Diesel Engines

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES

The internal combustion engine is a variety of heat engine, ie. a
machine for converting heat energy into useful mechanical work
through the compression and expansion of a so-called working fluid.
It is characterized by the fact that it obtains heat from the burning of
fuel in the same gas that it uses for the energy conversion process. In
this way it differs from, for example, the steam engine, where the heat
source is external to the working fluid. Two main types of internal
combustion engine are prevalent nowadays: piston engines and gas
turbines, the latter being typified by the turboet or et engine.

The diesel is an internal combustion piston engine distingushed from
the petrol !or gasoline" engine in that combustion ignition in the
cylinders is caused by heat generated during compression of the air,
rather than by an electric spark. #ence diesels are technically
referred to as $compression-ignition$, as opposed to $spark-ignition$,
engines. The fact that the fuel used is normally a slightly heavier oil
fraction than petrol is not distinctive% compression-ignition engines
can be adapted to run on a wide variety of other fuels including
li&uified gases, alcohols, vegetable oil, animal fats or even powdered
coal.

HISTORY

The engine is named after its inventor,
'udolph (iesel, the )arisian-born
*avarian engineer who first proposed
the principle of compression-ignition
in his patent application of +,-.. This
was actually +/ years after the
introduction of the first practical spark-
ignition engine by 0icklaus 1tto, and
reflects the greater technical
difficulties that compression ignition
posed.
2s indicated by the title of his +,-3
paper, $Theory for the construction of a
rational heat engine to replace the
steam engine and other contemporary
internal combustion engines$, (iesel envisaged his invention
primarily as a method for improved thermal efficiency, ie. for
converting a greater percentage of the combustion heat energy into
useful mechanical work. The recently-developed science of
thermodynamics predicted that this could be achieved through
combustion at the highest possible pressures.

The first diesel
prototype, built by
4aschinefabrik of
2ugsburg, ran for one
minute on the +5th of
6ebruary +,-7. The
following year, after
much development, it
achieved a power
output of +5 k8 !.3
hp" with a then-
impressive thermal
efficiency of +/./9,
thus securing the
patent. 1ver the
following ten years
(iesel prospered on
the sale of
manufacturing rights,
but then lost his
fortune through legal disputes and the engine$s lack of substantial
market success. :adly, it was not until after his premature death in
+-+3 that (iesel$s invention started to achieve widespread popularity.

APPLICATIONS

Today, due to its superior fuel efficiency and durability, the diesel
is used for the maority of combustion engine applications. This
success may not seem obvious to most people who are familiar
with the more numerous petrol engines employed in small road
vehicles and garden machinery, applications where lightness,
responsiveness and low-cost are at a premium. The table below
gives a clearer view of the main fields of combustion engine use.
4odern diesels range in size over eight
orders of magnitude, from ;.+cc single-
cylinder model aircraft engines, such
as the <; gram 0ano on the left, which
produces about +< 8 !;.;. hp" at
.<,;;; rpm% to giant marine power
plants like the ..,;;;= :ulzer 'T2-/>
on the right. 2t over .;;; tonnes the
+7-cylinder version of this diesel is the
largest internal combustion engine in
the world. It develops around ,; 48
!+;,,;;; hp" at its maximum speed of +;; rpm, with a thermal
efficiency of over <;9.
2t both extremes of scale, .-stroke engines are preferred, primarily
to minimize size and weight. 6or the same capacity and speed, a 7-
stroke develops significantly less power than a .-stroke, but its
greater combustion efficiency suits it for road-going vehicles and
stationary applications where fuel consumption and emissions are
paramount.



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(I?:?= )?T'1=
B2: T@'*I0?
:T?24 T@'*I0?
electricity generators of all types
marine craft of all types
railway engines
agricultural e&uipment
passenger cars and buses
military vehicles
heavy-duty road vehicles
construction e&uipment
earth-moving e&uipment
drilling and mining e&uipment
industrial compressors
oil and water pumps
portable electricity generators
small marine craft
light to medium-sized aircraft
gardening e&uipment
passenger cars and bikes
military vehicles
stationary electricity generators
naval vessels
passenger and combat aircraft
stationary electricity generators
large marine craft


PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION
The greater efficiency of the diesel, compared with petrol engines,
stems from its higher compression ratio and lack of throttling. In a
petrol engine, the proportion of air to fuel in the cylinder must
approximate an ideal value, known as the stiochiometric ratio, in
order for the spark to initiate combustion. In most designs, this
entails creating a homogenous mixture prior to its intake into the
cylinder% conse&uently the degree to which this charge can then be
compressed is limited to ratios less than +3:+, by the need to avoid
spontaneous ignition. If uncontrolled combustion starts as the piston
is still moving up !known as pre-ignition" or if it occurs in the
unconsumed charge whilst the sprark-ignited flame is still
progressing !known as knock, pinking or detonation" the engine can
suffer considerable damage.
In the diesel, fuel mixing takes place in the combustion chamber, at a

This animation illustrates a
direct-inection diesel with
overhead cams, operating on
a 7-stroke cycle as follows:
+. I0(@>TI10: The exhaust
valve closes and, as the
piston falls, the intake valve
opens and air is sucked into
the combustion chamber.
.. >14)'?::I10: The
intake valve closes and, as
the piston rises the trapped
air becomes compressed and
point when ignition is re&uired. This means that air alone is in the
cylinder during the compression stroke and the main limit on the
compression ratio, which can be as much as .<:+, is the strength of
engine components. #ence, for the same displacement, a diesel is
typically heavier and more durable than a petrol engine. The higher
pressure tolerance also allows the diesel to take full advantage of
turbocharging, where energy is recovered from the exhaust stream
and used to do some of the compression work.
:ince a piston engine is essentially a constant-displacement pump,
the most practical way of modulating the tor&ue produced by the
petrol engine is to throttle the air intake at part-loads. This reduces
the intake pressure and hence the density of the charge and the mass
of airCfuel mixture in the cylinder. @nfortunately, the throttling
process involves some waste of energy% the engine effectively has to
suck harder. 2 few modern petrol engines attempt to avoid this
problem by using direct inection into the combustion chamber,
creating a stratified charge at part-loads with stoichiometric
conditions only around the spark plug.
In contrast, the diesel$s tor&ue is controlled by altering the amount of
fuel inected into the combustion chamber. 2t part-loads the airCfuel
ratio is very high, ensuring that the fuel is completely burnt in the
excess of air. #owever, it is the fuel inection process that poses the
biggest technical problems in diesel engineering. In order to get the
fuel to mix efficiently in the dense air of the combustion chamber, in a
period which can be less than one millisecond, very fine atomization
and hence high inection pressures are re&uired. ?ven then, it is
impossible completely to mix fuel with all the air in the cylinder%
hence, for the same displacement, a diesel typically develops lower
maximum power than a petrol engine.
The .-stroke cycle differs in that the lower portion of the expansion
and compression strokes are used for the gas exchange process.
The exhaust valve, or port, opens whilst the piston is still moving
down, allowing gas to flow out and the cylinder pressure to drop.
The intake valve, or port, then opens admitting air which has been
compressed either by the turbocharger or in the crankcase. This in-
rush expels the remaining exhaust gas in a process known as
scavenging, which continues whilst the piston rises, until the intake
and exhaust are closed off again.


FUEL INJECTION SYSTEMS

In early diesel engines, fuel was vaporized and blasted into the
combustion chamber using a separate compressed air supply. This
rather unsuccessful method was soon superceded by high-pressure
fuel pumps that force compressed fuel through very small inector
nozzle holes to achieve the re&uired atomization. 4ost diesels use
direct inection into the combustion chamber, however many
passenger car applications employ indirect inection, where fuel is
atomized in a small pre-combustion chamber which then shoots the
expanding, burning mixture into the main chamber. This method
necessitates lower compression ratios and hence is not so fuel-
efficient, however it does allow a lighter, cheaper engine structure.
In most fields of engineering, li&uids are assumed to be
incompressible% but at the pressures needed for diesel fuel inection,
which range from 7;; to over .;;; times atmospheric !7;-.;; 4)a"
the effects of compressibility become significant. 2t these pressures,
e&uivalent to that at the tip of a nail punch when hammered, all
conventional sealing materials will fail. =eakage in fuel pumps and
inectors can only be prevented by using steel parts with extremely
close-fitting hardened surfaces. Typically the clearance between the
piston and barrel of a pumping element is around ;.< m.
4anufacturing to these tolerances re&uires a high degree of precision
and cleanliness, and is only carried out by a handful of companies
worldwide. *y contrast, petrol inection systems normally use
pressures of less than 7 atmospheres and can be supplied by
relatively simple electric pumps.
2part from inecting fuel according to the operator$s demand for
tor&ue, the diesel fuel system must perform a secondary function,
that of governing the engine. The pumping inefficiencies in a petrol
engine increase with speed, imposing an upper limit on the latter and
stabilizing idling. If the idle speed drops the pumping tor&ue reduces,
causing the engine to speed up again, and vice versa. *ecause this
effect is not nearly so pronounced in the diesel, it has a natural
tendancy to stall at low speeds and, if no load is applied when fuel is
inected, to accelerate up to speeds which can destroy the engine.

To generate the re&uired pumping forces, diesel fuel inection
systems are all driven off cams geared directly to the engine
crankshaft% however they vary in the arrangement of the cams,
pumping elements and inectors, according to their different
applications, as follows:
(istributor )umps: 1ne or more pumping elements are driven from a
single, multi-lobed cam and the high-pressure fuel is then fed to the
inector for each cylinder in turn, via a rotatary hydraulic distributor,
and a set of high-pressure pipes !inector lines". This system is
relatively cheap and compact but rather limited in the maximum
pressure that can be delivered. It is mainly used on small engines, ie.
below about +=Ccylinder displacement.
In-=ine )umps: 2 number of pumping elements, one for each
cylinder, are driven off a camshaft, with each element supplying a
single inector via a line. This system is mainly used for medium-
sized engines up to <=Ccylinder displacement.
@nit )umps: ?ach cylinder has a separate pump with a single
element, inector and line, driven off a camshaft in the engine. This
system is mainly used on large engines, ie. over about 3=Ccylinder
displacement, although electronically-controlled versions have been
used in smaller applications.
@nit Inectors: ?ach cylinder has a separate pumping element and
inector integrated into a single unit mounted in the cylinder head and
driven off a camshaft. This system allows very high pressures to be
generated and is used in small to meduim-sized applications,
particularly when electronically controlled.
>ommon-'ail :ystems: 2 high-pressure pump with one or more
pumping elements driven from a single, multi-lobed cam, feeds an
accumulator !common rail", from which fuel is supplied to the inector
for each cylinder via a line. ?lectronic control is essential to this
Thus, instruments known as governors are attached to the fuel
control device in pumps or inectors, in order to achieve a stable idle
speed by adustment of the fuelling level, and to cut off fuelling over
the maximum safe speed. Traditionally, governors consisted of
mechanisms using fly-weights, levers and springs or pneumatic or
hydraulic valves. #owever, the low cost and enormous flexibility of
digital electronics combined with increasingly demanding emissions
limits, fuel economy and drivability targets, mean that electronic
control is now predominating.
system and makes it very flexible. 6or this reason it is becoming
increasingly popular on small to medium-sized road-going
applications.


*ack to the index


BIBLIOGRAPHY AND LINKS
DThe Internal >ombustion ?ngine in Theory and )racticeD !Eol. + - .nd ed." by >harles 6ayette Taylor, 4IT )ress +-,<, I:*0: ;-./.5-;;./-3
D(iesel ?ngine 'eference *ookD !.nd ed." edited by 'odica *aranescu and *ernard >hallen, :2? +---, I:*0: ;-5/,;-;7;3--
D*osch (iesel-engine 4anagementD !.nd ed.", :2? +---, I:*0: ;-5/,;-;<;--7
Institution of 4echanical ?ngineers, )rofessional ?ngineering )ublications
D*iography of 'udolph (ieselD by 4artin =educ
D'udolf (iesel and the :econd =aw of ThermodynamicsD by 8alter Faiser, Berman 0ews GuneCGuly +--5
D6irst (iesel ?ngineD, exhibited in the )ower 4achinery department of the (eutsches-4useum, 4unich
The diesel engine, from D:tart Hour ?nginesD, Think&uest =ibrary
)ublicity from a consortium of 2merican diesel manufacturers: (iesel Technology 6orum

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