The Investigation into the Tribological Impact of Alternative Fuels on Engines Based on Acoustic Emission

Nasha Wei, Zhi Chen, Yuandong Xu, Fengshou Gu and Andrew Ball
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Nasha Wei: School of Mchanical Engineering, Taiyuan University of Science and Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China
Zhi Chen: School of Mchanical Engineering, Taiyuan University of Science and Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China
Yuandong Xu: Dynamics Group, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK
Fengshou Gu: Centre for Efficiency and Performance Engineering, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield HD1 3DH, UK
Andrew Ball: Centre for Efficiency and Performance Engineering, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield HD1 3DH, UK

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 8, 1-20

Abstract: The wide use of different alternative fuels (AL) has led to challenges to the internal combustion (IC) engine tribology. To avoid any unpredicted damages to lubrication joints by using AL fuels, this study aims to accurately evaluate the influences of alternative fuels on the tribological behavior of IC engines. Recent achievements of the acoustic emission (AE) mechanism in sliding friction provide an opportunity to explain the tribological AE responses on engines. The asperity–asperity–collision (AAC) and fluid–asperity–shearing (FAS) mechanisms were applied to explain the AE responses from the piston ring and cylinder liner system. A new adaptive threshold–wavelet packets transform (WPT) method was developed to extract tribological AE features. Experimental tests were conducted by fueling three fuels: pure diesel (PD), biodiesel (BD), and Fischer–Tropsch (F–T) diesel. The FAS–AE indicators of biodiesel and F–T diesel show a tiny difference compared to the baseline diesel using two types of lubricants. Biodiesel produces more AAC impacts with higher AAC–AE responses than F–T diesel, which occurs at high speeds due to high temperatures and more particles after combustion than diesel. This new algorithm demonstrated the high performance of using AE signals in monitoring the tribological impacts of alternative fuels on engines.

Keywords: alternative fuel; acoustic emission; wavelet packets transform; tribological impacts; asperity–asperity collision; fluid-asperities shearing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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