Effects of split injection proportion and the second injection timings on the combustion and emissions of a dual fuel SI engine with split hydrogen direct injection

In this paper, a new kind of injection mode, split hydrogen direct injection, was presented for a dual fuel SI engine. Six different first injection proportions (IP1) and five different second injection timings were applied at the condition of excess air ratio of 1, first injection timing of 300°CA BTDC, low speed, low load conditions and the Minimum spark advance for Best Torque (MBT) on a dual fuel SI engine with hydrogen direct injection (HDI) plus port fuel injection (PFI). The result showed that, split hydrogen direct injection can achieve a higher brake thermal efficiency and lower emissions compared with single HDI. In comparison with single HDI, the split hydrogen direct injection can form a controlled stratified condition of hydrogen which could make the combustion more complete and faster. By adding an early spray to form a more homogeneous mixture, the split hydrogen direct injection not only can help to form a flame kernel to make the combustion stable, but also can speed up the combustion rate through the whole combustion process, which can improve the brake thermal efficiency. By split hydrogen direct injection, the torque reaches the highest when the first injection proportion is 33%, which improves by 1.13% on average than that of single HDI. With the delay of second injection timing, the torque increases first and then decreases. With the increase of first injection proportion, the best second injection timing is advanced. Furthermore, by forming a more homogeneous mixture, the split hydrogen direct injection can reduce the quenching distance to reduce the HC emission and reduce the maximum temperature to reduce the NO_X. The split hydrogen direct injection can reduce the HC emission by 35.8%, the NO_X emissions by 7.3% than that of single HDI.     

Numerical study on effects of hydrogen direct injection on hydrogen mixture distribution,combustion and emissions of a gasoline/hydrogen SI engine under lean burn condition

A numerical study on effects of hydrogen direct injection on hydrogen mixture distribution, combustion and emissions was presented for a gasoline/hydrogen SI engine. Under lean burn conditions, five different direct hydrogen injection timings were applied at low speeds and low loads on SI engines with direct hydrogen injection (HDI) and gasoline port injection. The results were showed as following: firstly, with the increase of hydrogen direct injection timing, the hydrogen concentration near the sparking plug first increases and then decreases, reaching the highest when hydrogen direct injection timing is 120°CA BTDC: Secondly, hydrogen can speed up the combustion rate. The main factor affecting the combustion rate and efficiency is the hydrogen concentration near the sparking plug: Thirdly, in comparing with gasoline, the NO_X emissions with hydrogen addition increase by an average of 115%. For different hydrogen direct injection timings, the NO_X emissions of 120°CA BTDC is the highest, which is 29.9% higher than the 75°CA BTDC. The hydrogen addition make the NO_X emissions increase in two ways. On the one hand, the average temperature with hydrogen addition is higher. On the other hand, the temperature with hydrogen addition is not homogeneous, which makes the peak of temperature much higher. In a word, the main factor of NO_X emissions is the size of high temperature zone in the cylinder: Finally, because the combustion is more complete, in comparing with gasoline, hydrogen addition can reduce the CO and HC emissions by 32.2% and 80.4% respectively. Since a more homogeneous hydrogen mixture distribution can influence a lager zone in the cylinder and reduce the wall quenching distance, these emissions decrease with the increase of hydrogen direct injection timing. The CO and HC emissions of 135°CA BTDC decrease by 41.5% and 71.4%, respectively, compared to 75°CA BTDC.     

Effects of hydrogen injection strategy on the hydrogen mixture distribution and combustion of a gasoline/hydrogen SI engine under lean burn condition

Hydrogen is a carbon free energy carrier with high diffusivity and reactivity, it has been proved to be a kind of suitable blending fuel of spark ignition (SI) engine to achieve better efficiency and emissions. Hydrogen injection strategy affects the engine performance obviously. To optimize the combustion and emissions, a comparative study on the effects of the hydrogen injection strategy on the hydrogen mixture distribution, combustion and emission was investigated at a SI engine with gasoline intake port injection and four hydrogen injection strategies, hydrogen direct injection (HDI) with stratified hydrogen mixture distribution (SHMD), hydrogen intake port injection with premixed hydrogen mixture distribution (PHMD), split hydrogen direct injection (SHDI) with partially premixed hydrogen mixture distribution (PPHMD) and no hydrogen addition. Results showed that different hydrogen injection strategy formed different kinds of hydrogen mixture distribution (HMD). The ignition and combustion rate played an important role on engine efficiency. Since the SHDI could use two hydrogen injection to organize the HMD, the ignition and combustion rate with the PPHMD was the fastest. With the PPHMD, the brake thermal efficiency of the engine was the highest and the emissions were slight more than that with the PHMD. PHMD achieve the optimum emission performance by its homogeneous hydrogen. The engine combustion and emission performance can be optimized by adjusting the hydrogen injection strategy.     

Experimental study of the effects of excess air ratio on combustion and emission characteristics of the hydrogen-fueled rotary engine

To investigate the property of the promising and eco-friendly hydrogen-fueled rotary engine, the effect of excess air ratio on the combustion and emission characteristic of it was explored by experiment. The test was conducted under 1500 rpm and 5 CAD ADTC ignition timing. The test results demonstrated that with the decrease of excess air ratio from 2 to 0.85, the thermal efficiency of the hydrogen-fueled rotary engine increases first and then decreases. Besides, increasing MAP is beneficial to improve thermal efficiency. Among the tested condition, the highest brake thermal efficiency is realized when the rotary engine operates at 1.4 excess air ratio and 88 kPa MAP, about 18.34%. And the excellent HC and NO emissions can be obtained at the highest efficiency point. Besides, with the decrease of excess air ratio and the increase of load, the stability and flame development period gradually decrease. With a decreased excess air ratio, the flame propagation period decrease first and then increases, whereas work capacity and thermal efficiency increase first and then decrease. For NO emission, it will increase sharply near the equivalent ratio and gradually decrease after rich combustion. Also, according to the analytical model, it is found that the power performance of the rotary engine depends on the trade-off relationship of in-cylinder pressure and its angle of action.     

Experimental study on heat and exergy balance of a dual-fuel combined injection engine with hydrogen and gasoline

In this paper, a dual-fuel engine test rig with gasoline injected in the intake port and gasoline (or hydrogen) injected directly into the cylinder is built up; therefore, two injection models are realized. One is port fuel injection + gasoline direct injection (PFI + GDI), the other is port fuel injection + hydrogen direct injection (PFI + HDI). And the effects of two injection models on heat and exergy balance are investigated experimentally. The results show that, from the perspective of the first law of thermodynamics (heat balance), no matter what the injection mode is, the heat proportion of cooling water is the largest, the exhaust heat ratio and brake power are the second, which two are roughly equivalent, and the uncounted loss is the least. In PFI + GDI mode, the local mixture is too dense due to the increase of mixing ratio, which leads to insufficient combustion and a slight decrease of brake power ratio. However, due to the special characteristics of hydrogen, the increase of direct injection ratio improves the brake power ratio in PFI + HDI mode. Moreover, because of the short quenching distance of hydrogen, the cooling loss rises up with the increase of hydrogen ratio. The engine speed and load also have great impacts on heat distribution, but on account of the different physical and chemical properties between gasoline and hydrogen, resulting in varying degrees of impact and trends. On the basis of the second law of thermodynamics (exergy balance), it is found that no matter what injection mode is, the ratio of exergy destruction is always the highest, accounting for half of the total fuel energy, and the exhaust exergy ratio is lower than the brake power ratio. However, the proportion of exergy contained in cooling water is the smallest, which is quite different from the result of the first law of thermodynamics. The influences of several factors on engine energy balance are analyzed, and the differences and similarities between heat balance and exergy balance are compared. The two analytical methods are interrelated and complementary, and the purpose is to find a reasonable and comprehensive energy balance analysis method for internal combustion engine.     

Energy and exergy analysis of a combined injection engine using gasoline port injection coupled with gasoline or hydrogen direct injection under lean-burn conditions

Hydrogen is considered to be a suitable supplementary fuel for Spark Ignition (SI) engines. The energy and exergy analysis of engines is important to provide theoretical fundaments for the improvement of energy and exergy efficiency. However, few studies on the energy and exergy balance of the engine working under Hydrogen Direct Injection (HDI) plus Gasoline Port Injection (GPI) mode under lean-burn conditions are reported. In this paper, the effects of two different modes on the energy and exergy balance of a SI engine working under lean-burn conditions are presented. Two different modes (GPI + GDI and GPI + HDI), five gasoline and hydrogen direct injection fractions (0, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%), and five excess air ratios (1, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4) are studied. The results show that the cooling water takes the 39.40% of the fuel energy on average under GPI + GDI mode under lean-burn conditions, and the value is 40.70% for GPI + HDI mode. The exergy destruction occupies the 56.12% of the fuel exergy on average under GPI + GDI mode under lean-burn conditions, and the value is 54.89% for GPI + HDI mode. The brake thermal efficiency and exergy efficiency of the engine can be improved by 0.29% and 0.31% at the excess air ratio of 1.1 under GPI + GDI mode on average, and the average values are 0.56% and 0.71% for GPI + HDI mode.     

Effect of hydrogen addition using on-board alkaline electrolyser on SI engine emissions and combustion

In this study, an electrolyser was used to supply hydrogen to the SI engine. Firstly, the appropriate operation point for the electrolyser was determined by adjusting the amount of KOH in the electrolyte to 5%, 10%, 20% and 30% by mass, and applying 12 V, 16 V, 20 V, 24 V and 28 V voltages. Tests were first carried out with the gasoline without the use of an electrolyser, followed by operating the electrolyser at the appropriate point and sending obtained H₂ and O₂ to the engine in addition to the gasoline. The SI engine was operated between 2500 rpm and 3500 rpm engine speeds with and without hydrogen addition. Cylinder pressure, the amount of gasoline, H₂ and O₂ consumed by the engine and the emission data were collected from the test system at the aforementioned engine speeds. Furthermore, indicated engine torque, indicated specific energy consumption, specific emissions and HRR values were calculated. According to the results obtained, improvement in ISEC values was observed, and CO and THC values were improved by up to 21.3% and 86.1% respectively. Even though the dramatic increase in NO_x emissions cannot be averted, they can be controlled by equipment such as EGR three-way catalytic converter.     

Analysis of the particulate emissions and combustion performance of a direct injection spark ignition engine using hydrogen and gasoline mixtures

Three different fractions (2%, 5%, and 10% of stoichiometric, or 2.38%, 5.92%, and 11.73% by energy fraction) of hydrogen were aspirated into a gasoline direct injection engine under two different load conditions. The base fuel was 65% iso-octane, and 35% toluene by volume fraction. Ignition sweeps were conducted for each operation point. The pressure traces were recorded for further analysis, and the particulate emission size distributions were measured using a Cambustion DMS500. The results indicated a more stable and faster combustion as more hydrogen was blended. Meanwhile, a substantial reduction in particulate emissions was found at the low load condition (more than 95% reduction either in terms of number concentration or mass concentration when blending 10% hydrogen). Some variation in the results occurred at the high load condition, but the particulate emissions were reduced in most cases, especially for nucleation mode particulate matter. Retarding the ignition timing generally reduced the particulate emissions. An engine model was constructed using the Ricardo WAVE package to assist in understanding the data. The simulation reported a higher residual gas fraction at low load, which explained the higher level of cycle-by-cycle variation at the low load.     

Experimental study on lean-burn characteristics of an SI engine with hydrogen/gasoline combined injection and EGR

Hydrogen has shown potential for improving the combustion and emission characteristics of the spark ignition (SI) dual-fuel engine. To reduce the additional NO_x emissions caused by hydrogen direct injection, in this research, the cooperative control of the addition of hydrogen with exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) in the hydrogen/gasoline combined injection engine was investigated. The results indicate that both the addition of hydrogen and the use of EGR can increase the brake mean effective pressure (BMEP). As the α_H2 value increases from 0% to 25%, the maximum BMEP increases by 9%, 12.70%, 16.50%, 11.30%, and 8.20%, respectively, compared with the value without EGR at λ = 1.2. The CA0-10 tends to increase with increases in the EGR rate. However, the effect of EGR in increasing the CA0-10 can be offset by the addition of 15% hydrogen at λ = 1.2. Measurements of the coefficient of variation of the indicated mean effective pressure (COV_IMEP) indicate that the addition of hydrogen can effectively extend the EGR limit. Regarding gaseous emissions, NO_x emissions, after the introduction of EGR and the addition of hydrogen, are lower than those of pure gasoline without EGR. An 18% EGR rate yields a significant reduction in NO_x, reaching maximum decreases of about 82.7%, 77.8%, and 60% compared to values without EGR at λ = 1.0, 1.2, and 1.4, respectively. As the EGR rate increases, the hydrocarbon (HC) emissions continuously increase, whereas a blend of 5% hydrogen can significantly reduce the HC emissions at high EGR rates at λ = 1.4. Finally, according to combustion and emissions, the coupling of a 25% addition of hydrogen with 30% EGR at λ = 1.2, and the coupling of a 20% addition of hydrogen with an 18% EGR rate at λ = 1.4 yield the best results.     

Comparisons of hydrogen and gasoline combustion knock in a spark ignition engine

Combustion knock is one of the primary constraints limiting the performance of spark-ignition hydrogen fuelled internal combustion engines (H2-ICE) as it limits the torque output and efficiency, particularly as the equivalence ratio nears stoichiometric operation. Understanding the characteristic of combustion knock in a H2-ICE will provide better techniques for its detection, prevention and control while enabling operation at conditions of improved efficiency.

Engine studies examining combustion knock characteristics were conducted with hydrogen and gasoline fuels in a port-injected, spark-ignited, single cylinder cooperative fuel research (CFR) engine. Characterization of the signals at varying levels of combustion knock from cylinder pressure and a block mounted piezoelectric accelerometer were conducted including frequency, signal intensity, and statistical attributes. Further, through the comparisons with gasoline combustion knock, it was found that knock detection techniques used for gasoline engines, can be applied to a H2-ICE with appropriate modifications. This work provides insight for further development in real time knock detection. This would help in improving reliability of hydrogen engines while allowing the engine to be operated closer to combustion knock limits to increase engine performance and reducing possibility of engine damage due to knock.     

Effect of addition of hydrogen and exhaust gas recirculation on characteristics of hydrogen gasoline engine

The effects of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) on combustion and emissions under different hydrogen ratios were studied based on an engine with a gasoline intake port injection and hydrogen direct injection. The peak cylinder pressure increases by 9.8% in the presence of a small amount of hydrogen. The heat release from combustion is more concentrated, and the engine torque can increase by 11% with a small amount of hydrogen addition. Nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions can be reduced by EGR dilution. Hydrogen addition offsets the blocking effect of EGR on combustion partially, therefore, hydrogen addition permits a higher original engine EGR rate, and yields a larger throttle opening, which improves the mechanical efficiency and decreases NOx emissions by 54.8% compared with the original engine. The effects of EGR on carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrocarbon (HC) emissions are not obvious and CO and HC emissions can be reduced sharply with hydrogen addition. CO, HC, and NOx emissions can be controlled at a lower level, engine output torque can be increased, and fuel consumption can be reduced significantly with the co-control of hydrogen addition and EGR in a hydrogen gasoline engine.     

Investigation of the gas injection rate shape on combustion,knock and emissions behavior of a rotary engine with hydrogen direct-injection enrichment

The application of hydrogen direct-injection enrichment improves the performance of gasoline Wankel rotary engine, and the hydrogen injection strategy has a significant impact on combustion, knock, and emissions. The Z160F Wankel rotary engine was used as the investigated compact engine, and the simulation model was developed using CONVERGE software. The combustion, knock and emissions characteristics of the engine were studied with the different mass flow of hydrogen injection, i.e., the trapezoid, wedge, slope, triangle and rectangle type of gas injection rate shape. In the numerical simulations, the in-cylinder pressure oscillations were monitored using monitoring points, and the knock index (KI) was used as an evaluation indicator. The study revealed that the gas injection rate shape significantly affected the mixture of hydrogen and air, thus impacting combustion, knock and emissions. When the injection rate shape was rectangle, the flame speed was faster, the peak pressure in the cylinder was higher, and the corresponding crank angle was earlier, which led to higher pressure oscillations in the cylinder and larger KI. Based on the rectangle injection rate shape, the KI decreased by 75.81%, 33.47%, 26.46% and 76.58% for trapezoid, wedge, slope, and triangle, respectively, and the indicated mean effective pressure increased by 15.68%, 5.07%, 0.56% and 14.98%, respectively. Due to the small difference in maximum temperature, which resulted in very little variation in nitrogen oxides for each injection rate shape, the total hydrocarbon emissions of the trapezoid and triangle injection rate shape was high due to the delayed combustion phase. This paper provides a solution for direct hydrogen injection to improve the combustion, knock and emissions behavior of the rotary engine.     

Experimental investigation of the effects of simultaneous hydrogen and nitrogen addition on the emissions and combustion of a diesel engine

Overcoming diesel engine emissions trade-off effects, especially NO_x and Bosch smoke number (BSN), requires investigation of novel systems which can potentially serve the automobile industry towards further emissions reduction. Enrichment of the intake charge with H₂ + N₂ containing gas mixture, obtained from diesel fuel reforming system, can lead to new generation low polluting diesel engines.     

Theoretical investigation of the combustion performance of ammonia/hydrogen mixtures on a marine diesel engine

Ammonia is a good hydrogen carrier and can be well combined with hydrogen for combustion. The combustion performance of the mixtures of ammonia and hydrogen in a medium-speed marine diesel engine was investigated theoretically. The HCCI combustion mode was selected for reducing thermal-NO_x production. The start fire characteristic of the NH₃–H₂ mixtures was studied under different equivalence ratio, hydrogen-doped ratio, and intake air temperature and pressure. Then, the combustion performance of the NH₃–H₂ mixtures (doping 30% hydrogen) was analyzed at a typical operation condition of engine. The addition hydrogen improved the laminar flame velocity of ammonia, and affected the NO_x emission. For the medium-speed marine engine fueled with NH₃–H₂, reducing combustion temperature, introducing EGR and combining with post-treatment technology would be a feasible scheme to reduce NO_x emission.     

Optical study on the effects of the hydrogen injection timing on lean combustion characteristics using a natural gas/hydrogen dual-fuel injected spark-ignition engine

Lean combustion has the potential to achieve higher thermal efficiency for internal combustion (IC) engines. However, natural gas engines often suffer from slow burning rate and large cyclic variations when adopting lean combustion. In this study, using a dual-fuel optical engine with a high compression ratio, the effects of direct-injected hydrogen on lean combustion characteristics of natural gas engines was investigated, emphasizing the role of hydrogen injection timing. Synchronization measurement of in-cylinder pressure and high-speed photography was performed for combustion analysis. The results show that the direct-injected hydrogen exhibits great improvement in lean combustion instability and power capability of natural gas engines. Visual images and combustion phasing analysis indicate that the underlying reasons are ascribed to the fast flame propagation with hydrogen addition. Regarding the direct injection timings, it is found that late injection of direct-injected hydrogen can achieve higher thermal efficiency, manifesting advanced combustion phasing, and increased heat release rate. Specifically, the flame propagation speed is elevated by approximately 50% at ?100 CAD than that of ?250 CAD. Further analysis indicates that the improvement of engine performance is ascribed to the increased volumetric efficiency and in-cylinder turbulence intensity, manifesting distinct flame centroid pathways at different injection timings. The current study provides insights into the combustion optimization of natural gas engines under lean burning conditions.     

Effect of hydrogen addition on the combustion and emission of a diesel free-piston engine

The free-piston engine (FPE) is a new crankless engine, which operates with variable compression ratio, flexible fuel applicability and low pollution potential. A numerical model which couples with dynamic, combustion and gas exchange was established and verified by experiment to simulate the effects of different hydrogen addition on the combustion and emission of a diesel FPE. Results indicate that a small amount of hydrogen addition has a little effect on the combustion process of the FPE. However, when the ratio of hydrogen addition (R_H2) is more than 0.1, the R_H2 gives a positive effect on the peak in-cylinder gas pressure, temperature, and nitric oxide emission of the FPE, while soot emission decreases with the increase of hydrogen addition. Moreover, the larger R_H2 induces a longer ignition delay, shorter rapid combustion period, weaker post-combustion effect, greater heat release rate, and earlier peak heat release rate for the FPE. Nevertheless, the released heat in rapid combustion period is significantly enhanced by the increase of R_H2.     

Effect of hydrogen nanobubble addition on combustion characteristics of gasoline engine

Hydrogen is an attractive energy source for improving gasoline engine performance. In this paper, a new hydrogen nanobubble gasoline blend is introduced, and the influence of hydrogen nanobubble on the combustion characteristics of a gasoline engine is experimentally investigated. The test was performed at a constant engine speed of 2000 rpm, and engine load of 40, 60, and 80%. The air-to-fuel equivalence ratio (λ) was adjusted to the stoichiometric (λ = 1), for both gasoline, and the hydrogen nanobubble gasoline blend. The results show that the mean diameter and concentration of hydrogen nanobubble in the gasoline blend are 149 nm and about 11.35 × 10⁸ particles/ml, respectively. The engine test results show that the power of a gasoline engine with hydrogen nanobubble gasoline blend was improved to 4.0% (27.00 kW), in comparison with conventional gasoline (25.96 kW), at the engine load of 40%. Also, the brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) was improved, from 291.10 g/kWh for the conventional gasoline, to 269.48 g/kWh for the hydrogen nanobubble gasoline blend, at the engine load of 40%.     

Assessment of combustion and exhaust emissions in a common-rail diesel engine fueled with methane and hydrogen/methane mixtures under different compression ratio

This study investigates the potential usage of the methane and hydrogen enriched methane in a turbocharged common-rail direct injection diesel engine. Methane and hydrogen/methane mixtures are sent through the air intake manifold of the engine. The engine is operated at four different loads and three different compression ratios. Results are compared amongst single diesel and dual-fuel operations at different compression ratios and load conditions. Compared to diesel, dual-fuel operations mostly generate higher and advanced peak in-cylinder gas pressure, more combustion noise, late pilot injection and start of combustion, advanced combustion center, substantial variations at ignition delay and combustion duration, a significant increase in cyclic variations at low and medium loads, and earlier heat release. Hydrogen enrichment decreases evidently specific fuel consumption. Concerning emissions, compared to diesel operation, dual-fuel operations produce higher total hydrocarbon (THC) and nitrogen oxides (NO_x) but lower carbon dioxide (CO₂). Hydrogen substitutions decrease THC and CO₂ emissions of methane dual-fuel operations approximately between 9-29% and 1–32%, respectively. Smoke emission of dual-fuel operations is less than that of diesel at low and medium loads, whereas it sharply increases at high load. Knocking occurs at high compression ratio and load conditions with dual-fuel operations and dramatically increases with increasing hydrogen ratio. Decreasing the compression ratio notably reduces the combustion noise as well as some emissions, such as NO_x, CO₂ and smoke, for entire load ranges of dual-fuel and diesel operations.     

Realizing low NOx emissions on a hydrogen-fuel spark ignition engine at the cold start period through excess air ratios control

In this paper, the effects of excess air ratios (λ) on nitric oxide (NOx) emissions of a hydrogen-fueled spark ignition engine in the cold start period are studied. Cold start characteristics of hydrogen-fueled engine were investigated experimentally. The study was performed under different λ. The experimental results showed that, when λ declined from 1.6 to 0.7, the peak engine speed within the first 6 s increased and in-cylinder pressure in the first cycle raised firstly then decreased slightly while the flame development and propagation periods shortened, and the exhaust temperature at the 6th s raised from 329 K to 355 K. In addition, NOx emissions obviously decreased, whereas hydrocarbon (HC) and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions caused by the evaporated lubricant oil increased by decreasing λ within the first 6 s.