K. Yoshida’s research while affiliated with Nihon University and other places

Combustion experiments were conducted with an optically accessible engine that allowed the entire bore area to be visualized for the purpose of making clear the characteristics that induce extremely rapid HCCI combustion and knocking accompanied by cylinder pressure oscillations. The HCCI combustion regime was investigated in detail by high-speed in-cylinder visualization of autoignition and combustion and emission spectroscopic measurements. The results revealed that increasing the equivalence ratio and advancing the ignition timing caused the maximum pressure rise rate and knocking intensity to increase. In moderate HCCI combustion, the autoignited flame was initially dispersed temporally and spatially in the cylinder and then gradually spread throughout the entire cylinder. In contrast to that behavior, in extremely rapid HCCI combustion, the autoignited flame was dispersed in the cylinder in its initial stage, but the remaining unburned end gas rapidly autoignited at a certain point. That gave rise to knocking combustion accompanied by cylinder pressure oscillations.

A Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) engine was operated under a continuous firing condition in this study to visualize combustion in order to obtain fundamental knowledge for suppressing the rapidity of combustion in HCCI engines. Experiments were conducted with a two-stroke engine fitted with a quartz observation window that allowed the entire bore area to be visualized. The effect of varying the compression ratio and fuel octane number on HCCI combustion was investigated. In-cylinder spectroscopic measurements were made at compression ratios of 11:1 and 15:1 using primary reference fuel blends having different octane numbers of 0 RON and 50 RON. The results showed that varying the compression ratio and fuel octane number presumably has little effect on the rapidity of HCCI combustion at the same ignition timing when the quantity of heat produced per cycle by the injected fuel is kept constant. Additionally, the results indicated that increasing the compression ratio mitigated the effect of a higher fuel octane number on retarding the ignition timing and lengthening the ignition delay period.

Engine downsizing with a turbocharger / supercharger has attracted attention as a way of improving the fuel economy of automotive gasoline engines, but this approach can be frustrated by the occurrence of abnormal combustion. In this study, the factors causing abnormal combustion were investigated using a supercharged, downsized engine that was built by adding a mechanical supercharger. Combustion experiments were conducted in which the fuel octane number and supercharging pressure were varied while keeping the engine speed, equivalence ratio and intake air temperature constant. In the experiments, a visualization technique was applied to photograph combustion in the combustion chamber, absorption spectroscopy was used to investigate the intermediate products of combustion, and the cylinder pressure was measured. The experimental data obtained simultaneously were then analyzed to examine the effects on combustion. The results showed that increasing fuel octane number had effect of moderating combustion by lengthening period from development of a cool flame to occurrence of autoignition. Additionally, increasing the supercharging pressure retarded the onset of the cool flame reactions and advanced the occurrence of autoignition.

There are few investigations to change wood biomasses to the industrially available energy, so that a new conversion technology of biomass to liquid fuel has been established by the direct liquefaction process. However, cellulosic liquefaction fuel (for short CLF) cold not mixed with diesel fuel. In this study, the plastic was mixed with wood to improve the solubility of CLF to diesel fuel. CLF made by the direct co-liquefaction process could be stably and completely mixed with diesel fuel in any mixing ratio and CLF included 2 wt.% of oxygen. The test engine was an air-cooled, four-stroke, single cylinder, direct fuel injection diesel engine. In the engine starting condition test, the ignition timing of 5 wt.% CLF mixed diesel fuel was slightly delayed at immediately after the engine started, however the ignition timing was almost the same as diesel fuel after the engine was warmed-up. In ordinary engine performance test, the combustion characteristics, engine performances and exhaust gas emissions were almost similar to those of diesel fuel up to mixing ratio of CLF of 20 wt%. However, THC was decreased as the weight mixing ratio of CLF increased. Therefore, CLF can be practically used as a good additive for diesel engine.

The ignitability and engine performance of FAMEs at the cold condition were experimentally investigated by using two FAMEs, i.e. coconut oil methyl ester (CME) and soybean oil methyl ester (SME). The cold start test and forced over cooling test were conducted. In the forced over cooling test, engine was forced cooled by the injecting water mist to engine cooling fin. In the cold start test, the cylinder pressure of CME rose earliest because CME has a superior ignitability. The crank angle at ignitions of diesel fuel and CME were not so affected by the forced over cooling, however ignition timing of SME was remarkably delayed. In cases of forced over cooling, COV of maximum combustion pressure of CME was lower than that of normal air cooling condition. The forced over cooling has a potential to reduce NOx emission, however HC, CO and smoke concentrations were increased in a high load due to incomplete combustion. The incomplete combustion was relatively suppressed for CME as compared with other fuels. The high load operation could be achieved by the forced over cooling because of improvement of charging efficiency, however the brake thermal efficiency was deteriorated due to an increase in cooling loss.

This study was conducted to investigate the influence of low-temperature reactions on the Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) combustion process. Specifically, an investigation was made of the effect of the residual gas condition on low-temperature reactions, autoignition and the subsequent state of combustion following ignition. Light emission and absorption spectroscopic measurements were made in the combustion chamber in order to investigate low- temperature reactions in detail. In addition, chemical kinetic simulations were performed to validate the experimental results and to analyze the elemental reaction process. The results made clear the formation behavior of the chemical species produced during low- temperature HCCI reactions.

The Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) engine has attracted much interest because it can simultaneously achieve high efficiency and low emissions. However, the ignition timing is difficult to control because this engine has no physical ignition mechanism. In addition, combustion proceeds very rapidly because the premixed mixture ignites simultaneously at multiple locations in the cylinder, making it difficult to increase the operating load. In this study, an HCCI engine was operated using blended test fuels comprised of dimethyl ether (DME) and methane, each of which have different ignition characteristics. The effects of mixing ratios and absolute quantities of the two types of fuel on the ignition timing and rapidity of combustion were investigated. Cool flame reaction behavior, which significantly influences the ignition, was also analyzed in detail on the basis of in-cylinder spectroscopic measurements. The experimental results revealed that within the range of the experimental conditions used in this study, the quantity of DME supplied substantially influenced the ignition timing, whereas there was little observed effect from the quantity of methane supplied. Spectroscopic measurements of the behavior of a substance corresponding to HCHO also indicated that the quantity of DME supplied significantly influenced the cool flame behavior. However, the rapidity of combustion could not be controlled even by varying the mixing ratios of DME and methane. It was made clear that changes in the ignition timing substantially influence the rapidity of combustion.

Homogenous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) combustion systems can be broadly divided for the process applied to 4-stroke and 2-stroke engines. The former process is often referred to as simply HCCI combustion and the latter process as Active Thermo-Atmosphere Combustion (ATAC). The region of stable engine operation tends to differ greatly between the two processes. In this study, it was shown that the HCCI combustion process of a 4-stroke engine, characterized by the occurrence of autoignition under a high compression ratio, a lean mixture and wide open throttle operation, could be simulated by operating a 2-stroke engine at a higher compression ratio. On that basis, a comparison was made of the combustion characteristics of high-compression-ratio HCCI combustion and ATAC, characterized as autoignited combustion in the presence of a large quantity of residual gas at a low compression ratio and part throttle. The results showed that one major difference between these two combustion processes was their different degrees of susceptibility to the occurrence of cool flame reactions. Compared with high-compression-ratio HCCI combustion, the ignition timing of ATAC tended not to change in relation to different fuel octane numbers. Furthermore, when internal EGR was applied to high-compression-ratio HCCI combustion, it resulted in combustion characteristics resembling ATAC. Specifically, as the internal EGR rate was increased, the ignition timing showed less change in relation to changes in the octane number and the region of stable engine operation also approached that of ATAC.

In this study, it was shown that the Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) combustion process of a 4-stroke engine, characterized by the occurrence of autoignition under a high compression ratio, a lean mixture and wide open throttle operation, could be simulated by using a 2-stroke engine. On that basis, a comparison was made of the combustion characteristics of HCCI combustion and Active Thermo-Atmosphere Combustion (ATAC), characterized as autoignited combustion in the presence of a large quantity of residual gas at a low compression ratio and part throttle. The results indicated that the ignition timing was less likely to change in the ATAC process in relation to changes in the fuel octane number than it was in the HCCI combustion process. Furthermore, when internal EGR was applied to HCCI combustion, it resulted in combustion characteristics resembling ATAC. Accordingly, light emission spectra of combustion flame in the combustion chamber and heat release rate were analyzed under HCCI and ATAC conditions. The results indicated that the HCCI and ATAC processes differ in their sensitivity to the occurrence of a cool flame.