The development of four-stroke, spark-ignition engines that are designed to inject gasoline directly into the combustion chamber is an important worldwide initiative of the automotive industry. The thermodynamic potential of such engines for significantly enhanced fuel economy, transient response and cold-start hydrocarbon emission levels has led to a large number of research and development projects that have the goal of understanding, developing and optimizing gasoline direct-injection (GDI) combustion systems. The processes of fuel injection, spray atomization and vaporization, charge cooling, mixture preparation and the control of in-cylinder air motion are all being actively researched, and this work is reviewed in detail and analyzed. The new technologies such as high-pressure, common-rail, gasoline injection systems and swirl-atomizing gasoline fuel injectors are discussed in detail, as these technologies, along with computer control capabilities, have enabled the current new examination of an old objective; the direct-injection, stratified-charge (DISC), gasoline engine. The prior work on DISC engines that is relevant to current GDI engine development is also reviewed and discussed.

The fuel economy and emission data for actual engine configurations are of significant importance to engine researchers and developers. These data have been obtained and assembled for all of the available GDI literature, and are reviewed and discussed in detail. The types of GDI engines are arranged in four classifications of decreasing complexity, and the advantages and disadvantages of each class are noted and explained. Emphasis is placed upon consensus trends and conclusions that are evident when taken as a whole. Thus the GDI researcher is informed regarding the degree to which engine volumetric efficiency and compression ratio can be increased under optimized conditions, and as to the extent to which unburned hydrocarbon (UBHC), NOx and particulate emissions can be minimized for specific combustion strategies. The critical area of GDI fuel injector deposits and the associated effect on spray geometry and engine performance degradation are reviewed, and important system guidelines for minimizing deposition rates and deposit effects are presented. The capabilities and limitations of emission control techniques and aftertreatment hardware are reviewed in depth, and areas of consensus on attaining European, Japanese and North American emission standards are compiled and discussed.

All known research, prototype and production GDI engines worldwide are reviewed as to performance, emissions and fuel economy advantages, and for areas requiring further development. The engine schematics, control diagrams and specifications are compiled, and the emission control strategies are illustrated and discussed. The influence of lean-NOx catalysts on the development of late-injection, stratified-charge GDI engines is reviewed, and the relative merits of lean-burn, homogeneous, direct-injection engines as an option requiring less control complexity are analyzed. All current information in the literature is used as the basis for discussing the future development of automotive GDI engines.

Automotive Spark-Ignited Direct-Injection Gasoline Engines

Knocking combustion in spark-ignition engines

The stricter worldwide emission legislation and growing demands for lower fuel consumption and anthropogenic CO2 emission require significant efforts to improve combustion efficiency while satisfying the emission quality demands. Ethanol fuel combined with gasoline provides a particularly promising and, at the same time, a challenging approach. Ethanol is widely used as an alternative fuel or an effective additive of gasoline due to the advantage of its high octane number and its self-sustaining concept, which can be supplied regardless of the fossil fuel. As a result, vast study has been carried out to study its effects on engine performance and emission. The first part of this article discusses prospect of fuel ethanol as a gasoline substitute. Then it discusses comparative physicochemical properties of ethanol and gasoline. The slight differences in properties between ethanol and gasoline fuels are enough to create considerable change to combustion system as well as behaviors of SI engines. These effects lead to several complex and interacting mechanisms, which make it difficult to identify the fundamentals of how ethanol affects NOx emission. After that, general NOx forming mechanisms are discussed to create a fundamental basis for further discussion. Finally, the article discusses different fuel composition, engine parameter and engine modification effects on NOx formation as well as mathematical approach for NOx prediction using ethanol.

Effect of ethanol–gasoline blend on NOx emission in SI engine

A comprehensive review of measurements and data analysis of laminar burning velocities for various fuel+air mixtures

Production, storage, fuel stations of hydrogen and its utilization in automotive applications-a review

The influences of hydrogen on the performance and emission characteristics of a heavy duty natural gas engine

Performance and exhaust emission characteristics of a spark ignition engine using ethanol and ethanol-reformed gas

Stratified lean combustion characteristics of a spray-guided combustion system in a gasoline direct injection engine

Performance and emission characteristics of a SI engine fueled by low calorific biogas blended with hydrogen

Keywords hydrogen, internal combustion engine, combustion, high pressure injection, zero CO2 emission 

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/14680874221081947

Yasuo Moriyoshi

Papers

The influences of hydrogen on the performance and emission characteristics of a heavy duty natural gas engine

Performance and exhaust emission characteristics of a spark ignition engine using ethanol and ethanol-reformed gas

Stratified lean combustion characteristics of a spray-guided combustion system in a gasoline direct injection engine

Performance and emission characteristics of a SI engine fueled by low calorific biogas blended with hydrogen

The role of hydrogen for future internal combustion engines