Effect of injection timing on the performance of a dual fuel engine

It is well known that the operation of dual fuel engines at lower loads suf fers from lower thermal efficiency and higher unburned percentages of fuel. To improve this problem, tests have been conducted on a special single cyl inder compression ignition research engine (Ricardo E6) to investigate the effect of injection timing of pilot fuel on the performance of an indirect Diesel engine fueled with gaseous fuel. Diesel fuel was used as the pilot f uel, and methane or propane was used as the main fuel which is inducted in the intake manifold to be mixed with the intake air. Through the experiment al investigations, it is shown that the low efficiency and poor emissions a t light loads can be improved significantly by advancing the injection timi ng of the pilot fuel. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.