ASE 334

Propulsion Systems
EXPERIMENT 2
Performance Characteristics of an Internal Combustion
Engine

Instructor: Laboratory Assistant:

Prof. Dr. Yusuf Ozyoruk Koray Gurkaya

Date & Time of Experiment: Duration of Experiment:

50 minutes

Submitted by: Date of Submission:

Saif ul Hassan (2117760)
 i. OBJECTIVE

The internal combustion engine is a very important component whose discovery

marked the beginning of an industrial grade engine which would since then we
used from automobiles, aircrafts and motorboats to small home machines like
the lawn mowers, chainsaws and generators. Over the years, the design has
been modified with recent technology to enhance its performance but the
fundamental idea is still studied to understand the basic mechanics of how the
engine works. The objective of this experiment is to see how the engine reacts
under:

A constant speed variable load test. The aim of this experiment is to

observe the variation of basic engine characteristics during the gradual
loading of the engine by the dynamometer while the engine speed is kept
constant
A variable speed variable load test. The aim of this experiment is to
obtain the variation of basic engine characteristics during the loading of
the engine by the dynamometer while the engine speed is changing with
load.
In this report, we will be working with the variable speed variable load test.
ii. INTRODUCTION

An IC engine works as an energy converter from chemical energy from fuel to

kinetic energy which then transform to mechanical energy and produces work.
The IC engine first takes in air from an inlet which is mixed with fuel. The inlet is
shut and the mixture is then compressed by a piston. A spark is used to ignite
the fuel-air mixture which causes the piston to move downward and provide
power to the crankshaft it is attached to. The outlet then opens to remove the
residue heat as the piston is pushed upwards to ensure complete removal. The
cycle then repeats.

IC

engines are very versatile. They come in all sizes producing powers from 40 000
kW to 0.2 kW. They are easily transported and the mainly liquid fuel that they
use is easily available, relatively cheap and easily transportable. They are
reliable. You can expect them to work for long hours with the same performance
and over and over again for years with proper maintenance. They are easy to
start and operate. Their transient characteristics (acceleration, deceleration) are
excellent. All in all, we can easily say that the IC engine has been the greatest
mechanical achievement of mankind, both socially and economically and it is
rapidly becoming mankind's foremost concern, ecologically.
iii. METHODOLOGY AND RESULTS

A test was conducted using an engine with the following properties.

Property 4 stroke petrol engine

Make Linea 1.4 MPI
Type Multi Point Injection (MPI), in line four
cylinder, four stroke, Over Head Cam
(OHC), eight valves, EGR (Exhaust Gas
Recycle) and Vapour feedback, water
cooled engine
Bore 72 mm
Stroke 84 mm
Swept Volume 1368 cc
Compression Ratio 11.1 : 1
Maximum Torque 115 N-m @ 3000 rpm
Maximum Power 76 bhp (DIN) @ 6000 rpm
Fuel Feeding System Multi Point Injection, BOSCH EFI inj.,
with Lancia intake manifold
Ignition System Distributerless, full electronic

We also used a dynamometer and an instrumentation unit which composed of an

exhaust temperature meter, air flow meter and a fuel flow system. We also used
two H21A1 opto-couplers to manage the fuel and a dc motor. Using the data
acquisition card, we got the following values.

Set No. Room Engine Engine Fuel Flow Air meter

Temperat Speed Torque Rate (g/s) reading
ure (C) (rpm) (N-m) (kg/h)
1 25.5 1484 58 0.92 64.9
2 25.4 2501 52 1.39 74.5
3 25.2 2994 50 1.45 84.3
4 25.1 3488 45 1.95 94.8
5 24.8 3978 39 2.23 106.3
6 24.9 4966 26 2.51 130.2

The following formulae were made available and were used to calculate the
correct break power, break thermal efficiency, excess air coefficient and
volumetric efficiency.
The corrected breaking power is done so that the all the measured value are
standardized to the atmospheric condition. This makes the comparison easy and
effective.
To calculate break power torque and engine speed was used;
 N b=2 Tn

The corrected break power requires to calculate the correcting factor which
needs the dry atmospheric pressure, ambient pressure and the vapour pressure
and relative humidity which in our case was 90%.
7.5 T amb
n vap=
237.3+ T amb

Pvap =0.75 x 6.1078 x 10n vap

Pdry =P amb [ mmHg ] Pvap

0.65 0.5
T +273.15
(
Cb =
742.56
Pdry ) ( . amb
25+273.15 )
N bc =N b Cb

Once the corrected breaking power is calculated, the brake thermal efficiency is
calculated. The break thermal efficiency is ratio of power output delivered and
the energy given by the fuel for this power. The calculation is:
kJ
QL =44000
kg

N bc
nb =
Gf QL

After calculating the break thermal efficiency, the excess air coefficient is
calculated through actual air fuel ratio. As the name says it, the air fuel ratio is
the air and fuel mass flow rate. It is calculated value is:

A mair
( )F actual
=
Gf

The excess air is ratio of the actual air ratio to theoretical area ratio. The value of
theoretical air fuel ratio is given as 14.6 and is calculated as:

A
=
( F) actual

( FA )th

Finally the volumetric efficiency which is the ratio of the amount of air-fuel
mixture of the actual case compared with the theoretical case. First the
theoretical air flow rate is calculate through standard atmospheric temperature
as:
 Pstd
std =
Rair T std

mth, ( 2jn ) i V
air = s std

After finding the theoretical mass flow rate, the volumetric efficiency was
calculated through:

mair
nv=
mth ,air
Sample calculation done for the 4th reading:

N b=2 Tn = 2 x x 45 x 58.13

N b=16.4 kW

7.5 T amb 7.5 x 25.1

n vap= = =0.71
237.3+ T amb 237.3+25.1

Pvap =0.75 x 6.1078 x 10n =0.75 x 6.1078 x 100.71=23.8 mmHg

vap

Pdry =P amb [ mmHg ] Pvap=760.5( 0.90 x 23.8 )=738.99 mmHg

0.65 0.5 0.65 0.5

T +273.15
Cb =
742.56
(
Pdry ) ( . amb
25+273.15 ) ( =
742.56
738.99 ) ( x
25.1+273.15
25+273.15 ) =1.00

N bc =N b Cb =16.4 kW x 1=16.4 kW

N bc 16.4
nb = = =0.19
G f Q L 16.4
x 44000
1000

101.3
A m 3600
( ) = air =
F actual Gf 1.95
=14.43
1000

A
=
( F) actual
=
14.43
=0.98
14.6
( FA ) th

Pstd 101.325 kg
std = = 1000=1.184 3
Rair T std 287.058298 m

mth,
air =( 2jn ) iV =( 2 x 58.13
s std
4 ) kg
x 4 x 0.00034 x 1.184=0.047 ( )
s

101.3
m 3600
n v = air = =0.6
m th ,air 0.047
Using the above formulations and the values obtained from the experiment, the
following results were obtained.

Set No. Speed Break Correcte Break Excess Volumet

(rev/s) Power d Break fuel air fuel ric
(kW) Power efficienc coefficie Efficienc
(kW) y nt y
1 24.73 9.01 9.05 0.224 1.131 0.76
2 41.68 13.62 13.68 0.224 1.059 0.64
3 49.90 15.68 15.73 0.247 1.166 0.61
4 58.13 16.44 16.49 0.192 0.988 0.60
5 66.30 16.25 16.29 0.166 0.962 0.58
6 82.77 13.52 13.56 0.123 0.987 0.54

The following graph shows the corrected Break Power vs RPM:

Corrected Break Power vs RPM

It shows a steady rise in the Corrected Break Power with the maximum value
being approximately 16.4 kW until about 3500rpm after which it drops to a value
of approximately 13.8 kW.
The following graph shows the corrected Break Thermal Efficiency vs RPM:

Break Thermal Efficiency vs RPM

It shows a relatively constant efficiency value until at 2500 rpm where it rises to
0.250 at 3000 rpm and then drops and keeps dropping steadily till 0.125 at
approximately 500 rpm.

The following graph shows the excess air coefficient vs RPM:

Excess Air Coefficient vs RPM

It shows a low gradient drop at the beginning at 1500 rpm with roughly 1.1
excess air coefficient till 3000 rpm where it rises till 1.2 and then drop to
approximately 1.0 at 3500 rpm and then a slow rise in gradient until 5000 rpm
with 1.0 excess air coefficient.
The following graph shows the volumetric efficiency vs RPM:

Volumetric Efficiency vs RPM

It shows a steady drop for 0.75 at 1500 rpm down to 0.6 at 3000 rpm and keeps
decreasing but at a slower pace down to 0.55 at 5000 rpm.
iv. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

This experiment gave us an idea of how flow devices are used in the modern day.
Each and every method has its own advantages and disadvantages over the
other but nevertheless provided an excellent option based on the resources that
are on hand at that moment.
Answering the report questions as follows:

Orifice meters offer a relatively cheap and easy maintenance solution

while offering the same variety of pressure management over a wide scale
of values. However it only allows a single type of fluid to work effectively.
It also suffers from providing the same pressure difference at longer
ranges as the size increases so a pressure drop is experienced.
The nozzle meter also offers the same cheap and easy maintenance
solution that the orifice provides except it can produce a larger discharge
of water with higher flows than the orifice. It also experiences lesser wear
because of the curvature before the nozzle leads the flow into the nozzle.
However, in the case of nozzle at higher flows (supersonic/subsonic flows),
a shockwave can be produced that can cause harm to the pipe. It also
suffers at providing the same pressure difference at longer ranges.
The Venturi meter excels at what the orifice and the nozzle cannot do. It
can work even with solid particles in the fluid so there is no clogging as
well as the pressure discharge is excellent at longer ranges. It can also be
used in any direction horizontal, vertical and such. They are also more
accurate. However it is expensive and hard to maintain.
In my opinion, using a stopwatch-storage tank would be ineffective
because the flow changes with time for a non-steady flow. Human error
could also incur when using this method.
In a closed loop pipeline, using a stopwatch-storage tank method would
not only be difficult (if the fluid is colourless) but practically improbable. A
better way would be to have sensors measure the amount passing through
at set time intervals.
A rotameter is installed vertically because gravity plays a vital role in flow
measurement. The floats weight is balanced by the buoyancy forces
which can lead up and provide volumetric flow rate.
I would recommend the Venturi meter because is the coefficient is a
function of Re number then velocity of the fluid is of importance so it will
give better results. Also for better accuracy, Venturi meter should be used.