EFFECT OF AIR/FUEL RATIO (AFR) ON THE EMISSIONS FROM A

SPARK IGNITION ENGINE

The experiment procedure:

The main objective of this experiment was to gain a good understanding of how
AFRs influence engine performances and emissions.

The engine was started up and then allowed to warm up. The experiment was split
into 2 parts. Firstly, we were to maintain the engine speed at 2500rpm (by adjusting
the load to keep it at a fixed rate) and this was done at full throttle. The AFR
(measured via the ECM Lambda sensor) was varied from 18 to 11. Readings for air
flow rate, fuel flow rate, air/fuel ratio (Horiba analyser) and emissions were taken for
each AFR. This procedure was then repeated at ½ throttle.
Secondly, the experiment was done by keeping the AFR constant (at 15) and the
speed was varied at 3500, 3000, 2500 and 2000rpm. The fuel mixture was adjusted
to give strength close to stoichiometric.

Measurements taken & Error analysis:

The measurements taken from the experiment were the AFR2 (Horiba analyser),
emissions (CO2, CO, O2 and hydrocarbons), fuel/ air flow rates and the torque. The
Horiba analyser is used to give an AFR value (AFR2) from the emissions produced
by the experiment. These values are used in the stoichiometric equation. The ECM
Lambda sensor AFR1 is set to values (18, 17, 16 etc) and the experiment is run
against this.
There were a few errors that caused an effect on the final calculated values. Firstly,
human errors were made (e.g. parallax error from reading the air manometer scale).
Also due to the system being very fluctuant, this made it difficult to record stable
values- averages were taken where necessary and to compensate for accuracy, ±
values were used.

Example calculations:

For the Stoichiometric combustion reaction scheme and AFR determination (from
exhaust emissions), see appendix 1 (attached to back of this report).

Table of AFRs:

AFR1 (from ECM AFR2 (from AFR3 (from AFR4 (from air/
Lambda sensor) Horiba Analyser) exhaust fuel flow rates)
emissions)
18.1 19.7 20.12 20.25
17.1 18.9 19.02 19.16
16.1 18.2 18.31 18.82
15.1 16.8 16.93 18.51
14.0 15.7 15.88 16.91
13.0 14.7 14.85 15.54
12.0 13.6 13.76 14.21
 11.0 12.3 13.20 13.40
18.0 19.3 19.47 19.82
15.9 17.3 17.94 18.21
14.02 15.2 16.86 16.64
11.98 13.0 14.45 13.16
15.0 16.1 17.12 16.75
15.0 16.4 17.77 17.57
15.0 16.1 17.11 16.93
15.0 16.3 16.39 16.82
Key:
Yellow = Full throttle at 2500rpm
Green = ½ throttle at 2500rpm
Red = Varying throttle at 2000rpm
Grey = Varying throttle at 2500rpm
Blue = Varying throttle at 3000rpm
Purple = Varying throttle at 3500rpm

Discussion:

The engine emissions vary with the change of AFR1 (at full throttle at 2500rpm). As
the AFR value is decreased each time by changing the load on the system, the CO
and CO2 emissions steadily increases, while the O2 emission steadily decrease.