An electric igniter for engine/hybrid vehicles is presented. The igniter comprises a flyback converter, a voltage-stacked capacitor, a PIC-based controller, a differential voltage detector, and an ignition coil, of which structure is non-contact type. Since the electric igniter adopts a capacitor to accumulate energy for engine ignition instead of traditional contacttype approach, it enhances t...

A three-dimensional Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) simulation was carried out on an unscavanged auto-ignition prechamber-cylinder configuration in order to understand better the ignition conditions inside the engine. The sensitivity to different boundary conditions like initial gas and wall temperature was tested and flow simulations coupled with a 55 species chemical mechanism were car...

Spark-assisted homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) combustion may be a method to improve the operation of HCCI engines. In the current study, the impact of spark assist on the fundamental properties of ignition and combustion was investigated in a single cylinder, optically-accessible research engine. Early port fuel injection and air preheating were used with indolene fuel in the st...

An experimental study on pulse detonation engine (PDE) is conducted using hydrogen/air mixtures. Several key issues for PDE development, including valve operation, injection, mixing, filling, cycle repetition, ignition timing, DDT distance and propagation of detonation/quasi-detonation, are investigated. The fuel and oxidizer are injected into PDE from opposite sidewall directions to be well mi...

The paper describes correlation between combustion knock intensity and combustion rate calculated as the heat release rate from combustion pressure traces of a hydrogen fuelled spark ignited engine. Unlike a gasoline spark ignited (SI) engine, the hydrogen fuelled engine can easily generate knock during combustion at working conditions similar to a gasoline engine. However, the hydrogen knock d...

In an effort to reduce dependence on petroleum-based fuels and increase engine efficiency, fuel-flexible engines with advanced technologies, including variable valve timing, are being developed. Fuel-flexible spark-ignition engines permit the increased use of ethanol–gasoline blends. Ethanol, an alternative to petroleum-based gasoline, is a renewable fuel, which has the added advantage of impro...

Gas motion within the cylinder is one of the major factors that control the combustion process in spark ignition engine. It also has significant impact on heat transfer. Both the bulk gas motion and the turbulence characteristics of the flow are important and governing the overall behavior of the flow. An arrangement for obtaining a stratified charge, using port injection, is proposed for a ...

PCCI engines can reduce NOx and PM emissions simultaneously without sacrificing thermal efficiency, but a low combustion temperature resulting from early fuel injection, and ignition occurring prior to TDC, can cause higher THC and CO emissions and fuel consumption. In conclusion, it was found that the PCCI combustion achieved by the 2-stage injection strategy with optimized calibration factors...

A study was conducted to determine the ability of neural networks to extract high level control information from cylinder pressure data. Various experiments were performed us ing neural networks for pattern recognition on a series of data files consist ing of cylinder pressure versus crank angle. The goal of these experiments was to estimate spark timing based on the cylinder pressure signature...

Investigations were carried out to evaluate the performance of direct injection diesel engine with medium grade low heat rejection (LHR) combustion chamber and 3 mm air gap insulated piston, 3 mm air gap insulated liner, and ceramic coated cylinder head [ceramic coating with the thickness of 500 µ was made on the inside portion of the cylinder head].The engine had different operating conditions...