems associated with cycle-by-cycle variations in flame initiation and development limit the range of lean-burn operation. An experimental investigation was undertaken in order to quantify the effects of spark energy released and initial flame kernel growth on the cyclic variability of IMEP and crank angle at which 5% mass fraction was burned in a Honda VTEC-E, stratified-charge, pentroof-type, single-cylinder, optically accessed, spark-ignition engine. Simultaneous CCD images of the flame at the spark plug were acquired from two orthogonal views (one through the piston crown and one through the pentroof) on a cycle-by-cycle basis during the first 40 crank angle degrees after ignition timing, for isooctane port injection at an air to fuel ratio of 22, engine speed of 1500 RPM, 30% volumetric efficiency and 40° crank angle spark advance.

Measurements are presented of droplet characteristics and air velocity in the cylinder of a 0.36 litre four valve engine, equipped with an sohc VTEC-E valve train and port injection. The results show that injection at crank angles, θinj(s), when the inlet valve is open results in most of the liquid volume flux being in the form of droplets with Sauter mean diameter between 20 and 30 mm which strikes the sleeve up to about 2.5 cm below the exhaust valves, thus generating a locally rich cloud there. The amount of liquid phase gasoline passing through the plane 16 mm below the spark plug gap increases with θinj(s) up to 50 CA after intake TDC and this, together with the crank angle of droplet arrival and vapour generation, controls stratification of the gaseous fuel phase. The optimum injection time is when the fuel-rich cloud is generated so that the tumble vortex convects it to the spark plug at the time of ignition.