Iris Janssen

30/06/2022

Diesel engine fundamentals

A diesel engine and gasoline engine are both reciprocating engines, being driven by pistons moving
laterally in two directions. A diesel engine (when compared to a gasoline engine of equal horse
power) is heavier due to the stronger and heavier materials used to withstand the higher combustion
pressures present in the diesel engine. That greater combustion pressure is the result of the higher
compression ratio used by diesel engines. The compression ratio is a measure of how much the
engine compresses the gasses in the engine’s cylinder. In a gasoline engine the compression ratio
(which controls the compression temperature) is limited by the air-fuel mixture entering the
cylinders. The lower ignition temperature of gasoline will cause it to ignite at a compression ratio of
less than 10:1. The average car has a 7:1 compression ratio. High compression ratio means an engine
is efficient. The higher compression ratios are possible because only air is compressed, and then the
fuel is injected. This is one of the factors that allows the diesel engine to be so efficient. The power
stroke in a diesel engine is longer because the compression ratio is higher.

Another difference between a gasoline engine and a diesel engine is the manner in which engine
speed is controlled. Speed (or power) is a direct function of the amount of fuel burned in the
cylinders. Gasoline engines are self-speed-limiting. Engine speed is indirectly controlled by the
butterfly valve in the carburettor which limits the amount of air entering the engine. In a carburettor,
the rate of air flow dictates the amount of gasoline that will be mixed with the air. Limiting the
amount of air entering the engine limits the amount of fuel entering the engine. Adding more fuel
does not increase engine speed beyond the point where the fuel burns 100% of the available oxygen
within the air.

In a diesel engine, factors that influence the speed is quantity of fuel injected (fuel flow rate) and
engine load. The governor is the piece of equipment that regulates the quantity of fuel based on the
engine speed. (it slows down if you add load)

The engine always has sufficient oxygen to burn and the engine will accelerate to meet the new fuel
injection rate. A manual fuel control is not possible because these engines, in an unloaded condition,
will accelerate at a rate of more than 2,000 revolutions per second. Diesel engines require a speed
limiter, commonly called the governor, to control the amount of fuel being injected into the engine.
A diesel engine, unlike a gasoline engine, does not require an ignition system because the fuel is
injected into the cylinder as the piston comes to the top of its compression stroke. When fuel is
injected, it vaporises and ignites due to the heat created by the compression of the air in the
cylinder.

Diesel engine components

The cylinder block is generally a single unit made from cast
iron. In a liquid cooled diesel, the block provides the structure
and rigid frame for the engine’s cylinders, water coolant and
oil passages, and support for the crankshaft and camshaft
bearings. Figure 1.1 is a v-type engine. (V6). There is a hole in
the top for the camshaft, and a hole in the bottom for the
crankshaft. The crankshaft connects to the flywheel. The two
brackets on either side are for securing the engine to a
bedplate. Cooling water passages (jacket cooling) are used to stop the engine from
1.1
 Iris Janssen
30/06/2022

overheating. There are also lubrication oil passages, which are used to lubricate the various parts of
the engine, as well as take away heat.

Crankcase and oil sump

The crankcase is usually located on the bottom of the cylinder
block. The crankcase is the area around the crankshaft and
crankshaft bearings. This area encloses the rotating crankshaft
and crank webs and directs returning oil into the oil pan. The oil
sump collects and stores the engine’s supply of lubricating oil.
Large diesel engines may have the oil sump divided into several
separate sumps. The oil sump is also refered to as oil resevoir or
oil pan. The lower hole in the oil sump is likely to be for an oil pickup line. Sometimes there is an oil
line going into the sump with a filter on it to suck up the oil. The other one might be for an oil return.
The hole in the bottom is for draining the oil which you want to do periodically. (usually calculated in
hours with diesel generators). Usually, the sump is split into sections to prevent the oil from sloshing
around and creating an imbalance. This is called the free surface effect, it is a pendulum effect. A wet
oil sump is stored directly under the engine. With a dry sump the oil is stored in a remote location.
In that case, the sump will be significantly more shallow, and the oil will be extracted immidiately.
With a dry sump set up, you can mount your engine lower thus lowering the center of gravity (which
provides better balance). Antother reason for a dry sump can be safety, incase you don’t want to
store a large amount of oil underneath the engine. That way, if there’s ever a source of ignition, we
won’t be adding extra fuel to the fire. The purpose of the squiggly shape of the bottom of the sump is
to increase the cross sectional area in order to transfer more heat to the ambient air. This way you’ll
be able to cool down the oil, therefore cooling down the engine when it circulates. As we increase
our velocity (for example, when driving an automobile), the bottom of the oil sump will come into
contact with more air, cooling down the oil as we go. You can check the quality of the oil by rubbing
it on the dipstick and making sure there is no sandy particles in it. It is easier to change the oil when
the engine is warm because the warmth decreases the oil’s viscosity. This way you’ll be able to drain
more oil faster during your oil change. New oil is not nessicarily clean. The standards of delivering are
low, so there can be particles in there.

Cylinder sleeve or bore

Diesel engines use one of two types of cylinders. In one type, each cylinder
is machined or bored into the clock casting. Making the block and cylinders
an integral part. In the second type, a machined steel sleeve is pressed into
the block casting to form the cylinder. With either method, the cylinder
sleeve or bore provides the engine with the cylindrical structure needed to
confine the combustion gasses and to act as a guide for the engine’s pistons.

In engines using sleeves, there are two types: Wet sleeves and dry sleeves.
A dry sleeve is surrounded by the metal of the block and does not come in
direct contact with the engine’s coolant. A wet sleeve does. The volume
enclosed by the sleeve or bore is called the combustion chamber. The
Diameter of the cylinder is called the bore of the engine (in either type) and
is stated in inches (imperial) or mm (metric). The holes around the side (round ones) connect to the
jacket cooling system. There is passage all around the cylinder liner for the cooling water to enter.
The air will enter through the air inlet ports. There are holes on the top of the liner which let te
coolant out after absorbing heat. Absorbing the heat of the cylinder liner stops it expanding too
 Iris Janssen
30/06/2022

much due to the thermal temperature. More importantly, it stops the cylinder liner temperature
increasing to a point where there would perhaps be damage to the liner, or even melt.

Piston and piston rings

The piston transforms the energy of the expanding gassen into mechanical
energy. They are commonly made of aluminium or cast iron alloys. To
prevent the combustion gasses from bypassing the piston and to keep
friction to a minimum, each piston has sereval metal rings around it. These
are called piston rings. They funtion as the seal between the piston and the
cylinder wall. They also minimise the contact area between the piston and
cylinder wall thus reducing friction. The rings are usually made of cast iron
and coated with chrome or molybdenum. Most diesel engine pistons have
between two to five rings, with each ring performing a distinct function. The
top ring(s) acts primarily as the pressure seal. The intermediate ring(s) acts as a wiper ring to remove
and control the amount of oil film on the cylinder walls. The bottom ring(s) is an oiler ring and
ensures that a supply of lubricating oil is evenly deposited on the cylinder walls. Generally, a small
two stroke engine will have two piston rings and a four stroke engine will have three. It is possible for
rings to have multiple functions. They are places in piston ring grooves. The parts in between the
grooves are called landings. Lubrication oil is used as the actual seal. The top of the piston is called
the crown. The bottom ring is most likely the spaces with a scraper which is for controlling the
amount of oil that is left on the cylinder linder wall. The ring is called the oil scraper/wiper. The top
rings are the compression rings which are stronger and thicker than the other rings because they
have to withstand the pressures that are created within the combustion chamber.

If you don’t lubricate the space between the piston ring and
cylinder lining you will get micro welding which damages the
piston rings. This will lead to the rings not sealing correctly
and you’ll get what is called blow by, which means the
exhaust gasses/air fuel mixture will pass by the rings on the
upward stoke (because the rings will be pressed down) and
let into the crankcase on the downward stroke (because the rings will be pressed up) ending up in
the crankcase. Another reason for blow by occuring is the piston ring gaps. They are there for the
ring to be able to expand and contract due to temperature changes. The effect of worn piston rings
are low compression (thus making less power, making the engine less efficient). And you’ll be
burning oil because not all of it will be scraped off so some will be burned in the combustion
chamber. There are holes under the scraper that the oil will seep into, going back to the crankcase.

The difference between two stroke- and four stroke lubrication

When looking at a large two stroke engine, it will have its own seperate lubrication system. With
small or medium four stroke engines, it is the same case. Small and very large two stroke engines are
different. The large ones have their serperate lube oil system. The small two stroke engines do not.
The reason for this, is because you want to keep a high power to weight ratio eventhough the engine
is not very efficient. When you add a sump, hoses, filters, pumps etc, this ratio gets worse. A solution
to this is adding lube oil to the fuel oil. This does lead to problems with the way the oil film is
distributed throughout the engine. This depends on how the flow path through the engine is
regulated. The oil film between the piston rings and liner is not evenly spread, which leads to having
to change the piston rings more often in small two stroke engines.
 Iris Janssen
30/06/2022

Connecting rod
The connecting rod connects the piston to the crankshaft. The rods are
made from drop-forged, heat treated steel to provide the required
strength. Each end of the rod is bored, with the smaller top bore
connecting to the piston pin (wrist pin) in the piston. The large bore end of
the rod is split in half and bolted to allow the rod to be attached to the
crankshaft. Some diesel engine connecting rods are drilled down the centre
to allow oil to travel up from the crankshaft into the piston pin and piston
for lubrication. The oil comes in through the crankshaft entering through
the holes at the bottom, traveling up through the bored oil passage. It will
lubricate the wrist pin. Some L.O. will travel into the piston, taking away
some of the heat created during combustion. This L.O. will also be used to lubricate the space
between the piston rings and the cylinder liner.

A circlip (locking pin) keeps the wrist pin in position. Because the
crankshaft is not straight, the connecting rod is in two separate
pieces so it can be mounted. The white metal bearings separate the
connecting rod from the crankshaft. The bearings are lubricated on
one side. This allows the conrod to rotate around the crankshaft
without creating too much heat. The oil ports on the bearing are
from the crankshaft. These provide L.O. to lubricate the space
between the bearing and the crankshaft. There is also a oil passage
behind the bearing, connecting to the bored oil passage in the conrod. The conrod itsself has to be
strong. It has to withstand all the pressures generated in the combustion space. All of the power
generated goes through the conrod. In addition, the conrod has to be strong enough to withstand
the variation in temperature. For example, between the top and bottom of the rod. If the conrod
does get cracked, or chipped, you want to make sure there is not a lot of crack propegation. Meaning
the crack getting bigger. Though it is not something you can do a lot about. The pressures that the
conrod is operated at are high (up to 1000 bar)

Crankshaft
The crankshaft transform the
linear motion of the pistons into
a rotational motion that is
transmitted to the load.
Crankshafts are made of forged
steel. The forged crankshaft is
machined to produce the
crankshaft bearing and
connecting rod bearing surfaces.
The rod bearings are eccentric, or offset, from, the centre of the shaft. This offset converts the
reciprocating motion of the piston into the rotary motion (angular motion) of the crankshaft. The
amount of offset determines the stroke of the engine. The places we mount bearings onto the
crankshaft are called journals.
 Iris Janssen
30/06/2022

The conrod bearings are places on journals. The crankshaft main bearings are places in between the
offset journals. The top point of the crankshaft transit represents top dead center (TDC). When it
rotates and reaches the bottom, it is refered to as bottom dead center (BDC)

The crankshaft does not ride directly on the cast iron block crankshaft support. It rides on a speacial
bearing material. The connecting rods also have bearings inserted between the crankshaft and the
connecting rods. It is a soft alloy of metals that provides a replacable wear surface and prevents
galling between two similar materials i.e. between the crankshaft and connecting rod. Each bearing
is split into halves to allow assembly of the engine. The crankshaft is drilled with oil passages that
allow the engine to feed oil to each of the crankshaft bearings, connection rod bearings and up into
the connecting rod itsself. A white metal bearing is also referred to as: plain metal bearing, thin film
bearing. A bearing with a large cross sectional area split into two parts of known as a plain bearing.
The crankshaft has counter weights that balance the weight of the connecting rods. These ensure an
even force (balance) during the rotation of moving parts. These weights are also refered to as crank
webs. These also serve a purpose of creating momentum/stored energy to rotate back around and
force the piston back up again. Soft metal bearings have a shiny white/grey appearance and are
referred to as white metal bearings or Babbitt bearings (inventor of the soft alloy).

Sometimes L.O. will spray out of the crankshaft via spray ports, lubricating the internal components
of the engine. This is another way of lubricating/cooling the engine

Plain metal bearing

The plain metal bearing has a long body shape and a large diameter. The bearing is in one, two or
more parts. The point of a plain metal bearing is that you can clamp it onto a journal without having
to slide the bearing over the whole length of the shaft. There are two main types of bearings. Plain
metal bearings and anti-friction bearings (rotor bearings). Anti-friction bearings include ball
bearings, cylinder bearings, tapered bearings etc. Soft metal bearings have a shiny white/grey
appearance and are referred to as white metal bearings or Babbitt bearings (inventor of the soft
alloy. Plain metal bearings are also referred to as hydrostatic bearings and hydrodynamic bearings.

The plain metal bearing is made up of the upper shell and the lower shell. There are ports in the
upper- and lower shell for lubricant to be passed through. In an engine the L.O. pressure is around 3
to 4 bar. The L.O. will be passed through a port and let into a groove on the top shell. In order to
install the bearing you need to apply some pressure. This pressure is going to ensure the bearing sits
tightly with the connecting rod. There will be a layer of L.O. on the inside which is going to separate
the bearing from the crankshaft journal. This will stop it generating friction and heat. Any heat that
does accumulate will be carried away by the oil.