Microscopic spray characteristics of ethanol and methanol blended gasoline in a direct injection spark ignition engine

Abstract

Renewable fuels are continuously being refined/ upgraded for automotive applications to reduce dependence on conventional fossil fuels. However, optimized use of these renewable fuels in existing and new engines/ vehicles requires comprehensive characterization and understanding of spray atomization and fuel-air mixture formation processes. Spray atomization and mixture formation depends on fuel injection pressure (FIP), fuel injection quantity and ambient conditions. This study is aimed at exploring microscopic spray characteristics of ethanol and methanol blended gasoline for automotive applications, particularly in direct injection Spark Ignition (DISI) engines. Phase Doppler interferometer (PDI) technique was used for comparative microscopic spray characterization in a constant volume spray chamber (CVSC) at ambient pressure condition, to evaluated spray droplet size-velocity distributions and joint probability density function (JPDF) of different test fuels. In this study, two gasohol mixtures [15% v/v ethanol and methanol blended with 85% v/v gasoline] and baseline gasoline were experimentally evaluated for comparing spray droplet size-velocity distributions at two different FIPs of 80 and 160 bars, at two different fuel injection quantities of 12 and 28 mg/injection, which are typical representative conditions for a DISI engines. The results from this experimental investigation are valuable for automotive and fuel industries, and spray community, which are continuously upgrading renewable and oxygenated fuels and engine technologies for efficiency improvement and emission reduction.