Fuel Requirements for HCCI Engine Operation

Researchers at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) have been working for the past several years on the fundamental and practical aspects of homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) operation of reciprocating engines. Much of the work has focused on the use of diesel fuel. The work at SwRI has, however, demonstrated that there are fundamental limitations on the use of current diesel fuels in HCCI engines. The results of engine and constant volume combustion bomb experiments are presented and discussed. The engine experiments were used to identify important fuel properties that must be included in a fuel specification for HCCI fuels. The primary properties relate to the distillation characteristics and the ignition characteristics. The engine test provided preliminary guidance on the distillation requirements and an indication of the important ignition requirements. The constant volume combustion bomb experiments were performed in an effort to define a new fuel property that will serve to characterize the ignition property of a fuel in an HCCI engine.