Experimental Investigation on DME Assisted Gasoline CAI/HCCI Combustion with Intake Re-Breathing Valve Strategy

In order to investigate feasibility of DME (Di-methyl ether) assisted gasoline CAI (controlled-auto ignition) combustion, direct DME injection is employed to act as the ignition source to trigger the auto-ignition combustion of premixed gasoline/air mixture with high temperature exhaust gas. Intake re-breathing valve strategy is adopted to obtain internal exhaust recirculation (EGR) that regulates heat release rate and ignitability of the premixed gasoline and air mixture. The effects of intake re-breathing valve timing and 2^nd DME injection timing of different split injection ratios were investigated and discussed in terms of combustion characteristics, emission and efficiencies. The analyses showed that re-breathing intake valve timing had a large effect on the operation range of CAI combustion due to EGR and intake temperature variation. The results of 2^nd DME injection timing on various 1^st / 2^nd DME injection ratio indicated that the optimized 2^nd DME injection timing depends on 1^st / 2^nd DME injection ratio. As1st DME injection ratio was increased, more retarded 2^nd DME injection timing was required.