Development of an Automated Diesel Engine Test Stand for Evaluating Combustion and Exhaust Emission Characteristics of Nanoemulsion Biofuels

Development of an Automated Diesel Engine Test Stand for Evaluating Combustion and Exhaust Emission Characteristics of Nanoemulsion Biofuels

Summary

Progress has been made towards the goal of developing an instrumented-diesel engine test stand for analyzing the exhaust emissions and engine performance of alternative diesel fuels. Two diesel engine test stands were fabricated during this report period. A single cylinder and a 4-cylinder diesel engines test stands were developed. The single cylinder diesel engine was purchased with the grant from NCR-SARE and the 4-cylinder diesel engine was donated by Cummins Inc.

Objectives/Performance Targets

• – To develop an automated, small-engine test-stand for testing the combustion efficiency and exhaust emission characteristics of experimental fuels. – To integrate and test the engine dynamometer, fuel consumption sensor, exhaust emission sensors to a data acquisition system. – To conduct preliminary tests to observe the functionality of the system.

Accomplishments/Milestones

A single cylinder, 0.3 liter, 6.5 HP diesel engine was purchased and mounted on a metal stand (Figure 1). The metal stand and a water-brake dynamometer along with a data logger for monitoring the dynamometer parameters were available at the ASM department. The water-brake dynamometer had control valves, a load cell and an engine shaft speed sensor. The dynamometer control and display unit indicates the measured engine shaft speed, engine torque and power. Two fuel containers in one-gallon capacity were connected to the engine fuel system. Fuel lines and control valves were mounted and are used to switch the direction of the fuel from base fuel to experimental fuel during testing.

Significant effort was spent on developing a relatively larger scale diesel engine test stand for testing biofuels. The initial idea was to develop a mobile 4-cylinder diesel engine test stand. The major components of the engine test stand includes an engine, engine cooling system, a dynamometer, a fuel stand and a stand for engine exhaust system. In order to make the system mobile, all the components used for the system were on wheels. An 80HP, 4-cylinder diesel engine was obtained from Cummins Inc. The engine was mounted on a metal frame. An engine clutch system was mounted on the engine crank shaft and a water-brake dynamometer (Model DA316, Go-Power Systems, Carrollton, TX) was attached. A cooling tower was also mounted on the main frame for engine cooling. An engine exhaust stand, a fuel stand and a water transfer tank were built at the department. The water-transfer tank provided water to the dynamometer during engine loading. Figure 2 shows the engine, dynamometer, cooling tower and the exhaust stand for the engine. Figure 3 shows the fuel stand that was fabricated during this project period. The fuel stand contains three 5-gallon containers. One container on the stand is for the base fuel (certified diesel #2), the second container is for the experimental fuel being tested and the third container (underneath the fuel stand) is for holding the flushed fuel between the tests. The fuel stand was also equipped with fuel lines and manual valves to control the direction of fuel inlet and outlet from the engine. Figure 4 shows the water transfer tank and a high volume, high pressure pump to provide water for the dynamometer. A wheeled-metal frame for the water container and pump was built and electrical connections to the pump were made. The container and pump supplied the water for the dynamometer.

The Project Coordinator presented a paper on “Exhaust Emissions of a 4-Cylinder Diesel Engine Fueled with Biodiesel, Tire Oil and Diesel Fuel Blends” at the Annual International Meeting of ASABE, Pittsburg, PA, Paper No: 1009382. The results of this study were obtained using the 4-cylinder diesel engine test stand that was developed with this project.

• Figures of the engine test systems – in pdf format

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

So far the impact of this project is to development of two diesel engine test stands and conducting engine and exhaust emission testing of tire-oil-biodiesel-diesel blended fuels. The tire oil was provided by a company (Hitec LLC, Jefferson City, MO) that manufactures scrap tire pyrolysis reactors for tire oil production. We presented the results of this study at the 2010 Annual International Meeting of ASABE took place in Pittsburgh, PA.

Collaborators: