Study on Fuel and Injection Influence on a Spark Ignition Aeropiston Engine

Spark ignition aeropiston engines have good prospects due to light weight and high power to weight ratio. Both gasoline and kerosene can be utilized on these engines by using either traditional port fuel injection (PFI) or the novel air-assisted fuel injection (A2FI). In this article, the effects of different fuels and injection methods on the performance of a four-cylinder opposed aeropiston engine were studied. The spray performance test rig and the engine performance test rig were established. First, the influence of different injection methods on engine performance were compared, which indicated that A2FI is superior to PFI in engine power and starting performance. Furthermore, the fuel performance comparison by using A2FI was conducted, which demonstrates that kerosene is inferior to gasoline in terms of spray characteristics and power performance. Finally, detailed working characteristics of A2FI system using kerosene were studied, which indicated that the stable and reliable operation of the spark-ignition operation can be realized and the kerosene's spark-ignition combustion process can be optimized similar to that of gasoline. Results shows that the use of kerosene combined with A2FI is the best technical way to achieve ideal working process of the spark ignition aeropiston engine.