Reduction of nitric oxide emission from a Si engine by water injection at the intake runner

The effects of pulsed water injection at the intake port of a modern port fuel injenction gasoline engine were investigated. A port water injenction system was developed and the water injector was installed on the intake runner of the single cylinder motorcycle engine at a location upstream of the fuel injector. The results show that with a watergasoline injection ratio of 1, more than 80% of NOx emission can be removed. The trade-off was a 25% reduction in torque output a 4000 rpm and 20% throttle opening; however, the decrease on torque can be controlled to be within 5% by reducing water-gasoline mass ratios to less than 0.6. We also performed NOx emission modeling using one-dimensional gas dynamics code with extended Zeldovich mechanism, and cosistent results were found between numerical prediction and experimental measurements. The port water injection approach appears to be an effective means for reducing NOx emission from a gasoline engine at low speed and high load conditions without largely sacrificing the performances on torque output and unburned hydrocarbon emissions.