Applied Thermal Engineering 109 (2016) 196–206

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Applied Thermal Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng

Research Paper

Experimental investigation about effect of glow intensity on combustion

characteristics for a micro IC engine with platinum wire glow-ignition
Li Zhang ⇑, Xiaorong Zeng, Huichao Shang, Zhigang Tang, Yangtao Geng, Jinlin Han
College of Automotive Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, PR China

h i g h l i g h t s g r a p h i c a l a b s t r a c t

 Enhancing glow intensity to get 0.3 80

Combustion duration (°CA)

0A 4A 0A
0.2 4A
better in-cylinder micro combustion
pmi (MPa)

60
0.1

was proposed. 0
Normal combustion
40

-0.1
 A miniature IC engine of 0.99 cc 0 30 60 90 120
20
Normal combustion
Cycle number
displacement was modified, 0.6
0A 4A Abnormal combustion
0
-40 -15 10 35 60
0.4 CA05 (°CA)
pmi (MPa)

reassembled and tested. 0.2

Combustion duration (°CA) 80
0A

 Increasing glow intensity has no 0 60

4A

-0.2
remarkable improvement for normal 0 30 60
Cycle number
90 120 40

combustion. 20
Abnormal combustion
IC engine/Displacement 0.99 cc
 Enhancing glow intensity contributes Glow strength of the platinum wire
0
-40 -15 10 35 60
CA05 (°CA)
to abating misfiring for abnormal Glow plug

combustion.
 Electrical heating glow-ignition is an
Pressure sensor/KISTLER 6052A1U20 0A 1.6A 2.5A 3.2A
underlying way for meso-scale IC
engines.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Combustion efficiency and combustion stability in micro space are the key constraints to scale down the
Received 16 June 2016 structure of the miniature internal combustion engines from small-scale to meso-scale. For the glow-
Revised 8 August 2016 ignition combustion mode of the miniature internal combustion engines, enhancing the glow intensity
Accepted 10 August 2016
of platinum wire by additional electrical heating to get better combustion characteristics was proposed.
Available online 10 August 2016
An experimental platform for combustion test was set up, and glow-ignition combustion characteristics
of a miniature internal combustion engine with displacement of 0.99 cc were diagnosed. It is indicated
Keywords:
that improvement of in-cylinder combustion characteristics due to enhancing the glow intensity is not
Micro space combustion
Glow-ignition
obvious under normal combustion condition; instead, with the increasing of the glow intensity, cyclic
Combustion characteristics variations as well as misfiring phenomenon have a tendency of deterioration. However, under severe par-
Miniature internal combustion engine tial burning and misfiring conditions, enhancing the glow intensity can remarkably decrease the high rate
Combustion stability of misfiring, get better combustion stability and broaden the limiting combustion regime, showing a real
effect at least partly to advance the starting time of combustion and shorten the combustion duration.
Electrical heating glow-ignition combustion can be considered as one of underlying approaches to extend
the limit of combustion stability for prospective meso-scale internal combustion engines.
Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

Due to super energy density that micro heat engines using

liquid hydrocarbon fuel can provide, the micro heat engines show
the huge competitive advantage over the existing LiSO2 battery
⇑ Corresponding author.
system, and possess significant application prospect and research
E-mail address: zhangli20@cqu.edu.cn (L. Zhang).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2016.08.059
1359-4311/Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 L. Zhang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 109 (2016) 196–206 197

value [1–6]. Nowadays, a miniature internal combustion engine
(referred to as miniature IC engine) using alcohol-based blend fuel
has been successfully developed to 5 mm  5 mm size (cylinder
bore 5 mm and stroke 5 mm). However, micro space combustion
efficiency and combustion stability are still the key constraints to
scale down its structure further into meso-scale [7–12].
Constrained by the micro space structure, spark ignition cannot
be applied to the miniature IC engines so that combustion mode of
platinum wire glow-ignition has to be organized. However, the
glow-ignition combustion tends to be high cyclic variation, slow
heat-release rate, frequent partial burning and misfiring [13–15].
As the combustion space continues to be scaled down to the objec-
tive of 1 mm  1 mm size (cylinder bore 1 mm and stroke 1 mm),
phenomena of partial burning and misfiring should become more
prominent. For further scaling down the structure of the miniature
IC engine from small-scale to meso-scale, enhancing the glow
intensity of platinum wire to get better in-cylinder combustion
characteristics was put forward.
In order to understand the effect of enhancing the glow inten-
sity on micro combustion characteristics, an experimental plat-
form of combustion diagnosis was set up. As a tested prototype,
a two stroke miniature IC engine with platinum wire glow-
ignition was structurally modified and reassembled for installation
of pressure sensor. Displacement of the miniature IC engine is
0.99 cc, which is the minimum displacement IC engine that has
been used for in-cylinder micro combustion test so far [13–15].
During the test, the platinum wire was additionally electrically
heated by switching on DC current with different intensity to real-
ize the adjustment of the glow intensity. The in-cylinder combus-
tion characteristics of the miniature IC engine under different glow
intensity conditions were investigated, and the actual beneficial
effects of the electrical heating for platinum wire on the micro
combustion were evaluated and discussed.
2. Test and evaluation of self-sustained glow-ignition
combustion
2.1. Experiment set up
A miniature engine test bench is made up of driving system,
load absorption system, data acquisition system. As shown in
Fig. 1, a motor (4), a hysteresis brake (5) and a miniature IC engine
(1) are installed in series on a base plate (6) by coupling (2) and
coupling (3). The motor (4), as a driving unit, drives the rotary parts
of the test bench to be rotated at a designated speed. The hysteresis
brake (5), as a torque-balance device, balances the output torque of
the miniature IC engine (1) and the driving torque of the motor (4).
The brake power of the hysteresis brake (5) can be measured under
the condition of assembling the fired miniature IC engine (1), and
then compared with the brake power which be measured under
the condition of disassembling the miniature IC engine (maintain-
ing the motor in same operating state). Difference of the brake
power between the two operating state conditions is equal to the
output power of the miniature IC engine (1).
The miniature IC engine (1) is a two-stroke, single cylinder,
crankcase-scavenging, air-cooled, reciprocating engine with the
following dimensions: bore 11.25 mm, stroke 10 mm, and geomet-
ric compression ratio of 8, which is the minimum displacement IC
engine that has been used in-cylinder combustion test among
international literatures so far [13–15]. A special cylinder head
(16) for the miniature IC engine (1) was redesigned, fabricated
and reassembled for installation of pressure sensor. A carburetor
(17) is used to control the fuel flow into the engine induction sys-
tem and provide methanol-castor oil-nitromethane blend fuel (vol-
ume coefficient for each ingredient is 67%, 18% and 15%
respectively). In the blend fuel, castor oil added into the mixture
fuel is used to ensure the lubrication of the moving components.
Moreover, a platinum wire glow plug (18) installed on the special
cylinder head (16) is used to ignite the premixed fuel-air mixture.
The platinum wire in the glow plug (18) has a diameter of 0.3 mm
and an effective length of 3 mm. Under normal combustion condi-
tion, glow condition of the platinum wire is self-sustained by the
released heat of in-cylinder combustion.
In the test bench, the motor (4) is a GRZ1500 type high-speed
driving motor, matched with E300-2S0015 type frequency con-
verter (9) whose output frequency can be adjusted from 0 Hz to
600 Hz. The AHB-202 type hysteresis brake (5) has a good linear
relationship between its controlling current and output torque,
its maximum continuous brake power under the forced cooling
condition is about 200 W. WYJ-30-30 is an adjustable DC regulated
power supply (11), which is used to control the input current of the
hysteresis brake (5) to achieve the adjustment of brake torque. The
test bench is also equipped with an optical speedometer (7), a
K-type thermocouple (15) and a micro flow meter (8) to measure
running parameters of the miniature IC engine (1) such as cylinder
head temperature, engine speed and intake air mass flow.
Weighing equipment (10) is also adopted to measure the fuel con-
sumption of the miniature IC engine (1). Both the air mass flow

5 3
6 2 11

17
1 16
7 10 12 18
8

13 14 15
9

1—Miniature engine; 2/3—Coupling; 4—Motor; 5—Hysteresis brake; 6—Base plate; 7— Optical

speedometer; 8—Micro flow meter; 9—Frequency converter; 10—Weighing equipment; 11—DC
regulated power supply; 12—Marker disk 365X360; 13—Pulse-pick-up 365X01; 14—Pressure
sensor; 15—K-type thermocouple; 16—Special cylinder head; 17—Carburetor; 18—Glow plug

Fig. 1. Schematic of the miniature engine test bench.

198 L. Zhang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 109 (2016) 196–206
rate and the fuel mass flow rate are used to calculate the fuel/air
equivalence ratio, which is one of the important indicators for
defining engine operating condition.
As shown in Fig. 1, a pressure sensor (14) and a crank angle sen-
sor are installed on the test bench to carry out combustion diagno-
sis of the tested miniature IC engine (1). The pressure sensor (14) is
KISTLER 6052A1U20 type high temperature pressure sensor with
M5X0.5 thread for installation, which is integrated with the mod-
ified cylinder head as shown in Fig. 2. The crank angle sensor is AVL
angle encoder 365  360 which is made up of a marker disk
365X360 (12), a pulse-pick-up 365X01 (13), a pick-up-electronic,
a pulse multiplier and a power supply device. The data acquisition
system of DEWETRON-2010-CA-PROF was utilized for signals sam-
pling and analyzing. Combustion parameters as well as their statis-
tical characteristics can be calculated in real time by the
DEWESOFT combustion analysis package which uses a well-
established thermodynamic methodology for cylinder pressure
data analysis and combustion process characterization [16].
Combustion diagnosis of the miniature IC engine was carried
out under full load condition at 6000 r/min engine speed with a
fuel/air equivalence ratio about 1.45. During the test, signal sam-
pling resolution is setting up to 0.2°CA. Each test action continu-
ously samples hundreds of thermodynamic cycles, average value
of the test cycles is also used to calculate the combustion charac-
teristic parameters for the test action.
2.2. Combustion characteristics of self-sustained glow-ignition
Fig. 3 shows the curves of indicated mean effective pressure
(pmi) and peak combustion pressure (pmax) for the individual-
cycles of the continuously sampled 120 test cycles. Compared with
the conventional spark-ignition engines, the miniature IC engine
with platinum wire glow-ignition has higher cyclic variation, the
coefficient of variation in pmi is 19.2% and the coefficient of varia-
tion in pmax reaches up to 21.7%. As shown in Fig. 3a, data of pmi for
the miniature IC engine are all at low level, whose average value is
just 0.171 MPa. Meanwhile, partial burning and misfiring phe-
nomenon can be observed among the continuously sampled 120
test cycles, a few of individual-cycles for which pmi is significantly
less than the average value of the continuously sampled 120 test
cycles can be found. In Fig. 3b, data of pmax for the miniature IC
engine are also located at low level, whose average value is only
about 0.85 MPa and the maximum is just as high as 1.28 MPa.
Fig. 4 shows the crank angle corresponding with the burned
mass fraction of 5% (CA05) and combustion duration (interval
Pressure sensor
Glow plug
M5X0.5
M14X1.5
Cylinder head
Front view
Fig. 2. Schematic drawing of the cylinder head integrated with the pressure sensor.
between CA05 and CA90, CA90 indicates the crank angle corre-
sponding with the burned mass fraction of 90%) for the
individual-cycles of the continuously sampled 120 test cycles. It
can be seen from Fig. 4a that the starting time of combustion
(CA05) for the miniature IC engine varies greatly, whose distribu-
tion is from 10°CA BTDC to 15°CA ATDC. Unstable start of combus-
tion results in the increasing of combustion variations. The high
variation of CA05 influences the variation of combustion duration,
so that the variation of CA05 can be considered as the main reason
for the significant increasing of combustion variations. Fig. 4b illus-
trates that the combustion duration for the miniature IC engine is
longer than that for conventional engines (about 30°CA) and the
average value for the continuously sampled 120 test cycles even
reaches to 44.3°CA.
Choosing four characteristic individual-cycles whose values of
pmi are respectively maximum, minimum, higher (being chosen
randomly) and lower (being chosen randomly) among the contin-
uously sampled 120 cycles. The four individual-cycles are respec-
tively marked as ‘cycle 1’, ‘cycle 2’, ‘cycle 3’ and ‘cycle 4’, as
shown in Figs. 3 and 4. Fig. 5 shows the combustion pressure
curves and the heat release rate curves for the four individual-
cycles. It can be seen that both combustion pressure and transient
rate of heat release have obvious correlation with pmi. In other
words, individual-cycle with higher pmi has higher peak combus-
tion pressure, more advancing CA05, faster heat release rate, and
meanwhile whose crank angle of the highest transient heat release
rate is closer to the top dead center (TDC).
For ‘cycle 1’ which has the maximum pmi among the continu-
ously sampled 120 cycles, the peak combustion pressure reaches
up to 1.24 MPa and its corresponding crank angle is 14.4°CA ATDC;
the highest rate of heat release is about 0.018 J/°CA, and its corre-
sponding crank angle is 4.8°CA ATDC. For ‘cycle 2’ which has the
minimum pmi among the continuously sampled 120 cycles, com-
bustion pressure is at very low level, the peak combustion pressure
is only about 0.61 MPa and its corresponding crank angle is 0.2°CA
BTDC; the highest rate of heat release is about 0.0059 J/°CA and its
corresponding crank angle is 38.2°CA ATDC; these characteristics
indicate the individual-cycle to be a typical partial burning cycle.
It also can be seen from the comparison of ‘cycle 1’, ‘cycle 2’, ‘cycle
3’ and ‘cycle 4’ that poor performance individual-cycle usually has
slower rate of heat release, later start of combustion, and
longer heat release duration. Therefore, advancing the ignition
time and increasing the rate of heat release are the essential direc-
tions to improve combustion performance of the miniature IC
engines.
7
M6X0.75 Ф6.1
9
Sealing face
3
Ф3
R0.2
Left view Detail view of sensor mounting
 L. Zhang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 109 (2016) 196–206 199

0.28 1.6
1
1
3
0.21 1.2

pmax (MPa)a
3

pmi (MPa)
0.14 0.8
4
0.07 0.4 4 2
2
0 0
0 30 60 90 120 0 30 60 90 120
Cycle number Cycle number
(a) pmi (b) pmax
Fig. 3. pmi and pmax for the continuously sampled 120 test cycles.

Combustion duration (°CA)

45 70
2
4
30 4 2 55
CA05 (°CA)

15 40

3
0 3 25
1
1
-15 10
0 30 60 90 120 0 30 60 90 120
Cycle number Cycle number
(a) CA05 (b) Combustion duration
Fig. 4. CA05 and combustion duration for the continuously sampled 120 test cycles.
Combustion pressure (MPa)

Rate of heat release (J/°CA)

1.5 0.025
1
0.02 1
1 3 3
0.015
4
0.01
0.5 4
0.005 2
2
0 0
-90 -45 0 45 90 135 -90 -45 0 45 90 135
Crank angle (°CA) Crank angle (°CA)
(a) Combustion pressure (b) Rate of heat release
Fig. 5. Combustion pressure and heat release rate of the four characteristic individual-cycles.

3. Combustion characteristics of strengthened glow-ignition inum wire in the glow plug should be increased as shown in
Fig. 6. In order to investigate the effect of glow intensity on micro
The platinum wire maintains its glow state by the heat released combustion characteristics of the platinum wire glow-ignition,
from in-cylinder combustion under normal operating condition for glow intensity was adjusted by switching on currents to the plat-
the miniature IC engine. The glow-ignition time of the miniature IC inum wire with different current intensity, and combustion diag-
engine cannot be electronically controlled as the conventional nosis was simultaneously carried out. During the test, the current
spark-ignition engines do. However, possible adjustment for intensity switched on to the platinum wire was set as 0 A, 1.6 A,
glow-ignition is changing glow intensity of the platinum wire. 2.5 A and 3.2 A respectively, other test operating conditions are
When DC current to the platinum wire is switched on, the plat- set as the same as that in Section 2.
inum wire should be electrically heated. With the increasing of Fig. 7 shows the data band of pmi for the individual-cycles of the
the current intensity, temperature and glow intensity of the plat- continuously sampled 600 cycles under the conditions of
200 L. Zhang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 109 (2016) 196–206

(a) Platinum wire (b) Platinum wire (c) Platinum wire (d) Platinum wire
with 0A current with 1.6A current with 2.5A current with 3.2A current
Fig. 6. Glow intensity of the platinum wire with the different inputted current intensity.

0.28
p mi (MPa)

0.21
0.14
0.07
0
0 150 300 450 600
Cycle number
(a) 0A current

0.28
p mi (MPa)

0.21
0.14
0.07
0
0 150 300 450 600
Cycle number
(b) 1.6A current

0.28
p mi (MPa)

0.21
0.14
0.07
0
0 150 300 450 600
Cycle number
(c) 2.5A current

0.28
p mi (MPa)

0.21
0.14
0.07
0
0 150 300 450 600
Cycle number
(d) 3.2A current
Fig. 7. pmi for the continuously sampled 600 cycles when switching on current to the platinum wire.

respectively switching on 0 A current (no current), 1.6 A current, coefficients of variation in pmi are 19.4% for no current switched
2.5 A current and 3.2 A current to the platinum wire. It can be seen on, 18.2% for 1.6 A current, 40.0% for 2.5 A current, 45.0% for
form Fig. 7 that with the increasing of the current intensity, cyclic 3.2 A current respectively. At the same time, with the increasing
variation in pmi becomes more and more severe. Specifically, the of the current intensity, pmi which is calculated from the tested
 L. Zhang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 109 (2016) 196–206
in-cylinder pressure-volume diagram decreases gradually. For
example, the average value of pmi decreased to 0.132 MPa when
the current intensity is increased to 3.2 A, the descent rate of pmi
exceeds 30% compared with that when no current is switched on.
As shown in Fig. 7, with the increasing of the current intensity,
the number of partial burning cycles and misfiring cycles increases
gradually, especially for the situation when the current intensity is
increased to 2.5 A and 3.2 A. When the current intensity is
increased to 2.5 A, there are many individual-cycles whose values
of pmi are almost close to zero, this indicates severe misfiring that
the in-cylinder air-fuel mixture is essentially not ignited. When the
current intensity is increased to 3.2 A, the proportion of partial
burning or misfiring cycles continue to increases, more misfiring
individual-cycles whose values of pmi are almost close to zero
can be found. Fig. 7 intuitively illustrates that combustion stability
of the glow-ignition gets more and more damaging as the current
intensity is increased gradually from 0 A to 3.2 A. In contrast to the
situation envisaged, strengthening the glow-ignition of platinum
wire goes against improving the combustion stability of the
glow-ignition combustion mode.
Another indicator usually used to evaluate combustion stability
is the coefficient of variation in pmax. Data of pmax for the
individual-cycles of the continuously sampled 600 test cycles on
the condition of switching on the current to the platinum wire
are shown in Fig. 8. With the increasing of the current intensity,
variation tendency for pmax is similar to that for pmi. The cyclic vari-
ation for pmax gets more severe with the increasing of the current
intensity. Specifically, the coefficients of variation in pmax are
22.7% for no current switched on, 23.3% for 1.6 A current, 27.4%
for 2.5 A current, 28.9% for 3.2 A current respectively, indicating
the serious cycle-by-cycle variation in combustion when strength-
ening the glow-ignition of platinum wire. Due to partial burning
and misfiring, more data points of pmax are scattered around the
bottom of the data band when the current intensity is increased
to 2.5 A and 3.2 A.
CA50 is defined as the crank angle corresponding with the
burned mass fraction of 50%, which can be used to denote the com-
bustion timing. Data of CA50 for the individual-cycles of the con-
tinuously sampled 600 test cycles on the condition of switching
on the current to the platinum wire are shown in Fig. 9. It is shown
that with the increasing of the current intensity, data band of CA50
delays slightly and becomes more dispersive. There is no obvious
evidence that indicates the advancing of combustion timing when
strengthening the glow-ignition of platinum wire. With the
increasing of the current intensity, the number of individual-
cycles in which CA50 is closer to the top dead center increases. This
phenomenon is due to the fact that there are an increasing number
of partial burning cycles and misfiring cycles.
Fig. 10 illustrates the relationship between CA05 and pmi under
different glow intensity of the platinum wire. When DC current is
not switched on, CA05 and pmi are almost linear correlation,
individual-cycles with earlier starting time of combustion usually
can obtain higher value of pmi. The figure indicates that when
switching on the current to the platinum wire, a small amount of
individual-cycles for which CA05 is advanced to a certain degree
earlier than 15°CA BTDC can be observed. On the other hand, with
the increase of the current intensity, data band of pmi-CA05
becomes more dispersive, especially the number of individual-
cycles in which CA05 is later than 20°CA ATDC increases obviously.
This in turn leads to intensifying of cyclic variation in combustion.
For example, when the current intensity is increased to 2.5 A and
3.2 A, there are more individual-cycles in which CA05 is later than
20°CA ATDC, and more serious misfiring phenomenon could be
noticed.
Fig. 11 illustrates the relationship between CA05 and combus-
tion duration under different glow intensity of the platinum wire.
201
As it can be seen from the figure, with the increasing of the current
intensity, data band of combustion duration-CA05 is broadened,
but variation range of combustion duration is only changed a little,
indicating the weaker correlation with glow intensity. Although
there is slight advancing of about 2–3°CA for CA05 on the average,
combustion duration does not be shortened obviously as the situ-
ation envisaged, instead it extends about 2–4°CA on the whole. The
phenomenon reveals that increasing of the glow intensity has an
inexplicable impact on flame-propagation process of the in-
cylinder combustion. However, when the current intensity is
increased to 2.5 A and 3.2 A, combustion duration for individual-
cycles in which CA05 is later than 20°CA ATDC have a tendency
to be shortened with the delaying of CA05. The main reason for
the phenomenon is that the number of partial burning and misfir-
ing cycles is increased with the undue delaying of CA05.
4. Glow strengthening for limiting misfiring condition
The improving effect of increasing glow intensity of the plat-
inum wire on in-cylinder combustion characteristics is not remark-
ably for normal in-cylinder combustion. However, it is found
fortunately that for abnormal combustion with severe partial
burning or serious misfiring, the increasing of the glow intensity
does improve the combustion stability. Therefore, a limiting com-
bustion condition of misfiring is designed to investigate the phe-
nomenon. Under the limiting combustion condition, the
miniature IC engine can only just maintain the continuously com-
bustion process though in-cylinder combustion is very unstable
due to severe misfiring. Switching on current to the platinum wire,
combustion characteristics in the limiting combustion condition
were investigated and compared with that under a normal com-
bustion condition.
During the test, methanol-castor oil-nitromethane blend fuel,
whose volume coefficient for each ingredient is 75%, 15% and
10%, is used for the normal combustion condition to produce the
air-fuel mixture with a fuel/air equivalence ratio of 1.54. Then, a
very rich air-fuel mixture with a fuel/air equivalence ratio even
reaching the level of 2.29 is specially prepared to generate the lim-
iting combustion condition intentionally. All other test operating
conditions are as the same as that in Section 2.
Fig. 12 shows pmi for the individual-cycles of the continuously
sampled 120 test cycles on the condition of switching on 4 A cur-
rent to the platinum wire. As Fig. 12a shows, under normal com-
bustion condition, when 4 A current is switched on to the
platinum wire, the variation range of pmi increase obviously, the
coefficient of variation in pmi increases from 18% to 25%. However,
as Fig. 12b shows, under limiting combustion condition of misfir-
ing, combustion stability is poor when the self-sustained glow-
ignition is used, and the coefficient of variation in pmi reaches up
to 106%. But when switching on 4 A current, combustion stability
becomes better noticeably, and the coefficient of variation in pmi
declines to about 50%. As shown intuitively in Fig. 12b, the number
of misfiring individual-cycles whose values of pmi are almost close
to zero is obviously reduced.
Fig. 13 illustrates the relationship between CA05 and pmi
respectively under normal combustion condition and limiting
combustion condition of misfiring. Fig. 13a shows that under nor-
mal combustion condition, when 4 A current is switching on to the
platinum wire, CA05 for a few of individual-cycles is advanced
excessively. The unsuitable advancing of CA05 not only ultimately
leads to the decreasing of pmi, but also exerts a negative influence
on combustion process of the next individual-cycle. It can be
observed from test data that when ignition of an individual-cycle
is advanced excessively, the next individual-cycle should be prone
to combustion problems or even misfiring. So that, when switching
202 L. Zhang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 109 (2016) 196–206

p max (MPa)
1.6
1.2
0.8
0.4
0
0 150 300 450 600
Cycle number
(a) 0A current
2
p max (MPa)

1.6
1.2
0.8
0.4
0
0 150 300 450 600
Cycle number
(b) 1.6A current
2
p max (MPa)

1.6
1.2
0.8
0.4
0
0 150 300 450 600
Cycle number
(c) 2.5A current
2
p max (MPa)

1.6
1.2
0.8
0.4
0
0 150 300 450 600
Cycle number
(d) 3.2A current
Fig. 8. pmax for the continuously sampled 600 cycles when switching on current to the platinum wire.

on 4 A current to the platinum wire, data band of pmi-CA05
becomes more scattered, the number of individual-cycles for
which CA05 is later than 20°CA ATDC has a tendency to increase;
pmi is decreased obviously and misfiring is more severe.
As shown in Fig. 13b, under limit combustion condition of mis-
firing, when no current is switched on, starting time of combustion
is significantly later than that under normal combustion condition.
In this case, for most individual-cycles, CA05 is later than 10°CA
ATDC; lots of misfiring individual-cycles for which CA05 is even
delayed to more than 35°CA ATDC can be observed. However,
when 4 A current is switched on, data band of pmi-CA05 under lim-
iting combustion condition of misfiring exhibits the similar distri-
bution with that under normal combustion condition. In this case,
for almost half of individual-cycles, CA05 is earlier than 10°CA
ATDC; the number of individual-cycles for which CA05 is later than
25°CA ATDC is decreased noticeably; misfiring phenomenon and
severe cyclic variation in combustion are abated. It can be seen that
enhancing the glow intensity of the platinum wire remarkably con-
tributes to solving the problem of the high misfiring rate which is
caused by failed ignition, so as to get better combustion stability
and broaden the limiting combustion regime.
Fig. 14 illustrates the relationship between CA05 and combus-
tion duration respectively under normal combustion condition
and limiting combustion condition of misfiring. As shown in
Fig. 14a, under normal combustion conditions, when no current
is switched on, combustion duration is extended linearly with
the delaying of CA05. When 4 A current is switched on,
individual-cycles for which CA05 is advanced to a certain degree
earlier than 15°CA BTDC can be observed. However, for these
individual-cycles, combustion duration is not always shortened
as the advancing of CA05, some individual-cycles for which com-
bustion duration is extended as the advancing of CA05 can be obvi-
ously observed.
As shown in Fig. 14b, under the limiting combustion conditions
of misfiring, there are a lot of partial burning and misfiring cycles
for which CA05 is later than 25°CA ATDC. For these abnormal com-
bustion individual-cycles, combustion duration is shortened as the
delaying of CA05. When 4 A current is switched on, data band of
combustion duration-CA05 has an observable advancing of CA05,
individual-cycles for which CA05 is advanced to a certain degree
earlier than 15°CA BTDC can be observed. Being different from
the situation under normal combustion condition, for these
 L. Zhang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 109 (2016) 196–206 203

70

CA50 (°CA)
50
30
10
-10
0 150 300 450 600
Cycle number
(a) 0A current

70
CA50 (°CA)

50
30
10
-10
0 150 300 450 600
Cycle number
(b) 1.6A current

70
CA50 (°CA)

50
30
10
-10
0 150 300 450 600
Cycle number
(c) 2.5A current

70
CA50 (°CA)

50
30
10
-10
0 150 300 450 600
Cycle number
(d) 3.2A current
Fig. 9. CA50 for the continuously sampled 600 cycles when switching on current to the platinum wire.

individual-cycles, combustion duration is shortened as the advanc-
ing of CA05. It can be seen that enhancing the glow intensity of the
platinum wire has a real effect to advance the starting time of com-
bustion and shorten the combustion duration under the limiting
combustion conditions of misfiring.
5. Conclusion
Constrained by the micro space structure, spark ignition cannot
apply to the miniature IC engines, so that combustion mode of
platinum wire glow-ignition has to be organized. However, the
glow-ignition combustion tends to be high cyclic variation, slow
heat-release rate, frequent partial burning or misfiring. Advancing
the ignition time and increasing the rate of heat release are the
essential directions to improve combustion performance of the
miniature IC engines.
To meet the request of scaling down the miniature IC engine
further, one of the possible approaches is to enhance the glow
intensity of the platinum wire by additional electrical heating.
However, combustion diagnosis under normal combustion condi-
tion indicates that increasing the glow intensity has no remarkable
improvement for in-cylinder combustion characteristics; instead,
cyclic variation rate in combustion and misfiring rate have a ten-
dency to increase. Although slight advancing of CA05 on the aver-
age can be observed in the combustion diagnosis, combustion
duration does not be shortened obviously as the situation envis-
aged. Increasing of the glow intensity has an inexplicable impact
on flame-propagation process of the in-cylinder combustion.
However, it is found fortunately that for abnormal combustion
with severe partial burning or serious misfiring, enhancing the
glow intensity remarkably contributes to solve the problem of high
misfiring rate which is caused by failed ignition, and has a real
effect at least partly to advance the starting time of combustion
and shorten the combustion duration. Therefore, electrical heating
glow-ignition combustion can be considered as one of underlying
approaches to extend the limiting combustion regime especially
for prospective meso-scale IC engines.
204 L. Zhang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 109 (2016) 196–206

0.28 0.28

0.21 0.21

pmi (MPa)
pmi (MPa)
0.14 0.14

0.07 0.07

0 0
-30 -15 0 15 30 -30 -15 0 15 30
CA05/°CA CA05/°CA
(a) 0A current (b) 1.6A current

0.28 0.28

0.21 0.21

pmi (MPa)
pmi (MPa)

0.14 0.14

0.07 0.07

0 0
-30 -15 0 15 30 -30 -15 0 15 30
CA05/°CA CA05/°CA
(c) 2.5A current (d) 3.2A current
Fig. 10. Correlation between pmi and CA05 when switching on current to the platinum wire.
Combustion duration (°CA)

Combustion duration (°CA)

70 70

55 55

40 40

25 25

10 10
-30 -15 0 15 30 -30 -15 0 15 30
CA05/°CA CA05/°CA
(a) 0A current (b) 1.6A current
Combustion duration (°CA)
Combustion duration (°CA)

70 70

55 55

40 40

25 25

10 10
-30 -15 0 15 30 -30 -15 0 15 30
CA05/°CA CA05/°CA
(c) 2.5A current (d) 3.2A current

Fig. 11. Correlation between combustion duration and CA05 when switching on current to the platinum wire.
 L. Zhang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 109 (2016) 196–206 205

0.3
0A 4A

p mi (MPa)
0.2

0.1

-0.1
0 30 60 90 120
Cycle number
(a) Normal combustion condition

0.6
0A 4A
0.4
p mi (MPa)

0.2

-0.2
0 30 60 90 120
Cycle number
(b) Limiting combustion condition of misfiring
Fig. 12. Cyclic variation of pmi under normal combustion condition and limiting combustion of misfiring condition.

0.35 0.35
0A 0A
4A 4A
0.25 0.25
pmi (MPa)

pmi (MPa)

0.15 0.15

0.05 0.05

-0.05 -0.05
-40 -15 10 35 60 -40 -15 10 35 60
CA05/°CA CA05/°CA
(a) Normal combustion condition (b) Limiting combustion condition
of misfiring
Fig. 13. Correlation between pmi and CA05 under normal combustion condition and limiting combustion of misfiring condition.
Combustion duration (°CA)
Combustion duration (°CA)

80 80
0A 0A
4A 4A
60 60

40 40

20 20

0 0
-40 -15 10 35 60 -40 -15 10 35 60
CA05/°CA CA05/°CA
(a) Normal combustion condition (b) Limiting combustion condition
of misfiring
Fig. 14. Correlation between combustion duration and CA05 under normal combustion condition and limiting combustion of misfiring condition.
206 L. Zhang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 109 (2016) 196–206
Acknowledgements
This project is supported by National Natural Science Founda-
tion of China (Grant No. 51175530), and Specialized Research Fund
for Doctoral Program of Higher Education (Grant No. 20130191
110001).
Appendix A. Supplementary material
Supplementary data associated with this article can be found, in
the online version, at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.
2016.08.059.
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