Colorado State University

Colorado State University 's Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory houses the most comprehensive facilities for conducting research on natural gas engines of any university in the United States . The laboratory is housed in a 26,000 ft 2 former power plant on the banks of the Cache la Poudre River in Fort Collins , one mile from the main CSU campus. The value of the specialized engine research facilities at the EECL is estimated at over $10 million. The EECL been strongly supported by the natural gas pipeline and gas engine industry through equipment donations, research funding, and technical assistance Key facilities at the EECL include:

Large Bore Engine Testbed – Commissioned in 1992 to conduct research on the large 2-stroke cycle natural gas engines used for gas compression for the natural gas pipeline system. A 4-cylinder Cooper-Bessemer GMV engine (14” bore, 14” stroke, 440 HP) has been used for a w id e variety of research and product development activities. The engine is highly flexible, and includes the capability to simulate the performance of a w id e variety of turbochargers. Independently controlled variables include: speed, load, “boost” (air manifold pressure / turbocharger level), intake air temperature, intake air hum id ity, ignition timing and energy, fuel injection timing and pressure (utilizes direct, in-cylinder fuel injection). In 2004, we will install a second, large-bore engine, a Dresser-Clark TLA-6. The TLA is a 6-cylinder (3 have been deactivated), 18.5” bore, 19” stroke engine rated at 1,650 HP that was utilized previously by Dresser-Rand for their internal research and development efforts. This engine will share much of its functionality and support systems with the GMV engine.

Industrial Engine Research Facility – Commissioned in 1995 to conduct research on a w id e range of large, 4-stroke cycle, medium-speed (1,200 – 1,800 rpm) natural gas engines used for power generation and gas compression (primarily in production rather than transmission applications).

Instrumentation – The EECL is well-equipped with state-of-the-art analytical equipment for use in natural gas engine studies. Relevant equipment includes:

2 5-gas emissions systems ( NOx , CO , HC, CO 2 , O 2 ): Rosemount NGA 2000 system & Siemens / MSA system
2 FTIR spectrometers for id entification of HAPs (formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acrolein, ammonia), speciation of hydrocarbons, and simultaneous id entification of NOx components: Nicolet Rega & Nicolet Magna
8 dynamometers: 1 large eddy current dyno (1,200 hp) for the industrial engines, two large slow-speed water brake for the LBET, 5 smaller water brake dynos for automotive research.
2 combustion analysis systems: DSP Redline / ACAP (equipped for 12 channels) and Hi-Teqniques Win600 CAS.

Environmental Control – Turbocharger simulator for supplying intake air at up to 30 psig for simulating turbocharger selection or altitude, heating or cooling of intake air, and hum id ity control of intake air.

Optical Engine Testbed / Laser Diagnostics Laboratory – Houses what is believed to be the world's largest optical access engine. Currently being used for fuel injection studies of a 14” bore x 14” stroke direct-injected natural gas engine. Visualization of in-cylinder fuel/air mixing through the use of PLIF using a Spectra-Physics Lab-150-10 Nd:YAG laser, which produces 650 mj/pulse @ 650 nm. The optical engine is driven by a 300 hp linear hydraulic drive so that the speed and stroke can be easily varied for different test programs.

CFD Laboratory – The EECL currently has 3 faculty members and 2 PhD students engaged in CFD modeling studies of the scavenging, air/fuel mixing, ignition, combustion and pollution formation processes in large natural gas engines. This work is directly tied in to experimental studies being conducted using the Optical Engine Testbed (above). Computational facilities at the EECL include a pair of dual-processor Sun workstations as well as remote access to 8-processor workstations on the main CSU campus.