On cold start operation of an SI engine, a catalyst shows poor performance before it reaches activation temperature. Therefore, fast warmup of the catalyst is very crucial to reduce harmful emissions. In this study, an appropriate control strategy is investigated to increase exhaust gas temperature through changes of spark timing. Combustion stability is also considered at the same time. Exhaust gas temperature and pressure of combustion chamber are measured to investigate the effects of spark timings on cold start and idle performance. Experiments showed that retarded spark timing promotes the combustion at the end of expansion stroke and increases exhaust gas temperature during cold start.

In a bi-fuel engine using gasoline and LPG fuel, with the current ignition timing for gasoline being used, the optimum performance could not be taken in LPG fuel supply mode. The ignition timing in LPG fuel mode must be advanced much more than that of gasoline mode for the compensation of its higher ignition temperature. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the ignition spark timing conversion influences the engine performance of LPG/Gasoline Bi-Fuel engine. In order to investigate the engine performance during combustion, engine performance are sampled by data acquisition system, for example cylinder pressure, pressure rise rate and heat release rate, while change of the rpm(1500, 2000, 2500) and the ignition timing advance(5°, 10°, 15°, 20°). As the result, between 1500rpm, 2000rpm and 2500rpm, the cylinder pressure and pressure rise rate was increased when the spark ignition was advanced but pressure rise rate at 20° was smaller value.