Impact of fuel and engine operating conditions on efficiency of a heavy duty truck engine running compression ignition mode using energy and exergy analysis

Gasoline compression ignition using a single gasoline-type fuel for direct/port injection has been shown as a method to achieve low temperature combustion with low engine-out NOx and soot emissions and high indicated thermal efficiency. However, key technical barriers to achieving low temperature combustion on multi-cylinder engines include the air handling system (limited amount of exhaust gas recirculation) as well as mechanical engine limitations (e.g. peak pressure rise rate). In light of these limitations, high temperature combustion with reduced amounts of exhaust gas recirculation appears more practical. Previous studies by the authors demonstrated that utilizing port and direct injection of E85 gasoline simultaneously resulted in the best performance and the highest brake thermal efficiency of 47.1%, which was 1.2% higher compared to diesel baseline. For further efficiency improvement, a better understanding of energy and exergy loss mechanisms is required. In this work, first and second law thermodynamics analysis were applied to experiments with gasoline compression ignition at an engine speed of 1038 rpm and brake mean effective pressure of 1.4 MPa on a 12.4 L multi-cylinder heavy-duty diesel engine. The impact on the efficiency, losses, and irreversibility with respect to various parameters such as fuel, injection strategy, intake condition, and port injected water mass was quantified. The peak efficiency of ideal cycles and the combined efficiency with a waste heat recovery system were also estimated in this study to assess opportunities for further efficiency gains. It was found that the combustion irreversibility was dominated by the combustion temperature rather than the fuel structure. Despite its highest brake thermal efficiency, E85 gasoline generated the highest exergy destruction due to its lowest combustion temperature. For the same reason, retarding the combustion phasing or adopting a port and direct injection strategy increased the exergy destruction. The combustion duration loss was more notable than the phasing loss and was affected by both the combustion duration and shape of heat release profile. Water port injection increased the exhaust energy, but the available energy dropped significantly attributed to the decrease in the exhaust temperature, rendering waste heat recovery ineffective. The second law analysis serves as a helpful tool in conjunction with the first law analysis to explore pathways to maximize engine efficiency.