Abstract
In support of the Daimler SuperTruck I team’s 55% brake thermal efficiency (BTE) pathway goal, researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory performed an experimental investigation of the potential efficiency and emissions benefits of dual-fuel advanced combustion approaches on a modified heavy-duty 15-L Detroit™ DD15 engine. For this work, a natural gas port fuel injection system with an independent injection control for each cylinder was added to the DD15 engine. For the dual-fuel strategies investigated, 65%–90% of the total fuel energy was supplied through the added port fuel injection natural gas (NG) fueling system. The remaining fuel energy was supplied by one or more direct injections of diesel fuel using the production high pressure diesel fueling system. The production DD15 air handling system and combustion geometry were unmodified for this study. Efficiency and emissions with dual-fuel strategies including both low temperature combustion (LTC) and non-LTC approaches such as dual fuel direct-injection were investigated along with control authority over combustion phasing. Parametric studies of dual-fuel NG/diesel advanced combustion were conducted in order to experimentally investigate the potential of high-efficiency, dual-fuel combustion strategies to improve BTE in a multi-cylinder engine, understand the potential reductions in engine-out emissions, and characterize the range of combustion phasing controllability. Characterization of mode transitions from mixing-controlled diesel pilot ignition to kinetically controlled ignition is presented. Key findings from this study included a reproducible demonstration of BTE approaching 48% at up to a 13-bar brake mean effective pressure with significant reductions in engine-out NOx and soot emissions. Additional results from investigating load transients in dual-fuel mode and initial characterization of particle size distribution during dual-fuel operation are presented.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1082-1099 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| Journal | International Journal of Engine Research |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jun 2022 |
Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This project was supported by American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds from the US Department of Energy, Vehicle Technologies Office under the SuperTruck Program and by funding from Daimler Trucks of North America to UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract NFE-10-02990. The authors would like to thank the guidance and support of project manager, Ralph Nines. This research was also supported by the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Vehicle Technologies Office and used resources at the National Transportation Research Center, a DOE-EERE User Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The authors would gratefully like to thank the U.S. DOE Vehicle Technologies Office Program Managers Gurpreet Singh, Kevin Stork and Roland Gravel. The engine modifications were completed with the help of Steven Whitted and Jimmy Wade and guidance and technical support was provided by the Daimler SuperTruck 1 team.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| DOE-EERE | |
| Daimler Trucks of North America | NFE-10-02990 |
| U.S. Department of Energy | |
| Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy | |
| Oak Ridge National Laboratory |
Keywords
- SuperTruck
- diesel
- dual-fuel
- heavy-duty
- high efficiency
- natural gas