Earlier studies on efficiency improvement in CI engines have suggested that heat transfer losses contribute largely to the total energy losses. Fuel impingement on the cylinder walls is typically associated with high heat transfer. This study proposes a two-injector concept to reduce heat losses and thereby improve efficiency. The two injectors are placed at the rim of the bowl to change the spray pattern. Computational simulations based on the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes approach have been performed for four different fuel injection timings in order to quantify the reduction in heat losses for the proposed concept. Two-injector concepts were compared to reference cases using only one centrally mounted injector. All simulations were performed in a double compression expansion engine (DCEE) concept using the Volvo D13 single-cylinder engine. In the DCEE, a large portion of the exhaust energy is re-used in the second expansion, thus increasing the thermodynamic efficiency. To isolate the heat losses associated with the changed spray pattern of the two-injector concept, effects of the heat release are excluded during the analysis. Results showed that the optimal injection strategy allows a decrease in the temperature close to the walls, leading to heat loss reduction up to 13 % or 2 % of the fuel energy. The residual exhaust energy was increased by 1.5 %-points with the twoinjector concept when compared to the reference case. This proved the advantage of the two-injector concept compared to conventional single injector case for the DCEE application.

Heat losses are known to decrease the efficiency of CI engines largely. Here, multiple injectors have been suggested to shrink these losses through reduction of spray wall impingement. Studies on multiple injectors have proven the concept's heat transfer reduction but also highlighted the difficulty of using a standard piston bowl. This study proposes a two-injector concept combined with a flat bowl to reduce heat losses further. To change the spray pattern, the two injectors are injecting in a swirling motion while placed at the rim of the bowl. Four injection timings have been investigated using Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes simulations. This computational method quantified the amount of heat loss reduction possible. A conventional single injector concept is compared to two injector concepts with a standard and flat bowl. A Double Compression Expansion Engine (DCEE) concept, based on a modified Volvo D13 single-cylinder engine, was the base for all simulations. The DCEE can re-use the residual exhaust energy for a second expansion meaning increased importance of reduced heat losses. Heat release effects were discarded in the evaluation as an explanation for the reduced heat losses in order to isolate the effects of the changed spray pattern. Results showed a decrease in heat losses by 25.1 % or 4.2 % of the fuel energy as well as an increased IMEP of 4.5 % or 1.9 % of the fuel energy. Together with the increased exhaust energy, results showed a possible total engine efficiency increase of 2.6 % using the DCEE concept. This work successfully proves the benefits of using two injectors with a flat bowl over a standard bowl and the conventional one-injector strategy.

Engine experiments were performed on a singlecylinder heavy-duty engine at relatively high loads to investigate the regions where the combustion characteristics are unchanged regardless of the fuel octane number. Primary Reference Fuels (PRFs) and three different commercial fuels with RON values ranging from 0 to 100 were tested in this study. A sweep of net indicated mean effective pressure (IMEPNet) of 5 to 20 bar, absolute intake pressure of 1.5 to 2.8 bar, exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) of 0 to 40%, and fuel injection pressure of 700 to 1400 bar were performed to investigate the combustion characteristics, ignition delay time, combustion duration, efficiency, and emissions. At the highest load point (IMEPNet = 20 bar), all the fuels burn as in conventional diesel combustion. Despite the wide range of octane numbers, all fuels had similar ignition delay time, combustion duration, indicated efficiency, and emissions at 10 to 20 bar IMEPNet. It follows that CI mode is the only realistic option at high load and pressure points. All fuels showed similar combustion duration and emission levels behavior as a function of EGR. The present study shed light on the load threshold above which the combustion characteristics of fuels are close enough to consider the engine as 'fuel flexible'.

More stringent emission regulations call for high-efficiency engines in the heavy-duty vehicle sector. Towards this goal, reduced heat losses, as well as increased work output, are needed. In this study, a multiple injector concept to control the combustion as well as reduce the hot boundary zones is proposed. Earlier studies have proven that multiple injectors experience lower heat losses and higher efficiency. However, a comprehensive investigation of the causes for experimental heat loss was not performed in depth. Experiments in a heavy-duty CI engine equipped with three injectors were thus performed. Engine configurations of single, dual and triple injectors were compared for a single-injection case as well as a multi-injection (Sabathe-cycle) case. Heat losses, efficiency and the emission levels were quantified and investigated. Optical experiments were performed to investigate the temperature field as well as flame behavior. This led to further understanding of the heat loss drivers. Experimental data was coupled with the double compression expansion engine concept for waste heat recovery, utilizing the energy from reduced heat losses. Notable findings included an efficiency increase of 1.9 %-points when using all three injectors for a single injection. Three injectors improved the efficiency an additional 1.2 %-points in a Sabathe-cycle case as compared to a single injector case. These gains mainly followed by reduced heat losses caused by hot zones being kept away from the boundaries. Thus, the benefits of multiple injectors were proven.

High-pressure isobaric combustion used in the double compression expansion engine (DCEE) concept was proposed to obtain higher engine brake thermal efficiency than the conventional diesel engine. Experiments on the metal engines showed that four consecutive injections delivered by a single injector can achieve isobaric combustion. Improved understanding of the detailed fuel-air mixing with multiple consecutive injections is needed to optimize the isobaric combustion and reduce engine emissions. In this study, we explored the fuel spray characteristics of the four-consecutiveinjections strategy using high-speed imaging with background illumination and fuel-tracer planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) imaging in a heavy-duty optical engine under non-reactive conditions. Toluene of 2% by volume was added to the n-heptane and served as the tracer. The fourth harmonic of a 10 Hz Nd:YAG laser was applied for the excitation of toluene. The PLIF image distortion caused by the side window curvature and the optical piston was mitigated using a correction lens and corrected with a grid mapping technique. The effects of hydraulic delay and injection dwell on the in-cylinder liquid-phase fuel penetration and vapor-phase fuel distribution were evaluated under different combinations of the four direct injections. The high-speed imaging of the liquid-phase spray shows that a short injection dwell reduces the hydraulic delay of the injector, resulting in an increase in both the peak liquid-phase penetration length and the injection duration. The fuel-tracer PLIF imaging clarifies the spatial fuel distribution of the four consecutive injections involved with the interaction between the vapor-phase spray and the piston bowl wall and the squish region. The intensity distribution in the PLIF images confirms that a longer injector hydraulic delay leads to a shorter peak vapor-phase spray penetration length and a reduced flow rate.