Characterization of spray and combustion of diesel-alcohol blends in a constant volume chamber

In this study, the spray combustion characteristics of Acetone-Butanol-Ethanol (ABE)/ Diesel blends was investigated. An optical-accessible constant volume chamber capable of controlling ambient temperature, pressure and oxygen concentration was used to mimic the environmental conditions inside a real diesel engine cylinder. ABE fuel with typical volumetric ratios of 30% acetone, 60% butanol and 10% ethanol were blended with ultra-low sulfur diesel at 80% volumetric ratio and were tested in this study. The ambient temperature was set to be at 1100K and 900K, which represents normal combustion conditions and low temperature combustion conditions respectively. The ambient oxygen concentrations were set to be at 21%, 16% and 11%, representing different EGR ratios. The in-cylinder pressure was recorded by using a pressure transducer and the time-resolved Mie-scattering image and natural flame luminosity was captured using a high-speed camera coupled with a copper vapor laser. The results show that the liquid penetration was reduced by the high percentage of ABE in the blends. At the same time, the soot formation was reduced significantly by increasing oxygen content in the ABE fuel. Even more interesting, a soot-free combustion was achieved by combining the low temperature combustion with the higher percentage ABE case. In terms of soot emission, high ABE ratio blends are a very promising alternative fuel to be directly used in diesel engines especially under low-temperature combustion conditions. In addition, in this work, a modified chamber system has been described, which features a new injection pump system with a new piezoelectric injector, an upgraded LabVIEW control program and a new chamber head component. The new system has been tested and validated for the performance and consistency. Preliminary tests have shown that the repeatability of the upgraded constant volume chamber system is satisfactory.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Mechanical Engineering

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2016

Author dc:creator

• Lin, Yilu

Contributors dc:contributor

• Lee, Chia-Fon

• Spray
• Combustion
• Constant Volume Chamber

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2016 Yilu Lin

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/93048

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/93048