I.C.

Engines
Engine: An engine is a device, which transforms one form of energy into another form. However, while transforming energy from one form to another, the efficiency of conversion plays an important role. Heat engine: Heat engine is a device, which transforms chemical energy of a fuel into thermal energy and utilizes this thermal energy to perform useful work. Heat engines can be broadly classified into two categories: (i) Internal Combustion (I.C.) engines (ii) External Combustion engines. External combustion engines are those in which combustion takes place outside the engine whereas in internal combustion engines combustion takes place within the engine. For example, in a steam turbine, the heat generated due to the combustion of fuel is employed to generate highpressure steam, which is used as the working fluid in a reciprocating engine or turbine. This is called external combustion engine. In case of gasoline (petrol) or diesel engines the products of combustion generated by the combustion of fuel and air within the cylinder from the working fluid.

Comparison of Internal and External combustion engines

The advantages of internal combustion engines: 1. Higher overall efficiency. 2. The working fluid is discarded. No facility for its cooling or conserving are necessary. 3. Cooling system has to dissipate much smaller fraction of the energy of fuel. 4. Lower weight to power ratio. 5. Requires less space. 6. Greater mechanical simplicity. 7. Easy and instantaneous starting from cold conditions. 8. Lower first cost. The advantages of external combustion engines: 1. Large external plants are steam turbines and since they do not have any reciprocating parts so they are free from vibrations and have all other advantages of a rotary machine. 2. External combustion engines can work with cheaper fuels and also on solid fuels. 3. External combustion engines have higher starting torque and are self starting engines (except closed cycle gas turbine), whereas internal combustion engines are self-starting engines. 4. There is no cylinder-cooling problem; in fact steam jacketing is done in steam prime movers. 5. When the plant is steam turbine there is no lubrication problem. Even with the steam engine, lubrication problems are less, as it is generally a slow speed machine with lower temperatures in the cylinder. 6. Plants are less noisy. 7. Large plants require less space, have better weight distribution, and have low initial cost. In large plants overall efficiency is similar to I.C. engines.

Classification of I.C. engines:

According to the need and suitability, the I.C. engines are designed in various varieties. The general considerations for classifications of these engines are as given under: 1. Fuel used (i) The gas engine (ii) The petrol engine (iii) The light oil engine (iv) Heavy oil engine 2. Engine cycle (i) Otto cycle or constant volume cycle (petrol engines) (ii) Diesel cycle or constant pressure cycle (low speed diesel oil engines) (iii) Dual combustion cycle (high speed diesel oil engines) 3. Number of strokes (i) Four stroke engine (ii) Two stroke engine 4. Number of cylinders (i) Single cylinder engine (ii) Multi cylinder engine (2, 4, 6, 8, 12 & 16) 5. Arrangement of cylinders (i) Straight or inline engines (ii) V-type engines (iii) Opposed type engines (iv) Radial type engines 6. Type of cooling (i) Air cooled engines (ii) Water cooled engines 7. Type of ignition (i) Spark ignition (S.I.) engines (ii) Compression ignition (C.I.) engines 8. Speed (i) Engines < 400 rpm low speed engines (ii) Engines > 900 rpm high speed engines (iii) Engines > 400 rpm and < 900 rpm medium speed engines

Engine mechanism
The engine mechanism for a four stroke, spark ignition, vertical internal combustion engine is shown in Fig.1. It consists of a cylinder block in which reciprocates a piston. Piston forms a movable wall of combustion space. To reduce friction between the piston and the cylinder and also to avoid the leakage of high pressure gases from the combustion space piston rings are provided on the piston.

Power developed inside the cylinder is transferred to piston, which gets reciprocating motion. The piston is connected to the connecting rod by a pin named gudgeon pin. This end of the connecting rod is known as small end of the connecting rod. The other end of the connecting rod is called the big end is connected to the crank arm by a pin named crank pin. For balancing, crank arm has balance weight. The crank is further fixed rigidly to the crankshaft. The reciprocation motion of the piston is converted to the rotary motion by the connecting rod and crank mechanism. Crankshaft, which has now the rotary motion, is supported in main bearings (not shown in the figure). The power output is from the shaft through pulley flywheel or brake drum attached on it. Crankshaft also transmits power to camshaft, which in turn drives all the accessories (fuel pump, oil pump, etc.) and also allows the function of valves.

Fig. 12.1, pg. 239.

Fig.1 Vertical internal combustion engine

The engine has two valves: one of these is the inlet or suction valve and the other the exhaust valve. Both the valves are provided in the combustion space above the combustion chamber. The openings in the cylinder head for inlet and exhaust valves are called ports. Cast integral with the cylinder body or separately bolted at the lower end is the crankcase, which serves as an oil sump for the storage of lubricating oil. An oil stick or dipstick is provided for checking the lubricating oil level. For drain off purpose a cock is provided at the bottom of the crankcase. The cylinder is shown with the water jacket for its cooling.

I.C. engine terminology

The following terminology is often used in I.C. engines: Engine components: Cylinder: As the name implies it is a cylindrical vessel or space in which the piston makes a reciprocating motion. Piston: It is a cylindrical component fitted into the cylinder forming the moving boundary of the combustion system. It fits perfectly into the cylinder providing a gas-tight space with the piston rings and the lubricant. Combustion chamber: The space enclosed in the upper part of the cylinder, by the cylinder head and the piston top during the combustion process, is called the combustion chamber. Inlet and exhaust valves: Valves are commonly mushroom shaped poppet type. They are provided either on the cylinder head or on the side of the cylinder for regulating the charge coming into the cylinder (Inlet valve) and for discharging the products of combustion (exhaust valve) from the cylinder. Connecting rod: It interconnects the piston and the crankshaft and transmits the forces, developed due to combustion, from the piston to the crankshaft.

Crankshaft: It converts the reciprocating motion of the piston into useful rotary motion of the output shaft. The crankshaft is enclosed in a crankcase. Spark plug: It is a component to initiate the combustion process in spark ignition engines and is usually located on the cylinder head. Piston rings: Piston rings, fitted into the slots around the piston, provide a tight seal between the piston and the cylinder wall thus preventing leakage of combustion gases. Camshaft: The camshaft and its associated parts control the opening and closing of the two valves. The associated parts are push rods, rocker arms, valve springs and tappets. The crankshaft through timing gears drives the camshaft. Cams: These are made as the integral parts of the camshaft and are associated in such a way to open the valves at the correct timing and to keep them open for the necessary duration. Flywheel: The net torque imparted to the crankshaft during one complete cycle of operation of the engine fluctuates causing a change in the angular velocity of the shaft. In order to achieve a uniform torque an inertia mass in the form of a wheel is attached to the output shaft and this wheel is called the flywheel.

Nomenclature Cylinder bore (d): The nominal inner diameter of the working cylinder is called the cylinder bore and is usually expressed in mm. Piston area (A): The area of a circle of diameter equal to the cylinder bore is called the piston area; and is usually expresses in cm2. Stroke (L): The distance through which a piston moves between two successive reversals of its direction of motion is called the stroke and is usually expresses in mm. Dead center: The position of the piston when the direction of the piston motion is reversed at either end of the stroke is called the dead enter. There are two dead centers in the engine: (i) Top Dead Center (TDC): It is the dead center when the piston is farthest from the crankshaft. (ii) Bottom Dead Center (BDC): It is the dead center when the piston is nearest to the crankshaft. Swept volume (Vs): The volume of the combustion chamber enclosed between the TDC and BDC of the cylinder. Vs = A.L = (d2/4).L

Clearance volume (Vc): The volume of the combustion chamber above the TDC of the cylinder. Compression ratio (r): The compression ration is the ration of total volume of the combustion chamber to that of the clearance volume. r = VT / Vc = (Vs + Vc) / Vc. = 1 + (Vs / Vc) The higher the compression ratio, the better will be the ideal efficiency of an engine.

The working principle of I.C. Engines

The credit of inventing the spark ignition engines goes to Nicolous A. Otto (1876) whereas Rudolf Diesel (1892) invented the compression ignition engine. Therefore they are often referred to as Otto engine and Diesel engine.

If an engine is to work successfully, then it has to follow a cycle of operations in a sequential manner. The sequence is quite rigid and cannot be changed. For all internal combustion engines the important events taking place inside a cylinder can be summoned up as follows: 1. Suction: The correct amount of charge is taken up in the cylinder. In case of SI engines the charge consists of air fuel mixture, and for CI engines the charge is air only. 2. Compression: a) The charge inside the cylinder is compressed to desired ratio. In case of SI engines value of compression ratio is from 6 to 10 and in case of CI engines the value of compression ratio is from 14 to 20. b) In case of CI engines the charge does not have fuel, so fuel i.e., diesel oil, is injected at the end of compression by means of a nozzle called injector. 3. Expansion: a) In case of SI engines the ignition of charge (fuel + air) is by means of spark in the cylinder. In CI engines due to higher compression ratio the pressure and temperature are higher and ignition of fuel takes place automatically as it is injected. However, if the values of pressure and temperature are not sufficient to cause self ignition (say, at the time of cold starting some external aid is required to produce ignition. b) The energy obtained from expansion of products of combustion is transferred to the crankshaft by means of piston, connecting rod and crank. 4. Exhaust: The products of combustion are exhausted out after expansion, in order to make way for the fresh charge. Thus the cycle is completed. If in an engine all these operations take place in two revolutions of the crankshaft i.e., four strokes, the engine is called four-stroke engine and if these operations are completed in one revolution of the crankshaft i.e., two strokes of the piston, the engine is called two-stroke engine. Thus in four-stroke cycle engine there is one power stroke and three idle strokes. The power stroke supplies the necessary momentum to carry out internal and external work. In two-stroke cycle engine there is one power stroke and one idle stroke.

Four stroke SI engine:

The cycle of operation for an ideal four-stroke SI engine consists of the following four strokes:

Fig.12.2, a, b, c, d, pg.250

Fig.2 Four stroke cycle for SI engine

3 heat addition p 2 compression 0 Suction; exhaust Vc V Vs expansion 4 blow down 1

Fig 12.2, 2, pg:250

Fig.4 ideal cycle on p-V diagram

Fig.3 Actual cycle on p-V diagram

Suction stroke: (Fig.2.a); (Fig.3: 0-1); (Fig.4: a-b); suction stroke starts when the piston is at TDC and about to move downwards. The inlet valve is open at this time and the exhaust valve is closed. Due to the suction created by the motion of the piston towards BDC, the charge consisting of fuel-air mixture is drawn into the cylinder. When the piston reaches BDC, the suction stroke ends and inlet valve closes. Suction stroke is also called as intake stroke. Compression stroke: (Fig.2.b); (Fig.3: 1-2 and 2-3); (Fig.4: b-c) during this stroke, both inlet and exhaust valves are in the closed position. The charge taken into the cylinder during the suction stroke is compressed by the return stroke of the piston. The mixture, which fills the entire volume, is now compressed into the clearance volume (1-2). At the end of the compression stroke, the mixture is ignited with the help of an electric spark between the electrodes of a spark plug located on the cylinder head. Burning takes place almost instantaneously when the piston is at TDC and hence the burning process can be approximated as heat addition at constant volume (2-3). During the burning process, the chemical energy of the fuel is converted into heat energy producing a temperature rise of about 2000 0C. The pressure at the end of combustion process is considerably increased due to the heat release. Expansion or Power stroke: (Fig.2.c); (Fig.3: 3-4 and 4-1); (Fig.4: c-d) the high pressure of the burnt gases forces the piston downwards i.e., towards BDC, with both the inlet and exhaust valves remaining closed. Thus, power is obtained during this stroke. Both pressure and temperature decrease during expansion. Expansion of gases is not completely up to the outer dead point but before that exhaust valve opens. This is to allow maximum exhaust gases to go out. The pressure when exhaust valve opens is about 3-5 bar and about 60 percent of the gases is exhausted between the point of exhaust valve opening and the dead point, as the pressure inside the cylinder falls nearly to atmospheric pressure (called blow down). Positive work is done on the piston during this stroke.

Exhaust stroke: (Fig.2.d); (Fig.3: 1-0); (Fig.4: d-a) during this stroke the piston clears the swept volume of burnt gases. The pressure during this stroke is slightly higher than the atmospheric pressure (d-a). In a normal engine the exhaust gas trapped in the clearance volume cannot be exhausted and at the commencement of the next cycle, the charge, which is compressed in the compression stroke, consists of the fresh air-fuel mixture and some exhaust gas left in from the previous cycle.

Fig.12.3, a, b, nomenclature, pg.251.

Fig.5 Valve timing diagram of a four stroke S I engine

Four stroke CI engine:

The cycle of operation for an ideal four-stroke CI engine are as follows: Suction stroke: During the first outstroke of the piston, charge of only air is drawn in the cylinder through the inlet valve. The pressure inside the cylinder is below atmospheric. Compression stroke: This is instroke of the piston. All the valves are closed. The charge is compressed to the clearance volume. Compression ratio ranges from 12 to 22 (average 16-18), which causes the rise in pressure and temperature of air sufficient to self-ignite the atomized fuel. The fuel is injected into the cylinder just before the end of the stroke through an injector. The fuel burns as it is injected and the combustion is assumed at constant pressure. In the case of high-speed engines it is partially at constant volume and partly at constant pressure (i.e., the engine works on dual combustion cycle, with greater proportion of fuel burning at constant volume and partly at constant pressure.

Working or expansion stroke: At some point in the stroke injection of fuel stops. This point is known as the cut-off point. The products of combustion are now expanded. Rest of stroke is same, as in the SI engine. Exhaust stroke: Same as in the SI engine.

Fig.5 Valve timing diagram of a four-stroke SI engine