Optimized Thermal and Optical Properties of Ceramic Coatins for Improved Diesel Engine Combustion

Incomplete combustion in diesel engines are the source of many problems, including pollution, low efficiency, and reduced performance. In particular, diesel engines are the focus of much work in the area of improved combustion efficiency. While diesel engines do not exhibit high hydrocarbon and NOx tailpipe emissions normally associated with gasoline engines, they nonetheless have high exhaust gas opacity due to incomplete combustion of soot. Observance of the smoke signature by the enemy points out the exact location and heading of military vehicles. Because most of the military vehicles today use diesel fuel due to its lowe volatility and resulting higher degree of safety under fire, virtually an entire military operation can be jeopardized by this seemingly innocuous problem. This proposed effort is to build upon our existing technology for coating diesel engine components by tuning the optical and thermal properties in science-based experiments to minimize energy transfer to the surrounding combustion chamber. At present, ACT's technology ahs increased fuel efficiency as much as 23%. By increasing the emittance of the outer ceramic coating at combustion temperatures, more energy should be imparted into the burning fuel and thereby increase combustion efficiency, which should reduce the associated smoke plume as well.