Investigation on the Effects of Internal EGR by Variable Exhaust Valve Actuation with Post Injection on Auto-ignited Combustion and Emission Performance

Variable valve mechanisms are usually applied to a gasoline combustion engine to improve its power performance by controlling the amount of intake air according to the operating load. These mechanisms offer one possibility of resolving the conflict of objectives between a further reduction of raw emissions and an improvement in fuel efficiency. In recent years, variable valve control systems have become extremely important in the diesel combustion engine. Importantly, it has been shown that there are several potential benefits of applying variable valve timing (VVT) to a compression ignition engine. Valve train variability could offer one option to achieve the reduction goals of engine-out emissions and fuel consumption. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects on part load combustion and emission performance of internal exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) by variable exhaust valve lift actuation using a cam-in-cam system, which is an electronically variable valve device with a variable inside cam retarded to about 30 degrees. Numerical simulation based on GT-POWER has been performed to predict the NOx reduction strategy at the part load operating point of 1200 rpm in a four-valve diesel engine. A GT-POWER model of a common-rail direct injection engine with internal EGR was built and verified with experimental data. As a result, large potential for reducing NOx emissions through the use of exhaust valve control has been identified. Namely, it is possible to utilize heat efficiently as recompression of retarded post injection with downscaled specification of the exhaust valve rather than the intake valve, even if the CIC V1 condition with a reduction of the exhaust valve has a higher internal EGR rate of about 2% compared to that of the CIC V2 condition.