Combustion characteristics and particulate emission in a natural-gas direct-injection engine: effects of the injection timing and the spark timing

In the present study, the effects of injection timing and spark timing on combustion characteristics and particle emission were investigated. The particulate number concentration and size distribution were measured using an electrical low-pressure impactor. The combustion parameters were calculated from the cylinder pressure data. The results indicate that the combustion versus the injection timing is primarily dependent on the mixing quality of the air-fuel mixture. The particulate number concentration increases as the fuel injection is advanced but the particle size distribution is not affected significantly with different injection timings. This is probably related to the in-cylinder combustion. The initial combustion duration increases as the spark timing is advanced and the fastest rapid combustion duration is obtained at the maximum brake torque spark timing. As the fuel injection timing and spark timing are advanced, the particle number levels are increased but the particle size distribution shows few variations. Most of the particulates are in the nanoparticle size range. The amounts of nitrogen oxide and hydrocarbon emissions increase with advanced fuel injection timing and spark timing, and the carbon monoxide concentration experiences small variations under all operation conditions.