In-Cylinder Sampling of Hydrocarbons in a Texaco L-141 TCP Engine

Apparatus was developed to obtain time and spatially resolved gas samples from the displacement volume of a reciprocating engine. This equipment was used to study the distribution of fuel and combustion products, with emphasis on the origins and formation mechanisms of hydrocarbons, in a single-cylinder Texaco L-141 TCP engine run on heptane.

Two of three potential hydrocarbon sources were identified. Frozen hydrocarbon compositions found near the head surface after 15°CA were attributed to wall quenching. Heptane found at all sampling locations prior to the start of fuel injection was associated with a source of fuel on the bowl surface.