Potential of Spray-Guided Gasoline Direct Injection For Reduction of Fuel Consumption and Simultaneous Compliance With Stricter Emissions Regulations

International Journal
of Engine Research
http://jer.sagepub.com/
Potential of spray-guided gasoline direct injection for reduction of fuel consumption and simultaneous
compliance with stricter emissions regulations
Florian Schumann, Fatih Sarikoc, Stefan Buri, Heiko Kubach and Ulrich Spicher
International Journal of Engine Research 2013 14: 80 originally published online 17 August 2012
DOI: 10.1177/1468087412451695
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Original Article
Potential of spray-guided gasoline

direct injection for reduction of fuel
consumption and simultaneous
compliance with stricter emissions
regulations
International J of Engine Research

14(1) 8091
IMechE 2013
Reprints and permissions:
sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/1468087412451695
jer.sagepub.com
Florian Schumann, Fatih Sarikoc, Stefan Buri, Heiko Kubach and Ulrich
Spicher
Abstract
The combination of gasoline direct injection and turbocharging is a promising method to reduce the fuel consumption of
internal combustion engines through engine downsizing, which leads to increased engine efficiencies and a reduction of
CO2 emissions at a comparable power output. Spray-guided direct injection allows overall lean and unthrottled operation, which is realized with a highly stratified mixture at part load. However, exhaust gas aftertreatment with conventional three-way catalysts is currently not possible. Furthermore, insufficient mixture preparation, especially at the upper
load limit of stratified charge operation, causes increased particulate matter emissions. This paper discusses the advantages of engine downsizing, by gasoline direct injection in combination with turbocharging, to reduce fuel consumption
and presents the results of experimental and numerical investigations of stratified exhaust gas recirculation in a singlecylinder gasoline engine to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions. The radial exhaust gas stratification was achieved by a spatial and temporal separated induction of exhaust gas and fresh air, performed by specially shaped baffles and impulse
charge valves in the inlet port. The thermodynamic and optical investigations with injection pressures up to 1000 bar
demonstrate the capability to reduce soot emissions in a spray-guided direct-injection engine.
Keywords
Stratified direct injection, downsizing, boosting, injection pressure, stratified exhaust gas reciculation, emissions
Date received: 3 February 2011; accepted: 21 May 2012
Introduction
Improvement of efficiency is more than ever before the
focus of current research and development activities,
not only in research institutions, but also in industry.
Increasing engine efficiency, hence reducing the fuel
consumption in addition to reducing the driving resistance, is the only way to reduce the CO2 emissions of
cars and other transportation vehicles driven by internal combustion engines. Although the CO2 emissions
caused by road traffic are responsible for 20% of the
overall CO2 emissions in Germany,1 a comprehensive
reduction of CO2 emissions requires a reduction in all
relevant areas. In view of the different fuel qualities,
two concepts found their way into modern vehicles for
worldwide application. One is the concept of downsizing where high specific power is achieved by boosting.
To maximize the driving response, these engines are
increasingly equipped with direct fuel injection and

homogeneous mixture distribution. The second concept
is high efficiency achieved by reducing friction and
pumping losses. Direct fuel injection with stratified mixture distribution is one of the single measures offering
the highest potential to increase engine efficiency. The
combination with turbocharging has even higher potential to further reduce fuel consumption, but has high
demands on mixture preparation and in-cylinder flow.
This technology is presently the focus of research and
Institut fuer Kolbenmaschinen, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT),
Germany
Corresponding author:
U Spicher, Institut fuer Kolbenmaschinen, Karlsruhe Institute of
Technology (KIT), Germany.
Email: ulrich.spicher@kit.edu
Schumann et al.
81
development activities.2,3,7 Future concepts to increase

engine efficiency will combine different technologies
such as direct fuel injection, boosting and variable valve
actuation.
The spark-ignition (SI) engine with direct injection
(DISI) represents a combination of the combustion
phenomena of both SI (Otto) and compression ignition
(diesel) engines and should, in principle, be able to combine the advantages of both engine concepts. In particular, at part load operating conditions, unthrottled
operation with stratified charge and a lean mixture
offers similar fuel economy to that of compression ignition engines. The improvement in fuel consumption
results from reduced gas exchange losses due to dethrottling and increased thermal efficiency due to lean combustion. In addition to these advantages at part load
operation, the mixture preparation procedure and combustion characteristics of a DISI engine provide better
knocking characteristics than those of a conventional
SI engine with port fuel injection (PFI). This allows the
compression ratio of the DISI engine to be increased.
The volumetric efficiency can be further improved
beyond that of PFI engines because of the faster and
more rapid fuel spray vaporization during the intake
stroke, the accompanying decrease in charge temperature, and the increased pressure differences across the
intake valves during the intake stroke. Therefore, at full
load operation, the DISI engine offers higher power
output than the equivalent conventional PFI engine.
Currently, gasoline direct injection with stratified mixture preparation and unthrottled engine operation at
part load and downsizing, in combination with turbocharging, offers the best promise to become the SI
engine concept with the highest possible engine efficiency. However, due to the very complex mixture preparation and combustion processes with turbocharging
and stratified mixture at part load conditions, such an
engine concept has not reached the market yet.
Gasoline engines with stratified lean mixture require
exhaust gas aftertreatment systems that are able to
reduce nitrogen oxide (NOX) emissions under lean conditions and particulates due to the highly inhomogeneous mixture. Reducing both emission components
with aftertreatment systems has a negative impact on
fuel consumption. Thus, reducing these emissions can
also be considered as an equivalent measure to increase
engine efficiency.
power and thereby increasing of the specific power has

been an important goal. In general, downsized engines
are defined as engines that show distinctly higher brake
mean effective pressure (BMEP) and distinctly higher
specific power than the average BMEP and specific
power of the engines currently on the market.
Figure 1 shows the BMEP of present SI engines for
passenger cars.4 While naturally aspirated engines have
BMEP values below 15 bar, the BMEP of boosted
engines goes up to 20 bar, while high-load engine
concepts with more than 20 bar BMEP represent downsizing concepts with either turbocharging or supercharging. Gasoline engines with maximum engine speeds
higher than 7000 r/min are defined as high-speed
concepts.
The concept of downsizing allows the design of compact combustion engines that are comparable in their
power output to naturally aspirated engines with considerably larger displacements. In comparison to conventional naturally aspirated engines, a fuel consumption
reduction of 10% and more can be expected in the regulated test driving cycles as well as during real traffic driving. Downsizing concepts are characterized by high
specific power output in combination with low fuel
consumption.
Figure 2 explains the concept of downsizing. A
reduction of engine displacement from a six-cylinder
naturally aspirated engine to a four-cylinder naturally
aspirated engine results in a loss of both power output
and torque, while the fuel consumption will be reduced
due to the smaller number of cylinders. However, to
keep the power output and the torque at the same level
as the six-cylinder engine, the smaller four-cylinder
engine requires charging of the intake air. With a certain level of either supercharging or turbocharging, or
both, the six-cylinder naturally aspirated engine can be
replaced by a six-cylinder boosted engine.
Due to the higher specific power output of downsized engines, it is possible to modify the overall transmission ratio, yielding to a shift of the engine operating
point towards lower engine speeds. This is commonly
Concepts of downsizing
Downsizing is defined as a reduction of the total swept
volume of an engine in combination with an increase in
specific power to keep the power output at a constant
level. Due to the decrease in power output caused by the
reduction of engine swept volume, downsized engines
are usually turbocharged to compensate for the loss of
power output. Since the beginning of the development
of internal combustion engines, downsizing at constant
Figure 1. BMEP and nominal speed.4
82
International J of Engine Research 14(1)

for the related engine speeds (line a; line b) represent
the acceleration characteristics of the two engine types.
If these two lines had the same lengths from the two
different operating points A and C to the two different
maximum specific power outputs, the acceleration
characteristic would be the same for both cases. Due to
the longer line b compared to line a, the acceleration
behaviour and, respectively, the driving behaviour of
the downsized turbocharged engine is distinctly better
than that of the naturally aspirated engine. Due to
these advantages, some engines have been introduced
in recent years that utilize the benefits of both engine
downsizing and engine downspeeding.
Figure 2. Principle of downsizing concept.5
defined as downspeeding, which is generally combined

with the downsizing concept.
Figure 3 shows both the effect of an increase of specific power by downsizing and the effect of reduced
engine speed by downspeeding on the fuel consumption
engine map. By replacing the larger naturally aspirated
engine with a smaller turbocharged engine, the maximum BMEP (BMEPmax) increases distinctly. For a
certain road load at an engine speed of 3000 r/min, the
BMEP (point A) can be shifted to a higher operating
point with better fuel efficiency (point B). The decrease
in engine speed from 3000 r/min to 2550 r/min results
in a further shift to more fuel-efficient operation
(point C). The overall reduction of fuel consumption is
about 15%, which also means 15% lower CO2 emissions than the naturally aspirated engine.
The differences between the operating points A and
C with respect to the maximum specific power outputs
Figure 3. Effects of downsizing and downspeeding on an

engine operating map.6
Current SI engines with direct injection

One of the first downsized gasoline engines with direct
injection on the market is the Volkswagen 1.4 l TSI
engine, which is equipped with both a supercharger for
the low engine speed range up to 2500 r/min and a turbocharger for the higher engine speed range. The fuel
injector is located in the cylinder head below the intake
ports, and the spark plug is located in the centre of the
cylinder head between the intake and exhaust valves.
Due to the homogeneous mixture formation for the
entire engine operating range, this wide spacing
arrangement of injector and spark plug is achievable.
In addition to the turbocharged and supercharged
SI engines with direct injection and a homogeneous
mixture, there are also some gasoline direct-injection
engines from BMW and Mercedes-Benz with stratified
mixture preparation and lean combustion. These
engines operate with a so-called spray-guided fuel injection strategy and two different methods of mixture preparation. At part load, the injection takes place during
the compression stroke at a late phase of compression
shortly before ignition. At higher loads, up to full load,
fuel injection takes place during the intake stroke to
allow time for the formation of a homogeneous
mixture.
The injection of the fuel for mixture stratification at
the end of the compression stroke requires a complex
injection strategy to avoid problems with spark plug
fouling and deposits on the combustion chamber walls
and the injector itself, as well as to generate a stratified
mixture cloud that is compact and in sufficient proximity to the spark plug at the time of ignition. Engines
that are presently in production are generally equipped
with outward-opening piezo injectors operating at injection pressures up to 200 bar.
For future applications of gasoline direct injection
with a spray-guided fuel injection system, a large potential exists to significantly reduce fuel consumption and
exhaust emissions. For this purpose, extensive research
for optimizing fuel injection, mixture preparation and
combustion is necessary. This research work should
include investigations of fuel spray, vaporization of fuel
and mixing processes, ignition and flame propagation,
Schumann et al.
83
chamber can yield an extension of the load range with
stratified charge operation in the engine operation map.
Figure 4 shows how fuel economy can be improved by
supercharging or turbocharging compared to the naturally aspirated mode.8
stratified and
supercharged
Fuel economy
stratified
charge
Extending stratified operation range by

boosting
homogeneous
supercharged
DISI
homogeneous
Max. power
Figure 4. Fuel economy and supercharged stratified engine
operation.7
combustion, and formation of pollutants during the

engine process. In addition, the fuel pressure and injection pressure should be increased substantially compared to the fuel pressure of present gasoline injection
systems.
Combining either supercharging or turbocharging
and stratification of the charge by spray-guided fuel
injection provides the capability for further improvements in process efficiency and additional reduction of
fuel consumption. With turbocharging, it is possible to
increase the airfuel ratio, thus improving the thermal
efficiency of the combustion process. Turbocharging
and the associated greater mass of air in the combustion
Due to the limited air-intake mass of naturally aspirated

engines, the highly efficient stratified operation is applicable only at low loads. Boosting enables an increase of
the air-intake mass and therefore the airfuel ratio, so
that stratified operation can be extended to higher loads.
Hence, low fuel consumption can be achieved over a
larger area of the engine map. Furthermore, in the conventional stratified operation range, fuel consumption
can be reduced at higher thermal efficiencies by increasing the airfuel ratio, as shown in Figure 5.
Investigations in a Rotax single-cylinder engine with
spray-guided gasoline direct injection have demonstrated the potential of stratified operation in combination with supercharging.7 For boosting the engine, a
Roots compressor driven by an electric motor was used.
The piston and cylinder head were designed and custom
made by the Institut fuer Kolbenmaschinen. The cylinder head design is shown in Figure 6, while the engine
data are listed in Table 1.
The investigations were performed at different part
load operation points at an engine speed of 2000 r/min
with a production multi-hole high-pressure injection
valve (HDEV 1.2) from Bosch with an optimized spray
pattern for spray-guided operation. The injection pressure was held constant at 200 bar and premium gasoline with a research octane number of 95 was used.
thermal efficiency th
0,7
= 10
=4
=2
0,6
=1
0,5
0,4
0,3
6
10
11
12
13
14
15
compression ratio
Figure 5. Thermal efficiency as a function of airfuel ratio l and compression ratio e.
16
17
18
Table 1. Engine data.

Four-stroke gasoline
Compression ratio
Stroke
Bore
Displacement
Intake-valve head diameter
Exhaust-valve head diameter
Intake-valve opening
Intake-valve closing
Exhaust-valve opening
Exhaust-valve closing
11.0:1 / 12.0:1
83 mm
100 mm
652 cc
31 mm
31 mm
12CA BTDC
122CA BTDC
130CA ATDC
4CA BTDC
[CA]
Operating mode
50
40
30
20
10
0
-10
-20
-30
-40
-50
IMEP = 5 bar / speed 2000 r/min
IMEP = 5 bar / speed 2000 r/min
5
4
[-]
84
3
2
1
0
1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4

boost rate [-]
ignition timing
5% MFB / 50% MFB /
1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4

boost rate [-]
90% MFB
Figure 8. Ignition timing, MFB and airfuel ratio at IMEP = 5 bar

and 2000 r/min.
240
0.5
230
0.4
[bar]
220
IMEP
ISFC [g/kWh]
Figure 6. Cylinder head layout.
210
200
0.3
0.2
0.1
190
0.0
1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5
boost rate [-]
IMEP = 3 bar /
IMEP = 7 bar /
1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4

boost rate [-]
IMEP = 5 bar/
IMEP = 8 bar
1.5
IMEP = 6 bar
Figure 7. ISFC and sIMEP for different IMEP and boost rate p
at 2000 r/min.
Figure 7 shows indicated specific fuel consumption

(ISFC) and the standard deviation of the net
IMEP (sIMEP) for different IMEP and boost rate p at
2000 r/min. At naturally aspirated operation, which corresponds to p = 1, the engine can be operated in stratified mode up to IMEP = 6 bar. A further increase of
load leads to misfires, which is seen at high sIMEP values.
With a boost rate of p = 1.1, stratified engine operation

without misfires can be extended to IMEP = 8 bar.
Although high boost rates cause high turbulence
intensity in the cylinder according to Golloch5 the cyclic combustion fluctuations are on a low level
(sIMEP \ 0.15 bar). The results show that fuel consumption decreases significantly with increasing boost
rates for all loads. For example, at IMEP = 3 bar, the
ISFC is reduced by about 18.2% from 237 g/kWh at
natural aspirated operation to 194 g/kWh at a boost
rate of p = 1.4. This significant reduction in fuel consumption is mainly caused by the reduced charge-cycle
losses. However, the required energy for a compressor
is not taken into account. An estimation of power
required for supercharging and the impact on fuel consumption was described by Kneifel et al.7
Besides the charge cycle, the combustion characteristics are improved with increasing boost rate. This can
be seen in Figure 8 at different mass fraction burned
(MFB) values. In comparison to natural aspirated operation (p = 1) both the inflammation delay (ignition to
5% MFB) and the combustion duration (5% MFB to
90% MFB) are reduced in the boosted cases. Boosting
has mainly two effects on the in-cylinder flow and thermodynamic conditions.
The cylinder pressure, the flow intensity and the turbulence levels all increase. This affects the injected spray
by reducing its penetration length and by accelerating
the droplet evaporation process. The early inflammation process is improved and near-wall combustion is
reduced as well as cylinder wall wetting. Furthermore,
combustion is accelerated by the turbulent flow conditions. With the reduction of combustion duration, the
combustion efficiency increases. The airfuel ratio
increases from l = 2.2 at p = 1 to l = 4 at p = 1.4
(Figure 8). As a result, the thermal efficiency increases
with l, as shown in Figure 5.
Under lean conditions, NOx formation mainly
depends on the combustion temperature, which is
affected by the intake temperature. Figure 9 shows the
indicated specific NOx (ISNOx) emissions for different
85
20
0.5
16
0.4
FSN [-]
ISNOx [g/kWh]
Schumann et al.
12
8
4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0
1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5
boost rate [-]
IMEP = 3 bar /
IMEP = 7 bar /
1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5

boost rate [-]
IMEP = 5 bar/
IMEP = 8 bar
IMEP = 6 bar
Figure 9. NOx and soot emissions for different IMEP and

boost rate p at 2000 r/min.
boost rates and loads. At loads above IMEP = 3 bar,

an intercooler has kept the intake temperature constant
at 25C. At IMEP = 3 bar, it was deactivated so that
the intake temperature increases with boost rate.
Due to the increasing intake temperature at
IMEP = 3 bar, NOx emissions increase with boost rate,
as can be seen in Figure 9. At the other loads with constant intake temperature, the NOx emissions remain
constant, or even decrease with boost rate. This results
in higher in-cylinder air mass, leading to an increase of
the in-cylinder heat capacity and hence to lower combustion temperatures for increasing boost rate. At
IMEP = 5 bar and IMEP = 6 bar, the NOx emissions
in comparison to natural aspirated operation are
reduced by about 36.5% and 28.4%, respectively, with
the boost rate p = 1.4. At higher loads (IMEP = 7 bar
to IMEP = 8 bar), the influence of the boost rate on
the NOx emissions is very low.
Figure 9 also shows the filter smoke number (FSN)
for different loads and boost rates. Due to the short
time provided for the mixture process at spray-guided
operation, soot formation may occur due to the interaction of the liquid fuel with the combustion flame. At
natural aspirated engines at higher loads, the fuel mass
increases and with it the overall and local airfuel
ratios decrease, leading to high soot emissions. With
increasing boost rate, the overall and local airfuel
ratios increase and very low soot emissions are
achieved, especially at high boost rates. In addition, the
shorter penetration length of the sprays reduces fuel
wall interactions. Furthermore, the mixture process is
supported by the higher in-cylinder flow intensity and
turbulence levels in the boosted cases so that soot formation decreases.
Measures for reducing emissions of lean

combustion concepts
One limiting factor for the operation of stratified
charge engines is the time necessary for injecting the
required fuel mass at higher loads. In particular, with
multi-hole injectors, insufficient charge stratification is

achieved.10 Long injection duration, combined with
deep penetration of the fuel into the combustion chamber and a slow rate of vaporization, leads to locally
increased airfuel ratios and, as a result, longer burn
duration and increased hydrocarbon (HC), carbon
monoxide and soot emissions.
Moreover, currently used exhaust gas aftertreatment
with conventional three-way catalysts is not possible
due to the presence of O2 in the exhaust gas. Therefore,
lean NOX catalysts are needed to satisfy future emission limits, although they reduce the gains in fuel efficiency. The NOX raw emissions have to be reduced to
decrease the regeneration phases that are responsible
for the decrease in efficiency.
Injection pressures up to 1000 bar for

reducing soot and particulate matter
emissions
Advanced production engines with second-generation
spray-guided combustion systems are equipped with
expensive outward-opening piezo injectors.11,12 This
type of injector combines high flow rates with short
injection time and constant fuel quantity. These conditions are prerequisites for a reliable mixture preparation
at the end of the compression stroke.13 Arcoumanis
and Kamimoto14 and Mitroglou et al.15 give a brief
overview of the advantages and disadvantages of different injector designs.
On the contrary, DISI engines that operate homogeneously are typically equipped with multi-hole solenoid or swirl injectors.16 In comparison to a piezo
injector, these injectors exhibit lower flow rates. The
result of the lower flow rates is a longer required injection duration to inject the necessary fuel mass into the
combustion chamber, especially at high loads. The
effect is deeper penetration of the fuel into the combustion chamber. In combination with slower vaporization, caused by the larger droplets,17 this leads to a
spatially spread and comparatively leaner stratification. Therefore, burn duration and HC and soot emissions are increased. A promising approach to improve
the mixture preparation as well as the subsequent
combustion using a multi-hole injector is to increase
the injection pressure and, therefore, the obtainable
flow rate.
Investigations18 using the same Rotax Engine as in
the previous section show the improvements of higher
injection pressures in naturally aspirated and stratified operation mode. For injection pressures up to
1000 bar, a common-rail solenoid diesel injector
(CRI1) from Bosch and Eurosuper without additional
lubricants were used. The tip of this injector was
modified to have the same spray pattern as the baseline HDEV 1.2.7 Figure 10 shows the spray pattern
generated from six nozzle holes that are positioned
around the spark plug.
0.16
0.14
0.12
0.10
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0.00
200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000

injection pressure [bar]
AVL 415s Smoke Meter /
2.0
1.8
1.5
1.3
1.0
0.8
0.5
0.3
0.0
soot concentration [mg/m3]
FSN [-]
86
AVL 483 Micro Soot Sensor
Figure 12. Soot emissions as a function of injection pressure

variation at 2000 r/min and IMEP = 6 bar.
10
8
2
200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
ISFC /
netIMEP COV
4.0
234
3.0
232
2.0
230
1.0
228
0.0
COVIMEP [%]
5.0
238
ISFC [g/kWh]
ISNOx
236
12
ISHC /
ISNOx [g/kWh]
Figure 10. Spray pattern of the diesel common-rail injector.
ISHC [g/kWh]
200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000

Figure 11. Injection pressure variation at 2000 r/min and

IMEP = 6 bar, ISFC and COVIMEP.
Figure 11 shows the variation of the ISFC and

the coefficient of variation of IMEP (COVIMEP)
with injection pressure variation at 2000 r/min and
IMEP = 6 bar. The ISFC is not significantly affected by
increasing the pressure in the fuel rail. Starting at an
ISFC of 233 g/kWh at 200 bar injection pressure, only a
minute reduction to 231 g/kWh is observed at 1000 bar.
With increasing injection pressure, an improvement in
COVIMEP is measured. At 200 and 500 bar injection
pressure, a COVIMEP of 3.1% is observed. With further
increased fuel pressure, the COVIMEP improves to 2.3%
at 1000 bar. This corresponds to more stable inflammation conditions and better fuel preparation at the higher
injection pressure.
Soot emissions were measured with two analysers
operating on a different measurement principle. As a
standard, the AVL 415s smoke meter is used. To detect
low soot emissions more sensitively, the AVL 483
micro soot sensor was added. Due to its photoacoustic
measurement principle, it is possible, using this sensor,
to detect the lowest levels of elementary carbon
Figure 13. ISHC and ISNOx as a function of injection pressure

variation at 2000 r/min and IMEP = 6 bar.
quantities continuously. In Figure 12, the results of

both systems are shown. A steep reduction in soot
emissions is observed with both systems between 200
and 500 bar. Starting with an FSN = 0.145 at 200 bar,
it drops to FSN = 0.017 at 500 bar. At the injection
pressures of 750 and 1000 bar, no soot emissions are
observed. The much higher soot emissions at 200 bar
are caused by the deeper penetration of the spray into
the combustion chamber due to the longer injection
duration. This leads to piston wetting, which was identified by Velji et al.19 to be responsible for increased
soot emissions.
The impact of increasing injection pressure on indicated specific HC emissions (ISHC) and NOx emissions
is shown in Figure 13. In both cases, a reduction in
emissions with increasing injection pressure is observed.
While the reduction in NOx emissions is linear from
10 g/kWh at 200 bar down to 8.7 g/kWh at 1000 bar,
the HC emissions show a steeper reduction between 200
and 500 bar. Starting at 6 g/kWh at 200 bar, a recognizable reduction to 4 g/kWh is observed at 500 bar. This
behaviour is similar to the observed variation of soot
concentration and points to piston wetting, as already
mentioned in the discussion of soot emissions. By
increasing the fuel pressure up to 1000 bar, a further
reduction to 2.8 g/kWh is achieved.
To investigate the impact of the injection pressure on
the particulate matter emissions, experiments using a
particle sizer (TSI engine exhaust particle sizerTM 3090)
were performed.20
Schumann et al.
87
7105
5105
pRail = 200 bar
pRail = 300 bar
pRail = 400 bar
pRail = 500 bar
pRail = 600 bar
pRail = 700 bar
pRail = 800 bar
pRail = 900 bar
pRail = 1000 bar
5105
4105
3105
2105
7.9 bar
7.0 bar
6.1 bar
5.1 bar
4.1 bar
3105
2105
1105
1105
0
50
100
150
200
Dp [nm]
250
300
350
1107
8106
6106
4106
2106
0
200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
pRail [bar]
Total Concentration [#/cm3]
Total Concentration [#/cm3]
IMEP =
IMEP =
IMEP =
IMEP =
IMEP =
4105
Concentration [#/cm3]
Concentration [#/cm3]
6105
50
100
150
Dp [nm]
200
250
300
1107
8106
6106
4106
2106
0
4.0
4.5
5.0
5.5 6.0 6.5

IMEP [bar]
7.0
7.5
8.0
Figure 14. Particle size distribution and total concentration at

2000 r/min, IMEP = 6 bar, stratified.
Figure 15. Particle size distribution and total concentration at

2000 r/min, pRail = 1000 bar, stratified.
The measurements of the particle size distribution at

2000 r/min and IMEP = 6 bar show a significant
dependency of both particle size and particle number
on injection pressure (Figure 14). Up to a pressure of
500 bar, the total concentration decreases from 6106 to
1.5106 #/cm3. An increase of small particles with
increasing injection pressure cannot be observed. On
the contrary, high injection pressures reduce the particle
number concentration over the entire size range. Hence,
the maximum particle diameter (DP) decreases from 300
to 150 nm and the total concentration drops by about
88% between 200 and 1000 bar injection pressure.
These results confirm the effects of the rail pressure
(pRail) on the soot emissions shown in Figure 12.
The impact of load on the particulate matter emissions at an injection pressure of 1000 bar is shown in
Figure 15. With increasing load, the particle number
concentration is continuously growing; the total concentration steadily increases from 0.4106 #/cm3 at
IMEP = 4.1 bar to 1.0106 #/cm3 at IMEP = 7.0 bar.
From IMEP = 7 bar to 8 bar, there is a sharp increase
up to 4.8106 #/cm3 observed due to the combustion
taking place at a very rich global airfuel ratio of
l = 1.2 and an IMEP of 8 bar. The maximum DP
remains constant at about 150 nm.
To investigate this matter more in-depth, combustion was recorded with a high-speed Complementary
Metal Oxide Semiconductor camera (CMOS). No filters were applied so that the complete spectrum of light
could be recorded. Because of its dominant radiation,

only soot is visible in the following pictures.
Figure 16 shows the progress of combustion at
200 bar in the left column and 1000 bar in the right column. Due to the earlier ignition timing of 24 crank
angle degrees (CA) before top dead centre (BTDC) at
200 bar injection pressure, the start of combustion is
already visible in the first picture at 10CA BTDC. At
the same time, at 1000 bar, combustion has not started
yet and only the spark is observed; combustion in this
case starts 3CA later. In the second picture, at top
dead centre, combustion at 1000 bar has also started.
In contrast to the 200 bar case, a very intense radiation
from the centre of the combustion chamber is observed.
At 200 bar injection pressure, at the same time, soot
radiation is detected in the outer regions beneath the
exhaust valves. At 10CA after top dead centre
(ATDC), in both cases, an increase in soot radiation is
visible. At 200 bar, the origin of soot radiation remains
in the outer regions of the combustion chamber, while
at 1000 bar, almost the complete field of view is occupied by soot radiation. 10CA later, at 1000 bar, soot
radiation is massively reduced, where only in the central area behind the spark plug is there some radiation
visible. At 200 bar, soot radiation originates primarily
from two pool fires on the piston, which exist at least
until 80CA ATDC, when the piston moves out of
sight. At 30CA ATDC at 1000 bar, only weak radiation is observed.
88

the combustion chamber. The mixture is very lean compared to the 1000 bar case, except in the areas where
the spray cones are observed. This leads to a relatively
lean combustion with radiation in the ultraviolet range
(therefore not visible in the images) and insignificant
soot formation. High soot concentrations appear primarily in the area of the spray cones and at the surface
of the piston where the fuel impinges during injection.
Since the pool fire at 200 bar has a longer burn duration, the relatively high amount of soot emissions measured in the exhaust is not unexpected.
Stratified exhaust gas recirculation (EGR)

for reducing NOx emissions
Figure 16. Progress of combustion at 200 and 1000 bar

injection pressure.
These pictures imply a more compact mixture cloud.

Because of the improved mixture preparation at the
higher injection pressure, a relatively rich compact mixture cloud is generated. By igniting this mixture, conditions conducive to soot formation are present during
combustion. Soot formation is known to occur between
temperatures of 1500 K and 1900 K, at a very rich air
fuel ratio (l \ 0.6), which likely occurs in the area of
the spray.21 Because of the high combustion temperatures present, oxidation of soot is very efficient, and the
majority of the soot generated seems to be oxidized.
As expected, the injection duration at 200 bar is longer than that at 1000 bar,10 and this leads to a longer
mixture preparation process. As a result, the 200 bar
case produces a mixture volume that takes up most of
The EGR is a very effective way to reduce combustion

peak temperatures and thus the formation of NOx. The
reduced combustion temperature also leads to lower
wall-heat losses and hence to a higher thermal efficiency.22 Adding exhaust gas also leads to higher
charge-cycle efficiency due to the dethrottling of the
engine at part load. This advantage of EGR cannot be
fully realized with DISI engines because of the mainly
unthrottled engine operation and already high chargecycle efficiency. However, adding the inert gas to the
combustion air results in a lower laminar burning rate
and higher difference from the ideal constant-volume
combustion. The maximum possible EGR rate is limited by high cyclic variations, misfire, the reduction of
total efficiency and the increase of HC and carbon
monoxide emissions. The stratified EGR is characterized by the separation of EGR and fresh air in the combustion chamber. Due to the limited exhaust gas
concentration at the spark plug region, the inflammation and flame propagation are both improved compared to homogeneous EGR and, therefore, the EGR
compatibility is increased. In an ideal case, completely
unthrottled operation with stoichiometric airfuel ratio
and exhaust gas aftertreatment with three-way catalysts
could be possible.
Through an external port, the exhaust gas was supplied into the right inlet port that was vertically separated by an air baffle. This air baffle in the inlet port,
which reaches nearly down to the inlet valve, prevents
an early mixing of air and exhaust gas. To reach the
same flow structure of the fresh air through both inlet
ports, another air baffle was adapted into the left inlet
port. With this layout, a radial stratification can be
achieved in the combustion chamber. The intake of
exhaust gas and fresh air is temporally separated by
impulse charge valves (ICVs), which allow high flexibility in adjusting the valve timing, short switching times
and high tightness. Figure 17 shows a computer-aided
design (CAD) model of the intake system with the ICVs
and the air baffles.
During this stratification strategy, the exhaust gas
first flows into the combustion chamber through the
right side of the vertically sectioned right inlet port.
Schumann et al.
89
Figure 17. CAD cross-sectional view of the intake manifold

with the ICVs.
100
Valve lift ICVEG
Valve lift ICVFA
60
8
6
EGR rate
1-D calculation
40
Inlet
20
0
630
EGR rate
experimental
90
BDC
Valve lift [mm]
EGR rate [%]
80
10
2
0
270
Overlapping time [CA]
Figure 18. EGR rate against overlapping time.
The intake of fresh air follows the intake of the exhaust

gas. The closing ramp of the impulse charge valve for
the exhaust gas (ICVEG) cuts the opening ramp of the
impulse charge valve for the fresh air (ICVFA), and
this time determines the EGR rate. The experimentally
and numerically investigated EGR rate (in one dimension) against the overlapping time of the ICVs is shown
in Figure 18.
The experimentally investigated engine operating
behaviour against the EGR rate is shown in Figure 19.
The maximum possible EGR rate increases to 39%
compared to 25% with homogeneous EGR. The maximum EGR rate was defined as the percentage at which
the engine first misfires. The standard deviation of the
IMEP is kept under 0.3 bar until an EGR rate of 35%.
At an EGR rate of 39%, the standard deviation of the
IMEP remains below 0.4 bar. The ISFC increases continuously without a sharp rise. The NOX emissions are
lower than 2 g/kWh at an EGR rate of 30% (equivalent
to 45 ppm at this operating point). At an EGR rate of
39%, the NOX emissions are lower than 1 g/kWh

(equivalent to 25 ppm at this operating point). The
NOX emissions were reduced further with EGR by
about 88% compared to homogeneous and by about
99% compared to the operation with no EGR. The
exhaust gas temperature increases from 228C with no
EGR to 270C at maximal EGR. To reach EGR rates
higher than 25%, the pressure difference between the
inlet and the exhaust port had to be sufficient. Due to
the very short opening time of the ICVFA and the
higher flow losses, throttling of the fresh air with a
decreasing manifold air pressure would not be adequate to reach the necessary pressure difference. So the
exhaust gas back pressure was increased by throttling
the exhaust gas stream. This leads to higher internal
residuals and hence to higher fuel consumption and
higher cyclic variations of the cylinder pressure.
The calculated exhaust gas concentration in
the combustion chamber with this strategy at a
global EGR rate of approximately 37% is shown in
Figure 20. The overlapping time of the closing ramp of
the ICVEG and the opening ramp of the ICVFA was
150CA ATDC. At 65CA ATDC, the exhaust gas
flows into the combustion chamber and causes a high
swirl motion. At 120CA ATDC, the recirculated
exhaust gas is concentrated at the outlet side.
As a result of the swirl motion, the exhaust gas flows
along the combustion chamber wall. At 180CA
ATDC, when the fresh air flows into the centre of the
combustion chamber, a clearly radial stratification is
present, especially as the exhaust gas concentration at
the outlet side decreases due to the incoming air. The
exhaust gas is concentrated at the inlet side of the combustion chamber. Because of the persisting swirl
motion, the exhaust gas is transported to the outlet
side. At 230CA ATDC, an exhaust gas concentration
of about 5% at the spark plug region and 50% at the
inlet side of the combustion chamber can be seen. At
the start of ignition (SOI) (300CA ATDC), a stratification with higher exhaust gas concentration at the
combustion chamber wall and lower exhaust gas concentration at the centre of the combustion chamber is
present. The concentration of the exhaust gas in the
slightly off-centre spark plug region is about 10% and,
near to the combustion chamber wall, about 45%.
Concluding remarks
The paper has explained different measures to directly
and indirectly reduce the fuel consumption and hence
the CO2 emissions in direct-injection gasoline engines.
Since todays engines with stratified operation
require expensive injection systems with piezo-actuated
injectors and lean NOx traps, the actual trend in engine
development is towards downsizing and downspeeding
concepts with high specific power output, direct injection and homogeneous operation. As such, BMEP values of 30 bar or more are expected within the next few
90
4.0
0.5
air-fuel ratio [-]
0.6
ISFC
IMEP
300
IMEP [bar]
3.5
3.0
0.4
260
0.3
240
0.2
220
0.1
200
0.0
1.0
24
320
20
300
10
20
30
EGR rate [%]
40
ISHC [g/kWh]
60
ISHC
ISNO
50
40
16
30
12
20
10
10
20
30
EGR rate [%]
40
ISNO [g/kWh]
280
TEXH [C]
ISFC [g/kWh]
320
2.5
2.0
1.5
0
10
20
30
EGR rate [%]
40
10
20
30
EGR rate [%]
40
280
260
240
220
200
Figure 19. Engine operating behaviour with stratified EGR.
the engine map in most cases. A reduction in fuel consumption by about 10 to 20% seems to be realistic.
The disadvantage of expensive piezo injectors and
poor mixture formation in the case of stratified operation can be resolved using a multi-hole injector and considerably higher injection pressures. In the presented
investigations, the fuel was injected at pressures up to
1000 bar. As a result, the injection duration decreased
and the stratification and compactness of the mixture
cloud was enhanced. Consequently, the soot emissions
were drastically reduced and the faster mixture formation enabled extension of the stratified range to higher
engine speeds. When additionally combined with boosting, the upper load limit of the stratification was shifted
to an IMEP of 8 bar.
EGR is capable of reducing NOx emissions by
decreasing combustion temperature and reducing fuel
consumption by dethrottling the gas exchange during
part load. However, homogeneous EGR concentrations
are limited because of increasing COV of IMEP leading
to misfire. In this paper, a special intake system was
introduced that was able to generate high stratification
of fresh air in the centre and exhaust gas in the outer
region of the combustion chamber. Consequently, ignition is almost uninfluenced and an overall EGR concentration of up to 40% could be achieved. NOx
emissions were reduced by 88% compared to homogeneous EGR and by 99% compared to no EGR. This
approach prevents the need for a lean NOx catalyst or
at least reduces regeneration intervals and, therefore,
decreases the CO2 output of future DISI engines.
Figure 20. Calculated EGR concentration with stratified EGR.
Funding
years. By increasing specific load and decreasing engine
speed, the engine can operate in more efficient areas of
This research was funded by the

Research Foundation (DFG).
the
German
Schumann et al.
91
References
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engines, ch. 3. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 2009.
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Appendix 1
Notation
ATDC
BMEP
BTDC
CA
COVIMEP
CRI1
DISI
DP
EGR
FSN
HC
HDEV
ICV
ICVEG
ICVFA
IMEP
ISFC
ISHC
ISNOx
MFB
NOx
PFI
pRail
SI
SOI
after top dead centre

brake mean effective pressure
before top dead centre
crank angle degrees
coefficient of variation of net indicated
mean effective pressure
common-rail solenoid injector
direct-injection spark ignition
particle diameter
exhaust gas recirculation
filter smoke number
hydrocarbon
high-pressure injection valve
impulse charge valves
impulse charge valves exhaust gas
impulse charge valves fresh air
indicated mean effective pressure
indicated specific fuel consumption
indicated specific hydrocarbon emissions
indicated specific nitrogen oxide emissions
mass fraction burned
nitrogen oxides
port fuel injection
rail pressure
spark ignition
start of injection
l
p
sIMEP
relative airfuel ratio

boost rate
standard deviation of net IMEP

Potential of Spray-Guided Gasoline Direct Injection For Reduction of Fuel Consumption and Simultaneous Compliance With Stricter Emissions Regulations

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Potential of Spray-Guided Gasoline Direct Injection For Reduction of Fuel Consumption and Simultaneous Compliance With Stricter Emissions Regulations

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