Fuel-based heating to enable mixing controlled combustion of small- molecule fuels

Abstract

Embodiments described herein relate to fuel-based heating of intake charge in internal combustion engines. In some aspects, a method of operating a compression ignition engine can include combusting a first fuel in an intake flow path to heat a volume of air. The method further includes drawing the heated volume of air into a plurality of cylinders via an intake manifold and combusting a volume of a second fuel in the plurality of cylinders in a mixing-controlled compression ignition mode (MCCI). The second fuel can be the same or different from the first fuel and can include a small-molecule fuel. Heating the volume of air maintains a temperature in the plurality of cylinders greater than a threshold temperature.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.