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An experimental study on optimal spark timing control for improved performance of a flex fuel vehicle engine

In the American continent, the most frequently used alternative fuel is ethanol. Especially in Brazil, various blends of gasoline–ethanol fuels are widely spread. The vehicle using blended fuel is called flexible fuel vehicle. Because of several selections for the blending ratios in gas stations, the fuel properties may vary after refueling depending on a driver’s selection. Also, the combustion characteristics of the flexible fuel vehicle engine may change. In order to respond to the flexible fuel vehicle market in Brazil, a study on blended fuels is performed. The main purpose of this study is to enhance performance of the flexible fuel vehicle engine to target Brazilian market. Therefore, we investigated combustion characteristics and optimal spark timings of the blended fuels with various blending ratios to improve the performance of the flexible fuel vehicle engine. As a tool for prediction of the optimal spark timing for the 1.6L flexible fuel vehicle engine, the empirical equation was suggested. The validity of the equation was investigated by comparing the predicted optimal spark timings with the stock spark timings through engine tests. When the stock spark timings of E0 and E100 were optimal, the empirical equation predicted the actual optimal spark timings for blended fuels with a good accuracy. In all conditions, by optimizing spark timing control, performance was improved. Especially, torque improvements of E30 and E50 fuels were 5.4% and 1.8%, respectively, without affecting combustion stability. From these results, it was concluded that the linear interpolation method is not suitable for flexible fuel vehicle engine control. Instead of linear interpolation method, optimal spark timing which reflects specific octane numbers of gasoline–ethanol blended fuels should be applied to maximize performance of the flexible fuel vehicle engine. The results of this study are expected to save the effort required for engine calibration when developing new flexible fuel vehicle engines and to be used as a basic strategy to improve the performance of other flexible fuel vehicle engines.