An experimental investigation of the sensitivity of the ignition and combustion properties of a single-cylinder research engine to spark-assisted HCCI

Spark-assisted homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) combustion may be a method to improve the operation of HCCI engines. In the current study, the impact of spark assist on the fundamental properties of ignition and combustion was investigated in a single cylinder, optically-accessible research engine. Early port fuel injection and air preheating were used with indolene fuel in the study. The effects of a range of air preheat (T _in = 256–281 °C), fuel/air equivalence ratio (ϕ = 0.38–0.62) and spark assist timing (10°−90° before top dead centre) conditions on maximum in-cylinder pressure and timing, cycle variability, indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP) and heat release rate were investigated. Additionally, high-speed imaging was used to capture the piston-view ignition and combustion events during spark-assisted and unassisted HCCI operation. Methods were developed and applied to the imaging sequences to quantify the physical characteristics (e.g. location of autoignition sites) and the rate of propagation of the reaction fronts formed during spark-assisted and unassisted HCCI operation. The imaging data show that autoignition sites appear with increasing frequency as air preheat temperature is increased. The addition of spark assist led to the formation of reaction fronts at all conditions that propagated outward from the spark electrode at average speeds between 1.9 and 4.3 m/s. The imaging data indicate the effects of spark assist are due to compression heating of the unburned gases by the propagating reaction fronts which also leads to more consistent location of autoignition. Comparison of the imaging and engine data show the initial formation of the reaction fronts are not significant sources of heat release. While the engine data show that spark assist can affect phasing, heat release rate, IMEP and engine stability at the marginal HCCI operating conditions studied, the results also indicate spark assist has a narrow temperature range where the changes will be significant compared to the effects of the inherent thermal stratification of the HCCI fuel/air charge.