Impact of Discharge Current Profiling on Ignition Characteristics of Hydrogen/Methane Blends

Abstract For future SI engines, the ignition processes of an air-fuel mixture are often subjected to a fuel-lean mixture of considerably higher density, high intake boost, and high compression ratio to further improve engine efficiency. The ignition systems for future gasoline engines should effectively ignite the mixture and secure the flame kernel until it develops into self-sustainable propagation. In this paper, the impact of discharge current profile on flame kernel formation and development processes of methane-hydrogen/air mixtures under engine-like conditions are experimentally investigated in a rapid compression machine. The discharge current during the glow phase is modulated to change the energy discharge profiles. A Field-programmable gate array based multi-task control system is established to effectively control and stabilize the discharge current amplitude and duration for different ignition strategies. The ignition and combustion process are characterized via simultaneous high-speed direct imaging and in-cylinder pressure measurement. The ignition delay is analyzed with respect to the in-cylinder pressure under various boundary conditions such as fuel blending ratio and spark discharge parameters, with a focus on the efficacy of ignition strategies under various hydrogen/methane blending ratios.