INCREASING GAS ENGINE EFFICIENCY WORLD ENERGY ENGINEERING CONGRESS ATLANTA 2000

摘要

In the course of time, the degrees of efficiency have developed from the moderate values of the first serially produced gas engines to values well over 40%. Particularly noteworthy are the excellent NO_x emissions that are only one tenth of those of diesel engines. Furthermore, depending on the concept of combustion, the particle emissions of the gas engine are at the limit of detection. The developmental steps taken to achieve the presently possible degrees of efficiency of modern gas engines are based on the knowledge of physical gas properties as well as on the principles of thermodynamics. For the future, additional potentials for improvement of the efficiency of gas engines can be seen that will trigger further technological development above and beyond the appeal expressed by the ARES program of the DOE. Innovative concepts for the further improvement of gas engine efficiency will be applied in addition to the possibilities of controlled "spontaneous reaction". In this regard, particular importance could well be placed on an approach aimed at processing the various qualities of gas through the synthesizing of the gas to a mixture of H_2, CO and CH_4 (syn gas), because this would practically allow standardizing of the knock resistance of the gas. At the same time, leaner combustion (lower NO_x emissions) is therefore also possible. Another feasible way to solve the problem of improving knock resistance is through the admixture of knock inhibitors. The developmental advances of the next few years will certainly improve the degree of efficiency -only the nominal value is presently still unknown.