International Journal of Automotive Technology, Vol. 15, No. 6, pp.

861869 (2014)
DOI 10.1007/s122390140090y

Copyright 2014 KSAE/ 08001

pISSN 12299138/ eISSN 19763832

INFLUENCE OF PILOT INJECTION ON COMBUSTION

CHARACTERISTICS AND EMISSIONS IN A DI DIESEL
ENGINE FUELED WITH DIESEL AND DME
J. H. JEONG1), D. W. JUNG1), O. T. LIM1)*, Y. D. PYO2) and Y. J. LEE2)
1)
2)

School of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, University of Ulsan, Ulsan 680-749, Korea
Department of Energy Efficiency, KIER, 152 Gajeong-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-343, Korea
(Received 5 April 2013; Revised 17 July 2013; Accepted 26 July 2013)

ABSTRACTThis work experimentally investigates how the dwell time between pilot injection and main injection influences
combustion and emissions characteristics (NOx, CO, THC and smoke) in a single-cylinder DI diesel engine. The experiments
were conducted using two fuel injection systems according to the fuel type, diesel or dimethyl ether (DME), due to the
different fuel characteristics. The injection strategy is accomplished by varying the dwell time (10oCA, 16oCA and 22oCA)
between injections at five main injection timings (4oCA aTDC, -2oCA aTDC, 0oCA aTDC, 2oCA aTDC and 4oCA aTDC).
Results from pilot-main injection conditions are compared with those shown in single injection conditions to better
demonstrate the potential of pilot injection. It was found that pilot injection is highly effective for lowering heat-release rates
with smooth pressure traces regardless of the fuel type. Pilot injection also offers high potential to maintain or increase the
BMEP; even the combustion-timing is retarded to suppress the NOx emission formation. Overall, NOx emission formation
was suppressed more by the combustion phasing retard effect, and not the pilot injection effect considered in this study.
Comparison of the emissions for different fuel types shows that CO and HC emissions have low values below 100 ppm for
DME operation in both single injection and pilot-main injection. However, NOx emission is slightly higher in the earlier main
injection timings (4oCA aTDC, 2oCA aTDC) than diesel injections. Pilot injection was found to be more effective with
DME for reducing the amount of NOx emission with combustion retardation, which indicates a level of NOx emission similar
to that of diesel. Although the diesel pilot-main injection conditions show higher smoke emission than single-injection
condition, DME has little smoke emission regardless of injection strategy.
KEY WORDS : Dieseldimethyl ether fuel blends, Emission characteristics, Spray characteristics

1. INTRODUCTION

instantaneous vaporization can result in a shorter total

ignition period. For combustion performance of the DME,
smokeless combustion can be expected, because of its high
oxygen content (around 35% by mass) and the absence of
C-C bonds in its molecular structure (Verbeek et al., 1996).
Despite the extremely low exhaust emission performance
of DME fuel, relatively higher NOX emission has been
reported by many researchers. On the other hand, DME
requires a higher injected mass to obtain the same amount
of energy as the diesel fuel, because of its lower density
and combustion enthalpy.
The advanced fuel injection system offers the possibility
to perform multiple injections to simultaneously reduce
PM and NOx emission. Among a variety of multiple
injection strategies, the pilot-main injection strategy has
been thoroughly documented, by Zhao et al. (2009),
Andersson et al. (2009) and Matsumoto et al. (2007). The
well-known effect of pilot injection is that the pre-injected
fuel mass by pilot injection evaporates quickly and ignition
reactions start. Due to these reactions, which result in a preconditioning of the combustion chamber, the ignition delay
of the main injection, and thus also the NOx emission, can

Due to its high efficiency combined with high low-end

torque, the diesel engine has been the favorite power train
for car applications (Official Statistics of Sweden.
http;:www.scb.se/, Jan 2005). During the last several
decades, the diesel engine has been revolutionized by fuel
injection systems combined with turbo-charging techniques.
However, the diesel engine still suffers with regard to
emissions legislation due to its high particulate matter (PM)
and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emission, which are its the major
problem.
Recently, dimethyl ether (DME) as an alternative fuel
has been actively discussed for clean combustion and low
exhaust emission in a compression ignition engine. The
low boiling point of DME fuel leads to quick evaporation
when a liquid-phase DME spray is injected into the engine
cylinder and, as a result, it can lead to better mixing with
the air in the engine cylinder. The high cetane number that
results from the low ignition temperature and almost
*Corresponding author. e-mail: otlim@ulsan.ac.kr
861

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J. H. JEONG et al.

be reduced significantly. With properly designed DME

injection strategies, NOx emission can also meet ultra low
emission vehicle (ULEV) limits (Fleisch and Meurer, 2005).
Due to the advantageous characteristics of DME with
regard to emissions, DME has been applied to the multiple
injection strategies for simultaneous reduction of PM and
NOx emission in recent papers (Kim et al., 2007; Teng et
al., 2001).
The objective of the experimental study is to investigate
the effects of the dwell time between pilot injection and main
injection on combustion and emission and characteristics in
a single-cylinder DI diesel engine. Furthermore, in an effort
to improve the combustion characteristics with the reduction
of emissions, DME was employed as an alternative to
diesel, and the results were compared with those for diesel
injections.

2. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP AND PROCEDURE

2.1. Experimental Setup
The engine used for this study is a diesel engine
manufactured for engine experiments with a displacement
of 498 cm3/cylinder. Figure 1 shows a schematic of the
engine facility, which has been converted for singlecylinder engine operation. The engine specifications are
listed in Table 1, and operating conditions are given in
Table 2.
Fuel injection pressure is 70 MPa. Figure 2 shows the
high pressure pump of diesel and DME injection systems.
For the high-pressure fuel injection, fueling was
accomplished using two Bosch common-rail fuel injection
systems according to the fuel type. The properties of DME
are shown in Table 3. The fuel injection system used for
DME differs from that used for diesel with regard to physical
and chemical properties such as high compressibility, low
boiling point, leakage, etc. The compression work of the
fuel pump for DME will always be larger than that for
diesel fuel, since DME has lower density and higher
compressibility than diesel (Suh et al., 2010). In addition,
the low boiling point of DME (248.1 K at 1 atm) can create

Table 1. Engine specifications.

Displacement [cm3]...........................
Bore [mm].........................................
Stroke [mm]......................................
Compression ratio............................
Combustion chamber........................
IVO [oCA*].......................................
IVC [oCA*].......................................
EVO [oCA*]......................................
EVC [oCA*]......................................
Fuel injection system........................
Injector nozzle holes.........................
Nozzle hole diameter [mm]..............
0o CA* is taken to be TDC intake

Table 2. Operating conditions.

Engine speed [rpm].......................................................1200
Total input calories [J/cycle].....................................1310.4
Injection pressure [MPa]...................................................70
Lubricity addictive......................................Bio-diesel (1%)
Coolant temperature [oC]..................................................80
Intake air temperature [oC]...............................................80

Figure 2. Fuel injection system of diesel and DME.

Table 3. Fuel properties.
Property

DME

Diesel

Oxygen content [%]

34.8

25.1 180~370

Boiling point [ C] , (1atm)

o

Vapor pressure [MPa], (20 C)

0.51

Liquid density [kg/m ], (20 C, 2 MPa)

668

824

Cetane number

55

40~50

Lower calorific value [MJ/Kg]

28.4

42.5

Figure 1. Schematic of the single-cylinder diesel engine

facility.

0.498
83
92
19.5
Re-entrant type
712
224
486
8
Bosch common-rail
7
0.141

the necessity for more compression work to avoid

cavitations, which prevent stable fuel injection operation.
However, the plunger radial-piston pump used for a highpressure pump in the diesel common-rail fuel injection
system is not suitable for DME, since successive
compression and expansion of the fuel by plunger heats the
fuel (Robert Bosch GmbH, 2005). The stable high-pressure
DME supply for the injector was provided by an air driven

INFLUENCE OF PILOT INJECTION ON COMBUSTION CHARACTERISTICS AND EMISSIONS

liquid pump (Haskel), which is distinct from the radialpiston pump (Bosch) used for diesel. The air driven liquid
pump was used by rubber sealing method that is HNB
material. Because DME fuel can corrode ordinary rubber
sealing in pump. Furthermore, current diesel fuel injection
systems are not suitable for DME due to leakage problems
because of its low viscosity. Leakage rates of up to 40
50% of the fuel have been reported in the literature for
DME along the plungers (Edgar et al., 1997). Moreover,
the lubricity of DME is lower than that of diesel fuel,
which leads to wear problems. Diesel fuel, di-methyl
carbonate (DMC) and fatty acids have been suggested as
viscosity enhancing additives (Zhao et al., 2005; Goto et
al., 2005), however, it might be possible to adapt the
materials of the bearing surfaces and plunger/barrel
interfaces to the low lubricity of DME (Venegas et al.,
2008). 1% of biodiesel with mass basis was added in the
DME fuel for the improvement of the viscosity and
lubricity.
The diesel injector was mounted in the center of the
cylinder head to produce an axisymmetric hollow-cone
spray into the cylinder. In order to accurately determine the
amount of fuel supplied, an injector driver was installed on
the injector. Injector driver was provided by a 1/4o
incremental shaft encoder mounted on the end of the
crankshaft for desired injection timings. The injector driver
is capable of regulating the fuel mass injected into cylinder
by means of injection duration, as well as by adjusting the
dwell time between pilot injection and main injection in
microseconds. The pressure control valve (PCV) driver
optionally controls the pressure in the common-rail,
implying fuel injection pressure into the cylinder.
2.2. Procedure
Table 4 shows the pilot-main injection strategy employed
in this experiment for better understanding. Twenty
injection strategies were classed into five cases, including
five single injections as a basis of comparison. Figure 3
shows a typical injection rate for the pilot-main injection
strategy (Verbeek et al., 1996). The dwell time between the
injections is referred to as dSOI in the following text. dSOI
is distance between start of main injection and pilot
injection. To confirm the influence of pilot injection on
combustion and emissions characteristics, single-injection
experiments were conducted first at the five injection
timings (4oCA aTDC, -2oCA aTDC, 0 oCA aTDC, 2oCA
aTDC and 4oCA aTDC), which indicate the main injection
timings in the pilot-main injection strategy. Then, pilot
injection timings were applied by three dSOI (10oCA,
16oCA, and 22oCA) to five cases with main injection
timings as references. For example, the main injection
timing at 4oCA aTDC with a dSOI of 16oCA was done in
CASE 1, leading to a pilot injection of -20oCA aTDC.
Similarly, the dSOI of 22oCA with main injection timing
at 2oCA aTDC in CASE 4 again leads to a pilot injection
of 20oCA aTDC. Table 5 shows the fuel quantity injected

863

Table 4. Employed strategies.

SOI main injection
[oCA aTDC]

dSOI
[oCA]

SOI pilot injection

[oCA aTDC]

CASE 1

0 (Single injection)

10

14

16

20

22

26

CASE 2

0 (Single injection)

10

12

16

18

22

24

CASE 3

0 (Single injection)

10

10

16

16

22

22

CASE 4

0 (Single injection)

10

-8

16

14

22

20

CASE 5

0 (Single injection)

10

16

12

22

18

Figure 3. Dwell time between the start of injections.

during single injection for main injection and pilot
injection along with injection duration corresponding to
each injection. For valid comparison of results between
diesel and DME, an input calorie was adjusted equally as
1310.4 J (single injection), 1146.6 J (main injection) and
163.8 J (pilot injection) by injection duration due to the
different low heating values between the two fuels
(Acroumanis et al., 2008). The low liquid density and low

J. H. JEONG et al.

864

Table 5. Fuel quantity of single-injection, main injection

and pilot injection for diesel and DME.
Diesel
quantity
[mm3]

DME
quantity
[mm3]

Input
calories
[J]

Single injection
(duration, s)

31
(818)

46
(1000)

1310.4

Main injection
(duration, s)

27
(755)

40.3
(914)

1146.6

Pilot injection
(duration, s)

4
(400)

5.7
(470)

163.8

caloric value require a higher volume of DME to be

injected into the cylinder, compared with that for diesel. In
particular, 1.8 times the volume of diesel is needed (to
supply the same amount of energy), which necessitates a
longer injection period and advanced injection timing. The
fuel quantity in pilot injection was selected as 1/8 of the
total fuel quantity injected, which means the fuel quantity
in main injection is automatically given as 7/8 of the fuel
quantity injected. To measure the injection quantity of
DME more accurately, DME is injected into the chamber
pressurized at 5 MPa.

Figure 4. Effect of dwell time between pilot injection and

main injection on heat-release rate for diesel and DME at
main injection timing of 4oCA aTDC.

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

All data for this investigation were acquired at an engine
speed of 1200 rpm with a compression ratio of 19.5:1.
Before conducting experiments the engine was fully
preheated to 80oC by means of electrical heaters on the
cooling water and lubricating oil circulation systems. At
each operating condition, the engine was allowed to run for
several minutes until torque, pressure within the commonrail, and any emissions measurements were stable.
3.1. Combustion Characteristics
3.1.1. CASE 1: Main injection at 4oCA aTDC
Figure 4 and 5 show the heat-release rate and pressure
traces of diesel combustion and DME combustion for both
single injection (dSOI: 0oCA) and pilot-main injections
(dSOI: 10, 16, 22oCA) at the main injection timing of 4oCA
aTDC, which is the most advanced main injection timing.
First, comparison between the single injection combustion
(produced by single injection) and main combustion
(produced by main injection) indicates clear lower heatrelease rate and longer burn duration for the pilot-main
injections. As discussed in the introduction of this study
with reference (Baumgarten, 2006), the pilot combustion
(produced by pilot injection) shown in the 345360oCA
range reduces the ignition delay for the main injection,
significantly truncating the heat-release rate of the
premixed combustion. Figure 5 also clearly shows that the
pilot injection has a strong effect on the pressure traces. For
the pilot-main injection, however, due to the considerably

Figure 5. Effect of dwell time between pilot injection and

main injection on pressure traces for diesel and DME at
main injection timing of 4oCA aTDC.
shortened burn duration for the premixed combustion,
almost the whole main combustion is accomplished by
diffusion burning, which has the potential of larger soot
and NOx emission. Nevertheless, DME can achieve
smokeless combustion due to fast evaporation which is
advantageous for better mixing with air in the cylinder, and
its high oxygen content, which leads to high oxidation rates
of particulates. Figure 4 also shows that both the start of
main combustion and heat-release rate traces for the pilotmain injection are quite similar regardless of dwell time
between injections. These findings are distinct from the
previous results in reference (Verbeek et al., 1996), which
also investigates the effect of dwell time between pilot
injection and main injection on pollutant formation in a
common-rail DI diesel engine. The experimental results in

INFLUENCE OF PILOT INJECTION ON COMBUSTION CHARACTERISTICS AND EMISSIONS

reference (Verbeek et al., 1996) show that the dwell time

between injections significantly affects both the start of
main combustion and the heat-release rate traces, which is
closely related to the total accumulative heat release. The
main reason for the different heat-release traces is the
amount of fuel injected during the pilot injection, which is
3.32 mg/cycle of the total 26.56 mg/cycle injected fuel in
this study, compared to 1.87 mg/cycle of the total 18 mg/
cycle injected fuel in reference (Verbeek et al., 1996). It is
noteworthy that the higher fuel quantity of pilot injection
has a higher heat-release rate, and this suppresses the
premixed combustion for NOx emission reduction
regardless of the dwell time. However, it can also lead to
significant NOx emission by pilot combustion itself.
Second, comparison of diesel combustion and DME
combustion through Figures 3 and 4, illustrates the
difference between the heat-release rate traces and pressure
traces where main combustion and pilot combustion
happen, particularly in the pilot combustion. A comparison
results of single injection combustion between diesel and
DME shows that DME has a steeper heat-release rate for
the premixed combustion due to the low boiling point of
DME. The increase of injection duration for DME also has
consequences for the longer burn duration of single
injection combustion with the apparent diffusion burning,
which has a positive implication for the NOx emission
formation. Moreover, the combination of the steeper heatrelease rate of premixed combustion and longer burn
duration shown in the DME single injection combustion
has the potential to create substantial NOx emission. In line
with the single injection combustion, the heat-release rate
shown by the DME pilot combustion is much higher and
steeper than that of diesel pilot combustion since the DME
pilot combustion process is mainly governed by premixed
combustion. It only drops with increased dwell time
between injections, from about 60 J/oCA for the dwell time
of 10oCA to about 30 J/oCA for the dwell time of 22oCA.
The heat-release rate for DME main combustion is more
linear and longer than that of diesel main injection
combustion throughout the combustion event with little
premixed combustion. As discussed briefly above, this
smoothed heat-release rate resulting from the longer
injection duration can quickly lead to unacceptable NOx
emission formation by diffuse burning. Though DME is
suitable for smokeless combustion because of its high
oxygen content, the coupling between the strong premixed
combustion and long diffusion burning shown in the DME
combustion has a greater potential than diesel combustion
to allow significant NOx emssion production irrespective
of single injection and pilot-main injection.
3.1.2. CASE 5: Main injection at 4oCA aTDC
Figure 6 and 7 show the heat-release rate and pressure
traces of diesel combustion and DME combustion for both
a single injection (dSOI: 0oCA) and pilot-main injections
(dSOI: 10, 16, 22oCA) at the main injection timing of 4oCA

865

aTDC, which is the most retarded main injection timing

considered in this study. As Figure 6 shows, the heatrelease rate is very high for the single injection combustion,
and the combustion process is mainly done by premixed
combustion that does not have diffusion burning. This
happens because the main combustion phase into the
expansion stroke with the later fuel injection increases the
ignition delay, which is the time between the start of
injection and ignition. Increasing the amount of fuel
injected during the ignition delay strengthens the heat
release and pressure rise, and improves the boundary
conditions for NOx emission formations with the premixed
peak. Comparing Figure 6 to Figure 4 shows that the
changes in the heat-release rate with a change of the start of
injection are completely different for the single injection
combustion. On the other hand, the heat-release rate traces

Figure 6. Effect of dwell time between pilot injection and

main injection on heat-release rate for diesel and DME at
main injection timing of 4oCA aTDC.

Figure 7. Effect of dwell time between pilot injection and

main injection on pressure traces for diesel and DME at
main injection timing of 4oCA aTDC.

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J. H. JEONG et al.

for the pilot-main injections are fairly similar over main

combustion, and the maximum heat-release rate does not
change much, although a slight difference can be observed
in the heat release rate for the pilot combustion. The
maximum heat-release rate for the pilot injection at the
main injection timing of 4oCA aTDC gradually shrinks
along with the increase of dSOI due to the over premixed
fuel-air mixture with low in-cylinder temperature. Unlike
the main injection timing of 4oCA aTDC case, Figure 6
shows that the heat-release rate for the pilot combustion is
maintained at a fairly constant level across the 350oCA and
365oCA range, and this would result from hot compressed
air. Figure 7 shows the pressure traces in later combustion
phasing as the piston expands the charge at an ever-fast
rate, which leads to considerably lower maximum pressure
for the main combustion. The higher piston-expansion rate
delays the chain reaction of the fuel-air mixture that
sequentially drives the retarded auto-ignition. The overall
combustion temperatures also decrease with combustion
retardation, but the associated slowing of the kinetics
contributes only slightly to the decreased pressure-rise rate
for the pilot combustion with combustion retardation.
Combustion retardation results in a significant reduction of
maximum temperatures and NOx emission formation,
however, soot oxidation is less effective due to the lower
temperatures, and fuel consumption increases due to lower
thermal efficiency.
Several observations can be made by comparing the two
fuels in CASE 5. A comparison of the diesel combustion
and the DME combustion exhibits a similar heat-release
rate for the single injection combustion, and the reasons for
the differences of the main combustion are also in line with
those of the results shown for the main injection timing of
4oCA aTDC. Figure 6 shows that the heat-release rate
traces for the pilot combustion are almost identical
regardless of dwell time between injections, as alluded to in
the preceding paragraph.

3.3. Emissions Characteristics

3.3.1. NOx emission
Figure 9 shows how the NOx emission changes with the
dwell time between injections for diesel and DME. Overall,
DME exhibits higher NOx emission than diesel. As
discussed briefly above, one of the barriers to further NOx
emission reduction is the long injection duration of DME
injection strategies, which favor NOx emission formation.
The reason for this long injection duration is that 80% more
fuel volume must be delivered in each injection for DME
due to its low fuel energy and liquid density, and the DME
injection pressure generally shows large pressure
oscillations that are limited by the current DME pump
technology. If the injection duration could be reduced, then
NOx emission from DME engines could be further reduced
(Teng and Regner, 2006). It is found that the pilot-main
injection of DME has the potential to reduce NOx emission
with combustion phasing retardation regardless of the
dwell time between injections. In contrast, the dwell time
between injections for the pilot-main injection of diesel is
relatively sensitive to NOx emission, and this renders pilot
injection ineffective for decreasing NOx emission.
Therefore, pilot injection for DME has the potential to
suppress NOx emission formation with the increase of

3.2. Bmep
Figure 8 shows how the BMEP changes as the dwell time
between pilot injection and main injection changes for
diesel and DME. A comparison between single-injection
condition and pilot-main injection conditions shows that
pilot injection with a suitable dwell time between injections
has the potential to allow a higher BMEP. In fact, most of
the observed increase of BMEP can be explained from the
behavior of premixed combustion of pilot injection. The
pressure and temperature levels in the cylinder at the point
of main injection rise if a small fuel quantity is burned
during the compression phase. This shortens the ignition
lag of the main injection of single-injection condition and
positive impact on BMEP, since the start of main
combustion can be advanced to TDC more closely. This
happens because the closer the start of main combustion
approaches to just after TDC, the higher combustion
efficiency is achieved for BMEP.

Figure 8. Effect of dwell time between pilot injection and

main injection on BMEP for diesel and DME.

Figure 9. Effect of dwell time between pilot injection and

main injection on NOx for diesel and DME.

INFLUENCE OF PILOT INJECTION ON COMBUSTION CHARACTERISTICS AND EMISSIONS

BMEP. However, the main injection timing has to be

retarded after 0oCA aTDC for the technique to be effective.
These findings are in general agreement with another
experimental work in reference (Paolo et al., 2001; Lim,
2014) that used an analysis of variance ANOVA technique
to evaluate the influence of control parameters (main
injection timing, pilot injection timing, pilot injection
duration) on the combustion, noise, and vibration level of a
diesel engine. The analysis of variance in reference (Paolo
et al., 2001; Lim, 2014) shows that the main injection
timing and the pilot injection duration appear to be the
most meaningful parameters for the noise and the vibration
level, and the influence of the pilot injection timing is less
meaningful. These previous results and the results of this
study indicate that the main injection timing and pilot
injection duration play a significant role in the NOx
emission (to a lesser extent diesel emissions) and heatrelease rate of diesel engines.
3.3.2. CO emission
As Figure 10 shows, the CO emission is highly sensitive to
the degree of dwell time between injections, as well as the
main injection timing for the diesel injection strategies. CO
emission changes substantially with changes in the main
injection timing for the transition from 0oCA aTDC (CASE
3) and 2oCA aTDC (CASE 4). Significant CO emission
starts to appear for the main injection timings of -2oCA
aTDC (CASE 2) and 0oCA aTDC (CASE 3) at dSOI of
10oCA, and for the main injection timings of 2oCA aTDC
(CASE 4) and 4oCA aTDC (CASE 5) at dSOI of 16oCA.
This has direct implications for the potential of the main
injection timing to control the CO emission in diesel
injection strategies. The peaks of CO emission in Figure 10
for diesel injection strategies can also be explained by
considering the timing of the pilot combustion process
which occurs around TDC. As shown in Figure 4 and
Figure 6, the heat-release rates for the main combustion
show the same general trends in all cases, although the
overall trends differ slightly according to the fuel type. It
can be interesting to investigate the causes of the peak in

Figure 10. Effect of dwell time between pilot injection and

main injection on CO for diesel and DME.

867

the CO emission curves by the heat-release peak for the

pilot combustion. As the heat-release rate peak for the pilot
combustion approaches TDC, the amount of CO emission
increases proportionally. Thus, the highest peak of CO
emission in combination with the main injection timing of
0oCA aTDC and dSOI of 10oCA for diesel injection
strategies causes the heat-release rate peak of pilot
combustion to be at the nearest TDC. To obtain insight as
to why the peak of CO emission shows such trends
depending on the timing of the pilot combustion process, it
is necessary to consider a variety of parameters such as the
physical properties of diesel, the injector cone angle, the
combustion bowl shape, and the piston position relative to
the pilot injection. The start of pilot injection has to be
initiated around 10oCA aTDC to achieve a heat-release
rate peak of pilot injection around TDC, which means that
the main portion of pilot injection fuel goes into crevices
directly without evaporation of fuel drops. For these
conditions, the high boiling point of diesel should play a
significant role in CO emission and contribute to HC
emission, since the source of CO emission has generally
been considered to be incomplete combustion in crevices
and/or near walls where the mixture is cooler. To minimize
the peak of CO emission for the diesel injection strategies,
a relative position between the fuel spray and piston
position should be carefully considered to avoid
incomplete combustion of pilot injection in crevices and/or
near wall.
As expected, the low boiling point of DME has positive
effects on the CO emission, as shown in Figure 10. Because
DME has a low boiling point, evaporation of fuel drops in
DME spray is much faster than in diesel spray under the
same cylinder pressure and temperature (Paolo et al., 2001;
Lim, 2014). With an appropriate pilot-main injection
strategy, the pilot injection timing must be adjusted
carefully, since pilot injection that is too early can lead to
unacceptable CO emission resulting from the over
premixed combustion.
3.3.3. THC emission
The peaks of THC emission in Figure 11 for diesel
injection strategies can be explained in line with the peaks
of CO emission. As shown above, the completeness of
pilot combustion (in addition to the effects of walls and
crevices) may play a significant role in the CO emission
and to a lesser extent the HC emission for the diesel
injection strategy and experimental and computational data
from previous studies have generally supported this
hypothesis (Verbeek et al., 1996; Okude et al., 2007;
Acroumanis et al., 2008). For a later start of the main
injection timings of 2oCA aTDC and 4oCA aTDC,
however, successfully mitigating the increase of THC
emission requires precise control of the main injection
timing and the dwell time between injections.
DME has good mixing characteristics, so the locations
of the fuel-rich regions in the combustion period can be

868

J. H. JEONG et al.

Figure 11. Effect of dwell time between pilot injection and

main injection on THC for diesel and DME.

Figure 12. Effect of dwell time between pilot injection and

main injection on Smoke for diesel and DME.

reduced, resulting in lower HC and CO emission (Teng et

al., 2001). The results by Egnell (2001) show that the lower
emissions of HC and CO emission are linked to the
structure of the DME molecule, similar to soot formation.
The low C/H ratio, the lack of C-C bonds and the high
oxygen content of the fuel should yield faster and more
effective oxidation of intermediate species. The interaction
between fuel injection strategy and the combustion
chamber design should be optimized to minimize HC and
CO emission.

be consumed by the diffusion flame anymore and

significantly increases the remaining mass of smoke. It is
the main reason why the peak of smoke emission gradually
increases along with the combustion-phasing retard at
dSOI of 10oCA for pilot-main injection. Smoke emission is
closely related to a variety of parameters such as the
physical properties of diesel, the injector cone angle, the
combustion bowl shape, and the piston position relative to
the pilot injection. This means that the main portion of pilot
injection fuel goes into crevices directly without evaporation
of fuel drops, and the piston is expanding the in-cylinder
charge at an ever-fast rate, which sequentially drives
incomplete combustion of pilot injection in crevices and/or
near walls where the mixture is cooler. Consequently, the
charge temperature before main injection will be lower and
this tends to make incomplete combustion of main
injection and less smoke emission due to low temperature.

3.3.4. Smoke emission

Figure 12 shows how the smoke emission changes with the
dwell time between injections for DME and diesel. Overall,
the smoke emission for the pilot-main injection is
significantly higher than those for the single injection. As
alluded to in the preceding paragraph, it is clear that DME
allows smokeless combustion regardless of injection
strategy due to fast evaporation which is advantageous for
better mixing with air in the cylinder, and its high oxygen
content, which leads to high oxidation rates of particulates.
With respect to the smoke emission for diesel, the peak of
smoke emission is shown at dSOI of 10 oCA for all cases of
pilot-main injection and gradually increases along with the
combustion-phasing retard. One of the major reasons why
the peak of smoke emission is only appeared at dSOI of 10
o
CA for pilot-main injection is the swirl as discussed in
detail in conjunction in reference (Okude et al., 2007). The
swirl achieved with the shape of intake port and piston
head could drift the main portion of pilot injection fuel to
next injector nozzle hole when the main injection is just
going to start. Therefore, pilot injection fuel with flame
should have the potential to enable a significant increase of
the smoke emission regardless of main injection timing.
The high temperatures in combination with the low oxygen
content are ideal conditions for the formation of smoke,
and most of the large amount of smoke produced at early
crank angle is consumed at later crank angle by diffusion
flame. However, when the diffusion flame becomes weaker
with the retarded combustion-phasing, this smoke cannot

4. CONCLUSION
This work experimentally investigates how the dwell time
between pilot injection and main injection influences
combustion and emissions characteristics in a singlecylinder DI diesel engine using diesel and DME.
It was found that pilot injection offers the potential to
mitigate the heat-release rate for the main combustion.
However, there is no difference of main combustion timing,
because the heat-release rate for the pilot combustion is too
strong. DME pilot-main injections show longer burn
durations by longer injection duration. It is expected that
longer injection duration leads to abrupt NOx emission.
Pilot-main combustion shows higher BMEP for two
fuels than in single injection strategies. NOx emission is
mainly decreased by retarding combustion phasing, not the
pilot injection effect. It is thought that the fuel quantity of
pilot injection is too large, so NOx emission produced from
pilot combustion occupied the total NOx emission
combustion. DME shows significantly lower CO and THC
emission because of its physical characteristics. However,
low CO and THC emission for the diesel injections require

INFLUENCE OF PILOT INJECTION ON COMBUSTION CHARACTERISTICS AND EMISSIONS

precise control of a variety of parameters, such as main

injection timing, pilot injection timing, piston position at
pilot injection timing and piston bowl shape. These are also
closely related to BMEP, and all of these factors depend on
the degree of pilot combustion. With the combustion phasing
retardation, a combination of pilot injection quantity and
pilot injection timing is needed to improve the pilot-main
injection strategy. As alluded to in the preceding paragraph,
it is clear that DME allows smokeless combustion regardless
of injection strategy due to fast evaporation which is
advantageous for better mixing with air in the cylinder, and
its high oxygen content, which leads to high oxidation rates
of particulates.
We are going to suggest fuel and injection strategy that is
an optimized condition for simultaneous reduction of NOx
and smoke, with increasing power in this study. So, fuel is
DME, main injection timing is 4 oCA aTDC which is most
retarded injection timing in this study. pilot injection
timings are dSOI 10oCA and dSOI 16oCA.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTThis research was financially
supported by the Ministry of Education (MOE) and National
Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) through the Human
Resource Training Project for Regional Innovation and Basic
Science Research Program through the National Research
Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education,
Science and Technology (2012R1A1A1044855), funded by the
Research for commercialization of DME vehicle of Korea
Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning and TopClass Agency of School of Mechanical Engineering in University
of Ulsan. Also, this work was supported by the Energy Efficiency
& Resources of the Korea Institute of Energy Technology
Evaluation and Planning (KETEP) grant funded by the Korea
government Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy (MOTIE).
(20122020100270).

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