Using Pilot Diesel Injection in a Natural Gas Fueled HCCI Engine

Previous research has shown that the homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) combustion concept holds promise for reducing pollutants (i.e. NO_x, soot) while maintaining high thermal efficiency. However, it can be difficult to control the operation of the HCCI engines even under steady state running conditions. Power density may also be limited if high inlet air temperatures are used for achieving ignition. A methodology using a small pilot quantity of diesel fuel injected during the compression stroke to improve the power density and operation control is considered in this paper. Multidimensional computations were carried out for an HCCI engine based on a CAT3401 engine. The computations show that the required initial temperature for ignition is reduced by about 70 K for the cases of the diesel pilot charge and a 25∼35% percent increase in power density was found for those cases without adversely impacting the NO_x emissions. The overall sensitivity of engine operation to the initial temperature was reduced.