A study on the effect of qualitative control coupling variable engine speed on the hydrogen-fueled Wankel rotary engine at wide-open throttle

Hydrogen-fueled Wankel rotary engine, with few available research currently, has excellent power and emission characteristics, however, with lower efficiency. With increasing attention to low-carbon emission, it is of great significance to explore methods to improve the efficiency of hydrogen-fueled Wankel rotary engines. This work aims to study the effect of qualitative control coupling variable engine speeds at the wide-open throttle on the power control. The comparative effect of qualitative control coupling engine speeds from 1000 r/min to 1500 r/min under the wide-open throttle and quantitative control at 1500 r/min on the combustion and emission characteristic of hydrogen-fueled Wankel rotary engine is investigated. The results show that compared with quantitative control, qualitative control coupling variable engine speed can achieve excellent performance. The brake thermal efficiency can be maximally increased by 43.5%, an absolute increase of 6.22%, as well the volumetric efficiency with a maximal 105% improvement. The thermal load and risk of knock can be greatly reduced. Moreover, NO emission also can be reduced by more than an order of magnitude or even by zero. Although there is an increase in cyclic variation, the value is no more than 4%. In addition, qualitative control coupling variable engine speed allows flexible matching of appropriate engine speed and excess air ratio based on the actual requirements of efficiency, stability, durability and emission.     

Optimization of the flame characteristics of H2–O2 coaxial injection applied to hydrogen-fueled argon cycle engines

The argon power cycle is one of the most promising technologies for high efficiency and low emission hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engines. The application of coaxial injection technology in the hydrogen-fueled argon engine can improve the mixing process and the combustion performance of the H₂/O₂ mixture. In this study, an innovative H₂–O₂ coaxial injection combustion system was designed to investigate the jet flame characteristics of oxygen coaxially wrapped by hydrogen in a controllable argon thermal atmosphere. The findings of this study could provide a new perspective for designing hydrogen-fueled argon engines in the future. The influences of co-flow temperature, jet injection pressure, and excess oxygen coefficient were all determined. Observations of the flame showed a bright blue flame with a reddish glow in the far-burner region. Experimental results show that the flame length, cross-sectional area, and area/perimeter ratio first decrease with increasing jet injection pressure and subsequently increase, reaching maximum values at 0.4–0.6 MPa. When increasing the co-flow temperature from 1023 K to 1223 K, the cross-sectional area of the flame increases significantly by 61.1% at an excess oxygen coefficient of 0.4. Furthermore, the liftoff flame height shrinks when the co-flow temperature and the excess oxygen coefficient increase, while it rises along with an increasing jet injection pressure.     

Idle performance of a hydrogen rotary engine at different excess air ratios

Rotary engine has flat chamber and longs for fuel with high flame speed and small quenching distance. Hydrogen has many excellent characteristics that are suitable for the rotary engine. In this paper, the performance of a rotary engine fueled with pure hydrogen at different excess air ratios was experimentally investigated. The investigation was carried out on a single-rotor hydrogen-fueled rotary engine equipped with port fuel injection system. An online electronic control module was used to govern the hydrogen injection duration and excess air ratio. In this study, the engine was operating at the idle speed of 3000 rpm and different excess air ratios varied from 0.993 to 1.283. The test results demonstrated that the fuel energy flow rate of the hydrogen rotary engine and engine stability were reduced with the increase of excess air ratio. When the excess air ratio increased from 0.993 to 1.283, the hydrogen energy flow rate was decreased from 14.91 to 11.55 MJ/h. Both the flame development and propagation periods were increased with excess air ratio. CO emission was negligible, but HC, CO₂ and NOx emissions were still detected due to the evaporation and possible burning of the lubrication-used gasoline, and oxidation reaction of nitrogen of the intake air.     

An experimental study on ignition timing of hydrogen Wankel rotary engine

The hydrogen-fueled Wanke rotary engine is a promising power system that has both high power and eco-friendly properties. This work investigated the effect of ignition timing on a dual-spark plugs synchronous-ignition hydrogen-fueled Wankel rotary engine under low speed, part load and lean combustion. The results show that with delaying the ignition timing, CA0-10 is shortened first and then lengthened and CA10-90 is consistently shortened. When the CA50 is located between 35 and 40°CA ATDC, the maximum brake torque can be realized. Besides, the selection of ignition timing needs to consider the “trade-off” relationship between the combustion phase and corresponding in-cylinder pressure. The maximum brake torque ignition timing is between 5 and 10°CA ATDC. And there is also a “trade-off” relationship between stability and thermal load when ignition timing is selected. In addition, HC and NO emissions will not become the problem limiting the power performance of hydrogen-fueled Wankel rotary engine under this operating condition.     

Effect of hydrogen addition on combustion and emissions performance of a spark ignition gasoline engine at lean conditions

Hydrogen has many excellent combustion properties that can be used for improving combustion and emissions performance of gasoline-fueled spark ignition (SI) engines. In this paper, an experimental study was carried out on a four-cylinder 1.6 L engine to explore the effect of hydrogen addition on enhancing the engine lean operating performance. The engine was modified to realize hydrogen port injection by installing four hydrogen injectors in the intake manifolds. The injection timings and durations of hydrogen and gasoline were governed by a self-developed electronic control unit (DECU) according to the commands from a calibration computer. The engine was run at 1400 rpm, a manifold absolute pressure (MAP) of 61.5 kPa and various excess air ratios. Two hydrogen volume fractions in the total intake of 3% and 6% were applied to check the effect of hydrogen addition fraction on engine combustion. The test results showed that brake thermal efficiency was improved and kept roughly constant in a wide range of excess air ratio after hydrogen addition, the maximum brake thermal efficiency was increased from 26.37% of the original engine to 31.56% of the engine with a 6% hydrogen blending level. However, brake mean effective pressure (Bmep) was decreased by hydrogen addition at stoichiometric conditions, but when the engine was further leaned out Bmep increased with the increase of hydrogen addition fraction. The flame development and propagation durations, cyclic variation, HC and CO₂ emissions were reduced with hydrogen addition. When excess air ratio was approaching stoichiometric conditions, CO emission tended to increase with the addition of hydrogen. However, when the engine was gradually leaned out, CO emission from the hydrogen-enriched engine was lower than the original one. NO_x emissions increased with the increase of hydrogen addition due to the raised cylinder temperature.     

基于循环控制的LPG点燃式发动机冷起动首循环NO瞬态排放特性研究

从循环控制的角度，详细研究了LPG点燃式发动机冷起动首循环NO瞬态排放特性。实验在一台电控LPG进气道喷射单缸风冷四冲程125cm^3发动机上进行。通过高速采集系统记录发动机首循环瞬态NO排放、瞬时缸压和转速，从实验结果中分析发动机NO瞬态排放与其他参数之间的关系。研究表明：在稀燃工况下NO排放能更准确地反映着火的发生，可以作为首循环着火的判断依据；NO排放和循环缸压都随过量空气系数先增大后减小，最大缸内爆发压力发生在略浓的混合气浓度，而最大NO排放发生在较稀的混合气浓度；NO瞬态排放随循环缸压在稀燃、过渡和浓燃区呈现出不同的变化规律，首循环最佳过量空气系数应控制在过渡区域。     

Improving the combustion performance of a gasoline rotary engine by hydrogen enrichment at various conditions

The combustion process within the cylinder directly influences the thermal efficiency and performance of the engines. As for the rotary engine, the long-narrow combustion chamber prevents the mixture from fully burning, which worsens the performance of the rotary engine. As a fuel with excellent properties, hydrogen can improve the combustion of the original engine. In this paper, improvements in combustion of a gasoline rotary engine by hydrogen supplement under different operating conditions were experimentally investigated. The experiment was conducted on a modified hydrogen-gasoline dual-fuel rotary engine equipped with an electronically-controlled fuel injection system. An electronic control module was specially made to command the fuel injection, excess air ratio and hydrogen volumetric fraction. Integral heat release fraction (IHRF) was employed to evaluate the combustion of the tested engine. The tested engine was first run at the idle speed of 2400 rpm and then operated at 4500 rpm to investigate the combustion of the hydrogen-blended gasoline rotary engine under different hydrogen volume fractions, excess air ratios and spark timings. The testing results demonstrated that the combustion of the gasoline rotary engine were all improved when the hydrogen was blended into the chamber under all tested conditions.     

乙醇/汽油双燃料双直喷模式下分层稀薄燃烧试验研究

针对乙醇与汽油固定掺混比例下使用不能充分发挥乙醇燃料优势的问题,开发出了乙醇汽油双燃料-双直喷系统,并在一台点燃式单缸试验机上进行试验,研究了稀薄燃烧下3种不同的喷射策略对发动机燃烧和性能的影响。研究发现:在稀薄燃烧的情况下,随喷射时刻的推迟,不同喷射策略下动力性呈现先增长后降低的趋势。在保证喷油量不变时,有效热效率随过量空气系数增大而明显提高,当量燃油消耗率逐渐降低。随喷射时刻的推迟,热效率呈现先升高后降低的趋势。在过量空气系数为1.2,汽油喷射时刻为上止点前180°,乙醇喷射时刻为上止点前300°时,有效热效率达到最高值40.5%。此外,相比于汽油,添加乙醇燃料使得稀薄燃烧更稳定,循环波动更小。     

Realizing low emissions on a hydrogen-fueled spark ignition engine at the cold start period under rich combustion through ignition timing control

This paper analyzed low emissions on a hydrogen-fueled spark ignition (SI) engine at the cold start period under rich combustion through ignition timing (IT) control. Cold start characteristics of hydrogen-fueled engine were investigated experimentally. The study was performed under different IT. The results demonstrated that when excess air ratio (λ) was 0.7 and IT varied from 25 °CA BTDC to 10 °CA ATDC, the peak cylinder pressure of the first cycle and the successful start time (SST) of hydrogen engine first increased and then decreased with the retard of IT. At 15 °CA BTDC, the hydrogen engine gained the shortest SST and the highest cylinder pressure in the first cycle. Flame development period (CA0-10) first shortened and then lengthened, and flame propagation period (CA10-90) prolonged when IT gradually retarded. The average NOx emissions efficiently reduced by 90.2%, HC and CO emissions caused by the evaporated lubricant oil reduced individually by 33.8% and 19.7% in the first 6 s during the cold start process with the retard of IT. Especially when IT delayed from 25 °CA BTDC to 15 °CA BTDC, the effect of IT on HC emissions was significant.     

The optimization of leading spark plug location and its influences on combustion and leakage in a hydrogen-fueled Wankel rotary engine

The hydrogen-fueled Wankel rotary engine with excellent power and emission characteristic is under spotlight, while the leakage is still the major problem for Wankel rotary engine, especially the leading spark plug leakage. The peak pressure is increased from 3.34 MPa to 3.52 MPa and the indicated thermal efficiency reaches maximum value of 38.29% when the moving distance of leading spark plug is −6.5 mm, and the mass of leakage fresh mixture is reduced from 0.00311 g to 0 g. When leading spark plug is moved to minor axis, the flow field structure of working chamber is enhanced. However, the peak pressure and indicated thermal efficiency decrease when the moving distance of leading spark plug exceeds −6.5 mm. The excess leakage residual gas has negative effects on combustion. The optimum moving distance of leading spark plug is −6.5 mm at 3000 rpm with λ of 1.6.     

Effect of excess hydrogen on hydrogen fueled internal combustion engine under full load

Detailed hydrogen-air chemical reaction mechanisms were coupled with three dimension grids of an experimental hydrogen fueled internal combustion engine (HICE) to establish a combustion model based on CONVERGE software. The influence of excess hydrogen coefficient on the combustion and emission characteristics of HICE under full load was studied based on the CFD model. Simulation results showed that excess hydrogen leaded to higher concentration of OH species in flame front, and quicker hydrogen-oxygen reaction and flame propagation speed, which in turn leaded to higher pressure and temperature in cylinder. The rise of pressure and temperature in turn contributed to the increase of indicate power but un-burned hydrogen leaded to decrease of efficiency. NOx, especially NO emissions decreased significantly with excess hydrogen under full load not only because increased of H concentration, and decreased of O and OH concentration, which leaded to reverse reaction of NO formation through thermal NO routes. Low excess hydrogen coefficient can achieve a good trade-off between power and emissions under full load.     

A comparative study on performance of the rotary engine fueled hydrogen/gasoline and hydrogen/n-butanol

The comparative study on performance of the hydrogen/gasoline and hydrogen/n-butanol rotary engines was conducted in the present paper. Considering the stable operation of the engine, for both hydrogen/gasoline case and hydrogen/n-butanol case, the operating conditions were set at: 4000 rpm (engine speed), 35 kPa (intake pressure) and 30 °CA BTDC (spark timing). The total excess air ratio of mixture was maintained at 1.0 through all the tests. The testing results displayed that hydrogen enrichment improved performance of both gasoline and n-butanol rotary engines. To be more specific, brake thermal efficiency was increased, flame development and propagation periods were shortened, the coefficient of variation in flame propagation period was decreased, and the emissions of HC and CO were decreased. NOx emissions were mildly increased after hydrogen addition. Besides, hydrogen/n-butanol rotary engine possessed the similar performance to hydrogen/gasoline rotary engine.     

Performance and emission characteristics of a turbocharged spark-ignition hydrogen-enriched compressed natural gas engine under wide open throttle operating conditions

This paper investigates the effect of various hydrogen ratios in HCNG (hydrogen-enriched compressed natural gas) fuels on performance and emission characteristics at wide open throttle operating conditions using a turbocharged spark-ignition natural gas engine. The experimental data was taken at hydrogen fractions of 0%, 30% and 55% by volume and was conducted under different excess air ratio (λ) at MBT operating conditions. It is found that under various λ, the addition of hydrogen can significantly reduce CO, CH₄ emissions and the NO_x emission remain at an acceptable level when ignition timing is optimized. Using the same excess air ratio, as more hydrogen is added the power, exhaust temperatures and max cylinder pressure decrease slowly until the mixture’s lower heating value remains unchanged with the hydrogen enrichment, then they rise gradually. In addition, the early flame development period and the flame propagation duration are both shorter, and the indicated thermal efficiency and maximum heat release rate both increase with more hydrogen addition.     

Effect of different excess air ratio values and spark advance timing on combustion and emission characteristics of hydrogen-fueled spark ignition engine

This study investigated the effect of varying the spark advance timing and excess air ratio (air excessive ratio; λ) on the combustion and emission of nitrogen oxide (NOx) in a hydrogen-fueled spark ignition engine under part load conditions. The engine test speed was fixed at 2,000 rpm and the torque condition was 60 Nm. Excess air ratio was varied from the stoichiometric (λ = 1) to the lean mixture condition (λ = 2.2) by throttling. The spark advance timing was controlled to determine the maximum brake torque timing (MBT) for each excess air ratio value. Subsequent to the determination of the spark advance timing for MBT, the spark timing was varied from MBT timing to top dead center. Based on the results, it is concluded that the leanest mixture condition (λ = 2.2) with MBT spark timing exhibited the highest brake thermal efficiency of 34.17% and the NOx emissions were as low as 14 ppm.     

Effect of ammonia addition on combustion and emission characteristics of hydrogen-fueled engine under lean-burn condition

Hydrogen (H₂) is a carbon-free fuel with many excellent combustion characteristics, but abnormal combustion is one of the main obstacles to the promotion and application of hydrogen-fueled engines. This experimental study aims to investigate the suppression of the heat release rate (HRR) of a hydrogen-fueled engine through the addition of ammonia (NH₃). The engine was run at 1300 rpm, with manifold absolute pressure (MAP) of 61 kPa and NH₃ addition ratio of 0% and 2.2%, under lean-burn conditions. The results showed that the addition of small amounts of ammonia reduced the combustion rate of the fuel mixture, prolonged the flame development period (CA0-10) and propagation durations (CA10-90) of the engine, and reduced the peak in-cylinder pressure and peak HRR under lean-burn conditions. The addition of ammonia increased the peak indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP) and the peak indicated thermal efficiency (ITE) of the engine. The addition of ammonia resulted in increased nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions.     

主动预燃室式直喷汽油机稀薄燃烧性能研究

为明晰不同点火方式对汽油机稀薄燃烧特性的影响规律,在一款排量为0.5L的研究型单缸机上试验研究了传统火花塞和主动预燃室两种不同点火方式下发动机燃烧及排放特性,探索主动预燃室拓展稀薄燃烧极限的多种影响因素。研究结果表明,稀薄燃烧可有效降低油耗,提高发动机热效率。传统点火线圈的稀燃极限处于过量空气系数1.5附近,最高指示热效率为45.0%,而采用主动预燃室系统后,稀燃极限可进一步拓展,过量空气系数可达2.0,指示热效率提升至46.5%,氮氧化物排放比采用传统火花塞点火技术时降低约88%;主动预燃室匹配高压缩比14.80的燃烧系统,可进一步拓展稀燃极限至过量空气系数2.1,指示热效率可达48.0%,氮氧化物排放继续降低,在过量空气系数采用2.1时NOx排放最低可达58×10-6。     

零碳燃料对燃气锅炉燃烧过程调控作用

利用小型化模拟炉膛开展了零碳燃料氢气对燃气锅炉燃烧过程调控作用实验研究,研究了掺氢比对炉膛内部预混火焰宏观形态、炉膛温度均匀性、炉膛污染物排放规律的影响,并总结了CO及NO_x的排放规律。实验结果表明：随着预混当量比增加,纯甲烷火焰长度逐渐缩短;对于20%掺氢火焰,随着预混程度的提高,火焰长度降低明显;不同火焰条件下,炉膛温度只由燃烧功率控制;改变燃烧条件时,处于壁面附近位置的温度变化较为平稳,而靠近火焰处温度变化较大;天然气中掺入氢气,燃烧时可以有效降低未燃CO排放;在相同预混程度下,全局当量比减小导致未燃空气增加,热量被稀释,火焰温度降低,热力型NO_x的生成降低;随着掺氢比的增加,燃烧时火焰温度升高,导致热力型NO_x排放增加。     

一次风率及循环废气率变化对燃油锅炉运行中氮氧化物生成的影响

研究空气分级和废气循环燃烧等方式对油燃烧中NOx 生成的影响。实验发现 :分级燃烧对于燃料氮的转化有抑制作用 ,而且对含氮量较高的油燃料效果较明显 ,不论燃烧器功率如何 ,降低一次风率总使得NOx 的生成量减少 ;当一次风率占总过量空气系数的 50 %左右时 ,燃料氮的转化率存在一个最小值 ,而后随着一次风率的提高而增大并趋于一常数 ;增加废气循环率能降低油燃烧中NOx 的生成量 ,而且对于含氮量较低的油效果较明显 ,随着废气循环率增加 ,NOx 生成量的降幅趋缓并带来火焰稳定问题 ,因此存在有一个最佳废气循环率 ;废气循环燃烧会增大燃料氮的转化率 ,而且在一次风率较小情况下表现明显     

聚甲氧基二甲醚-甲醇混合燃料的燃烧与排放特性研究

将甲醇按体积比0、10%、20%、30%分别掺混到聚甲氧基二甲醚(polyoxymethylene dimethyl ethers,PODE)中制备出PODE-甲醇混合燃料,并依次标记为M0、M10、M20和M30,在一台高压共轨发动机上研究了最大转矩转速不同负荷下混合燃料的缸内燃烧过程和排放性能。结果表明:在PODE中添加甲醇后,各负荷下缸内压力降低,滞燃期逐渐延长,放热始点推迟。低负荷和中负荷时甲醇体积比的增加会使放热率峰值先增加后减小,而高负荷下放热率峰值却逐渐升高。甲醇体积比较低时,各负荷下燃烧持续期缩短;当甲醇体积比为30%时,中低负荷下燃烧持续期延长,各负荷下燃烧重心(CA50)推迟。掺烧甲醇可以降低NO_x浓度,M30较M0降低幅度为28.1%;而随甲醇体积比的增加,各负荷下HC和CO排放量均呈上升趋势,烟度则先减小后增大。甲醇的低温氧化使混合燃料的甲醛排放量上升,同时NO_2排放量及NO_2占NO_x比例随甲醇体积比的升高而增加,与纯PODE相比,低负荷下M30的NO_2排放量和NO_2占NO_x比例增幅分别为65%和107%。     

丙酮-丁醇-乙醇(ABE)/汽油混合燃料对高速发动机性能影响的试验研究

以发动机4000r/min、节气门开度35%为试验工况,对纯汽油及不同掺混体积分数丙酮-丁醇-乙醇(acetone-butanol-ethanol,ABE)与汽油混合物开展了不同点火提前角和喷油量的试验研究。分析了不同ABE混合比、点火提前角和过量空气系数对发动机性能的影响,并对每种燃料发动机最大功率工况的性能参数进行了比较。结果表明：点火提前角和过量空气系数相同时,混合燃料中ABE含量越高,燃油流量越大,发动机功率越大,有效热效率越高;燃油流量的总热量增大和热-功转换效率提高是促使发动机功率增大的主要原因;随ABE掺混比增加,NO比排放明显降低,CO比排放略有增加,碳氢化合物比排放先增后减。浓混合气工况增加ABE含量比在当量空燃比状态下增加ABE含量,发动机的有效热效率增大更明显,发动机的NO比排放降低更加明显。研究表明高速汽油机掺混ABE燃料具有较好的应用前景。