Phagwara, Punjab

TERM PAPER

Topic:-

OTTO CYCLE VS DIESEL CYCLE

Submitted To: - Submitted By:-

Mr. Tukesh Soni Namandeep Singh
RB4912B35
1090403 1
 ACKNO
WLEDGEMENT

I Namandeep Singh student of B.Tech (M.E.), RB4912B35.I

would like to say thanks to Mr. Tukesh Soni. Without his help,
I would not able to complete my term paper which was on
the topic ‘OTTO CYCLE VS DIESEL CYCLE’

I hope that my term paper considered all the proper

information which would surely satisfy you. In my term paper
I have mentioned all the current changes in climate and
reasons behind it.
OTTO CYCLE
An Otto cycle is an idealized thermodynamic cycle which describes
the functioning of a typical reciprocating piston engine. The Otto cycle
is constructed out of:

1. TOP and BOTTOM of the loop: a pair of quasi-

parallel adiabatic processes
2. LEFT and RIGHT sides of the loop: a pair of
parallel isochoric processes

The adiabatic processes are impermeable to heat: heat flows

into the loop through the left pressurizing process and some
of it flows back out through the right depressurizing process,
and the heat which remains does the work.
The maximum theoretical thermal efficiency of the Otto cycle
is:
η = 1 − r(1 − γ)
where r is the engine's compression ratio, and γ is
the heat capacity ratio for the working fluid. Because γ>1,
the efficiency increases with increasing compression ratio.
The Otto cycle consists of adiabatic compression, heat
addition at constant volume, adiabatic expansion, and
rejection of heat at constant volume. In the case of a four-
stroke Otto cycle, technically there are two additional
processes: one for the exhaust of waste heat and
combustion products (by isobaric compression), and one
for the intake of cool oxygen-rich air (by isobaric
expansion); however, these are often omitted in a
simplified analysis. Even though these two processes are
critical to the functioning of a real engine, wherein the
details of heat transfer and combustion chemistry are
relevant, for the simplified analysis of the thermodynamic
cycle, it is simpler and more convenient to assume that all
of the waste-heat is removed during a single volume
change.
History
The four-stroke engine was first patented by Alphonse
Beau de Rochas in 1861. Before, in about 1854–57, two
Italians (Eugenio Barsanti and Felice Matteucci) invented
an engine that was rumored to be very similar, but the
patent was lost.
"The request bears the no. 700 of Volume VII of the Patent
Office of the Reign of Piedmont. We do not have the text
of the patent request, only a photo of the table which
contains a drawing of the engine. We do not even know if
it was a new patent or an extension of the patent granted
three days earlier, on December 30, 1857, at Turin."
f. Eugenio Barsanti and Felice Matteucci, June 4 1853
The first person to build a working four stroke engine, a
stationary engine using a coal gas-air mixture for fuel
(a gas engine), was German engineer Nicolaus Otto. That
is why the four-stroke principle today is commonly known
as the Otto cycle and four-stroke engines using spark
plugs often are called Otto engines.
To move an airplane through the air, thrust is generated by
some kind of propulsion system. Beginning with the Wright
brothers' first flight, many airplanes have used internal
combustion engines to turn propellers to generate thrust.
Today, most general aviation or private airplanes are
powered by internal combustion (IC) engines, much like the
engine in your family automobile. When discussing engines,
we must consider both the mechanical operation of the
machine and thethermodynamic processes that enable the
machine to produce useful work. On this page we consider
the thermodynamics of a four-stroke IC engine.

To understand how a propulsion system works, we must

study the basic thermodynamics of gases. Gases have
variousproperties that we can observe with our senses,
including the gas pressure p, temperature T, mass,
and volume V that contains the gas. Careful, scientific
observation has determined that these variables are related
to one another, and the values of these properties determine
the state of the gas. A thermodynamic process, such as
heating or compressing the gas, changes the values of the
state variables in a manner which is described by the laws of
thermodynamics. The workdone by a gas and
the heat transferred to a gas depend on the beginning and
ending states of the gas and on the process used to change
the state. It is possible to perform a series of processes, in
which the state is changed during each process, but the gas
eventually returns to its original state. Such a series of
processes is called a cycle and forms the basis for
understanding engine operation.

On this page we discuss the Otto Thermodynamic

Cycle which is used in all internal combustion engines. The
figure shows a p-V diagram of the Otto cycle. Using the
engine stage numbering system, we begin at the lower left
with Stage 1being the beginning of the intake stroke of the
engine. The pressure is near atmospheric pressure and the
gas volume is at a minimum. Between Stage 1 and Stage 2
the piston is pulled out of the cylinder with the intake valve
open. The pressure remains constant, and the gas volume
increases as fuel/air mixture is drawn into the cylinder
through the intake valve.Stage 2 begins the compression
stroke of the engine with the closing of the intake valve.
Between Stage 2 and Stage 3, the piston moves back into
the cylinder, the gas volume decreases, and the pressure
increases because work is done on the gas by the
piston. Stage 3 is the beginning of the combustion of the
fuel/air mixture. The combustion occurs very quickly and the
volume remains constant. Heat is released during
combustion which increases both the temperature and the
pressure, according to the equation of state. Stage 4 begins
the power stroke of the engine. Between Stage 4 and Stage
5, the piston is driven towards the crankshaft, the volume in
increased, and the pressure falls as work is done by the gas
on the piston. At Stage 5 the exhaust valve is opened and
the residual heat in the gas is exchanged with the
surroundings. The volume remains constant and the pressure
adjusts back to atmospheric conditions. Stage 6 begins
the exhaust strokeof the engine during which the piston
moves back into the cylinder, the volume decreases and the
pressure remains constant. At the end of the exhaust stroke,
conditions have returned to Stage 1 and the process repeats
itself.

During the cycle, work is done on the gas by the piston

between stages 2 and 3. Work is done by the gas on the
piston between stages 4 and 5. The difference between the
work done by the gas and the work done on the gas is the
area enclosed by the cycle curve and is the work produced
by the cycle. The work times the rate of the cycle (cycles per
second) is equal to the power produced by the engine.

The area enclosed by the cycle on a p-V diagram is

proportional to the work produced by the cycle. On this page
we have shown an ideal Otto cycle in which there is no heat
entering (or leaving) the gas during the compression and
power strokes, no friction losses, and instantaneous burning
occurring at constant volume. In reality, the ideal cycle does
not occur and there are many losses associated with each
process. These losses are normally accounted for by
efficiency factors which multiply and modify the ideal result.
For a real cycle, the shape of the p-V diagram is similar to
the ideal, but the area (work) is always less than the ideal
value.
 Diesel cycle

Thermodynamics

[show]Branches
[show]Laws
[show]Systems
[show]System
properties
[show]Material
properties
[show]Equations
[show]Potentials
[show]History and
culture
[show]Scientists
v·d·e
The Diesel cycle is the thermodynamic cycle which
approximates the pressure and volume of the combustion
chamber of the Diesel engine, invented by Rudolph Diesel in
1897. It is assumed to have constant pressure during the
first part of the "combustion" phase (V2 to V3 in the diagram,
below). This is an idealized mathematical model: real
physical Diesels do have an increase in pressure during this
period, but it is less pronounced than in the Otto cycle. The
idealized Otto cycle of a gasoline engine approximates
constant volume during that phase, generating more of a
spike in a p-V diagram.
The Idealized Diesel Cycle

p-V Diagram for the Ideal Diesel cycle. The cycle follows the
numbers 1-4 in clockwise direction.
The image on the left shows a p-V diagram for the ideal
Diesel cycle; where p ispressure and v is specific volume. The
ideal Diesel cycle follows the following four distinct processes
(The color references refer to the color of the line on the
diagram.):

 Process 1 to 2 is isentropic compression (blue)

 Process 2 to 3 is reversible constant pressure heating
(red)
 Process 3 to 4 is isentropic expansion (yellow)
 Process 4 to 1 is reversible constant volume cooling
(green)

The Diesel is a heat engine: it converts heat into work. The

isentropic processes are impermeable to heat: heat flows
into the loop through the left expanding isobaric process and
some of it flows back out through the right depressurizing
process, and the heat that remains does the work.
  Work in (Win) is done by the piston compressing the
working fluid
 Heat in (Qin) is done by the combustion of the fuel
 Work out (Wout) is done by the working fluid expanding
on to the piston (this produces usable torque)
 Heat out (Qout) is done by venting the air

Maximum thermal efficiency

The maximum thermal efficiency of a Diesel cycle is
dependent on the compression ratio and the cut-off ratio. It
has the following formula under cold air standard analysis:

where
ηth is thermal efficiency

α is the cut-off ratio (ratio between the end and start

volume for the combustion phase)

r is the compression ratio

γ is ratio of specific heats (Cp/Cv)
The cut-off ratio can be expressed in terms of
temperature as shown below:

T3 can be approximated to the flame temperature of the fuel

used. The flame temperature can be approximated to
the adiabatic flame temperature of the fuel with
corresponding air-to-fuel ratio and compression
pressure, p3. T1 can be approximated to the inlet air
temperature.
This formula only gives the ideal thermal efficiency. The
actual thermal efficiency will be significantly lower due to
heat and friction losses. The formula is more complex than
the Otto cycle (petrol/gasoline engine) relation that has the
following formula;

The additional complexity for the Diesel formula comes

around since the heat addition is at constant pressure and
the heat rejection is at constant volume. The Otto cycle by
comparison has both the heat addition and rejection at
constant volume.
Comparing the two formulae it can be seen that for a given
compression ratio (r), the ideal Otto cycle will be more
efficient. However, a Diesel engine will be more efficient
overall since it will have the ability to operate at higher
compression ratios. If a petrol engine were to have the same
compression ratio, then knocking (self-ignition) would occur
and this would severely reduce the efficiency, whereas in a
Diesel engine, the self ignition is the desired behavior.
Additionally, both of these cycles are only idealizations, and
the actual behavior does not divide as clearly or sharply. And
the ideal Otto cycle formula stated above does not include
throttling losses, which do not apply to Diesel engines.
The Diesel cycle is a combustion process of a
reciprocating internal combustion engine. In it, fuel is ignited
by heat generated by compressing air in the combustion
chamber, into which fuel is injected. This is in contrast to
igniting it with a spark plug as in the Otto cycle (four-
stroke/petrol) engine. Diesel engines (heat engines using the
Diesel cycle) are used inautomobiles, power
generation, Diesel-electric locomotives, and submarines.

Applications
Diesel engines

The Diesel engine has the lowest specific fuel consumption of

any large internal combustion engine, 0.26 lb/hp.h
(0.16 kg/kWh) for very large marine engines. Two-stroke
Diesels with high pressure forced induction,
particularly turbocharging, make up a large percentage of
the very largest Diesel engines.
In North America, Diesel engines are primarily used in large
trucks, where the low-stress, high-efficiency cycle leads to
much longer engine life and lower operational costs. These
advantages also make the Diesel engine ideal for use in the
heavy-haul railroad environment.

Other internal combustion engines without spark

plugs
Many model airplanes use very simple "glow" and "Diesel"
engines. Glow engines use glow plugs. "Diesel" model
airplane engines have variable compression ratios. Both
types depend on special fuels (easily obtainable in such
limited quantities) for their ignition timing.
Some 19th century or earlier experimental engines used
external flames, exposed by valves, for ignition, but this
becomes less attractive with increasing compression. (It
was the research of Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot that
established the thermodynamic value of compression.) A
historical implication of this is that the Diesel engine would
eventually have been invented without the aid of electricity.
See the development of the hot bulb engine and indirect
injection for historical significance.
Rudolph Diesel
Rudolph Diesel was born in Paris of Bavarian
parents in 1858. As a budding mechanical
engineer at the Technical University in Munich, he
became fascinated by the 2nd law of
thermodynamics and the maximum efficiency of a
Carnot process and attempted to improve the
existing thermal engines of the day on the basis
of purely theoretical considerations. His first
prototype engine was built in 1893, a year after
he applied for his initial patent, but it wasn't until
the third prototype was built in 1897 that theory
was put into practice with the first 'Diesel' engine.

Diesel Cycle Operation

The Diesel cycle is the cycle used in the Diesel (compression-ignition)
engine. In this cycle the heat is transferred to the working fluid at
constant pressure. The process corresponds to the injection and burning
of the fuel in the actual engine. The cycle in an internal combustion
engine consists of induction, compression, power and exhaust strokes.
Induction Stroke
The induction stroke in a Diesel engine is used to
draw in a new volume of charge air into the
cylinder. As the power generated in an engine is
dependent on the quantity of fuel burnt during
combustion and that in turn is determined by the
volume of air (oxygen) present, most diesel
engines use turbochargers to force air into the
cylinder during the induction stroke.

From a theoretical perspective, each of the

strokes in the cycle complete at Top Dead Centre
(TDC) or Bottom Dead Centre (BDC), but in
practicality, in order to overcome mechanical
valve delays and the inertia of the new charge air,
and to take advantage of the momentum of the
exhaust gases, each of the strokes invariably
begin and end outside the 0, 180, 360, 540 and
720 (0) degree crank positions (see valve timing
chart).
Compression Stroke
The compression stroke begins as the inlet valve
closes and the piston is driven upwards in the
cylinder bore by the momentum of the crankshaft
and flywheel.

The purpose of the compression stroke in a Diesel

engine is to raise the temperature of the charge
air to the point where fuel injected into the
cylinder spontaneously ignites. In this cycle, the
separation of fuel from the charge air eliminates
problems with auto-ignition and therefore allows
Diesel engines to operate at much higher
compression ratios than those currently in
production with the Otto Cycle.

Compression Ignition
Compression ignition takes place when the fuel
from the high pressure fuel injector spontaneously
ignites in the cylinder.

In the theoretical cycle, fuel is injected at TDC, but

as there is a finite time for the fuel to ignite
(ignition lag) in practical engines, fuel is injected
into the cylinder before the piston reaches TDC to
ensure that maximum power can be achieved.
This is synonymous with automatic spark ignition
advance used in Otto cycle engines.
Power Stroke
The power stroke begins as the injected fuel
spontaneously ignites with the air in the cylinder.
As the rapidly burning mixture attempts to
expand within the cylinder walls, it generates a
high pressure which forces the piston down the
cylinder bore. The linear motion of the piston is
converted into rotary motion through the
crankshaft. The rotational energy is imparted as
momentum to the flywheel which not only
provides power for the end use, but also
overcomes the work of compression and
mechanical losses incurred in the cycle (valve
opening and closing, alternator, fuel injector
pump, water pump, etc.).

Exhaust Stroke
The exhaust stroke is as critical to the smooth and
efficient operation of the engine as that of
induction. As the name suggests, it's the stroke
during which the gases formed during combustion
are ejected from the cylinder. This needs to be as
complete a process as possible, as any remaining
gases displace an equivalent volume of the new
charge air and leads to a reduction in the
maximum possible power.
Exhaust and Inlet Valve Overlap
Exhaust and inlet valve overlap is the transition
between the exhaust and inlet strokes and is a
practical necessity for the efficient running of any
internal combustion engine. Given the constraints
imposed by the operation of mechanical valves
and the inertia of the air in the inlet manifold, it is
necessary to begin opening the inlet valve before
the piston reaches Top Dead Centre (TDC) on the
exhaust stroke. Likewise, in order to effectively
remove all of the combustion gases, the exhaust
valve remains open until after TDC. Thus, there is
a point in each full cycle when both exhaust and
inlet valves are open. The number of degrees over
which this occurs and the proportional split across
TDC is very much dependent on the engine design
and the speed at which it operates.
Introduction
In these two articles we studied about Otto cycle and diesel
cycle and looked at their thermal efficiency. In this article we
will take a collective look at these two cycles in order to
compare and contrast them, so that we can come to know
the relative advantages and disadvantages of these cycles.

The 2 Cycles Compared

In the last article we compared the three cycles their
compression ratio and heat rejection were kept constant for
all cycles. In this article we will focus on peak pressure, peak
temperature and heat rejection. The P-V and T-S diagrams of
these three cycles for such a situation are drawn
simultaneously as described below.

In the above diagrams the following are the cycles

• Otto cycle: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 1
• Diesel cycle: 1 – 2” – 3 – 4 – 1

Remember that we are assuming the same peak pressure

denoted by Pmax on the P-V diagram. And from the T-S
diagram we know that T3 is the highest of the peak
temperature which is again same for all three cycles under
consideration. Heat rejection given by the area under 4 – 1 –
5 – 6 in the T-S diagram is also same for each case.

In this case the compression ratio is different for each cycle

and can be found by dividing V1 with the respective V2
volumes of each cycle from the P-V diagram. The heat
supplied or added in each cycle is given by the areas as
follows from the T-S diagram

• Otto cycle: Area under 2 – 3 – 6 – 5 say q1

• Diesel cycle: Area under 2” – 3 – 6 – 5 say q3

It can also be seen from the same diagram that q3>q2>q1

We know that thermal efficiency is given by 1 – heat

rejected/heat supplied

Since heat rejected is same and we know the order of

magnitude of heat supplied, we can combine this information
to conclude that

Thermal efficiency of these engines under given

circumstances is of the following order

Diesel>Otto

Hence in this case it is the diesel cycle which shows greater

thermal efficiency.

Four-stroke engine
Four-stroke cycle used in gasoline/petrol engines. The right
blue side is the intake and the left yellow side is the exhaust.
The cylinder wall is a thin sleeve surrounded by cooling
water.
Today, internal combustion
engines in cars, trucks, motorcycles, aircraft, construction
machinery and many others, most commonly use afour-
stroke cycle. The four strokes refer to intake, compression,
combustion (power), and exhaust strokes that occur during
two crankshaft rotations per working cycle of the gasoline
engine and diesel engine.
The cycle begins at Top Dead Center (TDC), when the piston
is farthest away from the axis of the crankshaft. A stroke
refers to the full travel of the piston from Top Dead Center
(TDC) to Bottom Dead Center (BDC). (See Dead centre.)
1. INTAKE stroke: On the intake or induction stroke of the
piston , the piston descends from the top of the cylinder to
the bottom of the cylinder, reducing the pressure inside the
cylinder. A mixture of fuel and air is forced by atmospheric
(or greater) pressure into the cylinder through the intake
port. The intake valve(s) then close.
2. COMPRESSION stroke: With both intake and exhaust
valves closed, the piston returns to the top of the cylinder
compressing the fuel-air mixture. This is known as
the compression stroke.
3. POWER stroke.: While the piston is close to Top Dead
Center, the compressed air–fuel mixture is ignited, usually by
a spark plug (for agasoline or Otto cycle engine) or by the
heat and pressure of compression (for a diesel
cycle or compression ignition engine). The resulting massive
pressure from the combustion of the compressed fuel-air
mixture drives the piston back down toward bottom dead
center with tremendous force. This is known as
the power stroke, which is the main source of the
engine's torque and power.
4. EXHAUST stroke.: During the exhaust stroke, the piston
once again returns to top dead center while the exhaust
valve is open. This action evacuates the products of
combustion from the cylinder by pushing the spent fuel-air
mixture through the exhaust valve(s).
History
The Otto cycle
The four-stroke engine was first patented by Alphonse Beau
de Rochas in 1861. Before, in about 1854–57, two Italians
(Eugenio Barsanti and Felice Matteucci) invented an engine
that was rumored to be very similar, but the patent was lost.
"The request bears the no. 700 of Volume VII of the Patent
Office of the Reign of Piedmont. We do not have the text of
the patent request, only a photo of the table which contains
a drawing of the engine. We do not even know if it was a new
patent or an extension of the patent granted three days
earlier, on December 30, 1857, at Turin."
The first person to actually build a car with this engine
was German engineer Nikolaus Otto. That is why the four-
stroke principle today is commonly known as the Otto cycle
and four-stroke engines using spark plugs often are called
Otto engines. The Otto cycle consists
of adiabatic compression, heat addition at constant volume,
adiabatic expansion and rejection of heat at constant
volume. In the case of a four-stroke Otto cycle, there are also
an isobaric compression and an isobaric expansion, usually
ignored since in an idealized process those do not play any
role in the heat intake or work output.
Design and engineering principles

Fuel octane rating

Internal combustion engine power primarily originates from
the expansion of gases in the power stroke. Compressing the
fuel and air into a very small space increases the efficiency
of the power stroke, but increasing the cylinder compression
ratio also increases the heating of the fuel as the mixture is
compressed (following Charles's law).
A highly flammable fuel with a low self-ignition temperature
can combust before the piston reaches top-dead-center
(TDC), potentially forcing the piston backwards against
rotation. Alternately, a fuel which self-ignites at TDC but
before the piston has started downwards can damage the
piston and cylinder due to the extreme thermal energy
concentrated into a very small space with no relief. This
damage is often referred to as engine knocking and can lead
to permanent engine damage if it occurs frequently.
The octane rating is a measure of the fuel's resistance to
self-ignition, by increasing the temperature at which it will
self-ignite. A fuel with a greater octane rating allows for a
much higher compression ratio, virtually eliminating the risk
of damage due to self-ignition.
Diesel engines rely on self-ignition for the engine to function.
The premature ignition problem is solved by separately
injecting high-pressure fuel into the cylinder shortly before
the piston has reached TDC. Air without fuel can be
compressed to a very high degree without concern for self-
ignition, and the highly pressurized fuel in the fuel
injection system cannot ignite without the presence of air.

Power output limit

The maximum amount of power generated by an engine is
determined by the maximum amount of air ingested. The
amount of power generated by a piston engine is related to
its size (cylinder volume), whether it is a two-stroke or four-
stroke design,volumetric efficiency, losses, air-to-fuel ratio,
the calorific value of the fuel, oxygen content of the air and
speed (RPM). The speed is ultimately limited by material
strength and lubrication. Valves, pistons and connecting
rods suffer severe acceleration forces. At high engine speed,
physical breakage and piston ring flutter can occur, resulting
in power loss or even engine destruction. Piston ring flutter
occurs when the rings oscillate vertically within the piston
 grooves they reside in. Ring flutter compromises the seal
between the ring and the cylinder wall which results in a loss
of cylinder pressure and power. If an engine spins too
quickly, valve springs cannot act quickly enough to close the
valves. This is commonly referred to as 'valve float', and it
can result in piston to valve contact, severely damaging the
engine. At high speeds the lubrication of piston cylinder wall
interface tends to break down. This limits the piston speed
for industrial engines to about 10 m/s.

Intake/exhaust port flow

The output power of an engine is dependent on the ability of
intake (air–fuel mixture) and exhaust matter to move quickly
through valve ports, typically located in the cylinder head. To
increase an engine's output power, irregularities in the intake
and exhaust paths, such as casting flaws, can be removed,
and, with the aid of an air flow bench, the radii of valve port
turns and valve seat configuration can be modified to reduce
resistance. This process is called porting, and it can be done
by hand or with a CNC machine.

Supercharging
One way to increase engine power is to force more air into
the cylinder so that more power can be produced from each
power stroke. This can be done using some type of air
compression device known as a supercharger, which can be
powered by the engine crankshaft.
Supercharging increases the power output limits of an
internal combustion engine relative to its displacement. Most
commonly, the supercharger is always running, but there
have been designs that allow it to be cut out or run at
varying speeds (relative to engine speed). Mechanically
driven supercharging has the disadvantage that some of the
output power is used to drive the supercharger, while power
is wasted in the high pressure exhaust, as the air has been
compressed twice and then gains more potential volume in
the combustion but it is only expanded in one stage.

Turbocharging
A turbocharger is a supercharger that is driven by the
engine's exhaust gases, by means of a turbine. It consists of
a two piece, high-speed turbine assembly with one side that
compresses the intake air, and the other side that is powered
by the exhaust gas outflow.
When idling, and at low-to-moderate speeds, the turbine
produces little power from the small exhaust volume, the
turbocharger has little effect and the engine operates nearly
in a naturally-aspirated manner. When much more power
output is required, the engine speed and throttle opening are
increased until the exhaust gases are sufficient to 'spin up'
the turbocharger's turbine to start compressing much more
air than normal into the intake manifold.
Turbocharging allows for more efficient engine operation
because it is driven by exhaust pressure that would
otherwise be (mostly) wasted, but there is a design limitation
known as turbo lag. The increased engine power is not
immediately available, due to the need to sharply increase
engine RPM, to build up pressure and to spin up the turbo,
before the turbo starts to do any useful air compression. The
increased intake volume causes increased exhaust and spins
the turbo faster, and so forth until steady high power
operation is reached. Another difficulty is that the higher
exhaust pressure causes the exhaust gas to transfer more of
its heat to the mechanical parts of the engine.
Rod and piston-to-stroke ratio
The rod-to-stroke ratio is the ratio of the length of
the connecting rod to the length of the piston stroke. A
longer rod will reduce the sidewise pressure of the piston on
the cylinder wall and the stress forces, hence increasing
engine life. It also increases the cost and engine height and
weight.
A "square engine" is an engine with a bore diameter equal to
its stroke length. An engine where the bore diameter is
larger than its stroke length is an oversquare engine,
conversely, an engine with a bore diameter that is smaller
than its stroke length is an undersquare engine.

Valvetrain
The valves are typically operated by a camshaft rotating at
half the speed of the crankshaft. It has a series of cams along
its length, each designed to open a valve during the
appropriate part of an intake or exhaust stroke.
A tappet between valve and cam is a contact surface on
which the cam slides to open the valve. Many engines use
one or more camshafts “above” a row (or each row) of
cylinders, as in the illustration, in which each cam directly
actuates a valve through a flat tappet. In other engine
designs the camshaft is in the crankcase, in which case each
cam contacts a push rod, which contacts a rocker arm which
opens a valve. The overhead cam design typically allows
higher engine speeds because it provides the most direct
path between cam and valve.

Valve clearance
Valve clearance refers to the small gap between a valve lifter
and a valve stem that ensures that the valve completely
closes. On engines with mechanical valve adjustment
excessive clearance will cause noise from the valve train.
Typically the clearance has to be readjusted each
20,000 miles (32,000 km) with a feeler gauge.
Most modern production engines use hydraulic lifters to
automatically compensate for valve train component wear.
Dirty engine oil may cause lifter failure.
Energy balance
Otto engines are about 35% efficient – in other words, 35% of
the energy generated by combustion is converted into useful
rotational energy at the output shaft of the engine, while the
remainder appears as waste heat.By contrast, a six-stroke
engine may convert more than 50% of the energy of
combustion into useful rotational energy.
Modern engines are often intentionally built to be slightly
less efficient than they could otherwise be. This is necessary
for emission controls such as exhaust gas
recirculation andcatalytic converters that reduce smog and
other atmospheric pollutants. Reductions in efficiency may
be counteracted with an engine control unit using lean burn
techniques.

OTTO CYCLE VS DIESEL CYCLE

One cannot be non-fascinated by the performance of a car
engine. This engine works. If it doesn’t start running at the
moment the key is turned, we instantly get shocked,
paralyzed and aroused by disbelief.

Sure, the reason it works so well is simple - years of

perfecting.

Yet, there are so many basic things about gasoline and diesel
engines that I learned only recently. I listed some of them
here, hoping that you will find something interesting also.
Fuels
All engines are engineered around fuels, so first we have to
discuss fuels. Both, the gasoline (petrol) and the diesel are
hydrocarbons. The “only” difference being the (average)
length of the hydrocarbon chain - diesel being longer. Thus,
they have different properties:

- gasoline is lighter (less dense) and less viscose than

diesel
- gasoline vaporizes more readily than diesel at room
temperature. This makes gasoline a bit more dangerous
because it easily creates enough-concentrated vapors
that are easy to ignite into fire.
- diesel is somewhat better in lubricating things than
gasoline

In the engine, fuel is well mixed with air and burned.

Therefore we have to say something about air-fuel mixture
properties: the diesel-air mixture will ignite at lower
temperature than the gasoline-air mixture. The gasoline-air
mixture can simply withstand higher temperature before self-
ignition. This is a very important thing to remember. It is also
a bit confusing.

In everyday experience, it seems that the gasoline will much

easier engage into flame then the diesel. But remember that
this is only because the gasoline vaporizes more readily at
room temperature. It means that, at room temperature,
there is much higher concentration of gasoline vapors than
diesel vapors and therefore the gasoline will ignite more
easily. However, when we consider same concentrations of
gasoline and diesel vapors, then the diesel will ignite easier
(lower temperature is needed to activate combustion). Inside
the engine, the temperature is high enough for both, the
gasoline and the diesel to vaporize completely and create
rich-enough (flammable) concentrations of vapor.
Now we know something about fuels. Lets talk about
engines.

Engine basics
Mister Rudolph Diesel was aware of the gasoline engine (Otto
cycle) problems and wanted to improve it. The gasoline
engine inherently has problems with efficiency and/or fuel.

In order to improve the efficiency one must increase the

compression ratio of an internal-combustion engine (see the
bonus section at bottom of this article). However, in the
gasoline engine there is a limit – the gasoline-air mixture will
self ignite once the compression gets too high (because
every compression drives temperature increase). So, either
you can have a low-efficient, low-compression engine that
uses a cheap fuel, or you can have a high-efficient, high-
compression engine that uses expensive, high-refined fuel
that wont self-ignite even at high compression levels (a 120
octane gasoline?).

In diesel engine this problem is solved. The diesel engine can

use much higher compression levels than the gasoline
engine reaching higher efficiency. In addition, the diesel
engine can use fuel that is not nearly as refined as the high-
octane gasoline fuel (thus cheaper).

To make this possible, Rudolph changed the Otto cycle and

created the diesel cycle. The difference is that during
compression phase, no fuel is present in the cylinder and
thus no self-ignition can happen. The fuel is only injected at
the moment the ignition is wanted – when injected into the
hot pressurized air the diesel fuel self-ignites immediately
(the diesel-air mixture, as we said already, is happy to ignite
even at relatively low temperatures).

The diesel fuel is better for a diesel motor because it self-

ignites more readily, and this is desirable in the diesel cycle.
If we try to inject gasoline instead of diesel into the diesel
engine, this may not work because gasoline, having much
higher self-ignition temperature, may not ignite at all. Of
course, if we build the diesel engine to have a really, really
high compression ratio then even the 120 octane gasoline
will self-ignite and our engine will be able to work with
almost anything we put in our tank.

(However, remember that the diesel fuel is better in

lubricating things than the gasoline, and diesel-engine
manufacturers use this property heavily – so using even low-
octane gasoline in your diesel engine may fail because fuel
supplying parts will not be lubricated enough. Don’t kill your
engine!)

How about using diesel in a gasoline engine? Maybe it would

be possible to build an Otto-cycle engine that runs on diesel
fuel, but it would have to have very low compression ratio to
avoid diesel-air mixture self ignition problems. In turn, such
an engine would have very poor efficiency (the efficiency is
directly connected to the compression ratio). There is
additional problem with diesel – it doesn’t vaporize so readily
as the gasoline and because of it, such an engine would have
to use complicated system of high-pressure injection nozzles
to generate rich-enough fuel-air mixtures (as in the diesel
engine).

Yes, the diesel engine has benefits (high efficiency, lower

fuel restrictions), but it is much more complicated to build
than the gasoline engine. The gasoline engine has spark
plugs to ignite gasoline-air mixture while the diesel engine
needs to have complicated system of high pressure injection
nozzles that need to inject controlled amount of fine fuel mist
into the cylinder at exactly right moment – a quite difficult
job (luckily, the diesel fuel is quite lubricating and non-
abrasive so it is not an impossible job.)
The diesel engine is much heavier than the gasoline engine –
this is because the higher compression ratio produces higher
stress on materials. In the diesel engine you will find thick
cylinders, heavy pistons, rods and valves. All this moving
mass restricts the speed a diesel engine can turn. A typical
car diesel engine doesn’t turn faster than 4000rpm, while a
gasoline engine goes up to 7000rpm. (Also notice that the
diesel fuel vaporizes quite slowly and, at high speed, there
won't be enough time for all the fuel to burn out, thus diesel
engine efficiency will be reduced.)

Controlling power
There is one profound difference between diesel and gasoline
engine. This is about the amount of air that comes into the
cylinder during the first phase of the cycle (intake).

In the gasoline engine, there is a special valve (throttle) that

restricts the amount of air-fuel mixture that is filled into the
cylinder. When the engine is idling, only a limited amount of
air-fuel mixture is allowed in. At full power, the valve is fully
opened allowing the cylinder to suck the maximum amount
of the air-fuel mixture in. It means that the final pressure
level at the end of compression stroke highly varies
depending on how much air-fuel mixture was allowed into
cylinder during the intake stroke.

Also, note that the concentration of the fuel in the air-fuel

mixture is always the same, no mater what is the power level
of the engine. Thus, the mixture is always aimed at full
combustion (or more or less so – read further about it). The
concentration of fuel in this mixture is, of course, always high
enough to make self-sustained burning.

The diesel engine is another story. Here, the amount of air

sucked into the cylinder is always the same, invariable of the
power level. However the power is controlled by the amount
of the fuel that is injected into the cylinder. The good thing is
that the final pressure of the air (just before the fuel is
injected) is always the same and so the injected fuel will find
nice temperature to burn even if the engine is running at low
power level. (Even if a very small amount of fuel is injected –
smaller than otherwise needed for self-sustained burning – it
will all burn out because the surrounding air temperature is
high enough).

Now we know how power is controlled in both engines. So

what can we do if we want to get more power?

We can improve efficiency. This is the greenest way. But that

is for ladies. What we want is creating a monster.

The only other way is to burn more fuel in the same amount
of time. The fuel is where the power comes from and if we
want power we have to burn it – burn it fast. However, not
only that we have to increase supply of fuel, but we also
have to increase supply of air. Supply of air is the major
problem (the air is bulky) and there are several ways to do it.

The first one is to make larger cylinders or to increase

number of cylinders. So, in each cycle more air will come in,
and we will be able to burn more fuel producing more power
in each engine cycle. This approach works well for both,
diesel and gasoline engines.

Second, we can put more air into the cylinder than it is

cylinder’s volume – we simply force it inside by turbo-
charging or super-charging. If we force two liters of air into
one litter cylinder we could get twice the power in each
stroke. But of course, as we already started with pressurized
air, at the end of the compression stroke we will end up at
much higher pressure-level than in non-force-charged
engine. In the gasoline engine this will cause premature self-
ignition of the air-fuel mixture and our engine will break
down (except if we use a high-octane fuel that won’t self-
ignite). The diesel engine, however, doesn’t have this
problem. That is why turbo-charging or super-charging is
more popular way for boosting power on diesel engines than
in gasoline engines. (In addition, the diesel engine is by its
nature built more robustly than gasoline so increased
pressure won’t generate major problems to materials.)

Third way for getting more power would be to make the

engine turn faster. Although the same amount of fuel will be
burnt in each cycle, the number of cycles in unit of time will
increase and thus we get more power. Unfortunately, diesel
engines are very limited because of its heavy high-pressure-
proof design. Increasing turning speed of a diesel engine
would break the engine apart (except if you use stronger,
more expensive materials – but there are not many things
better than steel). However, the gasoline engine is much
lighter – every shaft, cam or rod inside a gasoline engine is
light and can move very fast without self-breaking. Thus
increasing turning speed is the preferred method of gaining
power in the gasoline engine.

Emission control
When a pure hydrocarbon burns in oxygen only water and
carbon dioxide is produced. Unfortunately, in the real life
things are more complicated.

Neither gasoline nor diesel are pure and they both contain
considerable amounts of impurities. Especially diesel is
known for its high impurity level (maybe partially because
the diesel engine can cope with quite low-refined fuels so no
high purification is needed in the first place).

Even more bad stuff happens when a hydrocarbon burns in

the air (nitrogen and oxygen mixture). If the combustion
takes its place at too high temperature the nitrogen will react
with oxygen producing various nitro-oxides that are nasty to
environment. So, in the internal-combustion engine it is
essential to control the combustion temperature at the
optimum level.

In the gasoline engine it is fairly easy. As we told already, the

concentration of the air-fuel mixture is always the same (no
mater of the power level of the engine) and so we only need
to keep this concentration somewhat below optimal to
decrease the combustion temperature. This ensures for clean
exhaust.

The diesel engine is more problematic. As the air-fuel

concentration varies greatly depending on the power level of
the engine, we cannot easily control the combustion
temperature. Various tricks are used – like restricting the
combustion area to only a part of the cylinder or injecting the
fuel in several delayed intervals… One regularly used trick
seems very charming – the EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation):

The combustion temperature will be lowered if a part of

oxygen in the air is replaced with some inert gas. To
decrease the concentration of the oxygen, some of the
engine exhaust (concentrated with inert gases; carbon-
dioxyde and water wapor) is supplied back at engine air
input. This controls the peek combustion temperature, but
also reduces the amount of excesive oxygen available for
combining with nitrogen. The EGR is very useful, and is used
on both, diesel and gasoline engines.

(Many of my friends with gasoline-powerd cars are puzzled

with the questions "why do they measure oxygen (O2) at
madatory emission tests?" and "why is it bad to have high
oxygen level in the exhaust?". The fact is, as we discussed
above, that in the gasoline engine the oxygen to fuel ratio is
always almost-ideal and aimed for full combustion, invariable
to the throtle level. Therefore, if there is much oxygen left, it
is a strong indication that the engine is sub-optimaly tuned.)
Bonus explanation: Why is diesel engine
more efficient than gasoline
Is it because of a higher compression? Well, yes, it is, but
only indirectly... read below.

Some amount of heat energy will be “generated” during

combustion (aka expansion, aka power) stroke in an engine.
But not all of the “generated” energy will be transformed to
mechanical form. Large part of the heat energy (maybe more
than half) will be expelled through the exhaust pipe and
therefore lost. Because it uses higher compression ratio, the
diesel engine will be able to extract more mechanical energy
from heat (that is, the diesel will attain higher efficiency).

If you look at the engine in largely simplified way, you can

see that the combustion stroke is a simple adiabatic process.

During the combustion stroke, you start with high pressure

(P1) and high temperature (T1) of the combustion gas in the
cylinder. Then the piston travels downward for some length
to its bottom position, and now you have lower pressure (P2)
and lower temperature (T2) of the gas. Obviously, the energy
contained in gas is now lower (it has lower temperature and
lower pressure, while its molar amount is the same). This
difference is converted to mechanical energy of piston.

(You can also look at the above process following way: at the
beginning of the expansion stroke, the gas is compressed,
hot and energetic and it pushes the piston downward
forcefully. Doing this, the gas becomes more and more ‘tired’
- colder and depressurized – because it gives its energy to
the piston. Longer it pushes the piston, more of its energy is
given to the piston, but at the same time the gas becomes
more and more ‘tired’ and pushes the piston less and less
‘enthusiastically’ – that is, with weaker force. After some
time you simply have to give up and let the exhausted gas
out because it would take the entire eternity for it to give all
of its energy to the piston.)

Now, clearly it is possible to convert more heat energy to

mechanical if the difference between P1,T1 and P2,T2 is
larger. The equation in the picture above also tells the same
– the difference between volumes V1 and V2 is what gives us
the mechanical work (energy). That is why diesel beats
gasoline – the compression ratio in diesel engine is larger,
therefore the volume difference between top and bottom
position is also larger, therefore more mechanical work is
extracted from heat during combustion (expansion) stroke.

But, during the compression stroke the diesel spends more

energy for compression than gasoline? Yes, but it doesn’t
matter overall. All that energy that was put into the gas
during compression stroke will be recovered during
expansion stroke (plus the energy that comes from fuel).
Imagine an engine that simply doesn’t fire the fuel – as the
engine turns it neither spends nor produces energy. During
compression it takes some, but during expansion it gives the
same amount. No matter what the compression ratio is. The
higher compression ratio of the diesel really doesn’t cost the
energy (in first approximation).

Why then there are no engines with compression ration

1:zillion? Sure, such an engine would be efficient. In gasoline
engine the limitation is because of self-ignition of the
gasoline-air mixture. In diesel engines the limitation is only in
mechanical strength of materials (pistons, cylinders, valves,
rods, crankshaft...).

What does engine power has to do with efficiency? Well, not

that much. Efficiency and power are largely unconnected.
However, in general, a less efficient internal combustion
machine can be made more powerful. How come? Well, it
takes time for gas to give its energy to the piston and the
gas gives it slower and slower as it gets colder. If you need a
powerful engine, you don’t have time to waste. You have to
expel the ‘half-used’ gas and get the fresh one in quickly.

What is Atkinson-cycle? This is a way to improve inherently

low efficiency of a gasoline engine. In gasoline engine you
are limited about compression ratio. However if you had read
the above text more carefully, you can see that the
compression ratio doesn’t really matter – what is important
for efficiency is the ‘decompression ratio’. Certainly, in
normal gasoline and diesel engines those two are the same.
But in Atkinson-cycle, the compression stroke doesn’t start at
the bottom point of the piston. No no. The valve only closes
when the piston is already half-way up... At the top position,
the gasoline-air mixture is compressed to its maximum
(actually to the same pressure level as in an ordinary
gasoline engine ). But during expansion stroke, it goes all the
way to the bottom. However the disadvantage is that only
smaller amount of gasoline-air mixture is used in every cycle
– smaller than in ordinary gasoline engine – and so the power
of Atkinson cycle engine will be lower than the power of Otto-
cycle engine of the same volume

Refrences:-

1. ^ Air pollution from motor vehicles By Asif Faiz,

Christopher S. Weaver, Michael P. Walsh

1. Hardenberg, Horst O., The Middle Ages of the Internal

combustion Engine, Society of Automotive Engineers
(SAE), 1999
2. scienceworld.wolfram.com/physics/OttoCycle.html
3. P.K.NAG ( TEXT BOOK )
4. SCIENCE.NET ( OTTO CYCLE, DIESEL CYCLE )