Principal Investigator:
Robert M. Wagner
Other collaborators (including
ORNL personnel):
Johney B. Green, Jr.
K. Dean Edwards
John Hoard (Ford)
Lee Feldkamp (Ford)
Tony Davis (Ford)
Funding Source:
DOE Office of Advanced Automotive Technologies
Project Focus:
The primary objective of this work is to identify and characterize
new combustion regimes where it may be possible to achieve
significant reduction in NOx and PM emissions in a modern
light-duty diesel engine. We have observed these regimes
in recent experiments and are currently performing a more
in-depth characterization of the combustion process and
emissions. A second objective of this work is to investigate
methods for recovering the fuel penalty associated with
operating in these regimes. Preliminary experiments indicate
it is possible to lower or completely eliminate the penalty
while still reducing NOx by an order of magnitude and PM
by a factor of two as compared to the factory calibration.
Future experiments are planned in order to further understand
the combustion phenomena. Specifically, we will be investigating
in more detail the composition of the PM as well as the
unburned HC emissions. A improved understanding of the
emissions under these conditions is necessary not only
in the understanding of the combustion process but also
in the evaluation of the potential environmental impact
from these combustion modes.
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