Abstract
A numerical analysis of the effect of spark plug geometry on the cyclic combustion variability and fuel consumption is presented. Cycle simulations are performed at different operating conditions of a spark-ignition engine including changes of engine speed and load. After calibration of the model constants for an average cycle using the experimental results of the considered engine, the cyclic combustion variability over 1,500 cycles with the application of a classic J-gap spark plug is simulated. With the same values of calibration constants and perturbations of parameters that cause the cyclic combustion variability, cycle simulations are performed with a fine central (iridium) electrode spark plug. The cycle simulation results for the evaluation of combustion stability and fuel consumption are compared with the previous simulation results achieved with the classic spark plug geometry. The application of the iridium spark plug electrode improves the combustion stability over the analyzed operating range of the engine, with a maximum improvement of 13.5% at part load and low engine speed. A reduction of fuel consumption of approximately 1.25% is achieved at part load conditions. The simulation results confirm that the application of the iridium spark plug geometry has potential to improve engine stability and fuel economy.
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Acknowledgments
The numerical study was conducted within the HrZZ 1089 project “Experimental Research, Optimization and Characterization of Piston Engine Operation with Dual-Fuel Combustion” funded by the Croatian Science Foundation. This help is gratefully appreciated.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Energy Engineering
Volume 143 • Issue 6 • December 2017
Copyright
©2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 30, 2017
Accepted: May 15, 2017
Published online: Sep 22, 2017
Published in print: Dec 1, 2017
Discussion open until: Feb 22, 2018
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Calibration
- Chemical processes
- Chemistry
- Combustion
- Design (by type)
- Energy consumption
- Energy engineering
- Energy sources (by type)
- Engineering fundamentals
- Engines
- Environmental engineering
- Equipment and machinery
- Fuels
- Gasoline
- Geometrics
- Highway and road design
- Load factors
- Measurement (by type)
- Non-renewable energy
- Petroleum
- Structural design
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