Effect of injection timing, injector opening pressure, injector nozzle geometry, and swirl on the performance of a direct injection, compression-ignition engine fuelled with honge oil methyl ester (HOME)

Increasing petroleum prices, increasing threat to the environment from exhaust emissions and global warming have generated intense international interest in developing renewable and alternative non-petroleum fuels for engines. Evolving feasible technology and recurring energy crisis necessitated a continued investigation into the search for sustainable and clean-burning renewable fuels. In this investigation, Honge oil methyl ester (HOME) was used in a four stroke, single cylinder diesel engine. Tests were carried out to study the effect of fuel injection timing, fuel injector opening pressure (IOP) and injector nozzle geometry on the performance and combustion of CI engine fuelled with HOME. Injection timing was varied from 19°bTDC (before top dead centre) to 27°bTDC in incremental steps of 4°bTDC; injector opening pressure was varied from 210 bar to 240 bar in steps of 10 bar. Nozzle injectors of 3, 4 and 5 holes, each of 0.2, 0.25 and 0.3 mm size were selected for the study. It was concluded that retarded injection timing of 19°bTDC, increased injector opening pressure of 230 bar and 4 hole nozzle injector of 0.2 mm size resulted in overall better engine performance with increased brake thermal efficiency (BTE) and reduced HC, CO, smoke emissions. Further air-fuel mixing was improved using swirl induced techniques which enhanced the engine performance as well.