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Article history: Miller cycle is applied to improve performance and emission characteristics of a gas engine. There are
Received 4 May 2015 different types of Miller cycle concept utilization through variation of valve timing either by early intake
Received in revised form valve closure or late intake valve closure. In this study finite-volume method is used to analyse the
23 March 2016
performance and emission characteristics of a four-stroke 12-cylinder turbocharged Miller cycle gas
Accepted 24 April 2016
Available online 19 May 2016
engine. Therefore, experimental data are used to calibrate the results derived from 3D combustion
simulation and 1D overall engine simulation. The Miller cycle application shows that about 30 CAD
(crank angle degrees) advancement of IVC compared with standard cycle reduces emissions such as NOx
Keywords:
Miller cycle
to half its magnitude. However, a little reduction in power output seems inevitable. Also, compression
Gas engine ratio reduction contributes to almost 15% decrease in maximum inecylinder pressure. Moreover,
Performance retardation of IVC simultaneously improves performance and emission characteristics. However, no
Emission significant change of inecylinder peak pressure and temperature is seen.
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2016.04.102
0360-5442/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
S. Tavakoli et al. / Energy 109 (2016) 190e200 191
gas engine, some components and systems have to be redesigned to LIVC, based on first and second law analyses. They found that LIVC
give optimal performance compared to conventional engines. required less fuel to produce the same power output compared
These include modifications of compression ratio, spark plug, with base engine as a result of 6.3% higher indicated thermal effi-
cooling and lubrication systems, charge entrainment and gas ex- ciency at part load. Furthermore, LIVC had better thermo me-
change processes to meet thermo fluid design criteria. It is known chanical criteria due to higher intake manifold pressure.
that one of the most important considerations in any internal Wu et al. [10] simulated Miller cycle to compare with standard
combustion engine is designing a suitable cam shaft profile. The Otto cycle based on a thermodynamic model. Their work showed
need to have adequate trapped air/fuel ratio in combustion cham- that in case of Miller cycle application, supercharger is strongly
ber, on one hand; and the need to achieve the optimised pumping recommended since trapped mass is too low without super-
loss together with overlapping, on the other hand; makes it charging e even lower than base Otto cycle. However, other studies
necessary to have an appropriate valve timing. Miller [4] proved on optimal power-density characteristics for Atkinson, Miller and
that controlling the phasing of intake valve closure (IVC) and dual cycles showed no such losses [11e13].
exhaust valve opening (EVO) (known as Miller cycle) have signifi- In order to overcome the drawbacks of using extensive exhaust
cant impact on engine performance. gas recirculation (EGR), Benajes et al. [14] investigated the suit-
Same as Atkinson cycle, in Miller cycle, expansion ratio exceeds ability of the Atkinson cycle for lowering the inecylinder charge
compression ratio as shown in Fig. 1. This can be achieved by either temperature. It was achieved by advancing IVC, keeping constant
late intake valve closure (LIVC) or early intake valve closure (EIVC) intake and exhaust pressures, in a heavy duty diesel engine
which depends on engine boost pressure which varies with engine equipped with a fully variable valve actuation (VVA) system. Re-
speed [5e7]. However, unlike Atkinson cycle, Miller cycle can sults corroborated the potential from Atkinson cycle for reducing
improve engine efficiency without any reduction in power output the inecylinder gas temperature during the compression stroke,
due to supercharging and turbocharging utilization. together with the gas pressure and its density.
In recent years, numerous researches have been carried out to Al Sarkhi et al. [6] investigated the relations between thermal
improve engine performance by using Miller cycle. Anderson et al. efficiency, compression ratio and expansion ratio for an ideal
[9] investigated a naturally aspirated Miller cycle SI engine with naturally-aspirated (air-standard) Miller cycle by using finite-time
Fig. 1. PeV diagram in a conventional Otto cycle and Miller cycle [8].
192 S. Tavakoli et al. / Energy 109 (2016) 190e200
thermodynamics. This model provides guidance for performance generation. Together with technical enhancements, studies show
prediction of a Miller cycle engine, provided that correct model efficiency increase from 36% to 42.5%. LIVC has been employed in
parameters are used. Martins and Lanzanova [15] presented a the majority of the engines, increasing expansion ratio up to 15:1 in
detailed 1D simulation analysis of a Miller cycle SI engine at full- some cases. Almost all the studies point out the need for specially
load when running on hydrous ethanol at different supercharging designed high efficiency turbochargers, enabling them to provide
amounts and valve train configurations. In their study, the effects of high pressure ratios at low flow rates.
IVC timing as well as cam shaft profiles, charge dilution through Kesgin [28] presented an engine simulation methodology, sup-
EGR or excess air on burn duration and inecylinder temperatures ported by experimental tests, to develop a dual-stage turbocharged
were investigated. A detailed assessment of the main losses was V20 natural gas engine for power generation. One-dimensional gas
carried out and several possible arrangements were studied. dynamic models were presented and validated for engine gas ex-
Diesel-like engine brake efficiency of more than 40% was achieved change processes, and an optimization of a two-stage turbocharged
when applying the Miller cycle concept. They showed that the Miller cycle engine in terms of both efficiency and NOx emissions
highest efficiency values are achieved with solenoid actuated was presented. The Miller cycle provided an increase of 0.28% in
valves and early IVC. Pumping losses associated with the LIVC turn engine efficiency, while the amount of NOx emissions decreased.
this option less attractive. However, higher intake pressure In the present study, a performance analysis considering power
required by the very EIVC cases (higher than 5 bar) makes this output, pollutant emissions and design limitations including
option very challenging in current engines. It is expected that maximum pressure has been carried out to investigate the effects of
operation with EIVC before 460 crank angle degrees (CAD) after the various Miller cycle strategies through different valve timings on a
firing TDC would not be practically achievable. gas engine. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this paper pro-
Gas engine emissions are basically THC, CO, CO2 and NOx where vides the first study to investigate application of the Miller cycle in
the last one is the most harmful one. Miller cycle is one of the most early and late intake valve closure simultaneously. Furthermore,
promising ways to reduce this emission. The combustion temper- the study conducts a comprehensive comparison of thermody-
ature in Miller Cycle engine is much lower, which results in less NOx namic model and CFD model by parallelling 3D-AVL FIRE and GT
formation. An experimental study by Wang et al. [16] shows that by POWER for a Miller cycle SI gas engine.
application of a Miller cycle on standard Otto cycle, NOx reduction is
about 8% with only 1% engine power loss at full load. Similar study 2. Experimental setup
on Miller cycle concept by Wang and Ruxton [17] shows significant
NOx reduction. The engine is a 12 cylinder V-type diesel engine modified for SI
Gonca et al. [18] conducted a performance analysis for investi- operation, having a displacement volume of 38 L that is equipped
gation of power output and thermal efficiency. Maximum power with two turbochargers and its main features is listed in Table 1.
output and thermal efficiency criteria have been investigated for an Fig. 2 shows the engine in test cell. Fig. 3 shows the comparison and
air-standard irreversible dual Miller cycle with LIVC. In this work, verification of the CFD simulation and experimental data for
the optimum engine operation and design parameters for the en- inecylinder pressure history. It is seen that there is a good agree-
gine has been achieved by thermodynamic optimization to maxi- ment between experimental and simulation results particularly in
mize the power output and thermal efficiency. Moreover, the compression and expansion strokes.
application of this method to a single cylinder, direct injection To convert the diesel engine to work in SI mode of operation, the
diesel engine is experimentally and theoretically studied. Two compression ratio is decreased from 15 to 11.5. Moreover, the
different Miller cycle approaches, which provide 5 and 10 CAD combustion chamber shape is revised according to Fig. 4 and a gas
retarding IVC compared to standard condition, are applied with valve is added to inject natural gas fuel into intake port according to
two different camshafts. Results show that NO and CO2 emissions Fig. 5. Also Intake valve timing has to be modified.
decreased up to 48% and 2.2%, respectively; HC and CO emissions
increased by 46% and 34%, respectively; the effective power and
3. Engine simulation
efficiency decreases 6.4% and 9.2%, respectively. The optimum
condition has been defined as 10 CAD retarding because of
A tridimensional combustion chamber model is shown in
maximum NO reduction [19].
Figure. At BDC, the whole mesh number is 495,348 cells and at TDC
Rinaldini et al. [20] investigated potentials and restrictions of
firing, when intake valve is closed, the whole mesh number is
applying Miller cycle in a conventional high speed Diesel engine, in
45,722 cells. This mesh size is able to provide a good spatial reso-
reducing NOx and soot formation at part load. The analysis carried
lution for the distribution of most of variables in the combustion
out using, GT power and kiva-3V simulation tools for engine anal-
ysis and detailed inecylinder analysis, respectively, which revealed
that the combustion is intrinsically cleaner with the Miller cycle
with 10% and 50% reduction in NOx and soot formation, Table 1
Base diesel engine specification.
respectively.
Benajes et al. [21] have shown that advancing IVC to reduce the Engine speed (rpm) 1500
effective compression ratio and compensating the air mass losses Power (kW) 1000
Torque (N$m) 6370
by increasing boost pressure (Miller cycle), decreases the Bore (mm) 150
compression temperature. The strategy was further tested on a Stroke (mm) 180
single-cylinder heavy-duty research engine. Additionally, 3D-CFD Volume (L) 38
modelling was used to give insight into local inecylinder condi- Compression ratio 15
IVO (before TDC) 60
tions during the injection and combustion processes. The results
IVC (after BDC) 30
confirm the suitability of this strategy for reducing NOx and soot EVO (after TDC) 120
emissions, while the main drawback is the increase in fuel EVC (after TDC) 30
economy. Turbocharger type 2*single stage
Meanwhile, several other studies [22e27] report that Miller Boost pressure (barg) ~2
Air to fuel ratio ~30
cycle can be applied in high-efficiency SI gas engines for power
S. Tavakoli et al. / Energy 109 (2016) 190e200 193
Fig. 3. Validation of CFD simulation by comparison with experimental result. Fig. 7. 650,000 cells.
Fig. 4. Piston bowl shapes for diesel and gas engines, respectively.
194 S. Tavakoli et al. / Energy 109 (2016) 190e200
Calculation is carried out from IVO at approximately TDC to EVO single turbocharger, because the engine has 12 cylinders arranged
at 120 CAD, after TDC firing in order to fully investigate the fluid in symmetrical configuration of two banks in V-type, having two
motion effects. In order to simulate and assess the performance of separate identical turbochargers one for each bank. The model is
other parts of engine such as turbocharger and intercooler systems, constructed in GT power and demonstrated in Fig. 9.
a thermodynamic model is constructed by GT suite software. The The comparison between the one dimensional and CFD pre-
main advantage of this software is the capability to investigate dictions in terms of average inecylinder pressure is depicted in
turbocharging influence on engine performance. Simulation has Fig. 10 showing good agreement between the results.
been carried out for half of the engine including 6 cylinders with a
Fig. 10. One and tridimensional simulations comparison for inecylinder pressure.
Fig. 8. Mesh dependency.
IVC of diesel engine is 570 CAD (30 CAD after BDC) (see Fig. 11).
In this study, different cam shaft profiles according to Figs. 12 and
13 are used. 540, 530, 520, 510 and 500 are IVC timings for EIVC
and 550, 560, 570, 580 as well as 540 are IVC timings for LIVC. At the
timing of 540, piston is in BDC.
4. Numerical analysis
The Coherent Flame Model (CFM) [29] can equally well be used
for both premixed and non-premixed conditions on the basis of a
laminar flamelet concept, whose velocity Sl and thickness dl are
defined as mean values, integrated along the flame front, and it only
depends on pressure, temperature and degree of mixture richness
in the fresh charge. This model is very attractive since it deals with a
decoupled treatment of chemistry and turbulence within cylinder.
All flamelet models assume that reaction takes place within
relatively thin layers that separate the unburned region from the
fully burnt region. Through this assumption the mean turbulent
reaction rate is derived as the product of the flame surface density S
and the laminar burning velocity Sl using:
rfu;fr , rfr and yfu;fr are the partial fuel density, density and fuel mass
fraction of the fresh charge respectively.
The Extended Coherent Flame Model which is known as ECFM has
been developed specifically to model combustion in DI-SI engines. This
Fig. 11. Base diesel engine cam shaft profile.
model is fully coupled to the spray model and enables stratified
combustion modelling including exhaust gas recirculation effects and
Fig. 12. Different cam shaft profiles with EIVC. Fig. 14. Turbine and compressor mass flow factor.
196 S. Tavakoli et al. / Energy 109 (2016) 190e200
Table 2
Gas engine power, BMEP and BSFC for different EIVC.
m k m
Cn Hm Ok þ n þ O /n CO2 þ H O (3)
4 2 2 2 2
n k m
Cn Hm Ok þ O /n CO2 þ H (4)
2 2 2 2 2
The reaction rate for the first one is calculated by:
Fig. 16. Inecylinder temperature by EIVC.
ufu ¼ uL g (5)
NO formation. The model relies on a conditional unburned/burnt where g is a function depending on the equivalence ratio 4, number
description of the thermo chemical properties of mixture. of carbon and hydrogen atoms, respectively, and for the second fuel
consumption reaction:
The mean fuel reaction rate in turbulent combustion phenom- where uL is the mean laminar fuel consumption rate and the in-
ena is derived using ECFM model. Where a 2-step chemistry dividual reaction rates of each species i participating in the 2-step
mechanism for fuel conversion is: reaction mechanism are presented by:
S. Tavakoli et al. / Energy 109 (2016) 190e200 197
Fig. 20. In cylinder NOx distribution for different valve timing in Miller cycle.
198 S. Tavakoli et al. / Energy 109 (2016) 190e200
Fig. 27. NOx distribution in the combustion chamber (540, 550, 560, 570 and 580 left to right, up to down respectively).
200 S. Tavakoli et al. / Energy 109 (2016) 190e200
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