Studies on influence of injection timing and Diesel replacement on LPG-Diesel dual-fuel engine

Abstract

Reducing the emissions and fuel consumption for IC engines are no longer the future goals; instead they are the demands of today. People are concerned about rising fuel costs and effects of emissions on the environment. The major contributor for the increased levels of pollutants is the Diesel engines. Diesel engine finds application in almost in all fields, including transportation sector such as buses, trucks, railway engines, etc. and in industries as power generating units. In the present work an attempt is made for effective utilization of diesel engine aiming for reduction in fuel consumption and smoke density. This is achieved by some minor modifications in diesel engine, so as to run the existing diesel engine as a LPG-Diesel dual-fuel engine with LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) induction at air intake. The important aspect of LPG-Diesel dual-fuel engine is that it shows significant reduction in smoke density and improved brake thermal efficiency with reduced energy consumption. An existing 4-S, single cylinder, naturally aspirated, water-cooled, direct injection, CI engine test rig was used for the experimental purpose. With proper instrumentation the tests were conducted under various LPG flow rates, loads, and injection timings. The influence of the diesel replacement by LPG on smoke density, brake specific energy consumption and brake thermal efficiency were studied. The optimal diesel replacement pertaining to the maximum allowable LPG gas flow limits could be assessed with these experiments. The influence of the injection timing variation on the engine performance and smoke density were analyzed form the experimental results. It was also observed that beyond half load operation of the dual-fuel engine, the brake thermal efficiency increases with diesel replacement, and at full load up to 4% improvement was observed compared to full diesel operation. At full load reduction in smoke density up to 25-36% was observed compared to full diesel operation. At advance injection timing of 30�btdc the performance was better with lower emissions compared to normal and retarded injection timings.