Improving the Fuel Economy of Stoichiometrically Fuelled S.I. Engines by Means of EGR and Enhanced Ignition - A Comparison of Gasoline, Methanol and Natural Gas

952376

10/01/1995

Event
1995 SAE International Fall Fuels and Lubricants Meeting and Exhibition
Authors Abstract
Content
This paper describes an experimental study in which the potential for fuel economy improvements with EGR was investigated using an automotive V6 engine. Steady state engine dynamometer tests were run at 2000 rpm and 200 kPa Brake Mean Effective Pressure (BMEP). The engine was fuelled with gasoline, methanol or natural gas. Plasma jet ignition was evaluated as a means of improving EGR tolerance.
EGR tolerance with methanol was found to be better than with gasoline, while natural gas showed the poorest EGR tolerance. Plasma jet ignition extended EGR limits for all three fuels. Fuel economy benefits were realized with natural gas and gasoline at low EGR rates and without EGR but plasma jet ignition provided no improvements with methanol until over 10% EGR was used.
Plasma jet ignition made stable operation possible with methanol at 40% EGR, where fuel economy improvements were ultimately limited by the slow burning associated with the high EGR rate. Both slow burning and high cyclic variation affected gasoline at high EGR rates, while stability limits to spark advance with natural gas caused fuel economy to degrade at relatively low EGR rates.
Meta TagsDetails
DOI
https://doi.org/10.4271/952376
Pages
17
Citation
Neame, G., Gardiner, D., Mallory, R., Rao, V. et al., "Improving the Fuel Economy of Stoichiometrically Fuelled S.I. Engines by Means of EGR and Enhanced Ignition - A Comparison of Gasoline, Methanol and Natural Gas," SAE Technical Paper 952376, 1995, https://doi.org/10.4271/952376.
Additional Details
Publisher
Published
Oct 1, 1995
Product Code
952376
Content Type
Technical Paper
Language
English