Detailed in-cylinder engine data and evaluation of the potential for combustion control via manipulation of fuel and combustion chamber gas composition

The effects of fuel and combustion chamber gas composition manipulation on engine performance and engine-out emissions were examined to investigate the potential for controlling NOx and particulate emissions in a direct injection (DI) diesel engine. Fuel effects were studied by investigating a NOx-reducing diesel fuel additive, an additive that professedly promotes combustion via micro-explosions, and an oxygenated fuel. Combustion chamber gas composition was manipulated via water fumigation and oxygen enrichment. To aid in the investigations, detailed in-cylinder measurements were collected by UW-Madison’s newly developed two-dimensional two-color pyrometer, which supplied both the temporal and spatial evolution of temperature and soot fields in the engine. Since the UW-Madison two-color pyrometer had never been applied to a diesel, the investigation also assessed the viability of the two-color data.