Technical Report on

4 stroke SI Engines
From

[Internal combustion engine & gas turbines (PE-ME601A)]

For Continuous Assessment 2(CA 2)

Under

MAULANA ABUL KALAM AZAD UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

(Formerly known as West Bengal University of Technology)

Submitted by

NAME: SUBHRO MONDAL

REGISTRATION NUMBER: 212690100720038

ROLL NUMBER: 26900721037

DEPARTMENT: ME

YEAR: 3rd

SEMESTER: 6th

MODERN INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY RAJHAT,

BANDEL, HOOGHLY
2024
1. Introduction

Over the past 20 decades, prior to the advent of energy, human activities relied mostly on man power. That is, tasks were met
using our own power. But by industrial revolution in 19th century, energy uses and application took another dimension. Ever since
it was discovered, energy has become essential commodity for the comfort and human wellbeing. It has been rightly said that
energy is life because without it life would be meaningless. It is a wealth generator. Energy role and application in the world is
continually on the increase with growing world’s population [1]. This growth in population leads to expansion in economy of a
country and invariably leads to increase in energy demand in various sectors; be it industrial, transport, power etc. [2]. It has been
observed from researches conducted across the world that road transport is the largest consumer of hydrocarbon derived fuels, and
therefore and therefore means that it is main source of atmospheric pollution in both urban and semi urban centers as the case may
be [3]. In addition, there is a growing trend in the energy demand in the world, resulting in the increase of prices of hydrocarbon
products, these continuous high demands for these product has led to unfavorable environmental conditions due to the pollution
of
the atmosphere in the city centers, there is need for more stricter environmental regulations on the sector encouraging these, by
encourages researches that focuses on making the energy more efficient and effective thereby drastically reducing its use and
researches should be better funded to provide alternative source of energy [4- 5]. The alternative fuel source that must be provided
must be renewable as well as allowing for direct use without changing the engine configuration. It has been observed that ethanol
can be a viable alternative fuel for SI engine, this is due to its high octane rating, high flame speed, leaner flammability limit, high
latent heat of vaporization, reduction in carbon monoxide , hydrocarbon emissions and good anti-knock physical characteristics,
enabling its use in high compression ratio engines [6].
Ethanol gasoline blend has become a worldwide attraction and as an alternative used in reducing carbon dioxide and carbon
monoxide emission from the atmosphere, increasing gasoline the octane number rating and at same time reducing the world
dependency on petroleum products. When the blend of ethanol and gasoline are used in a spark ignition engine it can runs on lean
air fuel ratios and it results in the reduction of nitrogen oxides emissions by substantial amount when compared under normal
condition(stoichiometric) [7].
At present, ethanol gasoline blend is used at low concentrations for engine without any modification. Ethanol in its pure form
can be used when there is a modification in the configuration of the engine. Modification is only avoided when ethanol gasoline is
blended under low concentration of ethanol as suggested by researchers, so as to improve cold start and anti-knock performance
[8].
According to Costa and Sodré [9], ethanol has reactive tendency more than any hydrocarbon fuel, such as gasoline. It is under
the family name of alcohol. It has a short carbon chain; the properties of ethanol polar fraction overcome the non-polar properties.
Due to the formation of hydrogen bridges in ethanol molecule increase its boiling temperature when compared to gasoline. It is
simple and this makes it suitable for spark ignition internal combustion engines operation.
The most common use of Ethanol fuel is by blending it with gasoline. Doing so creates a mix that releases fewer emissions
into the environment and is considered cleaner in nature. The issues faced environmentally regarding the emissions of
hydrocarbon, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter from petroleum based fuels such as
gasoline and diesel are of serious concern worldwide leading to the Paris climate agreement. The consequence of these emissions
does not only health of human but the environment as well due to the formation of the greenhouse effect, acid rain and global
warming. Hence there is a critical need for renewable and environment friendly alternative fuels such as ethanol, natural gas, and
biodiesel [10].
Ethanol is an alcohol made through fermentation process of plant sugars from agricultural product and biomass resources.
Corn is one of the most used crop use for its production. Small percentage of corn is needed for ethanol production while the
remainder is use for feeding animals, making corn oil, or other products. Some of its properties include; Ethanol is a clear,
colorless chemical compound made from the sugars found in crops such as corn, sugar beets and sugar cane.
In recent years, there are has been numerous concerns about its production and use, due to the increase in food prices and the
required large amount of arable land needed for its production together with the energy and pollution balance of the whole cycle
of ethanol production, especially that from corn. Though there have been discoveries of using cellulose for ethanol production,
commercialization may alleviate some of these concerns. Ethanol has strong capacity to serve effectively in spark ignition engine
as it reduces the hazardous emission products from the engine as compared to the conventional fuel, which makes it an eco-
friendly fuel [11].
Several studies have investigated effect of ethanol on S.I engine performance. Among these studies include performance
analysis of ethanol gasoline blends on a spark ignition engine as carried out by Agarwal and Chhabra [12] to investigate
performance indicators of S.I engine using a mixture of ethanol – gasoline fuel. Thakur et al.[13] studied the effect that the
mixture of ethanol
gasoline will have on the mechanical performance, energy performance and environmental performance of vehicles when in use.
Masum et al.[14] considered the analysis of a spark ignition engine; with critical focus on performance and the emission
characteristics with mixture of gasoline and denatured spirit blends as alternative fuels.
This study aims at: (i) conducting experimental performance analysis on a four stroke one –cylinder spark ignition engine
using various blends of gasoline - local ethanol and (ii) comparison of the performance parameters of S.I engine at varying degree
of local ethanol blends in gasoline.

2.0 MATERIALS AND METHODS

2.1 Instrumentation and Experimental Set up
A single cylinder four stroke engine was used in this study. The engine was fitted with a four valve spray guided direct injection
cylinder head manufactured by Cussons. The engine model is Cussons P8160 Single Cylinder Engine Test Bed. This 10kw rated
engine was designed and developed as a high quality test engine with a single cylinder.
The dynamometer and engine are both mounted on the bedplate, also a support directly above that houses the engine services,
dynamometer control and instrumentation. The test bed essentially consists instrumentation for speed, load, inlet manifold
pressure, fuel flow, engine oil pressure and ambient air, fuel, oil and temperatures at the exhaust manifold. The results obtained
enable for calculation of engine performance parameter such as torque, brake power, fuel consumption, Specific fuel consumption
and exhaust temperatures, and hence evaluation of both full and part load engine performance can be accomplished. The general
arrangement of the unit is shown in Figure 1 while Figure 2 shows experimental set up of a single cylinder Test Bed.

.
Figure 1: Schematic diagram of a single cylinder engine test bed

Figure 2; Experimental Set-up of a single cylinder engine test bed

2.2 Experimental Procedures

Table 1 presents details description of the test S.I engine used in this study. It is a Cussons P8160 type standard engine test bed
and consists of an electrical dynamometer rated for 10 kW power absorption at 4000 rpm operating speed. Essentially the test bed
includes instrumentation for speed, load, fuel flow, inlet manifold pressure, engine oil pressure and ambient air, fuel, oil and the
exhaust temperatures. The dynamometer is made of an alternation field DC machine with a rating of constant torque of 24.1 Nm
up to 4750 rpm when tested in a 15-minute period. The speed of the engine was closely monitored by means of a slotted wheel,
on the drive shaft and an inductive pick up feeding a frequency to voltage converter. The dynamometer is at a distance of 0.25m
from the centre line with the acting force and sensed by a strain gauge load cell that is calibrated as required. The load cell in
discuss is capable of measuring the force correctly in both direction and it is attached to the bed plate.

Table 1: Details Descriptions of the Test S.I Engine

Engine Model Four Stroke, Spark Ignition
Briggs & Stratton OHV P8161
Engine type Single cylinder
Displacement 305 cc
Maximum power at 3600rpm 9.5 BHP (7.1 kW)
maximum torque at 2500rpm 18.5 Nm
Cooling system Air cooled
Fuel Petrol
Number of stroke 4
Bore 79.23mm
Stroke 61.67mm
Swept volume 0.304mm3
Cylinder Number 1

In this experimental study, effects of local ethanol – gasoline blends on engine performance have been investigated experimentally.
The test was carried out on a 4-stroke 1-cylinder SI engine. Following steps were followed:
 100% gasoline was fed into the S.I engine and the respective output efficiency and other engine performance indices
were noted and recorded.
 99%gasoline + 1% locally produced ethanol blend was then fed into the engine and the respective outputs were noted
and recorded.
 97% gasoline + 3% locally produced ethanol blend was then fed into the engine and the respective outputs were noted
and recorded.
 95% gasoline + 5% locally produced ethanol blend was then fed into the engine and the respective outputs were noted
and recorded.
 As the tests were carried on the existing engine without any modification, the blend with the performance indices
comparable with that obtained in step1 is selected as suitable substitute to pure gasoline.
Data were obtained while the engine was in operation and then processed. The data were processed by using the data recorded at
both full and part load throttle condition. The data were processed using Microsoft excel and MATLAB script developed by the
author. Engine performance parameters such as torque, brake power, flow rate, mass flow rate, brake thermal efficiency, specific
fuel consumption etc. were calculated for every cycle recorded and the averaged taken. Calculations of the operating parameters
were done using the conventional method as found on engine performance textbooks.

3.0 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Effect of Fuel Blends on Engine Performance under Full Load Throttle Conditions
Engine Brake Power

Figure 3 shows plot of engine BP with engine speed. Engine BP increases with engine speed until a maximum value after which
it declines. As shown in Figure 1, the maximum brake power of 5.229 kW at speed of 2954 rpm is attained by the fuel blend E3.
 Figure 3: Engine BP against Speed at full load condition
Brake Thermal Efficiency
(BTE)
Plot of BTE with engine speed is presented in Figure 4. From Figure 4, as the proportion of local-ethanol increases in gasoline,
BTE increases to a maximum point before declines. From this study, maximum BTE of 32.62% occurred at engine speed 2901
rpm for E5.

Figure 4: BTE against Speed at Full Load Condition

Engine Torque Output (ETO)
According to Yucesu et al., (2007), as the proportion of ethanol increases in gasoline fuel, ETO also increases in a S.I engine.
Figure 5 presents effect of local ethanol – gasoline blends on ETO. Maximum engine brake torque at full load condition was
obtained as
17.2 Nm at a speed of 2315rpm for E5. On the other hand, engine brake torque with gasoline fuel falls below the values for E1, E3
and E5.
 Figure 5: Brake Engine Torque against speed at Full Load Condition

Brake Specific Fuel Consumption (BSFC)

Figure 6 presents variation of BSFC for different local – ethanol – gasoline fuel blends. Minimum BSFC of 40.716
g/kWh occurred at an engine speed of 3485 rpm for E5.

Figure 6: Brake Specific Fuel Consumption against Engine Speed at Full Load Condition

Effect of Fuel Blends on Engine Performance under Part Load Throttle Conditions
Engine Torque Output
Figure 7 shows the variation of engine torque with engine speed. From Figure 7, there is gradual increment of engine torques
with increase in engine speed with the fuel blends E1, E3 to E5 up to the speed of 1700rpm before decreasing constantly to
2300rpm, then maintaining approximately constant torque. Reference fuel E0 exhibits different behavior as it produced the
maximum toque value of 16.96 Nm at the speed of 2856rpm.

Figure7: Engine Torque against Engine Speed at Part Load Condition

Engine Brake Power (BP)
Figure 8 presents plot of engine BP against speed for E0, E1, E3, and E5 at part load condition. In general, the engine BP
increases with increase in speed. It is noticed that the brake power increased constantly to a speed of about 1700rpm before
changing direction. E0 gives the maximum brake power 5.073 kW at a speed of 2856 rpm before declining like other fuel blends.

Figure 8: Engine BP against Speed at Part Load Condition

Engine Brake Thermal Efficiency (EBTE)

Figure 9 shows plot of EBTE with speed at part load condition. From Figure 9, a constant increase in the BTE brings about
increase in speed up to 1750rpm before it declines and then maintaining approximately constant efficiency. The maximum brake
thermal efficiency of 33.5% was attained by the reference fuel E0 at engine speed of 2856 rpm.

ESFC

Figure 9: Engine Brake Thermal Efficiency against Speed at Part Load Condition
Plot of ESFC with speed at part load is presented in Figure 10. In general, it can be seen in Figure 10 a steady decrease in the
SFC with increase in speed up 1700 rpm. After which, there is constant variation in SFC. Based on the result of this study, E0
gives the least engine specific fuel consumption of 183.816 g/kWhr at engine speed of 1135 rpm.

Figure10: Engine Specific Fuel Consumption against Engine Speed at Part Load Condition
Conclusion
In this study, experimental performance analysis on a four stroke single cylinder test bed engine was carried out. Performance
parameters assessed include: engine torque, BP, BTE and SFC. Experiments were conducted under full and part load conditions
at different engine speed for four different fuel blends (E0, E1, E3 and E5). The following conclusions are made:
 The optimum engine performances were obtained at full load condition for the various fuels (E0, E1, E3 and E5) at the
different engine speed correlating with existing literature.
 The results show that blending local ethanol-gasoline increases torque, BP, BTE and reduces SFC under full load
condition.
 E3 gave the highest engine performance parameters amongst the fuel blends studied under full load condition.
 The fuel blends (i.e. E1, E3 and E5) gave improved engine performance in terms of the combustion parameters studied
over E0 (100% gasoline).
 Specific fuel consumption shows relatively constant similarity from 1200 rpm to 2985 rpm before diverging for the
different fuel blends used.
 Results of this study evidently show that locally produced ethanol can be a viable substitute to industrially produced
ethanol when been use as additives in gasoline.

Acknowledgement
The authors acknowledge support received from Management of Covenant University through CUCRID.

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