Internal Cembustion Enginas // 849 1s ignited by + »park piuy which has to spark several thousand times a minute under a wide range of temperatures. Eact. cylinder is provided with its own spark plug serewed into the lid. 16.10. FOUR STROKE PETROL ENGINE A cycle sa sequence of operations constantly repeated, and ‘four-stroke’ refers to the number Of strokes of the piston required to complete one cycle. Refer Fig. 16.27 for the arrangement of different parts of a four stroke cycle system. The piston Spark tig "eciprocating inside a cylinder, is connected to the crankshaft through connecting rod and the crank: The inlet (suction) 2nd outlet (exhaust) valves are ioused in the cylinder head. ‘he cylirwer head is also provided ‘ith an electric spark plug. AL! events of the cycle namaly suction, compression, combustion and expansion. and exhaist are completed in two revolutions of the crankehaft The salient features of the four strokes in a petrol engine are as given below : . Intake vr suction stroke; (Fig. 16.288) Initially te piston is at top deed centre (DC) position, the inlet valve is open nd the outlet vatve is closed. The piston, moves downwards towards bottom entre (BDC) position and the pressure inside the cylinderis reduced toa valuc below tne atmospheric Frvssure, The vecuem us created causes the charge to rush inacd fill the space vacated by the piston. The charge consists ca mixture of air and petrol prepared by the carburetor. Zhe suction continues till the piston reaches i's BDC Fig. 4627. Four stroke cycie system position. The piston has now made one stroke and the crankshaft has turned through 180°C, ie., hes made half the revolution, 2. Compression stroke : (Fig. 16.28b) Both the valves (inlet and outlet) are closed and the movement of the piston is from BDC to TDC position. The charge inside the cylinder is compressed to the clearance volume; the volume decreases and there is a continuous rise both in temperature and pressure of the charge. Majority of the petrol engines use compression ratios between 5 to1 and 8 to 1. Towards the end of compression, the approximate values of pressure and temperature are 6-12 bar and 250-300 °C respectively. 3. Working, expansion or power stroke : (Fig, 16.28c) When the piston reaches TDC position. she charge is ignited by causing an electnc spark between the electrodes of a spark plug whi 4s located in the cylinder head, During combustion, the chemical energy of the fuel is released and there is rise both in pressure and ternperattue of the gases at almost constant vol:ime The (eraperature oF the gaves increases 12 rbout 1£06-2000 4 and the pressure reacties 20-40 bar With both valves cloved, the gases at increased arevsure and temperature © pane, posi te piston down the cylinder ant work is done by tive system. The reciprocating motion of the piston is subvequently converted into rotary motion of the crankshaft by connecting rod and crank. Its the rotary motion which 1s vequired to make wheels run, a cutting blade spin or a oulley rotate.(2) Suction (¢) &xpansion (0 Exhaust Fig. 16.28. Operation of a four stroke cycle petrol engine During expansion, there is increase in volume of the gases and the pressure drops to as low as 3 bar. 4. Exhaust Stroke : (Fig. 16.28d) The inlet valve remains closed but the exhaust valve opens when the piston reaches BDC position towards the completion of power stroke. The pressure falls stightly above atmospheric pressure at constant volume. The piston moves upwards from BDC to TDC and this upward movement of the piston pushes the spent up gases into the atmosphere through exhaust valve and the exhaust manifold. Much of the noise associated with automobile engines is due to high exhaust velocity. ‘The exhaust stroke completes the cycle and the engine cylinder is ready to suck the fresh charge inside the cylinder once again and the cycle is repeated. Since the beginning of suction stroke, the piston has made four strokes inside the cylinder : two up and two down. During the same period, the crank has turned ‘two revolutions. Thus for a four stroke cycle, there is only one power stroke for every two revolutions of the crankshaft. ‘Theoretical and Actual p—V Diagrams : The following assumptions have been made while carrying out the above operations : (i) Suction and exhaust is at atmospheric pressure. (i) Opening and closing of the valves (both inlet and outlet) is instantaneous and at dead centres. (iii) Compression and expansion processes are isentropic, ie., reversible adiabatic (iv) The combustion of fuel takes place instantaneously at constant volume. (0) There is sudden drop in gas pressure to the atmospheric pressure at the end of expansion stroke Fig ahs theoretical operation ofthe cycle can be represented by the p- V plot as shown in ig. 16.294,622 // Elements of Mechanical Engineering 16.11. FOUR STROKE DIESEL ENGINE " diesel oil as fuel and, ‘The engine completes its working cycle in four strokes of the piston, uses n thatclone tench as fouretole dee! engine Fig 1620 shows tha diferent Pe conned \d illustrates its principle of operation. The piston reciprocal ; Z to the crankshaft through connecting rod and the crank The inlet (suction) and outlet (oa) valves are housed in the cylinder head. The cylinder head is also provided with a nozzle for injecting, the fuel Suction Conrpression Expansion Fig. 16.30. Operation of a four stroke cycle diesel engine The sequence of individual strokes is as follows : 1. Intake or suction stroke : Initially the piston is at top dead centre (TDC) position, the inlet valve is open and the outlet valve is closed. The piston moves downwards towards bottom dead centre position (BDC) and the pressure inside the cylinder is reduced toa value below the atmospheric Pressure. The vacuum thus created causes the air from atmosphere to rush in and fill the space vacated by the piston. The suction stroke is completed when the piston reaches the BDC position. The piston has then made one stroke and the crankshaft has turned through 180°, i, has made half the revolution. 2. Compression stroke : Both the inlet and outlet valves are closed and the movement of the piston is from BDC to TDC position (Fig. 16.2C b). The zir inside the cylinder is compressed to clearance volume; the volume decreases and there is a continuous rise both in temperature and pressure of the air. Majority of the diesel engines use compression ratios between 13 : 1 and 20: 1. Towards the end of compression, the approximate values of pressure and temperature are 60 bar and 600 °C respectively. 3. Working expansion or power stroke : When the piston reaches TDC position, a fine spray of diesel is injected into the combustion space containing the high temperature compressed air. ‘The fue! vapours are raised to self ignition temperature and combustion occurs at approximately constant pressure,The atomisation of fuel ana its supply to the combustion space can also be accomplished by compressed air supplied from compressed air bottles. The air entering the combustion space is so regulated that the pressure theoretically remains constant during the burning period. With both valves closed, the combusticn products at increased pressure-and temperature push the piston down the cylinder with a large force. Expansion of the gases takes place and work is done by the system. The reciprocating motion of the piston is subsequently converted into rotary motion of the crankshaft by connecting rod and crai ‘The expansion stroke gets completed as the piston reaches its BDC position. During expansion, there is increase in volume of the gases and the pressure drops. 4, Exhaust stroke : The inlet valve remains closed while the exhaust valve opens. The piston moves upwards from BDC to TDC position and this upward movement of the piston pushes the spent up gases into the atmosphere tluough exhaust valve and the exhaust manifold. The exhaust stroke completes the cycle and the engine cylinder is ready to suck fresh air inside the cylinder once again and the cycle is repeated. Much of the noise associated with autornobile engines is due to high velocity of exhaust gases. Since the beginning of suction stroke, the piston has made four strokes inside the cylinder : two up and two down. During the same period, the crank has turned two revolutions. Thus for a four stroke cycle, there is only one power stroke for every revolutions of the crankshaft. The following assumptions have been made while carrying out the above operations. ( Suction and exhaust is at atmospheric pressure (ii) Opening and closing of the valves (both inlet and outlet) is instantaneous and at dead centres. (i) Compression and expansion processes are isentropic, i.e., reversible adiabatic. (iv) The combustion of fuel takes place at constant pressure during a small part of expansion stroke. {v) There is a sudden drop in gas pressure to atmospheric pressure at the end of expansion stroke. Such a theoretical operation of the cycle can be represented by the p— V plot as shown in Fig. 16.31(a). ® Fig. 16.31. Theoretical and actual p-V diagram for four stroke diesel engine However, the actual cycle differs considerably from the hypothetical one due to the reasons mentioned in section 16.11 above. When those modifications are taken into account, then theG24 // Elements of Mechanical Engineering plot takes the form as shown in Fig. 16.31 (b). The area enclosed by the on es lines is called negative loop or pumping loop, and the actual rst aliehtt hi her than ihe slightly less than the atmospheric pressure during suction stroke, and slight ly higher than the atmospheric pressure during exhaust stroke (The corners are rounded off in pal Ba plot) represents the work required for the admission of fresh charge and for the removal gases. Net work is obtained by subtracting the pump loss from the gross output Net work per cycle = (A, ~ A,) ‘The area (A, - A,) is always less than the area A of the theoretical p-V 16.12. COMPARISON BETWEEN PETROL AND DIESEL ENGINES Below are given the differences between the construction and operation of a diesel engine and 2 petrol engine of similar capacity and number of cylinders. ( Basic cycles : The petrol engine works on Otto cycle whereas a diesel engine works on Diesel cycle. (ii) Fuel used : Petrol engine is a light oil engine and uses gasoline or petrol as fuel. Diesel Engine is a heavy oil engine and uses diesel as fuel. The diesel has a high self ignition temperature compared to petrol Induction of fuel: Mixture of petrol and air in required strength is prepared in the carburettor and inducted into the engine cylinder during the suction stroke of a petrol engine. During suction stroke of a diesel engine, only air from the atmosphere is sucked in the engine ‘Glinder. A fuel pump is used to inject fuel directly into the combustion space where it meets the air which has been compressed. (2) Compression ratio : Majority of petrol engines use compression ratio between 5 to 1 and 8 to 1. The upper limit is fixed by anti-knock rating of fuels, The compression ratio in diesel engines lies between 15 : 1 and 20: 1; the upper limit is fixed because of an increase in the weight of engine with increase in compression ratio. (0) Thermal efficiency : For the same compression ratio, the efficiency cf a diesel engine is lower than that of a petrol engine. However, this aspect is of not much practical since the petrol engines work with compression ratio not exceeding 8 whereas diesel engines can safely have compression ratio as high as 20. High compression ratio for a diesel engine is a must not only for high efficiency but also to prevent diesel knock — phenomenon of uncont-olled and rapid combustion. (Ignition: Petrol engines use a spark plug to ignite the charge (mixture of air and petrol) after it has been compressed. The combustion of uel in diesel engines is due to high temperature of compressed air. {eil) Weight : The cylinder walls of diesel engines have to be made thicker to sustain the high Pressures attained due to higher compression ratios. The weight of a diesel engine amounts to between 30 to 50 % more than that of a petrol engine giving the same power output (wilt) Speed : The petrol engines are high speed engines due to light weight, and the diesel engines run at comparatively low speeds due to heavy weight. (ix) Vibration and noise: The vibration and noise level is higher with a diesel engine because of higher maximum pressure. (2) Lond control: The petrol engines are quantity control engines. The air-fuel mixture prepared by the mixture being inducted is controlled by the throttle valve in accordance with load on the engine. ‘The diesel engines are quality control engines, The composition of the mixture (air-fuel ratio) gram.