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A Study of Methods To Lower HC and Co Emissions in Diesel Hcci
A Study of Methods To Lower HC and Co Emissions in Diesel Hcci
2008-01-0034
Sylvain Savy, Stéphane Dehoux, David Azoulay and Hedi Ben-Hadj Hamouda
Renault Powertrain Division – France
Nick Lawrence
Mechadyne – UK
Copyright © 2008 SAE International
Nevertheless, due to a resultant low combustion The performance and exhaust emissions of Direct
temperature, HC and CO emissions rise significantly, Injection Diesel engines have been improved
especially at low load when the catalyst bed temperature significantly in recent years (figure 1). Whereas the
is not sufficient for their aftertreatment. This paper major challenge for gasoline engines is reducing fuel
describes three considered ways to potentially overcome consumption, diesel engines have to fulfill stricter
this barrier thanks to HCCI combustion improvement. regulations by reducing emissions to zero-impact levels
After a preliminary optimization of the combustion while minimizing CO2.
system performed on a single cylinder, the work was
operated on a mid-size multicylinder engine to reduce 0.05
Euro 3
engine out HC–CO levels. • High EGR rate
• Improved EGR circuit
• Modification of injection timing
Firstly, it focused on the optimization of multi-injection • High injection pressure
Particulates (g/km)
Exhaust throttle
temperature during the combustion and the proximity of
oxygen enabling their oxidation (figure 2).
Cata
LP EGR cooler
dramatically lessened. In return, complete post oxidation
of HC and CO is then difficult to achieve.
Exhaust throttle
Mechadyne VLD
Figure 2: Comparison between CI and HCCI combustion
Cata
This paper deals with three different solutions to reduce
Supercharging air cooler
Swirl
HC–CO emissions at low load in HCCI (figure 3): throttle PF
EGR exchanger
HC-CO emissions for an identical noise level.
2. Use of high-pressure-loop EGR without cooler to
increase the burn gases temperature.
3. Use of VVL system to substitute some EGR by IGR
[1] and [2].
20 2.50
HC (g/kWh)
CO / 10 (g/kWh)
16 NOx (g/kWh) 2.00
Figure 5: Renault engine concept with VVA + LP EGR
c
Emissions (g/kWh)
50
ADAVANCED COMMON RAIL INJECTION
45
SYSTEM
40
0
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
Time (µs)
1900
The engine cylinder head has been designed to take Because the VLD system takes up the space that is
advantage of this modularity. As such, the engine can usually assigned to the cam bearings, a new cylinder
run with either a standard finger follower valvetrain or head and cover assembly was used where the cover
VLD on both intake and exhaust. contains all the cam bearings. This produces a very
simple, modular, cylinder head and cover structure as
The VLD system used to obtain the test results for this shown by figures 11 and 12.
paper produces a variable exhaust re-opening (see the
top curve in figure 10). This proves to be a highly
efficient way of introducing hot exhaust gasses back into
the combustion chamber.
PRELIMINARY STUDY ON SINGLE CYLINDER therefore clear that the combination of injection timing
and injection pressure level is leading to a positive
A preliminary study based on three main parameters of interaction between the different injections.
the combustion system has been carried out on a
medium size single cylinder Diesel engine (~400 cm3) Volumetric compression ratio is another important
with a reference injection system. The main goal of this parameter, playing a key role in the thermodynamic
study is to highlight the real need of the HCCI conditions during the Diesel cycle and especially for
combustion in terms of engine characteristics to HCCI combustion behavior. The range of variation for
minimize pollutant emissions and at the same time this parameter is considered between a standard
maintain at their best level of both fuel consumption and EURO4 value and a low value corresponding
combustion noise. approximately to the minimum acceptable value
respects to cold start-up ability with conventional glow
Multiple injection, injection pressure and thermodynamic plug.
conditions in the cylinder have been optimized to
promote HCCI Diesel combustion with the same 6
RVC 14 RVC 15 RVC 16,2
combustion noise as the standard conventional 4
HC
combustion case. 2
2 g/kWh
0 indicated
All the tests are realized at part load in the typical HCCI 8
zone for the different speed and load points. NOx 6
emissions are kept constants on each operating points. 4
NOx levels correspond to typical EURO6 targets.
2
Combustion noise is also the same for the comparisons
0
but different for each test point.
1500 1,7bar 1500 3,7bar 2500 7,5bar 2500 9,5bar
HC
27 5
32 0
36 0
2 g/kWh
1500 1,7bar 1500 3,7bar 2500 7,5bar 2500 9,5bar
indicated
Figure 14: Impact of VCR on HC and particles
emissions for all the test points are quite similar: there’s NEW INJECTION STRATEGIES
no influence of swirl ratio in the range studied on the
HCCI combustion process. The swirl variations have In conventional CI combustion, several studies
been tested for the three compression ratios and the concerning multiple injection strategies have enabled the
results are also the same (figure 15). improvement of different engine parameters such as
combustion noise (simple and double pilot injection) or
HC particulate emissions (post injection). Usually in HCCI,
HC ( gH C.h
/K w )
0
only one injection has been used to increase the auto
C R 14 1 g/k W h
ignition delay. The different results below illustrate
0 C R 15 ind ic a te d several ways to enhance engine out emissions in HCCI:
C R 16
0 perform mixture formation, lower wall impact and modify
the settings compromise, which can reduce the engine
0 out emissions significantly compared to a single injection
0 strategy.
0
The first tests at 1750 rpm 3 bar BMEP on the multi-
0 cylinder engine concern the possible influence of
multiple early injections in comparison with a single
0
injection strategy. They are realized with an identical
0 level of EGR rate and the same intake temperature and
1 ,6 1, 8 2 2 ,2 2,4 2 ,6 2,8 3 pressure. By keeping these conditions constant, the
s w i r l r at i o ( - )
global air/fuel ratio and global combustion temperature
are unchanged.
I SIS
F CF C
50
As shown in figure 16 and figure 17, the different heat
5 g/k W h release curves are comparable and the impact on
45 ind ic a te d combustion noise is therefore not significant. Moreover,
40 HC and CO emissions cannot be improved probably due
to the fact that the first fuel quantity is injected outside of
35
the combustion bowl. A higher number of early multiple
30 injections is examined but this doesn't bring out any
additional gain even though a beneficial effect could be
25
assumed due to reduced wall wetting.
20
A fuel consumption penalty is also observed on the HCe COe P ar t icles (g/k W h )
different test points with the highest swirl ratio. The total 65
air mass flow is not kept constant during the swirl 3 dB 4%
variation so we note a significant decrease of cylinder 61
this deviation.
49
0.14
3 early injections second injection has only a minor influence on the first
Injector voltage - 1 inj
Injector voltage - 2 inj part of the heat release.
0.1 Injector voltage - 3 inj
1.5
-0.02
0.1 1
340 345 350 355 360 365 370 375 380 385 390
Crank angle [°CA] Injection separation = 750 Ps 0.5
0.05 0
-0.5
Figure 17: HR comparison at 1, 2 and 3 early injections 0 -1
-1.5
-0.05 -2
In conventional CI mode, the combustion is mainly 340 350 360 370 380
combustion noise, pilot injection with earlier injection 0.25 1 injection : main 4
2 injections : main + after
timing decreases the premixed combustion quantity and Single injection with identical
2 injections : main without after
1 injection : voltage main
3.5
shortens the auto ignition delay. In HCCI combustion, 0.2 injection timing, rail pressure
and EGR rate
2 injections : voltage main + after
2 injections : voltage main without after
3
2.5
contrary to conventional mode, the use of pilot injection
0.05 0
thermodynamical conditions are not in favor of the pilot -0.5
injection combustion. 0 -1
-1.5
-0.05 -2
Whilst maintaining a controlled noise level, the EGR rate 340 350 360 370 380
for HC–CO emissions oxidation while keeping a low Single injection with identical
2 injections : main without after
1 injection : voltage main 3.5
2 injections : voltage main + after
NOx level at low load. Thus, a specific multistage 0.2 injection timing, rail pressure 3
2 injections : voltage main without after
Heat release (kJ/dm3/°CA)
allows the heat release form to split up into two parts, 0.1 1
0.05 0
-0.5
As shown in figure 19, at exactly the same condition 0 -1
by 7 dB. This improvement makes possible the re- Crank angle (°CA)
emissions. The minimum electrical separation of the common with a conventional combustion. The term "mild
defined range tested is suitable to achieve the best HCCI" can be use to describe this kind of combustion
results in particulate emissions while accepting an between homogeneous and conventional [6].
acceptable noise level. (Figures 20 and 21)
Compared to a single injection (Figures 22 and 23), the
2 dB
final chosen setting with two injections (including the
0.2 g/kWh 8% readjustment of the EGR rate) allows a significant
Sep=900us
Sep=1000us reduction of HC, including CH4 emissions, by 60% and
Sep=1100us
Sep=1200us CO by 50%. Whereas the NOx level remains low,
particulate emissions are under our limit criteria
(approximately the reference value divided by two). The
combustion timing is earlier with two injections (3 °CA on
the CA50): the better efficiency and the pollutants gain
allow a BSFC reduction of 10% for a 1 dB noise level
Noise (dB) P art . (g/kW h) EGR ra te (% ) improvement.
1 g/kWh IT 1 Qi 1 IT 2 Qi 2
4 g/kWh 0.1g/kWh
(°V) (mg/cp) (µs) (mg/cp)
Single inj. 13 12 --- ---
Split inj. 14 7 1050 4
0.08
Figure 20: Influence of separation on emissions and
noise
0.04
0.2
0
0.16
Identical first Combustion timing improvement
injection
Heat release [kJ/dm3/°CA]
0.12 -0.04
340 350 360 370 380 390
0.08
Crank angle [°CA]]
0.04
0
Separation = 900 us
Figure 22: Comparison of HR at 1 and 2 injections
-0.04 Separation = 1000 us
Separation = 1100 us
-0.08
Separation = 1200 us
2 g/kWh 8 g/kWh 0.05 g/kWh
Inj voltage sep=900us
-0.12
Inj voltage sep=1000us
Inj voltage sep=1100us
1 inj
-0.16
Inj voltage sep=1200us 2 inj
-0.2
345 350 355 360 365 370 375 380
Splitting up the injection quantity in two parts is very E GR rat e (% ) NOxe (g/kWh) N ois e (dB )
interesting to subdue the noise and this new flexibility
allows for re-optimization of both the EGR rate and the
combustion timing in order to gain in HC–CO emissions Figure 23: Engine out at 1 and 2 injections
as detailed later on. When the injection flow is split up,
one part of the combustion has a diffusion mode in
All the tests are realized with attention to IMEP stability, HC and CO targets are globally reached with only two
which never exceeds 1.5%. Some robustness variation injections in the cycle. Multiple injections (two pilot
on separation and repartition quantities, global timing injections) require more investigation and may be a
and EGR rate shows no impact on the pollutant solution to improve emissions on 2000 rpm – BMEP 1
emissions, noise or consumption, which could have bar test point.
questioned the proposed strategies. However, it is
important to underline that the fuel injection system and An EGR temperature increase also has a positive impact
its associated control system should be accurate to on fuel consumption (see figure 25). Timing of the
control the second injection with only minor interaction combustion in the Diesel cycle is improved on the two
with the first. very low load points.
15 125
10
Particulates in
100
5 g/kWh (%)
75
0
50
-5
25
-10
-15 0
-20 -25
-25 -50
-30
-75
1500 1 bar 2000 1 bar 1750 3 bar
1500 1 bar 2000 1 bar 1750 3 bar
30
20 CO (%) Figure 26: Particulates emissions comparison between
10
results and target
0
-10
These results confirm the potential of a basic solution to
engine
Engine outout emissions
emissions
reduce HC-CO emissions at very low load. The high-
-20
pressure-loop EGR without a cooler can be considered
-30
as a first but limited step. It has to be associated with LP
-40 Targets
Targets EGR for higher load. The VVL exhaust system is
-50
therefore studied to overcome these limitations and
-60 explored for even higher potential benefit.
1500 1 bar 2000 1 bar 1750 3 bar
INFLUENCE OF INTERNAL GAS RESIDUALS Thus, HC and CO emissions are not only reduced, but
also a benefit on the exhaust gas temperature is
STANDARD CONDITIONS observed.
As presented previously, the engine valve train is driven Moreover, it is important to keep in mind that one part of
by a specific variable valve lift system developed by the benefit on specific HC, CO and NOx is linked to the
Mechadyne, capable of controlling the IGR rate by reduction in the global engine air flow due to the higher
means of a variable secondary exhaust lift. global burnt gases volume within the combustion
chamber.
With a low pressure EGR loop, the recirculated exhaust
gases flow through the compressor which cannot endure Then, same IGR sweep is realized with a double
too high heat stress. As a consequence, even at very injection strategy (main + after – Figure 28). As
low load, an EGR exchanger by-pass is not an expected, the potential in term of pollutants reduction is
acceptable solution for generating hot EGR. In this still remarkable.
configuration, in contrast to a high pressure loop, EGR is
cooled again by a supercharging air cooler: now, at very
3 g/kWh 20 g/kWh 0.4 g/kWh
low load, a cold intake temperature has a bad influence
Angle = 0°
on HC and CO emissions. Angle = -10°
Angle = -20°
Substituting IGR for a part of the total EGR allows an Angle = -30°
Angle = -40°
increase in the global burnt gas temperature without
modifying the intake temperature. As it is explained in
the beginning of the section 4, the main effect on HC
and CO emissions seems to be the combustion HCe (g/kWh) COe (g/kWh) NOxe (g/kWh)
temperature. Consequently, IGR is a good way to
reduce these pollutants when the catalyst bed 20 °C 50 g/kWh 2 dB
temperature is not sufficient for their aftertreatment. The
point 2000 rpm 1 bar BMEP is chosen due to its very low
combustion temperature and its importance on the
NEDC cycle regarding HC–CO and NOx emissions.
Thus, with a double injection, at the same level of noise, As shown on figure 32, at low engine temperature, the
HC and CO are respectively reduced by 60% and by HC and CO benefit caused by the increase in the burnt
45%. Particulate emissions remain close to zero and gas temperature is still significant. It has to be
NOx remains stable. Exhaust temperature before the mentioned that IMEP stability is also strongly improved
catalyst bed is increased by 30°C and that helps to from 2.1% to 1%.
achieve sufficient aftertreatment efficiency.
The drastic reduction in fuel consumption at low engine
Exhaust valve reopening during the intake stroke temperature is mainly due to a better combustion
balances intake and exhaust pressures and improves efficiency and a notable reduction of the IMEP low
engine breathing. As a result, IMEP low pressure is pressure loop as illustrated on figure 30.
reduced from -0.25 to -0.07 bar (Figure 30). Finally,
BSFC is reduced by 4 % due to the improvement in the
90°C - 2 inj
low pressure loop and the combustion efficiency. 40 g/kWh 100 g/kWh
90°C - 2 inj
Cylinder pressure - Low pressure loop + IGR
1.5
VLD angle = 0°
VLD angle = 20°
VLD angle = 30° 15 g/kWh
VLD angle = 40°
1.25
Pressure [bar]
30°C - 2 inj
It is assumed that HC and CO emissions grow strongly 40 g/kWh 100 g/kWh
during the start up phase. The figure 31 illustrate that in 30°C - 2 inj
HCCI combustion, at 30°C and 60°C (oil and water), HC + IGR
and CO emissions are almost twice those usually found
15 g/kWh
under normal operating temperatures (optimum settings
for each temperature).
200
90°C COe (g/kWh) BSFC (g/k W h )
60°C 40 g/kWh 0.02 g/kWh HCe (g/kWh)
30°C 160
VLD Angle
20
40
20
N O x e (g/h ) B SF C (g/h) Noise (dB)
0
0° -10° -20° -30° -40°
VLD Angle
Figure 36: Influence of engine temperature at idle speed
Figure 34: Catalyst efficiency at 2000 rpm 1 bar BMEP
As well as NOx raw emissions are more than 3 g/h,
100 internal gas residual in substitution of one part of EGR
Catalyst efficiency (%)
At 1500 rpm 2 bar BMEP (Figure 35), the HC and CO HC (g/h) CO (g/h) NOx (g/h)
emissions are dropped respectively by 75% and 99%
20 °C 50 g/h 4 dB
downstream the catalyst bed (for the same levels of NOx
and noise compared to the same point without IGR).
Nevertheless at 1 bar BMEP (Figure 33), even with IGR,
catalyst bed could not be activated, due to the lower
exhaust gas temperature.
x Double event VVL system overcomes these limits [6] Schatzberger, T. ; Eichlseder, H. ; Fuchs, C. ;
and shows a higher potential than high pressure Klell, M. ; Schutting, E. ; Kammerdiener, T.
EGR loop. "Homogeneous Diesel combustion process for
low emissions". Budapest (2007)
x Coupling these new injection strategies with use of
double event VVL system, the HC–CO raw [7] Vignaud, A. ; Gastaldi, P. ; Hardy, JP. "Last
emissions drop (-60%) is maintained under the 3 developments of LTC". Syracuse (2006)
bar BMEP load range. Beyond this load, particulate
criteria are not met and both strategies could not be
applied; however, a significant part of the NEDC CONTACT
Europe cycle is mainly under this load, the catalyst
bed temperature being then sufficient for guillaume.bression@ifp.fr – dominique.soleri@ifp.fr
aftertreatment.
DEFINITIONS, ACRONYMS, ABREVIATIONS
Although control has to be accurate to achieve small
separation between both injection events, the settings VVA: Variable Valve Actuation
are robust and in coherence with higher load calibration.
IGR could offer another benefit in transient conditions: VVL: Variable Valve Lift
indeed, exhaust valve re-opening control is more
reactive than the EGR loop during a transient operation VLD: Variable Lift Duration
and should have positive leverage on combustion
control, especially for the noise gradient. Also, to extend HCCI: Homogeneous Combustion Compression Ignition
the splitting up potential, multiple injections above two
could moderate the combustion noise for best comfort EGR: Exhaust Gas Recirculated
but particulate emissions should always be the limiting
criteria to prevent any detrimental effects on HC and CO IGR: Internal Gas Residual
emissions.
BMEP: Brake Mean Effective Pressure
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
BSFC: Brake Specific Fuel Consumption
The work was funded in part by the European
Commission within the FP6 Programme, NICE project NEDC: New European Driving Cycle
(contract number: TIP3-CT-2004-506201). Also is
acknowledged Jerome Cessou of IFP for his work on the CA50: 50% burn rate angle
test bench.
SCR: Selective Catalyst Reduction
REFERENCES