www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng
Abstract
Renewable energy sources for the gasoline engines alcohols gain importance recently. These renewable energy sources have attracted
the attention of researchers as alternative fuel due to their high octane number. In addition, these are also clean energy sources and can
be obtained from the biomass alcohols with low carbon like ethanol. In this study, the eect of compression ratio on engine performance
and exhaust emissions was examined at stoichiometric air/fuel ratio, full load and minimum advanced timing for the best torque MBT in
a single cylinder, four stroke, with variable compression ratio and spark ignition engine.
2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Spark ignition engine; Compression ratio; Exhaust emissions; Alternative fuel; Ethanol
1359-4311/$ - see front matter 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2006.03.006
H.S. Yucesu et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 26 (2006) 22722278 2273
Table 3
Properties of ethanolunleaded gasoline blended fuels (E0, E10, E20, E40 and E60)
Property item Method Test fuels
E0 E10 E20 E40 E60
Distillation (vol%)
70 C ASTM D 86 24 40.2 39.3 37.7 18.2
100 C 46.8 53.9 66 84.2 92.5
180 C 97.6 97.3 98 98.2 98.7
Density (kg/m3 at 15 C) ASTM D 1298 764.9 768 771.5 780.6 789.5
RVP (kPa) ASTM D 323 57.6 66.7 66.2 63 57.4
Lead content (g/L) ASTM D 3237 0.004 0.003 0.002 0 0
Sulfur (wt%) ASTM D 5453 0.012 0.017 0.022 0.026 0.032
Stoichiometric airfuel ratio (weight)a 14.7 14.13 13.56 12.42 11.28
Lower heating value (kJ/kg)a 43,932 42,185 40,430 36,870 33,400
RON ASTM D 2699 86.4 87.4 89.8 90.9 92.7
MON ASTM D 2700 98.8 99.9 101.6 101.7 102.8
a
Typical or calculated values.
H.S. Yucesu et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 26 (2006) 22722278 2275
BSFC (g/kWh)
better engine performance was obtained than E0 by using
Torque (Nm)
32 360
blends up to the 60% ethanol. The relative airfuel ratio
31 330 (k) is dened as
30 300 AFRact:
k
AFRst:
29 270
(AFR)act is actual airfuel ratio and (AFR)st. is stoichiom-
28 240
8 9 10 11 12 13 etric airfuel ratios of test fuels.
Compression Ratio
Ignition timing variations, causing detonation, with
Fig. 2. Variation of BSFC and engine torque versus compression ratio compression ratio at 2000 rpm is seen in Fig. 4. Sound of
(engine speed: 2000 rpm). detonation could be heard at low speeds, particularly when
increased in advanced timing. At the same time the knock
formations were observed on oscilloscope screen. In the
32
experiment performed with E40 and E60 ethanol blends
E0 E10 E20
28 were not observed knock formations with MBT. When
MBT (CA, BTDC)
E40 E60
24 the ignition timing increased above the MBT, the knock
phenomena can be seen with E40 and E60. Higher octane
20
number of ethanol and blends compared with gasoline
16 yield better detonation resistance.
12 Variation of BSFCs at the same experimental conditions
8
at 3500 and 5000 rpm engine speeds are shown in Fig. 5
7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 and Fig. 6, respectively. With increasing compression ratio
Compression Ratio
at both engine speeds, the engine torque increased. At the
Fig. 3. Variation of MBT versus compression ratio (engine speed: compression ratio of 13:1 compared with compression
2000 rpm).
performance. The rst eect dominates up to an ethanol Fig. 4. Variation of detonated ignition timing versus compression ratio
percentage of 10%, after which the second eect starts to (engine speed: 2000 rpm).
2276 H.S. Yucesu et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 26 (2006) 22722278
BSFC (g/kWh)
Torque (Nm)
32 390 2000 rpm engine speed. It can be seen from the graphics
that MBT is not only related to compression ratio and type
30 340 of fuel but also related to the engine speed. Increasing com-
pression ratio increases the temperature of end gas area
28 290 which caused detonation. The resistance of the mixture to
the detonation is important in this area. One of the most
26 240 important parameters aecting the engine performance is
8 9 10 11 12 13
Compression Ratio
24
26 360 20
7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
24 320 Compression Ratio
780
ratio of 8:1, the engine torque increased with E0 fuel by
5000 rpm
14.6% at 3500 rpm and 18.4% at 5000 rpm engine speeds,
respectively. The maximum increase in the engine torque 760
14.7% and 17% at 3500 rpm and 5000 rpm engine speeds,
respectively. 680
660
36
E0 E10 E20 640
32 E40 E60
MBT (CA, BTDC)
28 620
2000 rpm
24
600
20
16 580
12
7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
560
Compression Ratio 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Compression Ratio
Fig. 7. Variation of MBT ignition timing with compression ratio (engine
speed: 3500 rpm). Fig. 9. Variation of exhaust gas temperature versus to compression ratio.
H.S. Yucesu et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 26 (2006) 22722278 2277
HC (ppm)
gas area and the probability of the detonation decreases. 20 0
However it must be indicated that the octane number 18 0
has an important eect on detonation. Because of the 16 0
increasing octane number, higher engine torque was 2000 rpm
14 0
obtained. In the experiment the E60 fuel enabled to
12 0
increasing the MBT at 5000 rpm engine speed so the higher 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
torque was obtained. Compression Ratio
HC (ppm)
temperatures decrease with increasing compression ratio. 12 0
Increasing compression ratio increases the pressure and
10 0
temperature of the mixture at the end of the compression
80
stroke and decreases the advanced timing requirement for
60 3500 rpm
the MBT. The amount of energy converted to the useful
work increases. However, use of fuels with lower octane 40
7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
number like E0, aected the combustion process badly Compression Ratio
100
0.9
HC (ppm)
80
E0 E10 E20
0.8 E40 E60 60
40 5000 rpm
CO (vol %)
0.7
20
0.6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Compression Ratio
0.5
2000 rpm
Fig. 11. Variation of HC emission versus compression ratio.
0.4
7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 improved using fuels with higher octane number and
Compression Ratio
increasing engine speed.
0.9 Variations of the CO and HC emissions depending on
the compression ratio are shown in Figs. 10 and 11 at
0.8
2000, 3500 and 5000 rpm engine speeds. Especially, consid-
CO (vol %)
4. Conclusions
0.8
the torque output did not change noticeably. At 13:1 leum Research Center of METU. As researchers, we thank
compression ratio compared with 8:1 compression ratio, Scientic Research Foundation of Gazi University and
the highest increment was obtained for both fuels E40 Petroleum Research Center of METU.
and E60 as nearly 14%.
At 11:1 compression ratio compared with 8:1, the BSFC
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