ME 203

Internal Combustion Engine:

Air Standard Cycles
Aman Uddin, PhD

Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering, BUET
 Necessity of an Ideal Cycle

To make an analytical study of a cycle feasible,

we have to keep the complexities at a
manageable level and utilize some idealizations.
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 Air - Standard Assumptions
▪ The accurate study and analysis of I.C. engine processes is very complicated. To
simplify the theoretical study "Standard Air Cycles" are introduced
Assumptions
▪ The working fluid is air, which continuously circulates in
a closed loop and always behaves as an ideal gas.
▪ All the processes that make up the cycle are internally
reversible.
▪ The combustion process is replaced by a heat-addition
process from an external source.
▪ The exhaust process is replaced by a heat-rejection
process that restores the working fluid to its initial
state.
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 Air - Standard Cycles
Thermodynamic cycles that adhere to air-standard assumptions are –
▪ Otto Cycle or Petrol Cycle (for SI Engines)
▪ Diesel Cycle (for CI Engines)

Otto Cycle:
The Otto cycle is the ideal cycle for spark-ignition reciprocating engines. It is named after
Nikolaus A. Otto, who built a successful four-stroke engine in 1876 in Germany using the cycle
proposed by Frenchman Beau de Rochas in 1862.

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Air Standard Otto (constant volume ) Cycle

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Air Standard Otto (constant volume ) Cycle
Actual Cycle

Ideal Cycle

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Air Standard Otto (constant volume ) or Petrol Cycle
Actual Cycle

Ideal Cycle

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 Otto Cycle
▪ 1-2 Isentropic compression
▪ 2-3 Constant-volume heat addition
▪ 3-4 Isentropic expansion
▪ 4-1 Constant-volume heat rejection

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 Why constant volume approximation in Otto Cycle?
▪ The air-standard Otto cycle assumes the heat addition to be
occurring instantaneously while the piston is at TDC.
▪ Therefore in petrol cycle, heat addition will take place at constant
volume.
▪ This is due to the fact that the pressure inside the cylinder will rise
rapidly during the combustion period as soon as ignition of air-fuel
mixture is started by a spark plug.

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 Isentropic Process
• Entropy is the measure of the disorder of a system.
• The term "isentropic" means constant entropy. A process during which the entropy remains
constant is called an isentropic process

Pvk = constant Entropy, the measure of a system's thermal energy

Tvk-1 = constant per unit temperature that is unavailable for doing
useful work. Because work is obtained from ordered
TP(1-k)/k = constant
molecular motion, the amount of entropy is also a
k = cP/cv measure of the molecular disorder, or randomness, of
k = specific heat ratio a system.

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 Specific Heat
Specific Heat, C [unit : J/(kg⋅K) ] : The amount
of heat required per unit mass to raise the
temperature by one degree.

Cv for a gas is the change in internal

energy (U) of a system with respect to
change in temperature at a fixed volume of
the system i.e. Cv =(∂U/∂T)v

Cp for a gas is the change in the enthalpy

(H) of the system with respect to change
in temperature at a fixed pressure of the
system i.e Cp = (∂H/∂T)p.

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Efficiency of Otto Cycle
Cv =(∂U/∂T)

Wnet = qin- qout

Tvk-1 = constant

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 Efficiency of Otto Cycle
▪ No work is involved during the two heat transfer processes since both take place at
constant volume. Therefore, heat transfer to and from the working fluid can be
expressed as

▪ The thermal efficiency of the ideal Otto cycle under the cold air standard assumptions
becomes

▪ Processes 1-2 and 3-4 are isentropic, and v2 = v3 and v4 = v1. Thus,

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 Efficiency of Otto Cycle
▪ Processes 1-2 and 3-4 are isentropic, and v2 = v3 and v4 = v1. Thus,

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 Efficiency of Otto Cycle

▪ Substituting these equations into the thermal efficiency relation and

simplifying give

▪ r is the compression ratio and k is the specific heat ratio cp /cv.

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 Efficiency of Otto Cycle
▪ η increased by increasing r,

▪ η increased by increasing k,

▪ In modern petrol engines (r) reaches a

value of 12

▪ The thermal efficiencies of actual spark-

ignition engines range from about 25 to
30 percent.
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 Efficiency of Otto Cycle
▪ For a given compression ratio, an ideal Otto cycle
using a monatomic gas (such as argon or helium, k
= 1.667) as the working fluid will have the highest
thermal efficiency.
▪ The specific heat ratio k, and thus the thermal
efficiency of the ideal Otto cycle, decreases as the
molecules of the working fluid get larger.
▪ At room temperature it is 1.4 for air, 1.3 for carbon
dioxide, and 1.2 for ethane.
▪ The working fluid in actual engines contains larger
molecules such as carbon dioxide, and the specific
heat ratio decreases with temperature, which is
one of the reasons that the actual cycles have
lower thermal efficiencies than the ideal Otto
cycle. The thermal efficiencies of actual spark-
ignition engines range from about 25 to 30
percent.
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Air Standard Diesel (Constant Pressure) Cycle

Otto Cycle

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Air Standard Diesel (Constant Pressure) Cycle

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 Air Standard Diesel (Constant Pressure) Cycle
▪ Air standard Diesel Cycle assumes the heat addition occurs during a constant pressure process
that starts with the piston at TDC.
▪ Process 1-2: Isentropic Compression (Piston: BDC → TDC)
▪ Process 2-3: Constant Pressure Heat Addition (1st part of Power Stroke). (Piston: TDC → BDC)
▪ Process 3-4: Isentropic Expansion (Remainder of Power Stroke). (Piston: TDC → BDC)
▪ Process 4-1: Constant Volume Heat Rejection (Piston: at BDC)
▪ This cycle is the theoretical cycle for compression-ignition or diesel engine.

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 Why constant-pressure heat-addition process approximation?

▪ The fuel injection process in diesel engines

starts when the piston approaches TDC and
continues during the first part of the power
stroke.
▪ Therefore, the combustion process in these
engines takes place over a longer interval.
▪ Because of this longer duration, the
combustion process in the ideal Diesel cycle
is approximated as a constant-pressure
heat-addition process.
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 Thermal Efficiency of the Ideal Diesel Cycle
▪ The Diesel cycle is executed in a piston–cylinder device, which forms a closed system, the
amount of heat transferred to the working fluid at constant pressure and rejected from it
at constant volume can be expressed as

▪ Then the thermal efficiency of the ideal Diesel cycle under the cold-air standard
assumptions becomes

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Thermal Efficiency of the Ideal Diesel Cycle

The cutoff ratio rc, as

the ratio of the
cylinder volumes after
and before the
combustion process

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Thermal Efficiency of the Ideal Diesel Cycle

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Thermal Efficiency of the Ideal Diesel Cycle

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Thermal Efficiency of the Ideal Diesel Cycle

(V1=V4) Otto Cycle

Diesel Cycle

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 Thermal Efficiency of the Ideal Diesel Cycle
Diesel Cycle Otto Cycle

▪ The efficiency of a Diesel cycle differs from the efficiency of an Otto cycle by the
quantity in the brackets. This quantity is always greater than 1. Therefore, when both
cycles operate on the same compression ratio.
▪ Diesel engines operate at much higher compression ratios and thus are usually more
efficient than the spark-ignition (gasoline) engines.
▪ Thermal efficiencies of large diesel engines range from about 35 to 40 percent.

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Thermal Efficiency of the Ideal Diesel Cycle

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 Mean Effective Pressure
▪ It is a theoretical parameter used to measure the performance of an internal combustion
engine (ICE).

▪ The mean effective pressure can be regarded as an average pressure in the cylinder for a
complete engine cycle. By definition, mean effective pressure is the ratio between the work
and engine displacement:

MEP = W/Vd [Pa]

W [J] – work performed in a complete engine cycle

Vd [m3] – engine (cylinder) displacement
Wnet = MEP * Piston area * Stroke = MEP * Displacement Volume

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 Mean Effective Pressure
Wnet = MEP * Piston area * Stroke = MEP * Displacement Volume

▪ The MEP can be used as a parameter to compare the

performance of reciprocating engines of equal size.

▪ The engine with a larger MEP delivers more net work per cycle
and thus better performance.

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Mathematical Problem

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Properties

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 Problem 1
In an air standard Otto cycle, the compression begins at 35 °C and 0.1 MPa and the
compression ratio is 7. The maximum temperature of the cycle is 1100°C. Find (a) the
temperature and the pressure at various points in the cycle, (b) the heat supplied per kg of
air, (c) work done per kg of air, (d) the cycle efficiency

Solution:
T1=35°C=308 K
P1=0.1MPa
T3=1100°C=1373K
r=v1/v2=7

Since process, 1-2 is isentropic,

P2=1524 kPa
T2=670.8 K
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 Problem 1
V4=V1=RT1/P1=0.844 m3/kg

V3=V2=V1/r= 0.121 m3/kg

T4=631 K

Heat rejected, Qout= Cv (T4-T1) = 231.44 kJ/kg

Heat in, Qin= Cv (T3-T2) = 504.8 kJ/kg

The net work output, Wnet = Qin- Qout =272.74 kJ/kg

Thermal efficiency, ηth,otto= Wnet /Qin=0.54=54 %

Otto cycle thermal efficiency, ηth,otto=1-1/rk-1= 0.54 or 54 %

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 Problem 2
In a Diesel cycle, Compression begins at 0.1 MPa, 40°C and the compression ratio is 15. The
heat added is 1.675 MJ/kg and the compression ratio is 15. Find (a) the maximum
temperature in the cycle, (b) work done per kg of air (c) the cycle efficiency (d) the
temperature at the end of the isentropic expansion (e) the cut- off ratio and (f) the MEP of the
cycle.
Solution:
T1=40 °C=313 K
P1=0.1 MPa
Qin=1675 MJ/kg
r=v1/v2=15

V1 =(RT1)/P1 = 0.898 m3/kg Qin = Cp(T3-T2)

V2 = V1 /r = 0.06m3/kg The maximum temperature is
T2 = 924.66K T3 = Tmax = 2591.33 K
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 Problem 2
T1=40 °C=313 K
P1=0.1 MPa
Qin=1675 MJ/kg
r=v1/v2=15
V1 =(RT1)/P1 = 0.898 m3/kg
V2 = V1 /r = 0.06m3/kg
T2 = 924.66K

Qin = Cp(T3-T2)
The maximum temperature is T3 = Tmax = 2591.33 K

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 Problem 2
P2 = 4431 kPa

v3 = 0.168 m3/kg The cut-

off ratio is rc= v3 / v2 =2.8

T4 = 1325.37K
Qout = Cv (T4-T1) = 726.88 KJ/kg

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 Problem 2

Qin=1675 MJ/kg
Qout = Cv (T4-T1) = 726.88 KJ/kg

Net work done , Wnet = (Qin- Qout )=948.12 kJ/kg

Thermal efficiency, ηth = Wnet / Qin = 0.566 or56.6%
The mean effective pressure = Wnet / (v1- v2) = 1131. 4 KPa

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