Dear Colleagues,

The invention of the reciprocating internal combustion engine (ICE) has revolutionized all areas of transportation where such engines, both diesel and gasoline, are the main source of propulsion for almost all vehicles and ships. They are also an indispensable power drive for many engineering machines and energy systems. Thanks to continuous technical development, a relatively high level of their technical sophistication has been reached, and their current energy and environment outputs significantly exceed the previous relevant performance. However, internal combustion engines are not deprived of disadvantages. The most important of these is harmful exhaust emissions. This problem is the main focus of attention of scientists and automotive engineers. A constant decrease in exhaust emission limits additionally intensifies their efforts to produce more ecological engines and vehicles. Furthermore, the strong desire to eliminate fossil fuels yields additional challenges to the continued expansion of internal combustion engines. On the other hand, the rapid growth of road transportation and the increase in end-user demands for increasingly comfortable, durable, reliable, and fuel-efficient vehicles continually require improvements in engine design and technology, which will not find other alternatives in many areas of use. Despite many attempts, replacing the internal combustion engine with a different but equally efficient source of propulsion is still not promising. Therefore, extensive work on internal combustion engines must continue and the results must be made widely available.

This Special Issue aims to present original research papers on the latest technological advances and strategic analyses in relation to internal combustion engines. You are cordially invited to contribute to this work.

Dr. Hubert Kuszewski
Dr. Paweł Woś
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• fuel delivery and combustible mixture formation
• clean and advanced combustion regimes
• engine
• design and technology
• energy efficiency improvements
• e-fuels and alternative fuels
• emission and exhaust treatment
• engine simulation and modelling
• engine mechatronics and control
• technical maintenance
• hybrid systems
• developments in vehicle powertrains
• ICE powering transport means
• predictions and analyses of the future of combustion engines

• Internal Combustion Engine: Research and Application in Energies (15 articles)

Title: Effect of water injection on combustion and emissions parameters of SI engine fuelled by hydrogen-natural gas blends
Authors: Saugirdas Pukalskas; Vidas Korsakas; Tomas Stankevičius; Donatas Kriaučiūnas; Šarūnas Mikaliūnas
Affiliation: Department of Automobile Engineering, Faculty of Transport Engineering, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Plytinės Str. 25, 10105 Vilnius, Lithuania
Abstract: Technologies used in the transport sector have a substantial impact on air pollution and global warming. Due to the immense impact of air pollution on Earth, it is crucial to investigate novel ways to reduce emissions. One way to reduce pollution from ICE is to use alternative fuels. However, blends of alternative fuels in different proportions are known to improve some emissions parameters while others remain unchanged or even worsen. It is therefore necessary to find ways of reducing all the main pollutants. For SI engine, mixtures of hydrogen and natural gas can be used as alternative fuels. The use of such fuel mixtures makes it possible to reduce CO, HC and CO2 emissions from the engine, but the unique properties of hydrogen tend to increase NOx emissions. One way to address this challenge is to inject water into the engine. This paper describes studies carried out under laboratory conditions on a SI engine fuelled with CNG and CNG+H2 mixtures (H2 = 5, 10, 15% by volume) and injected 60 and 120 ml/min of water into the engine. The tests showed that the additional water injection reduced CO and NOx emissions by about 20% and 4-5 times respectively.

Title: Development and Validation of a Novel Zero-Dimensional Heat Rejection Model for High Efficiency Engines
Authors: Francesca Furia; Vittorio Ravaglioli; Alberto Cerofolini; Carlo Bussi
Affiliation: Department of Industrial Engineering, Università di Bologna, Via Fontanelle 40, 47121 Forlì, Italy
Abstract: In recent years, the trend towards the performance maximization of modern internal combustion engines has led to the creation of accurate simulation models to optimize the engine design and operating conditions.  Temperature management is crucial to achieve the performance goals of an internal combustion engine without affecting component's reliability.  Formula 1 mandates that only a limited number of experimental tests can be performed, which leads to the necessity of simulators capable of substituting empirical tests. Furthermore, the requirement of adapting the vehicle setup before each race weekend to maximize the performance on each circuit layout necessitates short computational time. To address this, the development of a zero-dimensional model of the thermal flows within an engine is presented in this paper. This model allows to precisely compute the dynamic variations of all the heat flows inside the combustion engine, neglecting only the radiative ones, and the engine components’ temperatures. The new simulation approach has been developed and validated on a Formula 1 engine and shown to be precise and fast. The results demonstrate the value of the proposed model with an average engine fluid temperatures error of less than 1°C for a computational cost comparable with on-board applications.

Title: Technical analysis of a renewable poly-generative system based on Internal Combustion Engine co-generator/electrolyzer to support green mobility
Authors: Giuseppe De Lorenzo
Affiliation: Department of Mechanical, Energy and Management Engineering at the University of Calabria