May 2015 Monthly Dinner Meeting and Election Night

Opportunities for Improved Efficiency in Spark Ignited Engines, By: Jim Szybist, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Abstract: While spark-ignited (SI) engines have been in existence for well over 100 years, there remain numerous opportunities for efficiency improvements due to an improved understanding of the thermodynamics and improvements in engine control technologies. This presentation identifies a number of the practical barriers that limit the thermodynamic efficiency of SI engines, and presents an overview of the research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s (ORNL’s) Fuels Engines and Emissions Research Center (FEERC) that aims to overcome these barriers. The first topic that will be addressed focuses on the enabling impact of fuel properties and chemistry. Next is the ability of a highly dilute SI combustion strategy to improve thermodynamic efficiency. Finally, the role that various fuel reforming strategies can have on extending the dilute combustion limits is discussed. The potential benefits as well as the remaining barriers are discussed for each of these approaches. Biography: Jim Szybist is a Senior Research Engineer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Fuels, Engines, and Emissions Research Center. He received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering in 2000 and a Ph.D. in Fuel Science in 2005 from Penn State University. He joined Oak Ridge National Laboratory as a staff member in 2007 and has been active in researching fuel effects on engine efficiency and emissions for both gasoline and diesel engine platforms. To Register: http://www.cvent.com/d/crq218