Experimental and Numerical Analysis of Passive Pre-Chamber Ignition with EGR and Air Dilution for Future Generation Passenger Car Engines

Nowadays the combination of strict regulations for pollutant and CO2 emissions, together with the irruption of electric vehicles in the automotive market, is arising many concerns for internal combustion engine community. For this purpose, many research efforts are being devoted to the development of a new generation of high-performance spark-ignition (SI) engines for passenger car applications. Particularly, the PC ignition concept, also known as Turbulent Jet Ignition (TJI), is the focus of several investigations for its benefits in terms of engine thermal efficiency. The passive or un-scavenged version of this ignition strategy does not require an auxiliary fuel supply inside the PC; therefore, it becomes a promising solution for passenger car applications as packaging and installation are simple and straightforward. Moreover, combining this concept with lean burn is an interesting alternative for both improving the engine efficiency and maintaining low pollutant emissions as it enables Low Temperature Combustion (LTC) which ultimately reduces NO_X emissions. EGR dilution is also an attractive approach as it is compatible with the three-way catalyst for NO_X control. However, previous researches focused on developing the technology rather than understanding the governing physical phenomena. Consequently, the knowledge about the characteristics and limitations of the combustion process for this ignition concept is still limited. For this purpose, an experimental campaign combined with a computational study was performed in this research work to analyze the TJI combustion features in a turbocharged passenger car-size single-cylinder SI engine, sweeping EGR and λ levels. Single-cycle RANS simulations were carried out following a suitable methodology and the results were validated against experimental data keeping the same engine configuration and operating conditions. The simulation results were used to study in detail the combustion process and jet characteristics. The analysis of the results provided a detailed insight about the key aspects limiting the passive PC ignition concept compatibility with air/EGR dilution.