9300617 Martin This award will provide supplementary support to enable Dr. Joseph Shakal of the University of Wisconsin to conduct collaborative research with Dr. Shinichi Goto for 24 months at the Mechanical Engineering Laboratory in Tsukuba, Japan. They will apply Dr. Shakal's methods of auxiliary fuel injection to combustion experiments on a dual fuel diesel engine. The Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) is currently funding research on clean burning engine technology at the Mechanical Engineering Laboratory. Dr. Goto is conducting experiments on reducing soot and nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbon emissions of diesel engines by injecting butane as a liquid near the intake valve at the time the valve is open. Utilizing Dr. Shakal's expertise in dual fuel injectors, the team will install a dual fuel injector on the engine and conduct experiments with butane being injected after combustion of the diesel fuel is underway. By measuring natural fluorescence and emissions, the team will determine the optimum injection conditions for a cleaner burning engine. This clean burning technology could then be immediately applied to bus, truck, and other diesel engines in both the U.S. and Japan.
