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09/08/2010

Concepts and definition

FLAME Gas rendered luminous start from point of ignition to end of combustion chamber. Self Ignition Temperature Temperature at which fuel will ignite itself without flame. Combustion rapid and high temperature oxidation of fuel with liberation of heat energy. Spatial velocity velocity of flame depend on shape and size of combustion chamber.

Combustion in S. I. Engines

It is essential to burn the fuel completely for the economical working of the engine

Therefore the mixture supplied to the engine should possess required A:F ratio otherwise, combustion cannot be initiated or if initiated it cannot be sustained.

Combustion in S. I. Engines

There is a ignition limit for any fuel to start the combustion and sustain it till the complete fuel burns by the flame generated with spark plug. In addition to this, the temperature of the mixture to initiate the ignition is equally important. It is also known that the flame will propagate if the temperature of the burnt gases exceeds 1500 K for S.I. engine fuels. The upper and lower limit of A:F ratio for ignition depends upon the temperature of a particular fuel.

Stages of Combustion in S. I. Engines

Ignition Lag
Flame propagation After burning

Ignition Lag

Motoring curve - Engine is not under firing. ABCD - Actual combustion curve. A- point of spark supply. Spark Advance - Crank angle before TDC at the instant of spark. Ignition Lag - Time between instant of spark and tiny flame reappear (AB).

Effect of engine variable

High Temperature & Pressure molecules nearer reduces ignition lag. High compression ratio reduces ignition lag. High self ignition temp high ignition lag. High speed ignition advance. Residual gas increase ignition lag.

Flame propagation

Flame burns the fuel in layer by layer. Pressure & temperature Increasing. Slope rate of pressure rise. Rate of energy release intensity of turbulence and A/F ratio No heat transfer to cylinder walls.

Effect of engine variable

High compression ratio Increase flame speed. Small size combustion chamber reduces time for propagation. Turbulence Intensifies rate of heat transfer & increase flame speed. A/F Ratio 10% more than stoichiometric mixture.

After burning

Burning continues due to left over fuel. Flame velocity decreases

Time of flame travel

(A B) Reaction rate flame get into unburned gas. Transposition rate physical movement of flame due to pressure differential. Low transposition rate & low turbulence. Quiescent zone (B-C) More turbulence. Burnt more mass mixture. (B-C) Low turbulence.

Spark Timing residual gas - diluent it lowers the laminar burning velocity. Because of lower burning velocity overall burn angle increases so need to increase spark advance. In modern engines the ECU sets the spark advance based on engine data such as: throttle position, intake manifold pressure and engine speed.

Abnormal combustion

Abnormal combustion A combustion process in which a flame front may be started by hot combustion-chamber surfaces either prior to or after spark ignition, or a process in which some part or all of the charge may be consumed at extremely high rates.

Knock and Surface Ignition

Knock is the engine sound that results from spontaneous ignition of the unburned fuel-air mixture ahead of the flame (the end gas). Surface ignition is the ignition of the fuel-air mixture by any hot surface, other than the spark discharge, prior to arrival of the flame


A knock which is recurrent and repeatable in terms of audibility. It is controllable by the spark advance; advancing the spark increases the knock intensity and retarding the spark reduces the intensity.

Abnormal Combustion in SI Engine Knock is the term used to describe a pinging noise emitted from a SI engine undergoing abnormal combustion.

The noise is generated by shock waves produced in the cylinder when unburned gas autoignites.

Knock

Compression ratio At high compression ratios - high pressure

Engine parameters that effect occurrence of knock are:

and temperature which promotes auto ignition. Engine speed At low engine speeds the flame velocity is slow and thus the burn time is long, this results in more time for auto ignition. Supercharging Increases knock. Air Intake Temperature Increases knock. Spark timing Advance the spark. Temperature of walls and cooling water cooler walls less tend to knock. Electrode gap of spark plug reduces with increases in compression ratio.

High useful compression ratio

High compression ratio high efficiency but also tend to knock. Maximum compression ratio limited by knock

Fuel Knock Scale To provide a standard measure of a fuels ability to resist knock, a scale has been devised by which fuels are assigned an octane number (ON). The higher the octane number, the higher the resistance to knock. Normal heptane (n-C7H16) - octane value of zero & Iso-octane (C8H18) - value of 100. Blends of these two hydrocarbons define the knock resistance of intermediate octane numbers: e.g., a blend of 10% n-heptane and 90% isooctane has an octane number of 90. A fuels octane number is determined by measuring what blend of these two hydrocarbons matches the test fuels knock resistance.

Fuel Additives The most effective antiknock agents are lead alkyls; (i) Tetraethyl lead (TEL), (C2H5)4Pb (ii) Tetramethyl lead (TML), (CH3)4Pb A manganese antiknock compound known as MMT was introduced to supplement TEL Low-lead and unleaded gasoline were introduced over toxicological concerns with lead alkyls (TEL contains 64% by weight lead). Alcohols such as ethanol and methanol have high knock resistance. Another alcohol methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) has been added to gasoline to increase octane number.

Factors which reduce Knock in S.I. engine

S.No. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Factors affecting Knock Self ignition temperature Spark to fuel Compression Ratio Inlet temperature Inlet Pressure Speed Cylinder size Combustion chamber wall Temp S.I. engines High Advance Low Low Low High Small Low

Effect of knock
Mechanical failure erosion of piston crown, pitting of cylinder head and valves. Local melting of piston and ring high rate of heat transfer due to high temperature of gases. Overbeating of spark plug violent gas vibration due to hot gases flow in and out of spark plug cavity change in electrical characteristic and render it useless. Noise and roughness Power and efficiency Pre-ignition hot spot in combustion chamber and spark plug.

Engine Damage From Severe Knock Damage to the engine is caused by a combination of high temperature and high pressure.

Piston

Piston crown

Cylinder head gasket

Aluminum cylinder head