The sparking behavior in an internal combustion engine affects the fuel efficiency, engine-out emissions, and general drivability of a vehicle. As emissions regulations become progressively stringent, combustion strategies, including exhaust gas recirculation (EGR), lean-burn, and turbocharging are receiving increasing attention as models of higher efficiency advanced combustion engines with reduced emissions levels. Because these new strategies affect the working environment of the spark plug, ongoing research strives to understand the influence of external factors on the spark ignition process. Due to the short time and length scales involved and the harsh environment, experimental quantification of the deposited energy from the sparking event is difficult to obtain. In this paper, we present the results of x-ray radiography measurements of spark ignition plasma generated by a conventional spark plug. These measurements were performed at the 7-BM beamline of the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory. The synchrotron x-ray source enables time-resolved measurements of the density change due to glow discharge in the spark gap with 153 ns temporal and 5 µm spatial resolutions. We explore the effects of charging time, EGR-relevant gas compositions, and gas pressure on the sparking behavior. We also quantify the influence of the measurement technique on the obtained results.


    Access

    Check access

    Check availability in my library

    Order at Subito €


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    X-Ray Radiography Measurements of the Thermal Energy in Spark Ignition Plasma at Variable Ambient Conditions


    Additional title:

    Sae Int. J. Engines



    Conference:

    13th International Conference on Engines & Vehicles ; 2017


    Published in:

    Publication date :

    2017-09-04


    Size :

    10 pages




    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    Print


    Language :

    English




    Time-Resolved X-Ray Radiography of Spark Ignition Plasma

    Kastengren, Alan / Swantek, Andrew / Powell, Christopher F. et al. | SAE Technical Papers | 2016


    A variable-displacement spark-ignition engine

    Pouliot,H.N. / Delameter,W.R. / Robinson,C.W. et al. | Automotive engineering | 1977


    Variable compression in spark ignition engines

    Pischinger,S. / Yapici,K.I. / Schwaderlapp,M. et al. | Automotive engineering | 2001


    A Variable-Displacement Spark-Ignition Engine

    Robinson, C. W. / Pouliot, H. N. / Delameter, W. R. | SAE Technical Papers | 1977


    Variable turbine geometry on spark ignition engines

    Andersen,J. / Karlsson,E. / Gawell,A. et al. | Automotive engineering | 2006