Comparative study of the NOx prediction model of HCNG engine

In order to study the nitrous-oxide emissions of HCNG engines a numerical NO_x prediction model has been developed and coupled with the most accepted quasi-dimensional combustion model of SI engines. The experiments have been performed at the different hydrogen volumetric percentage (0–40%), ignition timing (22–30^oBTDC), A/F ratio (1–1.73) and manifold-absolute pressure (60–137 kPa) at various engine load and speed. In the next phase of study, the simulation has been performed at the different operating conditions and various HCNG blends. The two NO_x mechanism: the thermal NO_x and prompt NO_x mechanism have been used to predict the NO_x emission.The presented Model III of NO_x prediction is validated by the previous models (Model I by Dawyer et al. and Model II by Kornbluth et al.) and experimental results. The NO packet and three-zone approach are designed and incorporated to Model III, which is based on the temperature duration of NO_x formation. The NO curve has been transformed into NO packets through the temperature difference of NO_x formation. Whereas, the width of the packet is equal to the ratio of crank angle duration to the total combustion duration. The total combustion duration is divided into three zones (phases). In order to check the accuracy of the model, the percentage error of NO_x emission has been evaluated. Three NO_x prediction models have been compared, and the model III is the best one. The error range of the model III is within ±15%.     

A fractal-based quasi-dimensional combustion model for SI engines fuelled by hydrogen enriched compressed natural gas

A quasi-dimensional model based on the concepts of fractal geometry has been developed for an SI engine fuelled with natural gas/hydrogen blends. The fundamentals of the thermodynamic model, the fractal combustion model and related equations are introduced. This paper investigates the influence of manifold absolute pressure, equivalence ratio and hydrogen fraction on fractal dimension and improves the fractal dimension expression. Comparisons are conducted between the improved and original models by the prediction outcomes. After the determination of model constants by calibration, the model predictions of cylinder pressure histories and mass fraction burned of an HCNG engine are then compared with experimental data over a wide range of loads, equivalence ratios, engine speeds and hydrogen blending ratios. The pressure profiles show that predictions of the improved model match quite well with the experimental results except for the early combustion stage. The improved model is proved to be more suitable for predicting HCNG engine performance.     

Emission characteristics of using HCNG in the internal combustion engine with minimum pilot diesel injection for greater fuel economy

Hydrogen and Compressed Natural Gas are great alternatives to the pure fossil fuels. Many researches confirm the advantages of using hydrogen and natural gas blended together for the internal combustion engine in both areas of improving performances and reducing emission levels. In a short to medium range terms, the air pollution throughout the globe could be significantly reduced by using HCNG in the internal combustion engine and in many other applications with the substitution of using HCNG as a main source of fuel or as a secondary source of fuel such as the dual fuel operation system in the diesel vehicle.     

Effect of compression ratio and spark timing on the power performance and combustion characteristics of an HCNG engine

This paper investigates the effect of compression ratio and spark timing on the power performance and combustion characteristics of a hydrogen enriched compressed natural gas engine. The experimental data was conducted under variable compression ratios (i.e. 10:1, 11:1 and 12:1) by varying the spark ignition timing. The engine was kept running at a constant speed of 1200 rpm with a constant excess air ratio of 1.6 and a constant manifold absolute pressure of 50 kPa. It has been found from the results that the higher compression ratio, the higher the indicated thermal efficiency. Increase in compression ratio leads to higher brake torque and lower break specific fuel consumption. But the improvements are weakened between higher compression ratios. The peak pressure is higher with higher compression ratio. Faster heat release rates and lesser coefficient of variations of indicated mean effective pressure can also been observed at higher compression ratios.     

Performance and emission assessment of a multi-cylinder S.I engine using CNG & HCNG as fuels

The present study was carried out to assess the possibility of using the HCNG in the commercially available CNG vehicles, as the available literature indicated the benefits of adding hydrogen to CNG in small percentages by volume, leading to improved combustion characteristics of CNG and yielding sizeable benefits, regarding improved engine performance and reduced engine emissions in automotive applications. In the present study, a commercially available CNG manifold carburation kit, commonly known as “sequential injection” in the market, is evaluated for its operation characteristics, on a Spark Ignited (SI), MPFI automotive engine, of a mass-produced passenger vehicle, converted for gas operation, using, gasoline, CNG, HCNG 10% and HCNG 18% as fuels. In the study, the following performance parameters, torque, power, thermal efficiency, brake specific energy consumption (BSEC), lambda, engine oil temperature, exhaust gas species were measured. After exhaustive engine testing, a comparison of engine performance emission characteristics for gasoline, CNG and HCNG 10% and HCNG 18% is presented. The engine performance using the optimized MAP tables demonstrated torque and power improvements for HCNG 10% and HCNG 18% in comparison to CNG. The torque benefits up-to 6% and power benefits up-to 4% were observed. The fuel energy consumption was measured to be reduced, and improvement in fuel conversion efficiency was also observed. Hydrogen substitution in CNG helped in reducing CO, HC, CO₂ emissions for HCNG in comparison to CNG. Increase in NO_x emission was observed for HCNG in comparison with CNG. Superior engine emission characteristics in comparison to gasoline and CNG is also demonstrated. The commercially available sequential gas manifold carburation was found to be suitable for HCNG 10% and HCNG 18%.     

20%HCNG发动机试验研究与平均值建模

进行了20%天然气掺氢(HCNG)发动机试验,根据空气和燃气的混合气流量、进气歧管压力、转速、节气门开度等参数间的拟合关系,提出了预测混合气流量和进气歧管压力的经验公式,并得出在相同发动机转速条件下,进气歧管压力与有效效率之积(p_(man)η_e)和进气歧管压力与转速之积(p_(man)n)呈近似线性关系。建立了20%HCNG发动机平均值模型,分别进行了稳态工况和瞬态工况仿真验证,仿真数据与试验数据吻合较好。     

Reducing the idle speed of an SI CNG engine fueled by HCNG with high hydrogen ratio

This paper presents an experimental study aimed at idle characteristics of a CNG engine fueled by HCNG with 55% hydrogen blend. The idle speed was reduced from original 800 r/min to 750 r/min and 700 r/min, and the characteristics of combustion & emissions at reduced idle speed were investigated. It is found that, for the HCNG engine, only reducing idle speed cannot reduce fuel consumption at conditions of fixed λ. In order to reduce fuel consumption and keep the COV at rather low levels, the excess air ratio must be increased properly while reducing the engine idle speed. Due to the large valve overlap (30°) of this inlet inject HCNG engine, CH₄ emissions are mainly caused by scavenging, which account for the vast majority of THC emissions. The emissions of CO, THC and NOx are reduced with the decrease of ignition advance angle at a fixed λ.     

Effects of compression ratio on performance and emission characteristics of heavy-duty SI engine fuelled with HCNG

The wide range of hydrogen's flammable limits enables ultra-lean combustion. A lean burn reduces the combustion temperature, increases thermal efficiency, and reduces knock, which is a serious problem in a spark ignition (SI) engine. The anti-knock improvement from hydrogen addition makes it feasible to increase the compression ratio (CR) and further improve the thermal efficiency. Herein, the effects of the CR on performance and emission characteristics were investigated using an 11-L heavy-duty SI engine fuelled with HCNG30 (CNG 70 vol%, hydrogen 30 vol%) and CNG. These fuels were used to operate an engine with CRs of 10.5 and 11.5. The results showed that thermal efficiency improved with an increased CR, which significantly decreased CO₂ emission. On the other hand, the NO_x emission was largely increased. Nevertheless, for HCNG30, a CR of 11.5 improved thermal efficiency by 6.5% and decreased NO_x emission by over 75%, as compared to a conventional CNG engine.     

Design and sizing of stand-alone photovoltaic hydrogen system for HCNG production

Hydrogen from renewable energy sources is a clean and sustainable option as a fuel and is seen as a potential alternative to gasoline in the future. However, in the near future the use of hydrogen in internal combustion engines is possible at low fraction in mixture with compressed natural gas (HCNG fuel).     

Optimal dispatch of HCNG penetrated integrated energy system based on modelling of HCNG process

Hydrogen is injected into the existing natural gas network to form hydrogen-rich compressed natural gas (HCNG), effectively addressing the high cost of hydrogen transmission. However, the traditional IES model cannot be used due to the hydrogen injection's effect on gas properties and the vague characteristics of the transport and separation processes. Therefore, this paper proposes an HCNG penetrated integrated energy system (HPIES) optimal dispatching method by comprehensively modelling the injection, transmission, and separation processes of HCNG. An HCNG mass flow rate model considering variable mixing ratio and unknown beginning flow direction is developed to describe the effect of hydrogen injection. Furthermore, the hydrogen separation model is established by introducing a combined membrane and pressure swing adsorption separation process. The tightening McCormick algorithm is proposed to solve quickly HPIES optimal dispatch problem with an acceptable feasibility check. Finally, case studies on the HPIES consisting of IEEE 39-bus power system and 20-node natural gas system validate the effectiveness of the algorithm and model. The results show that the average error is 0.031% for the bilinear term constraint.     

稀燃天然气掺氢发动机的热效率与排放特性

为了分析在天然气中掺入不同体积比的氢气对发动机经济性和排放性的影响,在一台6缸火花点火天然气发动机上开展了体积掺氢比在不同工况下对热效率和排放特性影响的试验研究.结果显示掺氢可以拓宽发动机的稀燃极限,提高燃烧速度,使得最佳转矩点火提前角(MBT)相对推迟;在点火提前角不变的情况下掺氢对热效率没有明显优势,而且会使NOx排放升高.而在MBT时,掺氢可以一定程度上提高发动机的指示热效率,降低未燃CH4和CO的排放,改善NOx与未燃碳氢(主要为CH4)的trade-off关系.掺氢的优势还体现在可以让发动机高效的工作在更稀的情况下,从而有利于降低NOx的排放和传热损失.     

Experimental based comparative exergy analysis of a multi-cylinder spark ignition engine fuelled with different gaseous (CNG,HCNG, and hydrogen) fuels

The experimental investigation was carried out on a multi-cylinder spark ignition (SI) engine fuelled with compressed natural gas (CNG), hydrogen blended CNG (HCNG) and hydrogen with varying load at 1500 rpm in order to perform comparative exergy analysis. The exergy analysis indicates that work exergy, heat transfer exergy and exhaust exergy were the highest with hydrogen at all loads due to its high flame temperature, low quenching distance, and high flame speed. The engine's exergy efficiency was the highest with hydrogen (34.23%), and it was about 24.23% and 24.08% with CNG and HCNG respectively at high load (20.25 kW). This indicates a higher potential of hydrogen to convert chemical energy input of fuel into heat and then power output. The exergy destruction was observed minimum with hydrogen at all loads, and it was drastically reduced at high loads. The combustion irreversibility which was calculated using species present during combustion, was the main contributor to exergy destruction, and it decreased with hydrogen. The minimum combustion irreversibility was 11.75% with hydrogen, followed by HCNG and CNG with 16.46% and 18.88% respectively at high load. The high quality of heat due to high in-cylinder temperature and low entropy generation during combustion caused by less number of chemical species in hydrogen combustion are the main reasons for lower combustion irreversibility with hydrogen.     

Research on optimal calibration technology for hydrogen-fueled engine based on nonlinear programming theory

To analyze and resolve the contradiction of abnormal combustion and improving hydrogen-fueled engine power is the key for promoting the progress of hydrogen-fueled engine research. Optimal control is the most valuable technology for resolving this contradiction. In this paper, the optimal model of hydrogen-fueled engine for multi-variable, multi-objective, multi-constraint under the whole operating conditions was established. The technology was a combination of nonlinear programming theory and optimal calibration algorithm of genetic algorithm. Calibration process can be adjusted dynamically to match with the working conditions of engine by weighted function. It implements the unity of comprehensive performance optimization and individual optimization, and not only simplifies calibration process but also improves calibration speed. Furthermore, a new method that accurately and quickly calibrates MAP under the conditions of multi-variable, multi-goal and multi-constraint is provided to effectively resolve the contradiction of the abnormal combustion and improving hydrogen-fueled engine power.     

Experimental investigation of varying composition of HCNG on performance and combustion characteristics of a SI engine

With rapid depletion of petroleum resources, researchers are investigating alternate fuels to meet global transportation energy demand. Gaseous fuels such as compressed natural gas (CNG) and hydrogen are of special interest because of their cleaner combustion characteristics compared to liquid petroleum based fossil fuels. However both these gaseous fuels have some technical issues when they are used as stand-alone alternate fuel in conventional spark ignition (SI) engines. CNG suffers from lower energy density and narrow flammability range whereas backfiring tendency is highly pronounced in hydrogen fueled engines. Hydrogen enriched compressed natural gas (HCNG) mixtures are observed to be good alternative to these individual fuels since these mixtures do not pose the issues experienced by the constituent fuels i.e. CNG and hydrogen. In this study, experiments were conducted in a spark ignited gas engine using various compositions of HCNG mixtures having 0, 10, 20, 30, 50, 70 and 100% (v/v) hydrogen fraction. The performance and combustion characteristics of these test fuels were compared with that of baseline CNG, in order to find an optimum HCNG mixture composition for a single cylinder gas engine. Results obtained showed that 30HCNG mixture delivered superior engine performance compared to other HCNG mixtures and baseline CNG, which is in sharp contrast to 15HCNG being advocated globally.     

火花点火发动机准维湍流卷吸燃烧模型的适用性研究（二）

本文利用作者提出的火花点火发动机准维湍流卷吸燃烧模型，对压缩比为１０和１２的火球形燃烧室以及压缩比为１０的碗形燃烧室变工况进行了计算，将计算得到的示功图、质量燃烧率等与实验值进行了对比对分析。结果表明，合理选取与燃烧室结构相对应的四个经验常数，准维湍流卷吸燃烧模型完全适用于火花点火发动机变工况及不同燃烧室结构工作过程的计算，能够正确反映火花点火发动机结构参数和运转参数对燃烧过程的影响。     

Experimental study on combustion and emission characteristics of a hydrogen-enriched compressed natural gas engine under idling condition

This paper investigates the effect of various hydrogen ratios in HCNG (hydrogen enriched compressed natural gas) fuels on combustion and emission characteristics of a turbocharged spark ignition natural gas engine at idling conditions. The experiments were taken at hydrogen fractions of 0%, 30%, 55% and 75% by volume and were conducted under various operating conditions including different excess air ratio λ and spark timing θ_ig. It is found that under various λ and θ_ig, the addition of hydrogen can significantly reduce CH₄ emission and CO emission, although NO_x emission increased with the hydrogen addition, it was relatively low at idle conditions compared to other emissions. Meanwhile the addition of hydrogen can significantly reduce COV_imep (coefficient of variation of the indicated mean effective pressure), extend the lean burn limit, decrease the combustion duration, achieve higher thermal efficiency and reduce fuel consumption.     

火花点火发动机准维湍流卷吸燃烧模型的适用性研究（1）

本文在分析火花点火发动机湍流涡结构及缸内湍流特性参数的基础上，提出了适用于火花点火发动机燃烧计算的准维湍流卷吸模型，通过建立相应的子模型及求解方程，实现了燃烧过程的计算；对压缩比为１０的紧凑型燃烧室，在改变发动机转速、负荷、空燃比以及点火正时的情况下，计算得到的压力示功图、质量燃烧率等与实测值一致，从而证实了该模型的合理性。     

A quasi-dimensional model for the power cycle of a hydrogen-fuelled ICE

There is a growing body of literature as well as increased demonstration of advanced hydrogen-fuelled internal combustion engines. These engines offer the potential of high power output, outperforming gasoline engines; high efficiency, approaching or bettering diesel engines; and very low emissions well within the most strict emission standards.     

汽油机怠速旁通阀进气特性研究

利用软件对发动机怠速工况下旁通阀进气进行仿真分析,结合实验数据验证所建立的模型的精度,在此基础上,利用验证后的模型对点燃式发动机起动工况下的旁通阀进气特性进行了模拟,结合平均值模型对汽油机进气特性的描述,建立了发动机的旁通阀进气模型。     

Influence of laser ignition on characteristics of an engine for hydrogen enriched CNG and iso-octane usage

The study has focused on determining the laser plug effects on engine characteristics and the laser plug usage results have compared with spark plug usage. The laser ignition technique is a type of new ignition technique and an important solution that can make combustion systems more efficient. The testing of an engine with a laser plug is the novelty of the study and the tests were carried out with reference to equivalence ratio and plug power ranges. The behaviors of the engine at full load were examined so experimentally for both ignition techniques at hydrogen enriched CNG and iso-octane mixture usage. The tests were carried out for variations of 0.4–2.0 equivalence ratio and 20–120 W plug power. A mixture that 90% iso-octane and 10% HCNG in mass was used at two ignition modes in tests for 3300 rpm maximum engine torque speed. Also, the flame formation and propagation for both ignition techniques were detected via a high-speed camera. The tests have shown the laser ignition leads to more energy consumption in the rich mixture conditions and also, less energy is required in the lean conditions. The laser ignition discharge has extended the engine's lean combustion limits via a small energy input at the tests. The high-speed camera images have shown that the laser ignition reduces the Kernel flame formation and propagation time. The laser ignition technique was produced less NO_x than the conventional spark ignition method.