Regulation of volumetric gas concentration by disconnecting part of the cylinders of a diesel locomotive engine converted to operate on a gas-diesel cycle

Abstract

In accordance with the key directions of development, including the Concept of the development of the gas engine fuel market in the Russian Federation, Energy and Environmental Strategies, JSC Russian Railways, together with machine-building holdings, is actively involved in the creation of transport equipment using natural gas as motor fuel. A key feature of the power plants of gas-thermal locomotives is their creation on the basis of diesel analogues, just as it was done 30 years ago on the first prototypes. An analysis of the design features and basic technical characteristics of such engines allows us to conclude that there is insufficient elaboration of bottlenecks that occur when transferring transport diesel engines to work on the gas-diesel cycle. This article examines the causes of unstable operation of diesel-diesel power plants of diesel locomotives at low loads and idle, and theoretically substantiates the possibility of quantitative regulation of the volume concentration of gas in the engine cylinders by disconnecting part of the cylinders to ensure guaranteed ignition of the mixed fuel, taking into account restrictions on torque, maximum exhaust gas temperature and maximum combustion pressure of the cycle.