ENGINE WORKING LOADS L. Introduction. Internalcombustion produces a high pressure that actsupona piston;the consequences arehereexplored.
Therearethreevariables which broadly definethe design of a singlecylinderinternal - the boreB,the combustion engine strolrcS = 2r andthe connecting rod tength L These areshownin Fig.I.
-",.I
F'igureI We areinterested in the torquesupplied by the engine, the thrusVtension in the connecting rod (ensure no buckling,implications for fatigueof big-endbolts)andthe side-thrust on the cylinder-wall(implications for wearandinternallosses). 2. Somehistory The 19966-cylinder (Wl 24) Mercedes Benz8300 dieselengine hasbore B - 87rnm, strokes = 84mm . Thesweptvolumeis
^ _a 7L IIT ta
x84x 6 -2.996x106mm'; but I cm=10 mm, so I cm3:1000mm3, andthe
swept volume is 2996 cffi3, or 3-litres. Since the bore is greaterthan the stroke, the engine is said to over-square. Early automotivepractice was for engines to be unders(luare;this was encouraged by the imposition of Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) based
upon theRAChorse-power formula RAChp= ry where B is thebore in inches, 2.5 n is thenumber of cylinders, rather thanCO, emission ascurrently employed. Since
this formula is independentof stroke ,S,it was advantageous to achieve a given
capacityby having a small bore but large sfoke. For example, the JaguarXK 3.8 litre engine(1950's,1960's)had abore of 87 ffiffi, but a strokeof 106mm. A long stroke has the advantage of higher torque at low speed,lower side-thrust,but the disadvantage of higher piston speed(and hencemechanical losses)and higher piston acceleration(and hence various dynamic stresses) for a given engine speed. The trend towardsover-squareengines originatedin the USA in the 1950's.
3. Somecalculations. Suppose F is the net force on the piston crown, that is gas pressurex piston crown areaminus the force necessary to acceleratethe piston, which is
F =p(e),q-ffi*""@'r["o, [Link])
(b)
Figure 2
Fromthefree-body diagram of thepiston,Fig.2a,onehas F = ecosl, or Q = FsecQ,ffid G = QsinL = Ftan Q,where Qisthe compressive forcein the connecting rod, andG is the side-thrust providedby the cylinderwall. For a given F, theside-thrust will be smallwhen/ is small;for a givenr and0,themagnitude of G decreases as/ increases: thus a long connecting rod leadsto smallersidethrust, and so lessfrictional loss,and lesswear. On the otherhand,longrod engines with a particularstrokebuild suctionabovethe pistonlessquickly, sincethe pistonmovesawayfrom TDC moreslowly;this resultsin a lower inlet port air velocity,whichreduces low speed [Link],the ratio lf r ranges from 3 to 4.
Thetorqueappliedto the crankis z = exoN:Fse clxoN, but oNsecQ= oM, leading to T= l7xoM. Thusfo, given^F, torquewill be largeif 1 distance OM is large. ReferringtoFig. l, Op=/coS 0+lcos|,ood o M = o P t a n0 , o r o M = r c o s e t u t + r s i n l . *=tan OP Q,so
N o w r s i ng = l s i n l , s o ThusOM
sin / =lsinl , eos{ =
canbe expressed as
l-(rlt)'z sinz Q, snd tan| = l-(rlt)'zsin2Q
Fromthe above,it is clearthat distance oM increases asthe crankthrow r (which is one-half of the stroke,r = sl}) increases. In turno onemay conclude that a long strokeenginewill provide a largertorque,all otherfactors being equal- which they neverare' Thusa long-stroke singlecylinder500cc engine, asin a 1950/60,s Panther, is idealfor a motorcyclecombination. (Motorbikeandsidecar!) 4. Tuming-momentdiagram. A typicarpv-diagram is shownin Fig. 3.
Figure 3 Next onemay constnrct a furning-moment diagram, asin Fig. 4.
,a
*#
, _r_i
Note that whenthe torqueis negative, the enginemustbe driven by an extemalsource of energy- hencethe needfor a flywheel. The increase in torquetowardsthe endof eachstokeis dueto retardation of thepistonaddingto the [Link] meanor average torqueis
4n
t r @)d0 J T - -'
mean
4n
5. Multi-cylinder engine. For a 4 cylinderengine, with firing order l342,onecan superimpose a firther threetorquecurves,eachshiftedby n radians. The overall torquecurvewill then be much less"peaky" anda smallerflywheel will be required.