Gasoline fuel is the most convenient energy source for light-duty vehicles in energy density and refueling time. However, the emission regulations for internal combustion engines force the industry to exploit innovative combustion technologies. The spark-ignition engine was forced to be cleaner and more efficient, changing from regular combustion engines to a more advanced internal combustion engine and electrification. The current scenario shows that automotive companies and researchers are exploring hybrid powertrains with advanced internal combustion engine technologies with electrification or pure electric vehicles. The Dual Mode, Turbulent Jet Ignition (DM-TJI) system is one of the promising advanced combustion systems, powered by active air/fuel scavenging pre-chamber ignition systems. The distributed ignition sites created by the pre-chamber flames improve the combustion engine's efficiency, simultaneously mitigating combustion knock at a high engine compression ratio and enabling lean-burn or high level of external EGR dilution operation. This study analyzes the performance of a single-cylinder DM-TJI metal engine with gasoline and alternative fuels. The first part of the study presents the experimental investigations on three pre-chamber nozzle orifice diameters at various engine speeds and 10 bar engine load. The combustion parameters for each tested orifice diameter are presented for the incremental engine speeds. A numerical analysis was conducted using the GT-Power model simulation tool to support the experimental result. The DM-TJI engine's maximum gross indicated efficiency was examined and found to be 44.56%, with a higher EGR dilution rate of 45%. This orifice diameter study reported on the first published results of the desertion. Additional experimental data were collected for the selected orifice diameter at a wide range of engine operating test matrices. A predictive engine model was introduced with experimental data validation. The experimental data and predictive model generated the engine performance and fuel map for a real-world fuel economy study. Conventional and hybrid powertrain vehicles were developed with GT-Suite commercial software. Each powertrain model was calibrated in terms of components (battery, electric motors) capacity, internal combustion engine operative points, energy management strategy, and gear ratios with chassis dynamometer measured data of the vehicle drive cycle. A selected U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) driving schedule was implemented on the GT-Suite powertrain. The DM-TJI engine drive cycle fuel economy is compared to an industry-based conventional vehicle with the same powertrain except for the engine map. The results show the DM-TJI engine fuel economy improvement between 10.5%-17.29% and CO2 emissions reductions between 9.51%-14.75% for the selected driving schedule. Mild and parallel hybrid powertrain further improve the fuel economy by 9.23% and 29.88%, respectively, compared to the conventional powertrain of the DM-TJI engine. The CO2 emission was reduced by 23%. Finally, the single-cylinder DM-TJI metal engine performance under different alternative fuels was studied. An experimental test was carried out at stoichiometric conditions with different fuels, engine speed, engine load, and EGR dilution rates. Compared to gasoline fuel, E80 ethanol blend fuel produces 4.47% less CO2 and 25.75% less CO emission, and methane fuel produces 27.91% less CO2 and 57.85% less CO emission. E80 ethanol blend has the highest indicated efficiency of 45.61% with 45% EGR dilution. Methane fuel has a maximum indicated efficiency of 45.03% with 38.5% EGR dilution.
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