Clean Combustion Engine Laboratory

University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario
What the facility does

The laboratory conducts high efficiency clean combustion engine and hybrid powertrain research.

Areas of expertise

The Clean Diesel Engine Laboratory (CDEL) at the University of Windsor was founded in 2003. Since 2009, the state-of-the-art facilities in CDEL have been further enhanced through CFI-ORF support, resulting in an advanced engine research lab. As the director of CDEL, Dr. Ming Zheng has led his research team in establishing advanced engine research platforms and has engaged in many innovative research projects that target sustainable heat engine development to improve engine combustion efficiency and to reduce pollutant emissions.

Research services

Injector testing, injection strategies, diesel engine combustion control and testing, ignition control, spark energy measurement, fuel spray atomization and visualization, gas sampling and conditioning, intake-exhaust heating-cooling, particulate matter mass analysis, H2 concentration measurement, exhaust gas analysis, hybrid control testing, and biofuel engine testing.

Sectors of application
  • Automotive
  • Clean technology
  • Education
  • Energy
  • Environmental technologies and related services
  • Transportation
Specialized lab Equipment Function

Clean Combustion Engine Lab

 

High-pressure single-cylinder research engine platform : AVL 300 Bar Single Cylinder Engine Used to study extended load under high-pressure and heavy-duty applications
  Optical system for in-cylinder combustion process and thermal imaging: AVL VisioScope with high speed camera and intensifier Used for imaging the fuel delivery and combustion processes inside the cylinder under the full range of engine conditions.
  Fuel conditioning system: Horiba Fuel Conditioning Unit Used to condition fuel temperatures (-20ºC to 95ºC) for accurate fuel consumption measurement, to improve test repeatability.
  Fuel consumption measurement system:  AVL KMA4000 Fuel Consumption Unit Required to precisely measure the fuel flow rate and to calculate the fuel consumption rate during an engine test
  Continuous FTIR multi-gas analyzer: MKS MultiGas 2030 HS Exhaust emission analysis for CO, CO2, NO, NO2, and select hydrocarbons
  Gas-chromatographer, mass spectrometer, and exhaust sampling system Sampling and analysis of hydrocarbon species present in exhaust
  Continuous hydrogen and multi-gas mass spectrometry analyzers: H-Sense and multi-gas mass spectrometers Measurement of hydrogen gas from 100% down to ppm levels without interference of any other gases from the exhaust
  Multi-fuel management system Direct-injection and fuelling of bio-alcohol, and dual fuel system (ethanol-diesel, gasoline-diesel, butanol-diesel, DME/biodiesel)

Spray and Combustion Lab

 

Spray analysis system: Laser Phase Doppler Anemometer Measurement of velocity and diameter of fuel and urea spray droplets.
  Fuel rate-of-injection measurement system: high pressure EFS injector test bench Measurement of high-pressure common-rail injector and fuel delivery dynamics.
  High pressure and high temperature combustion chamber with optical viewing windows A constant volume (3L) up to 150ºC temperature and up to 50 bar pressure vessel for gaseous fuel mixing and ignition research. 
  Optical high pressure combustion bomb with high speed camera system A constant volume (2L) with high pressure up to 200 bar vessel with optical access for liquid fuel spray, mixing, ignition, and injection tests. 
  Optical high-pressure chamber with ignition energy measurement 0.5L constant volume chamber for testing spark plugs and ignition research
  Shlierine Imaging system Schlieren images and shadowgraph images can be taken to observe the phenomena with density change of gas or liquid
Clean Combustion Lab and Control Lab    
Control Lab Embedded control system (In-house developed): Ni-based FPGA and real-time controller Injection and combustion controller, independent control of EGR, back pressure, rail pressure, online heat-release analysis
  In-house engine test managing system Monitor dynamometer and engine tests with engine parameters, sensor information, emission data and CAN communication

Emission analyzer and speciation

 

In-house automated emission analyzers: exhaust gas analyzers for NO/NO2, CO/CO2, O2 and total hydrocarbons Integrated with heated gas sampling system, heated filters, gas conditioning units to analyze emission gases

 

  • Ford Motor Company of Canada
  • Imperial Oil Limited
  • Smart Muffler Corporation
  • National Instruments Canada
  • Navistar Inc.
  • Cummins Inc.