THERMODYNAMICS EXPERIMENT 2A ABRAHAM AUDU Group A2 abdb109@city.ac.

uk

The determination of brake power, brake thermal efficiency, airfuel ratio, and engine volumetric efficiency in a diesel engine (BRIEF REPORT)

Introduction
OBJECTIVE To conduct a test on a four cylinder diesel engine running at constant speed in order to determine its speed, brake power, rate of fuel consumption, rate of air flow through engine, and brake thermal efficiency. Diesel engine was first proposed by Rudolf Diesel in the 1890s, diesel engines also known as Compression-Ignition (CI) Engines are similar to Petrol engines also known as Spark-Ignition engines. They are both internal combustion engines designed to convert the chemical energy (fuel) into mechanical energy. The mechanical energy moves a piston up and down inside a cylinder as illustrate in fig1 below. The piston is connected to a crankshaft and the up and down motion of the piston invokes the rotary motion of the car wheels allowing the car to move forward. The distinguishing feature between the two engines is that in a petrol engine, fuel is mixed with air compressed by a piston and ignited by a spark plug. However in a diesel engine the air is initially compressed before the fuel is injected. The air heats up when it is compressed allowing the fuel to ignite. The sparkplug and carburettor in a petrol engine are replaced by a fuel injector in a diesel engine. The four strokes are: 1. Intake stroke - The intake valve opens up, letting in air and moving the piston down. 2. Compression stroke - The piston moves back up and compresses the air. 3. Power stroke - As the piston reaches the top, fuel is injected at just the right moment and the fuel ignites spontaneously, forcing the piston back down. 4. Exhaust stroke - The piston moves back to the top, pushing out the exhaust created from the combustion out of the exhaust valve.

Fig 1 In the petrol engine the petrol and air mixture is drawn into the cylinder, compressed (compression ratio ranging from 4:1 to 10:1), and ignited by a spark introduced by an electrical system. In the diesel engine, air alone is drawn into the cylinder and is compressed to a much higher ratio (14:1 to 25:1) than in the petrol engine. Therefore tests and experiments such as this can be used by manufacturers to further research into improving engine efficiency. The more refined the fuel the higher the cost to the consumer. It is also evident the most efficient engines are found in expensive vehicles. The Main reasons of conduction this test is to identify the behaviour and how efficient a diesel engine can be and its performance under given conditions.

Theory
There are several variables and factors that affect the performance of an engine. These variables are used to ascertain the performance of a part or the engine as a whole. One such factor is the brake thermal efficiency bt, defined as
Break thermal efficiency (bt) =

Power available at engine crankshaft -------------------------------------------------net chemical power of fuel supplied

The brake thermal efficiency gives the percentage of the energy used from the net energy supplied.

Equation 1

Shaft power = Where:

sh

mg + L N 447 .2 60

m = mass added to the engine N = engine speed

Equation 2

Chemical (fuel) Power = Where:

ch

= v f LC V

v = volume flow rate of the fuel f = density of the fuel LCV = lower calorific value of the fuel

Using Equations 1 and 2 the brake thermal efficiency bt can be calculated The brake power and chemical power supplied are not measured directly but are calculated from the experimentally determined values of the engine variables on which they depend, i.e.
Equation 3

Another important factor is the air-fuel ratio (A/F) defined as: Mass flow rate of air through engine -----------------------------------------------Mass flow rate of fuel through engine

Air - Fuel ratio A/F =

The Experimental Mass flow rate of air through engine can be calculated using the equation

Equation 4
3 Air Mass flow rate = 5.11 10

ha Pa T3 + 273

Where: ha= Air manometer reading Pa= Atmospheric pressure

Equation 5

Accordingly, the theoretical mass of Air = (n/2) (/4) D2 S a N/60 (kg/s) Where: D = cylinder diameter (bore) (m) S = stroke (m) N = engine rpm (rpm) n = number of cylinder a = air density at room temperature (kg/m3 )

Equation 6

Mass flow rate of fuel through engine is given by

= v f

Where: mf = mass flow rate of fuel (kg/s) = volume flow rate of fuel (m3/s) f = fuel density (kg/m3 )

The final factor that is the being considered for this experiment is The Volumetric Efficiency, which is defined as Actual mass of air supply to the engine -----------------------------------------------Theoretical mass of air supply to the engine

The Volumetric Efficiency =

The value for Actual mass of air supply to the engine and Theoretical mass of air supply to the engine can be calculated using equations 4 and 5 respectively During this experiment the term Load refers to the fuel in the engine. Two types of loads namely zero load (0Kg) and full load (22Kg) will be compared.

Experimental Arrangements
EQUIPMENT Ford four cylinder, four stroke 2.3 litre diesel engine Bore: 94mm, stroke: 83mm Engine power: Engine speed: Temperatures: Fuel consumption: Air flow: Atmospheric pressure: Fuel specific gravity: Heenan-Froude water dynamometer. Tachometer. Thermocouples. Stopwatch and 50, 100 and 200 ml pipettes. Air drum with 60 mm orifice and inclined water manometer. Mercury barometer. Hydrometer

Results

Loa d

Shaft

(Brak (Kg) e) Powe r (kW) 0 22 12.30 34.46

Chemi cal (Fuel) Power (kW) 53.55 116.87

Brake Therma l Efficien cy (%) 23 29.5

volumet ric Efficienc y (%)

Air mass flow rate (Kg/s)

Fuel mass flow rate (Kg/s) (x10 )

-3

Theoreti cal Air mass flow rate (Kg/s)

AirFuel Ratio

86.8 82.6

0.050 0.047 6

1.245 2.718

0.058 0.058

40.1 6 17.5 1

Discussion
The Conservation of Energy Principle states that during an interaction, energy can change form to another but the total amount of energy remains constant. The First Law of thermodynamics (Energy Balance) is essentially an expression of the conservation of energy principle. The first law is concerned with energy interactions and quantity of energy, with no regard to its quality.

The Second Law of Thermodynamics asserts that processes occur in a certain direction and that energy has quality as well as quantity. The second law of thermodynamics is also used in determining the theoretical limits for the performance of commonly used engineering systems, such as a diesel engine. Again using the laws above, it can be seen that the chemical power from this experiment does not equal to the brake power because the system is not 100% efficient. The values for 0kg load show that the chemical power = 53.55kW and the brake power is 12.30kW. This clearly indicates that significant power is released from the system through the engine exhaust valve and the rest given off by convection and radiation to the surroundings. The power in diesel engines is achieved by changing only the mixture quality of the fuel. The more fuel is injected into the engine the greater the increase in power. Diesel fuels can be produced less refined and because only air is compressed during the compression stroke it eliminates the chances of auto ignition occurring .However petrol engines need the air and fuel mixture to be compressed and ignited in the cylinder to increase the power. A petrol engine is not so durable especially under continuous long-term usage and suffers from lower efficiency for equivalent power compared to a diesel engine. Maintenance is more expensive for a diesel engine than a petrol engine. The diesel engine is definitely the most efficient but petrol engine is cheaper to maintain. A Diesel engine will produce more carbon dioxide than a petrol engine hence producing more pollution. Brake Thermal efficiency is a measure of how efficiently a heat engine converts the heat it receives to work. In this experiment the 0kg load which had 100ml of fuel supplied through a pipette to the engine had a thermal efficiency of 23% and the 22Kg load had 200ml of fuel supplied through a pipette to the engine had a thermal efficiency of 29.5%. A value of 86.8% volumetric efficiency suggests the 0Kg Load is the better engine compared to the 82.6% of the 22Kg load. This means the more filtered air is available in the combustion chambers to mix with the diesel fuel the more fuel is burn by the cylinder to produce greater brake power.

Conclusion

This experiment has demonstrated that the amount of fuel supplied and the load, under which the engine is running, affects its performance and efficiency. Fuel economy in vehicles is the amount of fuel required to move the vehicle over a given distance. While the fuel efficiency of petrol engines has improved in modern times, diesel engines that are now up to 45% efficient this does not necessarily translate into better fuel economy if larger and heavier vehicles are used or if that efficiency is used to produce fast sport cars capable of producing higher rates of acceleration.

Appendices
See Hard copy.