A STUDY ON PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT OF SPARK IGNITION ENGINE FUELED WITH ETHANOLAT COLD CONDITION

Abstract

Bio-ethanol fuel has been used widely in spark ignition engines because it
owns similar properties as gasoline fuel. Ethanol fuel is characterized by higher heat
of vaporization value in comparison with conventional gasoline fuel, 840kJ/kg for
ethanol and 270kJ/kg for gasoline. As a result, when using pure ethanol as fuel for
engines, these properties contribute to the lower temperature of intake mixture
then effect engine operating, especially at cold starting and low embient
temperature condition. In addition, low temperature of mixture will contribute to
an affect onthe stability ofidling condition. In oder to improve the performance of
the engine fueled with pure ethanol at cold starting and low ambient temperature
condition, an electric heating system had been designed for a port fuel injection
engine. The studyresults show that, with the heating system, the test engine could
be started easily at cold start and low embient temperature conditons. In addition,
cold idling speed of the test engine is more stable than that of the original engine.