An Examination of Cyclic Variations in a Dual Fuel Engine

The paper considers the cyclic variations in performance parameters of a dual fuel engine fuelled with methane. It is shown that such an engine does display cyclic variations that are greater than the corresponding diesel operation, yet smaller than comparable spark ignition operation. The extent of cyclic variation in peak cylinder pressure and ignition delay increases, for any power output, as the pilot diesel quantity is reduced and the extent of gas substitution is increased. The use of extremely small pilots in the unmodified engine can lead to erratic engine performance. Greater cyclic variations are associated with low load rather than high load operation. Furthermore, with an injection system which is well matched to the engine, there is only little cyclic variation associated solely with the pilot, even when its quantity is small. However, the intensity of the variations can increase significantly if any alternative fuel injection system is employed that may not have been thoroughly matched with the engine over the whole load and speed ranges.