International Journal of Ambient Energy

ISSN: 0143-0750 (Print) 2162-8246 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/taen20

Improved efficiency in IC engines using proposed

design of aqua silencer

M. Sangeetha, S. Prakash & E. R. N. Sai Kumar

To cite this article: M. Sangeetha, S. Prakash & E. R. N. Sai Kumar (2018): Improved efficiency in
IC engines using proposed design of aqua silencer, International Journal of Ambient Energy, DOI:
10.1080/01430750.2018.1531265

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/01430750.2018.1531265

Published online: 19 Oct 2018.

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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AMBIENT ENERGY
https://doi.org/10.1080/01430750.2018.1531265

Improved efficiency in IC engines using proposed design of aqua silencer

M. Sangeethaa , S. Prakashb and E. R. N. Sai Kumara
a Department of Mechanical & Production Engineering, School of Mechanical Engineering, Sathyabama University, Chennai, India; b School of
Mechanical Engineering, Sathyabama University, Chennai, India

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Now a day’s more efficient engines are playing a crucial role in the market, with the help of this proposed Received 28 July 2018
design of aqua silencer. In this work, the efficiency of the engine is increased and the emission of gases from Accepted 23 September 2018
the automobiles and noise are decreased. The efficiency of the engine is increased by using alternative KEYWORDS
materials and change the design of the existing model, the final verdict is good. It helps in the produc- Aqua silencer; carbon
tion of ambient energy which helps to increase the efficiency. With the help of water present in the aqua monoxide; efficiency; energy;
silencer ambient energy is produced, and with that ambient energy there is an increase in efficiency of the hydrocarbons; carbon
engine. In this context by changing the material of the aqua silencer and positioning of exhaust pipe helps dioxide; pollutants
in the production of more ambient energy that helps to increase the efficiency of the engine. It controls the
emission of toxic gases from automobiles and reduces the noise.

1. Introduction 2. Materials and methods

The environment is mainly polluted by the burnt fuel such as 2.1. Components used
petrol and diesel escapes out of vehicles. People cannot survey
Perforated tube has many holes are presented on its surface of
without transports. The unwanted gasses escaping from trans-
different diameter. It is used to convert high mass bubbles to
port cause various health problems and defects among people.
low mass bubbles. This tube is concealed with charcoal. Char-
This pollutant and noise are controlled using aqua silencer. The
coal layer is called as activated charcoal. It is produced by heating
amount of exhaust gases such as carbon monoxide and car-
the charcoal above 1500°C for several hours in a burner. Due to
bon dioxide and the sound effects is controlled by the design of
the large surface area, this layer absorbs large capacity of smoke.
aqua silencer fitted in the outlet of an exhaust pipe (Alen 2015;
Outer shell is made up of iron or steel. The shell is equipped with
Bellam et al. 2016). The author Khande made a survey of the
inner, outer and exhaust tube. The whole set is provided in the
amount of polluted air inhaled by humans. The authors com-
outer shell. Non return valve allows the fluid to flow in one direc-
pared the aqua silencer with conventional silencer and reduce
tion. Check valves are the one-way valve which allows the fluid to
the sound level as well as the polluted air in a four-stroke diesel
flow in one direction. It has two openings, one for fluid to enter
engine (Anup 2014; Shah and Patel 2016). Mohsen Ghazikhani
and the other for fluid to leave. Cracking pressure in this valve is
proved in the experiment that the addition of ethanol reduced
the minimum upstream pressure at which the valve will operate.
the amount of exhaust gases such as hydrocarbon, Carbon
The check valve is designed for a specific cracking pressure.
monoxide and Carbon dioxide (Kumar et al. 2013; Saraf et al.
The aqua silencer is filled with water and it is directly con-
2017). The aqua silencer reduces emission noise because the
nected to the exhaust pipe of the engine. There is a possibility of
sound produced in aqua silencer under water having a less
water flow inside the engine cylinder. To avoid this, non return
amplitude than the sound produced in an open atmosphere.
valve is used. It allows the flow of fluid in one direction only.
This is happening because of water molecules, which ampli-
Figure 1 is a flange connected to H-Nipple, where the connect-
tude the emission of gases and the sound level. The charcoal
ing pieces have flanges by which the parts are bolted together.
layer which is pasted over perforated tube can control the emis-
Here flange is used to connect the silencer to the engine.
sion using the activated charcoal (Khande 2016; Sharma et al.
Figure 2 is a H-Nipple used to connect two pipes together. It
2017). Akhil Kumar et al. conducted a modified version of con-
consists of two threaded sides.
ventional silencer aimed in the reduction of toxic emission and
also to reduce the noise and it is produced by damping methods
which involve water. It incorporates the usage of cheap chemi-
2.2. Methods to control the water pollution
cal and water. It is a simple but effective change in the design
and fabrication of silencer to reduce the noise (Ghazikhani 2014; In aqua silencer, the water gets polluted by the dissolved
Saraswat 2017). gases. These gases are mixed with water to form carbonate,

CONTACT M. Sangeetha inba_sangee@yahoo.com

© 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

 2 M. SANGEETHA ET AL.

acids like carbonic acid, sulphuric acid, and Nitrous acid,

etc. The petroleum products contain phenols which give a
Colour online, B/W in print

suffocating smell. Rotten egg smelled hydrogen sulphide is

Figure 1. Flange connected to H-Nipple (Alen 2015).
formed due to the combination of sulphur gas with water.
The amount of carbonate, carbonic acid, sulphuric acid, nitrous
acid should be reduced, which results to pollute water in
silencer.
There are two methods to avoid the mixing of water with
polluted gas are

1). Lime water wash method

2). Adsorption process
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2.2.1. Lime water wash method

The specific quantity of water is treated with slaked lime. One
should have the quantitative analysis of water to go about
this process. After mixing the heavy precipitates settle down as
Figure 2. H-Nipple connected to outer shell (Bellam et al. 2016). sludge at the bottom of the tank are removed from time to time.
Lime can neutralise any acid present in the water. Calcium sul-
phate is formed due to the removal of SO2 from the gas. The
precipitates dissolved carbon dioxide as calcium carbonate and
convert bicarbonate ions into carbonates.
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2.2.2. Adsorption process

Activated charcoal is either in coarse size or in fine powdered
form. As it is highly porous and possess free valences and it pos-
sesses high absorption capacity. In order to remove any taste or
odour from water activated carbon is added because it has excel-
lent properties of attracting gases, finely divided solid particles
and phenol type impurities, the activated carbon, usually in the
powdered form are added to the water either before or after the
Figure 3. Existing aqua silencer. coagulation with sedimentation. But it is always added before
filtration.
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Figure 4. Result of existing aqua silencer.


3. Results and discussions
3.1. Existing system
In the existing system, the exhaust gas from the vehicle contains
CO, CO2 and HC gases and is very harmful, and creates much
human disorder and it creates air pollution in the environment.
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Figure 5. Amount of gasses emitted in terms of percentage.
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Figure 6. Proposed aqua silencer.
Figure 7. Result of existing aqua silencer.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AMBIENT ENERGY 3
In existing of the aqua silencer lime is used as the main layer to
control the emission of CO, CO, and HC. In the existing system,
the percentage of emitted gas is CO2 (2.0), CO (1.99), HC (2.052).
In this system cast iron is used as the main metal to fabricate the
tank and other valves, pipes and perforated tube. Figure 3 shows
the construction of existing aqua silencer and Figure 4 displayed
the tested report of the amount of emitted gasses. This report
recorded the regulation of the actual value of CO, hydrocarbon
and carbon dioxide in term percentage. In existing aqua silencer,
the amount of carbon dioxide is more than the critical value of
15.11% (Bharath et al. 2018).
Figure 5 shows the emission of exhaust gasses in terms of
percentage. The values of emitted gas are compared with the
critical values. The emission of hydrocarbon is within the critical
limit. The amount of CO and CO2 are extending beyond the crit-
ical value while testing in the diesel engine report. This graph
plotted between the regulation limit and the actual values of
existing systems. Percentage of gas emitted is taken along the
y-axis. This regulation limit denotes the critical value of exhaust
gases and the actual values show the percentage of gas emitted
from the existing aqua silencer. Disadvantage of existing aqua
silence is bigger in size, heavier in weight, less pickup, emission
of gas is high and over the noise.
3.2. Proposed system
In order to avoid the existing problem. The position of the inlet
and exhaust pipe are changed and the stainless steel material
is used for aqua silencer in the existing system. By using this
approach, the noise of the vehicles is controlled. In the existing
system the outer shell, perforated tube and valves are made of
cast iron and it leads to an oxide formation inside the tank. Cast
iron is not a good water-resistant material and it corrodes easily.
When the water gets polluted inside the tank due to the emitted
CO, CO2, NOx gases, the impurities are collected at the bottom
of the tank. In this case, the impurities formed a layer inside the
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 4 M. SANGEETHA ET AL.
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Figure 8. Amount of gasses emitted in terms of percentage.
tank leads to rust formation inside the shell. To avoid this kind
of problem in the proposed system the cast iron is replaced by
stainless steel 304L grade, it has a good water resistance, corro-
sion resistance. In this material, the dust and impurities cannot
form a layer to cause rust. The perforated tube, valve, pipes are
made of stainless steel and also the position of the exhaust and
inlet pipes are modified to get a better result.
Figure 6 shows the construction of proposed aqua silencer
and Figure 7 displayed the tested report of the amount of emit-
ted gasses. This report recorded the regulation of the actual
value of CO, hydrocarbon and carbon dioxide in term percent-
age. In existing aqua silencer, the amount of carbon dioxide is
more than the critical value. Figure 8 is plotted between the
regulation limit and actual values of the proposed system. Per-
centage of gas emitted along the y-axis. In this regulation, limit
denotes the critical values of exhaust gases. The actual values
show the percentage of gas emitted from the proposed aqua
silencer. From this figure, it is studied the carbon monoxide are
lesser than the limit of critical value. By comparing these two
figures for existing and proposed design. The proposed aqua
silencer shows the limited value so the pollution, as well as noise,
is controlled in the proposed design. Some of the advantages of
the proposed design are listed below.
Advantages of the proposed aqua silencer are good pickup,
cost of the engine is less, lighter in weight, ensures a more uni-
form rotation of the crankshaft, no vibration when the engine
is running, starting the engine easy, control emission, control
noise, used for heavy and earth moving vehicles.
4. Conclusion
The reduction of exhaust gasses and production of ambient
energy is greatly influenced by the aqua silencer with the help of
perforated tube and charcoal, by using perforated tube the back-
pressure will remain constant and the sound level is reduced.
By using the perforated tube, the fuel consumption remains
same as conventional systems. Due to the presence of water in
the aqua silencer, the amount of noise generated by the diesel
engine is reduced. The emitted gas amount is reduced by the
activated charcoal. The water contamination is found to be negli-
gible in aqua silencer. It is smokeless and pollution free emission
and also it is very cheap. This aqua silencer performance is almost
equivalent to the conventional silencer. This aqua silencer is
preferable for both diesel, petrol engines or for two stroke and
four-stroke engines. In this experiment, the proposed design of
aqua silencer is emitting less percentage of CO, CO2 , NOX and
the amount of gasses are within the critical value.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
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