Study of a hybrid pneumatic-combustion engine under steady-state and transient conditions for transport application

In this study, a new form of hybrid pneumatic combustion engine based on compressed air injection boosting is proposed. The hybrid pneumatic combustion engine regenerates the wasted energy during engine brake to improve the engine performance achieving better fuel economy. The mathematic model of the hybrid pneumatic combustion engine including a supercharged engine and the compressed air tank has been established. The steady-state and transient performance of the engine are analysed. Results show that the air injection boosting system can effectively improve the steady-state performance. Under the speed of 1900 r/min and 100% load, the engine torque and power can be increased from 1039 N m, 206.9 kW to 1057 N m, 210 kW by adopting air injection boosting with the injection pressure of 0.5 MPa. Effects of air injection parameters are also studied, showing that better performance can be achieved under higher air tank pressure and larger injection hole diameter. In addition, a transient analysis is completed under the speed of 1100 r/min. The result shows that when air injection boosting is used, the responding time of the engine to an instant load increase can be potentially reduced from 5.5 to 3.5 s under the injection pressure and duration of 0.5 MPa and 3 s. Meanwhile, the tank pressure has limited influence on the transient performance of the engine.