DIESEL Cycle
Fuel injection
Fire the
spark plug
Auto-ignition
TEMPERATURE
AIR + FUEL
AIR
The main difference between Otto cycle and Diesel cycle is how the heat is supplied to initiate combustion.
we define:
v1 v4 v4
the compression ratio: r = =
v2 v2 v3
v3
the cutoff ratio: rc =
v2
Wnet QH QL Q
th = = = 1 L
QH QH QH
Therefore;
T
T1 4 1
m& Cv (T4 T1 ) 1 (T4 T1 ) 1 T1
th = 1 = 1 = 1
m& C p (T3 T2 ) k (T3 T2 ) k T3 (eq.8.2)
T2 1
T2
k 1
T2 v1 T1 1
= = r k 1 = k 1
T1 v2 T2 r
P3v3
T3 R Pv v
= = 3 3 = 3 = rc (eq.8.3)
T2 P2 v2 P2 v2 v2 P3 = P2
R
For a Diesel engine
T4
and finally for the term :
T1
k 1 k 1
T3 v4 T v
= ; 2 = 1
T4 v3 T1 v2
k 1 k 1 k 1 k 1
T3T1 v4 v2 vv v
therefore; = = 4 2 = 2 = rc1 k
T4T2 v3 v1 v3 v1 v3
T3
but from (eq.8.3): = rc
T2
T1 T T
hence, rc = rc1 k 1 = rc k 4 = rck
T4 T4 T1
Finally replacing in eq.8.2, gives
1 rck 1
th = 1 k 1
r k ( rc 1)
for the same compression ratio the Otto cycle (gasoline cycle) is more efficient than
the Diesel cycle.
Example:
r=10; rc=2
The Otto cycle efficiency is 60.2%
The Diesel cycle efficiency is 53.7%
One anecdote tells of Formula One driver Jenson Button, who was arrested while driving a diesel-
powered BMW 330cd Coup at 230 km/h in France, where he was too young to have a gasoline-
engined car hired to him. Button dryly observed in subsequent interviews that he had actually done
BMW a public relations service, as nobody had believed a diesel could be driven that fast.
Example
A Diesel cycle operates on air with a low pressure of 0.1 MPa and a low temperature of
15C. If the compression ratio is 16 and the heat supplied is 1800 kJ/kg; compute:
1- The pressure, the temperature and the specific volume for each state.
2- The cutoff ratio.
3- The thermal efficiency.
4- The mean effective pressure.
This is a more realistic process (combinaison of Otto (v=cte) and Diesel (P=cte)
cycles), since the relative amount of heat transferred during each process can be
adjusted to approximate the actual cycle closely.