IGNITION DELAY IN

COMPRESSION
IGNITION ENGINE
 CONTENT

 COMBUSTION PHASES
 IGNITION DELAY
 PHYSICAL DELAY
 CHEMICAL DELAY
 MODELS
 CETANE NUMBER
 FLOW CHART
 RESULTS
 REFERENCE
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 COMBUSTION PHASES

▰ Ignition delay : [a-b]

▰ Premixed Combustion : [b-c]

▰ Rate Controlled Combustion : [c-d]

▰ Late Combustion: [d-e]

Fig : Phases of combustion [3]

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 INTRODUCTION

IGNITION DELAY

▰ Time interval between start of injection and

start of combustion.
▰ Start of injection determined by a needle lift.
▰ Start of combution determined from cylinder
pressure data or from heat release data or
flame luminosity detector.

Fig : Pressure Variation with crank angle [3]

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Ignition Delay Injection

Density
Physical Delay

τphys
▰ Time between the beginning of injection and
attainment of chemical reaction condition. Atomization Vaporization Mixing
▰ In this period atomization of liquid fuel, Surface
Tension
Specific Heat
Diffusion
coefficient
vaporization of fuel droplet and mixing of fuel

τign
vapour with air occur.

τchem
Chemical Reaction
Chemical Delay
H:C ratio, Chain Length, Resonant
▰ It is by pre-combustion reaction of fuel, air, stability
residual gas mixture which leads to auto ignition.
Fig : Conceptual model of ignition delay showing both physical
▰ It depends on composition of fuel and cylinder and chemical delay period and some fuel properties affect
these process [4]
charge temperature and pressure.
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Models

HARDENBERG AND HASE

Hardenberg and Hase expressed ignition delay for naturally aspirated or
turbocharged diesel engine as

τid (CA) = Ignition delay in crank angle

Sp = Mean piston speed (m/s)
EA = Apparent activation energy (J/mole)
R = Universal gas constant (8.314 J/K mole)
T= Mean temperature in Inlet manifold (Kelvin)
r = Compression ratio, n = Polytropic index of compression
P = Mean pressure in Inlet manifold (Pascal) 6
Models

HARDENBERG AND HASE

 Ignition delay in milliseconds expressed as

N =Engine speed (rpm)

 Apparent activation energy expressed as

CN =Cetane number

 Polytropic Model For P and T

i =Intake manifold condition

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TTC =End of compression air temperature , PTC =End of compression air pressure
Models

r =18
Conclusion :

r =20
For higher Compression Ratios,
r =22
which imparts favourable
combustion conditions like
better atomization, higher
temperatures at the end of
compression leads to reduced
delay period.

Fig : Temperature Vs Ignition Delay in crank

angle for varying compression ratio [3]
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Models

ARRHENIUS
Arrhenius type of equation to describe ignition delay as follows

τid = Ignition delay

A and n = Constants dependent on the fuel
EA = Apparent activation energy (J/mole)
R = Universal gas constant (8.314 J/K mole)
T= Temperature (Kelvin)
P = Pressure (atm)

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Models

ARRHENIUS
Investigators Conditions Parameters

Apparatus Fuel P , atm T,K n A

Spadaccini and TeVelde No.1 Steady flow No.2 Diesel 10-30 650-900 2 2.43e-9 20926

Spadaccini and TeVelde No.2 Steady flow No.2 Diesel 10-30 650-900 1 4e-10 20080

Stringer Steady flow Diesel 45-50 cetane number 30-60 770-980 0.757 0.0405 5473

Wolfer Constant volume Fuel with cetane number > 8-48 590-782 1.19 0.44 4650
bomb 50
Hiroyasu Constant volume Kerosene 1-30 673-973 1.23 0.0276 7280
bomb

Table : Constants for Arrhenius equation for ignition delay [3]

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Cetane Number

▰ It defines ignition quality of diesel fuel.

▰ The lower cetane number means longer ignition delays, allowing more time for the fuel to vaporize before
combustion.

▰ Initial burn rates are higher causing more heat release at constant volume, which is a more efficient conversion
process of heat to work.

▰ ASTM standard D 975-02 the minimum cetane number for No. 2 diesel should be 40. Typically, the cetane number for
No. 2 diesel fuels vary from 45 to 50.

▰ It was projected that the cetane number of ethanol in between 5 & 15.
▰ Zoldy studied different ternary blends for measuring cetane number and developed a mult-ilinear
[1]

model.

CNblend = CNd – 0.59 Ne + 0.55 Nbd

CNblend = Cetane number of blend, CNd = Cetane number of diesel,

Ne = Ethanol ratio in blend (v/v %), Nbd =Biodiesel ratio in blend (v/v %). 11
Flow chart
Calculating mean piston speed (Sp)

Calculating cetane number of diesel ethanol biodiesel blend (CN)

Calculating of apparent activation energy (EA)

Calculating ignition delay using Hardenberg and Hase Method (τid)

Plot of ignition delay Vs Cetane number

Variation of Cetane number with blends of ethanol

Variation of cetane number with blends of biodiesel

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Results

Inputs :

Cetane number of the diesel, stroke length of piston,

engine speed, temperature and pressure of the charge
during the delay.

Conclusion :

As cetane number increases ignition delay goes on

decreasing.

Fig : Variation of ignition delay with cetane number

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Results

Inputs :

Cetane number of the diesel..

Conclusion :

The cetane number decreases linearly with increase

in percentage of ethanol for a given percentage of
biodiesel.
Also, as the percentage of biodiesel in the blend is
increased, the effective cetane number increases.

Fig : Variation of cetane number with blend % of ethanol

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Results

Inputs :

Cetane number of the diesel..

Conclusion :

The cetane number increases linearly with increase in

percentage of biodiesel for a given percentage of
ethanol .
Also, as the percentage of ethanol in the blend is
increased, the effective cetane number decreases.

Fig : Variation of cetane number with blend % of Biodiesel

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 Reference

[1] Zoldy M; Ethanol-biodiesel-diesel blends as a diesel extender option on

compression ignition engines, Trasport 2011; 26:303-9.

[2] Park SH, Cha J, Lee CS. Impact of biodiesel in bioethanol blend diesel on engine
performance in compression ignition engine, Appl Energy 2012; 99:334-43

[3] Internal combustion engine fundamentals by J. B. Heywood.

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THANK YOU

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