Publications

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The characteristics of autoignition after top-dead-center (TDC) for both single- and two-stage ignition fuels have been investigated in a homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) engine. The single-stage ignition fuel was iso-octane and the two-stage ignition fuel was PRF80 (80% iso-octane and 20% n-heptane). The results show that the heat-release rate and pressure-rise rate both decrease as the combustion is retarded later into the early expansion stroke. This is an advantage for high-load HCCI operation. However, for both fuel-types, cycle-to-cycle variations of the ignition and combustion phasing increase with combustion-phasing retard. Also, the cycle-to-cycle variations are higher for iso-octane compared to PRF80. These observations can be explained by considering the magnitude of random temperature fluctuation and the temperature-rise rate just prior to thermal run-away. Furthermore, too much combustionphasing retard leads to the appearance of partial-burn or misfire cycles, but the responses of the two fuels are quite different. The different behaviors can be explained by considering the thermal and chemical state of the residual exhaust gases that are recycled from one cycle to the next. The data indicate that a partialburn cycle with iso-octane produces residuals that increase the reactivity of the following cycle. However, for the already more reactive PRF80 fuel, the partial-burn products present in the residuals do not increase the reactivity enough to overcome the retarding effect of cool residual gases.

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Thermal stratification has the potential to reduce pressure-rise rates and allow increased power output for HCCI engines. This paper systematically examines how the amount of thermal stratification of the core of the charge has to be adjusted to avoid excessive knock as the engine speed and fueling rate are increased. This is accomplished by a combination of multi-zone chemical-kinetics modeling and engine experiments, using iso-octane as the fuel. The experiments show that, for a low-residual engine configuration, the pressure traces are self-similar during changes to the engine speed when CA50 is maintained by adjusting the intake temperature. Consequently, the absolute pressure-rise rate measured as bar/ms increases proportionally with the engine speed. As a result, the knocking (ringing) intensity increases drastically with engine speed, unless counteracted by some means. This paper describes how adjustments of the thermal width of the in-cylinder charge can be used to limit the ringing intensity to 5 MW/m2 as both engine speed and fueling are increased. If the thermal width can be tailored without constraints, this enables smooth operation even for combinations of high speed, high load, and combustion phasing close to TDC. Since large alterations of the thermal width of the charge are not always possible, combustion retard is considered to reduce the requirement on the thermal stratification. The results show that combustion retard carries significant potential since it amplifies the benefit of a fixed thermal width. Therefore, the thermal stratification required for operation with an acceptable knocking intensity can be decreased substantially by the use of combustion retard. This enables combinations of high engine speed and high fueling rate even for operation with the naturally occurring thermal stratification. However, very precise control of the combustion phasing will likely be required for such operation.