Applied Thermal Engineering 23 (2003) 313323

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Study of the compression cycle of a reciprocating engine through the polytropic coecient
Mag n Lapuerta
a b

a,*

, Octavio Armas a, Santiago Molina

b,1

nica Aplicada e Ingenieria de Proyectos, Escuela Te cnica Superior de Ingenieros Industriales, Departmento de Meca  Cela, s/n. 13071 Ciudad Real, Spain Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Avda. Camilo Jose quinas y Motores Te rmicos, Universidad Polite cnica de Valencia, Avda. de los Naranjos, CMT, Departamento de Ma s/n. 46022 Valencia, Spain Received 13 March 2002; accepted 11 October 2002

Abstract The polytropic coecient during the compression cycle of a reciprocating IC engine depends on the instantaneous values for pressure and volume, as well as on their variations. This dependency makes it useful to solve uncertainties typical of the engine experimental tests, such as the synchronization of pressure and volume signals. Additionally, knowledge of the polytropic coecient is useful if the heat ux transferred to the walls is to be calculated, this variable being dicult to obtain either from modelling or from measurements, or to minimize errors on the estimation of geometric parameters such as the compression ratio. 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Thermodynamic cycle; Polytropic coecient; Heat transfer; Experimental tests

1. Compression cycle The study of the compression and expansion processes of a reciprocating internal combustion engine operating without combustion (hereinafter compression cycle) is useful to identify dierent parameters related with the engine geometry or with its operation. Once determined, these parameters can also be used during the usual ring cycle. In fact, a common practice in engine testing for combustion diagnostic is, prior to the usual ring tests, to test the engine in motored

Corresponding author. Tel.: +34-926-295431; fax: +34-926-295361. E-mail address: magin.lapuerta@uclm.es (M. Lapuerta). 1 Tel.: +34-96-3877650; fax: +34-96-3877659.

1359-4311/02/$ - see front matter 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 1 3 5 9 - 4 3 1 1 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 1 9 3 - X

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Nomenclature Notation n polytropic coecient p pressure Q heat _ Q heat ux V volume Dt time lag Da angle lag c adiabatic coecient Acronyms IVC intake valve closure EVO exhaust valve opening TDC top dead centre

conditions, with air as the only working gas, and the in-cylinder pressure being recorded by a piezo-electric transducer. From the IVC until the EVO, the compression cycle is composed of a compression stroke followed by an expansion one. Although both of them usually occur in a very short period of time, neither is adiabatic. The heat exchange between the air enclosed in the cylinder and the cylinder walls causes a time lag (Dt) between the pressure peak and the minimum volume (Fig. 1), the latter being considered as the TDC. This time lag corresponds to an angle lag when pressure or volume are plotted against the engine crankangle. In other graphic coordinates such as pV or ln pln V the mentioned lag can be detected by the non coincidence between compression and expansion lines (Fig. 2).

Fig. 1. Pressure and volume time evolution along the compression cycle.

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Fig. 2. Diagrams pV , ln pln V of the compression cycle.

The unknowing of this time or angle lag precludes experimental pressure signal to be synchronized with volume function by simply matching its maximum with the minimum volume. This lag, generally called thermodynamic lag, can be determined from the heat transferred from the internal gas in the proximities of TDC [1]. This synchronization between pressure and volume variables must be achieved as precisely as possible in order to obtain correct values for the indicated parameters of the cycle, such as indicated work or indicated mean pressure, and therefore, for the engine performance and eciency.

2. Polytropic coecient The heat exchange between the internal gas and the surroundings can be obtained from the pressure and volume functions if ideal state is supposed to the gas [2] and leakages are neglected. If positive sign is adopted for heat transferred from the internal gas: dQ V dp cp dV c1 1

Another interesting function that can also be obtained from pressure and volume functions is the polytropic coecient, this being a characteristic indicator of any thermodynamic transformation in closed systems. n dp =p dV =V 2

The interest of the polytropic coecient is even higher in the case of a cycle where fast compression and expansion processes follow one another, because its comparison with the adiabatic coecient (which only depends on the gas composition and temperature [3]) permits a visual quantication of the proximity of these processes to adiabatic ones, with identical volume variations. In other words, the dierence between polytropic and adiabatic coecients implicitly contains the information of the gas-surroundings heat exchange, as stated by the following equation, derived from Eqs. (1) and (2):

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Fig. 3. Time evolution of polytropic (n) and adiabatic (c) coecients when the cylinder walls are not initially heated and when they are.

dQ

nc p dV c1

Eqs. (1) and (3) are equivalent, and both of them only depend on the instantaneous values of pressure and volume, these variables being known or directly measured during a motored engine test [4]. If the cylinder walls are initially (at the IVC) at the same temperature as the intake air, the adiabatic and polytropic coecients are equal at the beginning of the cycle, and, when both coecients start to separate (Fig. 3), heat begins to be transferred from the internal gas to the surroundings, as deduced from Eq. (3). However, if the walls are initially hot as a consequence of previous cycles, then the polytropic coecient starts the compression cycle above the adiabatic one, they both cross each other in a certain instant of the compression stroke and they cross back again in a certain point of the expansion stroke. It can be observed that the polytropic coecient nally ends with lower values

Fig. 4. Heat ux from the internal gas towards the walls, when the cylinder walls are not initially heated and when they are.

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than at the beginning of compression, in coherence with the dierent slopes of the the ln pln V curves shown in Fig. 2. In this case of initially hot walls, Eq. (3) leads to positive heat transfer from the internal gas towards the walls only between the mentioned crossing points, as shown in Fig. 4. In any case, the correct quantication of the heat transfer should permit to solve the thermodynamic lag. However, unfortunately, no precise calculation is possible as far as the heat transfer calculation is based on the pressure and volume functions, which are subjected to several uncertainties. 3. Uncertainties for the polytropic coecient determination 3.1. Denition of uncertainties As above stated, despite the theoretical potential utility of the polytropic coecient, its practical use nds the inconvenient that its determination is not correct when any or various of the following cases take place: (a) Pressure and volume functions are not well synchronized. (b) Reference pressure level along the cycle is not well estimated. This can occur as the piezo-electric pressure transducers do not guarantee a x zero level. (c) The estimated volume function is not correct due to an imprecise calibration of the clearance volume (cylinder volume at TDC). A detailed study of the eect of these experimental errors on the combustion diagnosis results from internal combustion engine testing (mainly heat release) can be found in a previous work [5]. In the present work, an intermediate step is approached, as only the eect of these experimental errors on a single term of the energy equation, the heat transfer, is analysed by using the polytropic coecient as an indicator. 3.2. Methodology A scheme of the methodology used for the study of the mentioned uncertainties and for the estimation of the subsequent errors on the determination of the polytropic coecient and the heat ux is shown in Fig. 5.

Fig. 5. Scheme of the work methodology.

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Theoretical pressure signals were rstly generated from a simple thermodynamic predictive model [6], simulating the compression cycle of the engine under motored conditions. In parallel, the engine was tested with partially motored conditions equivalent to the modelled ones, following the Morse test [7]. Exhaust gas recirculation was eliminated in order to guarantee that no burnt products from other cylinders were mixed with air at the intake of the motored cylinder. The measured pressure signal was subjected to a data processing routine to eliminate noise, to determine the experimental uncertainties and to guarantee an appropriate phasing. The engine characteristics are summarized in Table 1, while the operating conditions used in both model computations and engine tests are listed in Table 2. Both modelled and experimental pressure signals were then horizontally or vertically outphased with respect to the volume function (Da or Dp respectively), or assigned to distorted volume functions obtained from clearance volume modications (DVTDC ), in order to study the eect of the uncertainties. These provoked errors, listed in Table 3, were ranged within the order of magnitude of the typical errors committed during the estimation or measurement of the uncertainties. From all the modelled and experimental pressurevolume signals, either if they had been outphased, distorted or none, polytropic coecients and heat ux were obtained (Eqs. (2) and (3)) and compared. Polytropic coecients were plotted together with adiabatic ones, being these coecients calculated from correlations with temperature such as those reported in [3], obtained by adjusting data for nitrogen and oxygen taken from Janaf [8].
Table 1 Engine characteristics Engine type Bore Stroke Cylinders Rated power Maximum torque Compression ratio Diesel direct injection 85 mm 96 mm 4 93.2 kW at 4000 rpm 308.2 Nm at 2200 rpm 18

Table 2 Operating conditions Engine speed Inlet pressure Exhaust pressure Trapped air mass 1250 rpm 1.052 bar 1.233 bar 0.62 g

Table 3 Provoked errors on the uncertainties Angle outphasing (Da) Pressure level outphasing (Dp) Clearance volume modications (DVTDC ) 0.5 0.05 bar 5%

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3.3. Uncertainty associated with pressure and volume synchronization Starting from a well synchronized pair of pressure and volume functions, if a dierential displacement is applied to the volume function: V 0 V dV dV 0 dV d2 V the polytropic coecient becomes: n0 dp=p dp=p 2 0 0 dV =V dV d V =V dV 6 4 5

this expression being dierent to that dened in (1), and being equivalent to it only when: dV d2 V dV V d2 V ! dV 2 V d2 V ! 10 V dV V dV 2 7

This condition, and thus the equivalence between coecients n and n0 , is fullled in two points of the volume function, denoted as G points in Figs. 712, which in case that the piston axis belongs to the same plane as that of the crank, are equidistant from TDC, as shown in Fig. 6. Consequently, the relative displacement between pressure and volume functions which may be provoked trying to get an adequate synchronization, does not aect the particular value of the polytropic coecient in the G points, and only aects that of heat transfer through the small variations of pressure and adiabatic coecient that may happen along the provoked lag, as can be observed in Eq. (3). Figs. 7 and 8 show, in fact, that polytropic coecient curves obtained from dierently synchronized pV functions cross all of them in the two G points, while heat ux curves cross each other very close to the mentioned points. The elimination of this uncertainty permits to know the

Fig. 6. Points in which the polytropic coecient does not depend on the synchronization of the pressure volume functions.

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Fig. 7. Polytropic coecient and heat ux for dierently synchronized pressure and volume signals (modelled results).

Fig. 8. Polytropic coecient and heat ux for dierently synchronized pressure and volume signals (experimental results).

exact value of the polytropic coecient, as well as an approximate value for the heat ux, regardless that pressure and volume functions are well synchronized or not. The mentioned points were discovered by [9] and used by [4] to develop a method for an adequate synchronization of pressure and volume signals. 3.4. Uncertainty associated with the estimation of the pressure reference level When the reference level of the measured pressure data is modied, the polytropic coecient and the heat ux are both increasingly aected as the angular distance to TDC increases. As G points are not far from TDC (around 2025), the eect on polytropic coecient and heat ux values at G points is still small, as shown in Figs. 9 and 10. This behaviour can be explained through Eq. (2) because far away from TDC errors in the pressure reference level may reach values of the same order than the measured pressure, while in the proximities of TDC such errors become very small with respect to the measured pressure.

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Fig. 9. Polytropic coecient and heat ux for dierently referenced pressure signals (modelled results).

Fig. 10. Polytropic coecient and heat ux for dierently referenced pressure signals (experimental results).

The eect on the heat ux is very similar, and can also be explained by the relative weigh of a constant pressure increment with respect to absolute pressure, either through Eq. (1) or (3). 3.5. Uncertainty associated with the estimation of the clearance volume Contrarily to the previous case, when the clearance volume is modied, an increasing eect on both the polytropic coecient and the heat ux is observed as the distance to TDC decreases (Figs. 11 and 12). As points G are relatively close to TDC, a signicant eect is observed in these points. In this case, the polytropic coecient is mostly aected when errors in the clearance calibration are of the same order of the total cylinder volume at that instant, while it becomes almost insensitive far away from TDC, when the cylinder volume is much bigger than such errors. Similar eects are again observed on the heat ux, as can be analysed from Eqs. (1) or (3).

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Fig. 11. Polytropic coecient and heat ux for dierently calibrated clearance volume (modelled results).

Fig. 12. Polytropic coecient and heat ux for dierently calibrated clearance volume (experimental results).

Contrarily to the previous uncertainties, the maximum deviations of both polytropic coecient and heat ux curves provoked by identical errors on the clearance volume are signicantly higher from experimental pressure les than from modelled ones. This observation can be explained because no mechanical deformations are considered in the volume function, while it is well known that mechanical deformations due to piston inertia and to the gas pressure occur during experimental engine tests. The observed eect of the mechanical deformations suggests the convenience of modifying the volume function by including a deformation model.

4. Conclusions The polytropic coecient is a very useful variable to study the compression cycle of a reciprocating internal combustion engine. Its instantaneous values can be obtained from the pressure and volume signals, which can be measured or estimated as functions of time or crankangle

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during a motored engine test. The ux of heat exchange between the internal gas and the cylinder surroundings can also be obtained from these functions if ideal gas and no leakages are supposed. However, any error aecting any of the two mentioned signals leads to wrong estimation of the polytropic coecient and of the heat ux. The most usual experimental errors are related to the synchronization of the pressure an signal functions, the determination of the pressure reference level and the calibration of the clearance volume. Two points, denoted G, were found within the compression and expansion strokes where the values of the polytropic coecient are independent of the synchronization between pressure and volume signals. Consequently, also the heat ux is almost independent of the synchronization in these points. The pressure level referencing aects signicantly the polytropic coecient at the beginning of compression an at the end of expansion, but such eect decreases as the distance to TDC decreases. Contrarily, the estimation of the clearance volume aects the polytropic coecient mainly at the proximities of TDC, and thus its eect on the G points is not negligible. The dierent regions of the cycle where the eect of the dierent experimental errors are signicant permit to develop sequential methods [4,5] to minimize errors in the determination of some variables which are essential in the energy balance of the engine, such as the heat transfer. Moreover, the estimation of parameters under experimental uncertainties, can be extended to the experimental diagnosis of the engine under ring conditions, and would permit, for example, to test or propose any heat transfer model by tting it to the heat transfer calculated from the correct pressure and volume signals when there is not combustion. Acknowledgement Financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology (Project DPI20012704-C02) is gratefully acknowledged.

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