Vikram Chauhan
Independent Researcher
India
Abstract
This study employs the Taguchi method to optimize critical fuel injection parameters in Compression Ignition (CI) engines, focusing on enhancing performance and reducing emissions. Four factors—fuel injection pressure (180, 200, 220 MPa), injection timing (19°, 21°, 23° CA bTDC), nozzle orifice diameter (0.20, 0.24, 0.28 mm), and injection pattern (single, pilot+main, double)—were examined at three levels each using an L₉ orthogonal array. Key performance metrics included brake thermal efficiency (BTE), brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC), and regulated emissions (NOₓ, CO, HC). Signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio analysis and ANOVA were conducted to identify the most influential parameters and their optimal settings. Results indicate that the combination of 220 MPa pressure, 23° bTDC timing, 0.24 mm nozzle, and pilot+main injection yields the highest BTE (39.5%), lowest BSFC (0.230 kg/kWh), and significant reductions in NOₓ (12%), CO (15%), and HC (18%) compared to baseline. Injection timing emerged as the dominant factor, contributing 42.3% to performance variability. The optimized configuration was validated experimentally, confirming the robustness of the Taguchi approach for CI engine fuel injection optimization.
Keywords
Optimization, Taguchi method, CI engine, fuel injection, orthogonal array
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