Study of the autoignition combustion operating region of a small two-stroke engine

Abstract

A limited load region is one of the main problems of homogeneous charge compression ignition. In the work reported in this paper the autoignition (AI) load region specific to a small two-stroke engine has been investigated. The objective was to gain a better understanding regarding the characteristics of the AI operating regime by studying the combustion stability and exhaust emissions. AI combustion was achieved by trapping hot exhaust gases inside the cylinder with an exhaust throttle valve. The intake throttle, exhaust throttle, and fuelling rate were manually adjusted to obtain the required engine operating points. The nature of combustion and implications of exhaust emissions have been discussed in relation to the load regions of AI operation. The operation of AI in the medium- to high-load ranges demonstrated a higher degree of cyclic stability. In contrast with this, AI operation at lower-loads demonstrated a higher degree of cyclic instability.

Keywords

autoignition homogeneous charge compression ignition two-stroke engine

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