C Kannan et. al.

/ International Journal of Engineering Science and Technology

Vol. 2(8), 2010, 3525-3534

EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF
COMBUSTION, PERFORMANCE AND
EMISSION CHARACTERISTICS OF DI
DIESEL ENGINE UNDER HCCI MODE
WITH POROUS MEDIUM COMBUSTION
C KANNAN *
Department of Automobile Engineering, Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering,
Post Bag No.3, Pennalur, Sriperumbudur, Tamilnadu – 602 105, India

P TAMILPORAI
Division of IC Engines, Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Guindy
Anna University, Chennai, Tamilnadu- 602 105, India

Abstract:
In recent times, homogeneous combustion has been a proven technology to attain high efficient and low emission
engines. Homogenous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) engines are able to have efficiencies as high as
Compression Ignition, Direct Injection (CIDI) engines, while producing ultra-low emissions of nitrogen oxides
(NOx) and particulate matter (PM).HCCI combustion is achieved by controlling the temperature, pressure and
composition of the fuel-air mixture so that it spontaneously gets ignited in the combustion chamber. Numerous
techniques such as Variable Exhaust Gas Recirculation (VEGR), Variable Compression Ratio (VCR) and Variable
Valve Timing (VVT) have been proposed to control the homogeneous combustion inside the engine cylinder. Even
though these techniques are attractive and having good time response, they are too expensive to afford. This paper
investigates the performance, combustion and emission characteristics of a Direct Injection (DI) diesel engine under
HCCI mode which is established through an effective and affordable technique called Porous Medium Combustion
(PMC).
Keywords: homogeneous combustion; porous medium combustion; particulate matter; nitrogen oxides.
1. Introduction
Reduction in diesel engine emissions, in particular NOx and PM emission is becoming as high priority issue as
emission norms are getting more and more stringent now a days. The rigid emission standards urged the engine
researchers to innovate techniques that produce high efficient and low emission engines. One such novel technique
is HCCI combustion. Moreover, this technique can be scaled to virtually every size-class of transportation engines
from small motorcycle to large ship engines [U.S congress report, (2001)]. The operational control of an HCCI
engine over a wide range of speeds and loads is probably the most difficult hurdle. HCCI engine ignition is largely
determined by the charge mixture composition, its time-temperature history and to a lesser extent pressure. Although
it has been demonstrated that HCCI engines operate well at low to medium loads, severe complications have been
observed at high loads. At higher loads, the combustion becomes more rapid which subsequently leading to intense
mechanical noise, engine damage and unacceptable levels of NOx emissions.
Preliminary research indicates that the operating range of HCCI engines can be extended significantly by
partially stratifying the fuel-air charge/ residual charge at high loads. The potential mechanisms for achieving partial
charge stratification include: in-cylinder fuel injection, water injection, varying the intake and in-cylinder mixing
processes and altering in-cylinder flows to vary heat transfer. Due to the difficulties being faced at higher loads,
HCCI engines are generally designed to switch over to conventional Spark Ignition (SI) or Compression Ignition
(CI) mode of combustion at this operational region [Weclas (2004a)].

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An experimental technique which inherits the positive aspects of HCCI combustion at low to medium loads and
concurrently keeps away from the negative attributes of HCCI combustion at higher loads is the matter of immediate
concern. Based on literature survey [Chidambaram (2009) and Weclas (2004b)], homogeneous combustion
established through porous medium combustion technique (HCCI-PMC) has been attempted in this experimental
investigation. In this study, PMC technique has been implemented on a single cylinder, direct injection diesel
engine. It has been found that this technique is able to produce relatively high efficiency and low particulate
emissions from a diesel engine. Low NOx emission than HCCI mode is the added advantage of this technique [Jan
(2001), Wang (2000) and Afsharvahid (2007)].
In the initial stage, the conventional engine was operated without any modifications. In the second stage, the
engine was made to run in HCCI mode, established through the combination of technologies such as high pressure
fuel injection, injection timing advance, pre-heating the air of induction manifold and cooled exhaust gas
recirculation. The performance, combustion and emission characteristics of the engine under this mode were
recorded. In the third stage, a ceramic material with large porosity was introduced into the combustion chamber of
the engine to accomplish HCCI-PMC. Then the experiments were conducted and the readings were taken. As an end
note, the combustion, performance and emission characteristics of engine under different modes of combustion such
as Conventional, HCCI and HCCI-PMC were compared and presented in this paper.
2. Experimental Setup

Generally, the porous medium combustion can be achieved by the precise placement of porous ceramic material
in either of the following locations: cylinder, engine head or piston. In this research work, the porous ceramic
material was placed on the top of piston cavity and had been detained in its position through an appropriate locking
mechanism. The inherent physical and thermal characteristics of porous ceramic material was utilized for the fast
and complete evaporation of the liquid fuel while large porosity characteristic being utilized for proper mixing with
air and volumetric combustion. The photographic view of such a piston with porous medium implementation was
shown in Fig. 1.The chemical composition and mechanical properties of porous ceramic material were given in
Table 1.

Fig. 1.Photographic view of piston with porous medium implementation

Table 1. Properties of porous ceramic material

Molecular Density (g/m3) Solubility in Melting point Boiling point

formula water (0 C) (0 C)
ZrO2 5.89 Negligible 2715 4300

A single cylinder four stroke direct injection air-cooled diesel engine, most commonly used for agricultural
applications in India, was used for the experimental investigation. The specifications of this engine were given in
Table 2. The schematic diagram of the experimental set-up was shown in Fig. 2. The engine was coupled to an
electrical dynamometer to provide the brake load. The fuel consumption was measured with the aid of a glass
burette and stopwatch on volume basis. A Piezo-electric pressure transducer (GH12D Miniature Pressure
Transducer) coupled with an angle encoder was used to measure the combustion chamber pressure with respect to
crank angle. The setup was connected to a personal computer with AVL engine evaluation software. Five-gas

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exhaust analyzer was used to determine the emissions of CO (carbon monoxide), CO2 (carbon dioxide), HC
(hydrocarbon) by infra-red measurement and NOx (nitrogen oxides) by electrochemical sensors. Smoke intensity
was measured with an AVL 415 smoke meter.

Table 2 Specifications of experimental engine

Make Kirloskar
Model TAF 1
Bore × Stroke (mm) 87.5 × 110
Compression ratio 17.5:1
Cubic capacity 0.661 litres
Rated power 4.4 KW

Table 2 (Continued)

Rated speed 1500 rpm

Start of injection 23.4º bTDC
Connecting rod length 220 mm
Injector operating pressure 200 – 205 bar

16 5
4
6
13 15 3

17 7
14

10 8
1
12 2
11 9

1 - Diesel engine 2 - Electrical dynamometer 3 – Dynamometer controls

4 – Air box 5 – U-tube manometer 6 – Fuel tank
7 – Fuel measurement 8 – Pressure transducer 9 – TDC position sensor
10 – Charge amplifier 11 – TDC amplifier circuit 12 – Analog to digital card
13 – Computer 14 – Exhaust gas analyzer 15 – AVL smoke meter
16 – Air preheater 17 – EGR control valve

Fig. 2. Schematic layout of experimental set-up

3. Results and Discussion

In this research work, an attempt has been performed to compare the combustion and performance
characteristics of a DI diesel engine under conventional, HCCI and HCCI-PMC modes of combustion.
3.1. Combustion characteristics
3.1.1. Ignition delay
The variation of ignition delay with brake power for different modes of combustion was shown in Fig. 3. It was
inferred that ignition delay started to decrease with an increase in brake power for almost all modes of combustion.
With an increase in brake power, the amount of fuel being burnt inside the cylinder gets increased and subsequently

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the temperature of in- cylinder gases gets increased. This may lead to reduced ignition delay in all modes of
combustion. However, the ignition delay for diesel fuel was lower under HCCI and HCCI-PMC modes than the
conventional combustion mode. It was evident that the ignition delay was lowest in HCCI-PMC mode from medium
to high load. This might be due to the positive influence of hot porous medium on the evaporation of liquid fuel and
it’s mixing with air.
17

16.5
Ignition delay in deg CA

16

15.5

15

14.5 Conventional
HCCI
14
HCCI-PMC

13.5
0 1.1 2.2 3.3 4.4
Brake power in kW

Fig. 3. Variation of ignition delay for different modes of combustion

3.1.2. Peak pressure

The variations of peak cylinder gas pressure with brake power for different modes of combustion were given in
Fig. 4. It was observed that the peak pressure gets increased with an increase in brake power. During measurements,
the maximum peak pressure under HCCI mode and lowest peak pressure under conventional combustion mode were
observed. In a conventional direct injection diesel engine, at any point of time, only a fraction of total injected fuel
was getting burnt. But on the other hand, under HCCI combustion mode, the entire fuel-air mixture got ignited and
also burnt simultaneously (volumetric combustion). This might be leading to highest peak pressure in HCCI mode.
However, in HCCI-PMC mode, the magnitude of peak pressure was slightly lower than HCCI, which might be due
to pressure drop across the pores of ceramic medium placed inside the combustion chamber.

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73
71
69
Peak pressure in bar 67
65
63
61
59
Conventional
57
HCCI
55 HCCI-PMC

53
0 1.1 2.2 3.3 4.4
Brake Power in kW

Fig. 4. Variation in peak pressure for different modes of combustion

3.1.2. Heat release rate

The heat release rate at different crank angles at rated load for different modes of combustion was shown in
Fig. 5.It was inferred that the heat release patterns of all combustion modes were similar but with slight variations. It
was observed that the heat release pattern was rapid and intense in HCCI mode combustion. In HCCI-PMC mode,
even though the heat release rate was more rapid than the conventional combustion mode; the heat was released in a
controlled manner.
90

80 Conventional
HCCI
Rate of heat release in J/ deg CA

70 HCCI-PMC
60

50

40

30

20

10

-10
-12 -10 -8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Crank angle in degrees (aTDC)

Fig. 5. Rate of heat release pattern for different modes of combustion

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3.2. Performance Characteristics

3.2.1 Specific fuel consumption
0.6

Specific fuel consumption in g/kW-hr

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

Conventional
0.1 HCCI
HCCI-PMC
0
0.0 1.1 2.2 3.3 4.4
Brake power in kW

Fig. 6. Comparison of specific fuel consumption for different modes of combustion

The variation in specific fuel consumption against brake power for different modes of combustion was shown
in Fig. 6. It was inferred that the specific fuel consumption was lower in the case of HCCI and HCCI-PMC, as these
modes were predominately operated with a dilute homogeneous charge. Even within these two modes, HCCI-PMC
had superior characteristics over HCCI mode, which might be due to enhanced evaporation and mixing of fuel with
air by the presence of hot porous medium.
3.2.2 Brake thermal efficiency
From Fig 7, it was inferred that the brake thermal efficiencies were increasing with an increase in brake power
for all modes of combustion that were under consideration. Even though the brake thermal efficiencies did not vary
too much between HCCI and HCCI-PMC modes, these modes were found to offer better thermal efficiencies than
the conventional combustion mode. This might be due to the enhanced evaporation and mixing rate in the case of
HCCI-PMC mode of combustion.

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30

Brake thermal efficiency in %

25

20

15

10
Conventional
5 HCCI
HCCI-PMC
0
0.0 1.1 2.2 3.3 4.4
Brake power in kW

Fig. 7. Comparison of brake thermal efficiency for different modes of combustion

3.3. Emission Characteristics

3.3.1 Unburned hydrocarbons (UBHC)

30
Conventional
Unburned hydrocarbons in ppm

HCCI
25
HCCI-PMC
20

15

10

0
0.0 1.1 2.2 3.3 4.4
Brake power in kW

Fig. 8. Comparison of hydrocarbon emissions for different modes of combustion

The comparison of unburned hydrocarbon emissions in a DI diesel engine with different modes of combustion
was presented in Fig. 8. HC emissions were significantly higher for HCCI and HCCI-PMC modes. Since HCCI
operates on lean mixtures, the peak temperatures were lower in comparison to a conventional diesel engine. These
low peak temperatures might be leading to incomplete burning of fuel, especially near the walls of the combustion
chamber, which was one of the possible reasons for higher HC emissions in these modes. However HC emissions
were lower in HCCI-PMC over HCCI mode. This might be due to later stage oxidation of HC compounds inside the
hot porous medium.

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3.3.2 Carbon monoxide (CO)

0.25 Conventional
HCCI
HCCI-PMC
0.2
Carbon monoxide in %

0.15

0.1

0.05

0
0.0 1.1 2.2 3.3 4.4
Brake power in kW

Fig. 9. Comparison of carbon monoxide emissions for different modes of combustion

The comparison of carbon monoxide emissions in a DI diesel engine with different modes of combustion was
presented in Fig. 9. Carbon monoxide emissions were also higher for HCCI and HCCI-PMC modes. However,
carbon monoxide emissions were lower in HCCI-PMC mode than HCCI mode under low to medium loads. Surplus
oxygen availability and the presence of hot porous medium might promote later stage oxidation of carbon monoxide
across the combustion chamber, which consequently resulted in lower emissions at these loads.

3.3.3 Nitrogen oxides (NOx)

As far as the nitrogen oxide emissions were concerned, it was found to be the lowest in the case of HCCI-
PMC mode. This might be due to the heat absorbing characteristics of porous medium which was placed inside the
combustion chamber. Due to this heat absorption from the reaction zone, the in-cylinder temperature was
comparatively lower in HCCI-PMC mode through out the cycle. This consequently resulted in low thermal NOx
emissions. In HCCI mode of combustion, at higher loads, the combustion became more rapid and intense and
eventually producing unacceptable levels of NOx emissions. This was shown in Fig. 10.

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1350

1150

Nitrogen oxides in ppm 950

750

550

Conventional
350 HCCI
HCCI-PMC
150
0.0 1.1 2.2 3.3 4.4
Brake power in kW

Fig. 10. Comparison of nitrogen oxide emissions for different modes of combustion

3.3.4 Soot

250
Conventional
200 HCCI
HCCI-PMC
3
Soot in mg/m

150

100

50

0
0.0 1.1 2.2 3.3 4.4
Brake power in kW

Fig. 11. Comparison of soot emissions for different modes of combustion

Due to diluted homogeneous charge in HCCI and HCCI-PMC modes, the soot emissions were found to be
lower in these modes than the conventional mode of combustion. This was presented in Fig. 11. In HCCI-PMC
mode, the soot emission was higher at low range of part loads due to ineffective evaporation of injected fuel. But
under medium to higher loads in HCCI-PMC mode, the porous medium absorbed heat (from the reaction zone of the
combustion chamber) was utilized for the effective evaporation of liquid fuel and its porosity distribution assisted in
thorough mixing of fuel vapour with air, eventually leading to homogenous mixture which in turn resulted in lowest
soot emission of all modes.

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4. Concluding Remarks
The combustion, performance and emission characteristics of single cylinder DI diesel engine under
conventional, HCCI and HCCI-PMC modes were investigated and summary of the findings were given below.
(1) The ignition delay was found to be lower in HCCI and HCCI-PMC modes due to homogeneous mixture
conditions.
(2) Maximum peak gas pressure was observed in HCCI mode; whilst slightly lower peak pressure than HCCI
mode was observed in HCCI-PMC mode due to pressure drop across the porous ceramic medium which
was placed in the combustion chamber.
(3) The brake thermal efficiencies were higher in HCCI and HCCI-PMC modes than the conventional
combustion mode.
(4) Soot emission under HCCI and HCCI-PMC modes were found to be superior to conventional mode of
combustion.
(5) The NOx emissions were comparable with conventional mode under low to medium loads. But at high load
under HCCI mode, the NOx emission was higher due to rapid combustion established through
homogeneous mixture. However, due to heat absorption characteristics of porous medium, the NOx
emission was lower in HCCI-PMC mode when compared to HCCI mode.
(6) HCCI and HCCI-PMC modes had inferior characteristics with respect to HC and CO emissions. But it
could be easily resolved by the use of ultra low light-off temperature oxidation catalysts.

As an end note, this research work would like to conclude that with proper implementations, the HCCI-PMC
mode had the potential of offering better combustion, performance and emission characteristics in direct injection
diesel engines.

Acknowledgement
We thank the management of Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering for providing us the necessary
experimental setup to perform this research work.

References
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Schriffenreihe Der Georg- Simon -Ohm – Fachhochschule Numberg NR.32, ISSN 1616-0762
[4] Miroslaw Weclas (2004): Strategy for intelligent internal combustion engine with homogeneous combustion in cylinder, Sonderdrunck
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