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Effect of Some Spark Ignition Engine Operating Variables on \({{\varvec{NO}}}_{{\varvec{X}}}\) Production and Control

  • Research Article - Mechanical Engineering
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Abstract

A spark ignition engine two-zone simulation code was used to conduct a systematic study of the effects of combustion chamber wall temperature, start of heat release/ignition timing, fuel–air equivalence ratio, engine speed, indicated mean effective pressure and exhaust gas recirculation on an individual basis on \(\hbox {NO}_X\) emissions in a 5.734 l, V8 spark ignition engine. The two-zone model which incorporates heat transfer, blow-by and other losses was used. In this model, the flame traverses the charge resulting in burned and unburned zones. The unburned zone contains the reactants (fuel and air), and there is no reaction between the constituents. The burned zone consists of the products of combustion and dissociation. The formation of nitric oxide was obtained using the extended Zeldovich nitric oxide reaction mechanism. The simulation program computes both equilibrium thermodynamics and rate-limited values of the concentration of oxides of nitrogen (\(\hbox {NO}_X )\) in parts per million (ppm) as a function of crank angle as well as its concentration in the exhaust gas stream. The study shows that the equilibrium NO is formed immediately after the start of combustion, and because of its strong dependence on temperature it rises rapidly to a maximum value of 8454.75 ppm, and declines rapidly as the pressure and temperature fall during expansion stroke to a final \(\hbox {NO}_X \) concentration value of 28.7 ppm. The results also show that spark retard and exhaust gas recirculation are effective strategies for \(\hbox {NO}_X \) emission control. The complete results from this study are summarized in the conclusion.

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Abbreviations

d :

Duration of energy release

h :

Planck’s constant

\(f_i\) :

Forward rate constant

G :

Rate of turbulent kinetic energy production

k :

Turbulent kinetic energy

\(\ell \) :

Integral length scale

\(M_\mathrm{exh}\) :

Molecular mass of exhaust gases

\(M_\mathrm{NO}\) :

Molecular mass of NO

p :

Engine combustion chamber pressure in bar

\(r_i\) :

Reverse rate constant

\(R_{20}, R_{21}\) and \(R_{22}\) :

Parameters used in definition of equilibrium assumption

\(R_u \) :

Universal gas law constant

\(S_\ell \) :

Laminar flame speed (m/s)

T :

Temperature (K)

\(u^{\prime }\) :

Turbulent intensity (m/s)

w :

Electromagnetic wave frequency

\(x_b^{\prime }\) :

Mass fraction burned which is related to frozen conditions

\(x_b \left( \theta \right) \) :

Mass fraction burned as a function of crank angle

\(\bar{x}_{\mathrm{NO}_\mathrm{av}}\) :

Average exhaust concentration of NO as a mole fraction

\(y_{\mathrm{NO}_\mathrm{e}}\) :

Final frozen NO

\(\alpha \) :

As defined in Eq. (30)

\(\beta \) :

As defined in Eq. (31)

\(\beta _\mathrm{ss}\) :

Steady-state nitrogen atom concentration

\(\varepsilon _{1}, \varepsilon _{2}, \varepsilon _3 \) and \(\varepsilon _4\) :

Residuals associated with consistency check calculations

\(\theta \) :

Crank angle

\(\theta _\mathrm{s}\) :

Start of heat release

\(\kappa \) :

As defined in Eq. (35)

\(\lambda \) :

Taylor microscale length scale

\(\upsilon \) :

Kinematic viscosity

\(\phi \) :

Fuel–air equivalence ratio

\(\omega \) :

Engine frequency in radians per second

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna, Nigeria

    Lucky Anetor

  2. Department of Industrial Technology, Texas Southern University, Houston, TX, USA

    Edward E. Osakue

  3. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics Engineering, Kwara State University, Malete, Nigeria

    Christopher Odetunde

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  1. Lucky Anetor
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  2. Edward E. Osakue
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  3. Christopher Odetunde
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Correspondence to Lucky Anetor.

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Anetor, L., Osakue, E.E. & Odetunde, C. Effect of Some Spark Ignition Engine Operating Variables on \({{\varvec{NO}}}_{{\varvec{X}}}\) Production and Control. Arab J Sci Eng 42, 2087–2103 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-017-2456-8

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