Application of an Ozone Generator to Control the Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition Combustion Process

The present investigation examines a new way to control the homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) process. An ozone generator was set up to seed the intake of a single-cylinder engine with low concentrations of ozone. Two kinds of gas supply were tested: an oxygen supply and an air supply; as well as two kinds of injection: a plenum injection and an injection inside one of the intake pipes. The results showed that air can easily be used and that the second injection mode is the best way to achieve an on-road application. Moreover, experiments demonstrated that each combustion parameter such as the phasing, the indicated mean effective pressure and the pollutants can be controlled by varying the capacity of the ozone generator. Then, from experimental results, two dynamic control approaches on the maximum pressure phasing were proposed. A cartography control showed that a fast control of the combustion phasing can be achieved and a closed loop control demonstrated an excellent accuracy. Finally, this investigation demonstrated that an on-road application is achievable and improvements of this new combustion control approach are discussed.