1.

1 Introduction
1.1.1 Historical Although the history of the diesel engine extends back into the closing years of the 19th century when Dr Rudolf Diesel began his pioneering work on air blast injected stationary engines, and in spite of the dominant position it now holds in many applications, e.g. marine propulsion and land transport, both road and rail, it is today the subject of intensive development and capable of improvements. These will guarantee the diesel engine an assured place as the most efficient liquid fuel burning prime mover yet derived. Before 1914, building on the work of Dr Rudolf Diesel in Germany and Hubert Akroyd Stuart in the UK, the diesel engine was used primarily in stationary and ship propulsion applications in the form of relatively low speed four-stroke normally aspirated engines. The 1914-18 war gave considerable impetus to the development of the high speed diesel engine with its much higher specific output, with a view to extending its application to vehicles. Although the first generation of road transport engines were undoubtedly of the spark ignition variety, the somewhat later development of diesel engines operating on the self or compression ignition principle followed soon after so that by the mid 1930s the high speed normally aspirated diesel engine was firmly established as the most efficient prime mover for trucks and buses. At the same time with the increasing use of turbocharging it began to displace the highly inefficient steam engine in railway locomotives while the impending 1939-45 war gave a major impetus to the development of the highly supercharged diesel engine as a new aero engine, particularly in Germany. Since the 1939-45 war every major industrial country has developed its own range of diesel engines. Its greatest market penetration has undoubtedly occurred in the field of heavy road transport where, at any rate in Europe, it is now dominant. It is particularly in this field where development, in the direction of turbocharging in its various forms, has been rapid during the last twenty years, and where much of the current research and development effort is concentrated. However, a continuous process of uprating and refinement has been applied in all its fields of application, from the very largest low speed marine two-stroke engines, through medium speed stationary engines to small single cylinder engines for operation in remote areas with minimum attendance. There is little doubt that it will continue to occupy a leading position in the spectrum of reciprocating prime movers, so long as fossil fuels continue to be available and, provided it can be made less sensitive to fuel quality, well into the era of synthetic or coal derived fuels. 1.1.2 Classifications The major distinguishing characteristic of the diesel engine is, of course, the compression-ignition principle, i.e. the adoption of a special method of fuel preparation. Instead of relying on the passage of a spark at a predetermined point towards the end of the compression process to ignite a pre-mixed and wholly gaseous fuel-air mixture in approximately stoichiometric proportions as in the appropriately named category of sparkignition (SI) engines, the compression ignition (CI) engine operates with a heterogeneous charge of previously compressed air and a finely divided spray of liquid fuel. The latter is injected into the engine cylinder towards the end of compression when, after a suitably intensive mixing process with the air already in the cylinder, the self ignition properties of the fuel cause combustion to be initiated from small nuclei. These spread rapidly so that complete combustion of all injected fuel, usually with

air-fuel ratios well in excess of stoichiometric, is ensured. The mixing process is crucial to the operation of the Diesel engine and as such has received a great deal of attention which is reflected in a wide variety of combustion systems which may conveniently be grouped in two broad categories, viz. (a) Direct Injection (DI) Systems as used in DI engines, in which the fuel is injected directly into a combustion chamber formed in the clylinder itself, i.e. between a suitably shaped non-stationary piston crown and a fixed cylinder head in which is mounted the fuel injector with its single or multiple spray orifices or nozzles. (See Figures 1.1 and 7.2.)

Injector

Figure 1.1 Quiescent combustion system. Application-Four-stroke and two-stroke engines mostly above 150 mm bore (Benson and Whitehouse)

Figure 1.2 High swirl system. Application to virtually all truck and bus sized engines, but increasingly also to the high speed passenger car engine

(b) Indirect Injection (IDI) Systems as used in IDI engines in which fuel is injected into a prechamber which communicates with the cylinder through a narrow passage. The rapid transfer of air from the main cylinder into the prechamber towards top dead centre (TDC) of the firing stroke promotes a very high degree of air motion in the prechamber which is particularly conducive to rapid fuel-air mixing. (See Figure 1.3.) Combustion systems are described in more detail in Chapter 4 and generally in Chapters 22 to 29 describing engine types. A further major subdivision of diesel engines is into two-stroke and four-stroke engines, according to the manner in which the gas exchange process is performed.

1.2 Two-stroke and four-stroke engines

Figure 1.4 Two-stroke engines: (a) Loop scavenged engine; (b) Exhaust valve-in-head engine; (c) Opposed piston engine (Benson and Whitehouse)

Figure 1.3 Prechamber system-compression swirl. Applicationtraditionally to high speed passenger car engines but now increasingly replaced by direct injection engine

expulsion of the products of combustion from the engine cylinder and their replacement by a fresh air charge in readiness for the next working cycle. 1.2.1 Two-stroke engines (Figures IAa, b, c) In two-stroke engines combustion occurs in the region of top dead centre (TDC) of every revolution. Consequently gas exchange also has to be effected once per revolution in the region of bottom dead centre (BCD) and with minimum loss of expansion work of the cylinder gases following combustion. This implies that escape of gas from the cylinder to exhaust and charging with fresh air from the inlet manifold must occur under the most favourable possible flow conditions over the shortest possible period. In practice the gas exhange or SC AVENGING process in two-stroke engines occupies between 100 and 150 of crank angle (CA) disposed approximately symmetrically about BDC. Two-stroke engines may be subdivided according to the particular scavenging system used into the following sub-groups. 1.2.Ll Loop scavenged engines (Figure L4a) This is the simplest type of two-stroke engine in which both inlet and exhaust are controlled by ports in conjunction with a single piston. Inevitably this arrangement results in symmetrical timing which from the standpoint of scavenging is not ideal. In the first instance the 'loop' air motion in the cylinder is apt to produce a high degree of mixing of the incoming air with the products of combustion, instead of physical displacement through

the exhaust ports. As a result the degree of charge purity (i.e. the proportion of trapped air) at the end of the scavenging process tends to be low. A second adverse feature resulting from symmetrical timing is loss of trapped charge between inlet and exhaust port closure and susceptibility to further pollution of the trapped charge with exhaust gas returned to the cylinder by exhaust manifold pressure wave effects. The great advantage of the system is its outstanding simplicity. 7.2.7.2 Uniflow scavenge single piston engines (Figure IAb) In engines of this type admission of air to the cylinder is usually effected by piston controlled ports while the products of combustion are exhausted through a camshaft operated exhaust valve. Such systems are preferable from the standpoint of scavenging in that the 'uniflow' motion of the air from the inlet ports upwards through the cylinder tends to lead to physical displacement of, rather than mixing with, the products of combustion thus giving improved charge purity at the end of the scavenging process. At the same time it is now possible to adopt asymmetrical timing of the exhaust and inlet processes relative to bottom dead centre (BDC) so that, with exhaust closure preceding inlet closure the danger of escape of fresh charge into the exhaust manifold present in the loop scavenge system is completely eliminated. This system has been adopted in a number of stationary and marine two-stroke engines. 7.2.7.5 Uniflow scavenge opposed piston engines (Figure IAc) In engines of this type admission of air is effected by 'air piston' controlled inlet ports, and rejection of products of combustion by 'exhaust piston' controlled exhaust ports. The motion of the two sets of pistons is controlled by either two crankshafts connected through gearing, or by a signle crankshaft with the 'top' bank of pistons transmitting their motion to the single

crankshaft through a crosshead-siderod mechanism. By suitable offsetting of the cranks controlling the air and exhaust pistons asymmetrical timing can be achieved. It is evident that this system displays the same favourable characteristics as the exhaust valve in head system, but at the expense of even greater mechanical complications. Its outstanding advantage is the high specific output per cylinder associated with two pistons. However, the system is now retained only in large low speed marine, and smaller medium speed stationary and marine engines. In high speed form it is still employed for naval purposes such as in some fast patrol vessels and mine searchers, although its use in road vehicles and locomotives is discontinued. 1.2.2 Four-stroke engines (Figure 1.5) The vast majority of current diesel engines operate on the fourstroke principle in which combustion occurs only every other revolution, again in the region of top dead centre (TDC), and with the intermediate revolution and its associated piston strokes given over to the gas exchange process. In practice the exhaust valve(s) open well before bottom dead centre (BDC) following the expansion stroke and only close well after the following top dead centre (TDC) position is reached. The inlet valve(s) open before this latter TDC, giving a period of overlap between inlet valve opening (IVO) and exhaust valve closing (EVC) during which the comparatively small clearance volume is scavenged of most of the remaining products of combustion. Following completion of the inlet stroke, the inlet valve(s) close well after the following bottom dead centre (BDC), after which the 'closed' portion of the cycle, i.e. the sequence compression, combustion, expansion, leads to the next cycle, commencing again with exhaust valve opening (EVO). The main advantages of the four-stroke cycle over its twostroke counterpart are:
Inlet valve Exhaust valve

(a) the longer period available for the gas exhange process and the separation of the exhaust and inlet periods apart from the comparatively short overlapresulting in a purer trapped charge. (b) the lower thermal loading associated with engines in which pistons, cylinder heads and liners are exposed to the most severe pressures and temperatures associated with combustion only every other revolution. (c) Easier lubrication conditions for pistons, rings and liners due to the absence of ports, and the idle stroke renewing liner lubrication and giving inertia lift off to rings and small and large end bearings. These factors make it possible for the four-stroke engine to achieve output levels of the order of 75% of equivalent twostroke engines. In recent years attention has focused particularly on three-cylinder high speed passenger car two-stroke engines as a possible replacement for conventional four-cylinder, fourstroke engines with considerable potential savings in space and weight. 1.2.3 Evaluation of power output of two-stroke and four-stroke engines (Figures 1.6a and b} In order to determine the power developed within the engine cylinder as a result of gas forces acting on the piston as opposed to shaft power from the output shaft, it is necessary to have a record of the variation of gas pressure (/?) with stroke or cylinder volume (V) referred to as an Indicator Diagram (or p'-VDiagram). This used to be obtained by mechanical means, but such crude instrumentation has now been completely replaced by electronic instruments known as pressure transducers. It is also generally more convenient to combine the pressure measurement with a crank angle (CA) measurement, using a position transducer in conjunction with a suitable crank angle marker disc, and subsequently convert crank angle to stroke values by a simple geometric transformation. The sequence of events for the two cycles may be summarized as follows: (a) Two-stroke cycle (asymmetrical timing) 1-2 compression 1 2-3 heat release associated > Closed Period with combustion J 3-4 expansion 36O0CA 4-5 blowdown 1 5-6 scavenging f Open Period 6-1 supercharge J (b) Four-stroke cycle 1-2 compression 1 2-3 heat release associated > Closed Period with combustion J 3-4 expansion 72O0CA 4-5 blowdown 5-6 exhaust 6-7 overlap Open Period 7-8 induction 8-1 recompression In both cases the cycle divides itself into the closed period during which power is being produced, and the open or gas exchange period which may make a small positive contribution to power production or, in the case of the four-stroke engine, under conditions of adverse pressure differences between inlet and exhaust manifold, a negative contribution. In the case of the four-stroke engine the area enclosed by the p-V diagram for the gas exchange process, i.e. 567-8, is known as the pumping

Piston

Figure 1.5

Four-stroke engine (turbocharged)