Experimental investigation of diesel/gasoline dual-fuel premixed compression ignition strategies for high thermal efficiency and high load extension

In this study, two different operating strategies of gasoline and diesel dual-fuel premixed compression ignition (PCI) were investigated by using a single cylinder compression ignition engine. Verification of high thermal efficiency potential under the low load condition and the suppression of the maximum in-cylinder pressure rise rate (PRRmax) under the relatively high load condition were considered in this study. Two approaches to implement dual-fuel PCI were considered. The first approach (A-mode PCI) was an early diesel injection with very leaner overall equivalence ratio condition. In this case, a high exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) rate was not needed because lean premixed combustion promised to provide low nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) emissions. The second method (B-mode PCI) involved the use of a high EGR rate to moderate dual-fuel combustion with adjusting diesel injection timing. The first operating strategy prolonged the ignition delay via early diesel injection and lean mixture condition; in this manner, a high EGR helped to increase ignition delay. The experimental result showed that the A-mode PCI strategy promised higher gross indicated thermal efficiency (GIE) than that of the B-mode PCI. However, the B-mode PCI strategy provided a lower PRRmax than that of the first case. By applying the A-mode PCI, which was implemented by the early diesel injection with overall lean premixed combustion, a high GIE of 47.8 % could be obtained under low speed and low load condition. In addition, the dual-fuel PCI operating range could be increased using a gross indicated mean effective pressure (gIMEP) of 14 bar at 2000 r/min with a low PRRmax of 7 bar/deg (constraint 10 bar/deg) by applying the B-mode PCI strategy, which split the heat release rate (HRR) peaks to enable smooth combustion.