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MEEG 346 Thermal Laboratory: Experiment #4: The Four-Stroke Combustion Engine

The document describes an experiment on a four-stroke combustion engine. The objective is to demonstrate conservation of energy in the engine and determine its efficiency and emissions at different loads and air-fuel ratios. It provides background on four-stroke engines and equations for calculating work output, heat transfer, efficiency, and emissions. The procedure involves collecting temperature, flow, power and emissions data at lean, rich and optimal air-fuel ratios while varying the engine load.

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psunmoorthy
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42 views

MEEG 346 Thermal Laboratory: Experiment #4: The Four-Stroke Combustion Engine

The document describes an experiment on a four-stroke combustion engine. The objective is to demonstrate conservation of energy in the engine and determine its efficiency and emissions at different loads and air-fuel ratios. It provides background on four-stroke engines and equations for calculating work output, heat transfer, efficiency, and emissions. The procedure involves collecting temperature, flow, power and emissions data at lean, rich and optimal air-fuel ratios while varying the engine load.

Uploaded by

psunmoorthy
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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1

MEEG 346 Thermal Laboratory



Experiment #4: The Four-Stroke Combustion Engine

Introduction
Small engines are used in many applications. They are used to power
motorcycles, lawnmowers, go-carts, and even small portable electric generators such as
the one used in this lab. They are not very different from automobile engines at all. In
fact, the only difference is the size, the way in which the engine cools itself, and the
number of cylinders. An automobile engine, being larger and producing a larger amount
of energy, has a water cooling system that pumps water through channels in the engine
block while most small engines are air-cooled and have a fan that forces air across the
finned engine block. These engines run on the four-stroke cycle, which describes how it
converts the combustion energy into mechanical energy.
Figure 1: Four-Stroke Cycle (Reference 1)
In the figure above, look at the intake stroke first. It shows the piston pulling in an air-
fuel mixture from outside the cylinder until it reaches the bottom dead center position
(BDC). It then travels back up the cylinder to compress the air-fuel mixture on the
2
compression stroke until it reaches the top dead center position (TDC). At this point, the
spark plug ignites the mixture, sending the piston back down to BDC as the combusting
gases expand on the power stroke. Finally, the piston travels back up to TDC while it
forces the combustion products out of the cylinder and the cycle continues.
Figure 2: Four-Stroke Engine (Reference 3)


Objective
To show that in this energy transferring system, as in all systems, the energy is
conserved. The efficiency of the system will also be determined and compared to the
amount of pollutant emissions in the exhaust. Engine performance will be evaluated as a
function of load and air-fuel ratio.
Figure 2 is a schematic drawing
showing the basic parts of a four-
stroke engine. It shows how the
piston converts the linear up and down
motion to rotational motion in the
crankshaft. The crankshaft spins the
transmission in a vehicle or in our
case, it spins the shaft of the generator
to produce electric energy. The
generator is similar to an electric
motor that is driven in reverse to
covert mechanical energy into
electrical energy instead of the other
way around.
3

Theoretical Considerations

Part 1: Conservation of Energy
Conservation of energy means that the energy into the system is equal to the energy out.
In the case of the combustion engine, the energy in is the fuel power into the engine and
the energy out is the mechanical power out and the heat transferred out.


The energy balance equation is as follows.

Where n(r) and n(p) are the molar flow rates of the combustion reactants and products
respectively. The hs are the molar enthalpy of formation at the standard conditions, the
molar enthalpy at the present condition, and the molar enthalpy at the standard conditions
respectively. A standard condition refers to 25 degrees C and 1 atm.

Figure 3: Energy Transfer
p r
o o
f
p
out out
o o
f r in in
h h h
n
W Q h h h n W Q
) ( ) (
__ __ __ __ __ __
+ + + = + + +



4
The work and heat transfer into the system is equal to zero so the equation reduces to:

The unbalanced stoichiometric equation for this combustion reaction is as follows.

The engine is actually burning natural gas, which is a combination of methane, propane,
and a small amount of nitrogen. For this portion of the lab assume that the gas is pure
methane. The work output of the engine can be directly obtained from the generator
load, which is a set of large resistors that consume the electrical energy produced. The
resistors are set up in four pairs of two. Each pair consumes about 1000 W of electricity.
The actual work output can be calculated by using the handheld Wattmeter and
multiplying it by the number of resistor pairs in the circuit. The heat transfer out of the
engine is a very complex heat transfer problem. Most of the heat is transferring out
through the exhaust. The remaining heat is transferred from the finned engine block to
the open air with the help of the cooling fan. But the engine is mostly made out of steel
and cast iron which has a very high thermal conductivity so heat travels in every direction
from the combustion chamber. It is not a bad assumption though to say that the heat
transfers from the engine block uniformly from the finned surface alone. The next
complication comes from the engine block geometry. By a quick examination, it can be
seen that the fins are not exactly symmetrical and that the engine block is not exactly
square or circular in cross-section. To simplify the calculations, the fin lengths have been
p r
o o
f
p
out out
o o
f r
h h h
n
W Q h h h n
) ( ) (
__ __ __ __ __ __
+ + + = +



N O H CO N O CH 2 2 2 2 2 4
76 . 3 ) 76 . 3 ( + + + +
5
averaged together and the cross-section of the engine block is assumed to be circular.
This simplification can be visualized in the figure below.
Figure 4: Fin Approximation (Right side from Reference 4.)

The total heat transfer can now be calculated using the equation below.

Where
N is the number of fins.
Next, determine where k
Al
is the thermal conductivity of the fin
material (aluminum), and h is the convection heat transfer coefficient. Use figure 3.19 of
your text (Incropera and Dewitt, 4
th
Ed., Figure 3.19) to determine the fin efficiency, (f).
For the geometry of the engine block, use the following values:
H = 13.34 cm
r
1
= 7.00 cm
r
2
= 9.53 cm
t = 0.25 cm
N = 11 fins

( )

= T T
A
NA
hA
out
b f
t
f
t
Q
) 1 ( 1
( )
2
1
2
2
2 r r A
c f
=
( ) Nt H r NA A
f t
+ =
1
2
2 / 1
2 / 3
|
|
.
|

\
|
t L k
h
L
c Al
c
t r r
t L L
c
c
2
1
2 2
2
1
+ =
+ =
6
The convection heat transfer coefficient (h) can be calculated by measuring the air
velocity, calculating the Reynolds Number, and using the Nusselt number relation below.

Where and

The equations above were derived for use with flows passing finned tubes and can be
depicted in the figure below.
Figure 5: Flow Passed Finned Tubes.
(Reference 5)

The variables that are not already listed above are as follows:
D = 2*r
1
D(f) = 2*r
2
Re = Reynolds Number Nu = Nusselt Number
= air density = kinematic viscosity of air

0.72) Pr with air, for is left at the expression The : (Note Re 0529 . 0
704 . 0
max
= = =
air
k
hD
Nu
air
air
D u

max
max
Re =

(
(

+ +
+
= u
D D s t s
S t s
u
f
T
) ( ) (
) (
max
The equation above relating u(max)
and u() is for cases when there is
more than one finned tube present.
In the case of the engine block, it is
being approximated as one finned
tube. This causes the and S(T)
terms to go to infinity. Therefore,
the equation reduces to u(max) =
u().
7
Part 2: Emissions and Efficiency
The efficiency for this system can be calculated with the following equation:

Where HHV is the higher heating value of the fuel. There are many different
components in the exhaust of an engine. They are mainly carbon dioxide and water but
also includes carbon monoxide, oxygen, hydrocarbons (unburned fuel), and small
amounts of NOx and SOx. Since the amounts of SOx and NOx are minute, they will be
ignored for this experiment. When the air-fuel mixture entering the combustion chamber
is lean (high air, low fuel) there is an excess amount of oxygen in the exhaust. When the
engine is running rich (low air, high fuel), CO and hydrocarbons are present in the
exhaust. CO and hydrocarbons are bad for the environment and are deadly if inhaled.
Running an engine at optimum efficiency is a struggle between increasing the fuel and
therefore the power and keeping the harmful emissions low. The efficiency of the engine
will increase with increasing fuel until all of the available oxygen is used up, and then it
will decrease with increasing fuel. The actual amount of hydrocarbons will not be
measured but note that when CO is present, so are the hydrocarbons.
fuel
HHV
out
m
W
overall

8
Example:
Assuming an air-fuel ratio of, say 15, the combustion equation is (note that there are 3.76
parts of N
2
for 1 part of O
2
in air):
where x, y, z, a, and b are unknowns. a and b may be obtained using the values from the
O
2
and CO sensors. The remaining quantities may be calculated by noting that:
x + y/2 + z + a/2 = 3.15 (balancing O
2
)
x + a = 1 (balancing C)
y + b = 2 (balancing H)
Procedure
1. With the engine warmed up, turn on the first resistor pair and wait for steady state.
The velocity of the cooling air can be measured with the handheld anemometer at this
point. Also record the ambient room temperature.
2. Take mass flow readings of the fuel and the air, temperature readings of the engine
block base and the exhaust, and a power reading with the handheld Wattmeter.
3. Turn on the second resistor pair and repeat step 2 after waiting for steady state.
Repeat with three resistor pairs and then four.
4. With two resistors loading the engine and the intake valve all the way open, take
readings of the O2 and CO content in the exhaust, a mass flow reading of the fuel,
and a power reading. (this is the lean setting)
5. Repeat step 4 at the rich setting. Set the engine rich by slowly adjusting the intake
valve until the oxygen display reads zero.
6. The optimum air-fuel ratio lies somewhere between these two points. Adjust the
intake valve to some point between the lean and rich settings and repeat step 4.
H CO O N O H CO N O CH
b a z y x
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 4
84 . 11 15 . 3 * 76 . 3 15 . 3 + + + + + + +
9

Analysis
1. Calculate all of the quantities in the energy balance equation for all four trials.
2. Construct a chart of trial number vs. power and include a line for input power and one
for output power. Does the energy appear to be conserved? Are there any increasing
or decreasing discrepancies as the power demand is increased?
3. Calculate the efficiency of the system at the optimum, lean, and rich settings of the
air-fuel ratio. Construct a plot showing the efficiency of the system vs. air-fuel ratio.
Which setting yields the most efficient system?
4. Construct a chart showing O2 and CO content in the exhaust vs. air-fuel ratio. From
the chart, determine the optimum air/fuel ratio.
5. Explain the sources of error in this experiment.
References
1. Michael A. Boles and Yunus A. Cengel, Thermodynamics: An Engineer Approach,
McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., USA, 1998.
2. Marshall Brian, How Stuff Works, www.howthingswork.com.
3. M. David Burghardt, James A. Harbach, Engineering Thermodynamics,
HarperCollins College Publishers, USA, 1993.
4. David P. DeWitt and Frank P. Incropera , Introduction to Heat Transfer, John Wiley
& Sons, Inc., USA, 1996.
5. Eric C. Guyer, Handbook of Applied Thermal Design, McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.,
USA, 1989.

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