Internal Combustion Engines

1. Introduction to ICE

4 Stroke Otto Cycle for spark-ignition reciprocating internal combustion

engines – crankshaft makes 2 revolutions per cycle, ie. 4 strokes per cycle.

2 Stroke Otto Cycle for spark-ignition reciprocating internal combustion

engines – crankshaft makes 1 revolutions per cycle, ie. 2 strokes per cycle.

4 Stroke Diesel Cycle for compression-ignition reciprocating internal

combustion engines – crankshaft makes 2 revolutions per cycle, ie. 4 strokes
per cycle.
The four events of the diesel cycle can be adopted to a two-stroke cycle.

2. Entropy

Entropy measures the extent to which a working fluid can transform heat into
work.
T
T1 1

2
T2

Entropy - S=Q/T S1 S2 S
- increases when heat flows into a system
- decreases when heat flows out
- remains unchanged during a reversible adiabatic process (Q =
0)

3. Heat Engine

Heat engine is defined as a device that converts heat energy into mechanical
energy or more exactly a system which operates continuously and only heat
and work may pass across its boundaries.

Forward Heat Engine

LTER= Low Temperature Energy Reservoir

HTER= High Temperature Energy Reservoir
A forward heat engine has a positive work output. Applying the first law of
thermodynamics to the cycle gives:

Q1 - Q2 - W = 0

The second law of thermodynamics states that the thermal efficiency of the
cycle, has an upper limit (the thermal efficiency of the Carnot cycle), i.e.

  c  1.0

It can be shown that:

Q1 > W

which means that it is impossible to convert the whole heat input to work and

Q2 > 0

which means that a minimum of heat supply to the cold reservoir is

necessary.

4. Gas Power Cycle

Our study of gas power cycles will involve the study of those heat engines in
which the working fluid remains in the gaseous state throughout the cycle. We
often study the ideal cycle in which internal irreversibilities and complexities
(the actual intake of air and fuel, the actual combustion process, and exhaust
of products of combustion among others) are removed.
5. Carnot Ideal Cycle

The Ideal Cycle for Heat Engines

Carnot was the first to introduce the concept of cyclic operation and devised a
reversible cycle that is composed of four reversible processes, two isothermal
and two adiabatic.

Process 1-2 Reversible isothermal heat addition at high temperature

TH = const. for the working fluid in a piston cylinder device
Process 2-3 Reversible adiabatic expansion during which the system does
work as the working fluid temperature decreases from T H to TL
Process 3-4 Reversible isothermal heat rejection takes place while work is
done on the system
The system is brought in contact with a heat reservoir at
TL = constant
Process 4-1 Reversible adiabatic compression process increases the
working fluid temperature from TL to TH

The areas under the process curves on the P-v diagram represent the work
done for closed systems. The net cycle work done is the area enclosed by
the cycle on the P-v diagram. The areas under the process curves on the T-s
diagram represent the heat transfer for the processes.

The net heat added to the cycle is the area that is enclosed by the cycle on
the T-s diagram. For a cycle Wnet = Qnet; therefore, the areas enclosed on the
P-v and T-s diagrams are equal.

The Carnot cycle is the most efficient heat engine that can operate between
two fixed temperatures TH and TL. The ratio of heat absorbed QL to the heat
rejected QH is equal to the ratio of the absolute temperatures T L and TH at
which the heat is absorbed or rejected.

We will be concerned with how the major parameters of the cycle affect the
performance of heat engines. The performance is often measured in terms of
the thermal (cycle) efficiency – also called air standard efficiency (ASE).

Thermal efficiency = heat converted into work/heat supplied

Air Standard Efficiency = heat supplied - heat rejected

heat supplied

You may have observed that the power cycle operates in the clockwise
direction when plotted on a process diagram. The Carnot cycle may be
reversed, in which it operates as a refrigerator. The refrigeration cycle
operates in the counter clockwise direction.
6. Definitions (Thermodynamic cycle & IC Engines)

Engines – the devices or systems used to produce a net power output.

Power cycles – the thermodynamic cycles on which the engine works.

Refrigerators / air conditioners / heat pump – the devices or systems used

to produce a refrigeration effect.

Refrigeration cycles – the thermodynamic cycles on which the refrigerators

works.

Gas power cycle – the working fluid remains in the gaseous phase
throughout the entire cycle

Vapour power cycle – the working fluid exists in the vapour phase during
one part of the cycle and in he liquid phase during another part.

Closed cycle – the working fluid is returned to the initial state at the end of
the cycle and is recirculated

Open cycle – the working fluid is renewed at the end of each cycle

Heat engine - is defined as a device that converts heat energy into

mechanical energy or more exactly a system which operates continuously and
only heat and work may pass across its boundaries.

Internal combustion engine – energy or heat is supplied to the working fluid

by burning the fuel within the system boundaries (e.g. automobile engines).

External combustion engine – energy is supplied to the working fluid from

an external source such as furnace, a geothermal well, a nuclear reactor, or
even the sun (e.g. steam power plant).

Spark ignition - combustion of air-fuel mixture initiated by a spark plug

 Ideal cycle - the cycle that resembles the actual cycle closely but is made up
totally of internally reversible processes. This happens when the actual cycle
is stripped off all the internal irreversibilities and complexities such as friction
and the absence of sufficient time for establishment of the equilibrium
conditions during the cycle

Air standard efficiencies - the efficiencies of the ideal cycles for internal
combustion engines as they use air as the working substance.

The piston reciprocates in the cylinder

INTAKE EXHAUST between two fixed positions:
VALVE VALVE

TDC

BORE STROKE

BDC

CLEARANCE VOLUME
TDC

DISPLACEMENT/SWEPT
VOLUME

BDC

TOP DEAD CENTRE (TDC) – the position of the piston when it forms the
smallest volume in the cylinder
BOTTOM DEAD CENTRE (BDC) – the position of the piston when it forms
the largest volume in the cylinder.

STROKE – the distance between the TDC and the BDC, which is the largest
distance that the piston can travel in one direction.

BORE – the diameter of the piston

INTAKE VALVE – the opening through which the air or air-fuel mixture is
drawn into the cylinder

EXHAUST VALVE – the opening through which the combustion products are
expelled from the cylinder.

CLEARANCE VOLUME – the minimum volume formed in the cylinder when

the piston is at TDC.

DISPLACEMENT VOLUME – the volume displaced by the piston as it moves

between TDC and BDC.

COMPRESSION RATIO r – the ratio of the maximum (displacement +

clearance) volume formed in the cylinder to the minimum (clearance) volume.
i.e.
We note that the compression ratio is a volume ratio and should not be
confused with the pressure ratio.

MEAN EFFECTIVE PRESSURE – a fictitious pressure that, if it acted on the

piston during the entire power stroke, would produce the same amount of net
work as that produced during the actual cycle. That is:

Wnet = MEP x Piston area x Stroke = MEP x Displacement volume

or

MEP is used to compare the performance of reciprocating engines of equal

size.
Engine with larger MEP value will deliver more work per cycle and thus will
perform better.

7. Thermodynamic Cycles
7.1 OTTO CYCLE (Constant Volume Cycle)

Consider the automotive spark-ignition 4 stroke cycle

intake stroke
compression stroke
power (expansion) stroke
exhaust stroke

Often the ignition and combustion process begins before the completion of the
compression stroke. The number of crank angle degrees before the piston
reaches TDC on the number one piston at which the spark occurs is called
the engine timing.

The simplest model for IC engines is the air-standard model, which assumes
that:
- The system is closed.
- Air is the working fluid and is modeled as an ideal gas throughout
the cycle.
- Compression and expansion processes are isentropic.
- Heat rejection takes place reversibly and at constant volume.
 The Air-Standard Otto Cycle is the ideal cycle that approximates the spark-
ignition combustion engine. The intake and exhaust strokes are omitted, as
these constitutes a change of the mass of the working fluid, ie. PV=mRT
cannot be applied for the processes or the cycle.

Process Description
1-2 Reversible Adiabatic (Isentropic) Compression
2-3 Constant Volume Heat Addition
3-4 Reversible Adiabatic (Isentropic) Expansion
4-1 Constant Volume Heat Rejection

The p-V and T-s diagrams are:

P T 3
3

2 4
2
4
1
1
V
Thermal Efficiency of the Otto Cycle: S

or
7.2 Constant Pressure Cycle

An example of a Constant Pressure Cycle is an air compressor. This is not

necessarily a thermodynamic cycle, since the volume changes 2-3 and 4-1
are the result of the mass of the working fluid changing, not as a result of heat
transfer.

EXHAUST INTAKE
VALVE VALVE

P 3 2

4 1
V

JOULE CYCLE (Constant Pressure Cycle)

The Air-Standard Joule Cycle is the ideal cycle that approximates the gas
turbine engine. Heat is taken in at constant pressure 2-3, whilst heat is
rejected at constant pressure 4-1.

Process Description
1-2 Reversible Adiabatic (Isentropic) Compression
2-3 Constant Pressure heat addition
3-4 Reversible Adiabatic (Isentropic) Expansion
4-1 Constant Pressure heat rejection
 The p-V and T-s diagrams are:

P 2 3 T 3

2 4

1
1 4
V S
Thermal Efficiency of the Joule Cycle:

or

where

7.3 DIESEL CYCLE (Slow-running large Marine Diesels)

The Air-Standard Diesel Cycle is the ideal cycle that approximates the
compression-ignition combustion engine. Heat is taken in at constant
pressure 2-3, whilst heat is rejected at constant volume 4-1.

Process Description
1-2 Isentropic Compression
2-3 Constant Pressure Heat Addition
3-4 Isentropic Expansion
4-1 Constant Volume Heat Rejection

The P-v and T-s diagrams are:

 Thermal Efficiency of the Diesel Cycle:

7.4 DUAL COMBUSTION CYCLE (Fast-running modern diesel)

For the Dual Combustion Cycle the heat is first received at constant volume
2-3, and further heat is received at constant pressure 3-4.

Process Description
1-2 Reversible Adiabatic (Isentropic) Compression
2-3 Constant Volume
3-4 Constant Pressure
4-5 Reversible Adiabatic (Isentropic) Expansion
5-1 Constant Volume

The p-V and T-s diagrams are:

P T 4
3 4 3

5
2
2
5
1 1
V S
Thermal Efficiency of the Dual Combustion Cycle: