DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY

Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment

UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG
Doornfontein Campus

Title: ENGINE TEST

By

Aron Tumelo Molale

(219005759)

A Semester 1 Report submitted

in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the module

THERMODYNAMICS 3A (TRDMIA3)

BENG TECH

Engineering: Mechanical

LECTURER: Dr S.L GQIBANI

Date: 31/05/2021
DECLARATION

I declare that this assignment is my own, original work. All other secondary materials that I
used in completing this assignment whether from electronic or print have been acknowledged
very carefully and referenced according to the Mechanical Engineering Department
requirements. This work has not been submitted previously for credit purpose. I fully
understand that plagiarism is unacceptable, and I have studied the department’s plagiarism and
referencing policies as provided in the Learner guide.

Student’s signature: __________ _____________

ACKNOWLEGEMENT
I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to my lecturer and tutor Mr Gqibani and
Ms Ledile respectively for helping one to continue learning through the new platform. Finally
special thanks of gratitude to my fellow classmates who continue to help me in my academic
journey.
ABSTRACT
The experiment was conducted using TecQuipment TD201 Four-stroke Petrol Engine to
determine heat of combustion and inlet air enthalpy. The heat combustions and inlet air
enthalpies were found to be 12990.78 W and 809.96 at a speed of 1661. It was observed that
air inlet increases with an increase in heat of combustion due to more fuel be used thus more
combustion taking place generating more heat. It was concluded that the experiment was a
success since the objective was met.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION ....................................................................................................................... 2
ACKNOWLEGEMENT ............................................................................................................ 3
ABSTRACT............................................................................................................................... 4
OBJECTIVE .............................................................................................................................. 7
ASSUMPTIONS ........................................................................................................................ 7
BACKGROUND OF EXPERIMENT ....................................................................................... 7
HEAT COMBUSTION .......................................................................................................... 8
ENTHALPY ........................................................................................................................... 8
APPARATUS ............................................................................................................................ 9
PROCEDURE .......................................................................................................................... 10
RESULTS ................................................................................................................................ 11
MEASURED RESULTS ..................................................................................................... 11
ANALYSIS OF RESULTS ..................................................................................................... 12
CALCULATED RESULTS ................................................................................................. 12
SAMPLE CALCULATIONS .............................................................................................. 12
GRAPHS .............................................................................................................................. 14
DISCUSSION .......................................................................................................................... 17
CONCLUSIONS...................................................................................................................... 18
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................ 18
APPENDICES ......................................................................................................................... 19

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Single Cylinder Petrol engine with Four Stroke [2]. .................................................. 7
Figure 2: Engine Test Software ................................................................................................. 8
Figure 3:Bench-mounted Instrument Frame .............................................................................. 9
Figure 4: Single Cylinder Engine .............................................................................................. 9
Figure 5: Engine speed and Thermal Efficiency [5] ................................................................ 19
Figure 6:Engine speed and Specific Fuel Consumption [5] .................................................... 20
Figure 7: Power and Speed [5]................................................................................................. 20
Figure 8: Engine Torque and Speed [5] ................................................................................... 20

LIST OF GRAPHS
Graph 1: Relationship of Engine power and Engine speed ..................................................... 14
Graph 2: Relationship of between Torque and Speed ............................................................. 15
Graph 3: Relationship between Inlet air enthalpy and speed ................................................... 15
Graph 4: Relationship Between BMEP and Speed .................................................................. 16
Graph 5: Relationship between Specific fuel consumption and Engine Speed ....................... 16
Graph 6: Relationship of Thermal Efficiency and Engine speed. ........................................... 17
LIST OF EQUATIONS
𝐻𝑓 = 𝑚𝑓 × 𝐶𝑉𝐹 ……………………………….Equation 1: Heat of combustion energy
equation ...................................................................................................................................... 8
𝐻𝑎 = 𝑚𝑎 × 𝐶𝑝𝑎 × 𝑇𝐴 ……………………………………………Equation 2: Enthalpy
Equation ..................................................................................................................................... 8

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Experimental Results ................................................................................................. 11
Table 2: Calculated Results ..................................................................................................... 12
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this experiment was to conduct a load test on a 4-stroke, cylinder petrol engine to
determine heat energy of combustion from the fuel and the inlet air enthalpy from the air mass
flow rate. To plot the engine performance curves and compare them to the ideal one.

ASSUMPTIONS
The following assumptions were made to complete the experiment:

• Assume the coefficient of discharge of orifice to be 0,7.

• Assume the Universal Gas Constant (R) to be 287 𝐽/𝑘𝑔𝐾.
• Assume the specific heat of exhaust gases and air to be 1 𝑘𝐽/𝑘𝑔𝐾 and 1,005 𝑘𝐽/𝑘𝑔𝐾
respectively.
• Assume the engine power measured is the brake power.

BACKGROUND OF EXPERIMENT
Engine testing is a test conducted on engines to find out the performance before mass
production of a vehicle and also to establish the improvements needed to be made [1]. A single
cylinder engine with 4 stroke as shown on Figure 1 is used for testing. This indicates that 4
process take place in a single chamber, such as the intake, compression, power, and exhaust
which makes 4 cycles.

Figure 1: Single Cylinder Petrol engine with Four Stroke [2].

During the test, the engine is connected to a computer with a typical software shown on Figure
2. It is then allowed to run at certain speeds while observing the amount of fuel used, torque,
power produced, mass flow rate of fuel and air etc. This variables they help in generating the
performance curve of the engine as to see how efficient the engine is. As per this experiment
aim the main aim was to establish the heat of combustion and inlet air enthalpy which are
explained as follows:

Figure 2: Engine Test Software

HEAT COMBUSTION
The heat of combustion is the amount of energy that is released when a substance undergoes
complete combustion with excess of oxygen at standard air conditions [3]. When the air ignite
with the fuel of a certain calorific value in the combustion chamber, combustion take place
releasing heat energy. The equation of heat of combustion is as follows:

𝐻𝑓 = 𝑚𝑓̇ × 𝐶𝑉𝐹 ……………………………….Equation 1: Heat of combustion energy equation

Where: 𝑚𝑓̇ is the fuel mass flow rate; CVF is the fuel calorific value.

ENTHALPY
Enthalpy can be defined as the sum of the internal energy of a substance and the product of its
pressure and volume [4]. The equation of enthalpy is as follows:

𝐻𝑎 = 𝑚̇ 𝑎 × 𝐶𝑝𝑎 × (𝑇𝐴 ) ……………………………………………Equation 2: Enthalpy Equation

Where: 𝑚̇𝑎 is the air mass flow rate ; 𝐶𝑝𝑎 is the specific heat capacity of air ; 𝑇𝐴 is the air
temperature respectively

APPARATUS

Figure 3:Bench-mounted Instrument Frame

Figure 4: Single Cylinder Engine

 • Test Bed with Dynamometer
• A bench-mounted Instrument Frame
• Single Cylinder Engine
• Instruments Modules and Instrument Frame
• Stopwatch

PROCEDURE
The following procedure was followed to perform the experiment:
1. The fuel tank of the engine was filled with the fuel.
2. The exhaust system was drained before being used for the Test Engine to ensure there
are no condensates.
3. The starting handle of the test engine was then pulled slowly until it passed the
compression stroke and was easy to turn and then the starting handle was allowed to
return to its initial position.
4. The dynamometer was gently rocked and the zero button on the Torque and Speed
display was pressed and held to zero the torque reading.
5. The ‘zero airbox pressure’ button on the DPT1 instrument was pressed and held to zero
the differential pressure.
6. Both valves on the fuel gauge were opened to make the valves to be in line with the
fuel pipe.
7. It was made sure that the fuel passed the fuel feed pipe to the Test Engine.
8. It was made sure that the computer used for the experiment was operating and that it
had started the TecQuipment software.
9. The water supply to the dynamometer was turned on by opening the control valve by
half turn until it was fully open to ensure the water is flowing through the dynamometer.
10. Test Engine was then allowed to run according to the engine manufacturers instructions
and the TecQuipment user guide that was provided with the Test Engine.
11. The engine was the allowed to reach normal operating temperature, after the engine had
reached the normal working temperature the engine throttle was set for the maximum
speed.
12. The dynamometer control valve was then adjusted in such a way that it increased the
load and decrease the speed to the lowest stable speed. This was achieved by slightly
shutting the water outlet valve and adjusting the control valve.
 13. A blank results table was prepared in order to record the readings from the experiment
as described by the TecQuipment user guide.
14. The dynamometer control valve was used to maintain the engine speed at the lowest
stable speed possible within +/- 100 revolutions per minute. The fuel consumption of
the engine was then recorded.
15. All the Test Engine experimental results were recorded according to the prepared
results table.
16. The water flow through the dynamometer was used to allow the engine speed to
increase by 250 revolutions per minute. The Dynamometer control valve was then used
to maintain the new speed. The fuel flow and other results were recorded according to
the results table.
17. The same step as in number 16 was repeated for other speeds in steps of 250
revolutions per minute up until the maximum speed that the engine could allow.

RESULTS

MEASURED RESULTS

Table 1: Experimental Results

Engine Fuel Air and Exhaust

Fuel Fuel Airbox

Engine Engine Engine Ambient Air Exhaust Gas
Volume Drain Differential
Speed Torque Power Temperature Temperature
(8/16/24) Time Pressure
(rpm) (Nm) (W) (˚C) (˚C)
(ml) (s) (Pa)

1661 8,2 1421 8 19,96 23,2 479 -88

2051 8,9 1921 8 21,38 23,3 514 -118
2440 9,4 2397 16 42,74 23,4 561 -181
2861 9,4 2829 16 66,15 23,4 575 -245
3198 9,1 3058 24 96,89 23,5 612 -316
 ANALYSIS OF RESULTS

CALCULATED RESULTS

Table 2: Calculated Results

Air and Fuel Energy

Heat
Carried Thermal
Air Mass Fuel Mass Specific Fuel Heat of Inlet Air Away Efficieny BMEP (Pa)
Air/Fuel
Flow rate Flow rate consumption combustion Enthalpy by (%)
Ratio
(kg.s^-1) (kg.s^-1) (kg/Kw-hr) (W) (W) Exhaust
Gases
(W)
0,0027209 0,000296593 9,173894762 0,751397235 12990,7816 809,9646 2269166 10,938526 493562,7287
0,0031502 0,000276894 11,37698765 0,518906537 12127,9701 938,0781 2697141 15,839419 540355,5489
0,0039009 0,000277024 14,08150643 0,416055868 12133,6453 1162,012 3484400 19,754987 566755,9899
0,0045385 0,000178987 25,35643556 0,227767318 7839,63719 1351,93 4000409 36,085854 570470,2498
0,0051534 0,000183301 28,11469015 0,215788862 8028,56848 1535,635 4723016 38,088982 551666,9072

SAMPLE CALCULATIONS

Results from the experiment:

𝑁 = 1661 𝑟𝑝𝑚 ; 𝑃 = 1421 𝑊 ; 𝑇 = 8.2 𝑁𝑚 ; 𝑇𝐴 = 23.2 ℃ ; 𝑇𝑒𝑥𝑖𝑡 = 479℃ ; 𝑉𝑓 = 8 𝑚𝑙

𝑡 = 19.96 𝑠 ; 𝑃𝐴 = 1010 × 103 𝑃𝑎 ; ∆𝑃 = 88𝑃𝑎 ; 𝐶𝑑 = 0.7 ; 𝑑 = 18.5 𝑚𝑚

Calculating the fuel mass flow rate:

𝜌 × 𝑉𝑓
𝑚̇𝑓 =
𝑡
740 × 8 × 10−6
𝑚̇𝑓 = = 2.966 × 10−4 𝑘𝑔/𝑠
19.96

Calculating the heat of combustion:

𝐻𝑓 = 𝑚𝑓 × ̇ 𝐶𝑉𝐹

𝐻𝑓 = 2.966 × 10−4 × 43.8 × 106 = 12991.08 𝑊

Calculating the air mass flow rate:

 𝜋 × 𝑑2 2 × 𝑃𝐴 × ∆𝑃
𝑚̇𝑎 = 𝐶𝑑 × ×√
4 𝑅 × 𝑇𝑎

𝜋 × 0.01852 2 × 1010 × 103 × 88

𝑚̇𝑎 = 0.7 × ×√ = 2.721 × 10−3 𝑘𝑔/𝑠
4 287 × (273 + 23.2)

Calculating the air inlet enthalpy:

𝐻𝑎 = 𝑚̇ 𝑎 × 𝐶𝑝𝑎 × (𝑇𝐴 )

𝐻𝑎 = 2.721 × 10−3 × 1005 × (273 + 23.2) = 809.965 𝑊

Calculating the air fuel ratio:

𝑚̇ 𝑎 2.721 × 10−3
𝐴𝑖𝑟𝑓𝑢𝑒𝑙 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜 = = = 0.751 𝑘𝑔/𝑘𝑔
𝑚̇𝑓 2.966 × 10−4

Calculating the heat taken by exhaust gases:

𝑄 = (𝑚̇𝑎 + 𝑚̇𝑓 ) × 𝐶𝑝𝑔 × (𝑇𝑒𝑥𝑖𝑡 − 𝑇𝐴 )

𝑄 = (2.721 × 103 + 2966 × 10−4 ) × 1 × (558 − 25.5) = 2269166 𝑊

Calculating the Thermal efficiency

𝐵𝑃
𝐸𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 (%) =
𝐻𝑓
1421
𝐸𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 (%) = × 100
12991.08

𝐸𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 (%) = 10,939 %

Calculating the specific fuel consumption:

𝑀̇𝑓 ×3600
𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐 𝑓𝑢𝑒𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑚𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 = 𝐵𝑃⁄
1000

2.966 × 10−4 × 3600 × 1000

𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐 𝑓𝑢𝑒𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑚𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 =
1421
𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐 𝑓𝑢𝑒𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑚𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 = 0.749 𝑘𝑔/𝐾𝑊ℎ
Calculating BMEP
𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑘𝑒
60 × 𝐸𝑛𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 × (
𝐵𝑀𝐸𝑃 = 2 )
𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 × 𝐸𝑛𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝐶𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦
4
60 × 1421 × (2)
𝐵𝑀𝐸𝑃 =
1661 × 0,000208
𝐵𝑀𝐸𝑃 = 493562.729 𝑃𝑎

GRAPHS

Engine Power vs Speed

3500

3000

2500
Engine power (W)

2000

1500

1000

500

0
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500
Engine speed (rpm)

Graph 1: Relationship of Engine power and Engine speed

 Engine Torque vs Engine speed
9,6

9,4

9,2
Engine Torque (Nm)

8,8

8,6

8,4

8,2

8
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500
Engine speed (rpm)

Graph 2: Relationship of between Torque and Speed

Inlet Air Enthalpy vs Engine speed

1800

1600

1400
Inlet Air Enthalpy (W)

1200

1000

800

600

400

200

0
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500
Engine speed (rpm)

Graph 3: Relationship between Inlet air enthalpy and speed

 BMEP vs Engine speed
580000

570000

560000

550000

540000
BMEP (Pa)

530000

520000

510000

500000

490000

480000
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500
Engine speed (rpm)

Graph 4: Relationship Between BMEP and Speed

Specific Fuel consumption (kg/Kw-hr)

0,8

0,7
Specific fuel consumption (kg/kw-hr)

0,6

0,5

0,4

0,3

0,2

0,1

0
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500
Engine speed (rpm)

Graph 5: Relationship between Specific fuel consumption and Engine Speed

 Thermal Efficieny vs Engine speed
45

40

35
Thermal efficiency (%)

30

25

20

15

10

0
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500
Engine speed (rpm)

Graph 6: Relationship of Thermal Efficiency and Engine speed.

DISCUSSION
The experiment was conducted using TecQuipment TD201 Four-stroke Petrol Engine to
determine heat of combustion and inlet air enthalpy. The results were measured and recorded
as shown on Table 1. The proper equations such as equation 1 and 2 were used to obtained
results recorded in Table 2. The results in Table 2 were used to plot Graph 1-6. It can be
observed from Graphs that as the speed of engine increases the power increases together with
the torque, until a certain point where the torque reaches a maximum value and decreases.
These two graphs follow the trend of the expected graphs shown on Figure 7 and Figure 8 on
the annexure. The decrease in Torque is supported by the Engine theory that states that when
the engine is overran it will reach to a point where it will over-rev, which means the power
generated cannot move or turn the wheels of the vehicle. The inlet air enthalpy increases with
the speed, this is because when the engine runs at high speed more heat is produced as shown
by heat combustion results on Table 2. The Specific fuel consumptions also increases because
when an engine runs at high speed more fuel is allowed in, increasing the air-fuel ratio. The
BMEP increases with an increase with power until a certain point hence the relationship
between power and thermal efficiency also make the thermal efficiency to increase as the power
increases with speed.

CONCLUSIONS
The aim of this experiment was to determine the inlet air enthalpy and heat of combustion.
According to the discussion the inlet enthalpy was determined and the heat combustion hence
the relationship between the two were observed. It was observed that as the speed is being
increased the piston moves fast, thus causing high explosions due to more fuel by injected
which generate more heat. This heat causes the enthalpy of the inlet air to increases too.
Therefore, since the objective of this experiment was achieved it can be concluded that the
experiment was a success.

REFERENCES

[1] MAHLE GROUP, “MAHLE GROUP,” [Online]. Available:

[Link] [Accessed 31
May 2021].

[2] N. Scientific, “NADA Scientific,” [Online]. Available:

[Link]
[Link]. [Accessed 31 May 2021].

[3] T. Eastop and A. McConkey, Applied Thermodynamics For Engineering Technologists,

London: Pearson Prentice Hall, 1993.

[4] R. Khurmi, A TEXTBOOK OF THERMAL ENGINEERING, 1st ed., NEW DELHI: S

Chand And Company Limited, 1978.

[5] TecQuipment, “TD201 and TD211 Four-stroke Petrol Engines,” TecQuipment.

APPENDICES

Figure 5: Engine speed and Thermal Efficiency [5]

Figure 6:Engine speed and Specific Fuel Consumption [5]

Figure 7: Power and Speed [5]

Figure 8: Engine Torque and Speed [5]