An Experimental Study on Combustion and Performance of a Liquefied Natural Gas-Diesel Dual-Fuel Engine With Different Pilot Diesel Quantities

The pilot diesel quantity (mpilot) has an impact on the liqueified nitrogen gas (LNG)-diesel dual-fuel engine, but it is very difficult for a dual-fuel engine with the traditional injection system to adjust mpilot to meet various operating conditions in practice. In recent years, with great progress in common rail diesel injection technology, mpilot can be adjusted accurately by the electronic control system, which is an advantage for operation with the diesel-LNG dual-fuel. In order to optimize mpilot of the diesel-LNG dual-fuel engine, the combustion and performance of a dual-fuel engine with the mpilot of 5.05 mg/cyc, 5.20 mg/cyc, 5.69 mg/cyc, 6.31 mg/cyc and 6.91 mg/cyc under 50% load at speed of 1600 r/min were analyzed. Experimental results show that, with an increase in mpilot, the maximum in-cylinder pressure, rate of pressure rise, and heat release rate of dual-fuel obviously increase, the crank angles of the maximum value move forward, and the combustion duration becomes shorter. The mean value of peak in-cylinder pressure (p(max)) increases obviously while the standard deviation of it decreases, and the distribution of that focuses. The mean value of the crank angle corresponding to pmax pressure decreases except for the mpilot of 5.05 mg/cyc, while the standard deviation of that gradually decreases, the distribution of it focuses and moves forward. The brake power increases while the brake-specific fuel consumption (BSFC) decreases, the CO and HC decrease, while the CO2, NOx, and smoke density emissions increase.