Effect of Compression Ratio and Spray Injection Angle on HCCI Combustion in a Small DI Diesel Engine

An experimental investigation was performed on a small direct injection (DI) diesel engine equipped with a common-rail injection system to find the optimal operating conditions of a homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) engine. It is generally agreed that NOx is formed within the stoichiometric diffusive flame and may continue to form in the hot combustion products and that particulate matter is formed under a rich fuel/air mixture condition. Therefore, if an adequately diluted fuel/air mixture is formed before the start of ignition by prolonging the ignition delay, a homogeneous lean mixture is burned at a low temperature. In this way, simultaneous reduction of NOx and soot can be achieved. To realize this fundamental concept and find the optimal operating conditions, injection timing was varied from top dead center (TDC) to 80° before TDC and up to 45% of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) was tested. The features of the base engine were modified as follows. First, the geometric compression ratio ...