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Stability Limit Extension of a Wet Ethanol-fueled SI Engine using a Microwave-assisted Spark

Benjamin Wolk

Advanced engines can achieve higher efficiencies and reduced emissions by operating in regimes with diluted fuel-air mixtures and higher compression ratios, but the range of stable engine operation is constrained by combustion initiation and flame propagation when dilution levels are high. An advanced ignition technology that reliably extends the operating range of internal combustion engines will aid practical implementation of nextgeneration high-efficiency engines. The microwave-assisted spark plug under development by Imagineering, Inc. of Japan has previously been shown to expand the stable operating range of gasoline-fueled engines through plasmaassisted combustion, but the factors limiting its operation were not well characterized. The present experimental study has two main goals: (1) to investigate the capability of the microwave-assisted spark plug towards expanding the stable operating range of wet-ethanol-fueled engines, and (2) to examine the factors affecting the extent to which microwaves enhance ignition processes. The stability range is investigated by examining the coefficient of variation of indicated mean effective pressure as a metric for instability, and indicated specific ethanol consumption as a metric for efficiency. Engine efficiency improved when the engine was run at slightly-lean air-fuel ratios, with the onset of instability eventually eliminating efficiency gains associated with lean-burn when mixtures become too dilute. Microwave-assisted ignition reduced dilution-triggered instability, improving efficiency compared to unstable spark-only operation at ultra-lean conditions. Microwave-assisted spark also promotes faster average early flame kernel development when un-enhanced flame kernel development is sufficiently slow. Correlations between microwave-assisted flame development enhancement and calculated in-cylinder parameters suggest a relation between enhancement and the amount of energy deposited into the flame kernel, but scatter prevented derivation of a unifying empirical correlation governing all tested cases.