Effect of asymmetric fuel injection on combustion characteristics and NOx emissions of a hydrogen opposed rotary piston engine

Opposed rotary piston engines have the characteristics of high-power density and simple mechanisms. The ap-plications of hydrogen fuel to internal combustion engines significantly are without carbon dioxide emission, alleviating the global warming. In this paper, hydrogen fuel was asymmetrically injected into combustion chambers to increase hydrogen penetration distance via; in the meantime, the engine performance and nitrogen monoxide (NO) emission with different ignition timing are explored by numerical simulation method. The symmetrical fuel injection scenario was provided as a baseline. In the scenarios of asymmetrical fuel injection, the engine had the best hydrogen injector position and ignition timing. Peak in-cylinder pressure Pmax reached 56.0 bar under ignition timing ti of - 14.2 degrees CA before top dead centre (bTDC) and hydrogen injector position (theta 2) of 60.5 degrees; in the meantime, heat loss rate HL and heat release rate Qr reached maximum values. Compared with the symmetric fuel injection engine, the peak NO emission of the asymmetric fuel injection engine was reduced by 15%. The proportions of energy loss by cylinder walls of asymmetric fuel injection engine were low and showed low dependency on ignition timing and hydrogen injector layout. Additionally, the asymmetric hydrogen injection structure makes hydrogen distribute evenly in the combustion chamber.

Automated summary

This paper explores the engine performance and emissions of an opposed rotary piston engine with asymmetric fuel injection. The results show that asymmetric fuel injection leads to improved hydrogen penetration distance, reduced emissions, and better overall performance.