Internal Combustion Engines

1. Introduction to Internal Combustion Engines

4 Stroke Otto Cycle for spark-ignition reciprocating internal

combustion engines – crankshaft makes 2 revolutions per cycle,
ie. 4 strokes per cycle.

2 Stroke Otto Cycle for spark-ignition reciprocating internal

combustion engines – crankshaft makes 1 revolutions per cycle,
ie. 2 strokes per cycle.

Otto Cycle (described by 2 stroke) for spark-ignition rotary

(Wankel) internal combustion engines – crankshaft makes 1
revolutions per cycle, no reciprocating movement.
4 Stroke Diesel Cycle for compression-ignition reciprocating
internal combustion engines – crankshaft makes 2 revolutions per
cycle, ie. 4 strokes per cycle.

The four events of the diesel cycle can be adopted to a two-stroke

cycle.

2. Entropy

Entropy – turn into (Greek)

Entropy measures the extent to which a working fluid can

transform heat into work.

T
T1 1

Entropy - S=Q/T 2
T2
- increases when heat flows into a system
- decreases when heat flows out
- remainsSunchanged
1 during Sa2 reversible
S adiabatic
process (Q = 0)
3. Heat Engine

Heat engine is defined as a device that converts heat energy into

mechanical energy or more exactly a system which operates
continuously and only heat and work may pass across its
boundaries.

Forward Heat Engine

LTER= Low Temperature Energy Reservoir

HTER= High Temperature Energy Reservoir

A forward heat engine has a positive work output. Applying the first
law of thermodynamics to the cycle gives:

Q1 - Q2 - W = 0

The second law of thermodynamics states that the thermal

efficiency of the cycle, has an upper limit (the thermal efficiency of
the Carnot cycle), i.e.

  c  1.0

It can be shown that:

Q1 > W

which means that it is impossible to convert the whole heat input to

work and

Q2 > 0

which means that a minimum of heat supply to the cold reservoir is

necessary.
4. Gas Power Cycle

Our study of gas power cycles will involve the study of those heat
engines in which the working fluid remains in the gaseous state
throughout the cycle. We often study the ideal cycle in which
internal irreversibilities and complexities (the actual intake of air
and fuel, the actual combustion process, and exhaust of products
of combustion among others) are removed.

5. Carnot Ideal Cycle

The Ideal Cycle for Heat Engines

Carnot was the first to introduce the concept of cyclic operation

and devised a reversible cycle that is composed of four reversible
processes, two isothermal and two adiabatic.

Process 1-2 Reversible isothermal heat addition at high

temperature
TH = const. for the working fluid in a piston
cylinder device
Process 2-3 Reversible adiabatic expansion during which
the system does work as the working fluid temperature
decreases from TH to TL
Process 3-4 Reversible isothermal heat rejection takes
place while work is done on the system
The system is brought in contact with a heat
reservoir at TL = constant
Process 4-1 Reversible adiabatic compression process
increases the working fluid temperature from T L to TH
The areas under the process curves on the P-v diagram represent
the work done for closed systems. The net cycle work done is the
area enclosed by the cycle on the P-v diagram. The areas under
the process curves on the T-s diagram represent the heat transfer
for the processes. The net heat added to the cycle is the area that
is enclosed by the cycle on the T-s diagram. For a cycle W net = Qnet;
therefore, the areas enclosed on the P-v and T-s diagrams are
equal.

The Carnot cycle is the most efficient heat engine that can operate
between two fixed temperatures TH and TL. The ratio of heat
absorbed QL to the heat rejected QH is equal to the ratio of the
absolute temperatures TL and TH at which the heat is absorbed or
rejected.
Q T

L L

Q H
T H

We will be concerned with how the major parameters of the cycle

affect the performance of heat engines. The performance is often
measured in terms of the thermal (cycle) efficiency – also called air
standard efficiency (ASE).
 Thermal efficiency = heat converted into work/heat supplied

Wnet
 th 
Qin
Air Standard Efficiency = heat supplied - heat rejected
heat supplied
T T
η  H L
th T
H

TL
 th , Carnot  1
TH
You may have observed that the power cycle operates in the
clockwise direction when plotted on a process diagram. The
Carnot cycle may be reversed, in which it operates as a
refrigerator. The refrigeration cycle operates in the counter
clockwise direction.

6. Definitions (Thermodynamic cycle & IC Engines)

Engines – the devices or systems used to produce a net power

output.

Power cycles – the thermodynamic cycles on which the engine

works.
Refrigerators / air conditioners / heat pump – the devices or
systems used to produce a refrigeration effect.

Refrigeration cycles – the thermodynamic cycles on which the

refrigerators works.

Gas power cycle – the working fluid remains in the gaseous

phase throughout the entire cycle

Vapour power cycle – the working fluid exists in the vapour phase
during one part of the cycle and in he liquid phase during another
part.

Closed cycle – the working fluid is returned to the initial state at

the end of the cycle and is recirculated

Open cycle – the working fluid is renewed at the end of each cycle

Heat engine - is defined as a device that converts heat energy into

mechanical energy or more exactly a system which operates
continuously and only heat and work may pass across its
boundaries.

Internal combustion engine – energy or heat is supplied to the

working fluid by burning the fuel within the system boundaries (e.g.
automobile engines).

External combustion engine – energy is supplied to the working

fluid from an external source such as furnace, a geothermal well, a
nuclear reactor, or even the sun (e.g. steam power plant).

Spark ignition - combustion of air-fuel mixture initiated by a spark

plug

Ideal cycle - the cycle that resembles the actual cycle closely but
is made up totally of internally reversible processes. This happens
when the actual cycle is stripped off all the internal irreversibilities
and complexities such as friction and the absence of sufficient time
for establishment of the equilibrium conditions during the cycle

Air standard efficiencies - the efficiencies of the ideal cycles for

internal combustion engines as they use air as the working
substance.
 The piston reciprocates in the cylinder between two fixed positions:

INTAKE EXHAUST
VALVE VALVE

TDC

BORE

STROKE
BDC

CLEARANCE VOLUME
TDC

DISPLACEMENT/SWEPT
VOLUME

BDC

TOP DEAD CENTRE (TDC) – the position of the piston when it

forms the smallest volume in the cylinder
BOTTOM DEAD CENTRE (BDC) – the position of the piston when
it forms the largest volume in the cylinder.

STROKE – the distance between the TDC and the BDC, which is
the largest distance that the piston can travel in one direction.

BORE – the diameter of the piston

INTAKE VALVE – the opening through which the air or air-fuel

mixture is drawn into the cylinder

EXHAUST VALVE – the opening through which the combustion

products are expelled from the cylinder.

CLEARANCE VOLUME – the minimum volume formed in the

cylinder when the piston is at TDC.

DISPLACEMENT VOLUME – the volume displaced by the piston

as it moves between TDC and BDC.

COMPRESSION RATIO r – the ratio of the maximum

(displacement + clearance) volume formed in the cylinder to the
minimum (clearance) volume.
VMAX VBDC
i.e. r 
VMIN VTDC
We note that the compression ratio is a volume ratio and should
not be confused with the pressure ratio.

MEAN EFFECTIVE PRESSURE – a fictitious pressure that, if it

acted on the piston during the entire power stroke, would produce
the same amount of net work as that produced during the actual
cycle. That is:

Wnet = MEP x Piston area x Stroke = MEP x Displacement volume

or
Wnet w net
MEP  
Vmax  Vmin w max  w min

MEP is used to compare the performance of reciprocating engines

of equal size.
Engine with larger MEP value will deliver more work per cycle and
thus will perform better.
7. Thermodynamic Cycles

7.1 OTTO CYCLE (Constant Volume Cycle)

Consider the automotive spark-ignition 4 stroke cycle

intake stroke
compression stroke
power (expansion) stroke
exhaust stroke

Often the ignition and combustion process begins before the

completion of the compression stroke. The number of crank angle
degrees before the piston reaches TDC on the number one piston
at which the spark occurs is called the engine timing.

The simplest model for IC engines is the air-standard model, which

assumes that:
- The system is closed.
- Air is the working fluid and is modeled as an ideal gas
throughout the cycle.
- Compression and expansion processes are isentropic.
- Heat rejection takes place reversibly and at constant
volume.
 The Air-Standard Otto Cycle is the ideal cycle that approximates
the spark-ignition combustion engine. The intake and exhaust
strokes are omitted, as these constitutes a change of the mass of
the working fluid, ie. PV=mRT cannot be applied for the processes
or the cycle.

Process Description
1-2 Reversible Adiabatic (Isentropic) Compression
2-3 Constant Volume Heat Addition
3-4 Reversible Adiabatic (Isentropic) Expansion
4.1 Constant Volume Heat Rejection

The p-V and T-s diagrams are:

P T 3
3

2 4
2
4
Thermal Efficiency of the Otto Cycle:
1
(T4  T1 )
1

 th , Otto  1 V S
(T3  T2 )
T1 (T4 / T1  1)
 1
T2 (T3 / T2  1)
 1  1
or  1  
r

7.2 Constant Pressure Cycle

 An example of a Constant Pressure Cycle is an air compressor.
This is not necessarily a thermodynamic cycle, since the volume
changes 2-3 and 4-1 are the result of the mass of the working fluid
changing, not as a result of heat transfer.

EXHAUST INTAKE
VALVE VALVE

P 3 2

4 1
V

JOULE CYCLE (Constant Pressure Cycle)

The Air-Standard Joule Cycle is the ideal cycle that

approximates the gas turbine engine. Heat is taken in at constant
pressure 2-3, whilst heat is rejected at constant pressure 4-1.

Process Description
1-2 Reversible Adiabatic (Isentropic) Compression
2-3 Constant Pressure heat addition
3-4 Reversible Adiabatic (Isentropic) Expansion
4-1 Constant Pressure heat rejection
 The p-V and T-s diagrams are:

P 2 3 T 3

Thermal Efficiency of the Joule Cycle:

T T 2 4
 1 4 1
1
T3 T2 4 1

 1 V S
1
or  1   
 
r
 
P P
2  3
where r
P P
1 4

7.3 DIESEL CYCLE (Slow-running large Marine Diesels)

The Air-Standard Diesel Cycle is the ideal cycle that
approximates the compression-ignition combustion engine. Heat is
taken in at constant pressure 2-3, whilst heat is rejected at
constant volume 4-1.

Process Description
1-2 Isentropic Compression
2-3 Constant Pressure Heat Addition
3-4 Isentropic Expansion
4-1 Constant Volume Heat Rejection

The P-v and T-s diagrams are:

Thermal Efficiency of the Diesel Cycle:

 Cv (T4  T1 )
 th , Diesel  1
C p (T3  T2 )
1 T1 (T4 / T1  1)
 1
k T2 (T3 / T2  1)
7.4 DUAL COMBUSTION CYCLE (Fast-running modern
diesel)

For the Dual Combustion Cycle the heat is first received at

constant volume 2-3, and further heat is received at constant
pressure 3-4.

Process Description
1-2 Reversible Adiabatic (Isentropic) Compression
2-3 Constant Volume
3-4 Constant Pressure
4-5 Reversible Adiabatic (Isentropic) Expansion
5-1 Constant Volume

The p-V and T-s diagrams are:

P T 4
3 4 3

5
2
2
5
Thermal Efficiency of the Dual Combustion Cycle:
1 1
T5 VT1
 1 S

 T3 T2    T4 T3 
8. Practical Cycles
8.1 INDICATED POWER

INDICATED POWER = PLAE

60 X 103
where P = indicated mean effective pressure (Pa)
L = length of stroke (m)
A = area of piston
E = number of working strokes or explosions/minute
NOTE: in 2-stroke cycle running at N r/min, firing occurs every
second stroke for every revolution, two strokes are made number
of working strokes E = number of revolutions N in 4-stroke cycle,
firing occurs every for every revolution, one stroke is made number
of working strokes E = (number of revolutions N)/2

8.2 BRAKE POWER

BRAKE POWER = W x 2 r N
60 x 103

where W = load (N)

r = radius at which load acts (m)
N = revolutions per minute
or
BRAKE POWER = 2 N T
60 x 103

where T = brake torque (N.m)