Performance parameters

According the first law of thermodynamics, energy can neither be created nor destroyed. It can
be converted from one form to another. Therefore there must be energy balance of input and
output of a system.
In reciprocating internal combustion engine the fuel is fed into combustion chamber where it
burn in air converting chemical energy of fuel into heat.
The liberated energy can not be totally utilized for driving the piston as there are losses through
the engine exhaust, to the coolant and due to radiation.
The heat energy which is converted to power at this stage is called the indicated power, ip and it
utilized to drive the piston.

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Performance Parameters

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Continued…..

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 Engine Performance Parameters
• Engine performance parameters is indicated by the term efficiency,  .
• Five important efficiencies and others related engine performance parameters are listed below.
i. Indicated thermal efficiency (𝑖𝑡ℎ )
ii. Brake thermal efficiency (𝑏𝑡ℎ )
iii. Mechanical efficiency (𝑚 )
iv. Volumetric efficiency (𝑣 )
v. Relative efficiency or efficiency ratio (𝑟𝑒𝑙 )
vi. Mean effective pressure (𝑝𝑚 )

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 Continued….

vii. Mean piston speed (𝑠𝑝 )

viii. Specific power output (𝑝𝑠 )
ix. Specific fuel consumption (sfc)
x. Inlet valve Mach Index (Z)
xi. Fuel air ratio or air fuel ratio (F/A or A/F)
xii. Calorific value of the fuel (CV)

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 Indicated thermal efficiency (𝑖𝑡ℎ )

• It is the ratio of energy in the indicated power, ip to the input fuel energy in appropriate units.

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Continued…

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 Brake thermal efficiency (𝑏𝑡ℎ )

• It is the ratio of energy in the brake power, bp to the input fuel energy in appropriate units.

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 Mechanical efficiency (𝑚 )
• Mechanical efficiency is defined as the ratio of brake power (delivered power) to indicated power
(power provided to the piston).

• It can also defined as the ratio of the brake thermal efficiency to the indicated thermal efficiency

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 Volumetric efficiency (𝑣 )
• This is one of the most important parameters which is decides the performance of four stroke IC
engines.
• Four stroke engines have district suction stroke and therefore the volumetric efficiency indicates
the breathing the ability of the engine.
• It is to be noted that the utilization of air is what is going to determine the power output of the
engine.
• It is defined as the volume flow rate of air into the intake system divided by the rate at which the
volume is displaced by the system.
Where is the inlet density.

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Relative Efficiency or Efficiency Ratio (𝑟𝑒𝑙 )

• It is the ratio of thermal efficiency of an actual cycle to that of the ideal cycle.
• The efficiency ratio is very useful criterion which indicates the degree of development of the
engine.

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Mean Effective Pressure (𝑝𝑚 )
• It is the the average pressure inside the cylinders of an internal combustion engine based on the
calculated or measured power output.
• It increases as manifold pressure increases.
• For any particular engine, operating at a given speed and power output, there will be a specific
indicated mean effective pressure, imep, and a corresponding brake mean effective pressure bmep.
• They are derived from the indicated and brake power respectively.

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Mean Piston Speed (𝑠𝑝 )

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 Specific Output
• Specific output of an engine is defined as the brake power
(output) per unit of piston displacement and is given by

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 Cont…..
 The specific output consists of two elements – the bmep (force) available to
work and the speed with which it is working.
 Therefore, for the same piston displacement and bmep an engine operating at
higher speed will give more output.
 It is clear that the output of an engine can be increased by increasing either
speed or bmep.
 Increasing speed involves increase in the mechanical stress of various engine
parts
 whereas increasing bmep requires better heat release and more load on
engine cylinder.

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 Specific Fuel Consumption

 Specific fuel consumption is defined as the amount of fuel

consumed for each unit of power developed per hour
 It is an important parameter that reflects how good the engine
performance is.
 It is inversely proportional to the thermal efficiency of the
engine.

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 Fuel-air Ratio
 Fuel-air ratio (F/A) is the ratio of the mass of fuel to the mass of air in the fuel-air mixture
 Relative fuel-air ratio(equivalency ratio) (Φ) is defined as the ratio of the actual fuel-air ratio
to that of the stoichiometric fuel-air ratio required to burn the fuel supplied.
 Stoichiometric fuel-air ratio is the ratio of fuel to air is one in which case fuel is completely
burned due to minimum quantity of air supplied.

 Φ=1 means stoichiometric (chemically correct) mixture

 Φ<1 means lean mixture
 Φ>1 means rich mixture

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