ENGINE PERFORMANCE 201

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ENGINE TERMINOLOGY

Automobile engineering has its own set of technical terms which are used to
describe the various components and systems fitted to vehicles.

Top dead centre (TDC): The term top dead centre refers to the position of the
piston at the top of its stroke. The crown of the piston has reached its closest point
to the cylinder head.

Bottom dead centre (BDC): The term bottom dead centre refers to the position of
the piston movement where the piston is at its lowest position.

Stroke: This is the distance the piston travels from BDC to TDC.

Crankshaft throw: The crankshaft throw of an engine is considered to be the

distance from the main bearing to the centre of the big eng journal, half the stroke
of the engine.

Cylinder bore: The bore is the diameter of the cylinder. In the situation where the
engine bore is equal to its stroke, it is termed a ‘square’. Were the length of the
stroke exceeds the bore, the engine is ‘undersquare’. In the opposite case it is
’oversquare’.

Engine capacity: This is the volume of cylinder ‘displaced’ or ‘swept’ by a single

stroke of the piston. The volume is given by the formula:
π
V= b2s where:
4

V= volume of cylinder
B=bore of cylinder
S=stroke
This is the volume displaced or swept by the piston and is usually referred to as the
displacement or swept volume of the cylinder. When engine has more than one
cylinder, the total piston displacement or swept volume of all cylinders is required.
The total swept volume (V1) will be
π
V1 = b 2s
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Compression ratio: This is expressed as the total volume inside the cylinder
between the piston crown and the underside of the cylinder head when the piston is
at bottom of its stroke (BDC), divided by the volume inside the cylinder when the
piston is at top of its stroke (TDC).

The following formula maybe used to determine the compression ratio:

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CR = swept volume + clearance volume
Clearance volume

Swept volume: The total distance travelled by the piston between TDC and BTC.

Clearance volume (combustion chamber): The space in between the cylinder

head and the piston when at TDC where burning of the air –fuel mixture takes place.

Engine torque: Torque may be defined as ‘turning’ or ‘twisting’ effort. And is a

measure of the effect acting at a distance from a shaft centre.

POWER AND M.E.P

Indicated Power (i.p.) is the net power actually developed at the piston face
during
the events of mechanical cycle. It is so named because it is determined by the use
of an instrument called an ‘engine indicator’.

Indicated Mean Effective Pressure (i.m.e.p. or simply i.m.p.) is the algebraic

sum of the mean pressures acting on the piston during each stroke over one
complete cycle.

Brake Power (b.p.) is the actual work output of an engine or the actual work
available at the crankshaft and is termed so because it can be obtained by
absorbing (also by transmission dynamometer) the power output by means of some
form of brake.

Brake Mean Effective Pressure (b.m.e.p.) is the m.e.p., which could have
developed power equivalent to the b.p. calculated above if noted on the piston. It is
a comparative measure of the power capabilities of engines, which operate with the
same engine displacement and speed, and forms a basis for the index of
performance.

Friction Power (f.p.) of an engine is less than its i.p. owing to frictional losses at
the
working surfaces like bearings, piston rings and valves. The power lost in this way is
known as friction power.

Engine Torque. The torque and the b.m.e.p. of a given engine are linearly related.
Therefore, when brake torque and b.m.e.p. are plotted against rpm., the shapes of
the resulting curves should be similar. This is not a good index of performance as it
depends on the size of the engine. But for automobile engines, the torque is
significant from driving viewpoint.

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Piston Speed: The piston speed of an engine is the total travel made by a piston in
one minute, i.e. piston =2 N x stroke, for double acting two-stroke engine.

ENGINE EFFICIENCIES AND FUEL CONSUMPTION

Thermal Efficiency: The thermal efficiency forms a basis upon which the
performance of all IC engines is compared. It is the ratio of the useful work obtained
to the heat supplied to engine. The factors on which the thermal efficiency depends
are, GO Compression Ratio. Thermal efficiency increases with increase in
compression ratio.

Mechanical Efficiency, r\m. The ratio of the power delivered by the engine (b.p.)
to the total power developed within the engine (i.p.) is known as the mechanical
efficiency.

Volumetric Efficiency, r\v : It is defined as the ratio of the actual weight of air
induced by the engine in the intake stroke to the theoretical weight of air that
should have been induced due to piston displacement at intake temperature and
pressure.

RECIPROCATING INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE

The engines with which you will be working on will convert heat energy into work by
burning fuel in a confined chamber within the engine; thus the term internal
combustion. Because they have pistons that employ a back-and-forth motion,
diesel and gasoline engines are also classified as reciprocating engines.

CYCLES OF OPERATION

Four Stroke Engine

The four stroke engine was first demonstrated by Nikolaus Otto in 1876; hence it is
also known as the Otto cycle. The technically correct term is actually four stroking
cycle. The four stroke engine is probably the most common engine type nowadays.
It powers almost all cars and trucks.

The four strokes of the cycle are intake, compression, power, and exhaust. Each
corresponds to one full stroke of the piston; therefore, the complete cycle requires
two revolutions of the crankshaft to complete.

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Intake Stroke - The inlet valve is opened and the air charge is drawn in as the
piston travels down. The exhaust valve is held shut by a spring.

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Compression Stroke - The inlet valve is closed and the piston travels back up the
cylinder compressing air charge raising the combustion chamber temperature to
well above 700ºC. Just before piston reaches the top of its compression stroke fuel is
injected into hot air charge which ignites momentarily. The number of degrees
before the top of its travel is the injection advance. When the piston is at the top of
its travel it is at top dead centre (TDC). Flywheel momentum drives the piston
upward, compressing the air charge.

Power/Combustion Stroke - At the top of the compression stroke, diesel fuel is

injected which mixes with hot air charge and it ignites. As the fuel burns it expands,
driving the piston downward. The piston is now forced down by the pressure wave
of the combustion of the fuel air mixture. The engines power is derived from this
stroke.

Exhaust Stroke - The exhaust valve is opened and the piston travels back up
expelling the exhaust gases through the exhaust valve. At the top of this stroke the
exhaust valve is closed. This process is then repeated.

A cycle of operation in either a diesel or gasoline engine involves two basic factors—
heat and mechanics. The means by which heat energy is transformed into
mechanical energy involves many terms such as matter, molecules, energy, heat,
temperature, the mechanical equivalent of heat, force, pressure, volume, work, and
power.

VALVE TIMING DIAGRAM

Camshaft

In four-stroke cycle engines and some two-stroke cycle engines, the valve timing is
controlled by the camshaft. It can be varied by modifying the camshaft, or it can be
varied during engine operation by variable valve timing. It is also affected by the
adjustment of the valve mechanism, and particularly by the tappet clearance.
However, this variation is normally unwanted.

Valve overlap

With traditional fixed valve timing, an engine will have a period of "valve overlap" at
the end of the exhaust stroke, when both the intake and exhaust valves are open.
The intake valve is opened before the exhaust gases have completely left the
cylinder, and their considerable velocity assists in drawing in the fresh charge.

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Engine designers aim to close the exhaust valve just as the fresh charge from the
intake valve reaches it, to prevent either loss of fresh charge or unscavenged
exhaust gas.

Variable valve timing

Engines that always run at a relatively high speed, such as race car engines, will
have considerable overlap in their valve timings for maximum volumetric efficiency.
Road car engines are different because they are required to idle at less than
1000rpm, and excessive valve overlap would make smooth idling impossible
because of the mixing of fresh and exhaust gases. Variable valve timing can give
both maximum power at high rpm and smooth idling at low rpm by making small
changes to the relative angular position of the camshafts and thereby varying the
valve overlap.

Valve lead: This is where a valve opens so many degrees of crankshaft rotation
before either TDC or BDC.

Valve lag: This is where a valve closes so many degrees of crankshaft rotation after
TDC or BDC.

Valve overlap: This is the condition when both the inlet and the exhaust valves
are open at the same time during so many degrees of crankshaft rotation.

VALVE TIMING DIAGRAM AND CHART

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VALVE TIMING CHART- FOUR STROKE ENGINE

STROKE PISTON’S INTAKE EXHAUST AIR CRANKSHA

MOVEMEN VALVE VALVE CHARGE FT
T ROTATION
INDUCTION DOWNWAR OPEN CLOSED IN 180°
D
COMPRESSIO UPWARD CLOSED CLOSED COMPRESSE 360°
N D
POWER DOWNWAR CLOSED CLOSED EXPANDS 540°
D
EXHAUST UPWARD CLOSED OPEN OUT 720°

CYLINDER FIRING ORDERS

1. It is best to have successive cylinder firing as far apart as possible to allow a

recovery of charge in the manifold i.e. complete firing and minimize
interference between adjacent cylinders which may have overlapping
induction periods.
2. Distancing successive cylinders which are exhausting to avoid exhaust gas
back-pressure which may prevent the products of combustion escaping from
cylinders.
3. Power impulses tend to wind up the crankshaft and, if the natural torsional
oscillations of the shaft happen to coincide with these disturbing impulse
frequencies, torsional vibrations may occur.

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FOUR CYLINDER IN-LINE ENGINE: It will have a power stroke impulse every 720
̊ /4 = 180 ̊ of crankshaft rotation. The crankshafts must have crank throws spaced at
intervals of 180 ̊ to each other in the order in which it is intended the power
impulses should occur. With the crankshaft arrangement adopted, it will be seen
that all four crank throws lie in one plane, crankpins 1 and 4 being in phase and at
180 ̊ to crank pin 2 and 3. Firing order being = 1, 3, 4, 2 or 1, 2, 4, 3.
HOLIZONTALLY OPPOSED FLAT FOUR CYLINDER ARRANGEMENT: With this
arrangement, the crankshaft and cylinders are arranged so that pairs of cylinders
are positioned horizontally opposed but offset to each on each side of crankshaft.
Considering the firing order when pistons 1 and 2 are at TDC, piston 3 and 4 will be
at BDC.

Firing order being = 1, 4, 2, 3.

Inline 5 cylinder F.O. = 1, 2, 4, 5, 3
Inline 6 cylinder F.O. = 1, 5, 3, 6, 2, 4 or 1, 4, 2, 6, 3, 5
Inline 8 cylinder F.O. = 1, 6, 2, 5, 8, 3, 7, 4

90 ̊ ’V’ TWIN CYLINDER ARRANGEMENT: This arrangement has two cylinders

positioned at 90 ̊ to each other with both big-ends attached to a single crankpin.
With this configuration there will be uneven intervals between power impulses
which take place every 270 ̊ and 450 ̊ of crankshaft rotation.

90 ̊ ’V’ –EIGHT WITH SINGLE PLANE CRANKSHAFT: Like the two-plane

crankshaft of the ‘inline eight’ the single-plane arrangement used for the ‘V-eight’
will provide a power impulse every 90 ̊ of crankshaft movement. The single plane
crankshaft has four crankpins are in plane. Each crankpin has two con-rod big-ends
attached, and generally there are five main journals to support the crankshaft. The
firing order being 1, 8, 3, 6, 4, 5, 2, 7.

60 ̊ ’V’SIX CYLINDER ARRANGEMENT: The cylinders fire at equally spaced

intervals of 120 ̊ and are arranged with numbers 1, 2 and 3 in the left hand bank
and Nos 4, 5, and 6 in the right hand bank. The crankshaft has six crankpins equally
spaced at intervals of 60 ̊ and arranged to lie in three planes. To support the shaft
there are four main journals and bearings placed at each end between pairs of
crankpins, thus providing a relatively short but rigid construction. The firing order is
1, 4, 2, 5, 3, 6.

SUMMARY

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TWO STROKE CYCLE DIESEL ENGINE

The pump scavenge two stroke diesel engine designed by Sir Dugald Clerk in 1879
was the first successful two-stroke engine; thus the two-stroke-cycle engine is
sometimes called the Clerk engine. Uniflow scavenging took place - fresh charge
entering the combustion chamber above the piston while the exhaust outflow
occurred through ports uncovered by the piston at its outermost position.

Low- and medium-speed two-stroke marine diesels engines still use this system, but
high-speed two-stroke diesel engines reverse the scavenging flow by blowing fresh
charge through the bottom inlet ports, sweeping up through the cylinder and out of
the exhaust ports in the cylinder head.

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With the two-stroke diesel engine, intake and exhaust phases take place during part
of the compression and power stroke respectively, so that a cycle of operation is
completed in one crankshaft revolution or two piston strokes.

Since there are no separate intake and exhaust strokes, a blower is necessary to
pump air into the cylinder for expelling the exhaust gases and to supply the cylinder
with fresh air for combustion.

Scavenging (induction and exhaust) phase: The piston moves away from the
cylinder head and, when it is about half-way down its stroke, the exhaust valves
open. This allows the burnt gases to escape into the atmosphere. Near the end of
the power stroke, a horizontal row of inlet air ports is uncovered by the piston lands.
These ports admit pressurized air from the blower into the cylinder. The space
above the piston is immediately filled with air, which now blows up the cylinder
towards the exhaust valves in the cylinder head.

The last remaining exhaust gases will thus be forced out of the cylinder into the
exhaust system. This process of fresh air coming into the cylinder and pushing out
unwanted burnt gas is known as scavenging.

Compression phase: Towards the end of the power stroke, the inlet ports will be
uncovered. The piston then reaches its outermost position and reverses its direction
of motion. The piston now moves upwards so that the piston seals and closes the
inlet air ports, and just a little later the exhaust valves close. Any further upward
movement will now compress the trapped air. This air charge is now reduced to
about 1/15 to 1/18 of its original volume as the piston reaches the innermost
position. This change in volume corresponds to a maximum cylinder pressure of
about 30-40 bar. Power phase Shortly before the piston reaches the innermost
position to the cylinder head on its upward compression stroke, highly pressurized
liquid fuel is sprayed into the dense intensely heated air charge. Within a very short
period of time, the injected fuel droplets will vaporize and ignite, and rapid burning
will be established by the time the piston is at the top of its stroke.

The heat liberated from the charge will be converted mainly into gas-pressure
energy which will expand the gas and so do useful work in driving the piston
outwards.

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COMPARISON OF TWO AND FOUR STROKE CYCLE DIESEL ENGINE

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A brief but critical comparison of two and four stroke diesel engine is made below:

a) Theoretically, almost twice the power can be developed with a two-stroke engine
compared with a four-stroke engine.

b) A comparison between a typical 12 liter four-stroke engine and a 7 liter two-

stroke engine having the same speed range would show that they would develop
similar torque and power ratings. The ratio of engine capacities for equivalent
performance for these four-stroke and two-stroke engines would be 1.7:1.

c) In a four-stroke engine, the same parts generate power and empty and fill the
cylinders. With the two-stroke engine, the emptying and filling can be carried out by
light rotary components.

d) With a two-stroke engine, 40–50% more air consumption is necessary for the
same power output; therefore the air-pumping work done will be proportionally
greater.

e) About 10–20% of the upward stroke of a two-stroke engine must be sacrificed to

emptying and filling the cylinder.

f) The time available for emptying and filling a cylinder is considerably less in a two-
stroke-cycle engine – something like 33% of the completed cycle as compared to
50% in a four-stroke engine. Therefore more power will be needed to force a greater
mass of air into the cylinder in a shorter time.

g) Compared with a two-stroke engine, more power is needed by the piston for
emptying and filling the cylinder in a four-stroke engine, due to pumping and friction
losses at low speeds. At higher engine speeds the situation is reversed, and the
two-stroke’s Roots blower will consume proportionally more engine power – this
could be up to 15% of the developed power at maximum speed.

h) With reduced engine load for a given speed, a two-stroke engine blower will
consume proportionally more of the power developed by the engine.

i) A two-stroke engine runs smoother and relatively quietly, due to the absence of
reversals of loading on bearings as compared with a four-stroke engine.

COMPARISON OF SI AND CI ENGINE

Fuel economy: The chief comparison to be made between the two types of engine
is how effectively each engine can convert the liquid fuel into work energy. Different
engines are compared by their thermal efficiencies. Thermal efficiency is the ratio of
the useful work produced to the total energy supplied. Petrol engines can have
thermal efficiencies ranging between 20% and 30%. The corresponding diesel
engines generally have improved efficiencies, between 30% and 40%. Both sets of

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efficiency values are considerably influenced by the chosen compression-ratio and
design.

Power and torque: The petrol engine is usually designed with a shorter stroke and
operates over a much larger crankshaft-speed range than the diesel engine. This
enables more power to be developed towards the upper speed range in the petrol
engine, which is necessary for high road speeds; however, a long-stroke diesel
engine has improved pulling torque over a relatively narrow speed range, this being
essential for the haulage of heavy commercial vehicles.

At the time of writing, there was a trend to incorporate diesel engines into cars. This
new generation of engines has different design parameters and therefore does not
conform to the above observations.

Reliability: Due to their particular process of combustion, diesel engines are built
sturdier, tend to run cooler, and have only half the speed range of most petrol
engines. These factors make the diesel engine more reliable and considerably
extend engine life relative to the petrol engine.

Pollution: Diesel engines tend to become noisy and to vibrate on their mountings
as the operating load is reduced.

The combustion process is quieter in the petrol engine and it runs smoother than
the diesel engine. There is no noisy injection equipment used on the petrol engine,
unlike that necessary on the diesel engine. The products of combustion coming out
of the exhaust system are more noticeable with diesel engines, particularly if any of
the injection equipment components are out of tune. It is questionable which are
the more harmful: the relatively invisible exhaust gases from the petrol engine,
which include nitrogen dioxide, or the visible smoky diesel exhaust gases.

Safety: Unlike petrol, diesel fuels are not flammable at normal operating
temperature, so they are not a handling hazard and fire risks due to accidents are
minimized.

Cost: Due to their heavy construction and injection equipment, diesel engines are
more expensive than petrol engines.

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