Pressure Sensitivity of HCCI Auto-Ignition Temperature for Oxygenated Reference Fuels

The current research focuses on creating a homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) fuel index suitable for comparing different fuels for HCCI operation. One way to characterize a fuel is to use the auto-ignition temperature (AIT). The AIT can be extracted from the pressure trace. Another potentially interesting parameter is the amount of low temperature heat release (LTHR) that is closely connected to the ignition properties of the fuel. The purpose of this study was to map the AIT and the amount of LTHR of different oxygenated reference fuels in HCCI combustion at different cylinder pressures. Blends of n-heptane, iso-octane, and ethanol were tested in a cooperative fuels research (CFR) engine with a variable compression ratio. Five different inlet air temperatures ranging from 50 degrees C to 150 degrees C were used to achieve different cylinder pressures and the compression ratio was changed accordingly to keep a constant combustion phasing, CA50, of 3 +/- 1 deg after top dead center (TDC). The experiments were carried out in lean operation with a constant equivalence ratio of 0.33 and with a constant engine speed of 600 rpm. The amount of ethanol needed to suppress the LTHR from different primary reference fuels (PRFs) was evaluated. The AIT and the amount of LTHR for different combinations of n-heptane, iso-octane, and ethanol were charted.