Experimental Investigation of a Port Fuel Injected Spark Ignition Engine Fuelled with Variable Mixtures of Hydrogen and Methane Universita degli Studi di Perugia

Format:

Conference/Event

Author/Creator:

Battistoni, Battistoni, author.

Contributor:

Grimaldi, Carlo N.

Poggiani, Claudio

Conference Name:

SAE 2013 World Congress & Exhibition (2013-04-16 : Detroit, Michigan, United States)

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Warrendale, PA SAE International 2013

Summary:

The paper describes an experimental research which addressed thestudy of a 4-cylinder, spark-ignited, port-fuel-injected,production engine modified for hydrogen-methane blend fueling. Theoriginal engine was a 2.8-liter, naturally aspirated,methane-fuelled engine. The engine modifications included two fuelinjectors per port and ECU replacement for controlling lean burncombustion and enabling real-time variation of the fuel blend,based on an alpha-N mapping approach.Since hydrogen infrastructures are an issue and its productioncosts are still today very high, pure hydrogen usage is not aviable solution for near future vehicles. In view of this, in thepresent paper, the maximum volumetric concentration of hydrogen inmethane has been set to 35% (which on a mass basis corresponds to6.3%).The variability of the fuel mixture has been achieved byinstalling two separate fuel lines connected to two fuel rails: atotal of 8 injectors are installed. Four injectors deliver puremethane and the other set delivers a mix of 35% H₂ - rest methane(by volume). By controlling the injection duration of each injectorsgroup any content of H₂ in methane from 0% up to 35% can beachieved. In this context the aim of the work is the assessment ofthe potential of this variable fuel feeding depending on thedemand, at various speeds and loads.The study points out that a good improvement in engine thermalefficiency can be achieved using the H₂-35 strategy compared to thebaseline methane engine. Also benefits on NOx productionare achieved at low load engine points. Modifications required tomechanical components and to the ECU calibration are of minorimpact on the powertrain, thus could be practicable for vehicleapplications.The study presents the optimization of the combustion throughadjustment of spark timing and injected fuel quantity at selectedengine points. Afterwards, the application of the combustionstrategy for the engine calibration is shown

Notes:

Vendor supplied data

Publisher Number:

2013-01-0226

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license