Ugochukwu Akpudo

Ugochukwu Akpudo

eXplainable AI | Research | Engineer

An Investigation For Optimal Water Composition In Emuslified Diesel Fuel Engines

solenoid pumps An injection system is the primary component of a CR diesel (CRD) engine, which comprises the major parts—high-pressure pump (HPP), CR system, fuel injector, and the electronic control unit (ECU). While the injection system is ideally designed to receive pure diesel, the reality is that most diesel fuels contain traces of contaminants which may lead to reduced engine efficiency due to component wear, clogged filters, etc. On another hand, Engine efficiency and reliability are largely determined by fuel composition; however, in recent years, it has become more beneficial to use synthetic fuels rather than traditional petroleum fuels for engines due to volatile fuel prices and strict emission regulations. This has led to increasing interest in emulsion diesel fuels in various configurations to improve fuel quality, reduce emission severity, and reduce costs. As emissions standards are increasingly being enforced, recent developments in the automotive industry aim to increase the power density of mass-produced automotive diesel engines.

The major objectives of the project are:

  • To conduct extensive reviews on the failure modes, effects, and criticality analysis (FMECA) of common rail systems.
  • To reconfigure the design of KIA Sorento 2004 SUV’s fuel injection system to accommodate for emulsified diesel fuels in different compositions.
  • To extract vibrational, thermal, and pressure responses (data) for exploratory analysis, intelligent condition monitoring, and data-driven decision-making.
  • To discover an optimal W/D emulsion composition for commercial four-cylinder in-line diesel engines using a data-driven approach.
  • To evaluate the performance of the employed data-driven approach for validation.
  • To support continued research-based education in the related domains.

After the necessary literature review and procurement of the car specimen and other materials, I and my team first isolated the fuel tank from the low pressure pump and the return valve. We created a custom reservoir where the W/D emulsified diesel fuel would be constantly stirred and from connected the outlet of this custom reservoir to the low pressure pump. For each of EM-x% W/D emulsion compositions, CR pressure signals were digitally collected at varying engine speeds— 900, 1200, 1500, 1700, and 2000 RPMs. The sampling rate was set at 200 Hz and the sensor used was the engine’s rail pressure sensor (Bosch 0 281 002 405) connected to a NI 9228 module (connected to a NI cDAQ 9178 and LabView software) produced by National Instruments CORP. The engine exhaust temperature was also collected via a NI 9214 module at 1 KHz with an RTD thermocouple attached to the exhaust manifold. During data collection for the respective W/D emulsions, the injection system was flushed using the emulsion composition of interest for about an hour before the signals of interest are collected.

Grants

  • Grand Information Technology Research support (IITP-2020-2020-0-01612) provided by the MSIT (Ministry of Science and ICT) South Korea (2020 -2021)
  • Korean National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant (No. NRF-2019R1I1A3A01063935) provided by the MSIT (Ministry of Science and ICT) South Korea (2019).
  • Agency for Defense Development grant (UD180018AD) provided by the RAM Specialized Laboratory, South Korea (2019).

Journal Publication from the project

U. E. Akpudo and H. Jang-Wook, “A multi-domain diagnostic framework for CRD fuel injection systems under water-in-diesel emulsion fuel conditions,” Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology, vol. 36 (2), pp. 665-677, 2022

U. E. Akpudo and H. Jang-Wook, “An explainable DL-based condition monitoring framework for water-emulsified diesel CR systems,” in Electronics, 10(20), 2522, 2021.

U. E. Akpudo and H. Jang-Wook, “ A Wavelet-Based Diagnostic Framework for CRD Engine Injection Systems under Emulsified Fuel Conditions,” in Electronics, 10(23), 2922, 2021.

M.S. Kim, U. E. Akpudo and H. Jang-Wook, “A Study on Water-Induced Damage Severity on Diesel Engine Injection System Using Emulsified Diesel Fuels” in Electronics, 10(18), 2285, 2021.

M.S. Kim, U. E. Akpudo and H. Jang-Wook, “A Study on Emulsified Fuel Conditions and the Behavior of Diesel Engine Injection System based on Data Analysis,” Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers, vol. 20(7), pp. 80-88, 2021