Fabrication and testing of an enhanced ignition system to reduce cold-start emissions in an ethanol (E85) light-duty truck engine
- Nexum Research Corp., Kingston, Ontario (Canada). Thermotech Engineering Div.
This report describes an experimental investigation of the potential for an enhanced ignition system to lower the cold-start emissions of a light-duty vehicle engine using fuel ethanol (commonly referred to as E85). Plasma jet ignition and conventional inductive ignition were compared for a General Motors 4-cylinder, alcohol-compatible engine. Emission and combustion stability measurements were made over a range of air/fuel ratios and spark timing settings using a steady-state, cold-idle experimental technique in which the engine coolant was maintained at 25 C to simulate cold-running conditions. These tests were aimed at identifying the degree to which calibration strategies such as mixture enleanment and retarded spark timing could lower engine-out hydrocarbon emissions and raise exhaust temperatures, as well as determining how such calibration changes would affect the combustion stability of the engine (as quantified by the coefficient of variation, or COV, of indicated mean effective pressure calculated from successive cylinder pressure measurements). 44 refs., 39 figs.
- Research Organization:
- National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Nexum Research Corp., Kingston, ON (Canada). Thermotech Engineering Div.
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC36-83CH10093
- OSTI ID:
- 537315
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/SR-540-22967; ON: DE97009504; TRN: AHC29722%%80
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: Sep 1997
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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