Effect of relative humidity on water injection technique in downsized spark ignition engines

• Combustion knock is a major barrier to achieving high thermal efficiency in spark ignition engines. Water injection was recently identified as a potential way of overcoming this barrier. To evaluate its general applicability, experiments were performed on a downsized three-cylinder spark ignition engine, varying the humidity of the intake air, the water injection timing, and the engine speed. The minimum quantity of injected water required to maintain a given load (and thus level of engine performance) was determined under each set of tested conditions. The knock-suppressing effects of water injection were found to be related to changes in the fuel–air mixture’s specific heat ratio (kappa) rather than evaporative cooling, and to therefore depend on the total quantity of water in the cylinder rather than the relative humidity per se. The total quantity of water in the cylinder was also shown to be a key determinant of advancement in combustion phasing and particulate emissions under various conditions.

Subject headings

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Maskinteknik -- Annan maskinteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Mechanical Engineering -- Other Mechanical Engineering (hsv//eng)

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Maskinteknik -- Teknisk mekanik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Mechanical Engineering -- Applied Mechanics (hsv//eng)

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Samhällsbyggnadsteknik -- Transportteknik och logistik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Civil Engineering -- Transport Systems and Logistics (hsv//eng)

Keyword

particulates

Water injection

water content

humidity

downsized spark ignition engine

Publication and Content Type

art (subject category)

ref (subject category)