COMPARISON OF LOW TEMPERATURE COMBUSTION STRATEGIES FOR ADVANCED COMPRESSION IGNITION ENGINES WITH A FOCUS ON CONTROLLABILITY

In the present study, various low temperature combustion strategies were investigated using single cylinder engine experiments. The combustion strategies that were investigated premix the majority of the fuel and do not require exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) to achieve ultra-low NOx and soot emissions for low- to mid-load engine operation. These types of advanced compression ignition combustion strategies have been shown to have challenges with combustion phasing control. The focus of the study was to compare engine performance and emissions, combustion sensitivity to intake conditions, and the ability to control any observed sensitivity through the fuel injection strategy. Even though these are steady state engine experiments, this will demonstrate a given combustion strategies controllability on a cycle-to-cycle basis. The combustion strategies that were investigated are fully premixed dual-fuel homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI), dual-fuel reactivity controlled compression ignition (RCCI), and single-fuel partially premixed combustion (PPC). The baseline operating condition was an engine load representative of a light-duty engine: 5.5bar gross indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP) and 1500 rev/min. At the baseline operating condition, in which the boundary conditions were chosen to yield near optimal engine performance, all three combustion strategies demonstrated high gross indicated efficiency (approximate to 47%) and ultra-low NOx and soot emissions. By perturbing the intake conditions, it was found that all three combustion strategies display similar combustion phasing sensitivities. Both dual-fuel HCCI and RCCI were able to readily correct the observed sensitivities through the global fuel reactivity with no negative implications on the NOx emissions. However, single-fuel PPC was unable to correct for the observed combustion phasing sensitivity and, in some cases, had negative implications on the NOx emissions.