Francisco V. Tinaut

Publications (2)0 Total impact

• Article: Method for predicting the performance of an internal combustion engine fuelled by producer gas and other low heating value gases

  Francisco V. Tinaut, Andrés Melgar, Alfonso Horrillo, Ana Díez de la Rosa
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  ABSTRACT: Gasification can be seen as a process in which solid biomass is converted into a mixture of combustible gases, which complete their combustion in a second device, usually a reciprocating internal combustion engine (RICE). Downdraft moving-bed gasifiers coupled with RICE are a good choice for moderate quantities of available biomass, the equivalent of up to 500 kW of electric power. The producer gas must be mixed with additional air in order to have a stoichiometric mixture to fuel the RICE. To predict the engine performance working with such a fuel, a so-called Engine Fuel Quality (EFQ) parameter has been developed by the authors. This parameter considers the combined effect of stoichiometric air–fuel ratio and stoichiometric mixture heating value, both depending on the producer gas composition. The estimation of engine power made by using the EFQ parameter indicates that power at full load is reduced at about two-thirds of the maximum obtained with a conventional liquid fuel. A more detailed prediction of engine performance requires the use of computer simulation of several types. The authors have used successfully a two-zone thermodynamic model to predict engine performance. Model results include the fraction of mass burned, the pressure and temperature evolution, and pollutant emissions. The detailed results for power confirm the first order prediction based on the EFQ parameter.
  Fuel Processing Technology.
• Source

  Available from: Hannes Laget

  Article: Misfire and compression fault detection through the energy model

  Francisco V. Tinaut, Andrés Melgar, Hannes Laget, José I. Domínguez
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  ABSTRACT: This article proposes a simple algorithm for misfire detection in reciprocating engines. The algorithm, based on an energy model of the engine, requires the measurement of the instantaneous angular speed. By processing the engine dynamics in the angular domain, variations in the working parameters of the engine, such as external load and mean angular speed, are compensated. A dimensionless feature has been abstracted for evaluation of the combustion as well as compression process of each cylinder. The proposed technique is expected to be easy to implement and to provide useful information for on-line monitoring of the in-cylinder processes in an internal combustion engine.
  Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing.