Experimental Studies on Liquid Phase LPG Direct Injection on a Two-Stroke SI Engine

Directly injecting fuel in two-stroke spark-ignition (2S-SI) engines will significantly reduce fuel short-circuiting losses. The liquid phase liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) DI (LLDI) mode has not been studied on 2S-SI engines even though this fuel is widely used for transportation. In this experimental work a 2S-SI gasoline-powered engine used on three-wheelers was modified to operate in LLDI mode with an electronic engine controller. The influences of injection pressure (IP), end of injection (EOI) timing, location of the spark plug, and type of injector on performance, combustion, and emissions were studied at different operating conditions. EOI close to bottom dead center with the spark plug located near the exhaust port was the most suitable for the LLDI mode which significantly enhanced the fuel trapping efficiency and improved the thermal efficiency. At 70% throttle condition the brake thermal efficiency increased from 19% to 25.6% and there was an 87% reduction in hydrocarbon (HC) emission compared to liquid phase LPG manifold injection. The use of multi-hole injector extended the maximum power output due to better in-cylinder mixture formation, whereas the single-hole injector extended the lean operating limit. LLDI has potential to improve the performance of small two-stroke engines significantly.