The name free-piston implies that there is no physical linkage that

would constrain the pistons motion leading to the potentially

valuable feature of variable stroke length and compression ratio

Advantage of free piston engine

Mechanically simple - The piston is the only moving part of a FPE.
Reduced wear - Since the generator acts directly on the piston, there are only limited
side thrust forces that are typical of the conventional engine. There are also no bearings
required for crankshafts.
Inherently balanced - If an opposed piston arrangement is used for the design, the
engine will be inherently balanced.
Variable compression ratio - The piston is not constrained by mechanical linkages.
This it can vary its stroke to obtain compression ratios higher than conventional
engines and can be adjusted for fuel quality and maximum efficiency.

Great compactness, flexibility, availability and low maintenance cost.

Free piston miniature engine:

1. Miniature : Run autonomously without any active control of engine speed, load, ignition
timing, fuel-air mixture or piston position.
2. Very small quantity of charge come inside blow by leakage significant
3. Run at high speed to avoid leakage and improve efficiency.
4. Large S/V ratiofriction losses high, heat losses high
5. IMEP < crankcase engine

Characteristics and types of free piston

Engine
Characteristics of free piston:
(a) Variable stroke length
(b) Need for active control of piston motion.
Other important features of the free-piston engine are potential reductions in frictional losses
and possibilities to optimize engine operation using the variable compression ratio.
Single Piston
Basic components of single piston engine

Piston-cylinder
Load Device
Rebound Device

Sometimes single component works as load and rebound device. Such as in case of
cylinder.
hydraulic

Dual piston

Use of rebound device is eliminated

Problems with dual free piston engine:

The control of piston motion, in particular stroke length and compression ratio, has proved
difficult. This is due to the fact that the combustion process in one cylinder drives the
compression in the other, and small variations in the combustion will have high influence on
the next compression. Experimental work with dual piston engines has reported high sensitivity
to load nuances and high cycle-to-cycle variations.
Free body diagrams:
Single Free Piston Engine

Pistons motion can be described with

2
2

Frequency Control using PPM (Pulse Pause Modulation)

The Pulse Pause Modulation frequency control pauses the piston motion at BDC using a
controllable hydraulic cylinder as rebound device. At BDC the piston velocity is zero and the
piston motion will only begin when the rebound device releases the stored energy. The
frequency can therefore be controlled by applying a pause between the time the piston reaches
BDC and the release of compression energy for the next stroke.

S. No.
1.

Judging Parameters
Starting

2.

Misfiring

3.

Free piston loads

4.

Features

5.

Compression ratio

Views
To be achieved either by using impulse or driving piston back
and forth until sufficient compression is achieved. It can
accompanied using electric machine or hydraulic cylinder.
Not capable of storing energy for several revolutions like the
flywheel to drive during misfiring.
Hydraulic, Electric Compressors or Air compressors. Load
Characteristics shown below in figure.
Low frictional losses.
Reduced manufacturing costs.
Compactness.
Low maintenance costs and increased lifetime.
Very high compression ratio (50:1) is possible.

General logics and concepts:

Engine
1. Energy density ratio of Fuel and LP batteries = 47MJ/kg / 1.8 MJ/kg = 26.11(huge)
2. More starting voltage greater compression ratio at start high efficiency.
3. Retention efficiency is the percentage of supplied fuel air mixture that is retained inside
the cylinder after scavenging process.

Where c = charging efficiency, s=circuiting parameter,

=delivery ratio

1.
2.
3.
4.

I.
S increase C. efficiency decrease.
II.
Delivery ratio increase Efficiency increase.
High engine speed decrease heat losses but increase friction losses.
Fast combustion less compression ratio-faster heat release ratehigh heat losses
High MFB high heat release high efficiency lower compression ratio
HCCI has more efficiency then glow due to rapid combustion rates.

Homogenous charge combustion ignition

1. The charge is compressed to the point of self-ignitions. The compression ratio generally
twice the normal gasoline engine. Very rapid compression and combustion.
2. Fuel auto-ignite - simultaneous combustion less propagation less heat loss.
3. No spark plugtiny bore cylinder
4. Combustion rate determined by kinetics rather than flame propagation.
5. Glow plug make easier to start enginelower comp. ratio.

Electrical generator and engine:

Permanent Magnate
generator
Mechanism :
Magnetic piston move
in magnetic field &
produce current.

Reluctance
generator
Ferromagnetic
piston moves in
armature produce
current.

Advantage :
Simple circuit, no
moving connections

Advantage :
Simple circuit, no
moving
connections

Disadvantage :
High temp. reduce
performance
Shock and vibrations
Weight of piston

Heavy material
increase piston
weight.

Linear DC current
Generator
Armature coil on
piston, moves in
stationary
ferromagnetic
yoke.
Conceptual
simple,

Three coil
generator
monolithic
conductive sleeve
attached to
piston move in
cylinder.

Sliding between
piston and
stationary
component.
Electrical losses

Piston takes high

loads
Resistive losses in
piston exceed the
energy produced.

Two coil generator

Little changes to 3 coil

Less friction , scale

dependence good.

Inductance matrix
is function of
piston position.

Charging W= IV
Losses = I2R
Losses>charging

The two coil generator is designed to get uniform flux through the length of the stroke.
V=Flux*velocity
At TDC , velocity less --- flux increase to keep voltage constant.

Generator power decrease as indicated power increase due to increase in losses due to high
current.
High excitation voltage higher load on piston -> higher flux and extract more energy from
the piston.
Scale factor importance :
Electrical quantities proportional to square of scale factor, while mechanical quantities
proportional linearly to the scale factor.

Numerical Analysis of two stroke free

piston engine operating on HCCI
combustion

Main points:
1. Comparison between free piston and crank-engine have been done with respect to
a) Various burning points and intervals (in sec) : 10%, 50% 10%-90% etc.
b) Peak pressures and temperatures
c) Indicated efficiency
d) Ringing intensity - knocking
e) Scavenging efficiencies
f) Equivalence ratio = 0.3 & 0.4
g) Scavenged volume etc. etc.

Results and Findings :

1. Increasing scavenging efficiency retards the combustion phasing and prolongs the
combustion duration, due to lower scavenged temperature. Consequently the peak
pressure, peak temperature and ring intensity decrease substantially.
2. Retarded combustion phasing and thermal stratification can significantly smooth the heat
release rates, prolong the combustion duration, and reduce the ringing intensity. The cycle
3. Thermal efficiency can be significantly improved (51% at piston mass of 5 kg and 48% at
piston mass of 1 kg) under HCCI combustion, while keeping the ring intensity on the order of
6 MW/m2.
4. The compression ratio of the OPFP depends on the compression energy and has nothing to
do with the piston mass. The piston mass has a great effect on the operating frequency.

When the piston mass is reduced, the engine runs more quickly, but the peak pressure, peak
temperature and cycle thermal efficiency decrease.
5. Over-compression of the cylinder charge after auto ignition leads to shorter burn duration,
resulting in increasing indicated thermal efficiency at adiabatic case. When heat transfer
loss is considered, the data are not favourable to efficiency improvements with increased
compression ratio. It is because that the reduced combustion duration is balanced by the
greater heat losses.

ENGINE MODELLING
(Separate paper)

Variable Valve Actuation

Need of Variable Valve actuation:

Reducing Losses: In conventional engines position and profile of the cam shafts
determine the valve events. That means with fixed crankshaft position valve motion
is constant for all operating conditions. However ideal scheduling of valve events
differs greatly between different valve positions.
Common operating conditions for IC engines are low engine speeds and
moderately throttled air flow. But optimum conditions for the average IC engine are
at WOT and low to moderate engine speeds. Air throttling creates fluid friction and

pumping losses. Particularly at high engine speeds efficiency decreases due to fluid
friction.

Objective to apply VVA is to control the amount of air introduced into the engine
without a physical restriction in flow field.

Modifying Torque Speed Curve: At low engine speeds torque can be increased by
closing the intake valve right after the BDC. But at high speeds, intake velocity is larger,
so intake valve needs to be remain opened for some more time. Figure below shows
the comparison of torque speed characteristics for conventional and VVA engine.

Exhaust gas recirculation: EGRs utility is more at high engine speeds. At low speeds it
only reduces combustibility.

VVA Actuators:
Electromechanical
Electrohydraulic
Cam-base actuators
o Discretely-Stage Cam Systems
o Continuously Variable Cam Systems
Variable valve lift

Variable cam phase

EXPERIMENTAL WORK :
o Generated Model in Customized Engine Analysis Software GT-Power
o Prepared Set-up for experimentation. Testing is performed on engine
dynamometer.
o Compared Simulation and Experimental data.
Engine Details:
o 2.2 lit. Gasoline Engine
o Fuel is port injected and spark ignited
o
Experimental Parameters:
o Data is taken for every 50 or 100 rpm.
o Both the intake and exhaust cam timing can be controlled independently
with a
15 CAM degree range.
Sensors:
o Laminar flow sensor was attached to the entrance of the intake manifold to
measure the mass flow rate of the air entering the intake

o Two pressure sensors were placed in the intake system. One measures the
ambient pressure and the other measures the manifold air pressure.
o Each runner in the intake manifold had two thermal couples to measure the
wall temperature and air charge temperature.

o Set of thermocouples was placed to measure the pre and post-throttle

temperatures.
o Exhaust system was also outfitted with several thermocouples. Another
important modification to the exhaust is the addition of multiple heated
exhaust gas oxygen sensors (HEGO) and universal exhaust gas oxygen sensors.
o High precision angle displacement sensor with a one degree resolution was
added to the crankshaft
o Dynamometer measures the engine speed, torque output and power output.
o To measure the in-cylinder pressure, a special spark plug with a built-in
pressure sensor was used. The data acquisition for the pressure sensor was
triggered by the crank angle sensor such that a pressure measurement was
taken every crank angle degree.
Data was acquired at 100 Hz through a 12 bit data acquisition system
Experimental objective was to determine the impact of intake cam timing, exhaust
cam timing, engine speed and manifold air pressure on combustion.