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Baumgarten
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6.4 Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) 275
Fig. 6.41. Effect of inlet air temperature on HCCI combustion [94]
Air Excess Ratio
As already described together with the effects of EGR, progressively richer mixtures translate into advancing ignition and faster energy release. At a certain limit, depending on the fuel and further boundary conditions, combustion stability degrades, knock appears and the NOx emissions increase [23, 44, 31]. On the other hand, leaner mixtures deliver retarded ignition and slower energy release. Extremely lean mixtures result in incomplete combustion at low temperatures leading to increased emissions of CO and HC. Supercharging can increase the IMEP of the engine under HCCI operation if combined with heavy EGR. However, due to the low exhaust gas temperatures, the energy provided by the exhaust gas turbine of the turbocharger is often not sufficient to realize high boost pressures [73].
Engine Speed
In conventional engines, the increasing engine speed results in increased turbulence and burn rates, and thus no measurable effect of speed can be reported. With HCCI systems however, the mixture homogeneity is already completed prior to combustion. This is the reason why reaction rates remain relatively unchanged with varying engine speed and thus the time available for reactions is reduced with increasing engine speed. High engine speed can therefore result in misfire and in reduced power output and efficiency [67, 91].
Fuel Composition
Regarding the HCCI combustion process, fuels can be divided into two main groups, the diesel-like fuels and the gasoline-like ones. Diesel-like fuels (increased
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6.4 Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) 277
Fig. 6.43. Comparison of oxidation process for different fuels (data from [92])
straight-chain saturated hydrocarbons (n-pentane, n-hexane, n-heptane) with different chain lengths. The engine used in this study was a 2.0 liter four-valve naturally aspirated single-cylinder engine with a compression ratio of 16.5:1. The complete homogenization of the mixture was performed in an external vaporizer, and intake temperature (100°C) as well as equivalence ratio and O2-concentration were kept constant for all experiments. All fuels show the characteristic two-stage combustion with LTO and HTO, Fig. 6.42a. The ignition and combustion behavior depends on the fuel molecular size: the longer the carbon chain and thus the higher the ignitability (longer molecules break up more easily into radicals), the earlier the start of LTO and the more energy is released. For this reason, the mean temperature in the combustion chamber earlier reaches the value of approximately 900 K, which is needed to initiate the HTO.
A more detailed description of these effects is given in Figs. 6.42b and 6.42c. Figure 6.42b shows the fuel concentrations and mean fuel temperatures versus crank angle, and Fig. 6.42c presents the consumption of oxygen. The fuel concentrations start to decrease at about 700 K. The longer the carbon chain, the earlier the fuel breaks up into radicals and the faster the reactions. This results in an earlier and faster decrease of fuel concentration combined with an earlier and faster consumption of oxygen, and a higher amount of heat is released as proven by the temperature curves. The investigations show that for n-paraffin fuels, the fuel having a longer straight chain is more likely to be oxidized in the low temperature range up to 900 K. The curves of fuel and oxygen concentration change their respective gradients at a temperature of 900 K, which is the start of HTO. From this point on, the gradients are the same for all fuels, and the effect of molecular size is negligible.
The investigations suggest that it is possible to control the oxidation rate in the low temperature range by modifying the fuel. For this reason, Tsurushima et al. [92] have also performed investigations with a mixture of n-hexane and ethylene. The resulting heat release again shows the well-known two-stage behavior, Fig. 6.43, but the behavior of both fuel components during the first stage (LTO) is dif-
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6.4 Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) 279
Partly homogenized mixtures on the other hand have a higher probability to ignite earlier if hot EGR zones adjoin to fuel-rich reactive zones. In this case, the ignition occurs at overall lower but sufficiently high local temperatures without heating of the intake air. Ignition occurs first in a relatively small area, but because the whole charge is near the ignition limit, there is no conventional flame combustion. The energy release of the first local ignition initiates a multitude of further ignitions in the whole combustion space resulting in a homogeneous combustion, the energy release rates of which can be controlled by the degree of homogenization [94].
6.4.6 Transient Behavior – Control Strategies
As soon as steady-state conditions are achieved, the HCCI combustion is remarkable stable, but small challenges in the boundary conditions have a significant negative impact on the engine behavior. Unfortunately, in real engine operation the parameters described in the previous section, which are used to control the HCCI combustion process, are interacting strongly. Conventional single input – single output control strategies cannot be applied for a sufficient control under transient conditions any more [23]. Besides conventional and relatively slow mass flow, air excess ratio, and temperature sensors, a real-time combustion signal is needed in order to control the combustion from cycle to cycle and to allow a transient variation of speed and load in the HCCI operation region. One of the most challenging tasks is the mode transition between HCCI and conventional combustion. In this case, the change of the relevant thermodynamic values is unsteady from one cycle to the other, and a model-based combustion control with a precise prediction of charge composition and thermodynamic conditions is required. In the case of a dual-mode CAI engine for example, the transition from SI to HCCI mode must be realized if load is reduced. Due to the typically high exhaust gas temperatures there will be a very advanced combustion with an unfavorable maximum pressure rise in the first HCCI cycle. The sudden change from one mode to the other has to be smoothened by a model-based transition functionality.
6.4.7 Future HCCI Engine Applications
HCCI engines have demonstrated their potential to realize very low emissions of NOx and particulate matter (PM), as well as high thermal efficiency. However, in order to realize these advantages in modern engines, numerous problems still have to be solved. Although full-time HCCI engines have the biggest theoretical potential to exploit the benefits of HCCI-combustion, it is still in question if this combustion concept will ever function at full load. Today, HCCI applications are limited to part load, but it is expected that the further development of special tailored HCCI-fuels and combustion phasing control might help to expand the area of HCCI-combustion in the engine map. Some authors even predict that future development will result in a so-called Combined Combustion System (CCS) [5, 82],
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