Cylinder Combustion

Fuel oil is a hydrocarbon consisting of hydrogen and

carbon, together with other elements most of which are
unwanted.
Hydrogen has a higher calorific value than carbon,
therefore, more heat may be obtained from fuels containing
higher Hydrogen/Carbon ratios.
The lower specific gravity of hydrogen than carbon
allows a rough rule of thumb to be; the higher the Specific
Gravity, the lower the Calorific Value (and quality) of the fuel.
The presence of impurities clouds the issue slightly
For efficient combustion an ignition source and sufficient
oxygen need be present to completely oxidise the Hydrogen to
water vapour and the carbon to carbon-dioxide.
 Cylinder combustion contd..
 The combustion is required to occur in a short period of time in an internal
combustion engine, there are five essential requirements to ensure this;
 1. Correct Air/fuel ratio-There must be sufficient oxygen to burn not only the hydrogen
and carbon present but also any other combustibles, such as sulphur. To be effective
and efficient all the fuel must be burnt in the cylinder i.e. all the hydrogen must be burnt
to water and all the carbon must be burnt to carbon dioxide. As the time for combustion
is short excess air must be supplied to increase the possibility of the fuel being in close
proximity to the oxygen molecules. The correct maintenance of the scavenge system
including turbocharger suction filters is therefore essential.

2. Atomisation-To ensure that the fuel breaks down into its constituent elements as quickly as possible it is
atomised, which means it is injected into the cylinder under pressure through a small orifice (high surface
area/volume ratio allowing rapid oxidation ).

3. Mixing-Atomised fuel made up of fine droplets does not penetrate well into
the cylinder combustion space , mixing with the air is promoted by giving the
a swirling motion.
 Cylinder combustion contd..
 4. Injection Timing-
As the fuel burns it creates a pressure wave which acts against the piston.
If the injection is too late, the piston is travelling down the liner. The pressure wave
created by ignition moves rapidly down to meet the piston causes excessive shock
loading on the top of the crown (this is the characteristic 'Diesel knock' of engines when
started from cold).Less power is derived as the correct pressure does not act on the
piston during the early stages of the stroke.
If the injection is too early then very high temperatures and high peak pressures can be
generated caused by the rapid combustion period occurring when the space available is
very small. This can lead to increased engine efficiency but also to overloading of the
bearings, particularly the top end bearings.

 5. Compression temperature-The diesel engine is a compression ignition engine , this

means that the ignition of the fuel is reliant on the temperatures generated by the
compression of the combustion air.
The compression ratio is set at the design stage to give the correct temperature.
However, loss of compression, say by a leaky exhaust valve or piston rings can lead to
a late timing of ignition. A similar effect can occur if the cylinder parts are not kept at the
correct temperature
Cylinder mixing
Combustion chamber pressure
curve.
 Phase one Ignition delay
 Fuel injection does not start immediately the pump plunger
begins to lift, there is a delay due to compression of the fuel
and expansion of the pipework. Although liquids are often
classed as being incompressible, they can be compressed to
some extent at the pressures involved. Pipework will expand
at these pressures and a certain amount of oil must be
delivered in order to take account of these factors. Pump
timing can be adjusted to take account of this because the
amount remains the same at all engine speeds. When oil
pressure reaches a high enough value the injector needle will
lift and injection commences.
 Ignition lag
 The duration of this period is set as a definite period of time, irrespective as to how
fast the engine turns, and that period depends upon the chemical structure of the fuel.
Basically, the lag period depends upon the number of molecular bonds which must be
broken in order to release atoms of hydrogen and carbon from the fuel molecule. The
longer and more complex the molecular chain, the greater will the amount of heat
energy required to release the atoms and the longer will be the amount of heat energy
required to release the atoms and the longer will be the ignition lag period. Because
modern residual fuels result from complex blends of crude oil of many different types,
they are complex structures and the ignition quality may be very variable between
nominally the same grade of fuel. Formerly the cetane number was used to define
ignition quality but cetane is a single element fuel and relating this to the complex
nature of residual fuels is not realistic. The general term ignition quality is now used.
 Ignition lag is the preparation period of the fuel within the cylinder for spontaneous
ignition and beginning of combustion. The physical and chemical processes occurring
during this period are characterised by weak ABSORPTION and liberation of heat. Thus
there is little if any deviation from the compression curve. The length of the lag period
depends on the fuels ignition quality and nothing else. The higher the ignition quality,
the shorter will be the lag period, and the lower the ignition quality, the longer the lag
period.
 The constant nature of the lag period has little effect in the marine slow speed engine.
For an automobile engine operating at much higher speeds this period is a significant
proportion of crank angle. As the revs of the engine increase ignition of the fuel will
occur later leading to a possibility of 'pinking', a timing retard is therefore required.
 Phase two
 Uncontrolled or rapid
combustion period over a
short period (5 to 10
degrees). Initially
considerable heat is given
off. This causes violent
chemical reactions in the air
vapour mix which has built
up during the first phase.
Between 40 to 70% of
available energy is released
during this phase
 Phase three-Controlled burning period.
 Characterised by a slower
pressure rise at the end of the
injection period. The physical
and chemical processes
occurring during this phase
are identical to those in the
previous phase. The rate of
pressure rise reduces as the
piston sweeps down the liner.
 The time available for
combustion is relatively small
with higher speed short stroke
engines, but is greater for
slow speed long stroke
engines. These can then burn
lower quality fuels with higher
carbon content.
 Factors affecting the combustion of fuel

 1. Viscosity of the fuel

 2. Atomisation of the fuel
 3. Penetration of the fuel
 4. Turbulence in the combustion chamber
 Viscosity of the fuel
 Viscosity or resistance to flow in a fuel oil
is important when considering combustion.
The viscosity of the fuel must be low
enough to ensure correct atomisation at the
fuel injector. Since viscosity reduces as
temperature is increased, it will be
necessary to heat the heavy fuel oil to
reduce its viscosity to about 10 cst before
atomisation for combustion
 Atomisation of the fuel
 AUTOMISTION is the splitting up of the fuel into very small
droplets. It is carried out by the fuel injector forcing fuel at
high pressure through small atomiser holes. The size of the
droplets will depend upon the size of holes and the pressure
difference between fuel pump discharge and that of the
compressed air in the combustion chamber. Droplet size may
vary during the injection period.
 Small oil droplets are emitted into the high temperature dense
air. They have a high surface/mass ratio and are readily heated,
evaporated and mixed with the surrounding air to form a
combustible mixture. The time required for this to occur is
termed the ignition delay period.
 Penetration of the fuel

PENETRATION refers to the distance the oil droplets

travel into the combustion space before mixing with the air
and igniting. This will depend upon droplet size
(atomisation), velocity leaving the injector and the
conditions within the combustion chamber. It is desirable
that fuel should penetrate into the whole of the combustion
space for good mixing but droplets should not impinge on
the internal surfaces before burning. The number of
atomiser holes and their position will decide the spray
pattern.
 Turbulence in the
Combustion Chamber
 TURBULENCE is the movement of compressed air and fuel within
the combustion space before combustion occurs. This movement
may have several causes. Swirl is imparted to the air during its entry
at scavenge ports. It may be further agitated by the fuel spray pattern
and the shape and movement of the piston crown.

 Turbulence will improve the mixing of fuel and air for effective and
rapid combustion. It is particularly desirable for rapid combustion of
heavy fuels in medium or higher speed engines.
 Heating of residual fuel
 When burning residual fuel, heating is required in order to
reduce the viscosity at the injectors to approximately that of
diesel oil. This ensures good atomisation and brings the
temperature of the.fuel closer to the ignition point.

 Heating the fuel helps separate solid and liquid contaminants in

tanks and in centrifuges, and allows it to flow readily from the
tanks to fuel manifold where the final heating for injection
takes place. Fuel lines are provided with booster or surcharge
pumps on order to force fuel from the tanks through final
heaters to the fuel injection pumps, thus ensuring that oil is
always available at the pumps. If oil is heated to high
temperature it is essential that it is kept under pressure to
prevent gassing up of the HP pumps. Heating requires the fuel
pump and injector clearances to be increased.
Function of the Fuel Injector
 The function of the injector is to disperse the fuel
throughout the compressed charge of air in the
combustion space. To accomplish this, adequate
degree of penetration and fineness of spray droplets
are required and are achieved by passing the fuel at
high velocity through small bore holes in the
injector nozzle.
 Fig shows a section through a hydraulically
operated fuel injector as fitted to a large two-stroke
diesel engine. The general design is similar for
most engines and consists of a spring-loaded non-
return needle valve operated hydraulically by a fuel
pressure wave from the fuel pump to discharge fuel
at high pressure through an atomiser.
 Atomisation
 For good combustion the oil droplet size in the combustion space
should be at a minimum, and so have a maximum surface area to
volume ratio. This ensures rapid heating and an increase in the
percentage of fuel molecules in contact with the combustion air.
Droplet size should be about 10microns dia.
 However, as the droplet size reduces so it ability to penetrate into the
combustion space reduces. This is because the droplet has little mass
so has little momentum and will be quickly slowed by friction of the
dense combustion air. This will produce poor combustion due to the
inefficient mixing with the air.
 This size must be balanced with the problems of oversized droplets.
This is not only with the surface area to volume ratio, also, large
droplets can have too great a penetration, still burning fuel can contact
with the liners and cylinder wall causing erosion and burnaway.
Unburnt fuel can pass down the liner walls where it can mix with the
unburnt cylinder liner oil and accumulate in the scavenge risking a
potential fire. On trunk piston engine fuel dilution of the crankcase oil
can result.
Effect on oil droplet after injection
Effect on oil droplet after injection
contd..
 Effect on oil droplet after injection
contd..
 High pressure fuel is forced through small holes in the injector tip and
this produces a high velocity jet of fuel. Friction between the fuel jet
and the compressed air causes the fuel jet to break down into droplets,
the size of which depend upon the density of the compressed air and
the velocity of the jet. In order to achieve the optimum jet, fuel
pressure and hole diameter must be within well defined limits. In
general the length/hole ratio should be about 4:1.
 Larger droplets may be produced by enlarging the hole or reducing the
fuel pressure whilst smaller droplets may be formed by using smaller
diameter holes or higher fuel pressure. Slow running results in
larger droplets because fuel rail pressure falls as there is a
longer period of time for injection to take place. Slow running
for short periods is not a problem, for longer period 'slow
steaming' nozzles with reduced diameter holes are used. Over a
period of time injector nozzles will wear increasing hole
diameter and require their replacement.
 After burning
 The heavy oil now in general use for diesel
practice allow of what is known as
afterburning taking place ,that is, when the
fuel valve closes,and during the expansion
period of the stroke,the oil continues to
burn,thus raising the expansion line of the
diagram above the normal,and giving a
correspondingly higher terminal or exhaust
pressure and temperature to the gauge.
 How is the combustion chamber formed in the diesel engine?
What governs its shape?
 In normal engine the combustion chamber is formed in the space between
the cylinder cover and the piston crown. The upper part of the cylinder liner
usually forms the periphery to the space. The space of a combustion
chamber may vary between that of a spheroid which will be formed from a
concave cylinder cover and a slight convex piston crown,to that of an
inverted saucer,formed from a concave cylinder cover and a slight convex
piston crown. In opposed-piston engines the combustion chamber will be
spheroidal. The piston crowns on the upper and lower pistons are usually
identical in form. Combustion chamber of space mentioned are referred to
as open types.
 The space of a combustion chamber must be such that all parts of the space
are accessible to the fuel sprays. If any part is not accessible,the space is
washed and combustion has to take place in a reduced space,which cause
further difficulties due to less air being available in the region of fuel spray.
The wasted space sometimes referred to as parasitic volume. The space of
various parts must also be satisfactory in respect of their strength as they
must be able to withstand the pressures in the cylinder without flexing.
 How is the combustion chamber formed in the diesel engine?
What governs its shape?
 With high speed engines,open combustion chambers can create problem
with high rates of pressure rise due to the shortness of time available for
injection and combustion . To over come this problem the fuel is injected
in to a separate chamber which is connected to the main combustion
chamber by a restricted passage, the restricted passage is at a high
temperature, the fuel sprays is long and narrow. Following injection the
fuel commences to burn in the separate chamber and issues from the
restricted passage at high velocity due to the pressure rise in the
chamber . The fuel enters the main combustion chamber as burning
vaporized particle and combustion is then completed. The small chamber
is about one- third of the clearance volume and is called a pre-
combustion chamber or antechamber. Its use allows high speed engine to
operate over wide speed ranges without combustion difficulties, and is a
necessity in automotive engines. It is met in the marine field when
automotive engines are used for electrical generation or other auxiliary
purposes.