The Lean Mixture Operational Limits of a S.I. Engine When Operated on Fuel Mixtures

The operation of S.I. engines on lean mixtures is attractive in principle since it can provide improved fuel economy, reduced tendency to knock and extremely low NO_x emissions. However, the associated flame propagation rates become degraded significantly and drop sharply as the operating mixture is made increasingly lean. Consequently, there exist distinct operational lean mixture limits beyond which satisfactory engine performance cannot be maintained due to the resulting prolonged and unstable combustion processes. The paper presents experimental data obtained in a single cylinder, variable compression ratio, S.I., CFR engine when operated in turn on CH₄, H₂, CO, gasoline, iso-octane and some of their binary mixtures. A quantitative approach for determining the operational limits of S.I. engines is suggested, compared and validated against corresponding experimental results of other traditional approaches. On this basis, the dependence of the values of the lean mixture operational limits on the composition of the fuel mixtures is investigated and discussed. The operational limit for throttled operation with methane as the fuel is also established.