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<div>Nitrous oxide (N₂O) has gained popularity as a unique oxidizer due to its ability to decompose exothermically, producing nitrogen and oxygen. Additionally, there are concerns about the safety of nitrous oxide in the nuclear industry where it has been observed that stored nuclear waste generates and retains large amounts of flammable</div><div>gases such as hydrogen and ammonia along with nitrous oxide. These gases are at risk of explosion even in the presence of a weak ignition source which can result in detonations more violent than those initiated directly. Nitrous oxide is also finding an application in the geothermal industry where it is being tested in combination with ethylene as a stimulant mixture to fracture rock. The detonations initiated in this mixture have the ability to produced a network of fractures in the rock formation. In the rocket industry, nitrous oxide has been used for propulsion in multiple systems, but never in a detonative mode. In order to use nitrous oxide in these areas, its detonation properties in combination with a fuel require quantification. Available literature on nitrous oxide-hydrocarbon detonations is mainly restricted to initial pressures below one atm or with dilution. Therefore, detonations with nitrous oxide as the oxidizer are far from being completely characterized. In addition to this lack of general knowledge, understanding of nitrous oxide-fuel detonations at higher pressures, more typical of practical combustion systems is either extremely limited or</div><div>non-existent.</div><div><br></div><div>In the current work, the flame acceleration, deflagration-to-detonation transition (DDT), and detonation properties of a bipropellant mixture of ethylene (C₂H₄) and N₂O are studied as a function of initial pressures. These properties are compared to those in mixtures of ethylene-oxygen (O₂). these detonations are investigated in a combustion tube designed and fabricated in-house. The performances of these two mixtures are also investigated using theoretical Chapman-Jouguet detonation calculations as a basis of comparison with the measured properties. Additionally, detonation properties in a mixture of acetylene (C₂H₂) and nitrous oxide are also investigated to compare the two fuels. While C₂H₂ is a highly energetic fuel with theoretically high performance, it presents serious practical storage concerns when considered for propulsion applications. These practical issues motivates the investigation of C₂H₄as a potential alternative fuel, which is relatively easy to manage. </div><div><br></div><div>A critical requirement for the application of bipropellant mixtures to detonation systems is rapid flame acceleration to achieve significant chamber pressure rise in a short distance with the potential for a prompt transition to detonation. This DDT behavior of mixtures using N₂O and O₂ with C₂H₄ and C₂H₂ is investigated for increasing initial pressures in the experimental portion of this work. This behavior is quantified by measuring the run-up distances leading to DDT. The pre-compression of the bipropellant mixtures during flame acceleration caused by the accelerating flame is also estimated and directly measured using appropriate instrumentation. These direct measurements of pre-compression are further used to estimate the path of the</div><div>accelerating flame in the combustion tube. These estimates are compared with the flame tracked by high-speed imaging in an optically accessible combustion tube.</div>

Lignite is a low grade of coal widely distributed throughout the world. A complete analysis of lignite has not been made, due to the difficulty encountered in the separation of the complex organic compounds bonded therein.

Driven by the strict fuel consumption and CO2 legislations in Europe and many countries, various technologies have been developed to improve the fuel economy of conventional internal combustion engines. Gasoline engine downsizing has become a popular and effective approach to reduce fleet CO2 emissions of passenger cars. This is typically achieved in the form of boosted direct injection gasoline engines equipped with variable valve timing devices. Downsized gasoline engines reduce vehicle fuel consumption by making engine operate more at higher load to reduce pumping losses and also through reducing total engine friction losses. However, their compression ratio (CR) and efficiency are constrained by knocking combustion as well as the low speed pre-ignition phenomena. Miller cycle is typically achieved in an engine with reduced effective CR through Early Intake Valve Closure (EIVC) or Later Intake Valve Closure (LIVC). This technology has been adopted on modern gasoline engines to reduce in-cylinder charge temperature and enable a higher geometric CR to be used for better fuel economy. The present work investigated the effectiveness and underlying process of a Miller cycle based approach for improving fuel consumption of a boosted downsized gasoline engine. A single cylinder direct injection gasoline engine and the testing facilities were set up and used for extensive engine experiments. Both EIVC and LIVC approaches were tested and compared to the conventional Otto cycle operation with a standard cam profile. Synergy between Miller cycle valve timings and different valve overlap period was analysed. Two pistons with different CRs were used in the Miller cycle engine testing to enable its full potential to be evaluated. The experimental study was carried out in a large engine operation area from idle to up to 4000rpm and 25.6bar NIMEP to determine the optimal Miller cycle strategy for improved engine fuel economy in real applications. In addition, the increased exhaust back pressure and friction losses corresponding to real world boosting devices were calculated to evaluate Miller cycle benefits at high loads in a production engine. The results have shown that EIVC combined with high CR can offer up to 11% reduction of fuel consumption in a downsized gasoline engine with simple setup and control strategy. At the end, this thesis presents an Miller cycle based approach for maximising fuel conversion efficiency of a gasoline engine by combining three-stage cam profiles switching and two-stage variable compression ratio.

Em motores de combustão interna, o entendimento do processo de combustão é de fundamental importância para o desenvolvimento de modelos de queima empregados em simuladores de ciclos termodinâmicos, sendo a curva de pressão medida na câmara uma das principais fontes de informações a respeito deste processo. Além disto, este entendimento fornece subsídios valiosos para o projeto e desenvolvimento de novas câmaras de combustão, de componentes e do próprio motor. O objetivo deste trabalho é, a partir da medição da pressão na câmara de combustão de motores de ignição por centelha, obter informações a respeito da evolução da combustão, tais como taxa de liberação de calor e fração de massa queimada em função da posição angular do virabrequim. Para tanto, supõe-se a câmara de combustão dividida em três zonas, a saber: a de gases não queimados, composta pela mistura fresca admitida pelo motor e uma fração de gases residuais; a de gases queimados resultantes da combustão e a de gases não queimados contidos em frestas. Uma frente de chama adiabática, com formato esférico e interagindo com as paredes da câmara é admitida como interface entre as zonas queimada e não queimada. São também considerados os efeitos da dissociação química dos produtos da combustão, de troca de calor com as paredes e os de vazamento de gases da câmara para o cárter (blow-by). O modelo construído a partir destas hipóteses foi traduzido em um código computacional e aplicado a curvas de pressão geradas por um simulador e obtidas experimentalmente em um motor específico. / Understanding the combustion process in IC engines is very important to develop combustion models used in thermodynamic cycle simulators, and the in-cylinder pressure history is the basic source of information about this process. Besides, this understanding provides valuable knowledge to design and develop new combustion chambers, components and the engine itself. The purpose of the present work is to obtain information about combustion development in SI engines from in-cylinder pressure measurements, in terms of variables such as heat release and mass fraction burned as a function of crank angle. The combustion chamber is divided into three zones, comprising burned gases, mixture of fresh charge and residual gases, and gases in crevices. A spherical and adiabatic flame front that interacts with the chamber walls is assumed to separate the burned and unburned zones. The proposed model considers chemical dissociation at high temperatures, heat transfer and blow-by as well. The model built from the assumptions above was implemented as a numerical code and applied to a specific engine, using both cylinder gas pressure data from a cycle simulator and experimentally obtained.

[EN] This research work presents the study of a low pressure EGR loop influence on a SI gasoline turbocharged direct injection engine in steady and transient testing conditions, with an optimization process of the original engine calibration in order to minimize the engine fuel consumption when cooled EGR is introduced in steady testing conditions. The cooled EGR strategy was also evaluated operating in synergy with other fuel consumption reduction strategies, such as: lean burn, multi-injection, higher coolant temperature and in-cylinder induced swirl motion. To fulfill the main objectives of this research work, firstly, a methodical process was followed, where a global methodology was first developed in order to obtain high accuracy engine tests, based on the experimental tools chosen that could comply with the requirements of the testing conditions, and the appropriate theoretical tools and procedure to post-process the tests performed. Secondly, a specific methodology was developed for each stage of the study and testing conditions, taking into account optimization processes or parametric tests in order to study the effect of a single parameter on engine's outputs or optimize an engine parameter in order to minimize the engine fuel consumption. As a first stage of the study, a basic analysis of the impact of cooled EGR on the engine combustion, performance, air management and exhaust emissions is presented. Afterwards, an optimization of the combustion phasing in order to minimize the fuel consumption was performed, and therefore the potential of cooled EGR in order to reduce the engine fuel consumption was observed for low load, part load and full load engine conditions, for two different engine speeds. In addition, a study in transient conditions of the engine operating with cooled EGR was performed. NEDC cycles were performed with different EGR valve openings and therefore a comparison of different cooled EGR rates influence on the engine performance, air management and accumulated exhaust emissions was presented. The second stage, consisted in a methodology developed to optimize the VVT setting and injection timing, for part load engine conditions, in order to maximize the cooled EGR potential to reduce engine fuel consumption. After this optimization, a synergy analysis of the optimum engine condition operating with cooled EGR and three other engine fuel consumption reduction strategies was performed. These strategies were tested to investigate and evaluate the potential of increasing the cooled EGR operational range to further decrease the engine fuel consumption. Furthermore, a basic study of the potential to reduce the engine fuel consumption and impact on combustion, air management and exhaust emissions of a lean burn strategy, in part load engine conditions, was presented as introduction of the final study of the cooled EGR strategy operating in synergy with the lean burn strategy in order to investigate the potential to control the exhaust emissions and reduce the engine fuel consumption. / [ES] El objetivo de este trabajo de investigación es estudiar la influencia de un lazo de baja presión de EGR en las prestaciones de un motor de gasolina de encendido provocado turbosobrealimentado e inyección directa, en condiciones de ensayos estacionarios y transitorios, con un proceso de optimización de la calibración original del motor para minimizar el consumo de combustible del motor. La estrategia de "cooled EGR" fue también evaluada operando en sinergia con otras estrategias usadas para reducir el consumo de combustible del motor, entre ellas: mezcla pobre, múltiples inyecciones, operación a alta temperatura del fluido refrigerante del motor y movimiento de "swirl" inducido en el cilindro. Para cumplir con los objetivos mencionados, se siguió un proceso metódico donde previamente se desarrolló una metodología global para obtener resultados de indudable calidad, basados en el uso de herramientas experimentales que cumplieran con los requerimientos de las condiciones de ensayo, y las apropiadas herramientas teóricas y procedimiento para post-procesar los ensayos realizados. En segundo lugar, se desarrolló una metodología específica para cada etapa del estudio, teniendo en cuenta los procesos de optimización o estudios paramétricos que se pudieran realizar. Como primera etapa, se presenta un estudio básico del impacto del "cooled EGR" en la combustión, prestaciones, renovación de la carga y emisiones contaminantes del motor. Seguidamente, se procedió a la optimización del centrado de la combustión con la finalidad de minimizar el consumo de combustible del motor y poder analizar el potencial del "cooled EGR" como estrategia de reducción de consumo de combustible. El estudio presentado se realizó para baja, media y alta carga del motor con dos diferentes regímenes de giro del motor. Adicionalmente, se llevó a cabo un estudio del motor operando en condiciones transitorias con "cooled EGR". Se realizaron una serie de ensayos usando el ciclo NEDC como base y se probaron diferentes estrategias sencillas de control de la apertura de la válvula de EGR para analizar la influencia del "cooled EGR" en condiciones transitorias. La segunda etapa consiste en el desarrollo de una metodología para optimizar los parámetros del diagrama de distribución (VVT) y el inicio de inyección, para cargas medias del motor, con la finalidad de maximizar el potencial de reducción de consumo de combustible de la estrategia "cooled EGR". Una vez realizada la optimización, se llevó a cabo un estudio usando la configuración óptima encontrada, operando en sinergia con otras tres estrategias usadas para reducir el consumo de combustible del motor. Estas estrategias fueron evaluadas con la finalidad de incrementar el rango de operación de la estrategia "cooled EGR" para lograr reducir aún más el consumo de combustible del motor. Adicionalmente, se llevó a cabo un estudio básico sobre la influencia de operar con mezcla pobre en la combustión, prestaciones, renovación de la carga y emisiones contaminantes del motor, como introducción al último estudio llevado a cabo sobre la posibilidad de usar la estrategia de mezcla pobre en conjunto con la estrategia de "cooled EGR", con la finalidad de analizar el potencial de controlar las emisiones contaminantes y reducir el consumo de combustible del motor al mismo tiempo. / [CAT] L'objectiu d'este treball d'investigació és estudiar la influència d'un llaç de baixa pressió d'EGR en les prestacions d'un motor de gasolina d'encesa provocat turbosobrealimentat i injecció directa, en condicions d'assajos estacionaris i transitoris, amb un procés d'optimització del calibratge original del motor per a minimitzar el consum de combustible del motor. L'estratègia de "cooled EGR" va ser també avaluada operand en sinergia amb altres estratègies usades per a reduir el consum de combustible del motor, entre elles: mescla pobra, múltiples injeccions, operació a alta temperatura del fluid refrigerant del motor i moviment de `"swirl" induït en el cilindre. Per a complir amb els objectius mencionats, es va seguir un procés metòdic on prèviament es va desenrotllar una metodologia global per a obtindre resultats d'indubtable qualitat, basats en l'ús de ferramentes experimentals que compliren amb els requeriments de les condicions d'assaig, i les apropiades ferramentes teòriques i procediment per a post- processar els assajos realitzats. En segon lloc, es va desenrotllar una metodologia específica per a cada etapa de l'estudi, tenint en compte els processos d'optimització o estudis paramètrics que es pogueren realitzar. Com a primera etapa, es presenta un estudi bàsic de l'impacte del "cooled EGR" en la combustió, prestacions, renovació de la càrrega i emissions contaminants del motor. A continuació, es va procedir a l'optimització del centrat de la combustió amb la finalitat de minimitzar el consum de combustible del motor i poder analitzar el potencial del "cooled EGR" com a estratègia de reducció de consum de combustible. L'estudi presentat es va realitzar per a baixa, mitja i alta càrrega del motor amb dos diferents règims de gir del motor. Addicionalment, es va dur a terme un estudi del motor operand en condicions transitòries amb "cooled EGR". Es van realitzar una sèrie d'assajos usant el cicle NEDC com a base i es van provar diferents estratègies senzilles de control de l'obertura de la vàlvula d'EGR per a analitzar la influència del "cooled EGR" en condicions transitòries. La segona etapa consistix en el desenrotllament d'una metodologia per a optimitzar els paràmetres del diagrama de distribució (VVT) i l'inici d'injecció, per a càrregues mitges del motor, amb la finalitat de maximitzar el potencial de reducció de consum de combustible de l'estratègia "cooled EGR". Una vegada realitzada l'optimització, es va dur a terme un estudi usant la configuració òptima trobada, operant en sinergia amb altres tres estratègies usades per a reduir el consum de combustible del motor. Estes estratègies van ser avaluades amb la finalitat d'incrementar el rang d'operació de l'estratègia "cooled EGR" per a aconseguir reduir encara més el consum de combustible del motor. Addicionalment, es va dur a terme un estudi bàsic sobre la influència d'operar amb mescla pobra en la combustió, prestacions, renovació de la càrrega i emissions contaminants del motor, com a introducció a l'últim estudi dut a terme sobre la possibilitat d'usar l'estratègia de mescla pobra en conjunt amb l'estratègia de "cooled EGR", amb la finalitat d'analitzar el potencial de controlar les emissions contaminants i reduir el consum de combustible del motor al mateix temps. / Rivas Perea, ME. (2016). Assessment of fuel consumption reduction strategies on a gasoline turbocharged direct injection engine with a cooled EGR system [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/68497 / TESIS