Experimental investigation of adding vanes into the air intake runner of a diesel engine run on biodiesel to improve the air-fuel mixing

• Published in: ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, Proceedings (IMECE)
• Main Author: Bari S.; Saad I.
• Format: Conference paper
• Language: English
• Published: American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) 2015
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84982947820&doi=10.1115%2fIMECE2015-51900&partnerID=40&md5=218cea8e91c3a50eceda5eb677940831

Diesel engine can be run with renewable biodiesel which has the potential to supplement the receding supply of crude oil. Use of biodiesel in diesel engines can also reduce harmful emissions of CO, unburned HC and particulates. As biodiesel possess similar physiochemical properties to diesel, most diesel engines can be run with biodiesel with minimum modifications. However, the viscosity and calorific values of biodiesel are higher and lower, respectively than diesel which will affect the performance of diesel engine run with biodiesel. Use of 100% biodiesel in diesel engines shows inferior performance of having lower power and torque. Guide vanes into the intake runner to improve the in-cylinder airflow characteristic to break down higher viscous biodiesel is the aim of this research. This is expected to improve the air-fuel mixing resulting better combustion. The experimental results of biodiesel run in a diesel-gen set showed that break specific fuel consumption reduced in between 0.90 and 1.77% with vane numbers of 3 to 5. In regards to emissions, CO reduced in the range 0.05 and 8.78%, CO2 reduced in the range of 0.82 and 1.75%, and HC in the range of 1.19 and 7.49% with vane numbers of 3 to 5. Interestingly, most improvements were found with the vane numbers of 4. Copyright © 2015 by ASME.