Effect of the Preheating Strategy on the Combustion Process of the Intake Manifold Burner

The intake air preheating is an effective method to improve the cold start performance of diesel engines. The combustion process and ignition probability were investigated in the present study. The average flame area (AFA) during the steady stage of the combustion process was used to evaluate the effects of various factors on combustion. The increase of voltage was found to enhance the combustion process, while the increased diesel flow rate first promoted the combustion before deteriorating it. The increased intake air flow velocity enhanced the combustion within 2.64 m/s, and excessive air flow velocity hindered the combustion from 2.7 to 3 m/s. The cross-distributed vortex clusters in the combustion chamber, periodic diesel evaporation and vortexes with opposite rotation directions in the vicinity of the intake manifold burner were believed to be the main reasons for flame stripping and swirl motion. The temperature rise in the exhaust pipe was recorded to investigate the thermal distribution. The warm air was concentrated in the upper region because of the buoyancy effect of the flame. With the air flow velocity increasing from 1.4 to 10 m/s, the average temperature rise increased first before decreasing, while the combustion efficiency increased due to the increased air flow volume.