Chapter 2: Fuels and Combustion

• In IC engines, the chemical energy contained in the fuel is converted

into mechanical power by burning (oxidizing) the fuel inside the
combustion chamber of the engine.
• Fuels suitable for fast chemical reaction have to be used in IC
engines, they are following types-
(a) Hydrocarbons fuels derived from the crude petroleum by proper
refining process such as thermal and catalytic cracking method,
polymerisation, alkylation, isomerisation, reforming and blending.
(b) Alternative fuels such as-Alcohols (methanol, ethanol), Natural
gas (methane), LPG (propane, butane), Hydrogen.
• Liquid hydrocarbons- Engine fuels are mainly mixtures of
hydrocarbons, with bonds between hydrogen and carbon atoms.
• During combustion these bonds are broken and new bonds are
formed with oxygen atoms, accompanied by the release of chemical
energy. Principal products are carbon dioxide and water vapour.
• Fuels also contain small amounts of S, O2, N2, H2O. The different
constituents of crude petroleum which are available in liquid
hydrocarbons are- paraffins, naphthenes, olefins, aromatics.
 PROPERTIES OF PETROL (GASOLINE)
• A crude oil form the oil wells is refined by distillation process by utilizing the
fact that the boiling points of various hydrocarbons differ and this results in
the separation of the different constituents, such as, natural gas, liquefied
petroleum gas (LPG), gasoline, etc. Gasoline is the lightest liquid petroleum
fraction. All material boiling up to 200°C are generally considered as
gasoline (petrol).
• Petrol must possess the following properties.
1. Volatility
• The air-fuel mixture supplied to the engine is prepared in the carburettor.
Petrol absorbs heat from air and evaporates. Therefore petrol must be
volatile at low temperatures. If petrol is not highly volatile, then the starting
of a petrol engine would be difficult. Highly volatile fuel evaporates in the
fuel line or in the fuel pump and creates vapour lock that stops the supply
of the fuel (petrol).
• Fuel having low volatility tends to condense in the inlet manifold or in the
cylinder. The condensed petrol in the cylinder mixes with the lubricating oil
and dilutes it. If this condensed petrol passes into the crankcase, then the
crankcase oil gets diluted. This is generally known as crankcase dilution.
• Therefore volatility of petrol must be studied with respect to the
atmospheric temperature. Highly volatile petrol helps in starting the
engine from cold, but a warm engine needs less volatile petrol.
2. Anti-Knock Property
• Petrol used in engines must not ‘ping’ in the combustion chamber. The
abnormal combustion of petrol in the combustion chamber is known as
detonation or pinging.
• This results in loss in power and increase in fuel consumption. If the
abnormal combustion of petrol continues for a long time, then it harms
the engine parts and the engine may completely fail to develop power.
• To ensure the anti-knock property of petrol, impurities from petrol are
removed. Sometimes chemicals (dopes) are added to attain this anti-knock
property in petrol.
3. Sulphur Content
• Sulphur is the most undesirable constituent in petrol. During the
combustion process, sulphur combines with oxygen and forms sulphur
dioxide (SO2). Under high temperature and pressure, the SO2 is converted
into SO3.
• Hydrogen already present in petrol, forms H2O (water) with oxygen during
the process of combustion. H2O which is water vapour, combines, with
SO3 and forms H2SO4 (sulphuric acid) which is corrosive on condensation.
• This acid corrodes the engine parts and thus the life of the cylinder liner,
piston and the valves is reduced. Therefore petrol must be free from
sulphur.
4. Gum Deposits
• Gum is a sticky substance, which is formed due to the oxidization of
certain constituents present in petrol. Gum is deposited on the piston
rings, the valves, and other places in the cylinder, and prevents the parts
from functioning properly. Deposition of gum reduces the performance of
the engine.
• The tendency of gum deposition in petrol increases under the following
conditions:
(a) Petrol is stored for long time.
(b) Petrol is stored in a copper vessel. Copper acts like a catalytic agent.
(c) When petrol is exposed to sunlight.
5. Non-corrosive
• Petrol must be non-corrosive. Petrol must not contain dirt, dust and other
compounds which are corrosive.
• Corrosion tends to cause pitting on the valve seat faces. As a result, the hot
gases start to leak through, evolving lot of heat to the channels locally,
thereby, lowering the compression.
OCTANE NUMBER
• Octane number is an index which measures the combustion quality of
petrol. Octane number is assigned to petrol used in Otto engines. A higher
octane number of petrol indicates that the petrol has anti-knock property
under certain conditions.
• To determine the octane number of petrol, two reference fuels—iso-octane
and normal heptane are mixed in a certain proportion by volume.
• For example, if the mixture of the reference fuels contains 80% iso-octane
and 20% normal heptane by volume, then this mixture has an octane
number equal to 80.
• Thus fuels with different octane numbers are prepared by mixing iso-octane
and normal heptane in various proportions. To assign a rating to the sample
petrol bought from market, an engine having a variable compression ratio is
used.
•In Fig. a curve ‘A’ shows the relationship
between compression ratio and thermal
efficiency when iso-octane is used as fuel.
It has been shown experimentally that if
normal heptane is added to iso-octane,
then the mixture starts pinging, i.e. the
engine undergoes rough running beyond
a certain compression ratio and the
thermal efficiency also starts to drop.
•The compression ratio at which the Fig. HUCR
mixture of iso-octane and normal
heptane gives maximum thermal
efficiency is known as the highest useful
compression ratio (HUCR) for that
mixture. HUCR increases with increase in
the octane number of the fuel.
 OCTANE RATINGS
• Octane rating of gasoline is a measure of its resistance to detonation in the
engine. An octane rating is not indicative of the energy in gasoline, the quality of
gasoline, or whether the gasoline contains lead.
• There are three ways of designating the octane rating of gasoline.
1. Research Octane Number (RON)
• The research octane number is determined by testing gasoline in laboratory
engines running at low speed with wide-open throttle. This gives the gasoline a
high octane rating such as 100 for premium and 94 for regular.
2. Motor Octane Number (MON)
• Motor Octane Number or MON is determined by testing the gasoline in an engine
running at full throttle with high engine speed. This gives the gasoline a lower
octane rating such as 92 for premium and 86 for regular.
3. Antiknock Index
• The antiknock index is also called the Road Octane Number. It relates to the
actual performance of gasoline in cars. This is the newest rating system and is the
number that you are most likely to see on the pumps at service stations. Road
octane number is found by adding together the RON and MON for gasoline and
then dividing by 2. The typical road octane number for gasoline is about 96 for
premium and 90 for regular.
 COMBUSTION PROCESS IN PETROL ENGINE
• At the end of the compression stroke in petrol engines, spark is produced at
the spark plug gap.
• The charge molecules in between the spark plug gap are heated to initiate
combustion. Thus the flame is initiated at the spark plug gap and the
homogeneous mixture in the combustion chamber sustains the progress of a
definite flame across the combustion chamber.
• Since the charge (mixture of air and fuel) has a certain delay period of the
order of fractions of a second, some ignition advance about 5 to 10 degrees of
crank rotation is usually given. This means that spark is produced 5 to 10
degrees of the crank rotation before TDC of the piston.
• In Fig. , the combustion process in a spark-ignition engine has been shown. The
flame initiated at the spark plug gap, advances to the other side of the
combustion chamber. As the flame front advances, it burns the charge. The
flame travels with the speed of sound.
• The temperature and pressure in the burned space increases and push the
unburned charge, which is the remaining charge in the space ‘a’ as shown in
Fig. Thus the remaining charge at ‘a’ is adiabatically compressed and its
temperature is raised.
• If the charge has a greater delay period,
then before auto-ignition of the charge at
‘a’, the flame front reaches the end and
burns the remaining part of the charge in
the normal way.
• Such normal combustion in the spark-
ignition engine gives a normal rate of rise
of pressure and the engine runs smoothly.
• In case the portion of charge at ‘a’ has a
lesser delay period, auto-ignition takes
place even before the flame front reaches
it. Such abnormal combustion starts at
Fig. Combustion Process in SI Engine
various points in the combustion chamber
and as a result pressure waves start from
various points.
• This abnormal combustion produces a
sudden rise in pressure which produces a
sound like explosive shells. This
phenomenon of combustion is known as
‘pinging’.
Detonation or knocking
• Knocking is due to auto ignition of end portion of unburned
charge in combustion chamber.
• As the normal flame proceeds across the chamber, pressure and
temperature of unburned charge increase due to compression by
burned portion of charge. This unburned compressed charge
may auto ignite under certain temperature condition and release
the energy at a very rapid rate compared to normal combustion
process in cylinder. This rapid release of energy during auto
ignition causes a high pressure differential in combustion
chamber and a high pressure wave is released from auto ignition
region. The motion of high pressure compression waves inside
the cylinder causes vibration of engine parts and pinging noise
and it is known as knocking or detonation. This pressure
frequency or vibration frequency in SI engine can be up to 5000
Cycles per second.
 Fig. Detonation in SI Engine

Auto ignition
A mixture of fuel and air can react spontaneously and produce heat by
chemical reaction in the absence of flame to initiate the combustion or
self-ignition. This type of self-ignition in the absence of flame is known
as Auto-Ignition. The temperature at which the self-ignition takes place
is known as self-igniting temperature. The pressure and temperature
abruptly increase due to auto-ignition because of sudden release of
chemical energy.
This auto-ignition leads to abnormal combustion known as detonation which is
undesirable because its bad effect on the engine performance and life as it
abruptly increases sudden large amount of heat energy. In addition to this
knocking puts a limit on the compression ratio at which an engine can be
operated which directly affects the engine efficiency and output.
Pre-ignition
•Pre-ignition is the ignition of the homogeneous mixture of charge as it comes in
contact with hot surfaces, in the absence of spark. Auto ignition may overheat the
spark plug and exhaust valve and it remains so hot that its temperature is
sufficient to ignite the charge in next cycle during the compression stroke before
spark occurs and this causes the pre-ignition of the charge.
•Pre-ignition is initiated by some overheated projecting part such as the sparking
plug electrodes, exhaust valve head, metal corners in the combustion chamber,
carbon deposits or protruding cylinder head gasket rim etc.
• Effects of Pre-ignition
• -It increase the tendency of denotation in the engine
• -It increases heat transfer to cylinder walls because high temperature gas
remains in contact with for a longer time
• -Pre-ignition in a single cylinder will reduce the speed and power output
• -Pre-ignition may cause seizer in the multi-cylinder engines
 Types of Combustion Chambers in SI Engines
• Combustion chamber is an endorsed area where combustion takes
place. It is formed by cylinder head, valves, spark plug, head gasket;
cylinder walls, piston and piston rings.
• The basic requirements of a combustion chamber are to ensure:
1. Power output, 2. Smooth running, 3. Fuel economy
• To accomplish the objectives, the combustion chamber must fulfill
the following characteristics-
(i) High compression ratio
(ii) High volumetric efficiency
(iii) Free from detonation (pinging)
(iv) Low surface to volume ratio
• To achieve these characteristics, different types of combustion
chambers have been developed.
• T-head Combustion Chamber: In T-head
combustion chamber., inlet and exhaust
valve are mounted in the cylinder block,
in opposite direction. The T-head
combustion chamber has a high surface
to volume ratio and it increases cooling
losses, which reduce engine power and
Fig. T-head Combustion Chamber
thermal efficiency.
• L-head Combustion Chamber: Figure
shows the L-head combustion chamber.
It has a suction valve (S), and an exhaust
valve (E) side by side in the cylinder
block.
• The L-head combustion chamber is an
improvement over the T-head
combustion chamber. The surface to
volume ratio is decreased, and Fig. L-head Combustion Chamber
turbulence is created over the valves
during the compression stroke.
• The disadvantage of this combustion chamber is that the end part of the
charge is near the exhaust valve which promotes detonation. Moreover,
the volumetric efficiency of the engine is reduced due to change in the
direction of gases during the suction and exhaust processes.
• F-head combustion chamber, (Fig.) combustion chamber is an
improvement over the L-Head combustion chamber. The suction valve
is located in the cylinder head and also the size of the suction valve is
increased to get more volumetric efficiency.
• The exhaust valve (E) is located in the cylinder block. Turbulence is
created over the exhaust valve (E) during the compression stroke and
heat is absorbed by the fresh charge. This reduces the delay period of
the charge and combustion occurs almost at TDC of the piston.
• At the same time, detonation is avoided as the end portion of the charge
is situated in a narrow cavity over the piston head and at the cool
suction valve.
• Note that the spark plug is above the exhaust valve. This heats the
spark plug and may lead to pre-ignition. The main disadvantage of the
F-head combustion chamber is that the surface area per unit volume is
more and hence fuel economy is not obtained
• In Fig. the I-head combustion chamber has been shown. The suction
and exhaust valves are located in the cylinder head. The valves are
vertical and therefore it is easy to operate them with simple push
rods and rocker arms. The I-head combustion chamber has a lesser
surface volume ratio than the F-head combustion chamber. Therefore
the cooling losses are reduced.

Fig. F-head Combustion Fig. I-head Combustion Chamber

Chamber with hemisphere
•In high speed combustion chamber, I-head combustion chamber is
designed as shown in Fig. This design reduces the clearance volume
and increases the compression ratio. The spark plug is located at the
centre of the cylinder.
•The outer portion of the piston crown is fairly close to the cylinder
head; turbulence is created at the end of compression stroke.
•Turbulence reduces the combustion period. If petrol is blended with
methanol, then a high compression ratio can be used.
•The wedge type combustion chamber shown in Fig. is also designed
based on the same principle. The suction valve (S) is located in the
cylinder head and the exhaust valve (E) is located in the cylinder block.
•Spark plug is located near the exhaust valve. The narrow portion of the
wedge combustion chamber accommodates the last portion of the
charge.
• Another type of the I-head combustion chamber has been shown.
This design permits the use of larger valves unlike the design given in
Fig.
• Therefore this engine has a greater volumetric efficiency. However, as
the clearance volume is increased, the compression ratio decreases
and the specific fuel consumption is increased for this engine.

Fig. Wedge Type Combustion Chamber

Carburetion:
•The process of preparing a combustible fuel-air mixture outside engine cylinder
in SI engine is known as carburetion.
•Important factors which affect the process of carburetion are given below;
-time available for the mixture preparation i.e. atomisation, mixing and the
vaporisation
-Temperature of the incoming air
-quality of the fuel supply
-design of combustion chamber and induction system
Mixture requirements for steady state operation:
• Three main areas of steady state operation of automotive engine which
require different air fuel ratio are discussed below:
(a) Idling and low load:
• -From no load to about 20% of rated power
• -No load running mode is called idling condition
• -Very low suction pressure give rise to back flow of exhaust gases and air
leakage
• -Increases the amount of residual gases and hence increase the dilution
effects
• -Rich mixture i.e. F/A ratio 0.08 or A/F ratio 12.5:1 provide smooth operation of
the engine
(b) Normal power range or cruising range:
• -from about 20% to 75% of rated power
• -dilution by residual gases as well as leakage decreases, hence
fuel economy is important consideration in this case.
• -maximum fuel economy occurs at A/F ratio of 17:1 to 16.7:1
• -mixture ratios for best economy are very near to the mixture
ratios for minimum emissions
(c) Maximum power range:
• -from about 75% to 100% of rated power
• -mixture requirements for the maximum power is a rich mixture,
of A/F about 14:1 or F/A 0.07
• -Rich mixture also prevents the overheating of exhaust valve at
high load and inhibits detonation
• -in multi-cylinder engine the A/F ratio are slightly lower .
Mixture requirements for transient operation:
• -Carburettor has to provide mixture for transient conditions under which
speed, load, temperature, or pressure change rapidly
• -evaporation of fuel may be incomplete in the transient condition, quantity of
fuel may be increasing and decreasing
(a) Starting and warm up requirements:
• -engine speed and temperature are low during the starting of the engine from
cold
• -during starting very rich mixture about 5 to 10 times the normal amount of
petrol is supplied i.e. F/A ratio 0.3 to 0.7 or A/F ratio 3:1 to 1.5:1
• -mixture ratio is progressively made leaner to avoid too rich evaporated fuel-
air ratio during warm up condition
• -too high volatility may form vapour bubbles in the carburettor and fuel lines
particularly when engine temperatures are high
• -too low volatility may cause the petrol to condense on the cylinder walls,
diluting and removing the lubricating oil film
(b) Acceleration requirements:
• - Acceleration refer to an increase in engine speed resulting from the opening
of the throttle
• -acceleration pump is used to provide additional fuel
Principle of Carburetor- Simple Carburetor
Carburetor is the device that used to mix air and fuel in an 
internal combustion engine.
The main objective of the carburetor is to provide quality air-fuel mixture
for cruising range and for other special requirements likes at starting,
idling, acceleration, variable load, and speed operation condition.
Above figure shows a simple carburetor. The main parts of a simple
carburetor are carburetor, air filter, float chamber, fuel discharge
nozzle, metering orifice, choke valve, throttle valve and venturi.
The float chamber is vented to the upstream side of the venturi or to the
atmosphere.
Float and needle valve maintains the constant gasoline/ petrol level
inside the float chamber.
The float goes down as a result of the decreasing amount of fuel inside
the chamber.
When the fuel level goes down the designed level, the floats go down,
actuate the fuel supply valve and admits fuel into the chamber.
When fuel reached the designed level, float closes the fuel supply valve. The tip of
fuel discharge nozzle from the float chamber is located to the throat of venturi.
The tip will be slightly above the level of fuel in the float chamber to avoid
overflow. The throttle valve is regulated by the mechanical linkage (cable) or
pneumatic link to the accelerator pedal of the vehicle.
• Working principle of simple carburetor
• Simple Carburator work on the Bernoulli's principle. During the suction stroke,
air is drawn into the cylinder through venturi (also known as choke tube).
• Venturi tube is designed in such a way that it offers minimum resistance to the
air flow. When air passes through the venturi the velocity of air increases and
the pressure decreases .
• At venturi throat the velocity of air reach maximum and the pressure reach
minimum. There will be a pressure difference between the float chamber and
venturi throat. This pressure difference is known as carburetor depression.
• Because of this pressure difference fuel is discharged to air stream through fuel
discharge nozzle. The amount of fuel discharged depend upon the size of fuel
discharge nozzle/ fuel discharge jet.
COMBUSTION PROCESS IN CI ENGINE
• The term CI engine means “Compression Ignition” engine. This
engine works on the principle of compression of air in a cylinder
so that the temperature of air becomes greater than the self-
ignition temperature of the diesel fuel, which is injected into the
cylinder.
• The injected fuel (diesel) enters the combustion chamber in the
form of fine spray and ignites. Such burning of fuel does not
require a spark plug to initiate combustion as in the case of a
petrol engine.
• Therefore, it is essential to compress air to a high compression
ratio to produce compression ignition of the injected fuel (diesel).
• Figure shows the pressure-crank diagram for a diesel engine.
The position of the piston when it is at TDC is indicated by 0°
crank position.
• The dotted curve shows the motoring curve which means that it
represents the rise and fall of pressure in the cylinder when fuel
is not injected. At the point ‘A’ in the diagram, diesel is injected.
 Fig. Pressure-crank Diagram for
CI Engine

1) Ignition Delay Period

• Physical delay
• Chemical Delay
2) Uncontrolled Combustion
3) Controlled Combustion
4) After Burning
(i) Ignition delay Period:
• Injection of fuel in atomized form is initiated into the combustion space
containing compressed air.
• Fuel upon injection does not get burnt immediately instead some time is required
for preparation before start of combustion.
• Fuel droplet injected into high temperature air first gets transformed into vapour
(gaseous form) .
• Subsequently, if temperature inside is greater than self ignition temperature at
respective pressure then ignition gets set.
• Thus, the delay in start of ignition may be said to occur due to ‘physical delay’ i.e.
time consumed in transformation from liquid droplet into gaseous form, and
'chemical delay’ i.e. time consumed in preparation for setting up of chemical
reaction (combustion).
• The duration of ignition delay depends upon fuel characteristic, compression ratio
(i.e. pressure and temperature after compression), fuel injection, ambient air
temperature, speed of engine, and geometry of combustion chamber etc.
• Ignition delay stage, the fuel injection is advanced by about 20º before TDC.
Ignition delay is shown by a – b in Fig., showing pressure rise during combustion.
• Fuel injection begins at ‘a’ and ignition begins at ‘b’. Theoretically, this ignition
delay should be as small as possible.
(ii) Uncontrolled combustion:
• During the ignition delay period also the injection of fuel is continued upto the point
of cut-off.
• Duration of ignition delay period, the continuous fuel injection results in
accumulation of fuel in combustion space.
• The moment when ignition just begins, if the sustainable flame front is established
then this accumulated fuel also gets burnt rapidly.
• This burning of accumulated fuel occurs in such a manner that combustion process
becomes uncontrolled resulting into steep pressure rise as shown from ‘b’ to ‘c’.
• The uncontrolled burning continues till the collected fuel gets burnt.
• During this ‘uncontrolled combustion’ phase if the pressure rise is very abrupt then
combustion is termed as ‘abnormal combustion’ and may even lead to damage of
engine parts in extreme conditions.
• Thus, it is obvious that ‘uncontrolled combustion’ depends upon the ‘ignition delay’
period as during ignition delay itself the accumulation of unburnt fuel occurs and its’
burning results in steep pressure rise.
• Hence in order to have minimum uncontrolled combustion the ignition delay should
be as small as possible.
• During this uncontrolled combustion phase about one-third of total fuel heat is
released.
(iii) Controlled Combustion:
• After the ‘uncontrolled combustion’ is over then the rate of burning matches
with rate of fuel injection and the combustion is termed as ‘controlled
combustion’.
• Controlled combustion is shown between ‘c’ to ‘d’ and. during this phase
maximum of heat gets evolved in controlled manner.
• In controlled combustion phase rate of combustion can be directly regulated
by the rate of fuel injection i.e. through fuel injector.
• Controlled combustion phase has smooth pressure variation and maximum
temperature is attained during this period.
• It is seen that about two-third of total fuel heat is released during this phase.
(iv) After Burning:
After controlled combustion, the residual if any gets burnt and the
combustion is termed as ‘after burning’.
• This after burning may be there due to fuel particles residing in remote
position in combustion space where flame front could not reach.
• ‘After burning’ is spread over 60 – 70º of crank angle rotation and occurs
even during expansion stroke.
Abnormal Combustion:
• It is seen that the complete combustion in CI engines may be
comprising of four distinct phases i.e. ‘ignition delay’ followed by
‘uncontrolled combustion,’ ‘controlled combustion’ and ‘after burning’.
• Combustion generally becomes abnormal combustion in CI engines
when the ignition delay is too large resulting into large uncontrolled
combustion and zig-zag pressure rise.
• Abnormal combustion in CI engines may also be termed as ‘knocking’
in engines and can be felt by excessive vibrations, excessive noise,
excessive heat release, pitting of cylinder head and piston head etc.
• In order to control the knocking some additives are put in CI engine
fuel so as to reduce its’ self ignition temperature and accelerate
ignition process.
• Also, the combustion chambers are properly designed so it can be
reduced physical and chemical delay.
Factors affecting Delay Period in CI Engines
• Compression Ratio: Increase in CR increases the temperature of air. Autoignition
temperature decreases with increased density. Both these reduce the delay period(DP).
• Engine Power Output: With an Increase in engine power, the operating temperature
increases. A/F ratio decreases and delay period decreases
• Engine Speed: Delay period decreases with increasing engine speed, as the temperature
and pressure of compressed air rises at high engine speeds.
• Injection Timing: The temperature and pressure of air at the beginning of injection are
lower for higher injection advance. The DP increases with increase in injection advance
or longer injection timing. The optimum angle of injection is 20° BTDC
• Atomization of fuel: Higher fuel injection pressures increase the degree of atomization.
The fineness of atomization reduces the DP due to higher A/V ratio of the spray
droplets.
• Injection Pressure: Increase injection pressure reduces the auto ignition temperature
and hence decreases DP.
• Intake Temperature: High intake temperature increase the air temperature after
compression , which reduces DP.
• Engine Size: Large engines operate at lower speeds, thus increasing the DP in terms of
crank angle.
• Cetane Number: Fuels with high cetane number have lower DP.
• COMBUSTION CHAMBER FOR Cl ENGINES
• Combustion Chamber Characteristics
• The proper design of a combustion chamber is very important.
• In a Cl engine the fuel is injected during a period of some 20 to 35 degrees of crank
angle.
• In this short period of time an efficient preparation of the fuel-air charge is required,
which means:
• An even distribution of the injected fuel throughout the combustion space, for which it
requires a directed flow or swirl of the air.
• A thorough mixing of the fuel with the air to ensure complete combustion with the
minimum excess air, for which it requires an air swirl or squish of high intensity.
• An efficient smooth combustion depends upon:
• A sufficiently high temperature to initiate ignition; it is controlled by the selection of the
proper compression ratio.
• A small delay period or ignition lag.
• A moderate rate of pressure rise during the second stage of combustion.
• A controlled, even burning during the third stage; it is governed by the rate of injection.
• A minimum of afterburning.
• Minimum heat losses to the walls
Classification of Cl Engine Combustion Chambers
• (a) Direct-injection (DI) engines, which have a single open combustion chamber
into which fuel is injected directly;
• (b) Indirect-injection (IDI) engines, where the chamber is divided into two regions
and the fuel is injected into the pre-chamber which is situated above the piston
crown and is connected to the main chamber via a nozzle or one or more orifices.
DIRECT INJECTION (Dl) ENGINES OR OPEN COMBUSTION CHAMBER ENGINES
• An open chamber has the entire compression volume in which the combustion
takes place in one chamber formed between the piston and the cylinder head.
• The shape of the combustion chamber may create swirl or turbulence to assist fuel
and air.
• Swirl denotes a rotary motion of the gases in the chamber more or less about the
chamber axis. Turbulence denotes a haphazard motion of the gases.
• In this combustion chamber, the mixing of fuel and air depends entirely on the
spray characteristics and on air motion, and it is not essentially affected by the
combustion process. In this type of engine, the spray characteristics must be
carefully arranged to obtain rapid mixing.
• Fuel is injected at high injection pressure and mixing is usually assisted by a swirl,
induced by directing the inlet air tangentially, or by a squish which is the air motion
caused by a small clearance space over part of the piston.
Direct Injection type combustion chambers
• Direct Injection type combustion chambers are also known as the open type
combustion chambers. This open type combustion chambers, the combustion
chamber volume will be located in the cylinder. The fuel will be injected directly
into the combustion chamber with the help of the fuel injector.
• There are four design variants available in Direct Injection type combustion
chambers. Those are
 Shallow depth chamber
 Hemispherical chamber
 Cylindrical chamber
 Toroidal chamber
1. Shallow depth chamber: Shallow depth combustion chambers are mostly used
in the heavy engines running with the low speeds. As you can see the shallow
depth chamber diagram, the depth of the cavity provided in the piston is quite
small and the diameter is large. Due to the large diameter, there will be almost
negligible squish.
2. Hemispherical chamber
• As you can see the hemispherical chamber, the depth to the diameter ratio can
be varied. So that the squish can be controlled to attain better performance.
3. Cylindrical Chamber
• In a few modern diesel engines, this type of combustion chambers was
implemented. As you can see the Cylindrical Chamber diagram, the shape of the
combustion chamber is truncated cone with the base angle of 30°. The Squish can
be varied by varying the depth. The swirl can be produced by masking the valve for
nearly 180°of the circumference. Squash also can be controlled by varying the
depth.
4. Toroidal Chamber
• This Toroidal chamber design is mainly focused to provide the powerful Squish
along with the air moment. As the more Squish, the mask needed on the inlet valve
is small and there is better utilization of oxygen.
Advantages of Direct Injection type combustion chambers
• Minimum Heat loss during the compression because of lower surface area to
volume ratio results in better efficiency.
• Cold starting problems can be avoided.
• The multi-hole nozzle can be possible and hence fine atomization can be achieved.
Disadvantages of Direct Injection type combustion chambers
• High fuel injection pressure required. Hence complex design of fuel injection
systems.
• Metering of fuel should be accurate. Particularly for small engines.
Indirect Injection type combustion chambers
• In this type of combustion chambers, they are having two parts. One part
will be located in the cylinder and the other part will be in the cylinder head.
The fuel will be injected into the part which is located in the cylinder head.
• There are three variant designs available in indirect Injection type
combustion chambers. those are
• Swirl Chamber, Pre-combustion chamber, Air cell chamber
1. Swirl Chamber: This is also known as the Ricardo swirl chamber. Swirl
combustion chamber consists of the spherical-shaped chamber located in
the cylinder head separated from the engine cylinder. During the
compression stroke, 50% of the air will be transferred to this swirl chamber.
In this spherical shaped swirl chamber, the fuel will be injected with the help
of a nozzle and the combustion will be initiated.
• The main drawback of this chamber is that the heat loss is greater compared
to the open combustion chambers.
• These chambers are used where the less quality of fuels are used. Where
reliability is the main objective than the fuel economy.
2. Pre-combustion chamber
• As you can see the above diagram of the Pre-
combustion chamber. It consists of the Pre-chamber
connected to the main chamber. This Pre-chamber
located in the cylinder head. This Pre-chamber volume
accounts for 40% of the total combustion space.
• During the compression stroke, the air will be injected
into the Pre-chamber the combustion will be initiated
in it. But the bulk combustion will be taken place in the
main chamber only. About 80% of the energy will be
released in the main combustion chamber.
• The rate of pressure rise and the maximum pressure
attain during the combustion process is comparatively
low than the open combustion chambers.
3. Air-Cell Chamber
• In this combustion chamber, the clearance volume will be shared by the
two parts. One portion of the clearance will be in the main cylinder. The
second portion will be called the energy cell.
• In energy cell itself, there will be two parts again. One is major and the
other one is minor which were separated by the main chamber
connected by the narrow orifices.
• The nozzle injects the fuel across the main combustion chamber space
towards the open neck the air cell.
• During the compression stroke, the main chamber pressure will be more
than the energy cell pressure. When the temperature reaches high in the
main chamber, the combustion will starts in the main chamber initially.
• In the energy cell, the cell contains the well-mixed charge, due to the
heat release in the main chamber the high-pressure combustion particles
will blow out through the small passages into the main chamber. This
high-velocity jet produces swirling motion in the main chamber thereby
thoroughly mixes the fuel with the air, therefore the combustion will be
completed.
Advantages of indirect Injection type combustion
chambers
• The main advantage of the indirect injection
combustion chambers are
• Injection pressure required is low.
• The direction of the spray is not that important.
Disadvantages of indirect Injection type combustion
chambers
• Poor cold starting performance.
• Specific fuel consumption is high.
 Emission Control Systems in IC Engines
• As the number of automobiles is increasing day by day the problem of controlling
the emission from them is becoming more and more prominent. In metropolitan
cities the problem was realized few years back and may be the situation has
improved since then but presently it is influencing the environment of small cities
and unfortunately no body seems to be much concerned.
• The pollutants emitted by vehicles mix with air and water. Both the things are
essential for human beings and as these are consumed they show adverse affect on
the health of human beings.
• The main pollutants coming out with emission from vehicles are hydrocarbons
(HC), carbon monoxide (CO) and oxides of nitrogen (NOX). In addition to these
three the emission also contains particulate material.
• Hydrocarbons (HC)
• Incomplete combustion of fuel causes emission of hydrocarbons (HC). As the flame
propagates through the combustion chamber, its front comes in contact with
combustion chamber walls that are ‘cooler’ that is at a relatively low temperature.
This cause some unburnt hydrocarbons. This situation may arise with too lean or
too rich fuel air mixture.
• Hydrocarbon emission is minimum when stoichiometrically correct air fuel mixture
is used. Other cause of hydrocarbon emission is evaporative emission in fuel tank.
Carbon Monoxide (CO)
• Carbon monoxide (CO) is due to improper fuel air combination and
comes out as the product of combustion. It is produced when enough
oxygen is not available during combustion.
• Enough oxygen means formation of carbon dioxide (CO2). Carbon
dioxide (CO2) is otherwise a harmless gas but its presence causes what
is known as ‘greenhouse effect’. It is one of the reasons of global
warming. Carbon monoxide (CO) is toxic and harmful for human beings.
• When air fuel mixture is lean or when it is stoichiometrically correct the
carbon monoxide (CO) emission is low but with rich mixture its emission
becomes high.
Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx)
• Oxides of nitrogen (NOx) are the product of combination of nitrogen and
oxygen at high temperatures. The two gases together form different
compounds. The ‘x’ in the formula represents the proportion of oxygen
mixed with nitrogen. If x is 1 i.e., compound is NO, it nitrogen monoxide,
when it is 2 the compound is NO2 i.e., nitrogen dioxide and so on.
• Mainly, nitrogen monoxide (NO) is formed among all the oxides of
nitrogen (NOx). It is highly toxic gas causing the formation of ozone and
acid rain in addition to smog.
SOURCES OF POLLUTANTS IN AN AUTOMOBILE
• The main sources of pollutants from gasoline engine are fuel tank,
carburettor, crankcase and tail pipe. The sources, of atmospheric
pollutants from an automobile are shown in Fig.

The emissions from an automobile can be classified into two categories:

1. Exhaust emissions
2. Non-exhaust emissions
Exhaust emissions directly pertain to combustion phenomenon and consist mainly of
products
of combustion, e.g. CO, SO2, oxides of nitrogen etc. besides unburnt hydrocarbons,
whereas nonexhaust emission has no relation to combustion and it consists mainly of
unburnt hydrocarbons.
Emission taking place from the crankcase and carburettor fuel tank is of non-exhaust
type and from the tail pipe is of exhaust type.
1. Fuel Tank and Carburettor Emissions
• When the automobile is idle and the engine is not running, gasoline vapour
can escape uncontrolled from the fuel tank and carburettor. These are
evaporative losses. At other times when the engine is running, gasoline is
being pumped from the fuel tank and carburettor so that gasoline vapour does
not escape.
• The fuel tank breathes as temperature changes. As the tank heats up, the air
inside it expands.
• Part of the air is forced out through the tank vent tube in the tank cap. The air
is loaded with gasoline vapour. When the tank cools, the air inside contracts
and more air from outside enters the tank. The breathing of the tank causes
loss of gasoline. The evaporation from the tank is affected by a large number of
variables of which the fuel tank temperature, the mode of vehicle operation,
the amount of fuel in the tank and the volatility of fuel being important.
2. Crankcase Emission
• Water and liquid gasoline appear in the crankcase during cold engine
operation. Some blow-by always gets past the piston rings and enters the
crankcase. Unless the water and liquid gasoline are removed, sludge and acid
will form.
• Sludge can clog oil lines and starve the lubricating system which could ruin
the engine. The renewal process requires that the engine must first heat up
enough to vapourize the liquid water and gasoline. Then the circulating air
can remove them.
• In older engines, the crankcase was ventilated by an opening at the front of
the engine and the vent tube at the back. The forward motion of the car
and the rotation of crankcase moves air through the crankcase. The passing
air removes water, fuel vapours and blow-by. However discharging these
gases into the atmosphere produces air pollution.
3. Tail Pipe Emission
• Tail pipe exhaust emissions are the major sources of automotive emissions.
Petrol consists of a mixture of various hydrocarbons. In perfect
combustion, the exhaust would consist of CO2 and water vapour. However
for several reasons, combustion is usually incomplete and hence we also
get CO and unburnt hydrocarbons in the exhaust. Hydrocarbons play an
active part in the formationof smog. In addition to CO and HC, the third
main pollutants are the oxides of nitrogen (NO). There are large number of
organic compounds, e.g. ketones, aldehydes, etc. which are chemically
active and form smog in the presence of sunlight.
Assignment 2:
1. How the pollutants are controlled from emission? Describe briefly
(atleast any two methods of controlling emission with neat sketch,
such as exhaust gas recirculation(EGR) method, Positive Crankcase
Ventilation (PCV) method, etc…).
2. Explain the methods of finding friction power such as Willan’s line
method, Morse test method and Motoring test method.
3. Draw the simple carburettor system and explain the construction and
working of it.
4. Compare four stroke and two stroke engines (minimum ten points).
5. Explain the stages of combustion in SI engine with pressure Vs crank
angle diagram.
6. Explain the Morse test method to find indicated power in SI engine.
Note: Marks carry on the contents, neatness of presentation,
completion of the answers, etc…
Submit the assignment individually…, only hard copy…