Increasing Efficiency

There is a lot of concern nowadays about the efficiency of the internal combustion engine (ICE), and a lot of
research is being done to improve it. But what exactly is the efficiency of the internal combustion engine and how
do we measure it? The efficiency of any engine is simply calculated from the energy of the fuel supplied per unit
time to do work and the output at the shaft of the engine after subtracting all losses. The input power of the fuel
can be obtained from the mass of the fuel and its calorific value. The shaft output can be measured from a brake
dynamometer. Simply put efficiency is Output/Input. The average ICE has an efficiency between 20 to 30%,
which is very low.
If we see a heat balance sheet of the internal combustion engines for a spark ignition or gasoline engine we find
that the brake load efficiency is between 21 to 28%, whereas loss to cooling water is between 12 to 27%, loss to
exhaust is between 30 to 55 %, and loss due to incomplete combustion is between 0 to 45%.
Similarly when we analyze the heat balance sheet of a compression ignition or diesel engine we find that it has a
brake load efficiency between 29 to 42 % and loss to cooling water is between 15 to 35 %, losses to exhaust is
between 25 to 45 %, and losses due to incomplete combustion is 0 to 5 %.
By analyzing the two heat balance sheets we find that in Gasoline engines loss due to incomplete combustion
can be rather high. In this article we discuss the various technologies and methods that may be employed to
increase the efficiency of Internal Combustion Engines as well as automobiles.

Heat Balance Sheet

Factors Limiting the Efficiency of Internal Combustion Engine

By analyzing the heat balance sheet we find that the factors limiting the efficiency of an internal combustion
engine are as follows:

Heat losses during cooling of engine.

Heat losses in exhaust gases.

Friction loss

Transmission efficiency losses. Losses in clutches and fluid couplings, etc.

Friction losses in tires. Tire selection is a compromise between safety, stability, and
performance. A safer tire will give a minimum braking distance, good stability, less skidding,
but less fuel efficiency. A tire having less surface contact and more of a line contact will be fuel

efficient, but unsafe.

Losses due to incomplete and imperfect combustion. Perfect combustion would result in

the production of carbon dioxide and water.

Loss due to braking

Losses due to viscosity of lubricating oil.

Compression ratio. The higher the compression ratio the higher the thermal efficiency. As in
spark ignition or gasoline engines the compression ratio is limited by pre-ignition (not in
compression ignition or diesel engines), the diesel engines are about 30% more efficient than

gasoline engines.
Drag of the vehicle

Imperfect valve timing

Losses in driving cam shafts

Energy consumed by auxiliaries like water pumps and oil pumps

http://www.brighthubengineering.com/machine-design/90240-making-moreefficient-combustion-engines/

The brake thermal efficiency e of diesel engine is expressed by Equation (1)

e th X gl X combX (1-cool ) X m

(1)

where,
th: theoretical thermal efficiency
[= f (,K ): function of compression ratio and ratio of specific heat K ]
gl: degree of constant volume
comb: combustion efficiency
cool: heat loss rate m: mechanical efficiency.

To increase thermal efficiency and reduce NOx emission in stationary diesel

engines, this study was conducted to research the direct-injection combustion
system using a single-cylinder engine and determine its basic characteristics.
The following results were obtained:
(1) Combinations of high compression ratio, high-pressure fuel injection and
retarded fuel injection timing were found to be an effective means of increasing
thermal efficiency and reducing NOx emission in this combustion system.
(2) Application of high compression ratio increases the product of theoretical
thermal efficiency and mechanical efficiency, and has the potential to increase
brake thermal efficiency. Also, when the fuel injection timing is retarded for
combustion at a high compression ratio, the rate of reduction is low in brake
thermal efficiency but high in NOx emission and maximum combustion pressure
in the cylinder.
(3) Reduction of the nozzle hole diameter increases the maximum injection
pressure and extends the injection period. Reduction of the nozzle hole diameter
is a fairly effective means of obtaining improvements in the combustion
performance when retarding fuel injection timing, such as increase of brake
thermal efficiency and reduction of smoke emission and maximum combustion
pressure in cylinder. It also restrains initial combustion and activates diffusive
combustion, lengthens the combustion period and lowers the degree of constant
volume while effectively increasing combustion efficiency.