ICED Webinar Series: The Future of the Internal Combustion Engine

Hydrogen is regarded as a carbon-neutral fuel or energy carrier owing to no carbon-dioxides formation through combustion and its high energy density. The combustion behavior of hydrogen is different from conventional hydrocarbon fuels due to high diffusivity and burning velocity, low ignition energy, low flame quenching distance and wider flammable range, leading to excellent lean stratified combustion. Hydrogen combustion was analyzed in KAIST from a high-pressure hydrogen jet, mixing with air and combustion behavior in a constant-volume combustion chamber and a reciprocating engine. Schlieren images were taken at different ambient pressures to determine the behavior of the hydrogen jet, especially the stratified charge formation at different pressure. Direct combustion image and pressure measurement were used to analyze the combustion characteristics. An outwardly-opening injector injected the hydrogen-producing hollow-cone-shaped jet at 100 bars at all conditions. The jet collapse was caused by a pressure difference between the inside and outside of the hollow-cone-shaped jet. Energy conversion efficiency was maximized when the spark discharge occurred right after the end of the injection in a single-cylinder hydrogen engine experiment. The amount of NOx emission increased as the ignition timing was advanced since the in-cylinder pressure and temperature were changed. When the engine operated at homogenous combustion mode, it emitted high NOx emissions because of higher in-cylinder pressures and temperatures. However, even though the pressure and temperature were lower at lean stratified charge mode, more NOx was produced than in lean homogenous combustion mode because of the locally rich area near the spark plug. The optimization of lean stratified charge combustion was carried out to mitigate the gaseous pollutant formation.

In the Technion, recent experimental studies found elevated particle formation in a non-premixed hydrogen and hydrogen-rich reformate combustion compared to hydrocarbon fuels in a wide range of direct-injection spark-ignition engine operation regimes. This discovery contradicted all previously published data on particle formation in hydrogen combustion. In this presentation, we conceptualize the particle formation mechanism in non-premixed hydrogen combustion in internal combustion engines (ICE). This enabled us to match the previously published and newly gained data. The interlinked series of fundamental and engine-based experiments were accomplished, which allowed understanding and describing the physics behind the observed peculiarities in particle formation. The results show that enhanced particle formation in non-premixed hydrogen combustion in ICE results from a combined influence of the hydrogen’s low flame quenching distance that intensifies lubricant evaporation and the interaction between the lubricant vapor formed near the cylinder surface and the gaseous jet.

Speaker
Leonid Tartakovsky, PhD
Israel Institute of Technology

Assoc. Professor Leonid Tartakovsky is a Director of the Technion Internal Combustion Engines Laboratory at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and a member of the Nancy & Stephen Grand Technion Energy Program. Prof. Tartakovsky holds PhD degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Central Automobile and Automotive Engines Research Institute – NAMI in Moscow. His research interests are focused on carbon-neutral propulsion technologies, thermochemical recuperation of waste heat, hydrogen and reformates combustion and emissions control. L. Tartakovsky serves as an Associate Editor of the SAE International Journal of Engines and Frontiers in Aerospace Engineering – Energetics and Propulsion. He is the Editorial Board member of several journals. Prof. Tartakovsky is a recipient of the SAE Forest R. McFarland Award, was elected SAE Fellow in 2016, and SAE Top Contributor in 2019. He is a Founding Chairman of three international conferences, served on the Organizing Committee of multiple conferences and has above 110 publications in journals, book chapters and conference proceedings.

Speaker
Choongsik Bae, PhD
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)

Prof. Bae serves as a professor at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and leads the Future Transport Power Lab, since 1998. He is also leading the CERC (Combustion Engineering Research Center) as a director. Throughout his academic career, he had the privilege of supervising 34 Ph.D. students and 50 M.S. students. He obtained his B.S. and M.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Seoul National University, Republic of Korea, and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College London, United Kingdom, in 1998. He is active in the interaction with the industry that he has worked as a Technical Advisor of Hyundai Motors on the occasion of his sabbatical leave from 2011 to 2012. He has been the Dean of the College of Engineering at KAIST during 2019-2020, working for innovation in engineering education. Throughout his research career, he made distinguishing research and technological achievements, including 152 international research papers. Several outstanding awards, such as the SAE Arch T. Colwell Merit award in 1997, SAE Harry Horning Award award in 2006, the SAE Fellow obtainment in 2012, and Presidential Commendation in 2022 distinguish what he achieved. Prof. Bae is currently working on the research for transport carbon-neutral transport power, including hydrogen jet formation, hydrogen combustion engine, and e-fuel engine combustion, mobile carbon capture, etc. He also continues research in conventional gasoline engine with the variety of diagnostics such as PIV, LIF, LIBs and optical imaging of in-cylinder flow, mixing and combustion process.

Moderator
Avinash Kumar Agarwal, PhD
Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur

Avinash Kumar Agarwal is a Professor of I C Engines at IIT Kanpur. He is interested in combustion, conventional and alternative fuels, Methanol/DME/Hydrogen/HCNG fueled engine development, optical diagnostics, and laser ignition.

Prof. Agarwal has published over 510 peer-reviewed international journal and conference papers, 63 edited books, and 129 book chapters, attracting 15200+ Scopus and 23000+ Google Scholar citations. He edited Handbook of Combustion and 60+ Springer books on energy, environment and sustainability. For his outstanding contributions, Prof. Agarwal is conferred upon Sir J C Bose National Fellowship (2019) by SERB, SAE India Foundation GURU Award (2022), Clarivate Analytics India Citation Award-2017 in Engineering and Technology, Prestigious Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize (2016) in Engineering Sciences, and many other awards in addition to inaugural version of Distinguished Alumni Award-2021 by MNIT Jaipur and Distinguished Alumni Award-2022 by IIT Delhi.

He is an elected Fellow of the SAE (2012), ASME (2013), INAE (2015), ISEES (2016), RSC(2018), NASI (2018), WSSET (2020), AAAS (2020) and CI (2022). At IIT Kanpur, Prof. Agarwal has established a state-of-the-art Engine Research Laboratory, and he was also the founder-director of IIT Kanpur's Science and Technology Research Park.