Advanced combustion near and far

Advanced combustion research promises long-term improvements in efficiencies while reducing or eliminating the need for aftertreatment.

If conventional jet-mixing, or diffuse, diesel combustion cannot meet current regulations without aftertreatment, is there a way to do better? Researchers have found various ways to produce a well-mixed charge before it autoignites, leading to research into homogenous charge compression ignition (HCCI). However, practical implementation has proven difficult.

“Controlling combustion timing over the entire load/speed map, improving efficiency at low loads, and extending the high-load limit currently limits implementing HCCI,” said John Dec, a member of Sandia National Laboratory Combustion Research Facility (CRF).