Book Description

"Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) may be the next leap of improvement to internal combustion engines due to its decreased emissions and improved engine efficiencies. However, such a jump possesses challenges owing to its strict reliance on the inherent physics that dictate start of combustion and limit the reach of stable operation. This work investigates the role and fundamental influence of carbon monoxide on the cycle-to-cycle combustion dynamics present in the region of incomplete combustion that frames the limited HCCI operating region. An improved understanding will open doors to enhanced control methodologies and an expanded stable operating envelope. A constant volume chemical kinetics simulation was developed utilizing an established skeletal PRF mechanism in order to predict product species evolution in an HCCI engine under incomplete combustion conditions. The predicted product species amounts were harnessed to determine internally trapped residual carbon monoxide mass amounts that would be carried to the next engine cycle. These amounts became the basis for an experimental investigation on a single cylinder HCCI engine running on a high octane primary reference fuel. Cyclically resolved, in-cylinder active-specie injections were employed at partial burn operation to explore the effects of carbon monoxide on engine performance and its resultant cyclic dynamics. Observations made through detailed cyclic performance data, return maps, and symbol sequencing analysis help to expose a significant impact of carbon monoxide on HCCI combustion development and the potential it may possess to drive HCCI combustion as a future dynamic control mechanism"--Abstract, page iii.