A Study of Injection Strategy to Achieve High Load Points for Gasoline Compression Ignition (GCI) Operation

Many studies have shown that gasoline compression ignition (GCI) can replace conventional diesel combustion (CDC) by achieving high efficiency and low smoke and toxic gaseous emissions simultaneously. This is due to the low cetane number of gasoline that results in long ignition delay, allowing very advanced injection timing. This gives even longer time for fuel-air mixing, thus resulting in locally lean combustion that produces low particulate matter (PM). However, GCI operation faces challenges at high engine load condition. At high load conditions, large amounts of fuel injected early for premixed combustion can lead to high combustion noise from premixed combustion. Meanwhile, more fuel late injected late leads to poor mixing, hence higher smoke. Multiple injections can offer the flexibility in controlling the in-cylinder fuel stratification level. In this study, moderate to high engine loads of 8 to 14 bar BMEP were accomplished by utilizing an optimal multiple injection scheme. Injection timing of pilot, main, and post injections was investigated individually for its effect on the emission and engine performance. A moderate level of exhaust gas recirculating (EGR) was used to achieve low temperature combustion (LTC) condition. While higher EGR reduced NO_x significantly due to lower combustion temperature, it affected the maximum boost that could be acquired by the turbocharger due to the reduction in exhaust enthalpy. During the engine load/speed sweep, calculations of combustion, thermodynamics, gas exchange, and mechanical efficiencies were analyzed to identify factor that needs to be improved for GCI operation. This study also demonstrates the importance of injection strategy including high injection pressure to attain high load points with low smoke and low noise.