Book Description
Stringent emissions regulations set forth by the Environmental Protection Agency has forced the automotive industry in the United States to seek a low cost and reliable solution to meet these regulations. Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) is one of the potential answers to the problem. The HCCI combustion process mates the best features of the two main Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) technologies, Spark Ignition (SI) and Compression Ignition Direct Injected (CIDI). The HCCI combustion process is building on the advantages of each technology while avoiding the disadvantages. One of the main hurdles preventing the successful application of an HCCI engine to the main automotive market is the lack of the precise control over the combustion event. Every successful HCCI research engine found during the literature review employed an external energy source to provide the energy boost necessary for the combustion event. The work contained in this thesis was designed to capture the energy normally wasted by the engine through the engine's exhaust and cooling systems with a Thermal Barrier Coating (TBC). The captured energy was used as the energy boost necessary to cause and control HCCI combustion. This was achieved by modifying a Nissan gasoline engine by increasing the compression ratio from 10.3:1 to 13.5:1 along with coating the cylinder head fire deck, valve heads and crown of the pistons with TBC.