COMBUSTION IN CI ENGINE

INTRODUCTION
Combustion in a CI engine is quite different from that of an SI engine.
While combustion in an SI engine is essentially a flame front moving
through a homogeneous mixture, combustion in a CI engine is an
unsteady process occurring simultaneously in many spots in a very
non-homogeneous mixture controlled by fuel injection.
Air intake into the engine is un-throttled, with engine torque and power
output controlled by the amount of fuel injected per cycle.
Only air is contained in the cylinder during compression stroke, and a
much higher compression ratios (12 to 24) are used in CI engines.

COMBUSTION CHARACTERISTICS
In addition to swirl and turbulence of the air, a high injection velocity is needed to
spread the fuel throughout the cylinder and cause it to mix with the air.
Fuel is injected into the cylinders late in the compression stroke by one or more
injectors located in each cylinders. Injection time is usually about 200 crankshaft
rotation (150 bTDC and 50 aTDC).
Combustion occurs throughout the chamber over a range of equivalence ratios
dictated by the fuel-air mixing before and during the combustion phase.
In general most of the combustion occurs under very rich conditions within the
head of the jet, this produces a considerable amount of solid carbon (soot).

STAGES OF COMBUSTION IN CI ENGINE

1. Ignition delay
2. Premixed/Uncontrolled
combustion
3. Period controlled combustion
4. Period of after burning

IGNITION DELAY
Ignition delay is defined as the time (or crank angle
interval) from when the fuel injection starts to the
onset of combustion.
The ignition delay period can be divided into two
parts,
I. Physical delay
II. Chemical delay.

Physical delay: is the time between the beginning of

injection and the attainment of chemical reaction
conditions.
During this period, the fuel is atomized, vaporized,
mixed with air and raised to its self-ignition
temperature.

 The physical delay depends on

The type of fuel: for light fuel the physical delay is small for heavy viscous fuels the physical
delay is high.
Injection Pressure: The physical delay is greatly reduced by using high injection pressures
Combustion chamber temperatures and Turbulence to facilitate: breakup of the jet and
improving evaporation.
Chemical Delay: During the chemical delay, reactions start slowly and then accelerated ignition
taking place. Generally, the chemical delay is larger than the physical delay.
Chemical delay depends on
the temperature of the surroundings
At high temperatures, the chemical reactions are faster
In most CI engines the ignition lag is shorter than the duration of injection.

PERIOD OF UNCONTROLLED COMBUSTION

combustion of the fuel which has mixed with the air to within the
flammability limits (air at high-temperature and high-pressure) during
the ignition delay period occurs rapidly in a few crank angles
The period of rapid combustion also called the uncontrolled
combustion, is that phase in which the pressure rise is rapid.
The period of rapid combustion is counted from the beginning of the
combustion to the point of maximum pressure on the indicator
diagram.

PERIOD OF CONTROLLED COMBUSTION

after premixed gas consumed, the burning rate is controlled by the
rate at which mixture becomes available for burning.
The rate of burning is controlled in this phase primarily by the fuel-air
mixing process.
The temperature and pressure in the second stage is already quite
high. Hence the fuel droplets injected during the second stage burn
faster with reduced ignition delay as soon as they find the necessary
oxygen and any further pressure rise is controlled by the injection
rate.
The period of controlled combustion is assumed to end at maximum
cycle temperature.

PERIOD OF AFTER BURNING

Combustion does not cease with the completion of the injection process.
The unburnt and partially burnt fuel particles left in the combustion
chamber start burning as soon as they come into contact with the oxygen.
This process continues for a certain duration called the afterburning period.
Usually this period starts from the point of maximum cycle temperature
and continues over a part of the expansion stroke.
Rate of after-burning depends on
the velocity of diffusion and turbulent mixing of unburnt and
partially burnt fuel with the air.

The duration of the after-burning phase may correspond to 70-80 degrees

of crank travel from TDC

STAGES OF COMBUSTION IN CI ENGINES

FACTORS AFFECTING DELAY PERIOD (DP)

Compression Ratio: DP decreases with
increase of CR.
Engine Speed: DP decreases with increase of
engine speed.
Fuel Quality: DP decreases with higher cetane
number. For a CI engine the air throttled so the
load is varied by changing the amount of fuel
injected Increasing the load (bmep) increases
the residual gas and wall temperature which
results in a higher charge temperature at
injection which translates to a decrease in the
ignition delay.

FACTORS AFFECTING DELAY PERIOD (DP)

Injection timing: At normal engine conditions the
minimum delay occurs with the start of injection at about
10-15 BTC. The increase in the delay time with earlier or
later injection timing occurs because of the air
temperature and pressure during the delay period.
Fuel Atomization: DP decreases with fineness of
atomization.
Power Output: DP decreases with increase of power
output.
Intake Temp. & Pressure: DP decreases with increase of
Temperature and pressure. an increase in ether will
result in a decrease in the ignition delay, an increase in
the compression ratio has the same effect.

FACTORS AFFECTING DELAY PERIOD (DP)

Fuel quality: Fuel Rating measures the tendency of fuel to auto ignite
spontaneously.
Cetane number: increasing the value represents that fuel will readily ignite and it
leads to better performance
Octane number: increasing leads to fuel to resist spontaneous ignition

The ignition characteristics of the fuel affect the ignition delay.

The ignition quality of a fuel is defined by its Cetane number CN.
For low cetane fuels the ignition delay is long and most of the fuel is injected before
auto ignition and rapidly burns, under extreme cases this produces an audible
knocking sound referred to as diesel knock.
For high cetane fuels the ignition delay is short and very little fuel is injected before
auto-ignition, the heat release rate is controlled by the rate of fuel injection and
fuel-air mixing smoother engine operation.

EFFECT OF IGNITION
DELAY

KNOCKING PHENOMENA IN SI AND CI

ENGINE
Knock in SI and CI engines are fundamentally similar. In SI engines, it occurs
near the end of combustion; whereas in CI engines, it occurs near the
beginning of combustion.
Knock in CI engines is related to delay period. When DP is longer, there will
be more and more accumulation of fuel droplets in combustion chamber.
This leads to a too rapid a pressure rise due to ignition, resulting in
jamming of forces against the piston and rough engine operation.
When the DP is too long, the rate of pressure rise is almost instantaneous
with more accumulation of fuel.

KNOCKING PHENOMENA IN SI AND CI

ENGINE

KNOCKING PHENOMENA IN SI AND CI

ENGINE
SI ENGINE

CI ENGINE

Later part of combustion

Starting point of combustion

Homogenous charge leads to Detonation

Heterogeneous charge leads to knocking

Pre-ignition: fuel and air injected during

suction stoke.

No Pre-ignition: only air is compressed and

fuel is injected at the end of compression
stroke

Rate of pressure rise is always less

compared to CI, there fore knocking
tendency are less.

Rate of pressure rise in case of normal

combustion is always high due which there
is always some sort of audible knock
present in case of CI engine

More reaction time smoother combustion

More reaction time more fuel accumulation

Octane rating: 80-100

Cetane rating: 45-65

KNOCKING PHENOMENA IN SI AND CI

ENGINE

TYPES OF CI ENGINE
Direct-injection
Indirect-injection

DIRECT INJECTION CHAMBER

This type of combustion
chamber is also called an open
combustion chamber.
In this type the entire volume of
the combustion chamber is
located in the main cylinder and
the fuel is injected into this
volume

DIRECT INJECTION CHAMBER

Advantages

Drawbacks

Minimum heat loss during

compression because of less
surface to volume ratio hence
better efficiency
No cold starting problem
Fine atomization because of
multi hole nozzle

High injection pressure is

required and hence complex
design of fuel-injection pump.
necessity of accurate metering
of fuel by the injection system,
particularly for small engine

INDIRECT INJECTION CHAMBER

In this type of combustion chambers, the combustion space is divided
into two parts, one part in the main cylinder and the other part in the
cylinder head and are connected to the main chamber via a nozzle, or
one or more orifices
The fuel-injection is effected usually into that part of the chamber
located in the cylinder head.
These chambers are classified further into
Swirl chamber: here compression swirl is generated.
Pre combustion chamber: here combustion swirl is induced.
Air cell chamber: here both compression and combustion swirl are induced

SWIRL CHAMBER
Swirl chamber is of Sphere shape
50 % of air induced is transferred
during compression stroke
Throat is tangential to the
chamber-leads to high velocity
combustion product reenters main
combustion chamber
Considerable heat loss due to more
surface/volume ratio
Here quality of fuel is difficult to
control
Used where reliability is more
important than fuel economy

PRE-COMBUSTION CHAMBER
Pre-combustion chamber volume is 40%
of combustion space
Fuel is injected into the pre-combustion
chamber combustion is initiated
This results in pressure rise and forces
flaming droplets together with air at
high velocity thus creates strong
secondary turbulence
80% of energy is released in this
chamber
The rate of pressure rise and maximum
pressure is lower compared to those of
open type combustion chamber

AIR-CELL CHAMBER
Energy cell divided into 2 chambers major, minor and are separated
by main combustion chamber by narrow orifice
The pressure difference between main cylinder and energy cell will be
more due to small orifice.
At end of compression both compressed air and fuel enters energy
cell leaving behind less air motion(absent air motion)- leads to lesser
burning rate in combustion chamber.
Fuel is well mixed with air and high pressure rise due to heat release
and hot burning gases.
High velocity jet Entered produces swirl motion into main combustion
chamber
Advantage:
Lesser injection pressure
Direction of spraying is not important
Disadvantage
Poor cold start performance
More fuel consumption due to loss of pressure due to air
motion through the duct and heat loss due to large heat
transfer area.