Theoretical Analysis of Ignition in Diesel Engines

The present work investigates the influence of ignition delay on the diesel engine performance. A theoretical model is used via a program written by MATLAB, to compute the ignition delay in (ms) for a diesel engine at identical operation conditions. The ignition delay in the diesel engines using different reference diesel fuels with different cetane numbers of 40 and 50 was investigated. Effect of the operating conditions such as the engine compression ratios, intake pressures and temperatures on the ignition delay, was investigated. Influences of engine speed changes on ignition delay at low, moderate and high conditions were represented. Comparisons between obtained results for the two types of the used fuels were also represented. The results show that the ignition delay decreases with increasing the engine speed, the engine compression ratio, cetane number, intake pressure and temperature. The compression ratio causes remarkable reduction in ignition delay.