Fast-Burn Combustion Chamber Design for Natural Gas Engines

Abstract

The work presented in this paper compares the performance and emissions of the UBC “Squish-Jet” fast-burn combustion chamber with a baseline bowl-in-piston (BIP) chamber. It was found that the increased turbulence generated in the fastburn combustion chambers resulted in 5 to 10 percent faster burning of the air–fuel mixture compared to a conventional BIP chamber. The faster burning was particularly noticeable when operating with lean air–fuel mixtures. The study was conducted at a 1.7 mm clearance height and 10.2:1 compression ratio. Measurements were made over a range of air–fuel ratios from stoichiometric to the lean limit. At each operating point all engine performance parameters, and emissions of nitrogen oxides, unburned hydrocarbons, and carbon monoxide were recorded. At selected operating points a record of cylinder pressure was obtained and analyzed off-line to determine mass-burn rate in the combustion chamber. Two piston designs were tested at wide-open throttle conditions and 2000 rpm to determine the influence of piston geometry on the performance and emissions parameters. The UBC squish-jet combustion chamber design demonstrates significantly better performance parameters and lower emission levels than the conventional BIP design. Mass-burn fraction calculations showed a significant reduction in the time to burn the first 10 percent of the charge, which takes approximately half of the time to burn from 10 to 90 percent of the charge.