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Experimental Investigation, Modeling and Optimization of Modern Internal Combustion Engines...
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Experimental Investigation, Modeling and Optimization of Modern Internal Combustion Engines toward Their Sustainable Application in Future Road Mobility

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "I2: Energy and Combustion Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (29 December 2023) | Viewed by 5746

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Stefania Falfari

E-Mail Website1 Website2 Website3 Website4
Guest Editor
Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
Interests: Internal combustion engines fueled by gasoline and alternative fuels (primarily hydrogen)

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are currently witnessing a "demonization" and a debasement of the fundamental role of internal combustion engines in the transport sector. Internal combustion engines are required to achieve a unique reduction in CO2 emissions across the various energy sectors, targeted to reach zero emissions in 2035.

I, as I hope many of you, believe that internal combustion engines still have much room for growth and development and are not dead, as some would have us believe. The topic of this Special Issue entitled "Experimental Investigation, Modeling and Optimization of Modern Internal Combustion Engines Toward Their Sustainable Application in Future Road Mobility" is aimed at experimentation and modeling technologies in the broad sense that may lead engines to remain a point of reference in the road mobility of the future by putting efforts into developing new fuels, admixtures, and combustion strategies promoting net-zero carbon emissions.

This Special Issue aims to present and disseminate the most recent advances related to the theory, design, modelling and control of modern internal combustion engines.

Topics of interest for publication include, but are not limited to:

  1. Technical solutions aimed at increasing thermal and indicated efficiencies;
  2. Numerical-experimental characterization of the behavior of alternative fuels (e-fuels, hydrogen, isooctane, etc.) and their use;
  3. Experimentation and simulation of advanced combustion strategies (GCI, HCCI, etc.) aimed at increasing the overall efficiency of the engine, both targeting fuel savings and as a means of increasing adiabatic and combustion efficiency.

Dr. Stefania Falfari
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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.

Keywords

  • advanced combustion strategies
  • alternative fuels
  • experimental analysis
  • engine modelling
  • hydrogen
  • e-fuels
  • CFD simulation of internal combustion engines

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

25 pages, 10294 KiB  
Article
Role of Altitude in Influencing the Spray Combustion Characteristics of a Heavy-Duty Diesel Engine in a Constant Volume Combustion Chamber. Part I: Free Diesel Jet
by Chengguan Wang, Xiaozhi Qi, Tao Wang, Diming Lou, Piqiang Tan, Zhiyuan Hu, Liang Fang and Rong Yang
Energies 2023, 16(12), 4832; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16124832 - 20 Jun 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 948
Abstract
Heavy-duty diesel engines operating in plateau regions experience deteriorated combustion. However, the lack of up-to-date information on the spray-combustion process limits the fundamental understanding of the role of altitude. In this work, the in-cylinder thermodynamic conditions of a real diesel engine operating under [...] Read more.
Heavy-duty diesel engines operating in plateau regions experience deteriorated combustion. However, the lack of up-to-date information on the spray-combustion process limits the fundamental understanding of the role of altitude. In this work, the in-cylinder thermodynamic conditions of a real diesel engine operating under different altitudes were reproduced in a constant-volume combustion chamber (CVCC). The liquid spray, ignition, and combustion processes were visualized in detail using different optical diagnostics. Apart from predictable results, some interesting new findings were obtained to improve the understanding of free spray-combustion processes with different altitudes. The spatial distributions of ignition kernels provided direct evidence of higher peak pressure rise rates for high-altitude diesel engines. The percent of stoichiometric air was calculated to confirm that the net effect of altitude was an increase in the amount of air-entrained upstream of the lifted flame; therefore, the soot levels deduced from flame images were inconsistent with those from real engines, revealing that accelerating the soot oxidation process could effectively reduce engine soot emissions in plateau regions. Finally, a novel schematic diagram of the spray flame structure was proposed to phenomenologically describe the role of altitude in influencing the spray-combustion process of a free jet. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Experimental Investigation, Modeling and Optimization of Modern Internal Combustion Engines toward Their Sustainable Application in Future Road Mobility)
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21 pages, 10792 KiB  
Article
Enhancement of Heavy-Duty Engines Performance and Reliability Using Cylinder Pressure Information
by Alessandro Brusa, Enrico Corti, Alessandro Rossi and Davide Moro
Energies 2023, 16(3), 1193; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16031193 - 21 Jan 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1326
Abstract
Sustainability issues are becoming increasingly prominent in applications requiring the use of heavy-duty engines. Therefore, it is important to cut the emissions and costs of such engines to reduce the carbon footprint and keep the operating expenses under control. Even if for some [...] Read more.
Sustainability issues are becoming increasingly prominent in applications requiring the use of heavy-duty engines. Therefore, it is important to cut the emissions and costs of such engines to reduce the carbon footprint and keep the operating expenses under control. Even if for some applications a battery electric equipment is introduced, the diesel-equipped machinery is still popular thanks to the longer operating range. In this field, the open pit mines are a good example. In fact, the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of the mining equipment is highly impacted by fuel consumption (engine efficiency) and reliability (service interval and engine life). The present work is focused on efficiency enhancements achievable through the application of a combustion control strategy based on the in-cylinder pressure information. The benefits are mainly due to two factors. First, the negative effects of injectors aging can be compensated. Second, cylindrical online calibration of the control parameters enables the combustion system optimization. The article is divided into two parts. The first part describes the toolchain that is designed for the real-time application of the combustion control system, while the second part concerns the algorithm that would be implemented on the Engine Control Unit (ECU) to leverage the in-cylinder pressure information. The assessment of the potential benefits and feasibility of the combustion control algorithm is carried out in a Software in the Loop (SiL) environment, simulating both the developed control strategy and the engine behavior (Liebherr D98). Our goal is to validate the control algorithm through SiL simulations. The results of the validation process demonstrate the effectiveness of the control strategy: firstly, cylinder disparity on IMEP (+/−2.5% in reference conditions) is virtually canceled. Secondly, MFB50 is individually optimized, equalizing Pmax among the cylinders (+/−4% for the standard calibration) without exceeding the reliability threshold. In addition to this, BSFC is reduced by 1% thanks to the accurate cylinder-by-cylinder calibration. Finally, aging effects or fuel variations can be implicitly compensated, keeping optimal performance thorough the engine life. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Experimental Investigation, Modeling and Optimization of Modern Internal Combustion Engines toward Their Sustainable Application in Future Road Mobility)
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22 pages, 4255 KiB  
Article
Comparative Evaluation of Data-Driven Approaches to Develop an Engine Surrogate Model for NOx Engine-Out Emissions under Steady-State and Transient Conditions
by Alessandro Brusa, Emanuele Giovannardi, Massimo Barichello and Nicolò Cavina
Energies 2022, 15(21), 8088; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15218088 - 31 Oct 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1518
Abstract
In this paper, a methodology based on data-driven models is developed to predict the NOx emissions of an internal combustion engine using, as inputs, a set of ECU channels representing the main engine actuations. Several regressors derived from the machine learning and deep [...] Read more.
In this paper, a methodology based on data-driven models is developed to predict the NOx emissions of an internal combustion engine using, as inputs, a set of ECU channels representing the main engine actuations. Several regressors derived from the machine learning and deep learning algorithms are tested and compared in terms of prediction accuracy and computational efficiency to assess the most suitable for the aim of this work. Six Real Driving Emission (RDE) cycles performed at the roll bench were used for the model training, while another two RDE cycles and a steady-state map of NOx emissions were used to test the model under dynamic and stationary conditions, respectively. The models considered include Polynomial Regressor (PR), Support Vector Regressor (SVR), Random Forest Regressor (RF), Light Gradient Boosting Regressor (LightGBR) and Feed-Forward Neural Network (ANN). Ensemble methods such as Random Forest and LightGBR proved to have similar performances in terms of prediction accuracy, with LightGBR requiring a much lower training time. Afterwards, LightGBR predictions are compared with experimental NOx measurements in steady-state conditions and during two RDE cycles. Coefficient of determination (R2), normalized root mean squared error (nRMSE) and mean average percentage error (MAPE) are the main metrics used. The NOx emissions predicted by the LightGBR show good coherence with the experimental test set, both with the steady-state NOx map (R2 = 0.91 and MAPE = 6.42%) and with the RDE cycles (R2 = 0.95 and nRMSE = 0.04). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Experimental Investigation, Modeling and Optimization of Modern Internal Combustion Engines toward Their Sustainable Application in Future Road Mobility)
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29 pages, 6813 KiB  
Article
Development of a Control-Oriented Ignition Delay Model for GCI Combustion
by Giacomo Silvagni, Vittorio Ravaglioli, Stefania Falfari, Fabrizio Ponti and Valerio Mariani
Energies 2022, 15(17), 6470; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15176470 - 05 Sep 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1229
Abstract
Increasingly stringent pollutant emission limits and CO2 reduction policies are forcing the automotive industry toward cleaner and decarbonized mobility. The goal is to achieve carbon neutrality within 2050 and limit global warming to 2 °C (possibly 1.5 °C) with respect to pre-industrial [...] Read more.
Increasingly stringent pollutant emission limits and CO2 reduction policies are forcing the automotive industry toward cleaner and decarbonized mobility. The goal is to achieve carbon neutrality within 2050 and limit global warming to 2 °C (possibly 1.5 °C) with respect to pre-industrial levels as stated in both the European Green Deal and the Paris Agreement and further reiterated at the COP26. With the aim of simultaneously reducing both pollutants and CO2 emissions, a large amount of research is currently carried out on low-temperature highly efficient combustions (LTC). Among these advanced combustions, one of the most promising is Gasoline Compression Ignition (GCI), based on the spontaneous ignition of a gasoline-like fuel. Nevertheless, despite GCI proving to be effective in reducing both pollutants and CO2 emissions, GCI combustion controllability represents the main challenge that hinders the diffusion of this methodology for transportation. Several works in the literature demonstrated that to properly control GCI combustion, a multiple injections strategy is needed. The rise of pressure and temperature generated by the spontaneous ignition of small amounts of early-injected fuel reduces the ignition delay of the following main injection, responsible for the torque production of the engine. Since the combustion of the pre-injections is chemically driven, the ignition delay might be strongly affected by a slight variation in the engine control parameters and, consequently, lead to misfire or knocking. The goal of this work was to develop a control-oriented ignition delay model suitable to improve the GCI combustion stability through the proper management of the pilot injections. After a thorough analysis of the quantities affecting the ignition delay, this quantity was modeled as a function of both a thermodynamic and a chemical–physical index. The comparison between the measured and modeled ignition delay shows an accuracy compatible with the requirements for control purposes (the average root mean squared error between the measured and estimated start of combustion is close to 1.3 deg), over a wide range of operating conditions. As a result, the presented approach proved to be appropriate for the development of a model-based feed-forward contribution for a closed-loop combustion control strategy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Experimental Investigation, Modeling and Optimization of Modern Internal Combustion Engines toward Their Sustainable Application in Future Road Mobility)
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