Implementation and Control of Stoichiometric Natural Gas Combustion to Enable Low-emission Diesel Engines

Implementation and Control of Stoichiometric Natural Gas Combustion to Enable Low-emission Diesel Engines
Author: Nathaniel Bryce Oliver
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2018
Genre:
ISBN:

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The expected growth in the heavy-duty transportation sector necessitates the development of engine technologies able to increase efficiency and reduce emissions without sacrificing power output. Previous research has demonstrated that reducing heat transfer losses from the cylinder can enable significant efficiency gains in Diesel engines. The high in-cylinder temperatures generated in this engine architecture enable the use of low-cetane fuels with the potential for low-soot operation. Low soot emissions allow the equivalence ratio to be increased to stoichiometric which increases power, and could allow the existing Diesel aftertreatment system to be replaced with a less-expensive three-way catalyst. Natural gas is a promising candidate for stoichiometric, high-temperature, Diesel-style combustion. Its high hydrogen-to-carbon ratio should be able to reduce both soot and carbon dioxide emissions, and its wide distribution as a commercial and residential fuel provides existing infrastructure to speed deployment in transportation applications. This thesis demonstrates stoichiometric, Diesel-style combustion of neat methane as a single-component surrogate for natural gas. It explores the challenges of injecting a gaseous fuel at high pressures, and demonstrates the fuel's capacity for low emissions. It then provides a preliminary investigation into multiple-injection strategies for controlling combustion behavior and emissions in a stoichiometric, high-temperature engine architecture. First, fuel system hardware is developed to enable gaseous operation and preliminary experimentation is accomplished with methane. A fuel compression system is designed to supply methane at pressures suitably high to achieve good mixing and short injection durations, and a solenoid-actuated Diesel fuel injector is modeled and modified to inject methane at these pressures. This fuel injection system is then implemented on a single-cylinder engine. An insulated piston face, air cooled head, and intake preheating achieve suitable start of injection temperatures to ignite methane. Intake preheating is varied at low equivalence ratios to determine the sensitivity of engine performance to temperature at the lowest-load, lowest-temperature conditions of interest. A sweep of equivalence ratio demonstrates soot emissions roughly four times the current EPA limit for heavy-duty vehicles and combustion efficiencies of approximately 92% at stoichiometric fuel loading. High soot levels and low combustion efficiencies are also seen at the lowest equivalence ratios investigated. This suggests poorly mixed combustion, and poor injector performance. Second, injector dynamics are examined in greater detailed, and emissions performance is characterized with improved injector performance. High-speed Schlieren imaging is able to determine the injection dynamics contributing to high low-load emissions. A parametric modeling investigation suggests that reducing the injector plunger length is able to remove flow rate oscillations seen at long injection durations, and that the addition of dry friction is able to reduce the magnitude of low-momentum post injections occurring after injector closing. Dry friction is implemented using PTFE O-rings installed between the injector body and plunger. Imaging is used to confirm that a shortened plunger is able to remove long-duration oscillations, and to determine the number of O-rings necessary to suitably reduce post injection magnitude. The improved injector is used to repeat the sweep of equivalence ratios and demonstrates improved soot emissions at all operating conditions. Most notably, low-load soot emissions are reduced by more than a factor of ten, demonstrating the effectiveness of improved injector performance for improving emissions. Techniques for further improving injector performance and potential changes to injector design are discussed. Finally, the prospects for controlling combustion in a stoichiometric, low heat rejection Diesel engine using multiple injections are discussed and experimentally investigated. The applications and effects of multiple injection strategies in traditional Diesel engines are explored, and their potential extension to stoichiometric engines is discussed. Methanol engine operation enables the use of a fast-actuating piezoinjector and the realization of short injection pulses. A range of two-injection strategies are implemented in order to determine the sensitivity of engine operation to pilot, split-main, and post-injection timing and duration. Small pilot injections are found to have control authority over rate of pressure rise and peak pressure and show some promise for improving combustion efficiency. Post injections demonstrate authority over peak pressure and combustion efficiency. All of these effects are accomplished with minimal impact on engine work output. The experiments of this thesis demonstrate that, even with course control of injection, high-temperature, stoichiometric combustion of methane is able to greatly reduce soot emissions over traditional Diesel engines. Improved injector dynamics and the implementation of multiple injection strategies further improve emissions and combustion performance, suggesting substantial room for refinement of the technology and motivating the continued development of injector hardware and injection strategies. The ability to operate a Diesel engine at stoichiometric fueled only by natural gas and to employ a three-way catalyst for emissions abatement makes this strategy a clean, efficient, high-torque, and low-cost solution for heavy-duty transportation.

Exploration of Combustion Strategies for High-efficiency, Extreme-compression Engines

Exploration of Combustion Strategies for High-efficiency, Extreme-compression Engines
Author: Mr. Matthew Neil Svrcek
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2011
Genre:
ISBN:

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Increasing the compression ratio of an internal combustion engine to 100:1 or greater could potentially enable efficiencies greater than 60%. Understanding and managing the combustion process is a critical component to achieving this in practice. This thesis explores strategies for combustion at extreme compression ratios. First, the setup of a free-piston device capable of operating at 100:1 compression ratio is described. Initial performance results are reported for air-only experiments. Diesel-style combustion was the first approach taken, as it provides facile ignition phasing. Results are reported from initial lean Diesel combustion experiments at compression ratios ranging from 30 to 100:1. Indicated efficiency peaked at 60% for these experiments. To further understand Diesel-style combustion at extreme compression ratios, a study of Diesel sprays in the extreme compression apparatus was performed. The setup of a combined schlieren and direct luminosity imaging system with full-bore optical access is described. Spray penetration, dispersion, liquid length, and ignition delay are reported for combusting and non-combusting sprays. Compression ratios for these experiments ranged from 30 to 100:1. Spray behavior followed expected trends as a function of primary variables such as gas density. However, rapidly varying gas density from the free-piston profile impacts the spray penetration. Furthermore, at the highest compression ratios in-cylinder fluid motion dramatically affects the spray behavior, enabled by the low ratio of fuel to gas density. Systems added to the extreme compression apparatus to measure gaseous and particulate emissions are described. Emissions measurements from Diesel-style combustion of isooctane at 35:1 compression ratio are reported, to provide a reference case at conditions similar to conventional engines. Emissions were similar to those from production Diesel engines, with the exception that soot, HC, and CO increased more rapidly with equivalence ratio in the present study. Results from experiments with Diesel combustion up to 100:1 compression ratio are also reported. The combustion efficiency was 99% up to 100:1 compression ratio, and HC, CO and soot emissions were low. Emissions of NOx were 5 times higher at 100:1 than at 35:1, and would require aftertreatment. Stoichiometric, premixed-charge combustion enables the use of a three-way catalyst and produces low soot levels. Using this approach at extreme compression ratios requires delaying autoignition until the minimum volume is reached. Options for control of autoignition are discussed, and gas cooling is identified as the most effective. Pre-refrigeration, intercooling, and evaporation of a liquid are modeled and shown to effectively achieve the desired ignition timing at 100:1 compression ratio, without impacting the overall engine efficiency. Experimental results are reported for premixed methane-air combustion with intercooling control of autoignition, for 0.96 to 1.04 equivalence ratio and 35 to 90:1 effective compression ratio. The gas cooling requirement for autoignition control was higher than predicted by the models, but still within practical reach. The indicated efficiency peaked at 57%. Emissions levels from these experiments were similar to stoichiometric spark-ignited natural gas engines reported in the literature, and indicate that a three-way catalyst could be successfully used even at extreme compression ratios. Results are also reported for water injection control of autoignition. Autoignition was successfully controlled up to 60:1 effective compression ratio, but the mass of water required was an order of magnitude higher than predicted. This is shown to result from practical limitations of the current water injector setup.

COMBUSTION DEVELOPMENT OF A HIGH LOAD HIGH-EFFICIENCY MICRO-PILOT DIESEL NATURAL GAS ENGINE

COMBUSTION DEVELOPMENT OF A HIGH LOAD HIGH-EFFICIENCY MICRO-PILOT DIESEL NATURAL GAS ENGINE
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2022
Genre:
ISBN:

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Abstract : The conventional internal combustion engine will continue to exist for a long time. Likewise, demand for higher output efficiencies, higher specific power output, increased reliability, and lower emissions will continue to grow. There is also a growing requirement to run on various gaseous fuels and natural gas, whether for environmental, economic, or resource conservation reasons. This dissertation investigates a 6.7L diesel engine converted to run stoichiometric diesel micro-pilot / natural gas premix combustion with a maximum diesel contribution target of 5% of the total fuel energy with a three-way catalyst aftertreatment. The research centers on investigating the dominant factors and their impact on the critical barriers of this technology, including the positive and negative impact on combustion stability at low loads, the most influential factors and their impact on maximizing thermal efficiency at medium loads, the controlling parameters at preventing combustion knock at high-loads, and the ability of the three-way catalyst to minimize emissions. A diesel-like efficiency of 41% brake thermal efficiency was achieved with a high load output of 23 bar brake mean effective pressure when operating in the micro-pilot mode. This operating condition reduced up to 25% brake-specific CO2 emissions compared to diesel-only. Low loads can be achieved by delaying combustion phasing, reducing the injection pressure, adding exhaust gas to the intake, and increasing the total diesel pilot quantity. Maintaining stable ignition of the diesel pilot becomes a challenge at low loads, as the intake pressure is reduced; the chamber pressure at diesel injection decreases, and the presence of a near-stoichiometric mixture of NG will act to inhibit the diesel ignition. As such, maintaining the stoichiometric combustion resulted in a minimum load output of 5 bar BMEP. The pilot injection pressure reduction improved combustion stability at lower loads. While lean operation enabled further load reduction, it precludes using a three-way catalyst to control NOx emissions. At medium loads, a design of experiments investigation revealed that, when the equivalence ratio is constrained at stoichiometric, exhaust gas recirculation and pilot injection timing are the most influential factors in controlling combustion and performance metrics. In contrast, intake air temperature and pilot injection pressure showed the least sensitivity. While it was possible to achieve 25 bar BMEP for high loads, such operation was limited by pre-ignition. Exhaust gas recirculation and pilot injection timing can mitigate abnormal combustion effectively. At a steady-state, near stoichiometric condition, it was observed that the catalyst operates efficiently, consistent with a three-way catalyst operation with very low NOx and unburned methane emissions. Overall, this dissertation demonstrates that diesel-like performance can be achieved with the stoichiometric micro-pilot concept and provides an understanding of the primary controlling factors and their limitations.

Assessment of Fuel Economy Technologies for Light-Duty Vehicles

Assessment of Fuel Economy Technologies for Light-Duty Vehicles
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 373
Release: 2011-06-03
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309216389

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Various combinations of commercially available technologies could greatly reduce fuel consumption in passenger cars, sport-utility vehicles, minivans, and other light-duty vehicles without compromising vehicle performance or safety. Assessment of Technologies for Improving Light Duty Vehicle Fuel Economy estimates the potential fuel savings and costs to consumers of available technology combinations for three types of engines: spark-ignition gasoline, compression-ignition diesel, and hybrid. According to its estimates, adopting the full combination of improved technologies in medium and large cars and pickup trucks with spark-ignition engines could reduce fuel consumption by 29 percent at an additional cost of $2,200 to the consumer. Replacing spark-ignition engines with diesel engines and components would yield fuel savings of about 37 percent at an added cost of approximately $5,900 per vehicle, and replacing spark-ignition engines with hybrid engines and components would reduce fuel consumption by 43 percent at an increase of $6,000 per vehicle. The book focuses on fuel consumption-the amount of fuel consumed in a given driving distance-because energy savings are directly related to the amount of fuel used. In contrast, fuel economy measures how far a vehicle will travel with a gallon of fuel. Because fuel consumption data indicate money saved on fuel purchases and reductions in carbon dioxide emissions, the book finds that vehicle stickers should provide consumers with fuel consumption data in addition to fuel economy information.

Performance Simulation and Control Design for Diesel Engine NOx Emission Reduction Technologies

Performance Simulation and Control Design for Diesel Engine NOx Emission Reduction Technologies
Author: Hai Wu
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2011
Genre:
ISBN:

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Fuel efficiency and emission reductions are the two consistent drivers for internal combustion engine development for both on-highway and off-road vehicles. Advanced combustion technologies are proposed for the improvement of fuel consumption and reduction of harmful gas production inside the cylinder in laboratory engines. Outside cylinder technologies and after-treatment are the alternatives for a production engine to meet the stringent emission standards. Advanced control technologies play important roles in the realization of new technologies. This research was aimed at investigating possible techniques and feasible methods of implementation to reduce diesel engine emissions to meet the more stringent Tier 4 standards. In this study, two technologies are studied for off-road diesel engine NOx emission reductions: stoichiometric combustion ignition (SCI) and lean NOx trap (LNT). The concept of the stoichiometric compression ignition (SCI) engine was investigated for implementation in a turbocharged diesel engine through co-simulation. At first, an integrated environment for 1D engine modeling with control function was proposed for a SCI performance evaluation and control implementation. The SCI engine has been evaluated by Constant Speed Load Acceptance tests under steady-state and transient conditions. For SCI implementations, basic controls have been designed including air-fuel ratio (AFR) control, torque limiting control and idle speed control. The proposed control strategies have been verified with 1D detail models in the integrated environments. Further, the Mean Value Engine Model (MVEM) is proposed for advanced model based control design. The SCI engine subsystems are modeled using an orifice constrain model for throttle, turbine, and wastegate; filling and emptying model for intake and exhaust manifolds; rotational dynamic for engine camshaft and turbocharger shift, air-charging model and exhaust properties regressed by the data from integrated simulation at different engine operating conditions. The MVEM was implemented in Matlab/Simulink for verification. Modular and system verification was conducted for steady-state and transient state consistency with the 1D detail model. The results are promising, but the whole system needs further tuning for dynamic control design. The lean-NOx trap, as an alternative after-treatment for NOx control, has been studied for generic diesel engine emission control. Based on experimental data, an improved NOx adsorption model is proposed for integrated engine control and optimization.

Gas Engines for Co-generation

Gas Engines for Co-generation
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 94
Release: 1993
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN:

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These IMechE seminar proceedings review the latest developments in the field of gas engines and co-generation.