Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “internal combustion engines”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engine - Franco Ocampo

This intern poster is personal research on a Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engine. The poster oversees the core problems with the idea of a HICE. The main problem addressed is abnormal combustion which can be a safety hazard firstly, but also mitigate the performance of the engine severely. Solutions include direct fuel injection, alternative cooling systems, and closer attention to valve timing and calibration in relation to fuel delivery.

08 - HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2022

Thermal barrier coatings for internal combustion engines

A thermal barrier coating for an internal combustion engine includes an insulating thermal spray coating, where a chosen material of the insulating thermal spray coating has a thermal conductivity lower than 2 W/mK in fully dense form and the chosen material includes a coefficient of thermal expansion within 5 ppm/K of a coefficient of thermal expansion of a material of a component of the internal combustion engine upon which the coating is placed.

Jordan, Eric↗
DOE OSTI2022

Thermal barrier coatings for internal combustion engines

A thermal barrier coating for an internal combustion engine includes an insulating thermal spray coating, where a chosen material of the insulating thermal spray coating has a thermal conductivity lower than 2 W/mK in fully dense form and the chosen material includes a coefficient of thermal expansion within 5 ppm/K of a coefficient of thermal expansion of a material of a component of the internal combustion engine upon which the coating is placed.

Jordan, Eric↗
NASA NTRS1973

The problem of carrying out a diagnosis of an internal combustion engine by vibroacoustical parameters

The physics of noise formation in an internal combustion engine is discussed. A dependence of the acoustical radiation on the engine operating process, its construction, and operational parameters, as well as on the degree of wear on its parts, has been established. An example of tests conducted on an internal combustion engine is provided. A system for cybernetic diagnostics for internal combustion engines by vibroacoustical parameters is diagrammed.

Lukanin, V. N.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Fuel and fuel blend for internal combustion engine

A fuel or fuel blending agent for an internal combustion engine includes a ketone compound that is a C 4 to C 10 branched acyclic ketone, cyclopentanone, or a derivative of cyclopentanone. The ketone compound may be blended with a majority portion of a fuel selected from the group consisting of: gasoline, diesel, alcohol fuel, biofuel, renewable fuel, Fischer-Tropsch fuel, or combinations thereof. The ketone compound may be derived from biological sources. A method for powering an internal combustion engine with a fuel comprising the ketone compound is also provided.

Dec, John E.↗
DOE OSTI2023

Fuel and fuel blend for internal combustion engine

A fuel or fuel blending agent for an internal combustion engine includes a ketone compound that is a C 4 to C 10 branched acyclic ketone, cyclopentanone, or a derivative of cyclopentanone. The ketone compound may be blended with a majority portion of a fuel selected from the group consisting of: gasoline, diesel, alcohol fuel, biofuel, renewable fuel, Fischer-Tropsch fuel, or combinations thereof. The ketone compound may be derived from biological sources. A method for powering an internal combustion engine with a fuel comprising the ketone compound is also provided.

Dec, John E.↗
DOE OSTI2023

The Neutronic Engine: A Platform for Operando Neutron Diffraction in Internal Combustion Engines

Neutron diffraction is a powerful tool for noninvasive and nondestructive characterization of materials and can be applied even in large devices such as internal combustion engines thanks to neutrons’ exceptional ability to penetrate many materials. While proof-of-concept experiments have shown the ability to measure spatially and temporally resolved lattice strains in a small aluminum engine on a timescale of minutes over a limited spatial region, extending this capability to timescales on the order of a crank angle degree over the full volume of the combustion chamber requires careful design and optimization of the engine structure to minimize attenuation of the incident and diffracted neutrons to maximize count rates. Here, we present the design of a “neutronic engine,” which is analogous to an optical engine in that the materials and external geometry of a typical automotive engine have been optimized to maximize access of the diagnostic while maintaining the internal combustion chamber geometry and operability of the engine. The high transparency of aluminum to neutrons makes it the ideal window material for neutron diagnostics, which allows the neutronic engine to be a truly all-metal engine with the same load and boundary condition capabilities of a modern downsized passenger car engine. The neutronic engine will enable 3D and time-resolved measurements of strain, stress, and temperature fields as well as phase transformation, texture, and microstructure throughout the metal components of the combustion chamber.

Wissink, Martin↗
NASA NTRS1917

Thermodynamic efficiency of present types of internal combustion engines for aircraft

Report presents requirements of internal combustion engines suitable for aircraft. Topics include: (1) service requirements for aeronautic engines - power versus weight, reliability, and adaptability factors, (2) general characteristics of present aero engines, (3) aero engine processes and functions of parts versus power-weight ratio, reliability, and adaptability factors, and (4) general arrangement, form, proportions, and materials of aero parts - power-weight ratio, reliability, and adaptability.

Lucke, Charles E↗
NASA NTRS1924

Fatigue of internal combustion engines

The above conditions enable the employment of a criterion of general fatigue which simultaneously takes account of both mechanical and thermal conditions, for the sake of comparing any projected engine with engines of the same type already in use.

ENGINES, INTERNAL COMBUSTION↗
NASA NTRS1970

Thermodynamics of the internal combustion engine

The ubiquitous automobile has played both the role of hero and villain during the course of its history. At the present time it is being cast as the villain with increasing frequency because it has been indicted as a major source of air pollution. It is just this characterization that is responsible for our renewed interest in the automobile. When we speak of the automobile as a source of air pollution, we really mean the heart of the automobile, the internal combustion engine. The prototype of the modern internal combustion engine was first successfully operated by Nicholas August Otto in 1876. In spite of its long history, the internal combustion engine is still poorly understood in terms of the details of the physical processes that take place during its operations. The internal combustion engine operates on what is known as the Otto cycle, and Otto cycle calculations have been with us for many years. The emphasis in earlier calculations was usually on the performance rather than on the pollution aspects. Performance characteristics can often be estimated reasonably accurately even with a considerable degree of simplification. We are interested in the pollution aspects of the internal combustion engine, and therefore the calculations must be performed with more care. Our extensive experience with equilibrium calculations places us in a position to carry out such careful calculations. We have just recently begun such an analysis, and its objective is the prediction of exhaust gas properties. I will describe our progress by first reviewing the Otto cycle, and then I will illustrate the effect of various assumptions on the calculated results.

Frank J. Zeleznik↗
NASA NTRS1975

Experimental results with hydrogen fueled internal combustion engines

The paper focuses on the most important experimental findings for hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engines, with particular reference to the application of these findings to the assessment of the potential of hydrogen engines. Emphasis is on the various tradeoffs that can be made, such as between maximum efficiency, maximum power, and minimum NO emissions. The various possibilities for induction and ignition are described. Some projections are made about areas in which hydrogen engines may find their initial application and about optimum ways to design such engines. It is shown that hydrogen-fueled reciprocal internal combustion engines offer important advantages with respect to thermal efficiency and exhaust emissions. Problems arising from preignition can suitably be avoided by restricting the fuel-air equivalence ratio to values below about 0.5. The direct cylinder injection appears to be a very attractive way to operate the engine, because it combines a wide range of possible power outputs with a high thermal efficiency and very low NO emissions at part loads.

De Boer, P. C. T.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Design, calibration and error analysis of instrumentation for heat transfer measurements in internal combustion engines

The paper reports the methodology and uncertainty analyses of instrumentation for heat transfer measurements in internal combustion engines. Results are presented for determining the local wall heat flux in an internal combustion engine (using a surface thermocouple-type heat flux gage) and the apparent flame-temperature and soot volume fraction path length product in a diesel engine (using two-color pyrometry). It is shown that a surface thermocouple heat transfer gage suitably constructed and calibrated will have an accuracy of 5 to 10 percent. It is also shown that, when applying two-color pyrometry to measure the apparent flame temperature and soot volume fraction-path length, it is important to choose at least one of the two wavelengths to lie in the range of 1.3 to 2.3 micrometers. Carefully calibrated two-color pyrometer can ensure that random errors in the apparent flame temperature and in the soot volume fraction path length will remain small (within about 1 percent and 10-percent, respectively).

Ferguson, C. R.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Predicting U.S. federal fleet electric vehicle charging patterns using internal combustion engine vehicle fueling transaction statistics

Utilizing fueling transactions from internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs), the authors estimated how frequently midday public charging would be required for U.S. federal fleet battery electric vehicles (BEVs). Fueling transaction summary statistics are more widely available than trip-level telematics data, making this methodology more accessible and transferable to other researchers and fleet managers considering BEV replacements. For example, readers can easily apply a linear model using only the count of back-to-back fueling events at gas stations over 57 straight-line miles apart to predict days exceeding range. This linear regression predicted binned days exceeding 250 miles at 80% accuracy on a hold-out test set from the same fleet as the training data and 66 % accuracy on a new fleet displaying different driving behaviors. The authors additionally provide linear equations for days exceeding 200 and 300 miles as alternative range estimates to account for differences in BEV range and temperature impacts. Beyond the single-feature linear models which readers can apply, the authors tuned and trained other machine learning models on a variety of fueling transaction statistics including consecutive transaction distances, transaction distance from garage, estimated miles traveled from fuel economy and fuel quantity, and transaction periodicity. Utilizing a subset of 1678 light-duty federal fleet vehicles which contained daily vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in addition to fueling statistics, the authors determined which fueling transaction statistics were most relevant in predicting driving days exceeding 250 miles (an approximation of BEV rated driving range). In support of the U.S. federal fleet transition to zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs), the authors used these statistics and machine learning models to predict the frequency of BEV midday charging. After training models on the subset with VMT, the authors predicted days exceeding rated range for 112,902 light-duty vehicles operating in similar circumstances in the federal fleet using a Support Vector Regressor (SVR). In conclusion, they then used the projections as part of the ZEV Planning and Charging (ZPAC) tool to identify optimal candidates for BEVs for the federal fleet. An anonymized version of ZPAC is included in the supplementary materials.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Investigating the Origins of Cyclic Variability in Internal Combustion Engines Using Wall-Resolved Large Eddy Simulations

Modern internal combustion engines (ICE) operate at the ragged edge of stable operation characterized by high cycle-to-cycle variations (CCV). A key scientific challenge for ICE is the understanding, modeling, and control of CCV in engine performance, which can contribute to partial burns, misfire, and knock. The objective of this study is to use high-fidelity numerical simulations to improve the understanding of the causes of CCV. Nek5000, a leading high-order spectral element, open source code, is used to simulate the turbulent flow in the engine combustion chamber. Multicycle, wall-resolved large-eddy simulations (LESs) are performed for the General Motors (GM), Transparent Combustion Chamber (TCC-III) optical engine under motored operating conditions. The mean and root-mean-square (rms) of the in-cylinder flow fields at various piston positions are validated using particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements during the intake and compression strokes. The large-scale flow structures, including the swirl and tumble flow patterns, are analyzed in detail and the causes for cyclic variabilities in these flow features are explained. The energy distribution across the different scales of the flow are quantified using one-dimensional (1D) energy spectra, and the effect of the tumble breakdown process on the energy distribution is examined. Finally, the insights from this study can help us develop improved engine designs with reduced cyclic variabilities in the in-cylinder flow leading to enhanced engine performance.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
NASA NTRS1978

Plasma igniter for internal-combustion engines

Hot ionized gas (plasma) ignites air/fuel mixture in internal combustion engines more effectively than spark. Electromagnetic forces propel plasma into combustion zone. Combustion rate is not limited by flame-front speed.

Breshears, R. R.↗