Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Krishnan, Sundar R.

Committee Member

Srinivasan, Kalyan K.

Committee Member

Walters, D. Keith

Committee Member

Luck, Rogelio

Date of Degree

5-11-2013

Document Type

Dissertation - Open Access

Major

Mechanical Engineering

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D)

College

James Worth Bagley College of Engineering

Department

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Abstract

The goal of this study is to assess conventional and low temperature dual fuel combustion in light- and heavy-duty multi-cylinder compression ignition engines in terms of combustion characterization, performance, and emissions. First, a light-duty compression ignition engine is converted to a dual fuel engine and instrumented for in-cylinder pressure measurements. The primary fuels, methane and propane, are each introduced into the system by means of fumigation before the turbocharger, ensuring the airuel composition is well-mixed. Experiments are performed at 2.5, 5, 7.5, and 10 bar BMEP at an engine speed of 1800 RPM. Heat release analyses reveal that the ignition delay and subsequent combustion processes are dependent on the primary fuel type and concentration, pilot quantity, and loading condition. At low load, diesel-ignited propane yields longer ignition delay periods than diesel-ignited methane, while at high load the reactivity of propane is more pronounced, leading to shorter ignition delays. At high load (BMEP = 10 bar), the rapid heat release associated with diesel-ignited propane appears to occur even before pilot injection, possibly indicating auto-ignition of the propane-air mixture. Next, a modern, heavy-duty compression ignition engine is commissioned with an open architecture controller and instrumented for in-cylinder pressure measurements. Initial diesel-ignited propane dual fuel experiments (fumigated before the turbocharger) at 1500 RPM reveal that the maximum percent energy substitution (PES) of propane is limited to 86, 60, 33, and 25 percent at 5, 10, 15, and 20 bar BMEP, respectively. Fueling strategy, injection strategy, exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) rate, and intake boost pressure are varied in order to maximize the PES of propane at 10 bar BMEP, which increases from 60 PES to 80 PES of propane. Finally, diesel-ignited propane dual fuel low temperature combustion (LTC) is implemented using early injection timings (50 DBTDC) at 5 bar BMEP. A sweep of injection timings from 10 DBTDC to 50 DBTDC reveals the transition from conventional to low temperature dual fuel combustion, indicated by ultra-low NOx and smoke emissions. Optimization of the dual fuel LTC concept yields less than 0.02 g/kW-hr NOx and 0.06 FSN smoke at 93 PES of propane.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/18259

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