Effect of injection pressure and injection timing on spray and flame characteristics of spray-guided direct-injection spark-ignition engine under lean stratified combustion operation

Abstract

An experimental study was carried out to investigate the effects of the injection timing on the spray and combustion characteristics in a spray-guided direct-injection spark-ignition (DISI) engine under lean stratified operation. An in-cylinder pressure analysis, exhaust emissions measurement, and visualization of the spray and combustion were employed in this study. The combustion in a stratified DISI engine was found to have both lean premixed and diffusion controlled flame combustion characteristics. The injection timing condition corresponding to the stratified mixture characteristics was verified to be a dominant factor for these flame characteristics. For the early injection timing, a non-luminous blue flame and low combustion efficiency were observed as a result of the lean homogeneous mixture formation. On the other hand, a luminous sooting flame was shown at the late injection timing because of an under-mixed mixture formation. In addition, the smoke emission and incomplete combustion products were increased at the late injection timing as a result of the increased locally rich area. On the other hand, the NOx emissions decreased and IMEP increased as the injection timing retarded. The combustion phasing produced by the injection timing was verified as the reason for this observation.