Review of recent advances of free-piston internal combustion engine linear generator

Guo, Chendong; Zuo, Zhengxing; Feng, Huihua; Jia, Boru; Roskilly, Anthony Paul

doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.115084

Cited by 69 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 82 publications

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“…General Motors and Ford considered introducing free-piston engines in the 1960s. However, during that time, traditional ICEVs were the more reliable and fuel-efficient solution [33]. The German Aerospace Center (DLR) is one of the first organizations to research and develop a FPLG as a range extender for EVs [34].…”

Section: Definitions Mechanisms and Pros And Consmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite the structural drawbacks, flat-type generators have greater specific power, output current, and voltage, making them more suitable for FPLGs. Guo et al [33] summarized the recent developments of free-piston internal combustion engine linear generators that function with gasoline and diesel. It was stated that the gasoline FPLG had an unstable combustion process and suffered from frequent misfiring.…”

Section: Recent Research Developmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

A Review of Range Extenders in Battery Electric Vehicles: Current Progress and Future Perspectives

Fowler

Bhatti

Vrolyk

et al. 2021

WEVJ

137

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Emissions from the transportation sector are significant contributors to climate change and health problems because of the common use of gasoline vehicles. Countries in the world are attempting to transition away from gasoline vehicles and to electric vehicles (EVs), in order to reduce emissions. However, there are several practical limitations with EVs, one of which is the “range anxiety” issue, due to the lack of charging infrastructure, the high cost of long-ranged EVs, and the limited range of affordable EVs. One potential solution to the range anxiety problem is the use of range extenders, to extend the driving range of EVs while optimizing the costs and performance of the vehicles. This paper provides a comprehensive review of different types of EV range extending technologies, including internal combustion engines, free-piston linear generators, fuel cells, micro gas turbines, and zinc-air batteries, outlining their definitions, working mechanisms, and some recent developments of each range extending technology. A comparison between the different technologies, highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of each, is also presented to help address future research needs. Since EVs will be a significant part of the automotive industry future, range extenders will be an important concept to be explored to provide a cost-effective, reliable, efficient, and dynamic solution to combat the range anxiety issue that consumers currently have.

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Section: Definitions Mechanisms and Pros And Consmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Recent Research Developmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of Range Extenders in Battery Electric Vehicles: Current Progress and Future Perspectives

Fowler

Bhatti

Vrolyk

et al. 2021

WEVJ

137

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The free-piston engine generator (FPEG) concept is still full of challenges as well as prospects for future applications [1] and has attracted commercial interests (for review, see Hanipah et al [2]). In recent years, the successful introduction of electric vehicles by various manufacturers, especially Tesla, Chevrolet and Nissan, shifted the focus away from FPEG potential as an alternative vehicle powertrain.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance Characteristics of a Small Poppet Valve Crankshaft Engine in Free-Piston Engine Mode

Hanipah

Rosli

2021

IJAME

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The free-piston engine generator (FPEG) provides a novel method for electrical power generation in the range extender and hybrid electric vehicle application. In this paper, one-dimensional (1D) numerical simulations of a two-stroke poppet valve in crankshaft engine (CSE) and free-piston engine (FPE) modes are presented to illuminate the potential performance gain of a two-stroke poppet valve engine for free-piston engine generator application. The 1D numerical simulation for crankshaft and free-piston engine models focuses on the two-stroke engine performance response. Both models were subjected to variations of ignition and valve timings. The impact of lambda on engine performance was obtained. Finally, a single speed of 3000 rpm was chosen for detail performance behaviour of the free-piston engine model response. The results have shown that the CSE model has demonstrated traditional performance behaviour against ignition timing variation. In addition, FPE model performance is highly affected by both intake and exhaust valve timings as compared to the CSE model. Furthermore, CSE is superior to FPE across lambda variations for BSFC, brake thermal efficiency, brake power and bmep. These models have successfully portrayed realistic engine performance response as presented in the lambda variations simulation. When simulated at an intended operating speed of 50 Hz, the FPE model has shown poorer performance. The bmep and brake power of FPE model dropped by 3%, brake thermal efficiency dropped by 26%, and BSFC increased by 21%. This lower performance is attributed by 30% reduction in piston velocity suffers in FPE, which contributed to 13% reduction in peak cylinder pressure. Ignition delays promote better FPE performance which is able to match the CSE model. In conclusion, this paper has demonstrated the performance behaviour of a two-stroke free-piston engine model based on the baseline crankshaft engine model.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The free-piston internal combustion engine linear generator (FPELG), as a novel fuel-to-electricity energy conversion device, has been studied by many groups in the whole world because of the unique operation characteristics [1][2][3][4][5][6]. The FPELG consists of the free-piston engine and the linear generator directly [3]. Its operation principle is that the high-temperature and high-pressure gas is generated, alternatively during the combustion process in the cylinder of the free-piston engine, then the gas drives the mover (including the piston assembly and the linear generator moving rod) to move, and the linear generator converts parts of the mover kinetic energy into electricity [5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Numerical Investigation of a Free-Piston Hydrogen-Gasoline Engine Linear Generator

2020

Self Cite

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The free-piston engine linear generator (FPELG) is being investigated by many researchers because of its high thermal efficiency and its variable compression ratio. However, all researchers focused on the FPELG characteristics with mono-fuel. Therefore, in this paper, the performance of the FPELG that has adopted gasoline with hydrogen as fuel is investigated. The method of coupling the zero-dimensional dynamics model with the multi-dimensional CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) combustion model was applied during the simulation process. According to the results, the piston TDC (Top Dead Center), the piston peak piston velocity, and the system operation frequency show a negative correlation with the increase of hydrogen fractions. However, the peak in-cylinder pressure was increased with the hydrogen volume fraction increase, due to the fast flame speed and short combustion duration characteristics of hydrogen. Meanwhile, the indicated efficiency of the free-piston engine was increased from 32.3% to 35.3% with the hydrogen volume fraction change from 0% to 4.5%, when the free-piston engine operates at stoichiometric conditions with fixed ignition timing. In addition, with the ignition timing advance increase, the piston TDC was decreased. The peak piston velocity and the peak in-cylinder pressure were in negative correlation with the ignition timing advance. While the engine indicated that the efficiency was increased with the equivalent degree of ignition timing from 20° to 16°. Therefore, the ignition timing of the FPELG under the spark-ignition combustion mode is supposed to be an effective and practical control variable.

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Review of recent advances of free-piston internal combustion engine linear generator

Cited by 69 publications

References 82 publications

A Review of Range Extenders in Battery Electric Vehicles: Current Progress and Future Perspectives

A Review of Range Extenders in Battery Electric Vehicles: Current Progress and Future Perspectives

Performance Characteristics of a Small Poppet Valve Crankshaft Engine in Free-Piston Engine Mode

Numerical Investigation of a Free-Piston Hydrogen-Gasoline Engine Linear Generator

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