RECIPROCATING ENGINE

POWER CYCLES
Topic 3 | Thermodynamics 2
RECIPROCATING ENGINE
POWER CYCLES:
ENGINE TERMINOLOGY
 3

Compression ratio Piston Displacement

Where: Ncyl = no of cylinders
Vdispl = Ncyl = NcylAcylS S = length of stroke
Acyl = are of cylinder
 4

Clearance Volume; Percent clearance

The net specific work in a complete cycle is used to define a mean effective pressure.

or net work per cycle

Rate of work (power) for the whole engine

• RPM RPM
W net = N cyl mw net = Pmeff Vdispl
60 60
Where RPM is revolutions per minute.

This result should be corrected with a factor of ½ for four stroke engine, where 2 revolutions per minute
are needed for a complete cycle to also accomplish the intake and exhaust strokes.
AIR STANDARD CYCLES
 6

AIR STANDARD CYCLES

INTAKE STROKE COMPRESSION STROKE POWER STROKE EXHAUST STROKE

 7

The four - stroke in the cycle are:

1. Intake stroke – the intake valve is open; the exhaust valve is
initially open, then it closes and the piston moves down,
bringing fresh air/fuel; mixture into the cylinder.
2. Compression stroke – both intake and exhaust valves are
closed, and the air/fuel mixture is compressed by the upward
piston movement.
3. Power stroke – both intake and exhaust valves are closed;
spark ignition and combustion occur, with the resultant
pressure increase forcing the piston downward.
4. Exhaust stroke – the exhaust valve is open, the intake valve
is closed, and the upward movement of the piston forces the
products of combustion (exhaust) from the engine.
OTTO CYCLE
 9

THE OTTO CYCLE

(Nicolas A. Otto)
• The otto cycle was developed by Nicolas A. Otto
(1832-1891).
• This cycle is the ideal cycle for the spark-ignition
reciprocating engines, and it consists of four internally
reversible processes:
• isentropic compression, constant volume heat addition, isentropic expansion,
and constant volume heat rejection.
 10

• The thermal efficiency is defined as the work produced (

the desired effect ) divided by the heat added ( what it
cost to achieve that effect )

• The heat is added at constant volume from state 2 to state

3.

• Heat is rejected at constant volume from state 4 to state

1.

• So the cycle efficiency in terms of QH and QL and applying

constant specific heat of air
 11

• We note further that

• Therefore,

• and
 12

Example nO. 1:
(OTTO CYCLE)
To approximate an actual spark-ignition engine consider an
air-standard Otto cycle that has a heat addition of 1800
kJ/kg of air, a compression ratio of 7, and a pressure and
temperature at the beginning of the compression process
of 90 kPa,10°C. Assuming constant specific heat, with the
value from Table A.5, determine the maximum pressure
and temperature of the cycle, the thermal efficiency of the
cycle and the mean effective pressure.
13
THE DIESEL CYCLE
 15

THE DIESEL CYCLE

The diesel cycle, developed by Rudolf Diesel (1858-1913),
is characterized by
• constant pressure heat addition,
• constant-volume heat rejection, and
• isentropic compression and
• expansion processes.
 16

The processes in the air-standard Diesel cycle are:

1. Starting with the piston at bottom dead center,
compression occurs isentropically from state 1 to state
2.
2. Heat is added at constant pressure from state 2 to state
3.
3. Expansion occurs isentropically from state 3 to state 4.
4. Heat rejection occurs at constant volume from state 4 to
state 1.

The heat supplied at constant pressure: QH = mCp

The heat rejection at constant volume: QL = - mCv
 17

• Thermal efficiency for Diesel Cycle:

• Another ratio is used in describing Diesel engine

performance, the cut-off ratio, rc. It is defined as

• The cut-off percentage, Rc, is defined as

 18
So, the thermal efficiency for an air-standard Diesel engine can be expressed in terms of rc
and rv by eliminating temperatures
By substitution into thermal efficiency and
eliminating temperatures, we have
 19

Example No. 2:
A diesel engine has a state before compression of 95 kPa,
290 K, and a peak pressure of 6000 kPa, a maximum
temperature of 2400 K. Find the volumetric compression
ratio and the thermal efficiency.
AIR STANDARD DUAL CYCLE
 22

AIR-STANDARD DUAL CYCLE

The air-standard dual cycle is a combination of Diesel and
Otto cycles. It more accurately predicts the performance of
a spark-ignited internal combustion engine, since the
combustion energy is added partly at constant volume and
partly at constant pressure.

• The processes in the air-standard Dual cycle are:

• 1-2: isentropic compression
• 2-3: constant volume heating
• 3-4: constant pressure heating
• 4-5: isentropic expansion
• 5-1: constant volume cooling
 23

As with the Otto and Diesel cycles, the compression ratio, rv, is defined as a ratio of volumes.

The pressure ratio, rp, during the constant volume portion of combustion is

The cut-off ratio, rc, is

 24
The heat supplied at constant volume and at constant pressure: QH = mCv+ mCp
The heat rejection at constant volume: QL = - mCv
Thermal efficiency for Diesel Cycle:

The thermal efficiency for an air-standard Dual cycle can be expressed in terms of rp, rc and rv
by eliminating temperatures

By substitution into thermal efficiency and eliminating temperatures, we have

 25

Example No. 3:
The swept volume of a diesel engine working on dual cycle
is 0.0053 m3 and clearance volume is 0.00035 m3. The
maximum pressure is 65 bar. Fuel injection ends at 5 per
cent of the stroke. The temperature and pressure at the
start of the compression are 80°C and 0.9 bar. Determine
the air standard efficiency of the cycle. Take k for air = 1.4.
26
27
STIRLING CYCLE
 29

STIRLING CYCLE
• The Stirling Cycle has a thermal efficiency that can
equal that of the Carnot cycle. The processes are:
• 1-2:Isothermal heating and expansion
• 2-3:Constant volume heating
• 3-4:Isothermal cooling and compression
• 4-1:Constant volume cooling
ERICSSON CYCLE
 31

ERICSON CYCLE
• This cycle offers the best chance of achieving a
thermal efficiency approaching that of the Carnot cyle.
The processes of the Ericson cycle are:
• 1-2:Isothermal expansion
• 2-3:Constant pressure cooling
• 3-4:Isothermal compression
• 4-1:Constant pressure heating
 32

Stirling Cycle Thermal Efficiency

• Let us calculate the thermal efficiency of the Stirling cycle;
the same method maybe used for the Ericson cycle,
yielding the identical thermal efficiency.
 33

EXAMPLE No. 4:
Consider an ideal Stirling-cycle engine in which the state at
the beginning of the isothermal compression process is 100
kPa, 25°C, the compression ratio is 6, and the maximum
temperature in the cycle is 1100°C. Calculate the maximum
cycle pressure and the thermal efficiency of the cycle with
and without regenerators.
34
 35

EXAMPLE No. 5:
An air-standard Ericsson cycle has an ideal regenerator.
Heat is supplied at 1000°C and heat is rejected at 20°C.
Pressure at the beginning of the isothermal compression
process is 70 kPa. The heat added is 600 kJ/kg. Find the
compressor work, the turbine work, and the cycle efficiency.
36