Forthcoming reductions in legal limits for emissions of particle matter (PM) from direct injection engines have increased the need for understanding particle distributions in the engines and the factors affecting them. Therefore, in the presented study the influence on PM-emissions of potentially important factors (fuel injection pressure, load, speed and 50% mass fraction burned phasing) on particle mass, number and size distributions were experimentally investigated. The experimental system was a spray-guided, direct injection, single-cylinder research engine operated in stratified charge mode (using gasoline with 10% ethanol as fuel), under five load and speed settings that are appropriate for stratified combustion. The particle distributions obtained from operating the engine in homogeneous combustion and stratified combustion modes were also compared.
The particle distributions were measured using a Cambustion DMS500 fast particle analyzer in combination with a Dekati FPS4000 fine particle sampler and a thermodenuder in all tests except the comparison of distributions under stratified and homogeneous combustion conditions. The sampling system was designed to remove as much of the volatile unburned hydrocarbons as possible in order to sample mostly solid particles.
Under all of the stratified operating conditions studied, the results indicate that the particle distribution has a characteristic shape with a tail and one large peak. The operating speed significantly affected the size of the largest particles and the quantity of the particles represented by the tail.
An almost linear, positive relationship was found between the load and particle number. Increasing the fuel injection pressure reduced particle numbers whereas combustion phasing had no significant observed effects. More particles were generated in stratified combustion mode than in homogeneous mode.