Experimental Investigations and Quasi Dimensional Modelling of Spark Ignition Engine Fuelled With Gasoline and Oxyhydrogen Gas Mixture

Abstract

Oxy-hydrogen gas is a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen gas in 2:1 molar proportion. Oxy-hydrogen gas can be easily and economically produced from electrolysis of water by using dry cell electrolysers. Oxy-hydrogen gas is one of the alternative fuel options which can replace conventional fossil fuels like gasoline, diesel, etc., because of its high-octane number (>130) and moderate calorific value (21.4 MJ/kg). Current research work consists of both experimental and simulation parts. Experiments focussed on studying the performance and emission characteristics of spark ignition engine fuelled with gasoline (petrol) and dual fuel (gasoline + Oxy-hydrogen) mixture at variable load and constant speed condition with three different oxy-hydrogen flow rates. Comparative findings suggest that NOx emission and brake thermal efficiency increased by 1.75% and 800 PPM, respectively, at full load and at a flow rate of 1.54 lit/min. Carbon monoxide emission dropped by 0.25% at full load and at a flow rate of 1.54 lit/min. A two-zonequasi dimensional modelling of spark ignition engine was carried out in order to understand the combustion process efficiently. The predicted values accord well with the experimental data, with just a small variance. Commercially available software MATLAB R2021a is used to develop code for the engine simulation.