Performance Test of Compression-Ignition Engine

John Wilrich P. Magadan1

Abstract: Compression-ignition engine, also known as diesel engine, is a type of internal-combustion engine in which ignition occurs as a
result of the rise in temperature caused by compression of the mixture in the cylinder. In this paper , the engine performance of compression
ignition diesel engine is investigated experimentally. Parameters such as torque, brake power, engine speed, and brake thermal
efficiency at different load conditions for different throttle settings is determined. The testing results shows that for each throttle opening,
there is an ideal speed as to which brake specific fuel consumption is lowest or brake thermal efficiency is highest.

Author keywords: Brake power; Throttle settings; Brake thermal efficiency; Torque.

Introduction
They considered the case of finite rate of heat transfer to and from
The diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the a Carnot engine. After maximizing the power output, they derived
heat of compression to ignite a fuel charge, Figure 1. Mechanical a simple expression for the efficiency that is different from the
ignition components used in gasoline engines, such as spark plugs, well-known Carnot efficiency (Chen, et.al, 2002).
coils, and distributor assemblies, are not required for ignition. The search for fuel-efficient and good performing engines are
Instead, as the piston in a diesel engine cylinder moves upward on the increasing energy demand and environmental deterioration
its compression stroke, it compresses the air in the cylinder. The which are the two major factors. Recent interest in improving the
air temperature in the cylinder increases to the point that the diesel fuel conversion efficiency (FCE) and reducing the carbon dioxide
fuel ignites as it is injected into the cylinder (Yang, W., 2013). emissions from internal combustion engines has refocused
The CI engine was perfected by Rudolf Diesel on 1892, which attention on advanced combustion strategies and alternative fuels
is basically the same diesel engine known today. Rudolf Diesel based on the study of (Krishnan, et.al, 2016).
used solid fuels in his early models of diesel engines. These early Engine performance is an indication of the degree of success of
models of CI engine were loud, huge, slow, single-cylinder engine. the engine performs its assigned task, i.e. the conversion of the
chemical energy contained in the fuel into the useful mechanical
However, as compared to SI engine, CI engine were much more
work. The performance of an engine is evaluated on the variables
efficient. It wasnt until the 1920s that multicylinder compression like indicated power, brake power, brake specific fuel
ignitions engines were made small enough to fit to automobiles and consumption, exhaust emissions, cooling of engine, maintenance.
trucks (Pulkrabek. 1997) (Sameet, 2015)
Internal combustion engines are widely used in transportation as
well as in stationary applications, being responsible for an
important part of global fuel consumption and air pollution. This
explains the interest in research activities aimed to improve their
operation (Och, et.al, 2016). Combustion ignition diesel engines
have been widely used around the world owing to the durability
and fuel economy (Chen, et.al, 2014). It is extremely urgent to
introduce an effective optimization method of diesel engine
combustion system that is focused on the simultaneous reduction
of soot and NOx while maintaining a reasonable power
performance (Jeong, et.al, 2006).
Engineers today are becoming more practical and make use of
the air-standard Diesel cycle to provide a stylized description of the
Diesel engine. Conventional analysis of the air-standard Diesel
cycle is performed assuming reversible thermodynamics. Figure 1. Modern diesel engines are available in a wide
range of sizes and configurations. All use the heat of
1
Student, Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing compression to ignite internal combustion. (Caterpiller)
Engineering, University of San Carlos, Cebu City 6000,
Philippines. E-mail: johnwilrich@gmail.com

Experiment Set-up
Figure 2. Actual photo of the Compression-ignition diesel engine
of the University of San Carlos
Figure 3. Schematic Diagram of the Diesel Engine Set-up in
University of San Carlos (Courtesy of Villamor et.al, 2014)
Fig. 2 and 3 shows the actual photo of the compression-ignition
diesel engine and the schematic diagram. . The main shaft of the
engine is coupled with a water brake dynamometer, which gives
set of loads in the engine. An elevated water tank placed near the
set-up supplies the water to the dynamometer. That water from
the water tank flows to the water absorber and exits through a
hose and into the drain. The control panel displays the torque,
engine speed, exhaust temperature and inlet temperature of the
air.
Experiment Methods
The windows in the laboratory were opened and electric fans
were placed directly at the engine set-up facing the windows to
forced exhaust gases to escape out of the room. This is done to
avoid accumulation of gases inside the room which can caused
health complications. The water tank was filled with water up to
the mark that shows half of its maximum capacity. The fuel
filter was checked and ensured to be clean. The fuel tank was
refilled with the diesel fuel.
The battery was connected to the starter of the CI engine. A
wrench was used to secure the wires to the battery. The wires
were connected to the correct polarity of the battery. Friction in
the engine was then relieved by pulling the recoil rope. This aids
the engine in overcoming the starting friction. The choke valve was
closed before starting the engine to induce a rich mixture,
promoting quick engine start-up. An extension wire was needed
to supply electricity to the control panel. It was then turned on
and the reset button was pressed in order to reset the data. The
key was inserted and the engine is turned on.
Different throttle settings were tested during the experiment. For
the variation of speed, the throttle settings that were varied were
25%, 50%, 75% and 100%. The fuel consumption was attained
based on the amount of time (in seconds) the certain amount of
fuel is consumed by the engine. It was obtained by using a timer
that at certain amount of fuel was consumed by the engine.
Ambient temperature and the exhaust temperature can be
gathered directly in the control panel in the CI engine setup.
These are labelled T1 and T2 respectively. Load was slowly
applied to the engine by opening the water inlet valve until the
designated speed of the engine is reached.
Data Gathering
The brake power is defined simply as the power developed by
the engine and the purest form of mechanical power available at
engine output shaft. The brake power could be determined by the
equation
2
= (1)
60
where P is the engine brake power expressed in watts, N is the
engine speed in rpm, and T as the torque in N-m. The heating value
of fuel, defined as the amount of heat produced by combustion a
unit quantity of a fuel was calculated using the equation
= (2)
Where Qf is the heat of combustion from the fuel in kW, Q mf is the
fuel consumption expressed in kg/sec, and LHV is the lower
heating value of the fuel having a value of 43, 400kJ/kg. The LHV
is the lower heating value for diesel fuel.
Brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) is a measure of the fuel
efficiency of any prime mover that burns fuel and produces
rotational, or shaft, power. It is typically used for comparing the
efficiency of internal combustion engines with a shaft output. It is
the rate of fuel consumption divided by the power produced. It may
also be thought of as power-specific fuel consumption, for this
reason. BSFC allows the fuel efficiency of different engines
 shearing, and the thermal expansion of some parts in the engine
to be directly compared. Brake power gives brake specific fuel reducing the built-in clearances (Pulkrabek 1997).
consumption. Brake specific fuel consumption is defined by:

3600( )
= (3)

where is the brake specific fuel consumption of the

operating engine, is the calculated mass flow fuel
consumption, and is the calculated brake power of the engine.

Thermal efficiency is the measure of the efficiency and

completeness of combustion of the fuel or the ratio of the output
or work done by the working substance in the cylinder in a
given time to the input or heat energy of the fuel supplied during
the same time. The brake thermal efficiency can be determined
using the equation:

= 100% (4)
Figure 5. Performance curve by Engine Speed vs. Brake Power

where is the brake thermal efficiency, is the heating value
of the fuel used, and = the brake power.
Results and Discussion
As reflected in Figure 5, the power decreases at increasing speed.
Power starts to fall because the engine becomes less efficient at
higher rpm. This is due to the fact that, at higher engine speeds, it
could no longer ingest a full charge of air for combustion
(Pulkrabek 1997). As the engine speed increases, the time for the
air inlet to remain open will however decrease. Combustion takes
a certain amount of time to occur. Forcing the engine to turn over
before it can complete combustion, caused the engine to be less
efficient which results to low power output.

1
0.9
0.8 25%
50%
0.7
75%
BSFC, kg/kWh

0.6 100%
0.5
0.4
0.3
Figure 4. Engine speed vs. Torque Performance curve
0.2
0.1
The graph generated in Fig. 4 illustrates the relationship between
the engine torque and the engine speed. The graph shows a 0
decrease in torque as engine speed is increased. This implies that 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000
torque and speed are inversely proportional with each other. As the Speed, rpm
rpm of an engine increases, torque increases up to a certain value
of rpm. And as the rpm goes on increasing, torque starts decreasing. Figure 6. Engine speed vs. BSFC
Now as the engine speed keeps increasing, torque starts to decrease
because of the increase in friction between engines moving parts.
Friction is related to the accumulation of heat, which is caused by
the change in viscosity of the lubricants in the engine due to
Fig. 6 illustrates the relationship between the engine speed and
brake specific fuel consumption. The graph shows an increase in
brake specific fuel consumption as engine speed is increased.. At
higher engine speed, bsfc is also high, meaning more fuel
consumption is needed just to produce the same amount of torque.
Brake specific fuel consumption is high because of rising friction
losses in the engine.
Figure 8. Speed vs. Brake thermal efficiency
As shown in Fig. 8, each throttle settings has a certain speed to
which efficiency is highest. The highest efficiency obtained was at
100% throttle opening which also had a least brake specific fuel
consumption among the four settings. As stated before, increasing
speed results to an increase in engine friction and decrease in time
for the inlet air to remain open which results to a less air in the
chamber causing an incomplete combustion. This two dominant
factor results to a decreased in efficiency as engine speed is
increased.
Conclusions
In conclusion, in each throttle opening, there is an ideal speed
in which the brake specific fuel consumption is least and brake
thermal efficiency is highest. To get maximum efficiency, the ideal
speed at each throttle setting must be met. This would produce the
optimum brake power for the least amount of fuel consumed thus
having a greater efficiency.
Most cars today have optimal speed between 55 - 60 mph. Once
passing this optimal speed, the gas mileage decreases. This means
that every time you go over this speed, you're essentially wasting
fuel and money.
Notation
The following symbols are used in this paper:
Brake Specific Fuel Consumption
Lower Heating Value (Diesel)
Heating Value of the Fuel
Density of the Fuel (Diesel)
Brake Power of the output shaft
Torque of the output shaft
Speed of the output shaft
Brake Thermal Efficiency
Volume flow of Fuel Consumption
Mass flow of Fuel Consumption
Specific Fuel Consumption
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