Homogeneous charge compression ignition

Homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) is a form of internal combustion in

which well-mixed fuel and oxidizer (typically air) are compressed to the point of auto-
ignition.

HCCI has characteristics of the two most popular forms of combustion used in SI (spark
ignition) engines: homogeneous charge spark ignition (gasoline engines) and CI
engines: stratified charge compression ignition (diesel engines). As in homogeneous
charge spark ignition, the fuel and oxidizer are mixed together. However, rather than
using an electric discharge to ignite a portion of the mixture, the density and
temperature of the mixture are raised by compression until the entire mixture reacts
spontaneously. Stratified charge compression ignition also relies on temperature and
density increase resulting from compression, but combustion occurs at the boundary of
fuel-air mixing, caused by an injection event, to initiate combustion.
The defining characteristic of HCCI is that the ignition occurs at several places at a time
which makes the fuel/air mixture burn nearly simultaneously. There is no direct initiator
of combustion. This makes the process inherently challenging to control. However, with
advances in microprocessors and a physical understanding of the ignition process,
HCCI can be controlled to achieve gasoline engine-like emissions along with diesel
engine-like efficiency. In fact, HCCI engines have been shown to achieve extremely low
levels of Nitrogen oxide emissions (NOx) without an after treatment catalytic converter.
The unburned hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide emissions are still high (due to lower
peak temperatures), as in gasoline engines, and must still be treated to
meet automotive emission regulations.

Methods
A mixture of fuel and air will ignite when the concentration and temperature of reactants
is sufficiently high. The concentration and/or temperature can be increased by several
different ways:

High compression ratio

Pre-heating of induction gases
Forced induction
Retained or re-inducted exhaust gases
Once ignited, combustion occurs very quickly. When auto-ignition occurs too early or
with too much chemical energy, combustion is too fast and high in-cylinder pressures
can destroy an engine. For this reason, HCCI is typically operated at lean overall fuel
mixtures.

Working
In an HCCI engine (which is based on the four-stroke Otto cycle), fuel delivery control is
of paramount importance in controlling the combustion process. On the intake stroke,
fuel is injected into each cylinder's combustion chamber via fuel injectors mounted
directly in the cylinder head. This is achieved independently from air induction which
takes place through the intake plenum. By the end of the intake stroke, fuel and air have
been fully introduced and mixed in the cylinder's combustion chamber.

As the piston begins to move back up during the compression stroke, heat begins to
build in the combustion chamber. When the piston reaches the end of this stroke,
sufficient heat has accumulated to cause the fuel/air mixture to spontaneously combust
(no spark is necessary) and force the piston down for the power stroke. Unlike
conventional spark engines (and even diesels), the combustion process is a lean, low
temperature and flameless release of energy across the entire combustion chamber.
The entire fuel mixture is burned simultaneously producing equivalent power, but using
much less fuel and releasing far fewer emissions in the process.

At the end of the power stroke, the piston reverses direction again and initiates the
exhaust stroke, but before all of the exhaust gases can be evacuated, the exhaust
valves close early, trapping some of the latent combustion heat. This heat is preserved,
and a small quantity of fuel is injected into the combustion chamber for a pre-charge (to
help control combustion temperatures and emissions) before the next intake stroke
begins.

Control
Controlling HCCI is a major hurdle to more widespread commercialization. HCCI is
more difficult to control than other popular modern combustion engines, such as Spark
Ignition (SI) and Diesel. In a typical gasoline engine, a spark is used to ignite the pre-
mixed fuel and air. In Diesel engines, combustion begins when the fuel is injected into
compressed air. In both cases, the timing of combustion is explicitly controlled. In an
HCCI engine, however, the homogeneous mixture of fuel and air is compressed and
combustion begins whenever the appropriate conditions are reached. This means that
there is no well-defined combustion initiator that can be directly controlled. Engines can
be designed so that the ignition conditions occur at a desirable timing. To achieve
dynamic operation in an HCCI engine, the control system must change the conditions
that induce combustion. Thus, the engine must control either the compression ratio,
inducted gas temperature, inducted gas pressure, fuel-air ratio, or quantity of retained or
re-inducted exhaust.

Emissions
Because HCCI operates on lean mixtures, the peak temperatures are lower in
comparison to spark ignition (SI) and Diesel engines. The low peak temperatures
prevent the formation of NOx. This leads to NOx emissions at levels far less than those
found in traditional engines. However, the low peak temperatures also lead to
incomplete burning of fuel, especially near the walls of the combustion chamber. This
leads to high carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon emissions. An oxidizing catalyst would
be effective at removing the regulated species because the exhaust is still oxygen rich.

Power
In both a spark ignition engine and diesel engine, power can be increased by
introducing more fuel into the combustion chamber. These engines can withstand a
boost in power because the heat release rate in these engines is slow. However, in
HCCI engines the entire mixture burns nearly simultaneously. Increasing the fuel/air
ratio will result in even higher peak pressures and heat release rates. In addition, many
of the viable control strategies for HCCI require thermal preheating of the charge which
reduces the density and hence the mass of the air/fuel charge in the combustion
chamber, reducing power. These factors make increasing the power in HCCI engines
challenging.
One way to increase power is to use fuels with different auto ignition properties. This will
lower the heat release rate and peak pressures and will make it possible to increase the
equivalence ratio. Another way is to thermally stratify the charge so that different points
in the compressed charge will have different temperatures and will burn at different
times lowering the heat release rate making it possible to increase power. A third way is
to run the engine in HCCI mode only at part load conditions and run it as a diesel or
spark ignition engine at full or near full load conditions. Since much more research is
required to successfully implement thermal stratification in the compressed charge, the
last approach is being studied more intensively.

Advantages

HCCI provides up to a 30-percent fuel savings, while meeting current emissions

standards.
 Since HCCI engines are fuel-lean, they can operate at a Diesel-like compression
ratios (>15), thus achieving higher efficiencies than conventional spark-ignited
gasoline engines.
Homogeneous mixing of fuel and air leads to cleaner combustion and lower
emissions. Actually, because peak temperatures are significantly lower than in
typical spark ignited engines, NOx levels are almost negligible. Additionally, the
premixed lean mixture does not produce soot.
HCCI engines can operate on gasoline, diesel fuel, and most alternative fuels.
In regards to gasoline engines, the omission of throttle losses improves HCCI
efficiency.

Disadvantages
High in-cylinder peak pressures may cause damage to the engine.
High heat release and pressure rise rates contribute to engine wear.
The autoignition event is difficult to control, unlike the ignition event in spark
ignition (SI) and diesel engines which are controlled by spark plugs and in-
cylinder fuel injectors, respectively.
HCCI engines have a small power range, constrained at low loads by lean
flammability limits and high loads by in-cylinder pressure restrictions.
Carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrocarbon (HC) pre-catalyst emissions are higher
than a typical spark ignition engine, caused by incomplete oxidation (due to the
rapid combustion event and low in-cylinder temperatures) and trapped crevice
gases, respectively.
Lean burn

Lean burn refers to the use of lean mixtures in an internal combustion engine. The air-
fuel ratios can be as high as 25:1, so the mixture has considerably less fuel in
comparison to the stoichiometric combustion ratio (14.7:1 for petrol for example)

Principle
A lean burn mode is a way to reduce throttling losses. An engine in a typical vehicle is
sized for providing the power desired for acceleration, but must operate well below that
point in normal steady-speed operation. Ordinarily, the power is cut by partially closing a
throttle. However, the extra work done in pumping air through the throttle reduces
efficiency. If the fuel/air ratio is reduced, then lower power can be achieved with the
throttle closer to fully open, and the efficiency during normal driving (below the
maximum torque capability of the engine) can be higher.
The engines designed for lean burning can employ higher compression ratios and thus
provide better performance, efficient fuel use and low exhaust hydrocarbon emissions
than those found in conventional petrol engines. Ultra lean mixtures with very high air-
fuel ratios can only be achieved by direct injection engines.

Limitation
The main drawback of lean burning is that a complex catalytic converter system is
required to reduce NOx emissions. Lean burn engines do not work well with modern 3-
way catalytic converterwhich require a pollutant balance at the exhaust port so they
can carry out oxidation and reduction reactionsso most modern engines run at or near
the stoichiometric point. Alternatively, ultra-lean ratios can reduce NOx emissions.
Stratified charge engine

Principle
In a stratified charge engine, the fuel is injected into the cylinder just before ignition.
This allows for higher compression ratios without "knock," and leaner air/fuel mixtures
than in conventional internal combustion engines.
Comparison with conventional engines
Conventionally, a four-stroke (petrol or gasoline) Otto cycle engine is fuelled by drawing
a mixture of air and fuel into the combustion chamber during the intake stroke. This
produces a homogeneous charge: a homogeneous mixture of air and fuel, which is
ignited by a spark plug at a predetermined moment near the top of the compression
stroke.
In a homogeneous charge system, the air/fuel ratio is kept very close to stoichiometric.
A stoichiometric mixture contains the exact amount of air necessary for a complete
combustion of the fuel. This gives stable combustion, but places an upper limit on the
engine's efficiency: any attempt to improve fuel economy by running a lean mixture with
a homogeneous charge results in unstable combustion; this impacts on power and
emissions, notably of nitrogen oxides or NOx.
If the Otto cycle is abandoned, however, and fuel is injected directly into the
combustion-chamber during the compression stroke, the petrol engine is liberated from
a number of its limitations.
First, a higher mechanical compression ratio (or, with supercharged engines, maximum
combustion pressure) may be used for better thermodynamic efficiency. Since fuel is
not present in the combustion chamber until virtually the point at which combustion is
required to begin, there is no risk of pre-ignition or engine knock.
The engine may also run on a much leaner overall air/fuel ratio, using stratified charge.
Working
Combustion can be problematic if a lean mixture is present at the spark-plug. However,
fueling a petrol engine directly allows more fuel to be directed towards the spark-plug
than elsewhere in the combustion-chamber. This results in a stratified charge: one in
which the air/fuel ratio is not homogeneous throughout the combustion-chamber, but
varies in a controlled (and potentially quite complex) way across the volume of the
cylinder.
A relatively rich air/fuel mixture is directed to the spark-plug using multi-hole injectors.
This mixture is sparked, giving a strong, even and predictable flame-front. This in turn
results in high-quality combustion of the much weaker mixture elsewhere in the cylinder.
Direct fuelling of petrol engines is rapidly becoming the norm, as it offers considerable
advantages over port-fuelling (in which the fuel injectors are placed in the intake ports,
giving homogeneous charge), with no real drawbacks. Powerful electronic management
systems mean that there is not even a significant cost penalty.
Merits
With the further impetus of tightening emissions legislation, the motor industry in Europe
and North America has now switched completely to direct fuelling for the new petrol
engines it is introducing.
It is worth comparing contemporary directly-fuelled petrol engines with direct-injection
diesels. Petrol can burn faster than diesel fuel, allowing higher maximum engine speeds
and thus greater maximum power for sporting engines. Diesel fuel, on the other hand,
has a higher energy density, and in combination with higher combustion pressures can
deliver very strong torque and high thermodynamic efficiency for more 'normal' road
vehicles.