Fuel Systems

Topics for today :

1. Introduction
2. Conventional Fuels
3. Alternative Fuels
4. Cetane and Octane numbers
5. Mixture requirements for a SI Engine
6. Carburetors
1. Introduction

In a SI Engine the fuel and air are mixed to form a
homogeneous mixture before it enters the combustion
chamber

This process is called Carburetion

In the case of a CI Engine the air and fuel get mixed inside
the combustion chamber by the help of a fuel injector

The Fuel system consists of Fuel tank, Fuel pump, Filters, Air
cleaner, carburetor and the inlet manifold

The throttle in a vehicle is responsible for regulating the
proportions of air and fuel inside the carburetor.
2. Conventional Fuels

Commonly used fossil fuels are Petrol and Diesel

Fuel is also used in the form of Compressed natural gas
(CNG) and LPG nowadays

Natural petroleum oil is the biggest source of fuels for
internal combustion engines

Gasoline/Petrol is the major form of fuel for spark ignition
engines. It is a mixture of various hydrocarbons such as
paraffins, olefins, napthenes etc

Diesel is extracted between kerosene and lubricating oil
during fractional distillation of crude oil

Diesel is mostly used in Compression ignition engines
Oil reserves and Oil Production
data

(Wikipedia)
Global pollution due to fossil fuels (Wikipedia)
3. Alternative Fuels

Alternative fuels are being researched in order to find
solutions about depleting fossil fuel reserves

Methanol and Ethanol are some alternatives which can be
produced from non-petroleum sources

Natural gas, producer gas, blast furnace gas are some of the
alternative fuels for internal combustion engines

Animal and vegetable oils like linseed oil, peanut oil,
sunflower oil are used to produce bio-diesel

Higher viscosities and higher auto-ignition temperatures are
some of the drawbacks of bio-diesels which are being
addressed by engineers and chemists

For this reason Bio-diesel itself not used directly but always
mixed with conventional diesel
4. Cetane and Octane numbers

Cetane Number

Cetane number or CN is a measurement of the combustion
quality of diesel fuel during compression ignition.

The CN number is an important factor in determining the
quality of diesel fuel,

Cetane number or CN is a measure of a fuel's ignition delay,
the time period between the start of injection and the first
identifiable pressure increase during combustion of the fuel.

In a particular diesel engine, higher cetane fuels will have
shorter ignition delay periods than lower cetane fuels.

0
100
Alpha methane
naphthalene Cetane
Octane Number

Octane rating or octane number is a standard measure of the
performance of a motor or aviation fuel.

The higher the octane number, the more compression the fuel
can withstand before detonating (igniting).

In broad terms, fuels with a higher octane rating are used in
high performance petrol engines that require larger
compression ratios.

In contrast, fuels with lower octane numbers (but higher
cetane numbers) are ideal for diesel engines, because diesel
engines (also referred to as compression-ignition engines) do
not compress the fuel but rather compress only air and then
inject the fuel into the air heated up by compression

0 100
N-heptane Iso-Octane
5. Mixture requirements for a SI Engine

The ratio of air and fuel in the mixture cannot be kept
constant throughout the operating range of the engine

Five different conditions of the engine through which Air
Fuel ratio varies is as below
1. Starting and Warm up
2. Acceleration
3. Idling
4. Normal power (economy)
5. Maximum power
Starting and warming up :

During engine start up the engine components are cold due
to which the fuel particles may condense after it exits the
carburetor

There it is important to increase the fuel ratio inside the air
fuel ratio such that there are more particles of fuel available
for combustion even if some of the fuel particles condense on
the walls of the engine components

This is called a rich mixture
Acceleration requirement :

When the engine accelerates the velocity of the air that enters
through the intake manifold increases and the fuel particles
due to its density may not mix well with air

To solve this more fuel is made to flow using suitable means
to maintain the proper Air-Fuel ratio
Idling :

At idling condition the engine operates at no load

In this condition the air flow will not have sufficient speeds
resulting is lower suction pressure and the throttle is also
closed

To handle this a bleed port is made available in order to keep
a steady flow of fuel into the engine

Air fuel ratio is kept at 12.5 : 1
Normal power :

In normal running conditions the loading on the engine is
stable and it requires a lean mixture of Air and Fuel

It is kept at 17 : 1

The engine runs with maximum efficiency in this condition
Maximum power :

At maximum power the air velocities increase again and it
becomes difficult to maintain the air-fuel ratio

To handle this a rich mixture of 13:1 is allowed
6. Carburetors

A carburetor is a device that

is responsible for creating a
homogeneous mixture of Air
and fuel before supplying it
to the engine

It maintains a reserve of fuel
in a small tank always
available for the engine,
apart from the main fuel
tank

Actual carburetors have to properly handle the different
demands of Air-fuel mixtures that are made by the engine
Principle of operation :

The basic component of
any carburetor is the
venturi where the air flow
velocities increase and
create and pressure drop

When the pressure drops
in the venturi it draws fuel
particles from the fuel hose
creating a jet

The fuel particles are split
up to form smaller
particles and mixes with
the flowing air to form a
homogeneous mixture

Video - how carburetor works.flv

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BYm0HnLGRU

Video HOW CARBURETOR WORKS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_XX3QpKsZM&list=PL
A1q70x6crFrrIJtOM8Au7V6EiUX_rQz3
Questions