On February 24-26, 2014, the Coordinating Research Council (CRC) hosted a workshop at Hyatt Regency Baltimore, which focused on advanced fuel and engine efficiency. The workshop was co-sponsored by American Petroleum Institute (API) and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The main goal of the workshop was to understand the state of the art and identify gaps in current research efforts towards unde...

The ignition of a gaseous reactive mixture subject to a localized energy source is analysed using large activation energy asymptotics. The energy released by the source results in a thermal non-uniformity in a small region of the gas. We distinguish two different regimes, non-diffusive and diffusive, depending on the dominant cooling mechanism during the ignition stage: expansion effects or hea...

The prediction of the auto-ignition delay time of fresh fuel in hot air is studied. This problem, encountered in many combustion systems, is in practice often calculated using a simple method, hereafter called homogeneous mixing ignition (HMI). This method however neglects transport effects and calculates local instead of global ignition properties. A second method is therefore studied called l...

This paper presents a model of an electric variable valve timing (EVVT) system and its closed-loop control design with experimental validation. The studied EVVT uses a planetary gear system to control the engine cam timing. The main motivation of utilizing the EVVT system is its fast response time and the accurate timing control capability. This is critical for the combustion mode transition co...

This paper presents a low-frequency square-wave drive, consisting of a single high voltage converter, an ac lamp ignition circuit, current control devices and a single backlight controller, capable of driving an arbitrary number of parallel cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs) with independent accurate lamp current regulation. Key to the architecture is a proposed capacitive coupling approach...

We have studied the ignition of fuel sprays and simulated solid rocket fuels (SRF) by the photoignition of single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) with an ordinary camera flash. Our investigation includes the effect of solid additives such as aluminum nano-particles and solid oxidizers such as ammonium perchlorate (AP) on the photoignition characteristics. We have shown that by mixing CNT with ot...

We have studied the ignition of liquid fuel and certain solid fuels by the photoignition of single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). Our investigation includes the effect of solid additives such as aluminum nano-particles and solid oxidizers such as ammonium perchlorate (AP) on the photoignition characteristics. We have shown that by mixing CNT with other nanoparticles and powdered material, the ...

In this paper we start with Meyer-Ter-Vehn isobaric fusion model and try to reconstruct all equations by introducing a dimensionless variable ?i=ri/Rm. Then we investigate the proper sets of spark confinement parameter and temperature {Hs,Ts} which satisfy ignition conditions of spark ignition in deuterium-tritium (DT) equimolar mixture in terms of isentrope parameter, ?, implosion velocity, Ui...

This article investigates the ignition of low-exothermicity reactive porous solids exposed to a maintained source of heat (hotspot), without oxygen limitation. The gas flow within the solid, particularly in response to pressure gradients (Darcy’s law), is accounted for. Numerical experiments related to the ignition of low-exothermicity porous materials are presented. Gas and solid products of r...